Anglican community marks 200 years in Rome.

The All Saints’ Anglican Church on Via del Babuino marks the 200th anniversary of the Anglican community in Rome with a special evensong celebration at 19.00 on 27 October.

The occasion will commemorate Rome's first formal gathering for Anglican worship, 200 years ago, when Jerseyman Corbert Hue became the first Anglican priest to officiate publicly in the Eternal City on 27 October 1816.

Until then – during the centuries following the Reformation – Anglican worship in Italy had been impossible, except in a handful of protected enclaves. However, after Pope Pius VII granted permission to conduct public Anglican worship in Rome, the first Morning Prayer and Holy Communion were said, in English, near Piazza Colonna on 29 December 1816.

The location for Anglican worship in the city changed over the subsequent decades, until the founding of the Victorian neo-Gothic style All Saints' Anglican Church in 1886.

The evensong celebration on 27 October is open to all, and is part of other activities happening throughout the year. For details of All Saints' history and its programme of events, see website.

October 2016 also marks the 50^th anniversary of the Anglican Centre in Rome, an event celebrated recently by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby alongside Pope Francis. See Wanted in Rome feature article by the associate director of the Anglican Centre of Rome, Marcus Walker.