Above:  William Henry Draper

Image in the Public Domain

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WILLIAM HENRY DRAPER (DECEMBER 19, 1855-AUGUST 9, 1933)

Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator

William Henry Draper comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Methodist Hymnal (1966).

Draper was a priest in The Church of England.  He, born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England, on December 19, 1855, was a son of Henry Draper and Lucy Mary Draper.  Our saint studied at Cheltenham College then at Keble College, Oxford.  Draper, ordained in 1880, was, in order:

1. Curate of St. Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury (1880-1883);
2. Vicar of Alfreton (1883-1889);
3. Vicar of the Abbey Church, Shrewsbury (1889-1899);
4. Rector of Adel, Leeds (1899-1919);
5. Master of the Temple, London (1919-1930); and
6. Vicar of Axbridge (1930-1933).

Draper left a literary legacy.  He edited Seven Spiritual Songs by Thomas Campion (1919) and Hymns for the Tunes by Orlando Gibbons (1925).  Draper translated Petrarch‘s Secretum (published in 1911).  His published original works included The Victoria Book of Hymns (1897) and Hymns for Holy Week (1898).  Draper’s hymns, both original and translated, numbered in excess of 60.  They included “In Our Day of Thanksgiving” and “Lord, Through This Holy Week.”  His translations included, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” published in 1926.

Draper, aged 77 years, died in Clifton, Bristol, on August 9, 1933.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 31, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE DAY OF PENTECOST, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

William Henry Draper 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:  Holy Family Catholic Church, Blakely, Georgia, June 2013

Image Via Google Earth

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WILLIAM HOWARD BISHOP (DECEMBER 19, 1886-JUNE 11, 1953)

Founder of the Glenmary Home Missioners and the Glenmary Sisters

William Howard Bishop comes to this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).

William Howard Bishop, born in Washington, D.C., on December 19, 1886, was a domestic missionary.  He, a son of Eleanor Teresa Knowles and Dr. Francis Bessant Bishop (a physician), studied journalism at Harvard (1906-1908), but decided instead to study theology.  Our saint, ordained a Roman Catholic priest on March 27, 1915, served first in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.  In 1917, however, he transferred to a parish in rural Clarkesville, Maryland.  He remained there for two decades.  From 1937 to 1946 Bishop was a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, serving in St. Martin’s, Ohio.

Rural ministry became the work of Bishop’s life.  He identified 2000 of the nearly 3000 counties in the United States as lacking a resident Roman Catholic priest.  In 1939, with the support of the Bishop of Cincinnati, he founded the Home Missioners of America (the Glenmary Home Missioners) for priests and brothers.  He founded the Home Mission Sisters of America (the Glenmary Sisters) in 1941.  The mission of the Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters was to serve in the vast territory Bishop called “No Priest Land, U.S.A.”  Our saint established the orders to found missions in small towns, build up those missions, and turn pastoral care over to the local diocese.   Our saint, the Superior General of the Glenmary Home Missioners, starting in 1951, died on June 11, 1953.  He was 66 years old.

Above:  St. Luke Catholic Church, Cuthbert, Georgia

Image Via Google Earth

Members of the orders continue to minister in the South and Appalachia.

As of today, there is a Glenmary presence in two counties in Georgia, my state.  A priest and a brother serve at Holy Family Church, Blakely, and at St. Luke Church, Cuthbert, in the southwestern part of the state.  I know this area well.  Most of southwestern Georgia is economically stagnant and culturally reactionary.  Poverty rates are high and high school graduation rates are low.  Without much effort I can name a current two-county high school (Randolph-Clay, opened in 1980) and some former multi-county high schools opened in the 1970s and 1980s (Stewart-Webster, Mitchell-Baker, and Tri-County) yet broken up during the last few years.  Some of the counties in southwestern Georgia lack sufficient tax bases.  Some of these counties lack a hospital.  I know of one county with just one physician.   A few counties in the region even lack a grocery store.  Southwestern Georgia, like most of the rest of rural Georgia, is depopulating, as it has been for nearly a century, starting with the Great Migration and the Boll Weevil.  Historians of the Civil Rights Movement note that there was not much a movement in southwestern Georgia during the 1950s and 1960s.  I recall, during some of my formative years, hearing some of the older members of the United Methodist congregations my father served use racial slurs without apologies.  Much of the region resides in a cultural time warp.

