Above:  Blessed Alicja Maria Jadwiga Kotowska

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED ALICJA MARIA JADWIGA KOTOWSKA (NOVEMBER 20, 1899-NOVEMBER 11, 1939)

Polish Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr, 1939

Born Maria Jadwiga Kotowska

June 12 = Feast of the 108 (Polish) Martyrs of World War II

Blessed Alicja Maria Jadwiga Kotowska comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Maria Jadwiga Kotowska grew up a subject of the Russian Empire.  She, born in Warsaw on November 20, 1889, was the third of seven children of Jan Kotowski and Zofia (Barka) Kotowska.  The family was devout and Roman Catholic, and Jan was an organist.  Nuns in Warsaw educated our saint.

With the restoration of Polish independence in 1919, Kotowska, a nursing student, served her new country proudly.  During the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921), Soviet forces approached Warsaw in 1920.  She, as a Red Cross nurse, went to the front lines.

Kotowska joined the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection of Our Lord (the Resurrection Sisters) at Kety, near Bielsko, in 1922.  She had met some Resurrection Sisters while she was in nursing school.  Our saint, during her third year of nursing school, became Sister Alicja.  She made her first vows in 1924, returned to Warsaw, studied mathematics and natural sciences at the university, made her perpetual vows (1928), and defended her Master’s thesis in chemistry (1929).

Kotowska worked as a teacher and a nurse for most of the rest of her life.  She taught chemistry in Zoliborz, was a school nurse, and eventually ran the school.  In 1934, Kotowska became the director of a girls’ boarding school in Wejherowo.  She did this well, and won recognition for doing so.

After the Soviet-German partition of Poland (1939), Kotowska found herself in the German zone.  The Nazis closed the school at Wejherowo.  Agents of the Gestapo arrested our saint and took her to the prison in town.  The following November 11, Nazis shot many prisoners, including our saint.  In nine days, she would have been forty days old.

Pope John Paul II declared Kotowska a Venerable then beatified her in 1999.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 22, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GENE BRITTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF DONALD S. ARMENTROUT, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF HADEWIJCH OF BRABERT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC

THE FEAST OF KATHE KOLLWITZ, GERMAN LUTHERAN ARTIST AND PACIFIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT VITALIS OF GAZA, MONK, HERMIT, AND MARTYR, CIRCA 625

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Almighty God, by whose grace and power

your holy martyr Blessed Alicja Maria Jadwiga Kotowska

triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:

Grant us, who now remember her in thanksgiving,

to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world,

that we may receive with her the crown of life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12

Psalm 116 or 116:1-8

Revelation 7:13-17

Luke 12:2-12

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 714

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It is time that Christians were judged more by their likeness to Christ than their notions of Christ. Were this sentiment generally admitted, we should see such tenacious adherence to what men deem the opinions and doctrines of Christ while at the same time in every day practice is exhibited anything but a likeness to Christ.

Above:  A Partial Family Tree

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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MARTHA COFFIN PELHAM WRIGHT (DECEMBER 25, 1806-1875)

sister of

LUCRETIA COFFIN MOTT (JANUARY 3, 1793-NOVEMBER 11, 1880)

wife of

JAMES MOTT (JUNE 20, 1788-JANUARY 26, 1868)

brother of

ABIGAIL LYDIA MOTT MOORE (AUGUST 6, 1795-SEPTEMBER 4, 1846)

wife of

LINDLEY MURRAY MOORE (MAY 31, 1788-AUGUST 14, 1871)

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U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONISTS AND FEMINISTS

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–Lucretia Coffin Mott, at the Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1849; quoted in A Year with American Saints (2006), 19

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One of my goals in renovating this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, is to emphasize relationships and influences.  This post is an example of that approach.  Lucretia Coffin Mott comes to my Ecumenical Calendar via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).  The other saints come to my Ecumenical Calendar via relationship to or via cooperation with her.

