principles of exactly determinable intellectual value.

Above:  The Union Jack

Image in the Public Domain

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GEORGE TYRRELL (FEBRUARY 6, 1861-JULY 15, 1909)

Irish Roman Catholic Modernist Theologian and Alleged Heretic

Anyone who was on the wrong side of Pope St. Pius X (in office 1903-1914) had a high statistical probability of being closer to God than the Supreme Pontiff.

The tension between tradition and modernity has long been a controversial subject in organized religion.  Some have converted tradition into an idol.  Others have thrown it out like a proverbial baby with the equally proverbial bathwater.  Some have made modernity into an idol.  Others have thrown it out with the bathwater too.  There have always been many shades between the polar opposite.

George Tyrrell strove to find the balance of tradition and modernity.  He, born in Dublin, Ireland, on February 6, 1861, grew up an Anglican.  At the age of 18 years he converted to Roman Catholicism.  He joined the Society of Jesus in 1880 and a priest in 1891.  As a Jesuit Tyrrell took the mandatory course in Scholastic theology.  That theology he found unsatisfactory and inadequate.  Tyrrell’s reading of Church Fathers and Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) led him to conclude that the Roman Catholic Church needed to teach the faith differently in the modern age.  Our saint accused Holy Mother Church of mistaking divine revelation for theology, resulting in the teaching of “truths” without connecting them to human experience.  Tyrrell also accused the Roman Catholic Church of committing the “dogmatic fallacy,” that is, turning prophetic mysteries into

Tyrrell, a friend of fellow Roman Catholic Modernists Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925) and Maude Dominica Petre (1863-1942), identified himself as a faithful Roman Catholic.  Pope St. Pius X and the Society of Jesus disagreed.  The Jesuits expelled Tyrrell in 1906.  The following year St. Pius X, a reactionary who cast a pall over Roman Catholic intellectual life for more than half a century, issued the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis.  He condemned Modernism as

the synthesis of all heresies

and required all priests to take an oath condemning Modernism.

Tyrrell, much like Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), another one of my favorite heretics who was not actually a heretic, was too caustic and sarcastic for his own good.  (In Tyrrell’s defense, how was he supposed not to be caustic and sarcastic when dealing with St. Pius X and his ilk?)  Tyrrell, a priest without a bishop and therefore lacking a ministry since 1906, was living and writing in a cottage that belonged to Maude Dominica Petre.  Our saint criticized the encyclical in strong terms.  He, alluding to the absolutist French King Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715), summarized the Pope’s position as,

The church, c’est moi.

St. Pius promptly excommunicated Tyrrell in 1908.  The excommunicated priest was defiant:

If, however, my offense lies in having protested publicly, in the name of Catholicism, against a document destructive of the only possible defense of Catholicism and of every reason for submitting, within due limits, to ecclesiastical authority–a document which constitutes the greatest scandal for thousands who, like myself, have been brought into, and kept in, the Church by the influence of Cardinal Newman and of the mystical theology of the Fathers and the Saints–for such a protest I am absolutely and finally impenitent.

–Quoted in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints:  Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (New York:  The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997), 305

Tyrrell, aged 48 years, died of Bright’s Disease in Storrington, England, on July 15, 1909.  A sympathetic priest had administered the last rites, heard Tyrrell’s confession, and granted absolution.  The Church refused to bury our saint in hallowed ground, so his corpse went to repose in an Anglican cemetery instead.

His grave marker reads:

Of your charity

pray for the soul of

GEORGE TYRRELL

Catholic Priest who died

July 15, 1909, Aged 48 years

Fortified by the Rites

of the Church

R. I. P.

Tyrrell was one of the Roman Catholic theologians who, had he lived long enough to witness the Second Vatican Council (1959-1965), would have found vindication during his lifetime.

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Loving God of timeless truth, we praise and thank you for George Tyrrell and all others who,

standing within tradition, have not idolized it.

