When I am in Heaven, where everything is possible, I will cling to the mantle of the Mother of God and I will not turn my eyes from you. But do not forget what this poor old man has said to you.

Above:  St. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo 

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT GIUSEPPE BENEDETTO COTTOLENGO (MAY 3, 1786-APRIL 30, 1842)

Founder of the Little House of Providence

Also known as Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo

Also known as the Italian Vincent de Paul

Also known as the Workman of Divine Providence

Alternative feast day = April 29

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–St. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, on his deathbed

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St. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo–the Italian Vincent de Paul, the Workman of Divine Providence–comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Cottolengo came from a devout, middle-class family.  He, born in Bra, Piedmont, Kingdom of Sardinia, on May 3, 1786, was the first of twelve children, half of whom died in infancy.

Our saint pursued his priestly vocation.  He, having become a Franciscan tertiary on October 2, 1802, matriculated at the seminary at Asti in 1805.  The closing of that institution two years later forced Cottolengo to continue his theological studies at home.  He joined the ranks of priests on June 8, 1811.  The new Curate to Corneliano D’Alta obtained his doctorate in theology in Turin.  Then our saint became the canon at the Basilica of Corpus Domini, Turin.

Turin was experiencing turmoil.  Recovery from Napoleonic occupation was underway.  Also, many people were moving into the city from the countryside.  Rapid urbanization brought crises, including poverty, illiteracy, poor sanitation, epidemics, and high infant mortality.  The forty-one-year-old priest, having read a biography of St. Vincent de Paul, perceived charity as his true vocation.

One incident affected Cottolengo deeply.  He encountered a large family from Lyons traveling to Milan.  The pregnant mother had tuberculosis.  Her disease kept her out of Maggiore Hospital.  Her fever prevented her admission to the maternity hospital.  The mother and child died; he gave the mother last rites and baptized the baby shortly before the child died.  Four children survived the mother.

Cottolengo simplified his lifestyle.  He sold his possessions and started living in two rented rooms.  On January 17, 1828, our saint’s new life of charity began; he offered free lodging to an elderly paralytic.  This was the beginning of Cottolengo’s charity hospital for people turned away from other hospitals.

The hospital was not universally popular.  Local authorities, citing fear of contagion during an outbreak of cholera, closed the hospital in 1831.  Immediately, our saint opened the Little House of Divine Providence, on the outskirts of town.  The first patient suffered from cancer.

Cottolengo founded fourteen other charitable communities to serve God and the people of Turin.

Cottolengo, aged fifty-five years, died in Chieri, Piedmont, Kingdom of Sardinia, on April 30, 1842.  He contracted typhus while tending to patients there.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Cottolengo.  Pope Leo XIII pronounced him a Venerable.  Pope Benedict XV beatitfied our saint.  Pope Pius XI canonized Cottolengo.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS

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Lord God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served,

and to give his life for the world.

Lead us by his love to serve all those to whom

the world offers no comfort and little help.

Through us give hope to the hopeless,

love to the unloved,

peace to the troubled,

and rest to the weary;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-14

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37

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RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS

Above:  The Flag of The Netherlands

Image in the Public Domain

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BERNANDINA ROELOFINA HENDRIKA “DIET” EMAN (APRIL 30, 1920-SEPTEMBER 3, 2019)

fiancée of

HEIN SIETSMA (OCTOBER 15, 1919-JANUARY 21, 1945)

Martyr, 1945

brother of

HENDRIK “HENK” SIETSMA (OCTOBER 18, 1921-MAY 10, 2002)

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…we wanted to obey God to help the Jewish people.

–Diet Eman

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Diet (pronounced “deet”) Eman comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via news accounts of her death in September 2019.  Her fiancé and his brother join her her via their work with her.  All three saints are Yad Vashem, or Righteous Among the Nations–the brothers since 1977 and Diet since 1998.

These saints were Dutch Reformed Christians.  Bernandina Roelofina Hendrika Eman, born in The Hague, The Netherlands, on April 30, 1920, was a daughter of Gerrit Eman (1883-1975) and Johanna Maria Brouwer Eman (1884-1978).  She met Hein Sietsma, born in Marum, The Netherlands, on October 15, 1919, in 1937.  The two of them eventually fell in love.  Almost immediately after the Nazi invasion of The Netherlands, Diet, Hein, and his brother Hendrik “Henk” (born on October 18, 1921) joined the resistance to the occupation.