Lucretia and Martha Coffin were daughters of Thomas Coffin (a merchant; died in 18150 and Anna Folger.  Lucretia (born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on January 3, 1793) and Martha (born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 25, 1806) studied in Quaker schools.  Lucretia, a student then a teacher at Nine Partners Boarding School, Millbrook, New York, became an active feminist when she noticed the discrepancy in pay for men and women performing the same work.  Martha moved with her family to Philadelphia, where she attended Quaker schools.  Lucretia and her fiancé, James Mott, a former teacher at Nine Partners, joined her family in Philadelphia in 1811.  The couple had five children, all moral and social reformers.

James Mott, born in North Hampstead, Long Island, New York, on June 20, 1788, was a cradle Quaker.  He was a son of Anne Mott (née Mott; 1768-1852) and Adam Mott (1762-1839), superintendent of Nine Partners Boarding School.  He and Lucretia were teachers at Nine Partners when they fell in love.  They moved to Philadelphia in 1813.  In that city James became a partner in Thomas Coffin’s nail business.  Then, in 1822, our saint went into the textiles business.  His involvement in selling cotton gave way to selling wool, for James was an abolitionist.  He, as a conscientious merchant, joined the free produce movement, which boycotted all goods slaves produced.

James had a younger sister, Abigail Lydia Mott, born in Caw Bay, Long Island, New York, on August 6, 1795.  She studied at Nine Partners Boarding School and, in 1811, became a teacher there.  Two years later, she married fellow teacher Lindley Murray Moore.

Lindley Murray Moore hailed from Nova Scotia.  The Moores, of Rahway, New Jersey, were Loyalists during the American Revolutionary period.  They were also Quakers, so they refused to engage in violence.  They also refused to assist the rebellion against the British Empire.  With the seizure of their property in 1779, Samuel Moore (1742-1822) and his family moved to Nova Scotia.  Later they relocated to Upper Canada (Ontario).  Lindley, born in Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, on May 31, 1788, bore the name of Lindley Murray (1745-1826), a Quaker, a Loyalist, and a friend of his father.

Lucretia became a Quaker minister in 1821.  Husband James supported her in her traveling and speaking.  Lucretia spoke against slavery, called for its abolition, and supported the free produce movement.  In the late 1820s, when the Hicksite Quakers broke away from the Orthodox Quakers, Lucretia and James Mott became Hicksite Quakers.

Abigail and Lindley Moore left Nine Partners Boarding School in 1813.  They settled in Rahway, New Jersey, where they opened the first of a series of schools they founded.  Over the years they had eight children, three of whom did not live to see their fourth birthday.  The most famous of the Moore children was Edward Mott Moore (1814-1902), an Episcopalian, a surgeon, a professor of surgery, and the father of the public parks system in Rochester, New York.  Abigail and Lindley moved to Flushing, New York, in 1820.  They opened a school, of course.  Eleven years later, they relocated to Rochester, New York, where they became farmers.

Martha Coffin married twice.  In 1824 she married Peter Pelham (1785-1826).  The couple moved to Tampa, Florida, where Peter died.  Martha was a nineteen-year-old widow raising an infant daughter.  The following year, Martha moved to Aurora, New York, where she taught writing and painting at a Quaker girls’ school.  Our saint became engaged to Julius Catlin, who died in 1828.  She married attorney and fellow Quaker David Wright the following year.  The couple had five children, including Ellen Wright (1840-1931), a suffragette who married William Lloyd Garrison, Jr. (1838-1909) in 1864.

Lucretia and James Mott were active abolitionists.  They helped to found both the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1833.  The latter, extant until 1870, was a multiracial organization whose members included Angelina Grimké Weld (1805-1879) and Charlotte Forten, grandmother of Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837-1914).  Lucretia managed to remain active on the lecture circuit while performing certain crucial domestic tasks.  She also resisted violence.  In 1838, at the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, a mob set the convention hall on fire.  The delegates (white and African-American) linked arms and passed through the mob.  The Motts were delegates to the World Anti-Slavery Convention (1840), in London, England.  Lucretia was one of six female delegates.  They faced exclusion, due to their gender.

