Above:  Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED FRANCIS XAVIER SEELOS (JANUARY 11, 1819-OCTOBER 4, 1867)

German-American Roman Catholic Priest

Alternative feast days = October 4 and October 12

Franz Xaver Seelos, born in Füssen, Bavaria, on January 11, 1819, devoted his adult life to the service of God.  His mother was Frances Schwarzenbach.  Our saint’s father was Mang Seelos, a parish sacristan and a textile merchant.  Seelos, named after St. Francis Xavier (1505-1552), received the sacrament of baptism on the day of his birth.  Our saint, confirmed on September 3, 1828, received his First Communion on April 2, 1830.  He, having discerned his priestly vocation while a boy, graduated from the Institute of St. Stephen, Augsburg, in 1839.  He continued his education at the University of Munich, where he studied theology and philosophy.  In 1842 Seelos graduated from the University of Munich and matriculated at St. Jerome Seminary, Dillengen an der Danau.

1842 was a year of turning points in the life of our saint.  He joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) on November 22.  St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori had founded the order in 1732.  Seelos felt drawn to the order, due to its work with the abandoned, the poor, and immigrants.  He left the seminary on December 9, 1842, with the intention of ministering to German immigrants in the United States of America.

Seelos spent 1843-1867 in the United States.  He, having sailed on March 17, 1843, arrived in the New York City on April 29.  Seelos, ordained to the priesthood in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 22, 1844, ministered to German immigrants faithfully.  For nine years he served in St. Philomena Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  For six of those years he was the assistant to and spiritual student of St. John Nepomucene Neumann (1811-1860).  For three of those years Seelos was the local Redemptorist novice master.  At. St. Philomena Church our saint was a popular confessor in three languages (French, German, and English) and from many people from various backgrounds.

Our saint’s final thirteen years were full of faithful service, too.  Seelos served in Baltimore (1854-1857), Cumberland (1857-1862), and Annapolis (1862-1863), all in Maryland.  Along the way, in 1860, he avoided becoming the Bishop of Pittsburgh.  In 1863, Seelos, as the Superior of the Redemptorist seminary, persuaded President Abraham Lincoln to exempt seminarians from the military draft.  Later that year our saint lost his job, for alleged leniency.  Seelos spent 1863-1866 as an itinerant priest in states in the North, from New England to the Midwest.  In 1866-1867 our saint served in a German immigrant parish in New Orleans, Louisiana.  On October 4, 1867, he, aged 46 years, died of yellow fever.  Seelos had contracted the disease while ministering to people afflicted with it.

Pope John Paul II declared Seelos a Venerable then beatified him in 2000.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 9, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DENIS, BISHOP OF PARIS, AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD OF LUCCA; AND SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS

THE FEAST OF ROBERT GROSSETESTE, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOLAR, PHILOSOPHER, AND BISHOP OF LINCOLN

THE FEAST OF WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL, MEDICAL MISSIONARY TO NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

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O God, our heavenly Father, who raised up your faithful servant Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos,

to be a pastor in your Church and to feed your flock:

Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of your Holy Spirit,

that they may minister in your household as true servants of Christ and stewards of your divine mysteries;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

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

Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84 or 84:7-11

Ephesians 3:14-21

Matthew 24:42-47

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 719

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…we cannot harmonize Christ himself with modern culture. What Christ does to modern culture is to challenge it.

Above:  Harry Emerson Fosdick

Image in the Public Domain

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HARRY EMERSON FOSDICK (MAY 24, 1878-OCTOBER 5, 1969)

U.S. Northern Baptist Minister and Opponent of Fundamentalism

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–Harry Emerson Fosdick, “The Church Must Go Beyond Modernism” (1935); quoted in Dewitte Holland, ed., Sermons in American History:  Selected Issues in the American Pulpit, 1630-1967 (Nashville, TN:  Abingdon Press, 1971), 377

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Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the most influential ministers in the United States of America during the twentieth century.  He, controversial in life, has remained so postmortem.

Fundamentalism is inherently ahistorical.  This is not an idea original to me.  Consider, O reader, Karen Armstrong:

…fundamentalism is ahistorical:  it believes that Abraham, Moses and the later prophets all experienced their God in exactly the same way as people do today.