The three were founders and members of Group Hein, also known as Help Elkander in Nood, or “Helping Each Other in Need.”  Group Hein/Help Elkander in Nood sheltered Jews, as well as British and American airmen behind the lines.  The group saved the lives of nine Jewish families plus eleven Jewish individuals.  Supplying and hiding these Jews and airmen was risky; the Third Reich and its agents disapproved of saving these lives and producing fake IDs.

Nazi authorities arrested all three saints.  They arrested Hein in Friesland on April 28, 1944.  He died at Dachau concentration camp on January 21, 1945.  In his last letter (written on toilet paper) to Diet, he acknowledged that the couple would never meet again in this life, and wrote,

Love conquers all.

Henk survived Dachau concentration camp, though.  Diet, eventually arrested, went to Vught concentration camp.  Her assigned task was to wash the bloody clothes of executed prisoners.  At her trial she successfully played dumb.  The court released her, and she resumed her work with the resistance.

Henk, aged 80 years, died on May 10, 2002.

Diet spent the next thirty-plus years not discussing her wartime experiences.  She, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) left The Netherlands after World War II.  She, having obtained her nursing degree, worked as a nurse for the Shell Oil Company in South America for a decade.  There she met and married Egon Erlich (1928-2017), an American.  The couple had children and moved to New York state.  The marriage ended in divorce.  Diet and her children relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Diet, who told her story publicly in 1978 then many times afterward, remained active in health care.  After our saint retired from nursing, she volunteered with the American Red Cross and served as a medical missionary with the Luke Society, from her seventies to her nineties.  At age 97, Diet was a volunteer in the Dominican Republic.  She also told her story in writing and in person.  Our saint’s book was Things We Couldn’t Say (1999).  During the early 2000s, she traveled, telling her story to contradict Holocaust deniers.

Diet became an American citizen in 2007.

She, aged 99 years, died at Samaritas Senior Living of Grand Rapids on September 3, 2019.  Our saint was a member of Seymour Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, the site of the funeral.

The divine commandment to love others as one loves oneself is an order that can place one at great risk.  It is a commandment Diet Eman, Hein Sietsma, and Henk Sietsma followed, for the glory of God and the benefit of many people.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 16, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBALD OF OSTREVANT, RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CACCIAFRONTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND MARTYR, 1183

THE FEAST OF SAINT MEGINGAUD OF WURZBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THOMAS WYATT TURNER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SCIENTIST, EDUCATOR, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST; FOUNDER OF FEDERATED COLORED CATHOLICS

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Lord God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served,

and to give his life for the world.

Lead us by his love to serve all those whom

the world offers no comfort and little help.

Through us give hope to the hopeless,

love to the unloved,

peace to the troubled,

and rest to the weary;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Psalm 94:1-14

Hosea 2:18-23

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37

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Above:  Statue of James Montgomery

Image Source = Mick Knapton

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JAMES MONTGOMERY (NOVEMBER 4, 1771-APRIL 30, 1854)

Anglican and Moravian Hymn Writer

James Montgomery was one of the greatest English hymn writers, by quality of those texts as well as the quantity of them–more than 400.  The Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923) included 52 of his hymns–certainly an impressive count.

James Montgomery, born on November 4, 1771, at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, was one of several sons of John Montgomery, the only Moravian minister in Scotland.  Our saint, who started writing poetry at the age of 10 years, studied at Bracehill, a Moravian settlement in Ireland, where his family had settled in 1776.  A few years later the parents left their sons behind, in the care of the Moravian Church, and became missionaries to Barbados, where they died.  Young James continued his education at Fulneck Seminary, Fulneck, England.  He was, however, a bad student, so school officials apprenticed him to a baker.  Montgomery ran away from the baker and fled to Mirfield in 1787.  There he got a job in retail, but became bored with that position.  So it came to pass that he left that job and relocated to Wath, near Rotherham, and went to work in another store.  That position did not satisfy Montgomery either, so he left for London.  In that city he searched in vain for someone to publish his poetry.  In 1792, however, he did find a job he liked–assistant to one Jospeh Gales, an auctioneer, a bookseller, and the publisher of the Sheffield Register.

