British Quaker Martyr in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1661
For bearing my testimony for the Lord against deceivers and the deceived, I am brought here to suffer.
–William Leddra, on the day he died
People who execute pacifists do not impress me.
William Leddra comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006). Their source lists March 24, 1661, as the date of Leddra’s judicial murder. Nevertheless, most other sources I consulted list the date as March 14, 1661.
Those who claim that most Puritans who settled in what became the United States sought religious freedom either lie or labor under a misconception.
The majority of Puritans, whether in the old country or on this side of the Pond, created and maintained theocracies when they had the opportunity. Religious toleration was not a dominant Puritan value; religious persecution was.
Quakers, with their pacifism, egalitarianism, and mysticism, threatened the hierarchical Puritan social order by merely existing. Being a Quaker in Puritan colonies in New England was illegal, therefore. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, prior to 1659, penalties included:
Expulsion,
Lashing behind a cart,
Abandonment deep in a forest,
Branding with an “H” for “heretic,”
Branding of the tongue, and
Cutting off of the ears.
Some Quakers, convinced that their Inner Light told them to preach the Friends gospel despite the risks, returned anyway. From 1659 to 1661, in the Massachusetts Bay colony, the list of penalties expanded to include death by hanging. Four Quakers became martyrs. Marmaduke Stephenson and William Robinson died on October 27, 1659. Mary Dyer received the crown of martyrdom on June 1, 1660.
Leddra, who was married, was a native of Cornwall, England, who had moved to Barbados then to New England. He converted to the Religious Society of Friends. Our saint, a clothier, arrived in Rhode Island in 1658. He would have been safe there, with the greatest risk being Roger Williams arguing with him and accusing him of heresy. Leddra, however, went to Connecticut, the government of which banished him. Then our saint traveled to Salem, Massachusetts Bay. Authorities arrested Leddra and transported him to Boston. Our saint, banished from the colony, returned to it. Authorities arrested him again in April 1659. Our saint, incarcerated again in October 1659, went on trial before Governor John Endecott in March 1661. The sentence was death by hanging.
In May 1661, Puritan authorities received new orders from King Charles II forbidding any more executions for alleged heresy. This order arrived in time to prevent a fifth execution for being a Quaker in the Massachusetts Bay colony.
I use absolute terms, such as “never,” sparingly, so take note, O reader.
Freedom is never absolute; life in society requires the surrender of some individual freedom from everyone for the common good. Consider a practical, generally non-controversial example, O reader; we must, for the sake of all, obey traffic laws. Freedom of religion should be as broad as possible, with sensible restrictions. One should never, for example, get away with child abuse or endangering public health on the grounds of freedom of religion. And, if one’s religion mandates an honor killing, a court should define that act as murder. Law is easy at the extremes. On the opposite extreme, the mere refusal to conform to theocracy or a dominant form of faith should never constitute a crime, and law should bend over backward, so to speak, to allow for a wide variety of peaceful expressions of religion, within reasonable limits. Life in a free society requires much mutual toleration.
Quakers, with their theology of the Inner Light, affirmed that God spoke to everyone. The most germane question, from that perspective, was if one was listening. This doctrine called into question the Puritan spiritual hierarchy, with the ministers at its heart. Quakerism constituted an existential threat to the Puritan social order.
Authorities tend to go to great and frequently morally unjustifiable lengths to protect the social order. If morally unjustifiable lengths prove necessary to preserve that social order, perhaps it should fall, so that a just society may emerge.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 25, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE
A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days is one of my hobbies, not a calendar of observances with any force or a popular following. It does, however, constitute a forum to which to propose proper additions to church calendars.
Much of the Western Church observes January 18 as the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter the Apostle, the rock upon which Christ built the Church. (Just think, O reader; I used to be a Protestant boy! My Catholic tendencies must be inherent.) The celebration of that feast is appropriate. The Church does not neglect St. Martha of Bethany, either. In The Episcopal Church, for example, she shares a feast with her sister (St. Mary) and her brother (St. Lazarus) on July 29.