—A History of God:  The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (1994), xx

One might also consider G. E. Mendenhall, author of The Tenth Generation (1973):

Biblical fundamentalism, whether Jewish or Christian, cannot learn from the past because in so many respects the defense of presently accepted ideas about religion is thought to be the only purpose of biblical narrative.  It must, therefore, support ideas of comparatively recent origin–ones that usually have nothing to do with the original meaning or intention of biblical narrative because the context is so radically different.

–Quoted in W. Gunther Plaut, The Torah:  A Modern Commentary, Vol. IV, Numbers (New York:  Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1979), xiv-xv

Fosdick, born in Buffalo, New York, on May 24, 1878, came from a devout family with a tradition of valuing education.  His father was Frank Sheldon Fosdick.  Our saint’s mother was Amy Inez Weaver.  His brother, Raymond B. Fosdick, grew up to become an esteemed attorney, as well as a friend and associate of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960).  Our saint, baptized at the age of seven years, thought about becoming a missionary before deciding on domestic ministry.  He, having graduated from high school in 1896, matriculated at Colgate University.  He graduated with his A.B. degree four years later, and was the class poet.  Fosdick, ordained a Baptist minister in 1903, graduated from Union Theological Seminary the following year.  He married Florence Allen Whitney (d. 1964) on August 16, 1904.  The couple had two daughters.

Fosdick served in a few congregations and taught at Union Theological Seminary.  He, from 1904 to 1915 the pastor of First Baptist Church, Montclair, New Jersey, began his 38-year-long stint of teaching practical theology at Union Theological Seminary in 1908.  He was an instructor (1908-1915), a professor (1915-1917, 1919-1934), and a part-time faculty member (1934-1946).  In 1917-1919 our saint worked as a chaplain with the Y.M.C.A. in France.  After World War I he returned to New York City, to begin duties as assistant minister (1919-1925) of First Presbyterian Church.

Fosdick became a central figure in the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., a denomination to which he did not belong.  In 1922 he preached a seminal sermon, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?”  He condemned the intolerance of fundamentalism and criticized minor theological disputes (such as arguments about the Virgin Birth) as distractions

when the world is perishing for the lack of the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith.

–Quoted in Holland, ed., Sermons in American History, 347

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., liked the sermon so much that he paid for the printing and mailing of the text to every Protestant minister in the United States.  Clarence Macartney (1879-1957), conservative pastor of Arch Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, replied via a sermon that year.  He asked, “Shall Unbelief Win?” and accused Fosdick of heresy and intolerance.  After much controversy, Fosdick had to resign in 1925.

Above:  Park Avenue Baptist Church, New York, New York

Photographer = Irving Underhill

Image Source = Library of Congress

Rockefeller, Jr., offered Fosdick another position, though.  Our saint accepted the pastorate of Park Avenue Baptist Church on four conditions, which he established:

1. That baptism by immersion cease to be a requirement for membership;
2. That the congregation become interdenominational, accepting Christians of all creeds;
3. That the congregation move to a less swanky neighborhood; and
4. That the initial salary cap for Fosdick be $5000 ($69,900, adjusted for inflation, to 2017 currency).

Above:  Riverside Church and Grant’s Tomb, New York, New York

Image in the Public Domain

Rockefeller, Jr., financed the construction of the Gothic edifice of the renamed Riverside Church, located near Columbia University and Grant’s Tomb.  The congregation’s first Sunday in the new building, dedicated in 1931, was October 5, 1930.  Fosdick wrote the hymn, “God of Grace and God of Glory,” for the occasion.  For 15 years 1931-1946) Fosdick was the most influential Protestant minister in the United States.  For 20 years (1926-1946) he preached on national radio.  He retired from Riverside Church in 1946.

Fosdick was a prolific author of books and articles.  Some of these were volumes of sermons.  Many other books were psychological-theological in nature.  Examples of these included Twelve Tests of Character (1923) and On Being a Real Person (1943).

Fosdick, who preferred modernism to fundamentalism, was critical of modernism, too.  In 1935 he preached a sermon, “The Church Must Go Beyond Modernism.”  Modernism, he said, was a necessary advance.  However, our saint stated, the church needed to move beyond it, for modernism was imperfect.  It was simultaneously preoccupied with intellectualism and too sentimental, according to Fosdick.  He also argued that modernism had

largely eliminated from its faith the God of moral judgment.