Montgomery was, by the standards of Tory politics, a revolutionary; so was Gales.  Our saint approved of the storming of the Bastille, favored the abolition of slavery and of the slave trade, and was concerned about the plight of child laborers.  He was a radical who did not shrink from challenging conventions and institutions.  In the wake of the French Revolution the administration of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger clamped down on dissent (even that of the peaceful variety) and suspended the writ of habeas corpus.  There was, therefore, no freedom of speech or of the press for a time–all in the name of national security, a poor excuse for suppressing civil liberties.  Gales fled the country rather than go to prison for having published certain articles and editorials.  Montgomery assumed leadership of the newspaper, which he renamed the Sheffield Iris.  For 31 years, until 1825, he edited the publication.  Twice he went to prison for political reasons.  The first term was due to a text in praise of the storming of the Bastille.  The second period of incarceration followed the printing of details of a riot at Sheffield.

Montgomery, who helped to found the Eclectic Review in 1825 and contributed to it frequently for years, lectured on poetry at Sheffield and at the Royal Institution, London.  Our saint, who left the Moravian Church for The Church of England, returned to the Unitas Fratrum in 1812.  As an Anglican, Montgomery promoted the congregational singing of hymns, as opposed to the traditional metrical Psalms.  (Congregational hymn singing displaced metrical Psalms in Anglicanism in the 1800s.)  Our saint also encouraged foreign missions and worked with the British Bible Society.  Some of his hymns were parts of these evangelistic efforts.

Some of Montgomery’s notable hymns were:

1. “We Bid Thee Welcome in the Name of Jesus” (for the ordination and installation of a minister),
2. “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,”
3. “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Gates of Brass,”
4. “Angels, from the Realms of Glory,” and
5. “O Bless the Lord, My Soul.”

Major works of our saint, awarded (by a Whig government) a royal pension of 200 pounds–that is, 17,400 pounds, adjusted for inflation to 2016 currency, measured according to the retail price index–per annum in 1833, included:

1. Prison Amusements (1796),
2. The Ocean (1805),
3. The Wanderer of Switzerland (1806),
4. The West Indies (1810),
5. The World Before the Flood (1812),
6. Greenland, and Other Poems (1819),
7. Songs of Zion (1822),
8. The Christian Psalmist (1825),
9. The Pelican Island (1827),
10. Collected Poems (1841), and
11. Original Hymns (1853).

Montgomery died in his sleep at his home on The Mount, Sheffield, on April 30, 1854.  He was 84 years old.  A large public funeral followed.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 28, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FLORA MACDONALD, CANADIAN STATESWOMAN AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF NANCY BYRD TURNER, POET, EDITOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF THE PIONEERING FEMALE EPISCOPAL PRIESTS, 1974 AND 1975

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

James Montgomery and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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Above:  The Grave of Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

Image Source = Midnightdreary

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SARAH JOSEPHA BUELL HALE (OCTOBER 24, 1788-APRIL 30, 1879)

Poet, Author, Editor, and Prophetic Witness

The Episcopal Church, in A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  A Calendar of Commemorations (2016), lists Sarah Josepha Buell Hale as “Editor and Prophetic Witness” and sets April 30 as her feast day.  This commemoration dates to 2009, when the denominational General Convention voted to recognize her and other “new” saints listed in Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints, the expansion of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, still (as of 2017), the official calendar of saints for The Episcopal Church.

Sarah Josepha Buell, a native of New Hampshire, entered the world on October 24, 1788.  She came from a somewhat socially and politically revolutionary family.  Her parents, Captain Gordon Buell and Martha Buell, advocated for the equal education of males and females at a time when young women usually received educations designed to prepare them to become mothers and homemakers, not to pursue careers.  Sarah married attorney David Hale in 1813.  They remained married until 1822, when he died a few days before the birth of their fifth child.  Our saint wore black for the rest of her life and supported her family and herself as a writer and journalist.

Hale published more than 50 volumes, from poetry to novels to cookbooks to works on women’s history.  Her first volume of poetry was The Genius of Oblivion (1823).  Northwood:  A Tale of New England (1827) was the first American novel by a woman and one of the earliest American novels to address chattel slavery.  Poems for Our Little Children (1830) gave the world “Mary had a little lamb.”  The premise of Woman’s Record, or Sketches from the Creation to the Present Day (1853; revised in 1869 and 1876), her most popular book, was the moral superiority of women over men and the equating of the progress of women and that of Christianity.