There is no Feast of the Confession of St. Martha of Bethany, corresponding to the Petrine feast, however. That constitutes an omission. I correct that omission somewhat here at my Ecumenical Calendar as of today. I hereby define the Sunday immediately prior to Palm/Passion Sunday as the Feast of the Confession of St. Martha of Bethany. The reason for the temporal definition is the chronology inside the Gospel of John.
This post rests primarily on John 11:20-27, St. Martha’s confession of faith in her friend, Jesus, as
the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.
The combination of grief, confidence, and faith is striking. It is one with which many people identify. It is one that has become increasingly relevant in my life during the last few months, as I have dealt with two deaths.
Faith frequently shines brightly in the spiritual darkness and exists alongside grief. Faith enables people to cope with their grief and helps them to see the path through the darkness. We need to grieve, but we also need to move forward. We will not move forward alone, for God is with us. If we are fortunate, so are other people, as well as at least one pet.
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Loving God, who became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth
and enjoyed the friendship of Saints Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany:
We thank you for the faith of St. Martha, who understood that
you were the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was coming into the world.
May we confess with our lips and our lives our faith in you,
the Incarnate, crucified, and resurrected Son of God, and draw others to you;
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jeremiah 8:18-23
Psalm 142
1 Corinthians 15:12-28
John 11:1-44
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 18, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE
SAINT OSCAR ROMERO ARNULFO Y GALDEMEZ (AUGUST 15, 1917-MARCH 24, 1980)
Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador
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I have frequently been threatened with death. I must say that, as a Christian, I do not believe in death but in the resurrection. If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people.
Martyrdom is a great gift from God that I do not believe I have earned. But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life then may my blood be the seed of liberty, and a sign of the hope that will soon become a reality….A bishop will die, but the church of God–the people–will never die.
–Archbishop Romero, quoted in All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (New York: NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997), page 133
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This feast exists in various denominations. From Roman Catholic websites I know of the beatification of Romero on May 23, 2015, and of the fact of decades of official suspicion that he was a Marxist. And, based on my library, I know the following statements to be accurate:
The Episcopal Church observes the feast of “Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, 1980, and the Martyrs of El Salvador.”
The Church of England keeps the feast of “Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada observe the feast of “Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Bishop of El Salvador, 1980.”
Furthermore, Robert Ellsberg, author of All Saints (1979), places Romero’s feast on March 24, the same date of the saint’s feast on the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Church of England calendars.
Addendum (09/09/2018): Pope Francis will canonize Romero on October 14, 2018.
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Archbishop Oscar Romero became a martyr for challenging the repressive government of El Salvador which had death squads that targeted civilians. The U.S. Government, for reasons of Cold War politics, provided military aid to this regime during the Carter and Reagan Administrations. The Cold War provided cover for a multitude of murders, apparently.
Romero, born at Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, El Salvador, on August 15, 1917, became an apprentice to a carpenter at the age of 13 years. The following year our saint discerned a vocation to the priesthood; he began to prepare for it. Romero studied in El Salvador at in Rome. Our saint, ordained a priest on April 4, 1942, became a parish priest in his homeland. He also served as the diocesan secretary at San Miguel.
The episcopate summoned. On April 25, 1970, Romero became the Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador. He left that post on October 15, 1974, to become the Bishop of Santiago de Maria. There he began to liberalize. Romero had been suspicious of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) and of the call (from 1968) of Archbishop Helder Camara for the Church to advocate for social justice for the poor and the oppressed, not to identify with those who oppress them. Despite Romero’s gradual shift to the left (in progress), he remained relatively conservative when he became the Archbishop of San Salvador on February 3, 1977.
Romero’s move to the left accelerated soon after he became archbishop. On March 12, 1977, government gunmen assassinated Father Rutilio Grande, a priest committed to social justice for campesinos. The following Sunday the archbishop suspended Masses in the capital city and demanded the punishment of the guilty. Romero became a vocal opponent of the regime, which killed civilians as a matter of policy; he was the “Voice of the Voiceless.” The junta that seized power in 1979 did not cease the repression. Early in 1980 our saint wrote President Jimmy Carter and requested that the U.S. Government halt military aid to the government of El Salvador. This did not endear the archbishop to the Salvadoran regime, of course.