–Quoted in Holland, ed., Sermons in American History, 373

Our saint also asserted that modernism had accommodated too much to the world that it (modernism) had placed people at the center and relegated God to an advisory capacity.  Modernism, Fosdick argued, had also surrendered the moral high ground.  Our saint was arguing for Neo-orthodoxy.

Fosdick stood up for a range of controversial positions.  His adopted pacifism, evident in his hymn, “The Prince of Peace His Banner Spreads” (1930), was more popular at certain times than others.  Our saint also advocated for the civil rights of African Americans when doing so was often unpopular.  The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (1939-1968) thought of Fosdick as a prophetic figure.  Fosdick, eschewing anti-Semitism, also sympathized with displaced Palestinians.  He, not a Zionist, opposed the creation of the State of Israel.

Fosdick wrote four hymns, all of which have remained germane:

1. “God of Grace and God of Glory” (1930),
2. “The Prince of Peace His Banner Spreads” (1930),
3. “O God, in Restless Living” (1931), and
4. “O God, Who to a Loyal Home” (1956).

Fosdick, aged 91 years, died in Bronxville, New York, on October 5, 1969.

Perhaps the précis of Fodick’s life was the following excerpt from “God of Grace and God of Glory”:

Save us from weak resignation

To the evils we deplore;….

Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 4, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM SCARLETT, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MISSOURI, AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

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O God, by your Holy Spirit you give to some the word of wisdom,

to others the word of knowledge,

and to others the word of faith:

We praise your Name for the gifts of grace manifested in your servant Harry Emerson Fosdick,

and we ray that your Church may never be destitute of such gifts;

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

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

Wisdom of Solomon 7:7-14

Psalm 119:97-104

1 Corinthians 2:6-10, 13-16

John 17:18-23

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 720

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Above:  Holy Roman Empire, 1559

Image Source = Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (1967)

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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CYRIACUS SCHNEEGASS (OCTOBER 5, 1546-OCTOBER 23, 1597)

German Lutheran Minister, Musician, and Hymn Writer

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His hymns reflect his character, setting forth the leading ideas of the festivals of the Christian year.

–W. G. Polack, The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, Second and Revised Edition (1942), page 576

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Little information about Cyriacus Schneegass (1546-1597) was available to me.  The native of Buffleben, near Gotha, in Thuringia, earned his M.A. at the University of Jena.  From 1773 to 1797 our saint served as then pastor of St. Blasius Church, Friedrichroda, near Gotha.  For a time he also held the post of adjunct to the Superintendent of Weimar.  In that capacity Schneegass signed the Formula of Concord (1577) in 1579.  Our saint, a conscientious pastor and a skilled musician, encouraged the love of music in his parish.  Only two of his hymns–one for Christmas, the other for New Year–have passed into English.  Schneegass died at Friedrichroda on October 23, 1597.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 15, 2015 COMMON ERA

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

THE FEAST OF JOHN ARMSTRONG, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF GRAHAMSTOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

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

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Cyriacus Schneegass 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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Chart and Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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FIRST ENTRY IN A SERIES OF FOUR POSTS

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DAVID NITSCHMANN, SR. (SEPTEMBER 18, 1676-APRIL 14, 1758)

“Father Nitschman;” Moravian Missionary

father of 

MELCHIOR NITSCHMANN (1702-FEBRUARY 27, 1729)

Moravian Missionary and Martyr

brother of

JOHANN NITSCHMANN, JR. (SEPTEMBER 25, 1712-JUNE 30, 1783)

Moravian Missionary and Bishop

brother of

ANNA CARITAS NITSCHMANN (NOVEMBER 24, 1715-MAY 21, 1760)

Moravian Eldress

cousin of

DAVID NITSCHMANN (DECEMBER 18, 1696-OCTOBER 5, 1772)

Missionary and First Bishop of the Renewed Moravian Church

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The process of researching the Nitschmanns led me through a number of contradictory sources.  I paid close attention to minor details to determine relationships.  There were, for example, four David Nitschmanns (two of whom became bishops) and two Johann (or John) Nitschmanns (both of whom became bishops).  I am not surprised, therefore, that some writers whose work I consulted confused one Johann (or John) Nitschmann with another.  They were contemporaries (one born in 1703 and the other in 1712), after all.  Also, I am aware that, in the age of the Internet, I can gain easy access to more information easily from home than was possible with more effort not long ago.  Even with that ease of access to information I became confused along the way, until I checked details (such as birthplaces and geographical locations of certain people in specific years) again and again.  I admit the possibility that I have made some mistakes or at least arrived at some inaccurate determinations (given the material available to me as well as human imperfection), but I have tried to be as accurate as possible.