Hale who grew up reading books such as the Bible and The Pilgrim’s Progress, was ahead of her time in some ways and of her time in others.  True to her age, our saint bought into the twin fallacies of separate spheres and republican motherhood, whereby men and women moved in different social circles and women functioned properly as the moral guardians of the republic, raising young Americans, joining patriotic organizations, and lobbying male office holders yet did not vote or hold public offices.  Hale used her positions as the Editor of the popular Ladies’ Magazine (from 1828 to 1837) and its successor, Godey’s Lady’s Book (from 1837 to 1877) to promote her middle class notions of morality, etiquette, attire, et cetera.  On the other hand, she used those positions to promote the equal education of males and females, to help found Vassar College (in 1861), to argue for the property rights for women as well as for access to health care, to support women who chose careers, and to oppose slavery.  During the Civil War Hale supported the Union cause.  Before and after that conflict she promoted national unity.

Hale contributed to her nation in other ways.  She promoted the preservation of the historic sites at Bunker Hill and Mount Vernon.  And, starting in 1846, our saint advocated for the nationalization of the Thanksgiving holiday, observed in some states (mainly in New England) on different dates at the time.  President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Decree (1863) was the culmination of her efforts in that regard.

Hale died on April 30, 1879.  She was 90 years old.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 25, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR

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Gracious God, we bless your Name for the union and witness of Sarah Hale,

whose advocacy for the ministry of women helped to support the deaconess movement.

Make us grateful for your many blessings, that we may come closer to Christ in our own families,

through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with

you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 30:17-19, 22

Psalm 96

Philippians 1:27-2:2

Matthew 5:1-12

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 353

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Above:  James Russell Woodford

Image in the Public Domain

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JAMES RUSSELL WOODFORD (APRIL 30, 1820-OCTOBER 24, 1885)

Anglican Bishop of Ely, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer

The name of James Russell Woodford came to my attention via The Pilgrim Hymnal (1931/1935).

Woodford, born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, on April 30, 1820, was a priest and bishop of The Church of England.  After graduating from Pembroke College, Cambridge, he became a priest in 1843.  Our saint served as the Master of at Bishop’s College, Bristol, and as the Curate of St. John the Baptist, Broad Street, Bristol.  Then, in 1845, Woodford transferred to St. Saviour’s, Coalpit Heath, where he remained until 1848.  Next he moved to St. Mark’s, Easton, Bristol.  Seven years later Woodford began to serve as the Vicar of Kempsford, Gloucestershire.  In 1868 our saint transferred to Leeds, where he remained until 1873, when he became the Bishop of Ely.  More than once our saint was the Select Preacher in Cambridge.  Also, he was chaplain to Queen Victoria in 1867.  Woodford, who never married, was an Anglo-Catholic; he founded the Ely Theological College, and Anglo-Catholic institution, in 1876.

Woodford’s legacy was literary and related to hymnody.  He published volumes of sermons, lectures on the Creed and for Holy Week, and two hymnals–Hymns Arranged for the Sundays and Holy Days of the Church of England (1852 and 1855) and The Parish Hymn Book (1863 and 1875).  Our saint showed his Anglo-Catholic colors when he translated Roman Catholic Latin hymns and composed original hymns of Anglo-Catholic character.

Woodford died at Ely on October 24, 1885.  He was 65 years old.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 22, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

James Russell Woodford and others, who have composed and translated hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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Above:  Flag of Scotland

JOHN ROSS MACDUFF (MAY 23, 1818-APRIL 30, 1895)

Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Author

Mentor of

GEORGE MATHESON (MARCH 27, 1842-AUGUST 28, 1906)

Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Author

We human beings are here on this planet to, among other things, help each other along the paths of righteousness.  Some of us do a better job of that than do others.  John Ross MacDuff did a fine job.

