Known locally as "The American Church," St. James' congregation is led by the Rev. Roger Featherston and typically includes English- and Italian-speakers from around the world and "people of many religious backgrounds participate fully in worship services and the broader life of the community," the parish website notes. As a parish in the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, St. James Church "welcomes people of all denominations, nationalities, and backgrounds."

A series of events has been planned to celebrate this centennial year in the parish's life and ministry, including a walking tour of Florence and centennial banquet on April 23; a reception at the U.S. Consulate for St. James' American Friends and other out-of-town guests on April 24; culminating on April 27 with the rededication ceremony and Holy Eucharist. The Florence Gospel Choir and classical Chancel Choir of St. James will provide music during the service, which will be followed by lunch in the garden. There will also be a book-signing for the newly-released History of St. James, by the Rev. Clement Welsh and Horace Gibson.

The service is expected to draw a large congregation, including Mayor Leonardo Domenici and the U.S. Consul General, as well as current and former St. James clergy, representatives from the Episcopal Church, and local ecumenical partners.

The Convocation of American Churches in Europe is a jurisdiction of Episcopal parishes, missions, and specialized ministries serving in eight countries of Europe and central Asia.

For more than two centuries, the parishes and missions of the Convocation have ministered to Americans and other English-speaking people in Europe, and more recently, in other languages as well.

While many of St. James' parishioners are American women with Italian husbands, academics, artists and art lovers, and businesspeople posted in Florence for varying lengths of time, in recent years a large contingent of Africans have also come to call St. James their parish home. Every Sunday, the congregation is reinvigorated with dozens of tourists and visitors, and each semester brings a fresh crop of university students.

The diversity of the congregation, as well as the constant influx of newcomers, has helped to create the friendly and welcoming atmosphere for which St. James has come to be known. It also led St. James to publish selected liturgies from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer in Italian, French, Spanish, and German, with facing text in English. During the week, the church and undercroft bustle with the energy and activity of the many groups and ministries based at St. James.

The parish serves the Florence community in a variety of ways. It operates a Food Bank that feeds approximately 130 people each Thursday morning "with street bags for those with no access to a kitchen," says Featherston, St. James' rector since 2005, formerly of Melbourne, Australia. "The Ecumenical Thrift shop on the first Sunday of the month raises the money to support this work and Mother Teresa's Sisters who run a Women's Refuge."

The parish also hosts "the largest English Children's Library on continental Europe for the children of mixed marriages and also an ordinary English library of novels for visitors and parishioners," said Featherston, who has served parishes in Australia, Fiji, the Middle East and the United States. He retires as rector of St. James on May 5, and will be moving back to Melbourne with his wife, Finola.

St. James maintains a permanent mission in Malawi, where children are provided clean drinking water and education through programs served by the parish's yearly support.

On Wednesday evenings a program hosts university students, providing them with dinner and a safe and congenial alternative to the pubs and bars where they might otherwise congregate.

The St. James Guest House, a three-bedroom, three-bath apartment overlooking the rectory garden, takes reservations for minimum stays of one week.

American Episcopalians in Florence held their first meetings in private homes and the British Embassy in 1846. When the Grand Duke of Tuscany was exiled in 1849, legislation was passed allowing the official presence of non-Roman Catholic denominations in the region.

The first Episcopal services were hosted in 1853 at the church of Santa Maria del Carmine and the congregation of St. James was officially recognized in 1867. It would be another 41 years until the cornerstone of a church building was laid on Via Rucellai on April 23, 1908 and a further three years until the first service was held at the new church on November 8, 1911.

St. James' involvement in the Florence community spiraled during the flood of 1966 "when the parish decided that the people (not just the art) of Florence also needed help and mounted a campaign to raise money for them in the U.S.," says Featherstone.

At that time, St. James helped to raise $425,000 for local flood relief, providing weekly grants of up to $35 per family. "Since then we have held an important place in the hearts of the people here," says Featherston, "and everyone knows the Chiesa Americana -- the 'American Church.'"