Robert Atkinson Gibson

Right Rev. Robert Atkinson Gibson D.D., L.L.D.
Bishop of Virginia
Church	Episcopal Church
See	Virginia
In office	1902–1919
Predecessor	Francis McNeece Whittle
Successor	William Cabell Brown
Orders
Ordination	1870 by Bishop Francis McNeese Whittle
Consecration	1897
Personal details
Born	July 9, 1846 Petersburg, Virginia
Died	February 17, 1919 (aged 72) Richmond, Virginia
Previous post	Assistant Bishop of Virginia (1897–1902)

Robert Atkinson Gibson (July 9, 1846 – February 17, 1919) was the sixth Episcopal bishop of Virginia.

Biography

Early life

Robert Atkinson Gibson was born in Petersburg, Virginia to the founder and long-time rector of Grace Church,^[1] Rev. Churchill Gibson (1819–1895) and his wife Lucy Fitzhugh Atkinson Gibson. His formal education began at Episcopal High School at Alexandria, Virginia, from where he transferred to Mount Laurel Academy, and then Hampden-Sidney College near Farmville. However, he interrupted his studies in 1864 to volunteer with Virginia's First Rockbridge Artillery, not returning to Hampton-Sidney until after the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox in 1865. Upon graduating in 1867, Gibson enrolled at the Virginia Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1870 and was ordained as a deacon on July 24 by Bishop Whittle. Kenyon College in Ohio awarded him a doctorate of Divinity in 1897, as did University of the South.

Ministry

As deacon, Gibson worked to revive parishes in five counties along the James River in southeastern Virginia. On July 4, 1871, Bishop John Johns ordained him as a priest in Petersburg. Rev. Gibson then served as assistant to Rev. Joshua Peterkin at St. James Episcopal Church^[2] in Richmond from 1872 to 1878. He then moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia where he served as rector of Trinity Church until 1887, when he accepted a position in Cincinnati, Ohio and continued as rector of Christ Church (which became that city's cathedral when another church was destroyed in 1937)^[3] until 1897, when his native diocese called him back to assist bishop Whittle.^[4]

Episcopacy

Consecrated on November 3, 1897, bishop Gibson served under bishop Whittle for five years until the latter's death. While also a popular society figure in Richmond, bishop Gibson became known for his simplicity, sincerity and reverent conduct.^[5] Upon returning to Virginia, he bought a summer cottage near Orkney Springs, Virginia, which was expanded after his death into Shrine Mont, a diocesan retreat center. Bishop Gibson expanded the diocese's ministry into isolated rural areas, building mountain schools and churches, as well as repossessing, restoring and reopening many colonial churches (especially in the Tidewater region) which had fallen into ruin. He also established the Blue Ridge archdeaconry. While the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia split off from that of Virginia in 1892, during Bishop Whittle's episcopate, the neighboring diocese as anticipated split further into the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia in 1919. Bishop Gibson also designed the diocesan seal for the 1907 General Convention that met in Richmond (which last hosted in 1859), which remains in use today. Most of Virginia's black parishes were founded during his episcopate.^[6]

In 1909, Rev. Arthur Selden Lloyd was consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor, but resigned the position 14 months later to become President of the Episcopal Church's Board of Missions, which position he left in 1921 to become Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of New York, where he served until his death in 1936. Upon bishop Lloyd's resignation, William Cabell Brown, who had been a missionary in Brazil, was elected Bishop Coadjutor, and ultimately succeeded Bishop Gibson.

Shrine Mont altar

Family

Rev. Gibson married Susan Baldwin Stuart on November 12, 1872. They had two sons (Rev. Alexander Stuart Gibson and Rev. Churchill J. Gibson) and three daughters (Lucy and Mary did not marry, but Frances married missionary Rev. Edmund Lee Woodward).^[7]

Death and legacy

Bishop Gibson died in Richmond and is buried at Hollywood Cemetery.

The altar in the diocese's open-air Cathedral Shrine of the Transfiguration at Shrine Mont, built by Rev. Woodward after his retirement with the assistance of two local men, is dedicated in his memory, and a cottage named after him. His likeness also flanks that of George Washington in the stained glass window of Grace Church in Plains, Virginia.

References

1. "Christ and Grace Episcopal Church in Petersburg Virginia". christandgrace.org. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
2. "Church History". doers.org. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
3. "Christ Church Cathedral :: History & Traditions". christchurchcincinnati.org. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
4. Tyler, Lyon G., Men of Mark in Virginia (Washington, D.C. 1906) at pp. 100–101 available at Google books
5. "Dinwiddie County, VA Biographies". genealogytrails.com. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
6. "History". thediocese.net. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
7. http://genealogytrails.com/vir/dinwiddie/bios_g.htm citing Encyclopedia of Virginia Biographies, vol. IV

External links

• Episcopal Diocese of Virginia