John Ross MacDuff (1818-1895), a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, entered the ranks of the clergy of The Church of Scotland in 1842.  For seven years he served at Keltins Parish, Forfarshire.  From 1849 to 1855 MacDuff ministered at St. Madoe’s, Perthshire.  Then, until 1871, he pastored Sandyford Parish, Glasgow, retiring from there to devote himself fulltime to writing.  MacDuff was a popular devotional writer and author of thirty-one hymns.  One of them, “Christ is Coming,” based on Revelation 22:20, dealt with the Second Coming.  I have read the text carefully several times, detecting a paraphrase of that verse yet not finding evidence of his Postmillennial theology.  (Aside:  Premillennialism is overrated, by the way.)

Among MacDuff’s parishioners at Sandyford Parish, Glasgow, was George Matheson (1842-1906).  Of MacDuff Matheson wrote:

Dr. MacDuff gave me my first sense of literary beauty, my first experience of oratory, my first real conviction of the beauty of Christianity.

–Quoted in James Moffatt, Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London:  Oxford University Press, 1927), page 414.

Matheson, the son of a successful merchant, was a first-rate intellect.  He was also blind.  That fact led to grief in 1882, when a woman declined his proposal of marriage and cited his blindness as the reason for the negative response.  The immediate result of Matheson’s broken heart was the hymn, “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.”

Matheson followed his mentor into the ordained ministry in 1866, serving first as MacDuff’s assistant at Sandyford Parish.  Matheson served several other congregations during his career, also composing hymns and devotional and scholar prose.  He never married, so one of his sisters always lived with him to provide assistance in personal and ecclesiastical matters.

Each one of us needs help to become the person he or she can become the person he or she can become in God.  MacDuff assisted Matheson, who also received aid from sisters.  I wonder how many people Matheson was therefore able to inspire.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 12, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, BISHOP OF ROME

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Almighty God, beautiful in majesty, majestic in holiness:

You have shown us the splendor of creation in the work of your servants John Ross MacDuff and George Matheson.

Teach us to drive from the world all chaos and disorder,

That our eyes may behold your glory, and that at last everyone may know

The inexhaustible richness of your new creation in Jesus Christ our Lord,

Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Isaiah 28:5-6 or Hosea 14:5-8 or 2 Chronicles 20:20-21

Psalm 96

Philippians 4:8-9 or Ephesians 5:18b-20

Matthew 13:44-52

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 61

Daisies

Image Source = WiZZiK

1 (Frederick Denison Maurice, Anglican Priest and Theologian)

• Giuseppe Girotti, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1945
• John Gray, Scottish Presbyterian Minister, Mythologist, Biblical Scholar, and Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages
• Ludovico Pavoni, Roman Catholic Priest and Educator
• Syragius of Autun and Anarcharius of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Bishops; and Valery of Leucone and Eustace of Luxeuit, Roman Catholic Abbots

2 (James Lloyd Breck, “The Apostle of the Wilderness”)

• Carlo Carretto, Spiritual Writer
• John Payne and Cuthbert Mayne, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1582 and 1577
• Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago
• Mykolai Charnetskyi, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Titular Bishop of Lebed, and Martyr, 1959
• Sidonius Apollinaris, Eustace of Lyon, and His Descendants, Roman Catholic Bishops

3 (Luther D. Reed, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Liturgist)

• Burgendofara and Sadalberga, Roman Catholic Abbesses, and Their Relatives
• Marc Sangnier, Founder of the Sillon Movement
• Mary of Egypt, Hermit and Penitent
• Reginald Heber, Anglican Bishop of Calcutta, and Hymn Writer
• Sidney Lovett, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Chaplain of Yale University

4 (Benedict the African, Franciscan Friar and Hermit)

• Alfred C. Marble, Jr., Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi then Assisting Bishop of North Carolina
• Ernest W. Shurtleff, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Gaetano Catanoso, Founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (Missionaries of the Holy Face)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Civil Rights Leader, and Martyr, 1968 (also January 15)
• Ndue Serreqi, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954

5 (Emily Ayckbowm, Founder of the Community of the Sisters of the Church)

• Mariano de la Mata Aparicio, Roman Catholic Missionary and Educator in Brazil
• Pauline Sperry, Mathematician, Philanthropist, and Activist; and her brother, Willard Learoyd Sperry, Congregationalist Minister, Ethicist, Theologian, and Dean of Harvard Law School
• Ruth Youngdahl Nelson, U.S. Lutheran Renewer of Society
• William Derham, Anglican Priest and Scientist

