SAINT ALEXANDER SCHMORELL (SEPTEMBER 16, 1917-JULY 13, 1943)
Russian-German Orthodox Anti-Nazi Activist and Martyr, 1943
Also known as Aleksandr Gugovich Shmorel and Saint Alexander of Munich
St. Alexander Schmorell comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in the U.S.A. (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).
Schmorell held dual German and Russian citizenship. He, born in Orenburg, Russian Empire, on September 16, 1917, debuted during revolutionary times. Hugo Schmorell, a dual German and Russian citizen, was a physician. Nataliya Vvedenstkaya was a daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest. Hugo and Nataliya had to leave Moscow because of anti-German hysteria during World War I. Hugo had vital medical skills, though, so he practiced medicine in Orenburg, where Alexander debuted. Nataliya died of typhoid fever when our saint was a year old. Hugo married Elizabeth Hoffman, a nurse and a Roman Catholic, in 1920.
The family fled Russia and moved to Munich in 1921. That city served as the geographical center of Schmorell’s life for the rest of his life. Our young saint did experience difficulty adjusting to life in Germany. For example, his teacher in the mandatory religion course at school told him to cross himself in the Roman Catholic manner (left to right), not in the Eastern Orthodox way (right to left.) Schmorell disobeyed.
The Third Reich put Schmorell in some difficult situations. Our saint always opposed Nazism. He did not pretend that some Nazis were, to quote Donald Trump, speaking of violent American Neo-Nazis in 2017,
very fine people.
No, Schmorell understood that the “good Nazi” was an oxymoron. Nazis, our saint knew, were deplorable. He condemned evil plainly. He could not complete his medical studies (begun in 1939) at the University of Hamburg because of the German military draft. Schmorell entered the German Army as a medic. Somehow, he got out of having to swear loyalty to Adolf Hitler. The Army sent our saint to France, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union.
Schmorell was a German patriot; he opposed the Third Reich and worked for the destruction of that government. In the summer of 1942, our saint and Hans Scholl (1918-1943) founded the White Rose, an anti-Nazi organization, in Munich. They wrote, printed, and distributed leaflets encouraging people to rise up against the government. Schmorell wrote of the Holocaust in one leaflet. Another member of the White Rose was Sophie Scholl (1921-1943), sister of Hans. Members of the White Rose, after having initially focused on Munich, spread out across the Third Reich in January 1943. That February 18, Nazi authorities arrested the Scholls, executed four days later. Schmorell, arrested in Munich on February 24, 1943, received the crown of martyrdom on July 13, 1943. He was 25 years old.
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia glorified (canonized) Schmorell in 2012.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 4, 2020 COMMON ERA
INDEPENDENCE DAY (U.S.A.)
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBERO AND ULRIC OF AUGSBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF CHARLES ALBERT DICKINSON, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
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
JOHANNES RENATUS VERBEEK (NOVEMBER 17, 1748-JULY 13, 1820)
Moravian Minister and Composer
Johannes Renatus Verbeek, born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on November 17, 1748, became a minister and a composer of the Unitas Fratrum. He attended the Moravian schools at Zeist, Gross Hennersdorf, and Niesky prior to his seminary days at Barby. Verbeek, ordained in 1777, served as the secretary of the Unity Elders Conference at Barby and Herrnhut. Perhaps his most enduring legacy was his work as the coordinator of global missions. He traveled widely in that capacity, visiting the West Indies in 1796-1798 and Pennsylvania and North Carolina in 1806, for example. Verbeek also composed anthems, including a Christmas piece, “Unto Us a Child is Born.” Our saint died at Herrnhut on July 13, 1820.