Abigail and Lindley Moore were also active abolitionists.  They, active in the Farmington Annual Meeting (Orthodox), were the clerks of the women’s and men’s meetings, respectively, in 1836.  They helped to found the Rochester Anti-Slavery Society in 1838.  Furthermore, Abigail wrote novels, essays, and biographies in which she addressed slavery and the education of females.  She died in Rochester on September 4, 1846.  She was 51 years old.

Martha and David Wright moved to Auburn, New York, in 1839.  Both of them were conductors of the Underground Railroad.

The issue of rights and who should have them linked abolitionism and feminism.  Lucretia and Martha understood that connection, for they and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention at Seneca Falls, New York (July 19-20, 1848).  The delegates called for legal equality of men and women, as in the fields of voting and property rights.

Lindley Moore, as a widower, returned to education and continued his social activism.  He served as the President of Haverford College (1848-1850) then taught high school.  Our saint also served as the Vice President of the Rochester Temperance Society and financed the education of newly freed slaves in Upper Canada.  He died in Rochester on August 14, 1871.  He was 83 years old.

Lucretia and James Mott continued to make lasting contributions to society.  In 1864 they helped to found Swarthmore College, in Pennsylvania.  Lucretia helped to found the American Equal Rights Association two years later.

James Mott died of pneumonia in Brooklyn, New York, on January 26, 1868, while visiting a daughter.  He was 79 years old.

Martha Wright died in Auburn, New York, on 1875.  She was 70 years old.

Lucretia Mott died in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, on November 11, 1880.  She was 87 years old.

These members of the Mott-Moore-Wright extended family followed a high standard of public morality.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF NICHOLAS FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON AND FOUNDER OF LITTLE GIDDING; GEORGE HERBERT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND METAPHYSICAL POET; AND ALL SAINTLY PARISH PRIESTS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANNE LINE AND ROGER FILCOCK, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GABRIEL POSSENTI, PENITENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS DE LEON, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN

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Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.

Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and make no peace with oppression.

Help us, like your servants

Martha Coffin Pelham Wright,

Lucretia Coffin Mott,

James Mott,

Abigail Lydia Mott Moore,

and Lindley Murray Moore,

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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Revelation is redemption.

Above:  Peter Taylor Forsyth

Image in the Public Domain

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PETER TAYLOR FORSYTH (MAY 12, 1848-NOVEMBER 11, 1921)

Also known a P. T. Forsyth

Scottish Congregationalist Minister and Theologian

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–P. T. Forsyth, quoted in Martin E. Marty and Dean G. Peerman, eds., A Handbook of Christian Theologians, 2nd. ed. (1984), 154

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P. T. Forsyth was, toward the end of his life, especially, too conservative for many liberals and too liberal for many conservatives.  The author of twenty-five books and hundreds of articles did, from 1893, anticipate much of the theology of Karl Barth and of Neo-orthodoxy.  Forsyth alarmed fundamentalist by affirming science and critical (in the highest sense of that word) Biblical scholarship while he rejected much of the theology of his contemporary, Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930).

Forsyth, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on May 12, 1848, graduated from Aberdeen University then, in 1876, became a Congregationalist minister.  After serving in a few pulpits, he became the President of Hackney College, London, in 1921.  Our saint held that office until he died, on November 11, 1921.  In 1904-1905 he served as the Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.

Stale orthodoxy has inspired overreactions.  Philipp Spener (1635-1705) reacted and founded Pietism, thereby minimizing the sacraments, the role of the Church, and the importance of doctrine, as well as straying into works-based righteousness.  Adolf von Harnack, another German Lutheran, participated in the post-Enlightenment “flight from dogma,” as James Dunn called it in Jesus Remembered (2003).  Harnack argued that,

…true faith in Jesus is not a matter of creedal orthodoxy but of doing as he did.

–Quoted in Dunn, Jesus Remembered (2003), 38

In Harnack’s dogmaless version of Christianity, as Dunn wrote, the presentation was of

Jesus as a good example, Jesus as more the first Christian than the Christ.

—Jesus Remembered (2003), 39

Forsyth had been a Harnackian.  Later in life, however, our saint quoted Harnack only while disagreeing with him.

