Get up.

Above:  Blessed Enrichetta Alfieri

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED ENRICHETTA ALFIERI (FEBRUARY 23, 1891-NOVEMBER 23, 1951)

Italian Roman Catholic Nun and “Angel of San Vittore”

Born Maria Angela Domenica Alfieri

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

Maria Angela Domenica Alfieri came from an Italian family with four children.  Our saint, born in Borgo Vercelli, Italy, on February 23, 1891, grew up on a farm.  She knew as a child, though, that she had a vocation to religious life.  Alfieri’s parents delayed the commencement of this vocation until she was 20 years old.

Alfieri joined the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret on December 20, 1911.  She eventually became a kindergarten teacher.  In 1917, however, the diagnosis of Pott’s Disease ended our saint’s teaching job.  The disease of the spine caused her saint pain and frequently immobilized her.  Alfieri’s superiors sent her on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in May 1922, but she left the grotto there not healed.  Officially and medically deemed incurable in February 1923, our saint recovered on February 25, 1923.  She reported hearing a voice say,

Alfieri got up.  And she got back to work.  In late May 1923, Alfieri began her ministry at the prison of San Vittore.  This work continued for decades.  She became known as the “Mother of San Vittore” and the “Angel of San Vittori.”

During the Nazi occupation of Italy, the prison population changed to priests, nuns, Jews, and resistance fighters.  Our saint and other nuns, active in the resistance, became targets of the Nazis.  Alfieri, arrested and charged with espionage on September 23, 1944, spent 11 days in detention before Cardinal Archbishop of Milan Alfredo Ildefenso Schuster could arrange for her to transfer to Brescia.  The Cardinal also wrote his old ally, Benito Mussolini, and requested a pardon for the nun.

Aside:  Schuster is Blessed Alfredo Ildefenso Schuster, on the Roman Catholic calendar.  I have no intention of adding him to this Ecumenical Calendar because of his overt fascism.  I know better than to expect perfection from human beings, but support for fascism–in this case, the Italian Fascist Party–gives me pause.  The prominence of Schuster’s fascist sympathies and his avid support for the Italian invasion of Ethiopia raise red flags in my mind.  

Alfieri returned to San Vittore prison in an official capacity in May 1945.  The new inmates were prisoners of war and former Axis jailers.  She continued to minister to inmates at San Vittore for most of her life.  Our saint fractured a femur.  She also developed a heart condition and came down with a liver problem.  She, aged 60 years, died on November 23, 1951.  Inmates paid their respects.

Pope Benedict XVI declared Alfieri a Venerable then beatified her in 2009.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 27, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY; AND HIS SON, WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ALBANY; HYMN WRITERS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, ANGLICAN POET AND RELIGIOUS WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND SAINTS OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZITA OF TUSCANY, WORKER OF CHARITY

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O God, you have brought us near to an innumerable company of angels,

and to the spirits of just men made perfect:

Grant us during our earthly pilgrimage to abide in their fellowship,

and in our heavenly country to become partakers of their joy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Wisdom 3:1-9

Psalm 34 or 34:15-22

Philippians 4:4-9

Luke 6:17-23

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 725

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Think, my friends, how the Lord offers us proof after proof that there is going to be a resurrection, of which He has made Jesus Christ the first-fruits by raising Him from the dead. My friends, look how regularly there are processes of resurrection going on at this very moment. The day and the night show us an example of it; for night sinks to rest, and day arises; day passes away, and night comes again. Or take the fruits of the earth; how, and in what way, does a crop come into being? When the sower goes out and drops each seed into the ground, it falls to the earth shriveled and bare, and decays; but presently the power of the Lord’s providence raises it from decay, and from that single grain a host of others spring up and yield their fruit.

Above:  St. Clement I of Rome

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT CLEMENT I OF ROME

Bishop of Rome, 88/91-97/101

Alternative feast days = November 24 and 25

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–1 Clement 24 (Staniforth/Louth, 1987)

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We know little about the life of St. Clement I of Rome.  Ancient traditions contradict each other on many details, including whether he was the third or fourth Bishop of Rome and whether he became a martyr.  Certain ancient texts are allegedly of his authorship, but the (First) Epistle to the Corinthians, a.k.a. First Clement, composed via 96 C.E., is genuine.

St. Clement I, who apparently knew some of the Apostles, was one of a group of presbyters of house churches in the imperial capital city at the end of the first century C.E.  He had the duty of writing to churches in other cities.  In his (First) Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Clement I urged that church to restore its fired presbyters to their rightful positions.  This letter was an early example of the church at Rome involving itself in the matters of churches in other cities.  St. Clement I’s claim to ecclesiastical authority related to Rome being the imperial capital, not the Bishop of Rome being a Supreme Pontiff, for the monarchical Papacy had not yet emerged.