On Sunday, March 23, 1980, in a homily, Romero effectively signed his death warrant. He said in part:
I would like to appeal in a special way to the men of the army, and in particular to the troops of the National Guard, the Police, and the garrisons. Brothers, you belong to our own people. You kill your own brother peasants; and in the face of an order to kill that is given by a man, the law of God should prevail that says: Do not kill! No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is time ow that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin. The Church, defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of the dignity of the human person, cannot remain silent before so much abomination.
We want the government to seriously consider that reforms mean nothing when they come bathed in so much blood. Therefore, in the name of God, and in the name of the longsuffering people, whose laments rise to heaven everyday more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you in the name of God: stop the repression!
–Translated by Nena Terrell and Sally Hanlon; quoted in Jim Wallis and Joyce Hollyday, editors, Cloud of Witnesses (2005), pages 278-279
The following day, Monday, March 24, 1980, Romero preached his final homily at a hospital chapel in San Salvador. He said in part:
“God’s reign is already present on earth in mystery. When the Lord comes, it will be brought to perfection.”
That is the hope that inspires Christians. We know that every effort to better society, especially when so ingrained, is an effort that God blesses, that God wants, that God demands of us.
–Translated by James R. Brockman, S.J. and quoted in The Violence of Love: The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1988), page 242
A government gunman assassinated Romero after the completed that homily.
Civil War began later that year and continued until 1992. The government of El Salvador (the one receiving military aid from the United States Government) killed more than 75,000 civilians as a matter of policy. Among those murdered by death squads were Roman Catholic priests, members of Roman Catholic orders, and lay people associated with them.
PAUL IRENEE COUTURIER (JULY 29, 1881-MARCH 24, 1953)
Apostle of Christian Unity
Paul Couturier is one of three saints assigned to March 24 in Common Worship: Daily Prayer (2005; Fourth Impression, 2010). In my copy of Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000), however, his feast is absent.
Couturier, born in Lyon, France, on July 29, 1881, grew up as one of the pieds-noirs in Algeria. In 1906 he became a Roman Catholic priest as a member of the Society of St. Irenaeus. Next our saint studied physical science for several years before beginning to teach at the Institut des Chartreux, a parochial school in Lyon. For most of the rest of his life Couturier taught at that school; he retired in 1951. Couturier, as a teacher, influenced the lives of many students directly and therefore the lives of many other people indirectly.
His other work–that of ecumenism–has brought him to my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, however. That ecumenical work had its roots in the early 1920s, when Couturier worked with Russian refugees. They broadened his horizons by introducing him to Russian Orthodoxy. By the early 1930s our saint had become a committed ecumenist. In 1933 he founded the Triduum for Christian Unity. The following year he renamed it the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25), an extension of the Octave for Church Unity, dating to 1908 and with Anglican origins. In 1939 Couturier’s Octave became the Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Couturier developed a network of international contacts as he pursued ecumenical efforts. In 1936 he organized the first Reformed-Roman Catholic dialogue at Erlenbach, Switzerland. The following to years he spent time in England as he studied Anglicanism. His international contacts alarmed the Gestapo, which incarcerated our saint during World War II. The prison experience damaged Couturier’s health; it was his cross to bear, he concluded. Couturier witnessed the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948 and stayed in contact with that organization’s leaders for the rest of his life. In 1952 Maximus IV, the Melkite Greek Patriarch of Antioch, declared Couturier an honorary archimandrite, or monastic priest.
Couturier died at Lyon on March 24, 1953. He was 71 years old.
predictably Couturier’s legacy has received mixed reviews. Both traditional Catholic groups (who oppose dialogue with other Christians) and non-Roman Catholic groups who oppose dialogue with Holy Mother Church have not embraced ecumenism. After all, if one thinks that Catholicism is the repository of truth, why should one affirm dialogue with heretics? Likewise, if one thinks that the Roman Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon, why should one support dialogue with it? Couturier, however, presaged the declaration of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) that non-Roman Catholic Christians are “separated brethren.”