May we faithfully engage the outside world,

regarding it as our neighborhood, not as the enemy camp,

and shining the light of Christ into it in effective and reverent ways, to the glory of your Name;

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

Job 12:1-6

Psalm 84

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Matthew 5:13-16

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HUMANITARIAN, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT STANISLAW KUBSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR

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I have sworn to practice and maintain segregation in the Episcopal Church in Mississippi, and I am not alone….It should be the painful duty of the Right Rev. Duncan M. Gray to publicly rebuke his son, and all other priests in the Diocese of Mississippi preaching integration….Let’s get red-hot on the subject–if the race-mixers don’t resign and leave, I say, throw them out bodily, if necessary.

Above:  The Episcopal Flag

Photograph by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, SR. (MAY 5, 1898-JUNE 27, 1966)

father of

DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, JR. (SEPTEMBER 21, 1926-JULY 15, 2016)

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Episcopal Bishops of Mississippi and Advocates for Civil Rights

Case Studies in the Radicalism of Liturgy

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–White supremacist and (from 1963) murderer Byron de la Beckwith (1920-2001), writing in the Jackson Daily News, 1956; quoted in Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire:  America in the King Years, 1963-65 (New York:  Simon & Schuster, 1998), 113

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INTRODUCTION

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The Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Bishops of Mississippi were Duncan Montgomery Gray–Senior, Junior, and III.  Duncan Montgomery Gray, III (Coadjutor, 2000-2003; diocesan, 2003-2015), has gone into retirement.  His grandfather and father have joined the Choir Eternal.  These three bishops’ progressive theologies and social consciences contradicted political and social norms in a state so reactionary that it operated the notorious State Sovereignty Commission (1956-1977) and, for a time, banned broadcasts of Sesame Street (1969-), due to the racially integrated cast.

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TWO DUNCANS

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Duncan Montgomery Gray, Sr., born on May 5, 1898, in Meridian, Mississippi, was an integrationist.  He, a deacon in 1925 and a priest the following year, served in Canton, Lexington, Columbus, Macon, and Greenwood before becoming the Bishop of Mississippi in 1943.  He, elected on January 19, 1943, served from May 12 of that year to June 27, 1966, when he died.

His eventual successor was a son, Duncan Montgomery Gray, Jr., born in Canton, Mississippi, on September 21, 1926, to Isabel McCrady Gray (1902-1966).  After graduating from high school in 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy.  The Navy sent Gray, Jr., to Tulane University, where, in 1948, he graduated with his Bachelor of Electronic Engineering degree.  Also in 1948, he married Ruth Spivey (d. 2011), of Canton; they had four children.  Gray, Jr., worked for the Westinghouse Corporation for a few years.  He did well there, but discerned a call to the priesthood.  After graduating from the School of Theology at the The University of the South in 1953 Gray, Jr., joined the ranks of priests; his father ordained him.  For the next 21 years Gray, Jr., served as a parish priest.  He was, for example, the Rector of St. Peter’s Church, Oxford, from 1957 to 1965, and for a time chaplain to Episcopal students at The University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”).

The apples did not fall far from the trees.  Fortunately, the Grays were good trees.  Bishop Gray, Sr., built up diocesan institutions, founding Rose Hill, the camp and conference center.  (Rose Hill has become the Duncan M. Gray Center.)  In 1954, after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Gray, Jr., with his father’s support, helped to prepare a diocesan report that condemned racism as sinful.  In 1959 Gray, Sr., made history by integrating St. Andrew’s School, Jackson.  This was the first voluntary school integration in the state.

The integration (1962) of The University of Mississippi was, by necessity, forced.  In September 1962, as violence erupted in Oxford, Gray, Jr., tried in vain to persuade segregationist protesters to choose nonviolence; some of them beat him instead.  On September 30 he reflected:

For these are times which not only try men’s souls, but also infect and poison them.  The seeds of anger and hatred, bitterness and prejudice, are already widely sown, and as Christians, we need to do our utmost to uproot and cast them out.

