THE REV’D ALLAN BEVIER WARREN III, 1947-2024
We regret very much indeed to announce the death of Father Allan Bevier Warren III, Sometime Rector of the Church of the Resurrection, New York (1993-1999) and of the Church of the Advent, Boston from 1999-2018. Father Warren died in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on 31 March 2024, Easter Day, which was also the 51st anniversary of his ordination to the Sacred Priesthood by Bishop Alexander of Upper South Carolina, in 1973.
Father was a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, and was aged 77 years. He had been battling cancer for several years. He graduated from Princeton University and the General Theological Seminary in New York in 1972. He served his title at All Saints, Clinton, and Epiphany, Laurens, S. C., and was then curate of the Church of the Transfiguration, New York, from 1974-1981. He was then Canon Pastor of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris, France, from 1981-84, a felicitous appointment as he was a life-long Francophile. (We almost always spoke French with each other, and his French, perfectly competent, was as unique as his English!) He was then Rector of Good Shepherd, Waban, Massachusetts, 1984-1990, and curate of The Advent, Boston, 1990-1993. He had been President of the New England Catholic Clerical Union, and for several years a member of SSC. For many years, he had been a faithful member of the Council of the Guild of All Souls, and has now moved on from its list of praying members to its permanent Chantry Roll for whom we pray. There was an immediate funeral service in the form of a Solemn Requiem at The Church of the Advent in Boston, on 6 April, and a Solemn Requiem here at Resurrection, New York, on 27 April.
It was a very questionable enterprise to take on this church with only nine people and a dog in 1993, and try to “resurrect” it. It had been in such circumstances many times before, and Father decided it was possible. It should also be borne in mind that our school had just been started in 1990, and therefore it, too, needed very careful shepherding together with the very small faculty and student body, which was very far indeed from being guaranteed the success it enjoys today. The journey in church membership from 9 to the 34 people here upon his departure was in many ways more difficult than that from 34 to the 110 who were here in 2020, of whom 75-80 are still among us, not having left the city upon COVID. Our parish school went from five or six to about fifteen in his time, and today has 120 students. Our grateful thanks to Father Sammy Wood, priest-in-charge of The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Times Square, who was Father Warren’s curate at The Church of the Advent, Boston, for nine years, who preached at the Solemn Requiem here. We were delighted to have him with us, albeit on that sad occasion. As he noted in his Sermon, it was rather curious that Father Warren forbade a sermon in his most recent instructions, which were carried out at The Advent, but in his 1990s instructions, he made no such injunction, so Father Wood was free to speak, and did so very well indeed. Our order of service at Resurrection was directly taken from the funeral instructions left by Father Warren in our safe with those of parishioners upon his departure (probably never thinking to throw them out!). Most priests have these, just in case, and his are dated 31 March 1994, thirty years to the day before his death, another curious fact about the day of his death. Fauré’s Requiem was requested; the two hymns of the Mass were the tune “Maccabeus” with the original French lyrics, and “Come ye faithful raise the strain”. This Requiem Mass is online on the front page of our website, www.resurrectionnyc.org
Resurrection’s history, for those who know it, is full of times when it seemed very questionable that the Church could continue. The 1960s were a difficult time for all churches, and by the late 1970s, the membership was perilously low. When Father Cupit retired in 1991, it was very questionable exactly what would happen, but there was an endowment and hope. It was then that Father Warren was called by the Vestry, who were essentially the entire parish. Photographs of a parish picnic during his time, recently given to us, make clear his experience, gifts and joy as a parish priest and what drew people here even when there was little to offer. I have now been Rector longer than any other (23 years in June), but whatever we have been able to achieve in my time together sits very squarely on the foundation laid by my predecessor in his six years. We thank God for His faithful priests and give thanks for Father Warren’s time here, feeling secure that our prayer that he may rest in peace and be raised up amidst the saints and elect to Eternal Life, the Easter promise, will be answered by Almighty God, who called him to be his priest.
Father Swain