Forsyth, without rejecting modernity, insisted that the church must define itself according to Christ, whom he referred to as “the Word,” knowable only via the Bible.  Biblical criticism has its place, our saint argued, but it must never be destructive, and must serve “the Word.”  In Forsyth’s Christocentric theology, the objective act of God in Jesus Christ is the origin of Christian faith.  Furthermore, the Gospel is always valid, regardless of whether one believes in it.

Forsyth’s break with Harnack was especially evident in his emphasis on deeds over words.  Our saint insisted that divine revelation was more a matter of deed than word, more a matter of act than declaration.  Forsyth argued that, although the words of Jesus are important, his deeds are more important.  In other words, our saint wrote that Jesus was like what he did, that the work of Christ revealed the person of Christ.  Furthermore, as Forsyth wrote, divine revelation in Jesus is an act that costs God much and restores human fellowship with God.  Forsyth’s focus on divine actions was consistent with his disregard for speculative theology–an attitude that led him to ignore aspects of official Trinitarian doctrine.

(Aside:  I do not criticize Forsyth for that last point.  My attempts to understand the orthodox Trinitarian theology lead me to confusion quickly and tie me into logical knots.  For example, if one holds that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal, how can one then say that the Father begat the Son and that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and maybe also from the Son, depending on one’s position vis-à-vis the filioque clause?  I choose to think of the Trinity as a glorious mystery, and to affirm that the truth of the nature of God exceeds human comprehension.)

Forsyth’s theology of the Atonement was collective, not individualistic.  He argued that the Atonement was mainly for the human race, not for individuals.  Furthermore, our saint wrote, the cross represent both reconciliation and judgment upon himself.  Forsyth argued that God has objectively redeemed the world and curtailed the power of evil.  Therefore, our saint wrote, no Christian should ever feel overwhelmed by evil, for the battle between good and evil has ended; Christ has overcome the world.

Forsyth’s Christology was orthodox.  He wrote that Jesus was fully human and fully divine, and that the fully human portion of that reality indicated human limitations–the self-sacrifice of God.  Yet, our saint argued, Christ did not sin, despite moral struggles.

Unlike many Protestants, Forsyth held a high view of the sacraments.  He wrote that they are not merely memorials but actually means of grace.

Forsyth contributed greatly to Christian theology.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 24, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE, MARTYR

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Almighty God, your Holy Spirit gives to one the word of knowledge,

and to another the insight of wisdom,

and to another the steadfastness of faith.

We praise you for the gifts of grace imparted to your servant Peter Taylor Forsyth,

and we pray that by his teaching we may be led to a fuller knowledge of the truth

we have seen in your Son Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

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

Proverbs 3:1-7 or Wisdom 7:7-14

Psalm 119:89-104

1 Corinthians 2:1-10, 13-16 or 1 Corinthians 3:5-11

John 17:18-23 or Matthew 13:47-52

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 61

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Above:  The Flag of England

Image in the Public Domain

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ANNE STEELE (MAY 1716-NOVEMBER 11, 1778)

First Important English Female Hymn Writer

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A mother may forgetful be,

For human love is frail;

But thy Creator’s love to thee,

O Zion! cannot fail.

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No! thy dear name engraven stands,

In characters of love,

On thy almighty Father’s hands;

And never shall remove.

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Before His ever watchful eye

Thy mournful state appears,

And every groan, and every sigh,

Divine compassion hears.

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O Zion! learn to doubt no more,

Be every fear suppressed;

Unchanging truth, and love, and power,

Dwell in thy Saviour’s breast.

–Quoted in Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes for the Use of Christian Congregations (1855), #915

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Anne Steele (1716-1778) was the first important female hymn writer in England.  In 1808, when Trinity Episcopal Church, Boston, Massachusetts, published its hymnal, 59 of the 141 hymns came from the pen of our saint.  Although Steele was a Baptist, I have found some of her texts most often in hymnbooks of non-Baptist origin.  In fact, I found biographies of her in ten of the twenty-three hymnal companion volumes in my library.  Their affiliations were, in descending order:

1. Lutheran–3;
2. Methodist–2;
3. Seventh-day Adventist–1;
4. Presbyterian–1;
5. Evangelical and Reformed–1;
6. Episcopalian–1;
7. Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and American Baptist Convention–1.

