Archive for the ‘November 28’ Category

Feast of Albert George Butzer (November 28)   7 comments

Above:  Westminster Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, New York

Image in the Public Domain

Photographer = Fortunate4now

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ALBERT GEORGE BUTZER, SR. (JULY 19, 1893-NOVEMBER 28, 1967)

U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Educator

The Reverend Doctor Albert George Butzer, Sr., comes to this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume II (1953), for which he wrote the profound and sometimes humorous exposition on the Book of Hebrews.

What strange names are listed in this passage!  Elizur the son of Shedeur, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, etc.  These names and others are all Greek to us, or more precisely, Hebrew.  The Exeg. reminds us, however, that almost every one of these names in the Hebrew embodies some reference to God….Though the name of God may not be in our names, we can make our names stand for God.

–143-144, 147

At the height of church attendance in the United States, Butzer wrote:

Is it not one of our deepest needs to put the church back again at the center of the community’s life?  But it will avail little to do that unless the church itself puts God at the center of its own life, unless the church will be again be the church, the tent of meeting, “the Dwelling of the Presence” (1:30 Moffatt), the one place where men can be sure to meet God, not only the God of Israel but “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 11:31).

–149, 152

One wonders what he would write in the age during which “none” is the fastest-growing religious affiliation, atheism and antitheism are chic, and many people claim to be “spiritual but not religious” without any hint of irony.

Butzer, a child of Louis Butzer and Minnie Betz Butzer, became a great minister.  He entered the world in Buffalo, New York, on July 19, 1893.  Our saint graduated from Northwestern College, Napierville, Illinois, in 1915, then matriculated at the Evangelical Theological Seminary, Napierville, that year.  He studied at the seminary until 1917.  In 1918 and 1919 Butzer was a chaplain in the U.S. Army.  After the war, he attended Union Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1920.  In subsequent years our saint received two Doctor of Divinity degrees (from Middlebury College and Hamilton College) and a Doctor of Laws degree (from McMaster University).

Butzer was a Presbyterian minister.  He served first in the old Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (-1958) then in its immediate successor, The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.  During the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the PCUSA in the 1920s, our saint sided with the modernists.  He served as pastor of just two congregations in forty-one years of active ministry.  The first congregation was West Side Presbyterian Church, Ridgewood, New Jersey, from 1921 to 1932.  The other congregation was Westminster Presbyterian Church, Buffalo New York, from 1932 to 1962, when he retired.  At Westminster Butzer made sure the church had new stained glass windows and fine organ music.

Consistent with what he wrote in 1953, Butzer was active in the community.  He taught at two local private schools–Buffalo Seminary and the Nichols School.  He also sat on the Buffalo City Planning Board and the Executive Committee of the Community Chest of Buffalo.

Butzer was also a family man.  On September 6, 1921, the young Presbyterian minister married Katharine Coe.  The couple had three children:

  1. Albert Butzer, Jr.;
  2. Clayton Coe Butzer; and
  3. Marjorie Betty Butzer.

Our saint, 74 years old, died in Buffalo on November 28, 1967.

Much of the sacredness of life is evident in its mundane details.  Consider, O reader, the importance of teaching students, counseling parishioners, raising a family, tending to a marriage, maintaining the quality of church music, and building up one’s community.  God is present in the details.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 7, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMITIAN OF HUY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP

THE FEAST OF HARRIET STARR CANNON, FOUNDRESS OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH ARMITAGE ROBINSON, ANGLICAN DEAN, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROSA VENERINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE VENERINI SISTERS; MENTOR OF SAINT LUCIA FILIPPINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FILIPPINI

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Heavenly Father, shepherd of your people, we thank you for your servant Albert George Butzer, Sr.,

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

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

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

through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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

Psalm 84

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

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

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 60

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Feast of Joseph and Michael Hofer (November 28)   8 comments

Above:  Alcatraz

Photographer = Theodor Horydczak

Image Source = Library of Congress

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JOSEPH HOFER (DIED NOVEMBER 28, 1918)

brother of

MICHAEL HOFER (DIED DECEMBER 2, 1918)

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U.S. HUTTERITE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS AND MARTYRS, 1918

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When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,

And hear their death-knell ringing,

When friends rejoice both far and near,

How can I keep from singing?