6 (Marcellinus of Carthage, Roman Catholic Martyr, 413)

• Benjamin Hall Kennedy, Greek and Latin Scholar, Bible Translator, and Anglican Priest
• Daniel G. C. Wu, Chinese-American Episcopal Priest and Missionary
• Emil Brunner, Swiss Reformed Theologian
• Milner Ball, Presbyterian Minister, Law Professor, Witness for Civil Rights, Humanitarian
• Nokter Balbulus, Roman Catholic Monk

7 (Tikhon of Moscow, Russian Orthodox Patriach)

• André Trocmé, Magda Trocmé, and Daniel Trocmé, Righteous Gentiles
• George the Younger, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Mitylene
• Jay Thomas Stocking, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Montford Scott, Edmund Gennings, Henry Walpole, and Their Fellow Martyrs, 1591 and 1595
• Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury

8 (Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Patriarch of American Lutheranism; his great-grandson, William Augustus Muhlenberg, Episcopal Priest, Hymn Writer, and Liturgical Pioneer; and his colleague, Anne Ayres, Founder of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion)

• Dionysius of Corinth, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Godfrey Diekmann, U.S. Roman Catholic Monk, Priest, Ecumenist, Theologian, and Liturgical Scholar
• Hugh of Rouen, Roman Catholic Bishop, Abbot, and Monk
• Julie Billiart, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame
• Timothy Lull, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Scholar, Theologian, and Ecumenist

9 (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran Martyr, 1945

• Johann Cruger, German Lutheran Organist, Composer, and Hymnal Editor
• John Samuel Bewley Monsell, Anglican Priest and Poet; and Richard Mant, Anglican Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore
• Lydia Emilie Gruchy, First Female Minister in the United Church of Canada
• Mikael Agricola, Finnish Lutheran Liturgist, Bishop of Turku, and “Father of Finnish Literary Language”
• William Law, Anglican Priest, Mystic, and Spiritual Writer

10 (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Roman Catholic Priest, Scientist, and Theologian)

• Bademus, Persian Martyr, 376
• Bonifacy Zukowski, Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942
• Fulbert of Chartres, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Henry Van Dyke, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Liturgist
• Howard Thurman, Protestant Theologian

11 (Heinrich Theobald Schenck, German Lutheran Pastor and Hymn Writer)

• Charles Stedman Newhall, U.S. Naturalist, Hymn Writer, and Congregationalist and Presbyterian Minister
• George Augustus Selwyn, Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, Primate of New Zealand, and Bishop of Lichfield; Missionary
• George Zabelka, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Military Chaplain, and Advocate for Christian Nonviolence
• Henry Hallam Tweedy, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer
• Symforian Ducki, Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942

12 (Henry Sloane Coffin, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Theologian, and Hymn Translator; and his nephew, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Social Activist)

• Carl F. Price, U.S. Methodist Hymnologist and Composer
• David Uribe-Velasco, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927
• Julius I, Bishop of Rome
• Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Chilean Roman Catholic Nun
• Zeno of Verona, Bishop

13 (Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham)

• Henri Perrin, French Roman Catholic Worker Priest
• John Gloucester, First African-American Presbyterian Minister
• Lucy Craft Laney, African-American Presbyterian Educator and Civil Rights Activist
• Martin I, Bishop of Rome, and Martyr, 655; and Maximus the Confessor, Eastern Orthodox Monk, Abbot, and Martyr, 662
• Rolando Rivi, Roman Catholic Seminarian and Martyr, 1945

14 (Edward Thomas Demby and Henry Beard Delany, Episcopal Suffragan Bishops for Colored Work)

• Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilnius, Martyrs in Lithuania, 1347
• George Frederick Handel, Composer
• Lucien Botovasoa, Malagasy Roman Catholic Martyr, 1947
• Wandregisilus of Normandy, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Lambert of Lyons, Roman Catholic Abbot and Bishop
• Zenaida of Tarsus and her sister, Philonella of Tarsus; and Hermione of Ephesus; Unmercenary Physicians

15 (Olga of Kiev, Regent of Kievan Russia; Adalbert of Magdeburg, Roman Catholic Bishop; Adalbert of Prague, Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 997; and Benedict and Gaudentius of Pomerania, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 997)