I am aware that following the proverbial bouncing ball can prove challenging, so I have repeated certain details, such as lifespans and relationships frequently.  I have reduced the bouncing-ball factor by breaking up one post into four, for the benefit of clarity.

Shall we begin, O reader?

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The Nitschmann family belonged to the underground Bohemian Brethren, or the “Hidden Seed.”  The Moravian Church/Bohemian Brethren/Unitas Fratrum/Unity of the Brethren/Ancient Unity, with March 1, 1457, as its official date of founding, had gone underground in 1620, early in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).  The diaspora spread out across Europe, meeting in homes at a time when the union of church and state was normative and religious toleration was not.

David Nitschmann, Sr. (1676-1758), or “Father Nitschmann,” was a leader of the “Hidden Seed.”  He, like his father, hosted a house church.  This saint was, by trade, a carpenter, a wheelwright, and a sometime farmer.  The native of Zauchtenthal, Moravia, married Anna Schneider in 1700.  The family moved to Kunewald, Moravia, in 1704.  There the large house church (as many as 200 people sometimes) attracted the hostile attention of local authorities, who forbade such continued gatherings.  David, Sr., and his son, Melchior (1702-1729), committed civil disobedience and went to prison repeatedly.

At this point in the narrative David Nitschmann (1696-1772), son of Georg Nitschmann (born 1662), brother of David, Sr., enters the story.

Nephew David Nitschmann (1696-1772), also a native of Zauchtenthal, Moravia, visited uncle David, Sr., and family in 1725, for the purpose of convincing the uncle to relocate the family to Herrnhut, the new (since 1722) Moravian Church settlement on the estate of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) in Saxony.  The nephew succeeded.  David, Sr., and his family left for Herrnhut, stayed a week, then relocated to nearby Berthelsdorf.  They returned to Herrnhut two years later.

The three children of David Nitschmann, Sr., and Anna Schneider Nitschmann of whom I write in this post were:

1. Melchior (1702-1729);
2. Johann (or John), Jr. (1712-1783); and
3. Anna Caritas (1715-1760).

Melchior Nitschmann (1702-1729), a weaver by trade, had, with his father, led a house church of the Bohemian Brethren/Ancient Unity.  Melchior became on the first four elders of the Renewed Moravian Church at Herrnhut on May 12, 1727.  Another elder was Christian David (1690-1751).  These two elders were away on a mission trip to Hungary on August 13, 1727, the Moravian Pentecost, at Herrnhut.  The following year Melchior and one George Schmidt were missionaries in Moravia when Austrian officials detained them.  Melchior died in Schmidt’s arms on February 27, 1729, in a prison at Schildberg, Moravia.  Schmidt remained incarcerated for five more years.  He, a free man again, continued as a missionary.

Anna Caritas Nitschmann (1715-1760) found her niche in the Renewed Moravian Church, which was more egalitarian than the surrounding culture.  Gender roles were not entirely irrelevant in the Renewed Moravian Church in the 1700s, but they were less stringent than elsewhere at the time.  The basis of leadership in the Church was ability, not social status.  Thus the fourteen-year-old Anna became an eldress in March 1730.  On May 4 of that year she and the seventeen-year-old Anna Schindler (later Dober) (1713-1739) founded the Single Sisters’ Choir at Herrnhut, with Anna as the leader.  (A choir was a communal group.)

Johann (or John) Nitschmann, Jr. (1712-1783), later a bishop, emigrated to Herrnhut with his family.  He studied theology at Halle from 1728 to 1731.  In 1731 he became a tutor at the orphanage at Herrnhut.  Then, in 1732 and 1733, he studied medicine at Halle.   Johann, Jr., returned to Herrnhut, serving as Count Zinzendorf’s private secretary in 1733 and 1734.  Then, from 1734 to 1745, Johann, Jr., engaged in missionary work in Lapland.

