Above:  Timothy Richard Matthews

Image in the Public Domain

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TIMOTHY RICHARD MATTHEWS (NOVEMBER 4, 1826-JANUARY 5, 1910)

Anglican Priest, Organist, and Hymn Writer

Timothy Richard Matthews comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal (1941), of the old Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Matthews was an Anglican priest and a church musician.  Our saint, born in Colmworth (near Bedford), England, on November 4, 1826, was a son of the Rector of Colmworth.  Young Timothy graduated from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (A.B., 1853).  Matthews, ordained that year, took on two positions.  Our saint became the private tutor to the Reverend Lord Wriothesley Russell, a canon of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.  That year, Matthews also became the Curate of St. Mary’s, Nottingham (-1859).  While at Nottingham, he founded the Working Men’s Institute.

While tutoring Russell’s family, Matthews met Sir George Job Elvey (1816-1893).  Our saint became one of Elvey’s organ students.  The two men also became lifelong friends.  Matthews’s musical talents extended to composition.  He composed settings of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.  He also wrote and edited books:

1. Tunes for Holy Worship (1859),
2. The Village-Church Tune-Book (1859),
3. Congregational Melodies (1862),
4. Hymn Tunes (1867),
5. North Coates Supplemental Tune Book (1878), and
6. The Village Organist (1877).

Furthermore, our saint composed at least one hymn (“The Sanctuary of My Soul“) and more than 100 hymn tunes.

Matthews served as the Rector of North Coates, Lincolnshire (1859-1907).  Then he, a widower, retired and moved into the vicarage at Tetney, where his eldest son was in residence as the vicar.

Our saint, aged 83 years, died at Tetney, Lincolnshire, on January 5, 1910.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF NEW GUINEA, 1942 AND 1943

THE FEAST OF DAVID CHARLES, WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DIANNA ORTIZ, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM OF ROSKILDE, ENGLISH-DANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ROSKILDE

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Holy God, whose majesty surpasses all human definitions and capacity to grasp,

thank you for those (especially Timothy Richard Matthews)

who have nurtured and encouraged the reverent worship of you.

May their work inspire us to worship you in knowledge, truth, and beauty.

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

1 Chronicles 25:1-8

Psalm 145

Revelation 15:1-4

John 4:19-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGIAN

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Above:  The Flag of Valencia, Spain

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED JUANA MARÍA CONDESA LLUCH (MARCH 30, 1862-JANUARY 16, 1916)

Founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Immaculate Conception, Protectress of Workers

Blessed Juana María Condesa Lluch comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Sainits’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Blessed Juana, born in Valencia, Spain, on March 30, 1862, came from a wealthy and devout family with a strong sense of social responsibility.  Our saint grew up with a healthy prayer life and a desire to help the poor.

Blessed Juana focused on helping the exploited, dehumanized industrial workers and their children.  These families, most of whom had moved from the countryside and into cities, faced daunting challenges.  Wages were low, work days were long, suitable housing was scarce, and factories were death traps.  Our saint, at the tender age of 18 years, discerned her vocation to found a religious order committed to helping exploited workers and their children.  Ecclesiastical doubts regarding Blessed Juana’s youth delayed her work until 1884.  That year, she opened a shelter for industrial workers and their children, and began to provide spiritual formation programs.  A few months later, our saint opened a school for children of factory workers.  Other young women joined her in this work.  The foundations of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Immaculate Conception, Protectress of Workers (formally founded in 1892) were coming together.  The sisters made their first vows in 1895 and their perpetual professions in 1911.

Blessed Juana and her sisters performed their good and necessary works.  She, who aspired to become the “handmaid of the Lord,” encouraged the sisters to live in complete confidence in God, and to live the Beatitudes.

Blessed Juana–Mother Juana–died in Valencia, Spain, on January 16, 1916.  She was 54 years old.

Pope John Paul II declared our saint a Venerable in 1997 then beatified her in 2003.