In prison cell and dungeon vile,

Our thoughts to them go winging;

When friends by shame are undefiled,

How can I keep from singing?

–Doris Plenn, circa 1950

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Joseph and Michael Hofer come to this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).

The persecution of Anabaptists by governments and private citizens is about as old as the Anabaptist movement, extant since the 1520s.  These days, when most accounts of religious persecution are of the persecution of members of one group by partisans of a group outside that religion, many people are prone to forget about the persecution of Christians by other Christians–of Protestants by Catholics, of Catholics by Protestants, of Protestants by other Protestants, of Protestants by Anglicans, of Anglicans by Protestants, and of Anabaptists by almost everyone else, for example.

Devout pacifists have long been more than inconvenient to governments accustomed to populations being obedient, loyal, and not inclined to ask too many questions, especially during wartime.

The Hutterites, members of the Hutterian Brethren, founded in 1527, have not been strangers to the consequences of being dangerously out-of-step.  Their founder, Jakob Hutter (1500-1536), died by burning at the stake, on imperial orders.  During the period (1917-1918) of active U.S. involvement in World War I, intolerance was rampant.  The federal government treated pacifistic conscientious objectors cruelly, as many Hutterite, Amish, Mennonite, and Quaker men learned firsthand.

Joseph and Michael Hofer were devout Hutterites when the U.S. military draft began in 1917.  Each brother was a husband and a father.  True to their religious principles, the Hofer brothers quietly refused either to commit or condone violence.  They refused military service.  They refuse even to wear a military uniform.  They were, however, open to non-military national service.

The U.S. Army abused the Hofer brothers and caused their premature deaths.  The Hofers, court-martialed and convicted, received 20-year sentences.  They served time at Alcatraz (a military prison at the time) and Leavenworth, Kansas.  Conditions in both prisons were inhumane.  At Alcatraz the brothers hung from their wrists for eight hours a day for two weeks.  The cells were damp.  The brothers endured beatings and contracted scurvy.  They came down with pneumonia at Leavenworth.  When authorities finally let the brothers’ family visit them, Joseph and Michael were nearly dead.

Guards disrespectfully dressed each corpse in a military uniform.

Those who commit and/or condone violence against those who nonviolently refuse to conform, to abandon their principles, do not impress me.  Actually, they earn my contempt, until or unless they repent.  This is a story as old as antiquity and as recent as current events.  This is story about Puritans hanging Quakers in the New England in the 1600s, about National Guardsmen shooting nonviolent protesters on college campuses during the Vietnam War era, about Spanish authorities abusing Catalans for simply queuing up to vote in a referendum on independence a few years ago, et cetera.

The simple, firm dignity and faithfulness of the Hofer brothers has become an enduring witness that continues to expose the perfidy of those who victimized them, directly or indirectly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 7, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMITIAN OF HUY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP

THE FEAST OF HARRIET STARR CANNON, FOUNDRESS OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH ARMITAGE ROBINSON, ANGLICAN DEAN, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROSA VENERINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE VENERINI SISTERS; MENTOR OF SAINT LUCIA FILIPPINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FILIPPINI

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PROPER FOR MARTYRED CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Loving God, we remember the enduring and faithful witness of Joseph and Michael Hofer

and of all others who have steadfastly refused to condone or commit violence during times of war,

and who have become martyrs rather than betray their principles.

In our own day, we pray for those who continue to suffer for this reason,

and for those who persecute them.

May oppressors recognize the errors of their ways and cease to oppress.

May mutual respect and forbearance triumph over intolerance, anger, and hatred.

May divine love prevail.

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

Jeremiah 38:1-13

Psalm 141

Revelation 7:9-17

Luke 6:20-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 7, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMITIAN OF HUY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP

THE FEAST OF HARRIET STARR CANNON, FOUNDRESS OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH ARMITAGE ROBINSON, ANGLICAN DEAN, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROSA VENERINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE VENERINI SISTERS; MENTOR OF SAINT LUCIA FILIPPINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FILIPPINI

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Feast of James Mills Thoburn, Isabella Thoburn, and Clara Swain (November 28)   3 comments

Above:  India Prior to Partition

Map scanned from Hammond’s New Era Atlas of the World (1945) and cropped by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Pay close attention to Lucknow and Bareilly, close to Nepal.

