Above:  Thomas Helmore

Image in the Public Domain

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THOMAS HELMORE (MAY 7, 1811-JULY 6, 1890)

Anglican Priest and Arranger and Composer of Hymn Tunes

Thomas Helmore comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Methodist Hymnal (1966).  Perhaps his most famous contribution to Christian worship is his arrangement of VENI IMMANUEL for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Above:  Lichfield Cathedral

Image Source = Google Earth

Helmore, from nonconforming stock, found his spiritual home in High Church Anglicanism.  Our saint, born in Kiddenminster, Worcestershire, England, on May 7, 1811, was a son of Olive Holloway and Congregationalist minister Thomas Helmore.  (Aside:  Would suffixes, such as “Sr.,” “Jr.,” and “III” have been too much to use, to help keep relatives with the same names separate in one’s mind?  I guess so.)  Thomas, Jr., (or III or whatever), studied at Magdalen College, Oxford (B.A., 1840; M.A., 1845).  He also joined the ranks of priests in The Church of England in 1840.  Helmore served as the Curate of St. Michael’s Church, Lichfield, and the Vicar of Lichfield Cathedral, from 1840 to 1842.  He was frequently the Vice-Principal and Presenter of St. Mark’s College, Chelsea (1842-1977); the Master of Choristers of the Chapel Royal (1846f); and a priest at the Chapel Royal (1847f).  One of his students at the Chapel Royal was Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), one half of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Helmore became a leader in restoring plainchant in The Church of England.  He also composed hymn tunes for some of John Mason Neale‘s translations of Latin and Greek texts.  Furthermore, Helmore edited volumes of chants and anthems.  In 1855, our saint translated Treatise on Choir and Chorus Singing, by François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871).  Helmore’s other publications included:

1. The Psalter Noted (1849),
2. The Canticles Noted (1849),
3. A Manual of Plainsong (1850),
4. The Hymnal Noted (1852-1854),
5. A Brief Directory of Plain Song (1853),
6. Carols for Christmas (1853),
7. Carols for Easter (1853),
8. St. Mark’s College Chant Book (1863),
9. The Canticles Accented (1870),
10. A Catechism of Music (1878),
11. Plain-Song (1878), and
12. A Fuller Directory of the Plain Song of the Holy Communion Service (1881).

Helmore, 78 years old, died in London on July 6, 1890.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 3, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS FLAVIAN AND ANATOLIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PATRIARCHS; AND SAINTS AGATHO, LEO II, AND BENEDICT II, BISHOPS OF ROME; DEFENDERS OF CHRISTOLOGICAL ORTHODOXY

THE FEAST OF SAINT DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, AND CHURCH FATHER; SAINT EUSEBIUS OF LAODICEA, BISHOP OF LAODICEA; AND SAINT ANATOLIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, BISHOP OF LAODICEA

THE FEAST OF SAINT HELIODORUS OF ALTINUM, ASSOCIATE OF SAINT JEROME, AND BISHOP OF ALTINUM

THE FEAST OF 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

THE FEAST OF JOHN CENNICK, BRITISH MORAVIAN EVANGELIST AND HYMN WRITER

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

thank you for those (especially Thomas Helmore)

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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INTRODUCTION

Above:  The Flag of England

Image in the Public Domain

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JOSIAH CONDER (SEPTEMBER 17, 1789-DECEMBER 27, 1855)

English Journalist and Congregationalist Hymn Writer

father of

EUSTACE ROGERS CONDER (APRIL 5, 1820-JULY 6, 1892)

English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer

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The Conders were a distinguished family of English Dissenters–Congregationalists, to be precise.  Their Huguenot (properly pronounced u-guh-no) ancestry helped to explain this.

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JOSIAH CONDER

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Josiah Conder, born on September 17, 1789, at Falcon Street, Aldersgate, London, was a son of a bookseller, who was, in turn, son of a Congregationalist minister.  Thomas Conder, Josiah’s father, operated a bookstore.  Josiah, blind in the right eye since the age of six years because of small pox, went to work in the family business in his teens.  There he read voraciously, educating himself in many topics.  Josiah assumed control of the bookstore in 1811.