Verbeek died, but his legacy continues. Many people are Moravians today partially because of the missionary work he coordinated. Also, people continue to perform his anthems.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 30, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK OAKELEY, ANGLICAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT BATHILDAS, QUEEN OF FRANCE
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GENESIUS I AND PRAEJECTUS OF CLERMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, AND SAINT AMARIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF LESSLIE NEWBIGIN, UNITED REFORMED THEOLOGIAN
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses:
Grant that we, encouraged by the good examples of your servant
Johannes Renatus Verbeek,
may persevere in running the race that is set before us,
until at last we may with them attain to your eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Micah 6:6-8
Psalm 15
Hebrews 12:1-2
Matthew 25:31-40
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 724
U.S. Moravian Minister, Missionary, Musician, Music Educator, and Composer
student of
JOHANN CHRISTIAN BECHLER (JANUARY 7, 1784-APRIL 18, 1857)
Moravian Minister, Musician, Music Educator, and Composer
father of
JULIUS THEODORE BECHLER (JUNE 26, 1814-MARCH 8, 1875)
U.S. Moravian Minister, Musician, Educator, and Composer
+++++++++++++++++
The multi-saint post is one of my favorite kinds of posts to write, for it highlights the positive influences we human beings are supposed to have on each other. Today, in such a post, I add three people to the Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days.
We begin with Peter Ricksecker (1781-1873), born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He attended the Moravian Theological Seminary, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1811. From 1811 to 1831 our saint taught at Nazareth Hall, the boys’ school at Nazareth. Next he taught at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for about five years (1821-1826). Ordination and assignment to a missionary post on the Caribbean island of Tobago followed in 1826.
Above: Tobago, 1951
Scanned from Hammond’s Complete World Atlas (1951)
He remained in the region, serving at St. Kitts and Jamaica in subsequent years.
Above: St. Kitts, 1951
Scanned from Hammond’s Complete World Atlas (1951)
+++
Above: Jamaica, 1951
Scanned from Hammond’s Complete World Atlas (1951)
Bad health forced his return to Bethlehem in 1848. From 1854 to 1857 our saint, with the help of his daughter and son-in-law, the Reverend D. Z. Smith (also excellent musicians), Ricksecker ministered among the Native American population at and near Leavenworth, Kansas. There, in 1857, our saint founded a music school. He died at Bethlehem on July 13, 1873.
Ricksecker, a skilled violinist, vocalist, and organist, studied composition at Nazareth Hall under Johann Christian Bechler (1748-1857), Principal from 1806 to 1812. Ricksecker composed works for choristers and instrumentalists. During my research I read references to six band marches and a piano work, the Battle of New Orleans.
Above: Saaremaa Island, Estonia, 1968
Scanned from the Rand McNally World Atlas–Imperial Edition (1968)
Johann Christian Bechler (1748-1857), Ricksecker’s teacher of composition, entered the world on Ossel Island, Russia (now Saaremaa Island, Estonia), on July 7, 1784. He taught organ at the Moravian theological seminary at Barby before emigrating to America, where he remained until 1836. Bechler served as the Principal of Nazareth Hall from 1806 to 1812 and from 1817 to 1822 and at Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Bechler composed while in America yet not in Europe, at least as far as documentation indicates. He wrote many anthems (such as Praises, Thanks, and Adoration), Parthia (a suite for woodwinds), and Der Nachtwacher (a set of variations on a chorale tune for violoncello and two violins).
Bechler returned to Europe in 1836; there he remained. He served at, in order, Sarepta, Russia; Berlin, Prussia; and Zeist, The Netherlands. Then, in 1849, he retired to Herrnhut, in Saxony, where he died on April 18, 1857.
Among Bechler’s other students was Peter Wolle (1792-1871), whom he instructed in the organ.
Bechler and his wife, Augusta Henrietta Bechler, had a worthy heir, Julius Theodore Bechler (1814-1875). Julius Theodore, born at New Dorp, Staten Island, New York, on June 26, 1814, studied pianoforte at Nazareth Hall, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, from 1824 to 1829. He also studied at the Moravian Theological Seminary, Nazareth, before teaching at Nazareth Hall from 1832 to 1838.
Julius Theodore led an illustrious ministerial career. In 1838 he married Emma Cornelia Smith (1816-1853); they had two children. He served as pastor at Bethania, North Carolina, from 1838 to 1844 then at Emmaus, Pennsylvania, from 1844 t0 1846. Then he transferred to Lititz, Pennsylvania, He married for the second time in 1854; wife number two was Theodora Elizabeth Fruehauff (1826-1913), a teacher, musician, artist, and linguist. They had two children. From 1855 to 1862 our saint was the Principal of Linden Hall, Lititz (a girls’ school), succeeding the Reverend Eugene Fruehauff. Then, in 1862, Julius Theodore founded and led the Sunnyside College for Girls. He died on March 8, 1875.