Denominational identities and structures are frequently stubborn; inertia does much to maintain them, even long after the reason or reasons for the founding have become obsolete. I wonder when the changing demographics of organized religion in the United States (where the fastest grown religious label is “none”) will begin to lead to the consolidation of denominations. After all, what proportion of the devout Christian population in the United States really cares about minor theological differences? One might point to the mergers that created the United Church of Canada (1925), the Church of South India (1947), the Church of North India (1970), the Church of Pakistan (1970), and the Uniting Church of Australia (1977). Why not, for example, consolidate certain Reformed denominations in the United States? [The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) + the United Church of Christ = a feasible denomination, does it not? Portions of the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church of North America might even what to participate in a merger also. (Parts of the CRCNA are to the left of parts of the RCA. I wonder if segments of the RCA and the CRCNA would be comfortable merging with some conservative Reformed bodies.)] Why not lay aside minor theological differences and merge certain Anglican and Lutheran bodies in North America? [The Episcopal Church + the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America = The Anglican Lutheran Church; the Anglican Church of Canada + the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada = the Anglican Lutheran Church in Canada.] The Lutheran and Anglican traditions have cross-fertilized each other since the 1500s, after all. I could continue to offer examples of possible merger partners, but I think I have made my point sufficiently. The churches, consolidated more and working together more closely when not merged, would have a more effective witness this way.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 31, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES FREDERICK MACKENZIE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CENTRAL AFRICA
THE FEAST OF HENRY TWELLS, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER
James Moffatt, in his 1927 companion volume to the Scottish Presbyterian Church Hymnary, wrote of Thomas Attwood:
He was a man of singularly lovable character, of sincere religious spirit, and of rare musical gifts.
–page 256
Attwood, son of a coal merchant, pursued a life in music. He played the trumpet and the viola. Attwood also sang as a chorister at the Chapel Royal. From there, thanks to the patronage of the Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, he studied abroad in Italy then in Vienna, where he became a favorite pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Attwood was fortunate to have the opportunities he did. And he made the most of them. In 1796 he became the organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, and composer to the Chapel Royal. Twenty-five years later, he became organist at the private chapel (at Brighton) of his patron, the newly-crowned George IV.
And, in 1823, Attwood became one of the first professors at the Royal Academy of Music. Thirteen years later he became organist at the Chapel Royal, under King William IV. Attwood also championed the music of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, his good friend, in England and dedicated the Prelude and Fugue for the organ to him.
Attwood’s church compositions made him the “Father of Modern Church Music.” He composed nine chants, eight anthems, four services, and at least two hymn tunes–Veni Creator and Sanctus.
Music can function as a portal to God and as a means of expressing the talents which God has bestowed upon one. Thomas Attwood used music to praise God and to create beauty. That is a legacy worth honoring.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 29, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LYDIA, DORCAS, AND PHOEBE, COWORKERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GENESIUS I OF CLERMONT AND PRAEJECTUS OF CLERMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; AND SAINT AMARIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF SAINT GILDAS THE WISE, HISTORIAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said,
I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.
When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush,
Moses, Moses!
And he said,
Here I am.
Then he said,
Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.
He said further,
I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the LORD said,
I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God,
Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?
He said,
I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.
But Moses said to God,
If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?
God said to Moses,
I AM Who I AM.
He said further,
Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’
God also said to Moses,
Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:
This is my name forever,
and this is my title for all generations.
Psalm 63:1-8 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
2 Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place,
that I might behold your power and your glory.
3 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;
my lips shall give you praise.
4 So will I bless you as long as I live
and lift up my hands in your Name.
5 My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips.
6 When I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the night watches.
7 For you have been my helper,
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand holds me fast.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (New Revised Standard Version):
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written,
The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.