Josiah worked hard throughout his life yet never achieved financial security.  He was the editor of The Eclectic Review and The Patriot from 1814 to 1836.  Our saint also wrote may books, such as collections of original poems, a biography of John Bunyan, and a volume about geography.  Some of those poems were hymns.  Three of them graced Hymns Partly Collected and Partly Original, Designed as a Supplement to Dr. Watts’s Psalms and Hymns (1812), edited by William Bengo Collyer (1782-1854).  Twenty-four years later Josiah edited a seminal work, The Congregational Hymn-Book, A Supplement to Dr. Watts’s Psalms and Hymns (1836), for the Congregational Union of England and Wales.  The editor contributed about 60 of his hymns to this, the denomination’s first official hymnal.

Josiah, a friend of James Montgomery, was a political radical.  So was Josiah’s wife, Joan Elizabeth Thomas Conder (d. 1877), another writer.  The Conders were, for example, abolitionists in a society that accepted slavery.

Josiah died in London on December 27, 1855.  He was 66 years old.

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EUSTACE CONDER

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Eustace Conder was his father’s son, in the full sense of that term.  Eustace, like his great-grandfather, became a minister in the Congregationalist/Independent tradition.  After studying at Spring Hill College, Birmingham; and the University of London; Eustace joined the ranks of the clergy.  For 17 years he served at Poole.  Then, from 1861 to 1892, he was the pastor at East Parade Chapel, Leeds.  In 1873 Eustace became the leader of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.  He wrote about theology, as well as the life of Christ, and penned a collection of fairy tales, as well as a biography of his father.

Eustace wrote one hymn that has endured.  “Ye Fair Hills of Galilee,” written for the Congregational Church Hymnal (1887), seems to be the text of his that has proven most popular.

Eustace, aged 72 years, died in Poole on July 6, 1892.

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CONCLUSION

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A good hymnal is a fine source for names of saints.  The examples of Josiah and Eustace Conder prove this assertion.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 9, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS STEFAN AND KAZIMIERZ GRELEWSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS,  1941 AND 1942

THE FEAST OF DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE, LUTHERAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF DOROTHY DAY AND PETER LAURIN, COFOUNDERS OF THE CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT

THE FEAST OF THOMAS TOKE LYNCH, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Josiah Conder, Eustace Conder, 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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It is better to die well than to live wickedly. One should not sin in order to avoid the punishment of death. Truth conquers all things.

Above:  Dawn with Mountain Landscape

Image in the Public Domain

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JOHN WYCLIFFE (CIRCA 1320-DECEMBER 31, 1384)

English Theologian and Church Reformer

“Morning Star of the Reformation”

Also known as John Wiclif, John Wickliffe, and John Wyclif

Episcopal feast day = October 30

Church of England feast day = December 31

influenced

JAN HUS (1371-JULY 6, 1415)

Czech Theologian, Church Reformer, and Martyr

Also known as John Huss and John Hus

Moravian, Episcopal, and Lutheran feast day = July 6

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–Jan Hus, 1415, quoted in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints:  Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (New York:  The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997), 292

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INTRODUCTION

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One of my purposes in renovating my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days is to emphasize relationships and influences.  Therefore I, citing the latter, merge the Feasts of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.

The Moravian Church, founded by Hussites, has long commemorated Hus, who has been a saint in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), and their predecessors since the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978).  The Episcopal Church added Hus and Wycliffe to its calendar in 2009.  Meanwhile, Wycliffe, with separate feast days in The Church of England and The Episcopal Church, has remained absent from all Lutheran calendars I have consulted.

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THE “MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION”

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Above:  John Wycliffe

Image in the Public Domain

The fourteenth century was a difficult time for much of Europe.  During five years in the late 1340s and early 1350s the Black Death killed no less than two-fifths (and probably more) of the population of Western Europe, upending civilization there and helping to give rise to the modern world.  The tumult of that time called authorities and institutions into question as, for example, many peasants revolted, many urban workers asserted their rights, and the Church restaffed with substandard personnel.  The devastating death toll called the legitimacy of the Church into doubt in the minds of many people, some of whom favored apocalyptic understandings of recent events.

Meanwhile, the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy (1309-1377) at Avignon, France, a great scandal, was a self-inflicted wound for Holy Mother Church.  Another great scandal and self-inflicted wound, the Great Schism of the Papacy (1378-1417), ensued promptly.

John Wycliffe lived during those times.  He, born near Richmond, Yorkshire, England, circa 1320, was a priest.  Wycliffe was also an academic at Oxford University.  He matriculated at Baillol College in 1344, became master of that college by 1360, and resigned in 1361.  He held overlapping portfolios:

1. Rector of Fillingham (1361-1368);
2. Prebend of Aust, Bristol (1362-1384);
3. Warden of Canterbury Hall, Oxford (1365-1367); and
4. Rector of Lutterworth (1374-1384).