The Glenmary Missioners (male and female) have their work cut out for them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 5, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONIO MARY ZACCARIA, FOUNDER OF THE BARNABITES AND THE ANGELIC SISTERS OF SAINT PAUL

THE FEAST OF GEORGES BERNANOS, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC NOVELIST

THE FEAST OF HULDA NIEBUHR, CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR; HER BROTHERS, H. RICHARD NIEBUHR AND REINHOLD NIEBUHR, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST THEOLOGIANS; AND URSULA NIEBUHR, EPISCOPAL THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH BOISSEL, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST AND MARTYR IN LAOS, 1969

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Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant William Howard Bishop,

whom you called to preach the Gospel to “No Priest Land, U.S.A.”

Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom,

that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 52:7-10

Psalm 96 or 96:1-7

Acts 1:1-9

Luke 10:1-9

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 716

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Father, forgive them, for they know now what they do.

Above:  Blessed Kazimiera Wolowska

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED KAZIMIERA WOLOWSKA (SEPTEMBER 30, 1879-DECEMBER 19, 1942)

Polish Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr, 1942

Alternative feast day (as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II) = June 12

Pope Pius XII was a contradictory and troublesome figure during World War II, but the heroic witness of many Roman Catholics in difficult circumstances was unambiguous.

Consider, O reader, the case of Blessed Kazimiera Wolowska.

Wolowska lived and died for God.  She, born in Lublin, Poland, on September 30, 1879, grew up in a devout and patriotic family.  She made perpetual vows as a nun of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, as Maria Marta of Jesus, on July 3, 1909.  In August 1939, she became the prioress at Slonim (now in Belarus); she assumed responsibility for schools and an orphanage, also.  Wolowska provided shelter for all she could in war-torn Poland; she took in Jews and Gentiles.  Agents of the Gestapo arrested her on December 18, 1942, and shot her the following day.  Her last words were those of Jesus from Luke 23:34:

Pope John Paul II declared Wolowska a Venerable then beatified her in 1999.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 5, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONIO MARY ZACCARIA, FOUNDER OF THE BARNABITES AND THE ANGELIC SISTERS OF SAINT PAUL

THE FEAST OF GEORGES BERNANOS, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC NOVELIST

THE FEAST OF HULDA NIEBUHR, CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR; HER BROTHERS, H. RICHARD NIEBUHR AND REINHOLD NIEBUHR, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST THEOLOGIANS; AND URSULA NIEBUHR, EPISCOPAL THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH BOISSEL, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST AND MARTYR IN LAOS, 1969

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Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love

in the heart of your holy martyr Blessed Kazimiera Wolowska:

Grant to us, your humble servants a like faith and power of love,

that we who rejoice in her triumph may profit by her example;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns

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

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 124 or 31:1-5

1 Peter 4:12-19

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 715

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Above:  Francesco Antonio Bonporti

Image in the Public Domain

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FRANCESCO ANTONIO BONPORTI (JUNE 11, 1672-DECEMBER 19, 1749)

Italian Roman Catholic Priest and Composer

One of the delights of being a Western classicist is learning about composers who have fallen into obscurity.  Then another delight–listening to their music–ensues.

Francesco Antonio Bonporti, born in Trento, on the Italian peninsula, on June 11, 1672, was one of these composers.  He studied theology, composition, and violin at the Collegium Germanicum, Rome.  His composition teacher was Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657-1743).  Bonporti, ordained a priest in 1695, moved to Padua in 1740.  There he died on December 19, 1749.