“We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Luke 13:1-9 (Revised English Bible):
At that time some people came and told him [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He answered them:
Do you suppose that, because these Galileans suffered this fate, they must have been greater sinners than anyone else in Galilee? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all of you come to the same end. Of the eighteen people who were killed when the tower fell on them at Siloam–do you imagine they must have been more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all come to an end like theirs.
He told them this parable:
A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. So he said to the vine-dresser, “For the last three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why should it go on taking goodness from the soil?” But he replied, “Leave it, sir, for this one year, while I did round it and manure it. And it it bears next season, well and good; if not, you shall have it down.”
The Collect:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Suffering is a great theological problem. Consider the following passages and thoughts with me, O reader:
Exodus 3:7-10 states that God cared about the suffering of the Hebrews in Egypt and had a plan to end it.
Yet God, in Job (read especially Chapters 1, 2 and 38-41) seemed not to have cared about Job’s suffering.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, wrote that God does not test anyone beyond human capacity to withstand it, by grace. But what about Job?
Jesus, in Luke 13:1-5, rejected the suggestion that suffering necessarily flowed from sin. Thus he confirmed a major tenet from the Book of Job.
The Bible is an anthology containing contradictory points of view on various questions, such as suffering. Great theologians and lesser minds have struggled with it. The struggle continues. One example of a method of attempting to come grips with the problem of suffering is to write graphic hagiographies of martyrs. Consider 4 Maccabees, O reader. I refer to several chapters, such as the sixth one. Yet one not need reach back to first century CE texts; one can read more recent examples on websites devoted to saints.
I cannot resolve the problem of suffering here and now. Yet I can–and do–offer a concrete suggestion related to suffering.
Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.
–Exodus 3:10, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
Are you, O reader, called currently to end or ease some suffering of others? Am I? There is a time to wait for God and there is a time to act so that God can work through us. We might feel unqualified.We are unqualified. Yet none of that constitutes an obstacle for God. As an old statement tells us, God does not call the qualified; God qualifies the called. Regardless of how much we know or how capable we are, we need God’s help to round out our qualifications. May we remember that and approach God with all due humility and our sacred tasks with all due confidence.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 18, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ERIK IX OF SWEDEN, KING AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF JOHN I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF TAMIHANA TE RAUPPARAHA, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY
1 (Anna of Oxenhall and Her Faithful Descendants, Wenna the Queen, Non, Samson of Dol, Cybi, and David of Wales)
Edwin Hodder, English Biographer, Devotional Writer, and Hymn Writer
George Wishart, Scottish Calvinist Reformer and Martyr, 1546; and Walter Milne, Scottish Protestant Martyr, 1558
Jean-Pierre de Caussade, French Roman Catholic Priest and Spiritual Director
Roger Lefort, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bourges
2 (Shabbaz Bhatti and Other Christian Martyrs of the Islamic World)
Aidan of Lindisfarne, Celtic Missionary Bishop; Caelin, Celtic Priest; Cedd of Lastingham, Celtic and Roman Catholic Priest, Bishop of Essex, and Abbot of Lastingham; Cynibil of Lastingham, Celtic and Roman Catholic Priest and Monk; Chad of Mercia, Celtic and Roman Catholic Priest, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of York/the Northumbrians and of Lichfield/the Mercians and the Lindsey People; Vitalian, Bishop of Rome; Adrian of Canterbury, Roman Catholic Abbot of Saints Peter and Paul, Canterbury; Theodore of Tarsus, Roman Catholic Monk and Archbishop of Canterbury; and Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Celtic and Roman Catholic Monk, Hermit, Priest, and Bishop of Lindisfarne