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JAMES MILLS THOBURN (MARCH 7, 1836-NOVEMBER 28, 1922)

U.S. Methodist Missionary and Bishop in Asia

brother of

ISABELLA THOBURN (MARCH 29, 1840-SEPTEMBER 1, 1901)

U.S. Methodist Educator, Deaconess, and Missionary to India

traveled with

CLARA A. SWAIN (JULY 18, 1834-DECEMBER 25, 1910)

U.S. Methodist Medical Missionary to India

These three saints come to this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).  In that volume each person has a separate date.  One of the purposes of my renovation of my Ecumenical Calendar, however, is to emphasize relationships and influences.  The three saints, therefore, share a feast day here.

James Mills Thoburn and Isabella Thoburn, born in Saint Clairsville, Ohio, were children of Irish immigrants.  James debuted on March 7, 1836.  Isabella followed on March 29, 1840.  James, an 1857 graduate of Allegheny College, became a minister in the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the following year.  After serving as a pastor, he became a missionary to India in 1859.

Thoburn spent most of 1859-1908 (except for furloughs, mainly) in Asia.  At first he worked with William Butler (1818-1899) and Clementine Rowe Butler (1820-1913) in North India.  The Butlers were the first U.S. Methodist missionaries to India; they had arrived in 1856.  Thoburn found the slow pace of missionary work with them frustrating, though.  Later our saint worked with William Taylor (1821-1902), a Methodist evangelist.  In 1874-1887 Thoburn served as pastor of a church Taylor had planted in Calcutta.

Thoburn, briefly (1861-1862) married to Sarah Minerva Rockwell, who died in childbirth in 1862, was working out of Lucknow in 1866.  That year he wrote to Isabella, his sister, a teacher in the United States.  He asked her to come to Lucknow, to operate a then-hypothetical school for girls.  Isabella accepted the offer, but her denomination did not dispatch unmarried women overseas as missionaries until 1869, when the newly-founded Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church sent her to India.  On November 3, 1869, Isabella Thoburn and Clara A. Swain, M.D., sailed from Boston, Massachusetts.  They arrived at Bombay on January 7, 1870.  Isabella went to Lucknow.  Swain headed for Bareilly.

Clara A. Swain, born in Elmira, New York, on July 18, 1834, became the first U.S. medical missionary overseas.  The youngest daughter of John Swain and Clarissa Seavey Swain joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1842.  She became a teacher then attended the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated in 1869, shortly before she sailed for India.  Swain, in India, initially worked out of an orphanage.  She identified women’s medical needs, met them, and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Swain founded the Women’s Hospital and Medical School, an institution unique in Asia, in 1870.

Isabella Thoburn, at Lucknow, started the new girls’ school with six pupils in 1870.  The school grew into a boarding school then a high school then, in 1886, Lucknow Woman’s College, the first Christian college for women in Asia.  In 1903, after Isabella’s death, the name of the institution became Isabella Thoburn College.

James Mills Thoburn, founder (in 1871) of the periodical the Lucknow Witness (later the Indian Witness), expanded Methodist missionary work in Asia for decades.  He began work in Rangoon in 1879.  In 1880, while on furlough in the United States, he met and married Anna Jones (d. 1902), a candidate to be a medical missionary.  He sailed for India two days after the wedding.  Anna spent the next two years completing her medical studies before sailing to India, where she served for decades.  In 1885 James started Methodist work in Singapore.  Three years later, he became the Bishop of India and Malaysia.  In that capacity he supervised much missionary work in Asia.  In 1898 he dispatched missionaries to the Philippines.

The Thoburns and Swain, on furlough in the United States in 1888, helped to revive the ancient order of deaconesses in the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Isabella became one of the earliest Methodist deaconesses.  While still in the United States, she helped to found both Christ Hospital and the Deaconess Home and Training School, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Isabella and James spoke separately at the Ecumenical Missionary Conference, New York City, in 1900.  Then Isabella returned to India, where she died of cholera the following year.