Bonporti composed instrumental music as a hobby.  One of the composers he influenced was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

I encourage you, O reader, to seek, find, and listen to music Bonporti composed.  Much of it is available at YouTube.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 4, 2019 COMMON ERA

INDEPENDENCE DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBERO AND ULRIC OF AUGSBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, QUEEN AND PEACEMAKER

THE FEAST OF SAINT PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC SERVANT OF THE POOR AND OPPONENT OF FASCISM

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Almighty God, beautiful in majesty, majestic in holiness:

You have shown us the splendor of your creation in the work of your servant Francesco Antonio Bonporti.

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

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 61

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On my bed when I think of you,

Above:  A Domestic Scene, December 8, 2018

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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I muse on you in the watches of the night,

for you have always been my help;

in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;

my heart clings to you,

your right hand supports me.

–Psalm 63:6-8, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

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In my U.S. culture, the time from Thanksgiving (late November) to New Year’s Day is quite busy.  Holidays populate the calendar.  Some of these holidays are, for lack of a better word, ecumenical.  Others are religiously and/or culturally specific, though.  Christmas, originally the Christ Mass, has become an occasion, for many, to worship the Almighty Dollar at the high altar of commercialism.  This is how many Evangelicals of the Victorian Era wanted matters to be.

On the relatively innocuous side, this is the time of the year to populate one’s calendar with holiday social events, such as parties, school plays, and seasonal concerts.  Parents often like to attend their children’s events, appropriately.  Holiday concerts by choral and/or instrumental ensembles can also be quite pleasant.

Yet, amid all this busyness (sometimes distinct from business), are we neglecting the innate human need for peace and quiet?  I like classical Advent and Christmas music, especially at this time of the year (all the way through January 5, the twelfth day of Christmas), but I have to turn it off eventually.  Silence also appeals to me.  Furthermore, being busy accomplishing a worthy goal is rewarding, but so is simply being.

The real question is one of balance.  Given the absence of an actual distinction between the spiritual and the physical, everything is spiritual.  If we are too busy for God, silence, and proper inactivity, we are too busy.  If we are too busy to listen to God, we are too busy.  If we are too busy or too idle, we are not our best selves.

May we, by grace, strike and maintain the proper balance.  May we, especially at peak periods of activity, such as the end of the year, not overextend ourselves, especially in time commitments.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 14, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF SAINT VENANTIUS HONORIUS CLEMENTIUS FORTUNATUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF POITIERS

THE FEAST OF DOROTHY ANN THRUPP, ENGLISH HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC

THE FEAST OF ROBERT MCDONALD, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MISSIONARY

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Published originally at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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Above:  Raoul Wallenberg

Image in the Public Domain

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RAOUL GUSTAV WALLENBERG (AUGUST 4, 1912-JULY 17, 1947?)

Righteous Gentile

Raoul Wallenberg was a merely decent human being.

Robert Ellsberg explains:

Unlike many rescuers, Wallenberg left no record of soul-searching, conversion, or even profound reflection on the meaning of his efforts.  He did not come from a particularly religious family, and his privileged upbringing had fairly insulated him from much contact with suffering.  He simply rose to the ethical demands of the situation as though it were the self-evident duty of a human being.  He did what needed to be done.  The Nazis did not know what to make of this.  More than once it seems they put the question to him:  “Why would a Christian go to such trouble to save some Jews?”  There is no record of his ever having dignified the question with a reply.

—All Saints:  Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997), pages 556-557

Wallenberg, born at Lidingo, Sweden, on August 4, 1912, came from a prominent family that included bankers and industrialists.  He, an excellent student, preferred architecture and commerce to banking, the profession for which certain members of his family were grooming him.  After graduating from high school and serving the mandatory eight months in the Swedish Army our saint studied architecture at the University of Michigan from 1931 to 1935.  He graduated with honors then returned to Sweden briefly.  Wallenberg’s grandfather sent him to work at a building materials firm in Cape Town, South Africa, for six months.  Then the grandfather arranged for our saint to work in a Dutch bank office in Haifa, Palestine.  There the part-Jewish Wallenberg encountered Jews who had escaped from Germany.