Sadly, the exploitation of workers–for the purpose of maximizing profits–continues.  Therefore, the need for the type of work in which the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Immaculate Conception, Protectress of Workers, persists.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND REFORMER OF THE CALENDAR

THE FEAST OF DAVID PENDLETON OAKERHATER, CHEYENNE WARRIOR, CHIEF, AND HOLY MAN, AND EPISCOPAL DEACON AND MISSIONARY IN OKLAHOMA

THE FEAST OF SAINT FIACRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT

THE FEAST OF FRANÇOIS MAURIAC, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC NOVELIST, CHRISTIAN HUMANIST, AND SOCIAL CRITIC

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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), 60

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Above:  The Flag of England

Image in the Public Domain

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EDWARD BUNNETT (JUNE 26, 1834-JANUARY 5, 1923)

Anglican Organist and Composer

Edward Bunnett comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal (1941), of the old Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Bunnett served God via music.  our saint, born in Shipdham, Norfolk, England, on June 26, 1834, became a chorister at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Cathedral, Norwich, when he was eight years old.  When our saint was fifteen years old, he began to study the organ under the tutelage of Dr. Zechariah Buck (1798-1877), organist at Norwich Cathedral (1819-1877).  Bunnett, the assistant organist at Norwich Cathedral (1855-1877), also had a fine singing voice.  In 1849, he performed Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s “Lift Thine Eyes” with opera star Jenny Lind (1820-1887), the “Swedish Nightingale.”  Our saint continued his formal studies at Cambridge, earning a Mus.B. (1857) and Mus.D. (1869).  In 1870, he became a Fellow of the College of Organists.

Bunnett, renowned for his virtuosity, taught, performed, and composed.  He became the organist of St. Peter Mancraft Church, Norwich, in 1877.  As the borough organist (1880f), our saint performed in well-attended concerts.  He also conducted the Norwich Musical Union for 21 years and performed in local musical festivals for more than 20 years.  Bunnett taught many organists, too.  His compositions included works for the organ, liturgical music and at least 21 hymn tunes and Christmas carols.

Links to YouTube videos of some of Bunnett’s compositions follow:

1. Allegro moderato in G Major,
2. Concluding Voluntary, and
3. KIRBY BEDON.

Our saint, aged 88 years, died in Norwich on January 5, 1923.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 30, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICODEMUS, DISCIPLE OF JESUS

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Holy God, whose majesty surpasses all human definitions and capacity to grasp,

thank you for those (especially Edward Bunnett)

who have nurtured and encouraged the reverent worship of you.

May their work inspire us to worship you in knowledge, truth, and beauty.

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

1 Chronicles 25:1-8

Psalm 145

Revelation 15:1-4

John 4:19-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGIAN

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Above:  First Parish Church, Wayland, Massachusetts

Image in the Public Domain

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EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS (APRIL 6, 1810-JANUARY 16, 1876)

U.S. Unitarian Minister, Hymn Writer, and Biblical Scholar

Edmund Hamilton Sears left a fine legacy.  Anyone who has sung “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” written in 1849 and published the following year, has experienced the most popular part of that legacy.  One may not know that Sears wrote other hymns–Christmas carols, mostly–because the majority of his hymn texts have fallen into disuse.

Sears was a Unitarian minister.  He, born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1810, studied at Westfield Academy then at Union College, Schenectady, New York, graduating in 1834.  Our saint, intent on becoming an attorney, briefly read law under Thomas Twining, Sandisfield.  Then Sears became a teacher at Brattleboro, Vermont, and studied theology.  He completed theological studies at Harvard Divinity School in 1837.  Our saint, ordained on February 20, 1839, embarked on a religious career.

Sears was pastor of First Parish Church, Wayland, Massachusetts, in 1839-1840 and in 1848-1865.  He was an attentive pastor who initially overworked himself.  Sears, following medical advice, resigned in 1840.  He purchased a farm in the area and became healthier.  The pulpit at First Parish Church was open again in 1848, when the congregation welcomed him back.  Our saint, Christologically orthodox, wrote hymns, as I have mentioned.  At Wayland he also wrote the following books:

1. Regeneration (1854);
2. Pictures of the Olden Time, as Shown in the Fortunes of a Family of Pilgrims (1857); and
3. Athanasia, or Foregleams of Immortality (First Edition, 1858; Second Edition, 1873).

He also became an editor of the Monthly Religious Magazine, a position he held until 1871.

Sears served as pastor of the First Parish Church, Weston, Massachusetts, from 1866 to 1876.  During those years, he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Harvard (1871) and went on a lecture tour of England (1873).  He also published the following books:

1. The Fourth Gospel, the Heart of Christ (1872), and
2. Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life (1875).