(The Hymnbook for Christian Worship, 1970, was the official hymnal of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the American Baptist Convention/American Baptist Churches U.S.A.).

Her texts and biography are absent from the Southern Baptist hymnbooks of 1956, 1975, 1991, and 2008.  Furthermore, the theologically more moderate and stylistically more traditional (compared to the Baptist Hymnal of 2008) Celebrating Grace Hymnal (2010) also lacks any texts by Anne Steele.  On the other hand, the New Baptist Hymnal (1926), a joint project of the Northern and Southern Baptist Conventions, contained some Steele hymns, as did its immediate Northern Baptist successor, Christian Worship:  A Hymnal (1941), a project with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  I cannot make any claim as to the presence of Steele hymns in The Broadman Hymnal (1940), the first hymnal to bring some uniformity of hymnody to the Southern Baptist Convention, for the volume lacks an index of authors.

Anne Steele (1716-1778) spent her life in Broughton, Hampshire, England.  Her great-uncle, Henry Steele, served the Baptist church there as a lay pastor.  Her father, William Steele (died in 1769), was a lumber merchant with a considerable financial inheritance who served as a deacon and an occasional preacher in that congregation for thirty years before serving as the unpaid lay pastor there for three decades.

Anne spent most of her life as a frequently bedridden invalid in constant pain.  A hip injury she suffered at age 19 created that reality.  She was engaged to marry at one point, but her intended drowned the day before the scheduled wedding.  Our saint, who never married, assisted her father in his ministry as she was able.  She also devoted herself to literary pursuits, writing 144 hymns, 34 metrical psalms, and 30 poems.  She disliked publicity, so she refused to submit any of her compositions for publication for a long time.  When The Spectator published some of her texts under the name “Steele,” many readers assumed erroneously that the author must have been Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), a politician, essayist, and playwright.  Poems on Subjects, Chiefly Devotional (1760) rolled off the presses, identifying the author as “Theodosia.”

Our saint died on November 11, 1778.  Her epitaph declared:

Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue,

That sung on earth her great Redeemer’s praise;

But now in heaven she joins the angels’ songs,

In more harmonious, more exalted lays.

Posthumous collections of her verse and works about her appeared in 1780, 1808, and 1863.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 22, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF RICHARD BIGGS, ACTOR

THE FEAST OF GEORG GOTTFRIED MULLER, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF JULIA BULKLEY CADY CORY, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Anne Steele and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

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

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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Above:  University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Between 1890 and 1901

Published by the Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-D4-12742

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EDWIN HATCH (SEPTEMBER 9, 1835-NOVEMBER 11, 1889)

Anglican Priest, Scholar, and Hymn Writer

Edwin Hatch, born at Derby, grew up in a Non-Conformist (non-Anglican) family.  Yet he took Holy Orders in The Church of England and served a London congregation.  Most of Hatch’s career, however, was academic.  From 1859 to 1862 the Oxford graduate was Professor of Classics at Trinity College, Ontario.  Then he was both Professor of Classics at Morrin College, Quebec City, Quebec, and Rector of the high school there.  Our saint returned to England in 1867 to become the Vice-Principal of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford.  He delivered the Bampton Lectures (The Organization of the Early Christian Churches) in 1880.  Three years later our saint became the Rector of Purleigh, Essex, followed by the position of University Reader in Ecclesiastical History in 1884.  He delivered the Hibbett Lectures (The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages on the Christian Church) in 1888.

James Moffatt wrote of Hatch:

A man of great learning, original mind, and force of character, he won a European reputation by work of rare independence and thoroughness in historical research; in this field he was acknowledged a master.  [Adolf von] Harnack [1851-1930] translated his Bampton Lectures into German and said of him:  “In his learning that of England’s great old theologians, Ussher and Pearson, lived to me again.  He was a glorious man, whose loss I shall never cease to mourn.”  Profound as his learning was, his published sermons show that his piety was as simple and unaffected as a child’s.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, 363)

That piety is also evident in “Breathe on Me, Breath of God,” a hymn Hatch wrote.