I give thanks for the faithful lives and legacies of these saints, who glorified God and benefited their communities.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 30, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK OAKELEY, ANGLICAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT BATHILDAS, QUEEN OF FRANCE
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GENESIUS I AND PRAEJECTUS OF CLERMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, AND SAINT AMARIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF LESSLIE NEWBIGIN, UNITED REFORMED THEOLOGIAN
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses:
Grant that we, encouraged by the good examples of your servants
Peter Ricksecker, Johann Christian Bechler, and Julius Theodore Bechler,
may persevere in running the race that is set before us,
until at last we may with them attain to your eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Micah 6:6-8
Psalm 15
Hebrews 12:1-2
Matthew 25:31-40
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 724
Clifford Bax (1886-1962), brother of composer Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953), was born in London, England. Our saint traveled when young, studying art in Germany, Belgium, and Italy, before turning to literature and becoming a skilled poet and playwright. Some of his published works were:
The text which brought Bax to my attention was a hymn, “Turn Back, O Man, Forswear Thy Foolish Ways” (1916), written during World War I. That conflict, unfortunately, was not the “war to end all wars.” No, President Woodrow Wilson’s prophesy from 1919 proved correct; a much worse global war followed it. And World War I destroyed empires, changed the map of Europe and parts of Asia, claimed the lives of many people, and devastated a generation. Bax’s hymn is a profound text, one which Godspell (1971) bastardizes and makes frivolous. I prefer the Gustav Holst music:
Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways.
Old now is earth, and none may count her days,
Yet thou, her child, whose head is crowned with flame,
Still wilt not hear thine inner God proclaim–
“Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways.”
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Earth might be fair and all men glad and wise.
Age after age their tragic empires rise,
Built while they dream, and in that dreaming weep:
Would not but wake from out his haunted sleep,
Earth might be fair and all men glad and wise.
+++++
Earth shall be fair, and all her people are:
Nor till that hour shall God’s whole will be done.
Now, even now, once more from earth to sky,
Peals forth in joy man’s old, undaunted cry–
“Earth shall be fair, and all her fold be one!”
The Handbook to The Hymnal (1935), companion volume to The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., said:
In spite of the flame of reason which crowns the brow of man, in spite of the lessons of history, he still goes forth in his foolish ways, still fails to hear the gentle voice of God which speaks in his bosom….This call to repentance rises with holy indignation from the soul of the poet, who sees what ruin man’s folly and wrath have wrought, and sees as well what good will and brotherly kindness might do.
–pages 438 and 439
Or maybe we should dress in tacky clothing and sing and dance atop the World Trade Center. O wait, those towers do not exist anymore. Agents of hatred destroyed them. No, sober spirituality, not frivolity, fits that text well.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 22, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT SYNCLETIA OF ALEXANDRIA, DESERT MOTHER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ADELARD OF CORBIE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT OF SARAGOSSA, DEACON AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI, FOUNDER OF THE PALLOTINES
you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to
Clifford Bax 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
Above: The Kingdom of the Vandals in 526 Common Era
Image in the Public Domain
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SAINT EUGENIUS OF CARTHAGE (DIED 505)
Roman Catholic Bishop of Carthage
The Vandals were a Germanic tribe. From their Latin name, Vandalus, we derive the English word “vandalism,” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, defines as
willful or malicious destruction of public of private property.
The Vandals settled in the Iberian peninsula in 409 before establishing their north African kingdom in 429. They were Arians, adherents to a Christological heresy. They persecuted Roman Catholics in the realm at some times yet not at others. When persecutions were in fashion, priests had to surrender their libraries and the crown left episcopal sees vacant.
In 481 King Huneric (reigned 477-184) permitted the election of St. Eugenius as Bishop of Carthage, filling a see left vacant for decades since the time of St. Deogratias (died 457) At the end of his reign, however, Huneric began what the 1968 Encyclopedia Britannica described as a
fierce persecution,
(Volume 22, page 880)
plundering churches and exiling bishops. Huneric deported St. Eugenius to the desert near Tripoli, where Anthony, an Arian bishop, tortured the saint.