That work of reconciliation defined the ministry of Gray, Jr.  As the Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Meridian (1965-1974), he helped to rebuild African-American churches Klansmen had firebombed.  Gray, Jr., also served on several civil rights boards, such as the Mississippi Council on Human Relations (1963-1967) and the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1967-1973).

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BISHOP GRAY, JR.

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When 1974 dawned Gray, Jr., was the Vice President of the Executive Committee and the Chairman of the Commission on Ministry of the Diocese of Mississippi.  Before the year ended he was the Bishop of Mississippi.  For 19 years Gray, Jr., shepherded the diocese faithfully.  He also supported the revision of The Book of Common Prayer and the ordination of women as priests and bishops.  Will Campbell (1924-2013), the bishop’s biographer, explained our saint’s support for civil rights and other forms of social justice by citing “the radicalism of liturgy.”  Gray, Jr., from 1991 to 1997 the Chancellor of The University of the South, retired as Bishop of Mississippi in 1993.  Later he served as the Interim Dean of the School of Theology.

Gray, Jr., aged 89 years, on July 15, 2016, in Jackson, Mississippi.

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CONCLUSION

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I have little doubt that, in time, The Episcopal Church will add one or both of these bishops to its calendar of saints.  The institutional church must take its time; I respect that.  However, I need to take no more time than I have taken already.  I, having previously created a stand-alone Feast of Duncan Montgomery Gray, Sr., years ago, then having scrapped it recently as part of the renovation of this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, transfer that feast to July 15 and add his now-deceased son to it.

I also wish Bishop Duncan Montgomery Gray, III, longevity and excellent health as I announce my (hopefully long-term) plans to add him to this commemoration one day.

On a personal note, I have long taken the naming of cats, noble creatures, seriously.  One of the cats who enriched my life for a few years was a gray tabby with some Maine Coon contributions to his DNA.  This pacific vehicle of grace bore the name Duncan Gray, named in honor of the three Bishops Gray.  Never have I given a feline a more honorable and noble name.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HUMANITARIAN, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT STANISLAW KUBSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR

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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 servants Duncan Montgomery Gray, Sr., and Duncan Montgomery Gray, Jr.,

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), 60

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Above:  St. Bonaventure

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT BONAVENTURE (1217-JULY 15, 1274)

Second Founder of the Order of Friars Minor

Born Giovanni di Fidanza

St. Bonaventure was one of the most influential Medieval Roman Catholic theologians.

The traditional birth year given for St. Bonaventure has been 1221.  However, Dr. Ewert Cousins, Professor of Theology at Fordham University, as well as translator and editor of the St. Bonaventure volume (1978) for the Paulist Press’s Classics of Western Spirituality series, cited scholars who insisted on 1217 instead.

Giovanni di Fidanza, a native of Bagnoregio (near Viterbo), Italy, was a son of Giovanni di Fidanza (Sr.), a wealthy physician, and Maria di Ritello.  Circa 1234 the 17-year old saint matriculated at the University of Paris, where he studied under the great Franciscan scholar Alexander of Hales.  Our saint joined the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans) in 1243 and became Bonaventure.  His theological teachers until their deaths in 1245 were Alexander of Hales and John of La Rochelle.  Afterward St. Bonaventure’s theological teachers were Eudes Rigaud and William of Middleton.

St. Bonaventure embodied intellectual rigor, Roman Catholic piety, and Franciscan simplicity.  He, a Bachelor of Scripture in 1248 and a Master of Theology in 1253/1254, lectured on the Bible in 1248-1250 and led the Franciscan school in Paris from 1253/1254 to 1257.  Then our saint became the Minister General of the Order of Franciscans Minor, after Pope Alexander IV had ordered John of Parma, suspected of heterodoxy, to resign.  As the Minister General for 17 years St. Bonaventure became the “Second Founder” of the order, balancing foundational principles with the necessity of adaptation to changing circumstances.  Our saint never wanted to be a bishop, so he rejected offers until 1273, when Pope Gregory X ordered him to become the Cardinal Archbishop of Albano.  St. Bonaventure, a famously humble man, kept a papal representative bearing news of the appointment waiting; the Minister General was washing dishes.