Sears, aged 65 years, died in Weston on January 16, 1876.

A posthumous volume, Christ in the Life:  Sermons, with a Selection of Poems, debuted the following year.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 6, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Edmund Hamilton Sears 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:  Roberto de Nobili

Image in the Public Domain

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ROBERTO DE NOBILI (1577-JANUARY 16, 1656)

Roman Catholic Missionary in India

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Roberto de Nobili comes to the Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days from The Book of Worship of the Church of North India (1995).

De Nobili, born to Italian nobility in Montepulciano, Tuscany, in 1577, devoted his adult life to God.  He joined the Society of Jesus at Naples in 1597.  The order sent him to southern India.  Our saint sailed for India in October 1604 and arrived in Goa in May 1605.  De Nobili moved to Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in November 1606.  Within a year he mastered the Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit languages.  He met Goncalo Fernandez, a fellow Jesuit who had labored as a missionary for a decade without converting one person.  De Nobili concluded that proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in a manner agreeable to Hindu Brahmin culture might succeed.

So our saint pursued that strategy for half a century.  De Nobili dressed like a Hindu holy man and preached to people from all castes, converting many of them.  He pioneered a controversial method of evangelism, on of which Pope Gregory XV approved in 1623.  The perception of Christianity among many Hindus was that it was the religion of the invaders, and therefore undesirable.  De Nobili sought to overcome this problem.  He worked at Madura, Mysore, and Karotic.  Our saint wrote catechisms and apologetic works, translated prayers into indigenous languages, and pioneered a missionary strategy other Jesuits followed.  He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ constantly, even during times of incarceration, such as at Madura from 1639 to 1641.  Eventually blindness and bad health forced de Nobili to retire.  He died at Mylapore on January 16, 1656.

De Nobili’s mission, successful in the short term, failed in the long term.  By 1740 the number of Indian Christians exceeded 100,000.  In 1744, however, Pope Benedict XIV suppressed the methods de Nobili favored.  This did not help, but it did not change the fact that de Nobili and his successors, despite their best efforts, never changed the widespread perception among Hindus that Christianity was the religion of the invaders.

De Nobili has remained a subject of criticism, much of it vitriolic.  Certain websites (especially weblogs) I have found via a Google search have perpetuated accusations that he was a bad person–either a heretic or an imperialist–but still a proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Southern Baptist missionary Cody C. Lorance offered a nuanced critique in 2005.  He was generally sympathetic toward de Nobili while arguing that the Jesuit contributed to the longterm failure of that missionary venture.  De Nobili, Lorance argued, should have translated the Bible or parts thereof, as Lutheran Bartholomeaus Ziegenbalg did subsequently.  The reason for that failure was the politics of the Counter-Reformation.  Lorance also criticized de Nobili for failing to encourage the education of Indians as priests and attributed that failure to cultural biases.

Certainly de Nobili, being a human being, was imperfect.  Yes, he could and should have done some things differently than he did.

Despite the validity of some criticisms of de Nobili and his tactics, I choose to focus on the positive.

De Nobili could have lived in relative comfort in Europe, but he chose to serve God in a foreign land.  He subjected himself to decades of hardship, including years of incarceration.  Through it all he proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ consistently.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 19, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, PRINCESS OF HUNGARY AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF ALICE NEVIN, U.S. GERMAN REFORMED LITURGIST AND COMPOSER OF HYMN TEXTS

THE FEAST OF F. BLAND TUCKER, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF JOHANN HERMANN SCHEIN, GERMAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER

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Almighty God, who called your Church to witness that you were in

Christ reconciling men to yourself:  Help us so to proclaim the good news of your love,

that all who hear it may be reconciled to you; through him who died for us and rose again

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

Isaiah 49:1-6

Psalm 97 or 100

Ephesians 2:13-22

Matthew 28:16-20

—Alternative Prayer Book 1984, page 750

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Snow in January

Image in the Public Domain

1 (EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Holy Name of Jesus
• World Day of Peace

2 (NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Gaspar del Bufalo, Founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood
• Johann Konrad Wilhelm Loehe, Bavarian Lutheran Minister, and Coordinator of Domestic and Foreign Missions