St. Clement I emphasized two primary themes in the epistle.  He stressed obedience to proper leaders–respect for the ecclesiastical hierarchy.  Our saint also emphasized respect for the liturgy and sacraments.  He placed these concerns in the context of Christ and love for God:

Love knows no divisions, promotes no discord; all the works of love are done in perfect fellowship.

–1 Clement 49; from Early Christian Writings (1987), translated by Maxwell Staniforth and Andrew Louth

St. Clement I’s epistle is an intriguing follow-up to the Pauline epistles to that church.

We Christians of today live in a different world than St. Clement I did.  We dare not dismiss him and his concerns, for we own him and many like him a great debt of gratitude; a chain of faith links him and them to us.  Furthermore, his advice in his epistle to the Corinthians retains much of value in contemporary settings.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 17, 2019 COMMON ERA

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF EMILY COOPER, EPISCOPAL DEACONESS

THE FEAST OF MAX JOSEF METZGER, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF WILBUR KENNETH HOWARD, MODERATOR OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA

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Almighty God, you chose your servant Clement of Rome

to recall the Church in Corinth to obedience and stability:

Grant that your Church may be grounded and settled

in your truth by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit;

reveal to it what is not yet known;

fill up what is lacking;

confirm what has already been revealed;

and keep it blameless in your service;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

1 Chronicles 23:28-32

Psalm 78:3-7

2 Timothy 2:1-7

Luke 6:37-45

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 699

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Above:  Thanksgiving Day–The Dance, by Winslow Homer

Image in the Public Domain

Gratitude

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

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Since antiquity and in cultures from many parts of the Earth harvest festivals have been occasions of thanksgiving.  In the United States of America, where the first national observance of Thanksgiving occurred in 1863, the November date has related to the harvest feast in Plymouth in 1621.  Prior to 1863 some U.S. states had an annual thanksgiving holiday, and there was a movement for the national holiday.  Liturgically the occasion has remained tied to harvest festivals, although the meaning of the holiday has been broader since 1863.  The Episcopal Church has observed its first Book of Common Prayer in 1789.  Nationwide Thanksgiving Day has become part of U.S. civil religion and an element of commercialism, which might actually be the primary sect of civil religion in the United States.  The Almighty Dollar attracts many devotees.

Too easily and often this holiday deteriorates into an occasion to gather with relatives while trying (often in vain) to avoid shouting matches about politics and/or religion, or to watch television, or to be in some other awkward situation.  The holiday means little to me; I find it inherently awkward.  This state of affairs is the result of my youth, when my family and I, without relatives nearby, witnessed many of our neighbors hold family reunions on the holiday.  Thanksgiving Day, therefore, reminds me of my lifelong relative isolation.

Nevertheless, I cannot argue with the existence of occasions to focus on gratitude to God.  The Bible teaches us in both Testaments that we depend entirely on God, depend on each other, are responsible to and for each other, and have no right to exploit each other.  The key word is mutuality, not individualism.  I embrace the focus on this ethos.

A spiritual practice I find helpful is to thank God throughout each day, from the time I awake to the time I go to bed.  Doing so helps one recognize how fortunate one is.  The electrical service is reliable.  The breeze is pleasant.  The sunset is beautiful.  Reading is a great pleasure.  The list is so long that one can never reach the end of it, but reaching the end of that list is not the goal anyway.  No, the goal is to be thankful and to live thankfully.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY CROSS

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Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season,

and for the labors of those who harvest them.

Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty,

for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need,

to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord,

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

Deuteronomy 8:1-3, 6-10 (17-20)

Psalm 65 or Psalm 65:9-14

James 1:17-18, 21-27

Matthew 6:25-33

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 701

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Almighty God our Father, your generous goodness comes to us new every day.

By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your goodness,

give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

Year A

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Psalm 65

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Luke 17:11-19

Year B

Joel 2:21-27

Psalm 126

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Matthew 6:25-33

Year C

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 100

Philippians 4:4-9

John 6:25-35

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 61

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Deuteronomy 8:1-10

Philippians 4:6-20 or 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Luke 17:11-19

—Lutheran Service Book (2006), xxiii

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/09/14/gratitude-part-ii/

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Above:  The Fort, Coburg, Thuringia, Germany, 1890

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-01086

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CASPAR FRIEDRICH NACHTENHOFER (MARCH 5, 1621-NOVEMBER 23, 1685)

German Lutheran Minister, Liturgist, and Hymn Writer

Caspar Friedrich Nachtenhofer, born at Halle on March 5, 1621, studied theology at the University of Leipzig (M.A., 1651), having worked as a tutor in the home of Chancellor August Carpzov (1612-1683) of Saxe-Coburg at Coburg.  In 1651 our saint moved to Meeder, near Coburg.  At Meeder Nachtenhofer served as deacon (1651-1655) and pastor (1655-1671).  In 1671 he relocated to Coburg, becoming pastor of Holy Cross Church and deacon of St. Moritz Church.  In 1685 our saint published a metrical history of the Passion of Jesus.