David “Father” Nitschmann, Sr. (1676-1758), had skills the nascent Renewed Moravian Church needed.  His carpentry skills proved essential in building up Herrnhut, for example.  He also served as a missionary to the West Indies in the 1730s.  His wife, Anna Schneider Nitschmann, died on the island of St. Croix on June 30, 1735.  He returned to Herrnhut in 1737, remained for fourteen months, and shortly thereafter left for Pennsylvania.  He cut down the first tree at the site of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1741.  He did much to build and supervise the building of that settlement, where he spent the rest of this life.  Father Nitschmann died on April 14, 1758.

Nephew David Nitschmann (1696-1772) was also a foundational figure in the Renewed Moravian Church.  He was one of the pioneers of Herrnhut.  There Christian David (1690-1751) taught him carpentry.  In late 1727 the two men served as missionaries to Austria.  In 1732 Nitschmann accompanied Johann Leondard Dober (1706-1766) to St. Thomas, in the West Indies, to help Dober start missionary work there.  Nitschmann departed for other duties after sixteen weeks; Dober remained for about two years until the Church recalled him to Herrnhut to become the Chief Elder.

David Nitschmann (1696-1772) traveled widely.  He started a Moravian community in Holstein in 1734.  On March 13, 1735, in Berlin, Daniel Ernst Jablonski, a grandson of John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) who had become a bishop of the Bohemian Brethren/Ancient Unity in 1699, ordained Nitschmann the first bishop of the Renewed Moravian Church.  The new bishop traveled widely in North America (including in Georgia) in 1735 and 1736 then returned to Germany in 1736.  The following year, in Berlin, he and Jablonski ordained Count Zinzendorf the second bishop of the Renewed Moravian Church.  In 1737 and 1738 Nitschmann helped to found the ill-fated Herrnhaag settlement in Saxony.  At Herrnhaag the excesses of the “Sifting Time” (1743-1750) were the most extreme and in the worst taste.  And, in 1740 and 1741, he helped to found Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which his uncle, David, Sr., did much to construct.

Anna Nitschmann (1715-1760) became an authority in the Moravian Church.  From 1735 to 1737 she accompanied Benigna, Count Zinzendorf’s daughter, to England.  In 1740 Anna and her father, David, Sr., traveled to Pennsylvania ahead of Count Zinzendorf.  There she wrote authoritatively to people regarding church matters and even preached.  In 1740 she preached to men and women at a Quaker meeting-house.  She preached to a group of Indian women the following year.  Anna was not unique, for there were many women preaching in the Moravian Church.  This fact prompted much criticism from Lutheran and Reformed Church circles at the time.

Above:  Herrnhaag in 1750

Image in the Public Domain

Count Zinzendorf returned to Europe from America dissatisfied with strong criticisms of the Moravian Church from Lutheran and Reformed competitors.  He concluded that such attacks were examples of legalism.  So, unfortunately, the Count looked the other way for a few years as the Moravian emphases on the wounds of Christ and on familiarity with God, not to mention an exalted opinion of sexuality, mixed with excessive emotionalism and became simultaneously childish and NSFW, especially at Herrnhaag.  Erotic imagery mixed with the wounds of Christ, gender roles blended in violation of sexual orientation (admittedly an anachronistic category for the timeframe), and Moravian simplicity gave way to as many as forty lavish festivals each year.  Excesses of this “Sifting Time” (1743-1750) radiated from Herrnhaag, becoming the cause of scandal.  Eventually the Count, acknowledging his accountability for the state of affairs, heeded the counsel of advisors, such a Christian David (1690-1751), and clamped down on excesses.  Herrnhaag closed in 1753.

Johann Nitschmann, Jr. (1712-1783), continued to serve in the Moravian Church.  He returned from eleven years of missionary service in 1745.  From 1745 to 1750 he was deacon at Herrnhaag.  Then, from 1750 to 1758, he was deacon at Herrnhut.  In 1758 Nitschmann became the twenty-first bishop of the Renewed Moravian Church.  Four years later he received the responsibility of oversight of the communities in England and Ireland.  Then, in 1766, he became the leader of the community at Sarepta, Russia.  There he died on June 30, 1783.  Along the way he had written hymns.