Gontramund (reigned 484-496) succeeded his uncle Huneric. In 488 the new king permitted exiled bishops (including St. Eugenius) to return and reopened closed churches. Gontramund’s successor and brother, Thrasamund (reigned 496-523), practiced limited persecution of Roman Catholics. “Limited,” in the case of St. Eugenius, meant that the monarch sentenced the bishop to death then commuted the sentence to exile. The saint ended his days at a monastery near Albi, in the Langudeoc region of Gaul.
The rest of the story is that the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire conquered the Vandals in 534, enslaving most of the population and restoring Roman Catholic churches the Vandals had closed.
One should refrain from engaging in hysterics over public policy disagreements and calling them religious persecution. There are documented degrees of severity of persecution in history, and public policy disagreements do not rise to even the lowest level of persecution. To claim that they do trivializes persecution.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 13, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST OF GILBERT KEITH (G. K.) CHESTERTON, AUTHOR
1 (Lyman Beecher, U.S. Congregationalist and Presbyterian Minister, and Abolitionist; his daughter, Harriet Beecher Stowe, U.S. Novelist, Hymn Writer, and Abolitionist; and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, U.S. Presbyterian and Congregationalist Minister, and Abolitionist)
Antonio Rosmini, Founder of the Institute of Charity
Catherine Winkworth, Translator of Hymns; and John Mason Neale, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator
John Chandler, Anglican Priest, Scholar, and Translator of Hymns
Pauli Murray, Civil Rights Attorney and Episcopal Priest
2 (Washington Gladden, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Hymn Writer, and Social Reformer)
Arthur Henry Messiter, Episcopal Musician and Hymn Tune Composer
Ferdinand Quincy Blanchard, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
Henry Montagu Butler, Educator, Scholar, and Anglican Priest
Jacques Fermin, Roman Catholic Missionary Priest
3 (Flavian and Anatolius of Constantinople, Patriarchs; and Agatho, Leo II, and Benedict II, Bishops of Rome; Defenders of Christological Orthodoxy)
Dionysius of Alexandria, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Church Father; Eusebius of Laodicea, Bishop of Laodicea; and Anatolius of Alexandria, Bishop of Laodicea
Heliodorus of Altinum, Associate of Saint Jerome, and Bishop of Altinum
Immanuel Nitschmann, German-American Moravian Minister and Musician; his brother-in-law, Jacob Van Vleck, U.S. Moravian Bishop, Musician, Composer, and Educator; his son, William Henry Van Vleck, U.S. Moravian Bishop; his brother, Carl Anton Van Vleck, U.S. Moravian Minister, Musician, Composer, and Educator; his daughter, Lisette (Lizetta) Maria Van Vleck Meinung; and her sister, Amelia Adelaide Van Vleck, U.S. Moravian Composer and Educator
4 (Independence Day (U.S.A.))
Adalbero and Ulric of Augsburg, Roman Catholic Bishops
Charles Albert Dickinson, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
Elizabeth of Portugal, Queen and Peacemaker
John Cennick, British Moravian Evangelist and Hymn Writer
Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian Roman Catholic Servant of the Poor and Opponent of Fascism
5 (Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Founder of the Barnabites and the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul)
George Nichols and Richard Yaxley, English Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1589; Humphrey Pritchard, Welsh Roman Catholic Martyr, 1589; and Thomas Belson, English Roman Catholic Martyr, 1589
Georges Bernanos, French Roman Catholic Novelist
Hulda Niebuhr, Christian Educator; her brothers, H. Richard Niebuhr and Reinhold Niebuhr, United Church of Christ Theologians; and Ursula Niebuhr, Episcopal Theologian
Joseph Boissel, French Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr in Laos, 1969
6 (John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, Reformers of the Church)
George Duffield, Jr., and his son, Samuel Duffield, U.S. Presbyterian Ministers and Hymn Writers
Henry Thomas Smart, English Organist and Composer
Josiah Conder, English Journalist and Congregationalist Hymn Writer; and his son, Eustace Conder, English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