St. Bonaventure also liked to think and write profoundly.  He wrote prolifically.  Works included biographies of St. Francis of Assisi, theological treatises. lectures, and Biblical commentaries.  Titles included The Soul’s Journey into God and The Tree of Life.  (Jesus was the Tree of Life.)  Elevation into the episcopate and the College of Cardinals greatly reduced the time St. Bonaventure had to write.

St. Bonaventure died on July 15, 1274, while attending the Second Council of Lyons, which dealt with the unification of the Eastern and Western Churches.  Prelates from across the Christian world mourned him.

The Roman Catholic Church has honored St. Bonaventure.  Pope Sixtus IV canonized him in 1482.  Pope Sixtus V declared our saint a Doctor of the Church in 1588.

The legacy of St. Bonaventure has continued to enrich the Church and the world.  One vehicle has been the Order of Friars Minor.  Furthermore, his writings have continued to be available, fortunately.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HUMANITARIAN, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT STANISLAW KUBSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR

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Almighty God, you gave to hour servant Saint Bonaventure

special gifts of grace to understand and teach the truth as it is in Christ Jesus:

Grant that by this teaching we may know you,

the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent;

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

Proverbs 3:1-7

Psalm 119:89-96

1 Corinthians 3:5-11

Matthew 13:47-52

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 721

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Above:  St. Swithun

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT SWITHUN (CIRCA 800-JULY 2, 863)

Roman Catholic Bishop of Winchester

Also known as Saint Swithin

The two feast days of St. Swithun are July 2 and 15.  July 2 is the anniversary of his death.  July 15, his feast in The Church of England, is also the commemoration of the transfer of his relics to Canterbury in 1006 by St. Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury.

More legends than historical facts about St. Swithun exist.  Some of the legends might even be accurate.  But what can state with objective plausibility?

St. Swithun, born in Winchester, Kingdom of Wessex, circa 800, was a humble and influential man.  He was a counselor to King Egbert of Wessex (r. 802-839) and teacher of Egbert’s son, King Ethelwulf (r. 839-858).  In 853 King Ethelwulf appointed St. Swithun the Bishop of Winchester.  Our saint held that post for the rest of his life, until July 2, 863.

St. Swithun remained obscure in death (as he probably would have preferred, given his humility in life) until circa 964.  The cult of St. Swithun started then and kept going until the destruction of the final shrine in 1538.  Portmortem St. Swithun had a reputation as a miracle worker; pilgrims hoped for healing at his shrine.  There were, in fact, successive shrines, each one more elaborate than the previous one.

May we remember St. Swithun as the man he was–a royal advisor and tutor, a bishop, and a man who requested a humble grave, not an elaborate shrine.

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Holy God, in whom the first are last and the last are first:

we praise and thank you for the example you have given us in your faithful servant,

Saint Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, who built a shrine to you in his inner being.

May we likewise exalt Christ in our public and private lives, to the glory of your Name;

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

Wisdom of Solomon 1:1-5

Psalm 115

1 Peter 5:1-11

Luke 6:43-45

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 17, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THOMAS BRADBURY CHANDLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST; HIS SON-IN-LAW, JOHN HENRY HOBART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM HOBART HARE, APOSTLE TO THE SIOUX AND EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF NIOBRARA THEN SOUTH DAKOTA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CATERINA VOLPICELLI, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE SACRED HEART; SAINT LUDOVICO DA CASORIA, FOUNDER OF THE GRAY FRIARS OF CHARITY AND COFOUNDER OF THE GRAY SISTERS OF SAINT ELIZABETH; AND SAINT GIULIA SALZANO, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CATECHETICAL SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART

THE FEAST OF CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON AND THURGOOD MARSHALL, ATTORNEYS AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