Meanwhile, Wycliffe was also a lecturer at Oxford until his forced retirement in 1381.

Wycliffe, a popular lecturer and preacher, became a radical.  He, interested in science, theology, local history, canon law, and philosophy, earned various degrees, culminating in his Doctor of Theology degree in 1372.  His move away from affirming the status quo began in 1374, at the start of the last decade of his life.  (Not everyone grows more conservative with age.)  Wycliffe served as a royal envoy to a conference with papal representative at Bruges.  The topic was provisions, or papal appointments to posts not yet vacant.

By 1376 Wycliffe became a committed reformer of the Church.  He criticized papal taxation, fees, and appointments, perhaps more out of political considerations than theological ones.  Our saint, who affirmed the Divine Right of Kings, became convinced that in terms of both doctrine and life the Church had strayed from its apostolic roots.  He argued that the clergy should not hold secular power, so no Pope should exercise power over the English Church.  Furthermore, Wycliffe wrote, Christ is the sole Head of the Universal Church, the Bible is the Law of God, and the true Church consists solely of the predestined Elect.  Wycliffe also affirmed the priesthood of all believers, questioned the theology of purgatory and transubstantiation, opposed the veneration of relics and statues, inveighed against the invocation of saints, criticized the celibacy of the clergy, and insisted that the state (with the monarch as the head of the state church) had an obligation to seize church lands for the benefit of the poor.  Certainly the Great Schism of the Papacy (1378-1417), a time of competing Supreme Pontiffs, influenced and reinforced Wycliffe’s criticism of the Papacy.

Wycliffe alarmed Popes, bishops, and leaders of religious orders, but had protectors in the royal family and among the nobility.  Nevertheless, after he became a scapegoat for a peasant revolt and Oxford authorities declared him a heretic in 1381, forced retirement became his fate.

Wycliffe was fortunate; he got to live and to retain his church positions.  He died three days after a stroke at Lutterworth on December 31, 1384.  Wycliffe was about 64 years old.

Wycliffe’s legacy continued, however.  The translation of the Bible into English was a project in which he was deeply involved, with help from others.  Wycliffe’s theology influenced Jan Hus, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.  The man had died, but his ideas lived.

Nevertheless, the Council of Constance condemned Wycliffe as a heretic posthumously in 1415.  Thirteen years later Richard Fleming, the Bishop of Lincoln, ordered the exhumation and burning of the old priest’s remains.

Some of Wycliffe’s followers were more radical than he was.  The Lollard movement began in 1380 and continued into the 1500s, influencing the English Reformation.  “Lollard” came from the Middle Dutch word for “mumbler” or “mutterer.”  The term, already applied to Flemish heretics prior to Wycliffe’s time, stuck to his followers by 1382.  It was a persecuted minority movement, some of whose members dared to plot to overthrow the government and disendow the English Church in 1431.

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THE CZECH REFORMER

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Above:  Jan Hus

Image in the Public Domain

Lord Jesus Christ, it is for the sake of the gospel and the preaching of the word that I undergo, with patience and humility, this terrifying, ignominious, cruel death.

–Jan Hus, July 6, 1415; quoted in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints (1997), 291

Jan Hus, born in Husinec, Bohemia, in 1371, was 17 years old when Wycliffe died.  Hus, influenced by Wycliffe’s writings, became a reformer in Bohemia and walked the road to martyrdom.

Hus, educated at the University of Prague (starting in 1390) was a Roman Catholic priest, as Wycliffe had been.  Hus, based in Prague, was, from 1392, chaplain of the Bethlehem Chapel, where he preached in the Czech language.  Our saint, the dean of the philosophical faculty of the University of Prague from 1401, served also as the Rector of the university in 1403 and 1409.  The following year, however, Archbishop Zbynek Zajic of Hasenberg excommunicated Hus.

Hus had been reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting writings of Wycliffe, as well as translating some of them into Czech.  Wycliffe’s ideas had already begun to influence politics in Bohemia, where the Church owned about half of the land, and many people, including a large number of priests, were poor.  Many peasants resented the Church, for obvious reasons.  Also, simony was rife.

Although Hus was radical in his setting, he was less radical than Wycliffe.  Hus, for example, affirmed transubstantiation consistently.  Yet, like Wycliffe, Hus condemned ecclesiastical abuses and defined the true Church as the assembly of the predestined Elect.