The Protestant Wallenberg returned to Sweden in 1936.  Eventually he became a joint owner and international director of the Mid-European Trading Company.  In that capacity he traveled across Europe.  In July 1944 our saint arrived in Budapest, Hungary.  Officially, he was part of the Swedish legation there.  He was actually in Hungary because of a diplomatic agreement between the governments of Sweden and the United States; he was associated with the U.S. War Refugee Board.

Wallenberg saved the lives of many Jews in Budapest.  By the time he arrived the Hungarian Jewish population, once nearly 750,000, had shrunk to about 230,000.  Our saint distributed Swedish passports to many of them and helped them leave the country.  He also protected Jews by bribing, browbeating, and threatening to blackmail Hungarian government officials, who were subject to the Nazis.  Our saint also confronted Adolf Eichmann, the chief architect of the Holocaust.  Wallenberg’s diplomatic status protected him for a few months.

Then that protection failed.  He could have left Hungary with other diplomats in December 1944, but our saint remained behind to protect Jews he could not get out of the country.  The NKVD arrested him on January 16, 1945; they thought he was a spy for the United States of America.  The last confirmed sighting of Wallenberg alive was on the following day.  According to Soviet government sources, our saint died of a heart attack on July 17, 1947.  A revised version of the story retained the date of death but changed the cause of death to execution.  Nevertheless, reports of him being alive continued into the 1960s.

Wallenberg laid down his life for strangers in a foreign land.  He made the supreme sacrifice for his neighbors.  His deeds revealed his creed.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 11, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF ANNE STEELE, FIRST IMPORTANT ENGLISH HYMN WRITER

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Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.

Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression.

Help us, like your servant Raoul Wallenberg, to work for justice among people and nations,

to the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

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

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Above:  The Flag of Scotland

Image in the Public Domain

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ROBERT CAMPBELL (DECEMBER 19, 1814-DECEMBER 29, 1868)

Scottish Episcopalian then Roman Catholic Translator of Hymns

His translations are smooth, musical, and well sustained.

—William Gustave Polack, The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal (1942), page 489

Robert Campbell, a native of Trochraig, Ayrshire, Scotland, was an attorney with theological interests.  Manifestations of theology included translating hymns from Latin and working to improve the lives of poor people, especially young ones, via a focus on their education, in particular.  In 1848 our saint began to translate hymns from Latin.  Some of those renderings debuted in print in Hymns and Anthems for Use in the Holy Services of the Church within the United Diocese of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane (1850), a.k.a. the St. Andrews Hymnal.  Other translations were “At the Lamb’s High Feast” and “Christians, Come in Sweetest Measures.”  The traditional attribution of the latter hymn to Adam of St. Victor (died between 1172 and 1192) has come into question, but the text is wonderful nonetheless.

Campbell converted from the Scottish Episcopal Church to the Roman Catholic Church in 1852.  He continued to work with the impoverished youth and to translate hymns from Latin.  He died at Edinburgh on December 29, 1868, aged 54 years.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 30, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PINCHON, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF HORATIUS BONAR, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, ABOLITIONIST

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

and to give his life for the life of 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 Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Poinsettia

Image Source = Andre Karwath

1 (Charles de Foucauld, Roman Catholic Hermit and Martyr, 1916)

• Albert Barnes, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Abolitionist, and Alleged Heretic
• Brioc, Roman Catholic Abbot; and Tudwal, Roman Catholic Abbot, and Bishop of Treguier
• Douglas LeTell Rights, U.S. Moravian Minister, Scholar, and Hymn Writer
• Edward Timothy Mickey, Jr., U.S. Moravian Bishop and Liturgist
• George Hugh Bourne, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator

2 (Hormisdas, Bishop of Rome; and his son, Silverius, Bishop of Rome, and Martyr, 537)

• Channing Moore Williams, Episcopal Missionary Bishop in China and Japan
• Gerald Thomas Noel, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer; his brother, Baptist Wriothesley Noel, Anglican Priest, English Baptist Evangelist, and Hymn Writer; and his niece, Caroline Maria Noel, Anglican Hymn Writer
• Justin Heinrich Knecht, German Lutheran Organist, Music Teacher, and Composer
• Maura Clarke and Her Companions, U.S. Roman Catholic Martyrs in El Salvador, December 2, 1980
• Rafal Chylinski, Polish Franciscan Roman Catholic Priest

3 (Francis Xavier, Roman Catholic Missionary to the Far East)

• Amilie Juliane, Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Lutheran Hymn Writer
• Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Jan Franciszek Macha, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1942
• M. Woolsey Stryker, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Educator, Author, Hymnal Editor, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator
• Sophie Koulomzin, Russian-American Christian Educator

4 (John of Damascus and Cosmas of Maiuma, Theologians and Hymnodists)

• Alexander Hotovitzky, Russian Orthodox Priest and Martyr, 1937
• Bernard of Parma, Roman Catholic Bishop of Parma
• Joseph Mohr, Austrian Roman Catholic Priest; and Franz Gruber, Austrian Roman Catholic Teacher, Musician, and Composer
• Maruthas, Roman Catholic Bishop of Maypherkat, and Missionary to Persia
• Osmund of Salisbury, Roman Catholic Bishop of Salisbury

5 (Clement of Alexandria, Father of Christian Scholarship)

• Cyran, Roman Catholic Abbot
• Narcyz Putz, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1942
• Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, and Renewer of Society
• Nicetius of Trier, Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Bishop of Trier; and Aredius of Limoges, Roman Catholic Monk
• Peter Mortimer, Anglo-German Moravian Educator, Musician, and Scholar; and Gottfried Theodor Erxleben, German Moravian Minister and Musicologist

6 (Nicholas of Myra, Bishop of Myra)

• Abraham of Kratia, Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, Bishop of Kratia, and Hermit
• Alice Freeman Palmer, U.S. Educator and Hymn Writer
• Anne Ross Cousin, Scottish Presbyterian Hymn Writer
• Henry Ustick Onderdonk, Episcopal Bishop of New York, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer
• Philip Berrigan and his brother, Daniel Berrigan, Roman Catholic Priests and Social Activists

7 (John Greenleaf Whittier, U.S. Quaker Abolitionist, Poet, and Hymn Writer)

• Emma Francis, Lutheran Deaconess in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Harlem
• Georg Friedrich Hellstrom, Dutch-German Moravian Musician, Composer, and Educator
• John Howard Bertram Masterman, Anglican Scholar, Hymn Writer, Priest, and Bishop of Plymouth
• Maria Josepha Rossello, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Our Lady of Pity
• William Gustave Polack, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer and Translator

8 (Walter Ciszek, Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Political Prisoner)

• Amatus of Luxeuil and Romaric of Luxeuil, Roman Catholic Monks and Abbots
• Ambrose Reeves, Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg, and Opponent of Apartheid
• Erik Christian Hoff, Norwegian Lutheran Composer and Organist
• Marin Shkurti, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1969
• Narcisa de Jesús Martillo-Morán, Ecuadorian Roman Catholic Mystic and Ascetic

9 (Liborius Wagner, German Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1631)

• David Brüning, S. German Evangelical Minister, Hymnal Editor, and Hymn Tune Composer
• George Job Elvey, Anglican Composer and Organist
• John Zundel, German-American Organist, Hymnal Editor, Hymn Tune Composer, and Music Editor
• Peter Fourier, “The Good Priest of Mattaincourt;” and Alix Le Clerc, Founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Canonesses Regular of Saint Augustine
• Thomas Merton, S. Roman Catholic Priest, Monk, and Spiritual Writer