THE FEAST OF DONALD COGGAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

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Above:  Carolingian Imperial Partitions

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT ATHANASIUS I OF NAPLES (CIRCA 832-872)

Roman Catholic Bishop of Naples

The political realities of the time and place of St. Athanasius of Naples were different from the circumstances of those reading this post.  Greek colonists had founded the city of Naples, then called Neopolis (“new city”), in the southern part of the Italian peninsula, circa 600 B.C.E.  The area came under the control of the Roman Republic then folded into the Roman Empire.  After the demise of the Western Roman Empire (476 C.E.), Naples changed hands more than once, eventually coming under Byzantine (Eastern Roman) control in 552.  The independent Duchy of Naples existed from 763 to 1139, when it became part of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.  After the loss of Sicily in 1266 the Kingdom of Sicily became the Kingdom of Naples.  The merger of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, both of which shared the same monarch, in 1816 created the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with Naples as the capital.  Then, in 1860, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies gave way to the new Kingdom of Italy.

Church and state overlapped in the Duchy of Naples and the life of St. Athanasius I.  His father was Duke Sergius I (r. 840-864), founder of the Sergian Dynasty.  Our saint’s brother was Duke Gregory III (r. 850-870) and one of his nephews was Duke Sergius II (r. 870-877).  Dukes of Naples had to contend with various emirs and caliphs; Neopolitan foreign policy entailed both warfare and diplomacy, at different times.  Frequently the latter was the preferred policy of dukes.  St. Athanasius, aged 18 years, became the Bishop of Naples in 850, at the same time his brother Gregory III became co-ruler with Sergius I.  St. Athanasius I oversaw the rebuilding of the Church of St. Januarius, which Saracens had destroyed.  He also opposed simony, build a hospice for religious pilgrims, served as a papal legate, and advised the Carolingian Emperors Lothair I (r. 817-855) and Louis II (r. 855-875).

Sergius II was a bad character.  He incarcerated two uncles–St. Athanasius I and Admiral Caesar.  Both men had opposed Sergius II’s alliance with the Aghlabid Dynasty, based in northern Africa, and which controlled Sicily.  The Duke of Naples, instead of behaving decently, criminalized their dissent and permitted Caesar to die in prison.  Public pressure forced the release of St. Athanasius I, exiled by his nephew.  Louis II sent a rescue fleet, however.  St. Athanasius, en route to Rome, died at Veroli in 872.  Sergius II met his grisly fate.  His brother, Athanasius II, from 875/876 the Bishop of Naples, overthrew him and blinded him.  Athanasius II, still the Bishop of Naples, doubled as the Duke of Naples.  He died in 898.

How might one be a faithful Christian and leader in a cut-throat environment?  St. Athanasius I worked on that project.  Two nephews did not.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 17, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THOMAS BRADBURY CHANDLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST; HIS SON-IN-LAW, JOHN HENRY HOBART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM HOBART HARE, APOSTLE TO THE SIOUX AND EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF NIOBRARA THEN SOUTH DAKOTA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CATERINA VOLPICELLI, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE SACRED HEART; SAINT LUDOVICO DA CASORIA, FOUNDER OF THE GRAY FRIARS OF CHARITY AND COFOUNDER OF THE GRAY SISTERS OF SAINT ELIZABETH; AND SAINT GIULIA SALZANO, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CATECHETICAL SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART

THE FEAST OF CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON AND THURGOOD MARSHALL, ATTORNEYS AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

THE FEAST OF DONALD COGGAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

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Almighty God, you have raised up faithful bishops of your church,

including your servant Saint Athanasius I of Naples.

May the memory of his life be a source of joy for us and a bulwark of our faith,

so that we may confess your name before the world,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

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

Ezekiel 34:11-16 or Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84

1 Peter 5:1-4 or Ephesians 3:14-21

John 21:15-17 or Matthew 24:42-47

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 60

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Water Lily

Image Source = AkkiDa

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.