Anna Nitschmann (1715-1760) remained single until her forty-first year of life.  She traveled as part of Count Zinzendorf’s entourage on trips to England (1743) and Russia (1743 and 1744).  Erdmuth Dorothea von Zinzendorf, the Countess died in 1756.  The Count observed a mourning period of a year;  then he remarried.  He and Anna became husband and wife in June 1757.  He was a nobleman and she was a peasant.  Such distinctions were irrelevant in the relatively egalitarian culture of the Moravian Church, however.  Count Zinzendorf died on May 9, 1760.  Anna succumbed (perhaps to cancer) twelve days later.  During her lifetime she had also written hymns.

David Nitschmann (1696-1772) remained in service to God via the Moravian Church for the rest of his life.  He returned to St. Thomas in 1742.  The bishop, en route to Europe in 1745, became a prisoner of the Spanish.  Once free, he traveled in Denmark, Norway, and Silesia.  He returned to Pennsylvania in 1748.  Then the bishop served at Herrnhaag from 1749 to 1753 as part of the clean-up operation there.  Rosina Schindler Nitschmann, whom he had married in 1726, died there in 1753.  The following year the bishop returned to Pennsylvania, where he remained.  He married Maria Barbara Leinbach (1722-1810), widow of missionary and bishop Friedrich Martin (1704-1754), in 1754.  The new couple lived at Lititz, Pennsylvania, from 1756 to 1761.  There Maria gave birth to a daughter, Anna Maria Nitschmann (1758-1823), who married Christian Heckewelder, a merchant of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Hope, New Jersey.  Bishop Nitschmann and Maria resided at Bethlehem starting in 1761.  He died there in 1772.

Here ends the first installment of this series of posts.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 25, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FEAST OF SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR

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Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses:

Grant that we, encouraged by the good examples of your servants

David Nitschmann, Sr.; Melchior Nitschmann; Johann Nitschmann, Jr.; Anna Caritas Nitschmann; and David Nitschmann;

may persevere in running the race that is set before us,

until at last we may with them attain to your eternal joy;

through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Micah 6:6-8

Psalm 15

Hebrews 12:1-2

Matthew 25:31-40

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 724

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Calendula

Image Source = Alvesgaspar

1 (Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury, British Humanitarian and Social Reformer)

• Chuck Matthei, Founder and Director of the Equity Trust, Inc.
• Marie-Joseph Aubert, Founder of the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion
• Ralph W. Sockman, United Methodist Minister and Spiritual Writer
• Romanus the Melodist, Deacon and Hymnodist
• Thérèse of Lisieux, Roman Catholic Nun and Mystic

2 (Petrus Herbert, German Moravian Bishop and Hymnodist)

• Carl Doving, Norwegian-American Lutheran Minister and Hymn Translator
• James Allen, English Inghamite then Glasite/Sandemanian Hymn Writer; and his great-nephew, Oswald Allen, English Glasite/Sandemanian Hymn Writer
• Maria Anna Kratochwil, Polish Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr, 1942

3 (George Kennedy Allen Bell, Anglican Bishop of Chichester)

• Alberto Ramento, Prime Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church
• Gerard of Brogne, Roman Catholic Abbot
• John Raleigh Mott, U.S. Methodist Lay Evangelist, and Ecumenical Pioneer
• William Scarlett, Episcopal Bishop of Missouri, and Advocate for Social Justice

4 (Francis of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Friars Minor)

• Agneta Chang, Maryknoll Sister and Martyr in Korea, 1950
• H. H. Rowley, English Baptist Minister and Biblical Scholar

5 (David Nitschmann, Sr., “Father Nitschmann,” Moravian Missionary; Melchior Nitschmann, Moravian Missionary and Martyr, 1729; Johann Nitschmann, Jr., Moravian Missionary and Bishop; Anna Nitschman, Moravian Eldress; and David Nitschmann, Missionary and First Bishop of the Renewed Moravian Church)

• Cyriacus Schneegass, German Lutheran Minister, Musician, and Hymn Writer
• Francis Xavier Seelos, German-American Roman Catholic Priest
• Harry Emerson Fosdick, U.S. Northern Baptist Minister and Opponent of Fundamentalism

6 (George Edward Lynch Cotton, Anglican Bishop of Calcutta)

• Ernest William Olson, Swedish-American Lutheran Poet, Editor, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer
• Heinrich Albert, German Lutheran Composer and Poet
• John Ernest Bode, Anglican Priest, Poet, and Hymn Writer
• Joseph Lowery, African-American United Methodist Minister and Civil Rights Leader; “The Dean of the Civil Rights Movement”
• William Tyndale, English Reformer, Bible Translator, and Martyr, 1536; and Miles Coverdale, English Reformer, Bible Translator, and Bishop of Exeter