10 (Karl Barth, Swiss Reformed Minister, Theologian, and Biblical Scholar; and his son, Markus Barth, Swiss Lutheran Minister and Biblical Scholar)

• Howell Elvet Lewis, Welsh Congregationalist Clergyman and Poet
• John Roberts, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1610
• Olivier Messiaen, Claire Delbos, and Yvonne Loriod, French Roman Catholic Musicians and Composers
• Paul Eber, German Lutheran Theologian and Hymn Writer
• Robert Murray, Canadian Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer

11 (Martyrs of El Mozote, El Salvador, December 11-12, 1981)

• Howard Chandler Robbins, Episcopal Priest, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Tune Composer
• Kazimierz Tomas Sykulski, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1942
• Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, Hans Peter Boerresen, and Paul Olaf Bodding, Lutheran Missionaries in India
• Luke of Prague and John Augusta, Moravian Bishops and Hymn Writers
• Severin Ott, Roman Catholic Monk

12 (William Lloyd Garrison, Abolitionist and Feminist; and Maria Stewart, Abolitionist, Feminist, and Educator)

• Bartholomew Buonpedoni and Vivaldus, Ministers among Lepers
• Jonathan Krause, Silesian Lutheran Minister, Hymn Writer, and Hymnal Editor
• Ludwik Bartosik, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1941
• Thomas Canning, U.S. Composer and Music Educator
• William Louis Poteat, President of Wake Forest College, and Biologist; his brother, Edwin McNeill Poteat, Sr., Southern and Northern Baptist Minister, Scholar, and President of Furman University; his son, Edwin McNeill Poteat, Jr., Southern Baptist Minister, Missionary, Musician, Hymn Writer, and Social Reformer;  his brother, Gordon McNeill Poteat, Southern and Northern Baptist and Congregationalist Minister and Missionary; and his cousin, Hubert McNeill Poteat, Southern Baptist Academic and Musician

13 (Samuel Johnson, “The Great Moralist”)

• Christian Furchtegott Gellert, German Lutheran Minister, Educator, and Hymn Writer
• Ella J. Baker, Witness for Civil Rights
• Paul Speratus, German Lutheran Bishop, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer
• Pierson Parker, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Episcopal Priest, and Biblical Scholar
• R. Birch Hoyle, English Baptist Minister and Hymn Translator

14 (Radegunda, Thuringian Roman Catholic Princess, Deaconess, and Nun; and Venantius Honorius Clementius Fortunatus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Poitiers)

• Dorothy Ann Thrupp, English Hymn Writer
• Henry Aldrich, Anglican Priest, Composer, Theologian, Mathematician, and Architect
• James Arnold Blaisdell, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Scholar, and Hymn Writer
• John of the Cross, Roman Catholic Mystic and Carmelite Friar
• William Adams Brown, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Theologian, and Social Reformer

15 (Thomas Benson Pollock, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer)

• Fred D. Gealy, U.S. Methodist Minister, Missionary, Musician, and Biblical Scholar
• Henry Fothergill Chorley, English Novelist, Playwright, and Literary and Music Critic
• John Horden, Anglican Bishop of Moosenee
• Ralph Wardlaw, Scottish Congregationalist Minister, Hymn Writer, and Liturgist
• Robert McDonald, Anglican Priest and Missionary

16 (Ralph Adams Cram and Richard Upjohn, Architects; and John LaFarge, Sr., Painter and Stained-Glass Window Maker)

• Alexis Feodorovich Lvov, Russian Orthodox Musician and Composer
• Conrad Kocher, German Composer and Music Educator; Reformer of Church Music in Germany
• Filip Siphong Onphithakt, Roman Catholic Catechist and Martyr in Thailand, 1940
• Lewis Henry Redner, Episcopal Organist and Hymn Tune Composer
• Maude Dominica Petre, Roman Catholic Modernist Theologian