Daniel March, Sr., U.S. Congregationalist and Presbyterian Minister, Poet, Hymn Writer, and Liturgist
John Stuart Blackie, Scottish Presbyterian Scholar, Linguist, Poet, Theologian, and Hymn Writer
Ludmilla of Bohemia, Duchess of Bohemia, and Martyr, 921; her grandson, Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, and Martyr, 929; Agnes of Prague, Bohemian Princess and Nun; pen pal of Clare of Assisi, Foundress of the Poor Clares; her sister, Agnes of Assisi, Abbess at Monticelli; and her mother, Hortulana of Assisi, Poor Clare Nun
3 (Katharine Drexel, Foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament)
Antonio Francesco Marzorati, Johannes Laurentius Weiss, and Michele Pro Fasoli, Franscican Missionary Priests and Martyrs in Ethiopia, 1716
Gervinus, Roman Catholic Abbot and Scholar
Henry Elias Fries, U.S. Moravian Industrialist; and his wife, Rosa Elvira Fries, U.S. Moravian Musician
Teresa Eustochio Verzeri, Foundress of the Institute of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
4 (Charles Simeon, Anglican Priest and Promoter of Missions; Henry Martyn, Anglican Priest, Linguist, Translator, and Missionary; and Abdul Masih, Indian Convert and Missionary)
Henry Suso, German Roman Catholic Mystic, Preacher, and Spiritual Writer
John Edgar Park, U.S. Presbyterian then Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
Paul Cuffee, U.S. Presbyterian Missionary to the Shinnecock Nation
Thomas Hornblower Gill, English Unitarian then Anglican Hymn Writer
5 (Karl Rahner, Jesuit Priest and Theologian)
Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle, English Roman Catholic Convert, Spiritual Writer, and Translator of Spiritual Writings; Founder of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey
Christopher Macassoli of Vigevano, Franciscan Priest
Eusebius of Cremona, Roman Catholic Abbot and Humanitarian
Ion Costist, Franciscan Lay Brother
6 (Martin Niemoller, German Lutheran Minister and Peace Activist)
Chrodegang of Metz, Roman Catholic Bishop
Jordan of Pisa, Dominican Evangelist
William Bright, Anglican Canon, Scholar, and Hymn Writer
7 (James Hewitt McGown, Humanitarian)
Drausinus and Ansericus, Roman Catholic Bishops of Soissons; Vindician, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cambrai; and Leodegarius, Roman Catholic Bishop of Autun
Edward Osler, English Doctor, Editor, and Poet
Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, Foundress of the Daughters of the Divine Savior
Perpetua, Felicity, and Their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
8 (Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln)
Fred B. Craddock, U.S. Disciples of Christ Minister, Biblical Scholar, and Renowned Preacher
Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
John Hampden Gurney, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
John of God, Founder of the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God
9 (Harriet Tubman, U.S. Abolitionist)
Emanuel Cronenwett, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator
Frances of Rome, Foundress of the Collatines
Johann Pachelbel, German Lutheran Organist and Composer
Sophronius of Jerusalem, Roman Catholic Patriarch
10 (Marie-Joseph Lagrange, Roman Catholic Priest and Biblical Scholar)
Agripinnus of Autun, Roman Catholic Bishop; Germanus of Paris, Roman Catholic Bishop; and Droctoveus of Autun, Roman Catholic Abbot
Folliot Sandford Pierpoint, Anglican Educator, Poet, and Hymn Writer
John Oglivie, Scottish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1615
Macarius of Jerusalem, Roman Catholic Bishop
11 (John Swertner, Dutch-German Moravian Minister, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and Hymnal Editor; and his collaborator, John Mueller, German-English Moravian Minister, Hymn Writer, and Hymnal Editor)
Aengus the Culdee, Hermit and Monk; and Maelruan, Abbot
Eulogius of Spain, Roman Catholic Bishop of Toledo, Cordoba; and Leocrita; Roman Catholic Martyrs, 859
Francis Wayland, U.S. Baptist Minister, Educator, and Social Reformer
Pal Prennushi, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1948