Nachtenhofer wrote hymns.  I have added two of them to my GATHERED PRAYERS weblog.

Our saint died on November 23, 1685.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 23, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DESIDERIUS/DIDIER OF VIENNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT GUIBERT OF GORZE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BAPTIST ROSSI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, SCIENTIST

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

thank you for those (especially Caspar Friedrich Nachtenhofer)

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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Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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JOHN KENNETH “J. KENNETH” PFOHL, SR. (AUGUST 13, 1874-NOVEMBER 27, 1967)

U.S. Moravian Bishop

husband of

HARRIET ELIZABETH “BESSIE” WHITTINGTON PFOHL (JULY 28, 1881-NOVEMBER 23, 1971)

U.S. Moravian Musician

mother of

JAMES CHRISTIAN PFOHL, SR. (SEPTEMBER 17, 1912-MARCH 28, 1997)

U.S. Moravian Musician

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Two Sundays ago my church choir, in which I sing bass, performed “Hearken! Stay Close to Jesus Christ,” with music by David Moritz Michael (1751-1827).  The sheet music, bearing a 1956 copyright date, indicated that the composition came from the Moravian Church archives at Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  My fellow choristers and I sang a motet probably available to contemporary audiences because of the efforts of Bessie Whittington Pfohl and/or James Christian Pfohl, Jr.  These two saints brought Bishop John Kenneth Pfohl, Sr, to my attention.  Once again hagiography has become a family affair.

John Kenneth “J. Kenneth” Pfohl, Sr. (1874-1967) was a prominent bishop in the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum).  He was, in fact, heir to generations of faithful (often ordained) Christian witness within the Moravian Church, going all the way back to the Ancient Unity, founded in 1457.  Great-grandfathers and a grandfather were ministers, and his father, Christian Thomas Pfohl, served as a congregational elder at Salem (now Winston-Salem), North Carolina, for twenty-three years.  J. Kenneth, a graduate of Moravian College (1898) and Moravian Theological Seminary (1900), became the first Principal of the Clemmons School, Clemmons, North Carolina, which opened its doors in October 1900.  This proved to be a crucial assignment in his life.

Harriet Elizabeth “Bessie” Whittington (1881-1971), a graduate of Salem College, joined the faculty of Clemmons School; she taught music in the lower grades.  She and the Principal fell in love.  They married on August 21, 1901, becoming partners in life and ministry for the next sixty-six years, three months, and six days.  They also raised six children:

1. Margaret Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell;
2. Mary Dorothea Pfohl Lassiter;
3. Ruth Whittington Pfohl Grams;
4. John Kenneth Pfohl, Jr.;
5. James Christian Pfohl, Sr., and
6. Donald Lawrence Pfohl.

All of the Pfohl children received music education at home and became musicians.  Music became either a vocation or an avocation for each of them.

Above:  Home Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1935

Photographer = Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-csas-02662

J. Kenneth and Bessie were partners in church work.  He, pastor of Christ Moravian Church (1903-1908) then Home Moravian Church (1908-1934), both in Salem, North Carolina, had Bessie by his side.  She served as the organist and choir director of Home Church for eighteen years.  She resigned that post to work on the provincial level after her husband became the Bishop of the Southern Province.  J. Kenneth’s work beyond the parish level included membership on the Southern Provincial Elders’ Conference (starting in 1920), the Presidency of that body (1929-1953), the leadership of the provincial Foreign Missionary Society (1923-1935), and the Episcopate (1931-1959).  During World War II he functioned as the de facto leader of the worldwide Moravian Church.  And, on the local level, he became the senior pastor of the Salem Congregation, a cooperative agency of the Moravian congregations in Winston-Salem, in 1931.

Bessie, meanwhile, was rediscovering early American Moravian Church music and making it available to new audiences.   James Christian Pfohl, Sr. (1912-1997), one of her sons, edited many of these masterpieces.  The Moravian Church in America had felt much pressure to change its music, to make it more “American,” in the 1800s.  In the process of conforming the Church buried and forgot many of its treasures of sacred music.  Pfohls restored these lost works, fortunately.

Bishop Pfohl, a musician, pastor, and historian with a down-to-earth manner, died at Winston-Salem in 1967.  He was ninety-three years old.  Bessie joined him in the next life four years later.  She spent her final years at the Medicenter, Winston-Salem, where she played the piano for other patients.