Edwin Hatch combined scholarship, literary beauty, and deep piety to great effect.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 25, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, 1957

THE FEAST OF JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, POET AND NOVELIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM OF VERCELLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT JOHN OF MATERA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

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O God, you have endowed us with memory, reason, and skill.

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Edwin Hatch and all others]

who have dedicated their lives to you and to the intellectual pursuits.

May we, like them, respect your gift of intelligence fully and to your glory.

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

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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Topaz

Image Source = Didier Descouens

1 (ALL SAINTS)

2 (ALL SOULS/COMMEMORATION OF ALL FAITHFUL DEPARTED)

3 (Richard Hooker, Anglican Priest and Theologian)

• Daniel Payne, African Methodist Episcopal Bishop
• John Worthington, British Moravian Minister and Composer; John Antes, U.S. Moravian Instrument Maker, Composer, and Missionary; Benjamin Henry LaTrobe, Sr., British Moravian Bishop and Hymn Writer; Christian Ignatius LaTrobe, British Moravian Composer; Peter LaTrobe, British Moravian Bishop and Composer; Johann Christopher Pyrlaeus, Moravian Missionary and Musician; and Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg, Moravian Bishop and Hymn Writer
• Pierre-François Néron, French Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr in Vietnam, 1860

4 (Ludolph Ernst Schlicht, Moravian Minister, Musician, and Hymn Writer; John Gambold, Sr., British Moravian Bishop, Hymn Writer, and Translator of Hymns; and John Gambold, Jr., Moravian Composer)

• Augustus Montague Toplady, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• Léon Bloy, French Roman Catholic Novelist and Social Critic; his godson, Jacques Maritain, French Roman Catholic Philosopher; and his wife, Raïssa Maritain, French Roman Catholic Contemplative
• Theodore Weld, U.S. Congregationalist then Quaker Abolitionist and Educator; his wife, Angelina Grimké, U.S. Presbyterian then Quaker Abolitionist, Educator, and Feminist; her sister, Sarah Grimké, U.S. Episcopalian then Quaker Abolitionist and Feminist; her nephew, Francis Grimké, African-American Presbyterian Minister and Civil Rights Activist; and his wife, Charlotte Grimké, African-American Abolitionist and Educator

5 (Bernard Lichtenberg, German Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1943)

• Guido Maria Conforti, Founder of the Xavierian Missionaries
• Hryhorii Lakota, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1950

6 (Christian Gregor, Father of Moravian Church Music)

• Arthur Tappan and Lewis Tappan, U.S. Congregationalist Businessmen and Abolitionists; colleagues and financial backers of Samuel Eli Cornish and Theodore S. Wright, African-American Ministers and Abolitionists
• Giovanni Gabrieli and Hans Leo Hassler, Composers and Organists; and Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schutz, Composers and Musicians
• Halford E. Luccock, U.S. Methodist Minister and Biblical Scholar
• Magdeleine of Jesus, Founder of the Little Sisters of Jesus

7 (Willibrord, Apostle to the Frisians; and Boniface of Mainz, Apostle to the Germans)

• Benedict Joseph Flaget, Roman Catholic Bishop of Bardstown then of Louisville, Kentucky
• Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, and Civil Rights Activist
• Eugene Carson Blake, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Ecumenist, and Moral Critic
• John Cawood, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• John Christian Frederick Heyer, Lutheran Missionary in the United States and India; Bartholomeaus Ziegenbalg, Jr., Lutheran Minister to the Tamils; and Ludwig Nommensen, Lutheran Missionary to Sumatra and Apostle to the Batak

8 (John Duns Scotus, Scottish Roman Catholic Priest and Theologian)

• Elizabeth of the Trinity, French Roman Catholic Nun, Mystic, and Religious Writer
• Johann von Staupitz, Martin Luther’s Spiritual Mentor
• John Caspar Mattes, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Liturgist
• Pambo of Nitria, Ammonius of Skete, Palladius of Galatia, Macarius of Egypt, Macarius of Alexandria, and Pishoy, Desert Fathers; Evagrius of Pontus, Monk and Scholar; Melania the Elder, Desert Mother; Rufinus of Aquileia, Monk and Theologian; Didymus the Blind, Biblical Scholar; John II, Bishop of Jerusalem; Melania the Younger, Desert Mother; and her husband, Pinian, Monk