• Damien and Marianne of Molokai, Workers Among Lepers
• Flavia Domitilla, Roman Christian Noblewoman; and Maro, Eutyches, and Victorinus of Rome, Priests and Martyrs, Circa 99
• Hunna of Alsace, the “Holy Washerwoman”

16 (Bernadette of Lourdes, Roman Catholic Visionary)

• Calvin Weiss Laufer, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymnodist
• Isabella Gilmore, Anglican Deaconess
• Mikel Suma, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest, Friar, and Martyr, 1950
• Peter Williams Cassey, African-American Episcopal Deacon; and his wife, Annie Besant Cassey, African-American Episcopal Educator

17 (Daniel Sylvester Tuttle, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)

• Emily Cooper, Episcopal Deaconess
• Lucy Larcom, U.S. Academic, Journalist, Poet, Editor, and Hymn Writer
• Max Josef Metzger, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944
• Wilbur Kenneth Howard, Moderator of The United Church of Canada

18 (Roger Williams, Founder of Rhode Island; and Anne Hutchinson, Rebellious Puritan)

• Cornelia Connelly, Founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus
• Maria Anna Blondin, Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne
• Mary C. Collins, U.S. Congregationalist Missionary and Minister
• Murin of Fahan, Laserian of Leighlin, Goban of Picardie, Foillan of Fosses, and Ultan of Peronne, Abbots; Fursey of Peronne and Blitharius of Seganne, Monks
• Roman Archutowski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1943

19 (Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1012)

• Emma of Lesum, Benefactor
• Olavus Petri, Swedish Lutheran Theologian, Historian, Liturgist, Minister, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and “Father of Swedish Literature;” and his brother, Laurentius Petri, Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Bible Translator, and “Father of Swedish Hymnody”
• Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Anglican Organist and Composer

20 (Johannes Bugenhagen, German Lutheran Theologian, Minister, Liturgist, and “Pastor of the Reformation”)

• Amator of Auxerre and Germanus of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Bishops; Mamertinus of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Marcian of Auxerre, Roman Catholic Monk
• Chiara Bosatta, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence
• Christian X, King of Denmark and Iceland; and his brother, Haakon VII, King of Norway
• Marion MacDonald Kelleran, Episcopal Seminary Professor and Lay Leader
• Robert Seymour Bridges, Anglican Hymn Writer and Hymn Translator

21 (Roman Adame Rosales, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927)

• Conrad of Parzham, Capuchin Friar
• David Brainerd, American Congregationalist then Presbyterian Missionary and Minister
• George B. Caird, English Congregationalist then United Reformed Minister, Biblical Scholar, and Hymn Writer and Translator
• Georgia Harkness, U.S. Methodist Minister, Theologian, Ethicist, and Hymn Writer
• Simeon Barsabae, Bishop; and His Companions, Martyrs, 341

22 (Gene Britton, Episcopal Priest)

• Donald S. Armentrout, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Scholar
• Hadewijch of Brabert, Roman Catholic Mystic
• Kathe Kollwitz, German Lutheran Artist and Pacifist
• Ndoc Suma, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1958
• Vitalis of Gaza, Monk, Hermit, and Martyr, Circa 625

23 (Toyohiko Kagawa, Renewer of Society and Prophetic Witness in Japan)

• Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, Italian Roman Catholic Nun
• Martin Rinckart, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
• Teresa Maria of the Cross, Founder of the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa of Florence
• Walter Russell Bowie, Episcopal Priest, Seminary Professor, and Hymn Writer

24 (Genocide Remembrance)

• Egbert of Lindisfarne, Roman Catholic Monk; and Adalbert of Egmont, Roman Catholic Missionary
• Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Capuchin Friar and Martyr, 1622
• Frank von Christierson, Finnish-American Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
• Jakob Böhme, German Lutheran Mystic
• Johann Walter, “First Cantor of the Lutheran Church”
• Mellitus, Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury

25 (MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68)

26 (William Cowper, Anglican Hymn Writer)

