HMC’s Sister Church in Verdun

With thanks to Jon Coss

Now that the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris has re-opened after five years of repairs, we turn our attention to Huguenot’s “sister church” in Verdun, which was destroyed by war. 

During World War I, French and German armies at Verdun suffered over 700,000 casualties, including some 300,000 killed. An estimated total of 60 million shells were fired from both sides during the horrific Battle of Verdun. Afterwards the Huguenot Memorial Church sent substantial contributions to the Reformed Churches of France in general and to that of Verdun in particular.

The City of Verdun in ruins (left). The Reformed (Calvinist) Church of Verdun restored.

On March 2, 1927, HMC voted to assist the Protestant Church of Verdun in its efforts to restore the building and congregation. The Board of Elders “decided to remit 9,000 francs to the Central Treasury of the Reformed Churches of France and an additional 3,000 francs directly to Pastor Barraud for his own use,” with the understanding that the local church would increase its own contributions so that HMC contributions could be decreased during the ensuing years.

Financial records show that HMC donated $600 in 1927, $400 in 1928, and $200 in 1930, for “Relief Abroad.” (Six hundred dollars in 1927 would be worth about $10,000 today.) In grateful recognition, the Reformed Church of Verdun named our Rev. Dr. Lewis G. Leary as its “honorary and associate pastor.” This was perhaps the first close link between a church in America and a church in war-town Europe. “Rev. H. Barraud” was proudly named in Sunday bulletins as our “Associate French Pastor” in Verdun from 1927 to 1931.