7 (Wilhelm Wexels, Norwegian Lutheran Minister, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator; his niece, Marie Wexelsen, Norwegian Lutheran Novelist and Hymn Writer; Ludwig Lindeman, Norwegian Lutheran Organist and Musicologist; and Magnus Landstad, Norwegian Lutheran Minister, Folklorist, Hymn Writer, and Hymnal Editor)

• Bradford Torrey, U.S. Ornithologist and Hymn Writer
• Claus Westermann, German Lutheran Minister and Biblical Translator
• Herbert G. May, U.S. Biblical Scholar and Translator
• Johann Gottfried Weber, German Moravian Musician, Composer, and Minister
• John Woolman, Quaker Abolitionist

8 (Erik Routley, English Congregationalist Hymnodist)

• Abraham Ritter, U.S. Moravian Merchant, Historian, Musician, and Composer
• Alexander Penrose Forbes, Scottish Episcopal Bishop of Brechin; Church Historian; and Renewer of the Scottish Episcopal Church
• John Clarke, English Baptist Minister and Champion of Religious Liberty in New England
• Richard Whately, Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland
• William Dwight Porter Bliss, Episcopal Priest; and Richard Theodore Ely; Economists

9 (Denis, Bishop of Paris, and His Companions, Roman Catholic Martyrs)

• John Leonardi, Founder of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca; and Joseph Calasanctius, Founder of the Clerks Regular of Religious Schools
• Penny Lernoux, U.S. Roman Catholic Journalist and Moral Critic
• Robert Grosseteste, English Roman Catholic Scholar, Philosopher, and Bishop of Lincoln
• Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, Medical Missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador

10 (Johann Nitschmann, Sr., Moravian Missionary and Bishop; David Nitschmann, Jr., the Syndic, Moravian Missionary and Bishop; and David Nitschmann, the Martyr, Moravian Missionary and Martyr, 1729)

• Christian Ludwig Brau, Norwegian Moravian Teacher and Poet
• Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Jean-Baptiste Lamy, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Louis FitzGerald Benson, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymnodist
• Vida Dutton Scudder, Episcopal Professor, Author, Christian Socialist, and Social Reformer

11 (PHILIP THE EVANGELIST, DEACON)

12 (Martin Dober, Moravian Bishop and Hymn Writer; Johann Leonhard Dober, Moravian Missionary and Bishop; and Anna Schindler Dober, Moravian Missionary and Hymn Writer)

• Cecil Frances Alexander, Irish Anglican Hymn Writer
• Edith Cavell, English Nurse and Martyr, 1915
• Elizabeth Fry, English Quaker Social Reformer and “Angel of the Prisons”
• João Bosco Burnier, Brazilian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1976
• Nectarius of Constantinople, Archbishop

13 (Christian David, Moravian Missionary)

• Alban Butler, English Roman Catholic Priest and Hagiographer
• Henry Stephen Cutler, Episcopal Organist, Choirmaster, and Composer
• Vincent Taylor, British Methodist Minister and Biblical Scholar

14 (Callixtus I, Anterus, and Pontian, Bishops of Rome; and Hippolytus, Antipope)

• Roman Lysko, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1949
• Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, Episcopal Bishop of Shanghai, and Biblical Translator
• Thomas Hansen Kingo, Danish Lutheran Bishop, Hymn Writer, and “Poet of Eastertide”

15 (Teresa of Avila, Spanish Roman Catholic Nun, Mystic, and Reformer)

• Gabriel Richard, French-American Roman Catholic Missionary Priest in Detroit, Michigan
• Obadiah Holmes, English Baptist Minister and Champion of Religious Liberty in New England

16 (Albert E. R. Brauer, Australian Lutheran Minister and Hymn Translator)

• Augustine Thevarparampil, Indian Roman Catholic Priest and “Good Shepherd of the Dalits”
• Gaspar Contarini, Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal and Agent of Reconciliation
• Hedwig of Andechs, Roman Catholic Princess and Nun; and her daughter, Gertrude of Trzebnica, Roman Catholic Abbess
• Józef Jankowski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1941