Hus managed to survive as long as he did because of protectors.  In 1410  King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia attained a bull from (Antipope) Alexander V (in office 1409-1410) ordering the burning of Wycliffe’s works, forbidding the preaching of their contents at Bethlehem Chapel, and allowing no appeal.  Archbishop Zajic burned those writings that year.  The following year (Antipope) John XXIII, one of three competing Popes, placed an interdict on Prague, but Wenceslaus IV ignored it and ordered others to do the same.  Meanwhile, (Antipope) John XXIII was waging a war against King Ladislaus of Naples and selling indulgences to finance that war.  After Hus, technically excommunicated yet living as though there were no excommunication order, condemned the sale of those indulgences and accused (Antipope) John XXIII of being the Antichrist.  Wenceslaus IV had been protecting Hus, but ceased to do that in 1412, after (Antipope) John XXIII threatened the Bohemian monarch with a crusade on the charge of protecting heretics and heresy.  So, from 1412 to 1414, Hus lived, wrote, and preached in southern Bohemia for two years.

Hus died as a heretic at Constance, Baden, on July 6, 1415.  He had traveled there under a promise of safe conduct, for the Council of Constance, in 1414, but found himself a prisoner instead.  Hus, after having refused to recant, burned at the stake as a heretic.  He was 43 or 44 years old.

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CONCLUSION

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Much of the history of ecclesiastical reactions (as opposed to responses) to heresies, alleged and actual, is an account of behavior contrary to the spirit of Christ.  What in the Gospels might give one the idea that Jesus would approve of burning accused heretics?

One might disagree with Wycliffe and Hus on certain political and/or theological points, but one should recognize and respect their courage in risking their lives by resisting authority nonviolently in the knowledge that the authorities they objected to had the power to torture and execute them.

The Church has silenced and killed prophets, unfortunately.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 26, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM COWPER, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA

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O God, your justice continually challenges your Church to live according to its calling:

Grant us who now remember the work of John Wyclif

contrition for the wounds which our sins inflict on your Church,

and such love for Christ that we may seek to heal the divisions which afflict his Body;

through the same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 43:26-33

Psalm 33:4-11

Hebrews 4:12-16

Mark 4:13-20

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 659

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Faithful God, you gave John Hus the courage to confess your truth

and recall your Church to the image of Christ.

Enable us, inspired by his example, to bear witness against corruption

and never cease to pray for our enemies,

that we may prove faithful followers of our Savior Jesus Christ;

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

Job 22:21-30

Psalm 119:113-120

Revelation 3:1-6

Matthew 23:34-39

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 455

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Above:  Albert Lea, Minnesota, April 28, 1908

Photographer and Copyright Claimant = Frederick J. Bandholtz, Des Moines, Iowa

H116197–U.S. Copyright Office

Image Source = Library of Congress

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OLUF HANSON SMEBY (JANUARY 31, 1851-JULY 6, 1929)

U.S. Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer

My reading in hymnody has brought the Reverend Oluf Hanson Smeby to my attention.  He translated Norwegian hymns into English.  I have added one text, “Abide with Us, the Day is Waning,” to my GATHERED PRAYERS weblog.  Part of another text, a translation of a hymn by Bishop Johan Nordahl Brun (1745-1816), follows:

Today I was my Savior’s guest,

My soul was there so richly blest,

The Bread of Life receiving.

Oh, may thereby my faith prevail,

So that its fruits shall never fail

Till my account is given

Before the throne in heaven.

Smeby, born in Rock County, Wisconsin, in 1851, was the son of Hans O. Smeby and Helene Fryslie Smeby.  He entered the preparatory department of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, an institution of the Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1853-1917), then transferred to the college proper, graduating with his A.B. degree in 1871.  Our saint’s next step was Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, from which he graduated three years later.

The Reverend Smeby, ordained in 1874, served God in that capacity for the rest of his life.  From 1874 to 1876 our saint served as the assistant minister to congregations in Freeborn County, Minnesota.  Then, in 1876, he married Marie Carlson, his partner in life, from that point forward.  From 1876 to 1922 Smeby became the senior pastor in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and ministered in churches in the area with the help of other clergymen.  His main responsibilities were the Albert Lea and Oakwood churches, but he also organized churches at Moscow and London Township in 1890 and 1891 and served them for a time.  Oluf and Marie Smeby traveled on good roads, bad roads, and places where roads should have been to take the Gospel and the sacraments to isolated farmers.  Eventually our saint left the care of the Moscow and London Township congregations to other ministers so that he could focus on his work at Albert Lea and Oakwood.  Some of those responsibilities included teaching Norwegian, German, and religion at Luther Academy, Albert Lea, from 1888 to 1904.