James and Clara retired in 1908.  She settled in Castille, New York, where she wrote A Glimpse of India (1909).  She died in Castille the  following year.  Bishop Thoburn retired to Meadville, Pennsylvania.  In 1910 he, at the invitation of John Raleigh Mott (1865-1955), attended the World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.  Thoburn died in Meadville in 1922.

The legacies of these three saints continue, fortunately.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 7, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMITIAN OF HUY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP

THE FEAST OF HARRIET STARR CANNON, FOUNDRESS OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAINT MARY

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH ARMITAGE ROBINSON, ANGLICAN DEAN, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROSA VENERINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE VENERINI SISTERS; MENTOR OF SAINT LUCIA FILIPPINI, FOUNDRESS OF THE RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FILIPPINI

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God of grace and glory, we praise you for your servants

James Mills Thoburn, Isabella Thoburn, and Clara Swain,

who made the good news known in Asia.

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

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 59

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Feast of Kamehameha IV and Emma Rooke (November 28)   3 comments

Kamehameha IV and Emma

Above:  The Royal Couple

Image in the Public Domain

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KAMEHAMEHA IV (FEBRUARY 9, 1834-NOVEMBER 30, 1863)

King of Hawai’i, 1855-1863

Also known as Alexander Liholiho

husband of

EMMA ROOKE (JANUARY 2, 1836-APRIL 25, 1885)

Queen of Hawai’i, 1856-1863

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Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010) designates November 28 as the day to celebrate the lives of “Kamehameha and Emma.”  In this, my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, however, the citation is more specific.

Alexander Liholiho, born at Honolulu, Oahu, on February 9, 1834, grew up learning how to be a constitutional monarch.  His uncle, King Kamehameha III (reigned 1824-1854), as a liberal ruler who came from a tradition of absolute monarchy yet promulgated the constitutions of 1840 and 1852.  He also secured recognition of Hawaiian independence and sovereignty from the United States in 1842 and from France and the United Kingdom the following year.  Furthermore, Kamehameha III issued the Edict of Toleration (with regard to the legality of religious diversity) in 1839 and brought Christian missionaries into his court as tutors and translators.  In fact, Congregationalist missionaries from the United States educated Alexander, whose father was High Chief Mataio Kekuano’a (1791-1868) and his mother was Princess Elizabeth Kina’u (1805-1839), the prime minister (to use an English-language term) for a time.

Emma Rooke, born at Honolulu on January 2, 1836, grew up with Hawaiian and British influences.  Her father was High Chief George Na’ea and her mother was High Chieftess Fanny Kekelaokelani Young (1806-1880).  Nevertheless, her maternal aunt, High Chieftess Grace Kama’iku’i Young Rooke, and uncle, Dr. Thomas Rooke, raised her.  Missionaries from the United States educated the future queen.

Alexander became King Kamehameha IV in 1855.  In the realm of foreign policy he resisted U.S. Manifest Destiny and strove to maintain the independence of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, in part maintaining close relations with the United Kingdom.  In this personal life he married Emma Rooke on June 19, 1856.  They had one child, Prince Albert Edward Kamehameha (May 20, 1858-August 27, 1862).  With regard to domestic policy the Holy Sovereigns, as Hawaiians call them, sought to improve the lives of their subjects.  For example, after a smallpox epidemic Kamehameha IV and Emma raised funds for the building of Queen’s Hospital, which continues to exist in 2016.

In 1860 the royal couple, enamored of Anglicanism for its ceremony and gentleness, asked Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, to send missionaries to the kingdom.  The following year Wilberforce consecrated Thomas Nettleship Staley (1823-1898) the first Bishop of Hawai’i.  Staley and the first two priests arrived in October 1862.  November 28, 1862, was the date of the confirmation of the royal couple, hence the date of their feast.  The new Anglican province was the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church, also known as The Church of Hawaii.  Kamehameha IV translated The Book of Common Prayer (1662) into Hawaiian in 1862 and 1863.  The founding of The Cathedral of St. Andrew, Honolulu (1862) was another early step in the building of the new Anglican missionary church in the kingdom.

Kamehameha IV’s life and reign were brief.  He, aged 29 years, died of asthma on November 29, 1863.  His brother succeeded him as Kamehameha V (reigned 1863-1872).