James Christian Pfohl, Sr. (1912-1997), was an excellent musician.  He had become so accomplished that, at the conclusion of his undergraduate studies, he started the Department of Music at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, in 1933.  He founded the Davidson Music School for Boys (later the Transylvania Music Camp) in 1936; he led it for twenty-nine years.  James Christian also served as the President of the North Carolina Bandmasters Association from 1938 to 1939, founded the Brevard Music Center, conducted the Charlotte (North Carolina) Symphony Orchestra, and served as the Music Director (1952-1962) of the Jacksonville (Florida) Symphony Orchestra.  He inspired the founding of the North Carolina School of the Arts (the University of North Carolina School of the Arts since 2008) in 1963.  If that were not enough, he founded a summer music camp at Reston, Virginia, in 1967 and another one at York, Pennsylvania, ten years later.

During my research I read the obituary of a son, James Christian Pfohl, Jr. (April 16, 1940-June 17, 2014).  He followed in the footsteps of many other Pfohls, for he maintained music as an avocation while working in a non-musical profession.

My reading about the Pfohl family of North Carolina has revealed it to be a nursery for artistic expression.  I have not worked out the full family tree, but I have read of singers, instrumentalists, musicologists, arrangers, choir directors, an orchestral conductor, and a dancer.  All this is wonderful, for beauty just might save the world.  Certainly beauty improves it.  As I heard years ago, people danced their religion before they thought it.  Also, music can convey meaning better than words can sometimes.  Thus we who seek God can benefit greatly from the arts if only we will permit ourselves to do so.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 16, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALL CHRISTIAN MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

THE FEAST OF FRANCIS POTT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF HUGH LATIMER, NICHOLAS RIDLEY, AND THOMAS CRANMER, ANGLICAN MARTYRS

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

We bless your name for inspiring the Pfohls and all those

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

through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lies and reigns with you

and the Holy Spirit, 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

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Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT COLUMBAN, A.K.A. COLUMBANUS (CIRCA 540-615)

Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Missionary

St. Columban(us) was one of the great Celtic saints and founders of monasteries.  Born in West Leinster, Ireland, the saint dedicated his life to God over his mother’s objections.  He became a monk before embarking on a missionary journey to Gaul (modern-day France) in 585.  There he founded his first monasteries and spearheaded a movement to found monasteries across Europe.  The saint’s use of Celtic, as opposed to certain Roman practices, such as the calculation for the date of Easter, aroused much opposition among Frankish bishops, whose jurisdiction he interpreted as not including him.

St. Columban(us) made an enemy of King Theodoric II of Burgundy (along the modern French-Italian border), who preferred a concubine to a wife.  The monarch banished all Irish monks from his realm in 610.  The saint, shipwrecked on the way to Ireland, found refuge with King Theodebert II of Neustria (mostly in modern-day northern France) and began to evangelize in the area of Lake Constance (in modern-day Switzerland).  The saint reestablished Christianity in that region.  Among the monks who joined the retinue of  St. Columban(us) founded there was St. Gall, whose name lives on in a place-name and a great abbey.  From that place great works for God took place.   (https://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/feast-of-st-tutilo-march-28/ and https://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/feast-of-nokter-balbulus-april-5/)

Alas, the saint had to flee to Italy in 612, for Theodoric II of Burgundy conquered Neustria.  So St. Columban(us) found refuge in Milan, where King Agilulf of the Lombards ruled.  The saint founded the great monastery at Bobbio, between Genoa and Milan.  He died at that monastery on November 21 or 23, 615.  (The books of saints and the old encyclopedias I consulted disagreed about the date of his death.)

St. Columban(us) left his Monastic Rule (an especially austere one), poems, and sermons behind.  He also went down in history as a proponent of Catholic orthodoxy with regard to the nature of Jesus; the saint denounced Arianism, a heresy which remains, unfortunately.  (The Jehovah’s Witnesses are Arians.)

St. Columban(us) was a man of great learning, as his writings reveal.  He devoted his intellect and energies to the service of God, and many people became Christians (directly or indirectly) because of him.  From the monasteries the saint founded emerged saints, missionaries, and great scholars who kept the flames of knowledge and Christianity alive during the Middle Ages.  Some of the saints and missionaries founded other monasteries, which continued the good work.  You, O reader, and I have callings distinct from that of St. Columban(us), but we do share with him a basic vocation:  to devote our intellects and energies to the service of God.  Where will your vocation take you, and what will your legacy be?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 29, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CLARENCE JORDAN, RENEWER OF SOCIETY

THE FEAST OF JAMES HANNINGTON AND HIS COMPANIONS, ANGLICAN MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF JOHN BUCKMAN WALTHOUR, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ATLANTA

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The Collect and Readings for a Missionary from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006),  the hymnal and worship book of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

God of grace and glory,

we praise you for your servant Saint Columban(us),

who made the good news known in France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Raise up, we pray, in every country, heralds of the gospel,

so that the world may know the immeasurable riches of your love,

and be drawn to worship you,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Isaiah 62:1-7

Psalm 48

Romans 10:11-17

Luke 24:44-53

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.