Oluf Hanson Smeby, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
Thomas Helmore, Anglican Priest and Arranger and Composer of Hymn Tunes
7 (Ralph Milner, Roger Dickinson, and Lawrence Humphrey, English Roman Catholic Martyrs, 1591)
Francis Florentine Hagen, U.S. Moravian Minister and Composer
Hedda of Wessex, Roman Catholic Bishop
Leo Sowerby, Episcopal Composer and “Dean of Church Music”
8 (Gerald Ford, President of the United States of America and Agent of National Healing; and Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States of America and Advocate for Social Justice)
Albert Rhett Stuart, Episcopal Bishop of Georgia, and Advocate for Civil Rights
Georg Neumark, German Lutheran Poet and Hymn Writer
Giovanni Battista Bononcini and Antonio Maria Bononcini, Italian Composers
9 (Augustus Tolton, Pioneering African-American Roman Catholic Priest in the United States of America)
Alice Paul, U.S. Quaker Women’s Rights Activist
Johann Rudolph Ahle and Johann Georg Ahle, German Lutheran Organists and Composers
Johann Scheffler, Roman Catholic Priest, Poet, and Hymn Writer
Martyrs of Gorkum, Holland, 1572
Robert Grant, British Member of Parliament and Hymn Writer
10 (Myles Horton, “Father of the Civil Rights Movement”)
Eumenios and Parthenios of Koudoumas, Monks and Founders of Koudoumas Monastery, Crete
Joseph of Damascus, Syrian Orthodox Priest and Martyr, 1860
Nicholas Spira, Roman Catholic Abbot
Rued Langgaard, Danish Composer
11 (Nathan Söderblom, Swedish Ecumenist and Archbishop of Uppsala)
David Gonson, English Roman Catholic Martyr, 1541
John Gualbert, Founder of the Vallombrosan Benedictines
Thomas Sprott and Thomas Hunt, English Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1600
Valeriu Traian Frentiu, Romanian Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 1952
12 (JASON OF TARSUS AND SOSIPATER OF ICONIUM, CO-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE, AND EVANGELISTS OF CORFU)
13 (Clifford Bax, Poet, Playwright, and Hymn Writer)
Alexander Schmorell, Russian-German Orthodox Anti-Nazi Activist and Martyr, 1943
Eugenius of Carthage, Roman Catholic Bishop
Johannes Renatus Verbeek, Moravian Minister and Composer
Peter Ricksecker, U.S. Moravian Minister, Missionary, Musician, Music Educator, and Composer; his teacher, Johann Christian Bechler, Moravian Minister, Musician, Music Educator, and Composer; and his son, Julius Theodore Bechler, U.S. Moravian Minister, Musician, Educator, and Composer
14 (Justin de Jacobis, Roman Catholic Missionary Bishop in Ethiopia; and Michael Ghebre, Ethiopian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr)
Camillus de Lellis, Italian Roman Catholic Priest and Founder of the Ministers of the Sick
Leon McKinley Adkins, U.S. Methodist Minister, Poet, and Hymn Writer
Matthew Bridges, Hymn Writer
Samson Occom, U.S. Presbyterian Missionary to Native Americans
15 (Bonaventure, Second Founder of the Order of Friars Minor)
Athanasius I of Naples, Roman Catholic Bishop
Duncan Montgomery Gray, Sr.; and his son, Duncan Montgomery Gray, Jr.; Episcopal Bishops of Mississippi and Advocates for Civil Rights
George Tyrrell, Irish Roman Catholic Modernist Theologian and Alleged Heretic
Swithun, Roman Catholic Bishop of Winchester
16 (Righteous Gentiles)
George Alfred Taylor Rygh, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Hymn Translator
Henry Williams, Anglican Missionary in New Zealand; his wife, Marianne Williams, Anglican Missionary and Educator in New Zealand; her sister-in-law, Jane Williams, Anglican Missionary and Educator in New Zealand; and her husband and Henry’s brother, William Williams, Anglican Bishop of Waiapu
Mary Magdalen Postel, Founder of the Poor Daughters of Mercy
17 (William White, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)
Bennett J. Sims, Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta
Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne, 1794
Catherine Louisa Marthens, First Lutheran Deaconess Consecrated in the United States of America, 1850
Nerses Lampronats, Armenian Apostolic Archbishop of Tarsus
Stephen Theodore Badin, First Roman Catholic Priest Ordained in the United States of America, 1793
18 (Bartholomé de Las Casas, “Apostle to the Indians”)
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Anglican Dean of Westminster and Hymn Writer