12 (Trasilla and Emiliana; their sister-in-law, Sylvia of Rome; and her son, Gregory I “the Great,” Bishop of Rome)
John H. Caldwell, U.S. Methodist Minister and Social Reformer
Maximillian of Treveste, Roman Conscientious Objector and Martyr, 295
Rutilio Grande, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1977
Theophanes the Chroncler, Defender of Icons
13 (Yves Congar, Roman Catholic Priest and Theologian)
Heldrad, Roman Catholic Abbot
James Theodore Holly, Episcopal Bishop of Haiti, and the Dominican Republic; First African-American Bishop in The Episcopal Church
Plato of Symboleon and Theodore Studites, Eastern Orthodox Abbots; and Nicephorus of Constantinople, Patriarch
Roderic of Cabra and Solomon of Cordoba, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 857
14 (Fannie Lou Hamer, Prophet of Freedom)
Albert Lister Peace, Organist in England and Scotland
Harriet King Osgood Munger, U.S. Congregationalist Hymn Writer
Nehemiah Goreh, Indian Anglican Priest and Theologian
Vincenzina Cusmano, Superior of the Sisters Servants of the Poor; and her brother, Giacomo Cusmano, Founder of the Sisters Servants of the Poor and the Missionary Servants of the Poor
15 (Zachary of Rome, Bishop of Rome)
Jan Adalbert Balicki and Ladislaus Findysz, Roman Catholic Priests in Poland
Ozora Stearns Davis, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Theologian, and Hymn Writer
Vethappan Solomon, Apostle to the Nicobar Islands
16 (Adalbald of Ostevant, Rictrudis of Marchiennes, and Their Relations)
Abraham Kidunaia, Roman Catholic Hermit; and Mary of Edessa, Roman Catholic Anchoress
John Cacciafronte, Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, Bishop, and Martyr, 1183
Megingaud of Wurzburg, Roman Catholic Monk and Bishop
Thomas Wyatt Turner, U.S. Roman Catholic Scientist, Educator, and Civil Rights Activist; Founder of Federated Colored Catholics
17 (Patrick, Apostle of Ireland)
Ebenezer Elliott, “The Corn Law Rhymer”
Henry Scott Holland, Anglican Hymn Writer and Priest
Jan Sarkander, Silesian Roman Catholic Priest and “Martyr of the Confessional,” 1620
Maria Barbara Maix, Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
18 (Leonides of Alexandria, Roman Catholic Martyr, 202; Origen, Roman Catholic Theologian; Demetrius of Alexandria, Roman Catholic Bishop; and Alexander of Jerusalem, Roman Catholic Bishop)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Theologian, and Liturgist
Eliza Sibbald Alderson, Poet and Hymn Writer; and John Bacchus Dykes, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
Paul of Cyprus, Eastern Orthodox Martyr, 760
Robert Walmsley, English Congregationalist Hymn Writer
19 (JOSEPH OF NAZARETH, HUSBAND OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD)
20 (Sebastian Castellio, Prophet of Religious Liberty)
Christopher Wordsworth, Hymn Writer and Anglican Bishop of Lincoln
Ellen Gates Starr, U.S. Episcopalian then Roman Catholic Social Activist and Reformer
Maria Josefa Sancho de Guerra, Foundress of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus
Samuel Rodigast, German Lutheran Academic and Hymn Writer
21 (Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Johann Christian Bach, Composers)
John S. Stamm, Bishop of The Evangelical Church then the Evangelical United Brethren Church
Nicholas of Flüe and his grandson, Conrad Scheuber, Swiss Hermits
Serapion of Thmuis, Roman Catholic Bishop
Umphrey Lee, U.S. Methodist Minister and President of Southern Methodist University
22 (Deogratias, Roman Catholic Bishop of Carthage)
Emmanuel Mournier, Personalist Philosopher
James De Koven, Episcopal Priest
Thomas Hughes, British Social Reformer and Member of Parliament
William Edward Hickson, English Music Educator and Social Reformer
23 (Gregory the Illuminator and Isaac the Great, Patriarchs of Armenia)
Meister Eckhart, Roman Catholic Theologian and Mystic
Metodej Dominik Trčka, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1959
Victorian of Hadrumetum, Martyr at Carthage, 484
Walter of Pontoise, French Roman Catholic Abbot and Ecclesiastical Reformer
24 (Oscar Romero, Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador; and the Martyrs of El Salvador, 1980-1992)
Didacus Joseph of Cadiz, Capuchin Friar
Paul Couturier, Apostle of Christian Unity
Thomas Attwood, “Father of Modern Church Music”