As if that were not enough, Smeby served on the denominational level also.  Our saint was the Secretary of the Iowa District of the Norwegian Synod from 1895 to 1907, Vice President of the same from 1907 to 1913, a member of the Committee for Christian Hymns (1898), and the chairman of the committee for The Lutheran Hymnary (1913).

Smeby retired in 1922, after forty-eight years of active ministry.  He died on July 6, 1929.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 29, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS LYDIA, DORCAS, AND PHOEBE, COWORKERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

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Heavenly Father, shepherd of your people,

we thank you for your servant Oluf Hanson Smeby,

who was faithful in the care and nurture of your flock.

We pray that, following his example and the teaching of his holy life,

we may by your grace attain our full maturity in Christ,

through the same 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), page 60

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Above:  Samuel Duffield

Image Source = http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/u/f/duffield_saw.htm

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GEORGE DUFFIELD, JR. (SEPTEMBER 11, 1818-JULY 6, 1888)

U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer

father of

SAMUEL AUGUSTUS WILLOUGHBY DUFFIELD (SEPTEMBER 24, 1843-MAY 12, 1887)

U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer

Sometimes, as I research a proposed saint whose name I found somewhere, the trail leads me to at least one other remarkable person.  That happened as I read about George Duffield, Jr. (1818-1888); I learned about his son, Samuel, also.

The Duffield family produced a lineage of distinguished Presbyterian clergymen.  One George Duffield (1732-1790) served in the Continental Army as a chaplain during the U.S. War for Independence.  His grandson, George Duffield, Sr. (1796-1868), was the 1862 Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (New School) (1838-1869).  From that stock came George Duffield, Jr.

George Jr., born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, graduated from Yale University and Union Theological Seminary.  His ministerial career, spent building up small congregations while relying on his wealth to sustain himself financially, was as follows:

1. Fifth Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, New York (1840-1847);
2. First Presbyterian Church, Bloomfield, New Jersey (1847-1852);
3. Central Presbyterian Church of the Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1852-1861);
4. Adrian, Michigan (1861-1865);
5. Second Presbyterian Church, Galesburg, Illinois (1865-1869);
6. Saginaw, Michigan (1869); and
7. Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan (1869-1884).

George Jr. retired in 1884 and spent his final years with his son, Samuel, whom he survived by slightly less than one year.

Samuel Augustus Willoughby Duffield (1843-1887), born in Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Yale University in 1863.  He, licensed to preach in 1866 and ordained the following year, served in the following places:

1. Bergers, New Jersey;
2. Ann Arbor, Michigan;
3. Altoona, Pennsylvania; and
4. Westminster Presbyterian Church, Bloomfield, New Jersey (1881-1887).

He, a translator and author of hymns, was also a scholar of hymnody.  His publications included:

1. A translation of Bernard’s Hora Novissima (1867);
2. Warp and Woof:  A Book of Verse (1868);
3. The Burial of the Dead (1882);
4. English Hymns:  Their Authors and History (1886); and
5. Latin Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (1889).

I excavated one of Samuel’s hymns, “Oh, Land Relieved from Sorrow,” from the Southern Presbyterian Hymns of the Ages (1891):

Oh, land relieved from sorrow!

Oh, land secure from tears!

Oh, respite on the morrow

From all the toil of years!

To thee we hasten ever,

To thee our steps ascend,

Where darkness cometh never,

And joy shall never end.

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Oh, happy, holy, portal

For God’s own blest elect:

Oh, region, pure, immortal,

With better spring bedecked:

Thy pearly doors for ever

Their welcome shall extend,

Where darkness cometh never,

And joy shall never end.

+++++

Oh, home where God the Father

Takes all His children in:

Where Christ the Son shall gather

The sinners saved from sin:

No might nor fear shall sever

A friend from any friend,

For darkness cometh never,

And joy shall never end.

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Rise, then, O brightest morning!

Come, then, triumphant day!

When into new adorning

We change and pass away:

For so with firm endeavor

Our spirits gladly tend

Where darkness cometh never,

And joy shall never end.

Samuel took after his father, George Jr., who also wrote hymn texts.  One of these was “Blessed Saviour, Thee I Love.”  Another was “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” with an interesting origin story and two more stanzas than most hymnals publish these days.  George Jr. was active in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) at Philadelphia.  One of his dearest friends there was Dudley A. Tyng, an Episcopal priest also active in the YMCA.  One day in 1858 Tyng suffered a sudden and fatal accident.  He did have enough time to send a message to his fellow clergymen.