17 (Charles Gounod, French Roman Catholic Composer)

• Birgitte Katerine Boye, Danish Lutheran Poet, Playwright, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer
• John Bowring, English Unitarian Hymn Writer, Social Reformer, and Philanthropist
• Richard McSorley, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Professor, and Peace Activist

18 (LUKE THE EVANGELIST, PHYSICIAN)

19 (Martyrs of North America, 1642-1649)

• Claudia Frances Ibotson Hernaman, Anglican Hymn Writer and Translator
• Jerzy Popieluszko, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1984
• Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Congregation of Discaled Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion

20 (Philip Schaff and John Williamson Nevin, U.S. German Reformed Historians, Theologians, and Liturgists)

• Friedrich Funcke, German Lutheran Minister, Composer, and Hymn Writer
• James W. C. Pennington, African-American Congregationalist and Presbyterian Minister, Educator, and Abolitionist
• John Harris Burt, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, and Civil Rights Activist
• Mary A. Lathbury, U.S. Methodist Hymn Writer

21 (George McGovern, U.S. Senator and Stateman; and his wife, Eleanor McGovern, Humanitarian)

• David Moritz Michael, German-American Moravian Musician and Composer
• Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena, Founder of the Works of the Indians and the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Mary and of Saint Catherine of Siena
• Walter Sisulu and Albertina Sisulu, Anti-Apartheid Activists and Political Prisoners in South Africa

22 (Paul Tillich, German-American Lutheran Theologian)

• Emily Gardiner Neal, Episcopal Deacon, Religious Writer, and Leader of the Healing Movement in The Episcopal Church
• Emily Huntington Miller, U.S. Methodist Author and Hymn Writer
• Frederick Pratt Green, British Methodist Minister, Poet, and Hymn Writer
• Katharina von Schlegal, German Lutheran Hymn Writer
• Martyrs of Heraclea, 304

23 (JAMES OF JERUSALEM, BROTHER OF JESUS)

24 (Rosa Parks, African-American Civil Rights Activist)

• Fritz Eichenberg, German-American Quaker Wood Engraver
• Henry Clay Shuttleworth, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• Pavel Chesnokov, Russian Orthodox Composer
• Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople; and Rusticus, Bishop of Narbonne

25 (Johann Daniel Grimm, German Moravian Musician)

26 (Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons)

• Arthur Campbell Ainger, English Educator, Scholar, and Hymn Writer
• Eric Norelius, Swedish-American Lutheran Minister
• Francis Pott, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer and Translator
• Henry Stanley Oakeley, Composer
• Philip Nicolai, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer

27 (James A. Walsh and Thomas Price, Co-Founders of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers; and Mary Josephine Rogers, Founder of the Maryknoll Sisters of Saint Dominic)

• Aedesius, Priest and Missionary; and Frumentius, First Bishop of Axum and Abuna of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
• Dmitry Bortniansky, Russian Orthodox Composer
• Harry Webb Farrington, U.S. Methodist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Levi Coffin and Catherine Coffin, U.S. Quaker Abolitionists and Conductors of the Underground Railroad

28 (SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS)

29 (Martyrs of Lien-Chou, China, October 28, 1905)

• Bartholomaus Helder, German Lutheran Minister, Composer, and Hymn Writer
• James Hannington, Anglican Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Guinea; and His Companions, Martyrs
• Joseph Grigg, English Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
• Paul Manz, Dean of Lutheran Church Music

30 (Hugh O’Flaherty, “Scarlet Pimperel of the Vatican”)

• Elizabeth Comstock, Anglo-American Quaker Educator, Abolitionist, and Social Reformer
• Marcellus the Centurion and Cassian of Tangiers, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 298
• Oleksa Zarytsky, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1963
• Walter John Mathams, British Baptist then Presbyterian Minister, Author, and Hymn Writer

31 (Reformation Day)

• Daniel C. Roberts, Episcopal Priest and Hymn Writer
• Gerhard Von Rad and Martin Noth, German Lutheran Biblical Scholars
• Ivan Kochurov, Russian Orthodox Priest and Martyr, 1917
• Paul Shinji Sasaki, Anglican Bishop of Mid-Japan, Bishop of Tokyo, and Primate of Nippon Sei Ko Kei; and Philip Lendel Tsen, Anglican Bishop of Honan and Presiding Bishop of Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui

 

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