17 (Eglantyne Jebb and Dorothy Buxton, Founders of Save the Children)

• Althea Brown Edmiston, African-American Southern Presbyterian Missionary in the Congo Free State then Belgian Congo
• Dorothy Sayers, Anglican Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Translator, Apologist, and Theologian
• Frank Mason North, U.S. Methodist Minister, Social Reformer, and Hymn Writer
• Mary Cornelia Bishop Gates, U.S. Dutch Reformed Hymn Writer
• Olympias of Constantinople, Widow and Deaconess

18 (Marc Boegner, French Reformed Minister and Ecumenist)

• Alicia Domon and Her Companions, Martyrs in Argentina, 1977
• Giulia Valle, Roman Catholic Nun
• Horatio William Parker, Episcopal Composer, Organist, and Music Educator
• John Darwall, Anglican Priest and Composer
• John MacLeod Campbell Crum, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

19 (Raoul Wallenberg, Righteous Gentile)

• Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian Roman Catholic Priest and Composer
• Kazimiera Wolowska, Polish Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr, 1942
• Robert Campbell, Scottish Episcopalian then Roman Catholic Social Advocate and Hymn Writer
• William Henry Draper, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator
• William Howard Bishop, Founder of the Glenmary Home Missioners

20 (Dominic of Silos, Roman Catholic Abbot)

• Bates Gilbert Burt, Episcopal Priest, Hymn Writer, and Composer
• Benjamin Tucker Tanner, African Methodist Episcopal Bishop and Renewer of Society
• D. Elton Trueblood, U.S. Quaker Theologian
• Johann Christoph Schwedler, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
• Michal Piasczynski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940

21 (THOMAS THE APOSTLE, MARTYR)

22 (Frederick Temple and William Temple, Archbishops of Canterbury)

• Chaeremon and Ischyrion, Roman Catholic Martyrs, Circa 250
• Chico Mendes, “Gandhi of the Amazon”
• Demetrius A. Gallitzin, Russian-American Roman Catholic Missionary Priest; “The Apostle of the Alleghenies”
• Henry Budd, First Anglican Native Priest in North America; Missionary to the Cree Nation
• Isaac Hecker, Founder of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle

23 (John of Kanty, Roman Catholic Theologian)

• Charbel, Roman Catholic Priest and Monk
• Henry Schwing, U.S. Organist and Music Educator; “The Grand Old Man of Maryland Music”
• James Prince Lee, Anglican Bishop of Manchester
• Thomas Baldwin, U.S. Baptist Minister and Hymn Writer
• William John Blew, English Priest and Hymn Writer

24 (CHRISTMAS EVE)

25 (CHRISTMAS DAY)

26 (SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• STEPHEN, DEACON AND MARTYR

27 (THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• JOHN THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE

28 (FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• HOLY INNOCENTS, MARTYRS, 4 B.C.E

29 (FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Antonio Caldara, Roman Catholic Composer and Musician
• John Burnett Morris, Sr., Episcopal Priest and Witness for Civil Rights
• Philipp Heinrich Molther, German Moravian Minister, Bishop, Composer, and Hymn Translator
• Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1170
• Thomas Cotterill, English Priest, Hymn Writer, and Liturgist

30 (SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Allen Eastman Cross, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• George Wallace Briggs, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• John Main, Anglo-Canadian Roman Catholic Priest and Monk
• Josiah Booth, English Organist, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Tune Composer

• Frances Joseph-Gaudet, African-American Educator, Prison Reformer, and Social Worker

31 (SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Giuseppina Nicoli, Italian Roman Catholic Nun and Minister to the Poor
• Henry Irving Louttit, Jr., Episcopal Bishop of Georgia
• New Year’s Eve
• Rossiter Worthington Raymond, U.S. Novelist, Poet, Hymn Writer, and Mining Engineer
• Zoticus of Constantinople, Priest and Martyr, Circa 351

 

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