Washington National Cathedral

A longtime member of the Cathedral Chapter, ZeBarney Phillips (1875–1942) was rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Washington. He was elected Dean in 1941—a critical time for the nation and the church. As Chaplain of the United States Senate and president of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies to the General Convention, he forged a unique link between this Cathedral and the nation, and between the Cathedral and the Episcopal church at large. His sudden death in May 1942 (from an erroneously filled prescription) was followed a year later by the death of Bishop James E. Freeman, a devastating loss to the Cathedral in wartime Washington. Although his tenure as dean was short, Phillips’s intimate contacts with men and women throughout a long career brought a warm pastoral touch to the Cathedral. In addition, his professional music training as an organist led directly to the founding of the Cathedral Choral Society, the resident symphonic chorus of the Cathedral, whose inaugural concert on the day of Dean Phillips’s funeral in May 1942 became his requiem.