9 (Martin Chemnitz, German Lutheran Theologian, and the “Second Martin”)

• Andreas Peter Berggreen, Danish Lutheran Musicologist, Organist, Music Educator, and Composer
• Elijah P. Lovejoy, U.S. Journalist, Abolitionist, Presbyterian Minister, and Martyr, 1837; his brother, Owen Lovejoy, U.S. Abolitionist, Lawmaker, and Congregationalist Minister; and William Wells Brown, African-American Abolitionist, Novelist, Historian, and Physician
• Johann(es) Matthaus Meyfart, German Lutheran Educator and Devotional Writer
• Margery Kempe, English Roman Catholic Mystic and Pilgrim
• William Croswell, Episcopal Priest and Hymn Writer

10 (Leo I “the Great,” Bishop of Rome)

• Lott Cary, African-American Baptist Minister and Missionary to Liberia; and Melville B. Cox, U.S. Methodist Minister and Missionary to Liberia
• Odette Prévost, French Roman Catholic Nun, and Martyr in Algeria, 1995

11 (Anne Steele, First Important English Female Hymn Writer)

• Alijca Maria Jadwiga Kotowska, Polish Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr, 1939
• Edwin Hatch, Anglican Priest, Scholar, and Hymn Writer
• Martha Coffin Pelham Wright; her sister, Lucretia Coffin Mott; her husband, James Mott; his sister, Abigail Lydia Mott Moore; and her husband, Lindley Murray Moore; U.S. Quaker Abolitionists and Feminists
• Peter Taylor Forsyth, Scottish Congregationalist Minister and Theologian

12 (Josaphat Kuntsevych, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Polotsk, and Martyr, 1623)

• John Tavener, English Presbyterian then Orthodox Composer
• Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican Roman Catholic Nun, Composer, Writer, Philosopher, Feminist, and Alleged Heretic
• Ray Palmer, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• William Arthur Dunkerley, British Novelist, Poet, and Hymn Writer

13 (Henry Martyn Dexter, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Historian)

• Abbo of Fleury, Roman Catholic Abbot
• Brice of Tours, Roman Catholic Bishop
• Frances Xavier Cabrini, Founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart
• William Romanis, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

14 (Samuel Seabury, Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut, and Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)

• Maria Luiza Merkert, Co-Founder of the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth
• Nicholas Tavelic and His Companions, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 1391
• Peter Wolle, U.S. Moravian Bishop, Organist, and Composer; Theodore Francis Wolle, U.S. Moravian Organist and Composer; and John Frederick “J. Fred” Wolle, U.S. Moravian Organist, Composer, and Choir Director

15 (John Amos Comenius, Father of Modern Education)

• Gustaf Aulén and his protégé and colleague, Anders Nygren, Swedish Lutheran Bishops and Theologians
• Jane Montgomery Campbell, Anglican Hymn Translator and Music Educator
• Johann Gottlob Klemm, Instrument Maker; David Tannenberg, Sr., German-American Moravian Organ Builder; Johann Philip Bachmann, German-American Moravian Instrument Maker; Joseph Ferdinand Bulitschek, Bohemian-American Organ Builder; and Tobias Friedrich, German Moravian Composer and Musician
• Johannes Kepler, German Lutheran Astronomer and Mathematician
• Joseph Pignatelli, Restorer of the Jesuits

16 (Margaret of Scotland, Queen, Humanitarian, and Ecclesiastical Reformer)

• Giuseppe Moscati, Italian Roman Catholic Physician
• Ignacio Ellacuria and His Companions, Martyrs in El Salvador, November 15, 1989
• Jesuit Martyrs of Paraguay, 1628

17 (Henriette DeLille, Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family)

• Hugh of Lincoln, Roman Catholic Bishop and Abbot

18 (Hilda of Whitby, Roman Catholic Abbess)