Meanwhile, Queen Dowager Emma devoted herself to good works for years before returning to politics.  She traveled in Hawai’i and Europe to raise funds for churches and for schools and other institutions for the sick and the poor.  Among her backers was Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901).  Kamehameha V died in 1872.  Lunalilo, a royal cousin, succeeded to the throne yet died after thirteen months.  Since he had no heirs the succession, according to the constitution, was the decision of the legislature.  Emma, who favored close ties to the United Kingdom, ran against Kalakaua, who sought to maintain Hawaiian independence by establishing closer economic ties to the United States, the largest market for Hawaiian exports.  Kalakaua (reigned 1874-1891) won, 39 votes to 9 votes.

Emma died at Honolulu on April 25, 1885, aged 49 years old.  The construction of the current building of the cathedral, begun in 1867 as a memorial to Kamehameha IV, finished in 1886.    The website for the cathedral says:

Sharing Queen Emma’s Vision Since 1862.

U.S. businessmen, sailors, and Marines overthrew the Kingdom of Hawai’i in 1893.  The Church of Hawaii became the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 12, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THADDEUS STEVENS, U.S. ABOLITIONIST, CONGRESSMAN, AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF SARAH FLOWER ADAMS, ENGLISH UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER; AND HER SISTER, ELIZA FLOWER, ENGLISH UNITARIAN COMPOSER

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O Sovereign God, who raised up (King) Kamehameha (IV) and (Queen) Emma to be rulers in Hawaii,

and inspired and enabled them to be diligent in good works and for the welfare of their people

and the good of your Church:  Receive our thanks for their witness to the Gospel;

and grant that we, with them, may attain to the crown of glory that never fades away;

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

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

Proverbs 21:1-3

Psalm 97:1-2, 7-12

Acts 17:22-31

Matthew 25:31-40

Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 707

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Feast of St. Stephen the Younger (November 28)   Leave a comment

Above:  The Triumph of Orthodoxy

SAINT STEPHEN THE YOUNGER (CIRCA 714-NOVEMBER 28, 764)

Defender of Icons

Yesterday, in a post about St. Nicholas Tavelic and His Companions, I wrote of non-Christians killing Christians.  In that post I stated the following:

I am a Christian.  Here I stand; I will do no other.  My understanding of God is that “God is love.”  And love does not condone killing people over religious differences.  Unfortunately, many previous adherents of my own tradition have condoned and/or committed such violence toward Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others.  I condemn those deeds and those who condoned or committed them.  Likewise, I condemn such deeds and those who condone or commit them when non-Christians commit them.  Religious differences ought to lead to civilized dialogue in the best cases and to agreements to disagree in the worst cases, but never violence.

Today’s post reinforces those words.

St. Stephen the Younger (circa 714-764), born at Constantinople, became a monk at the Monastery of St. Auxentius (in Bithynia, in modern-day Turkey) when he was fifteen years old.  He served as abbot there from 744 to 756, when he retired to become a hermit. The Council of Hieria (754) and Emperor Constantine V Kopronymos (reigned 741-775) insisted upon iconoclasm.  The hermit opposed this policy.  So, beginning in 760, he suffered persecution, including imprisonment then banishment.  The saint, recalled before the Emperor in 764 made the point about respecting images with a powerful gesture:  He stomped on a coin bearing the imperial visage.  For this the saint died violently.

Iconoclasm (of the religious variety) confuses me.  We humans are visual beings.  God might be invisible, but we still need to see something, such as an artist’s depiction of Jesus.  I admit that most of these paintings are wildly inaccurate and many of them are kitschy; almost all depict our Lord and Savior as if he had been a northern European Protestant, not a Palestinian Jew.  But we so need to see something.  Imprisoning, banishing, and executing people for that is inexcusable.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 3, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF RICHARD HOOKER, ANGLICAN THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF DANIEL PAYNE, AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE CHURCH OF PAKISTAN, 1970

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Gracious God,

in every age you have sent men and women

who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth.

Inspire us with the memory of

Saint Stephen the Younger,

whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross,

and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives

to your Son’s victory over sin and death,

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 59

Saints’ Days and Holy Days for November   1 comment

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.