The Consitution and Canons of the Diocese

The Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church

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HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
When the United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917, the islands had three Anglican parishes and one mission church, all part of the Diocese of Antigua.

    Those churches were St. John’s, St. Paul’s and Holy Cross mission on St. Croix and All Saints on St. Thomas.

    At that time, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church appointed the Bishop of Puerto Rico as Bishop-in-Charge of the new District. Its inauguration was celebrated in 1949 at St. John’s on St. Croix, the oldest parish.

    In 1962, the House of Bishops appointed The Right Rev. Cedric Mills, D.D. to serve as Bishop of the Virgin Islands. He took up residence in 1963, just in time to preside over the unification of all Anglican/American parishes in the British and United States Virgin Islands. St. Thomas was the central location, so it was selected as the site of the Bishop’s residence and the diocese office.

    The Bishop of Puerto Rico had previously invited the Anglicans in the British Virgin Islands to join with the Episcopalians in the United States Virgin Islands to form the Diocese of the Virgin Islands. This affiliation across political borders was a formal repetition of earlier close relationships that had existed when both territories were part of the Diocese of Antigua in previous centuries.