• Narcissus of Tomi, Argeus of Tomi, and Marcellinus of Tomi, Roman Martyrs, 320
• Odilo of Cluny, Roman Catholic Abbot
• Sabine Baring-Gould, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

3 (TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Edward Caswall, English Roman Catholic Priest and Hymn Writer
• Edward Perronet, British Methodist Preacher
• Elmer G. Homrighausen, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Biblical Scholar, and Professor of Christian Education
• Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China and Taiwan
• William Alfred Passavant, Sr., U.S. Lutheran Minister, Humanitarian, and Evangelist

4 (ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Angela of Foligno, Italian Roman Catholic Penitent and Humanitarian
• Elizabeth Ann Seton, Founder of the American Sisters of Charity
• Gregory of Langres, Terticus of Langres, Gallus of Clermont, Gregory of Tours, Avitus I of Clermont, Magnericus of Trier, and Gaugericus, Roman Catholic Bishops
• Johann Ludwig Freydt, German Moravian Composer and Educator
• Mary Lundie Duncan, Scottish Presbyterian Hymn Writer

5 (TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS)

• Antonio Lotti, Italian Roman Catholic Musician and Composer
• Felix Manz, First Anabaptist Martyr, 1527
• Genoveva Torres Morales, Founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels
• John Nepomucene Neumann, Roman Catholic Bishop of Philadelphia
• Margaret Mackay, Scottish Hymn Writer

6 (EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST)

7 (François Fénelon, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cambrai)

• Aldric of Le Mans, Roman Catholic Bishop of Le Mans
• Jean Kenyon Mackenzie, U.S. Presbyterian Missionary in West Africa
• Lanza del Vasto, Founder of the Community of the Ark
• Lucian of Antioch, Roman Catholic Martyr, 312
• William Jones, Anglican Priest and Musician

8 (Thorfinn of Hamar, Roman Catholic Bishop)

• A. J. Muste, Dutch-American Minister, Labor Activist, and Pacifist
• Arcangelo Corelli, Italian Roman Catholic Musician and Composer
• Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei, Scientists
• Harriet Bedell, Episcopal Deaconess and Missionary
• Pepin of Landen, Itta of Metz, Their Relations, Amand, Austregisilus, and Sulpicius II of Bourges, Faithful Christians Across Generational Lines

9 (Julia Chester Emery, Upholder of Missions)

• Emily Greene Balch, U.S. Quaker Sociologist, Economist, and Peace Activist
• Gene M. Tucker, United Methodist Minister and Biblical Scholar
• Johann Josef Ignaz von Döllinger, Dissident and Excommunicated German Roman Catholic Priest, Theologian, and Historian
• Philip II of Moscow, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, and Martyr, 1569
• Thomas Curtis Clark, U.S. Disciples of Christ Evangelist, Poet, and Hymn Writer

10 (John the Good, Roman Catholic Bishop of Milan)

• Allen William Chatfield, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Translator
• Louise Cecilia Fleming, African-American Baptist Missionary and Physician
• María Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña y Ortega, Founder of the Centers of Instruction, the Association of the Sodality of the Virgin Mary, the Ladies of the Catechetical Institute, the Association of the Apostolic Laymen/the Sopeña Lay Movement, the Works of the Doctrines/the Center for the Workes, and the Social and Cultural Work Sopeña/the Sopeña Catechetical Institute
• W. Sibley Towner, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar
• William Gay Ballantine, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Educator, Scholar, Poet, and Hymn Writer

11 (Theodosius the Cenobiarch, Roman Catholic Monk)

• Charles William Everest, Episcopal Priest, Poet, and Hymn Writer
• Ignatius Spencer, Anglican then Roman Catholic Priest and Apostle of Ecumenical Prayer; and his protégé, Elizabeth Prout, Founder of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion
• Miep Gies, Righteous Gentile
• Paulinus II of Aquileia, Roman Catholic Patriarch of Aquileia
• Richard Frederick Littledale, Anglican Priest and Translator of Hymns

12 (Benedict Biscop, Roman Catholic Abbot of Wearmouth)

• Aelred of Hexham, Roman Catholic Abbot of Rievaulx
• Caesarius of Arles, Roman Catholic Bishop of Arles; and his sister, Caesaria of Arles, Roman Catholic Abbess
• Anthony Mary Pucci, Italian Roman Catholic Priest
• Henry Alford, Anglican Priest, Biblical Scholar, Literary Translator, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and Bible Translator
• Marguerite Bourgeoys, Founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame

13 (Hilary of Poitiers, Roman Catholic Bishop of Poitiers, “Athanasius of the West;” and Hymn Writer; and his protégé, Martin of Tours, Roman Catholic Bishop of Tours)

• Christian Keimann, German Lutheran Hymn Writer
• Edgar J. Goodspeed, U.S. Baptist Biblical Scholar and Translator
• George Fox, Founder of the Religious Society of Friends
• Mary Slessor, Scottish Presbyterian Missionary in West Africa
• Samuel Preiswerk, Swiss Reformed Minister and Hymn Writer

14 (Macrina the Elder, Her Family, and Gregory of Nazianzus the Younger)

• Abby Kelley Foster and her husband, Stephen Symonds Foster, U.S. Quaker Abolitionists and Feminists
• Eivind Josef Berggrav, Lutheran Bishop of Oslo, Hymn Translator, and Leader of the Norwegian Resistance During World War II
• Kristen Kvamme, Norwegian-American Hymn Writer and Translator
• Richard Meux Benson, Anglican Priest and Co-Founder of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist; Charles Chapman Grafton, Episcopal Priest, Co-Founder of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, and Bishop of Fond du Lac; and Charles Gore, Anglican Bishop of Worcester, Birmingham, and Oxford; Founder of the Community of the Resurrection; Theologian; and Advocate for Social Justice and World Peace
• Sava I, Founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and First Archbishop of Serbs

15 (Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Leader and Martyr, 1968)

• Bertha Paulssen, German-American Seminary Professor, Psychologist, and Sociologist
• Gustave Weigel, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest and Ecumenist
• John Cosin, Anglican Bishop of Durham
• John Marinus Versteeg, U.S. Methodist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Nikolaus Gross, German Roman Catholic Opponent of Nazism, and Martyr, 1945

16 (Roberto de Noboli, Roman Catholic Missionary in India)

• Berard and His Companions, Roman Catholic Martyrs in Morocco, 1220
• Edmund Hamilton Sears, U.S. Unitarian Minister, Hymn Writer, and Biblical Scholar
• Edward Bunnett, Anglican Organist and Composer
• Juana Maria Condesa Lluch, Founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Immaculate Conception, Protectress of Workers
• Timothy Richard Matthews, Anglican Priest, Organist, and Hymn Tune Composer

17 (Antony of Egypt, Roman Catholic Abbot and Father of Western Monasticism)

• Deicola and Gall, Roman Catholic Monks; and Othmar, Roman Catholic Abbot at Saint Gallen
• James Woodrow, Southern Presbyterian Minister, Naturalist, and Alleged Heretic
• Pachomius the Great, Founder of Christian Communal Monasticism
• Rutherford Birchard Hayes, President of the United States of America
• Thomas A. Dooley, U.S. Roman Catholic Physician and Humanitarian

18-25 (WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY)

18 (CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER, APOSTLE)

19 (Sargent Shriver and his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Humanitarians)

• Alessandro Valignano, Italian Jesuit Missionary Priest in the Far East
• Charles Winfred Douglas, Episcopal Priest, Liturgist, Musicologist, Linguist, Poet, Hymn Translator, and Arranger
• Henry Twells, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

20 (Fabian, Bishop of Rome, and Martyr, 250)

• Euthymius the Great and Theoctistus, Roman Catholic Abbots
• Greville Phillimore, English Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator
• Harold A. Bosley, United Methodist Minister and Biblical Scholar
• Harriet Auber, Anglican Hymn Writer
• Richard Rolle, English Roman Catholic Spiritual Writer

21 (Mirocles of Milan and Epiphanius of Pavia, Roman Catholic Bishops)

• Alban Roe and Thomas Reynolds, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1642
• John Yi Yon-on, Roman Catholic Catechist and Martyr in Korea, 1867

22 (John Julian, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymnologist)

• Alexander Men, Russian Orthodox Priest and Martyr, 1990
• Benjamin Lay, American Quaker Abolitionist
• Ladislao Batthány-Strattmann, Austro-Hungarian Roman Catholic Physician and Philanthropist
• Vincent Pallotti, Founder of the Society for the Catholic Apostolate, the Union of Catholic Apostolate, and the Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate

23 (John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria)

• Charles Kingsley, Anglican Priest, Novelist, and Hymn Writer
• Edward Grubb, English Quaker Author, Social Reformer, and Hymn Writer
• George A. Buttrick, Anglo-American Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar; and his son, David G. Buttrick, U.S. Presbyterian then United Church of Christ Minister, Theologian, and Liturgist
• James D. Smart, Canadian Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar
• Phillips Brooks, Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts, and Hymn Writer

24 (Ordination of Florence Li-Tim-Oi, First Female Priest in the Anglican Communion)

• Bob Keeshan, Captain Kangaroo
• Lindsay Bartholomew Longacre, U.S. Methodist Minister, Biblical Scholar, and Hymn Tune Composer
• Marie Poussepin, Founder of the Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Presentation of the Virgin
• Martyrs of Podlasie, 1874
• Suranus of Sora, Roman Catholic Abbot and Martyr, 580

25 (CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE)

26 (TIMOTHY, TITUS, AND SILAS, CO-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE)

27 (Jerome, Paula of Rome, Eustochium, Blaesilla, Marcella, and Lea of Rome)

• Angela Merici, Founder of the Company of Saint Ursula
• Carolina Santocanale, Founder of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes
• Caspar Neumann, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
• Mary Evelyn “Mev” Puleo, U.S. Roman Catholic Photojournalist and Advocate for Social Justice
• Pierre Batiffol, French Roman Catholic Priest, Historian, and Theologian

28 (Albert the Great and his pupil, Thomas Aquinas; Roman Catholic Theologians)

• Andrei Rublev, Russian Orthodox Icon Writer
• Daniel J. Simundson, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Biblical Scholar
• Henry Augustine Collins, Anglican then Roman Catholic Priest and Hymn Writer
• Joseph Barnby, Anglican Church Musician and Composer
• Somerset Corry Lowry, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

29 (LYDIA, DORCAS, AND PHOEBE, CO-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE)

30 (Lesslie Newbigin, English Reformed Missionary and Theologian)

• Bathildas, Queen of France
• David Galván Bermúdez, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr in Mexico, 1915
• Frederick Oakeley, Anglican then Roman Catholic Priest
• Genesius I of Clermont and Praejectus of Clermont, Roman Catholic Bishops; and Amarin, Roman Catholic Abbot
• Jacques Bunol, French Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1945

31 (Charles Frederick Mackenzie, Anglican Bishop of Nyasaland, and Martyr, 1862)

• Anthony Bénézet, French-American Quaker Abolitionist
• Menno Simons, Mennonite Leader

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

Above:  Order of Friars Minor

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT BERARD AND HIS COMPANIONS (DIED IN 1220)

Roman Catholic Franciscan Missionaries and Martyrs

Saint Francis of Assisi sent six friars to the Almohad Caliphate (1121-1269), which controlled southern Spain and much of the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Africa.  Their goal was to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people there.  The friars were Berard, Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo, and Vitalis.  The six men left Italy for Spain in 1219.  Along the way, Vitalis left the mission due to illness.

The Almohad Caliphate (1121-1269) was markedly fundamentalist and, of course, theocratic, as the term Caliphate implies.  The government persecuted Jews and Christians, most of whom chose to emigrate.  So the five friars who landed in Spain placed their lives in danger.  They preached in Seville, but made no converts.  They were arrested instead, and insisted that they see the Caliph, Yusuf II.  So the governor at Seville sent them to Marrakesh, Morocco, to see the Caliph.  At Marrakesh the five friars preached in the marketplace.  The Caliph had them arrested, beaten, and bribed, all in hopes of convincing them to cease preaching.  But they refused.  So, on January 16, 1220, the five friars became martyrs by beheading.

These, the first Franciscan martyrs, inspired missionary zeal among members of the Order of Friars Minor.  And the gospel of Jesus Christ, of course, does not cease because potentates order executions.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 14, 2010 COMMON ERA

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

THE FEAST OF CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC

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Gracious God, in every age you have sent men and women who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth.  Inspire us with the memory of  Berard, Peter, Adjute, Accurs, and Odo, whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross, and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives to your Son’s victory over sin and death, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 5

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Revised on November 20, 2016

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