William Leddra, British Quaker Martyr in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1661
25 (ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST)
Dismas, Penitent Bandit
26 (Margaret Clitherow, English Roman Catholic Martyr, 1586)
Flannery O’Connor, U.S. Roman Catholic Writer
George Rundle Prynne, Anglican Priest, Poet, and Hymn Writer
James Rendel Harris, Anglo-American Congregationalist then Quaker Biblical Scholar and Orientalist; Robert Lubbock Bensly, English Biblical Translator and Orientalist; Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Smith Gibson, English Biblical Scholars and Linguists; Samuel Savage Lewis, Anglican Priest and Librarian of Corpus Christi College; and James Young Gibson, Scottish United Presbyterian Minister and Literary Translator
Ludger, Roman Catholic Bishop of Munster
27 (Charles Henry Brent, Episcopal Missionary Bishop of the Philippines, Bishop of Western New York, and Ecumenist)
Nicholas Owen, Thomas Garnet, Mark Barkworth, Edward Oldcorne, and Ralph Ashley, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 1601-1608
Robert Hall Baynes, Anglican Bishop of Madagascar
Rupert of Salzburg, Apostle of Bavaria and Austria
Stanley Rother, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in Guatemala, 1981
28 (James Solomon Russell, Episcopal Priest, Educator, and Advocate for Racial Equality)
Guntram of Burgundy, King
Katharine Lee Bates, U.S. Educator, Poet, and Hymn Writer
Richard Chevenix Trench, Anglican Archbishop of Dublin
Tutilo, Roman Catholic Monk and Composer
29 (Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer, Organist, and Conductor)
Dora Greenwell, Poet and Devotional Writer
John Keble, Anglican Priest and Poet
Jonas and Barachisius, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 327
30 (Innocent of Alaska, Equal to the Apostles and Enlightener of North America)
Cordelia Cox, U.S. Lutheran Social Worker, Educator, and Resettler of Refugees
John Marriott, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
John Wright Buckham, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Theologian, and Hymn Writer
Julio Alvarez Mendoza, Mexican Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1927
BLESSED DIDACUS JOSEPH OF CADIZ (MARCH 30, 1743-MARCH 24, 1801)
Capuchin Friar and “Apostle of the Holy Trinity”
Born in Cadiz, Spain, Didacus Joseph grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family. He dedicated his life to God, for he became a Capuchin friar and eventually a priest and popular preacher. The Blessed’s relative lack of education was an initial obstacle to his admission into the order, but he overcame this difficulty.
Didacus Joseph was devoted to the Holy Trinity, a theme he worked into his popular, powerful, and life-changing sermons frequently. He also heard many confessions, spent many nights in prayer, and visited many in prisons and hospitals, in addition to committing many other charitable works. Didacus Joseph’s work was so effective that, when he died in 1801, people hailed him as a second Paul, the savior of the faith in Spain, and the apostle of his century.
There were also accounts of Didacus Joseph levitating above a pulpit from time to time, requiring assistance to descend to the floor. I doubt the veracity of such stories. As a high-ranking Vatican official said regarding St. Joseph of Cupertino, another alleged leviatator, in a middle-1990s U.S. cable television documentary about saints, the law of gravity applies to saints.
But the great legacy of the life of the Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz is his love of the Trinitarian God, a devotion he expressed in his preaching, his praying, and his caring for the practical and spiritual needs of others. A man is as he thinks; a woman is as she thinks. Based on the words and deeds of the Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz, I conclude that his thoughts brought him into frequent communion with God. May yours do likewise, and lead to the spiritual fruits God dictates.
Blessed God, we thank you for the life and legacy of Didacus Joseph of Cadiz, who overcame obstacles and fulfilled his sacred vocation, for your glory and the benefit of many. May we also live for you and the improvement of our fellow human beings, showing God to them, as you enable us. In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