• Arthur Tozer Russell, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• Isabel Alice Hartley Crawford, Baptist Missionary to the Kiowa Nation
• Jane Eliza(beth) Leeson, English Hymn Writer

19 (Elizabeth of Hungary, Princess of Hungary, and Humanitarian)

• Alice Nevin, U.S. German Reformed Liturgist and Composer of Hymn Texts
• Arthur Henry Mann, Anglican Organist, Choir Director, Hymnodist, and Hymn Tune Composer
• Johann Christian Till, U.S. Moravian Organist, Composer, and Piano Builder; and his son, Jacob Christian Till, U.S. Moravian Piano Builder
• Johann Hermann Schein, German Lutheran Composer
• Samuel John Stone, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

20 (F. Bland Tucker, Episcopal Priest and Hymnodist; “The Dean of American Hymn Writers”)

• Henry Francis Lyte, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• Priscilla Lydia Sellon, a Restorer of Religious Life in The Church of England
• Richard Watson Gilder, U.S. Poet, Journalist, and Social Reformer
• Theodore Claudius Pease, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer

21 (Thomas Tallis and his student and colleague, William Byrd, English Composers and Organists; and John Merbecke, English Composer, Organist, and Theologian)

• Guy Ignatius Chabrat, Roman Catholic Bishop Coadjutor of Bardstown then of Louisville, Kentucky; and his cousin, Peter Joseph Lavialle, Roman Catholic Bishop of Louisville, Kentucky
• Henry Purcell and his brother, Daniel Purcell, English Composers
• Maria Franciszka Siedliska, Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth

22 (Robert Seagrave, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer)

• Anna Kolesárová, Slovak Roman Catholic Martyr, 1944
• Ditlef Georgson Ristad, Norwegian-American Lutheran Minister, Hymn Translator, Liturgist, and Educator

23 (Clement I, Bishop of Rome)

• Caspar Friedrich Nachtenhofer, German Lutheran Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer
• Columban, Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Missionary
• Enrichetta Alfieri, Italian Roman Catholic Nun and “Angel of San Vittore”
• John Kenneth Pfohl, Sr., U.S. Moravian Bishop; his wife, Harriet Elizabeth “Bessie” Whittington Pfohl, U.S. Moravian Musician; and their son, James Christian Pfohl, Sr., U.S. Moravian Musician

24 (Andrew Dung-Lac and Peter Thi, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs in Vietnam, 1839)

• Lucy Menzies, Scottish Presbyterian then Anglican Scholar and Mystic
• Theophane Venard, Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in Vietnam, 1861
• Vincent Liem, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr in Vietnam, 1773

25 (William Hiley Bathurst, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer)

• Isaac Watts, English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• James Otis Sargent Huntington, Founder of the Order of the Holy Cross
• John LaFarge, Jr., U.S. Roman Catholic Priest and Renewer of Society
• Petrus Nigidius, German Lutheran Educator and Composer; and Georg Nigidius, German Lutheran Composer and Hymn Writer

26 (Siricius, Bishop of Rome)

• H. Baxter Liebler, Episcopal Priest and Missionary to the Navajo Nation
• John Berchmans, Roman Catholic Seminarian
• Sojourner Truth, U.S. Abolitionist, Mystic, and Feminist
• Theodore P. Ferris, Episcopal Priest and Author

27 (James Intercisus, Roman Catholic Martyr)

• William Cooke and Benjamin Webb, Anglican Priests and Translators of Hymns

28 (Stephen the Younger, Defender of Icons)

• Albert George Butzer, Sr., U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Educator
• Kamehameha IV and Emma Rooke, King and Queen of Hawai’i
• James Mills Thoburn, Isabella Thoburn, and Clara Swain, U.S. Methodist Missionaries to India
• Joseph Hofer and Michael Hofer, U.S. Hutterite Conscientious Objectors and Martyrs, 1918

29 (Day of Intercession and Thanksgiving for the Missionary Work of the Church)

• Frederick Cook Atkinson, Anglican Church Organist and Composer
• Jennette Threlfall, English Hymn Writer

30 (ANDREW THE APOSTLE, MARTYR)

Floating

• Thanksgiving Day

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