Tell them to stand up for Jesus,

he said.  George Jr., moved by the loss of his friend, wrote the famous hymns.  “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” customarily four stanzas long in hymnals, was originally six stanzas long:

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,

Ye soldiers of the cross;

Lift high His royal banner,

It must not suffer loss:

From victory to victory

His army shall He lead,

Till every foe is vanquished,

And Christ is Lord indeed.

+++++

Stand up, stand up for Jesus!

The solemn watchword hear,

If while ye sleep He suffers,

Away with shame and fear;

Wherein ye meet with evil,

Within you or without,

Charge for the God of Battles,

And put the foe to rout!

+++++

Stand up, stand up for Jesus!

The trumpet call obey;

Forth to the mighty conflict,

In this His glorious day:

Ye that are men now serve Him

Against unnumbered foes;

Let courage rise with danger,

And strength to strength oppose.

+++++

Stand up, stand up for Jesus!

Stand in His strength alone;

The arm of flesh will fail you,

Ye dare not trust your own:

Put on the gospel armor,

Each piece put on with prayer;

Where duty calls, or danger,

Be never wanting there.

+++++

Stand up, stand up for Jesus!

Each soldier to his post;

Close up the broken column,

And shout through all the host!

Make good the loss so heavy,

In those that still remain,

And prove to all around you

That death itself is gain!

+++++

Stand up, stand up for Jesus!

The strife will not be long;

This day the noise of battle,

The next the victor’s song:

To Him that overcometh

A crown of life shall be;

He with the King of Glory

Shall reign eternally.

This hymn debuted in print in Lyra Sacra Americana (1868), on pages 99 and 100.

Families ought to propagate healthy faith.  The Duffields nurtured faith across generational lines and did much to feed it in many others down the corridors of time.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 21, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MIROCLES OF MILAN AND EPIPHANIUS OF PAVIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF SAINT AGNES, MARTYR AT ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ALBAN ROE AND THOMAS REYNOLDS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GASPAR DEL BUFALO, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

George Duffield, Jr.; Samuel Duffield; 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:  Flag of England

HENRY THOMAS SMART (OCTOBER 24, 1813-JULY 6, 1879)

English Organist and Composer

Henry Thomas Smart came from a great and illustrious family.  His uncle, Sir George Thomas Smart, was a famous organist and orchestral conductor.  And his father, Henry Smart, was a respected and well-known violinist, music publisher, and orchestral conductor.  So it was natural for our saint to pursue a career in music, although he did so after a brief turn as a practicing attorney.

Smart composed many works.  His cantatas were The Bride of Dunkerron (1864) and King Rene’s Daughter (1871).  He also wrote an oratorio, Jacob (1873).  Bertha (1865) was his opera.  He also composed trios, songs, services, organ music, and hymn tunes.  Among his most famous hymn tunes was Regent Square, to which many people have sung and continue to sing “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation.”  Smart continued to compose after he went blind in 1865.  Ellen, his daughter, took dictation.

Among Smart’s post-blindness compositions were his settings of the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, both of which the choir (to which I belong) at St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia, performed at an Evensong service on November 4, 2012.  I have been listening (courtesy of Spotify) to those and other compositions by our saint while typing this post.  Now I am listening to the Magnificat again.  It is a piece of some complexity of voice parts.  So I wonder how many details Smart must have kept in his head while giving dictation.  And the work is beautiful and majestic.

Smart’s regular work was a church organist from 1831 to his death in 1879.  He played the organ for Blackburn Parish Church, Lancashire from 1831 to 1836 before moving to London.  There he served as the organist for a sequence of churches:  St. Giles, St. Philip’s, St. Luke’s, and St. Pancras.

Henry Thomas Smart devoted his life to God and to music in that context–a worthwhile endeavor.  I honor him for his good works and great accomplishments in those fields.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 15, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST U.S. PRESBYTERIAN BOOK OF COMMON WORSHIP, 1906

THE FEAST OF CAROLINE CHISHOLM, HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF PIRIPI TAUMATA-A-KURA, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Eternal God, light of the world and Creator of all that is good and lovey:

We bless your name for inspiring Henry Thomas Smart

and all those who with music have filled us with desire and love for you;

through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

1 Chronicles 29:14b-19

Psalm 90:14-17

2 Corinthians 3:1-3

John 21:15-17, 24-25

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 728

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.