Edward William Leinbach, U.S. Moravian Musician and Composer
Elizabeth Ferard, First Deaconess in The Church of England
Jessamyn West, U.S. Quaker Writer
R. B. Y. Scott, Canadian Biblical Scholar, Hymn Writer, and Minister
19 (John Hines, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)
John Plessington, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr
Józef Puchala, Polish Roman Catholic Franciscan Friar, Priest, and Martyr
Lemuel Haynes, First Ordained African-American Minister
Poemen, Roman Catholic Abbot; and John the Dwarf and Arsenius the Great, Roman Catholic Monks
20 (Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome)
Ansegisus of Fontanelle, Roman Catholic Abbot
Flavian II of Antioch and Elias of Jerusalem, Roman Catholic Patriarchs
Samuel Hanson Cox, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Abolitionist; and his son, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Episcopal Bishop of Western New York, Hymn Writer, and Translator of Hymns
Vicar Earle Copes, U.S. Methodist Minister, Liturgist, Composer, and Organist
21 (Albert John Luthuli, Witness for Civil Rights in South Africa)
J. B. Phillips, Anglican Priest, Theologian, and Bible Translator
Wastrada; her son, Gregory of Utrecht, Roman Catholic Bishop of Utrecht; and his nephew, Alberic of Utrecht, Roman Catholic Bishop of Utrecht
22 (MARY MAGDALENE, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES)
23 (Bridget of Sweden, Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Savior; and her daughter, Catherine of Sweden, Superior of the Order of the Most Holy Savior)
Philip Evans and John Lloyd, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs
Theodor Liley Clemens, English Moravian Minister, Missionary, and Composer
24 (Thomas à Kempis, Roman Catholic Monk, Priest, and Spiritual Writer)
Amalie Wilheimine Sieveking, Founder of the Women’s Association for the Care of the Poor and Invalids
Flora MacDonald, Canadian Stateswoman and Humanitarian
Jane Holmes Dixon, Episcopal Suffragan Bishop of Washington and Bishop of Washington Pro Tempore
John Newton, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
Walter Rauschenbusch, U.S. Baptist Minister and Theologian of the Social Gospel
25 (JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR)
26 (ANNE AND JOACHIM, PARENTS OF MARY OF NAZARETH)
27 (Brooke Foss Westcott, Anglican Scholar, Bible Translator, and Bishop of Durham; and Fenton John Anthony Hort, Anglican Priest and Scholar)
Albert Frederick Bayly, English Congregationalist then United Reformed Minister, Librettist, and Hymn Writer
Christian Henry Bateman, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
Johan Nordahl Brun, Norwegian Lutheran Bishop, Author, and Hymn Writer
Vincentia Gerosa and Bartholomea Capitanio, Co-Founders of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere
William Reed Huntington, Episcopal Priest and Renewer of the Church; and his grandson, William Reed Huntington, U.S. Architect and Quaker Peace Activist
28 (Pioneering Female Episcopal Priests, 1974 and 1975)
Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Roman Catholic Priest, Composer, and Violinist
Isabella Graham, Scottish-American Presbyterian Educator and Philanthropist
Mechthild of Magdeburg, German Beguine, Mystic, and Nun; Mechthild of Hackeborn, German Mystic and Nun; and Gertrude the Great, German Mystic and Abbess of Helfta, Saxony
Nancy Byrd Turner, Poet, Editor, and Hymn Writer
29 (MARY, MARTHA, AND LAZARUS OF BETHANY, FRIENDS OF JESUS)
30 (Clarence Jordan, Southern Baptist Minister and Witness for Civil Rights)
Peter Chrysologus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Ravenna and Defender of Orthodoxy
Vicenta Chávez Orozco, Founder of the Servants of the Holy Trinity and the Poor
William Pinchon, Roman Catholic Bishop
31 (Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus)
Franz Liszt, Hungarian Composer and Pianist, and Roman Catholic Priest
Helen Barrett Montgomery, U.S. Northern Baptist President, Social Reformer, Biblical Translator, and Supporter of Foreign Missions
Horatius Bonar, Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
Marcel Denis, French Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr in Laos, 1961
Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.
SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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