• Adelard of Corbie, Frankish Roman Catholic Monk and Abbot; and his protégé, Paschasius Radbertus, Frankish Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Theologian
• Robert Hunt, First Anglican Chaplain at Jamestown, Virginia
• Ruth Byllesby, Episcopal Deaconess in Georgia
• Stanislaw Kubista, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940; and Wladyslaw Goral, Polish Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 1945
• William Stringfellow, Episcopal Attorney, Theologian, and Social Activist

27 (George Washington Doane, Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey; and his son, William Croswell Doane, Episcopal Bishop of Albany; Hymn Writers)

• Antony and Theodosius of Kiev, Founders of Russian Orthodox Monasticism; Barlaam of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Abbot; and Stephen of Kiev, Russian Orthodox Abbot and Bishop
• Christina Rossetti, Poet and Religious Writer
• Remaclus of Maastricht, Theodore of Maastricht, Lambert of Maastricht, Hubert of Maastricht and Liege, and Floribert of Liege, Roman Catholic Bishops; Landrada of Munsterbilsen, Roman Catholic Abbess; and Otger of Utrecht, Plechelm of Guelderland, and Wiro, Roman Catholic Missionaries
• Zita of Tuscany, Worker of Charity

28 (Jaroslav Vajda, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer)

• Jozef Cebula, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1941
• Louis de Montfort, Founder of the Company of Mary (the Montfort Missionaries) and Co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom; and Marie-Louise Trichet, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom
• Pamphilius of Sulmona, Roman Catholic Bishop and Almsgiver
• Peter Chanel, Protomartyr of Oceania, 1841

29 (Catherine of Siena, Roman Catholic Mystic and Religious)

• Bosa of York, John of Beverley, Wilfrid the Younger, and Acca of Hexham, Roman Catholic Bishops
• Hanna Helena Chrzanowska, Polish Roman Catholic Nurse
• James Edward Walsh, Roman Catholic Missionary Bishop and Political Prisoner in China
• Simon B. Parker, United Methodist Biblical Scholar
• Timothy Rees, Welsh Anglican Hymn Writer and Bishop of Llandaff

30 (James Montgomery, Anglican and Moravian Hymn Writer)

• Diet Eman; her fiancé, Hein Sietsma, Martyr, 1945; and his brother, Hendrik “Henk” Sietsma; Righteous Among the Nations
• Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, Founder of the Little House of Divine Providence
• James Russell Woodford, Anglican Bishop of Ely, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer
• John Ross MacDuff and George Matheson, Scottish Presbyterian Ministers and Authors
• Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, Poet, Author, Editor, and Prophetic Witness

 

Floating

• The Confession of Saint Martha of Bethany (the Sunday immediately prior to Palm Sunday; March 8-April 11)

 

Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.

Above:  Logo of the Moravian Church

Jesus:  Shepherd and Lamb

APRIL 30, 2023

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Acts 2:42-47 (New Revised Standard Version):

Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Psalm 23 (New Revised Standard Version):

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff–

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

my whole life long.

1 Peter 2:19-25 (New Revised Standard Version):

It is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

He committed no sin,

and no deceit was found in his mouth.

When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.  He himself bore our sins in the body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.  For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the guardian of your souls.

John 10:1-10 (New Revised Standard Version):

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

The Collect:

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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A shepherd is  a shepherd only if there are sheep to guard and lead.

The imagery of sheep and shepherds runs throughout the Old and New Testaments.  Various groups of people–royal subjects, people in front of Jesus, et cetera–filled the role of sheep, depending on the text in question.  Depending on the passage of Scripture one considers, the shepherd was God, a king, or Jesus.  And some shepherds neglected their flocks.  Jesus, we read, is the Good Shepherd.  And he is, indeed.

We, as sheep, need a shepherd to protect us from ourselves, for we want to wander off to dangerous places.  Despite what we like to think about ourselves, we are not always the brightest crayons in the box.  Dealing with this issue effectively begins with recognizing the truth about ourselves and how much we need God, specifically in the form of Jesus.  May we acknowledge our shepherd and follow his lead.

Yet Jesus is also the victorious and worthy sacrificial lamb.  Members of the Church Triumphant wash their robes in his blood, and their robes become white. This poetic image communicates a great truth regarding atonement.  So, as the logo of the Moravian Church encourages us, may we follow the lamb.  Considering what he sacrificed and why he did it, we should reciprocate in love, devotion, and gratitude.

KRT