made terribly clear that in the post-exilic period what people had to say about the way in which God was going to act upon Israel and upon the other nations lost all unanimity and took two different roads.

Above:  My Copy of Isaiah 40-66:  A Commentary (1969), October 10, 2018

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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CLAUS WESTERMANN (OCTOBER 7, 1909-JUNE 11, 2000)

German Lutheran Minister and Biblical Scholar

Claus Westermann comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Biblical Studies section of my library, which his volume, Isaiah 40-66 (1969), graces.

Westermann, born in Berlin, Germany, on October 7, 1909, was a son of Diedrich and Katharina Westermann, formerly missionaries to Africa.  Our saint’s father had become a professor of African languages in Berlin by 1909.

Westermann became one of the major Old Testament scholars of the twentieth century.  He, educated at the Universities of Tübingen and Marburg, served as pastor of a church in Berlin-Dahlem prior to World War II.  Our saint, drafted into the German Army in 1940, served in Russia.  He resumed advanced studies after the war.  Westermann graduated from the University of Zurich with his doctorate in 1949; his dissertation was, “The Praise of God in the Psalms.”  Our saint, from 1949 to 1952 the pastor of Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin, began to teach full-time in 1953.  He joined the faculty of the University of Heidelberg in 1958.  Our saint retired 20 years later.  The student of Gerhard von Rad (1901-1971) wrote more than 70 published works.

Consider Isaiah 40-66 (1969), O reader.

Westermann, who accepted that there were three Isaiahs, acknowledged internal disagreements within chapters, as in Chapter 66.  He identified discrepancies within 66:18-24:  verses 18, 19, and 21 indicating a mission to the nations, and verses 20 and 22-24 emphasizing the primacy of worship in Jerusalem.  The second section amended the first, our saint wrote.  The presence of the two traditions, Westermann insisted,

–Page 429

Westermann continued:

In the light of the New Testament our only course is to agree with the first, the one which proclaims the great missionary move out to the nations.  This means, then, that we must be critical of vv. 20, 22ff.  But over and above this, an Old Testament critic is bound to say that a theology which ordains one place of eternal annihilation for all God’s enemies along with the perpetuation of a worship restricted to one place is alien to the central core of the Old Testament.  Here, in the interests of rendering absolute a worship that is tied to a place and in the counterpart which the verses give this, the avowal of God’s action in history and towards the people who are travelling onwards, the avowal of very foundation, is abandoned.

–Page 429

Thus ended that commentary.

Westermann, aged 90 years, died in Heidelberg on the Day of Pentecost, June 11, 2000.  His wife, Anna, had predeceased him in 1991.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 10, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF 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

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN LUDWIG BRAU, NORWEGIAN MORAVIAN TEACHER AND POET

THE FEAST OF EDWARD BENSON WHITE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST

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

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Claus Westermann and all others]

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

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

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

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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Above:  My Copy of The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, October 10, 2018

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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HERBERT GORDON MAY (NOVEMBER 26, 1904-OCTOBER 7, 1977)

U.S. Biblical Scholar and Translator

Herbert G. May comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Interpreter’s Bible, for which he wrote the introduction to and the exegesis of Ezekiel in Volume VI (1956).

May was an influential scholar and translator of the Bible.  He, born in Fair Haven, Vermont, on November 26, 1904, graduated from Wesleyan University (1927).  After earning his B.D. degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in 1930, he went to work on his Ph.D. (The University of Chicago, 1934).  May was Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature at Oberlin College (1934-1970) and Vanderbilt University (1966-1970).  In retirement he taught at Yale Divinity School and continued to teach at Oberlin College.  Our saint, one of the translators of the Revised Standard Version (New Testament, 1946; Old Testament, 1952; Apocrypha, 1957; RSV II, 1971), chaired the translation committee (1966-1974) and its Old Testament section (1960-1977).  He also helped to edit the Oxford Bible Atlas (1962), The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (1962), and The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha (1973, 1977).

Our saint, aged 72 years, died in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 7, 1977.  His wife, Helen (February 8, 1902-November 3, 1977), died shortly thereafter.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 10, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF 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

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN LUDWIG BRAU, NORWEGIAN MORAVIAN TEACHER AND POET

THE FEAST OF EDWARD BENSON WHITE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST

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

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Herbert G. May and all others]

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

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

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

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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Above:  The Church of Our Savior (now Oslo Cathedral), Christiania, Norway, 1880s

Image in the Public Domain

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WILHELM ANDREAS WEXELS (MARCH 29, 1797-MAY 14, 1866)

Norwegian Lutheran Minister, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator

uncle of

INGER MARIE LYCKE WEXELSEN (SEPTEMBER 20, 1832-DECEMBER 7, 1911)

Norwegian Novelist and Hymn Writer

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LUDWIG MATHIAS LINDEMAN (NOVEMBER 28, 1812-MAY 23, 1887)

Norwegian Lutheran Organist and Musicologist

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MAGNUS BROSTRUP LANDSTAD (OCTOBER 7, 1802-DECEMBER 8, 1880)

Norwegian Lutheran Minister, Folklorist, Hymn Writer, and Hymnal Editor

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This post began with one name–Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802-1880), hence the assigned feast day being October 9, the anniversary of his death.  During the process of taking notes one thing led to another until I had four names.  The addition of the final name, that of Inger Marie Lycke Wexelsen (1832-1911), resulted from following up on a lead I found in an index of The Concordia Hymnal (1932).  Lives intersect and human stories overlap.  One way of conveying that truth in posts of the Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days is to write multi-saint posts.  Another is to write separate posts and to link them into each other.  I have, obviously, chosen the former approach as the dominant tactic in this case.  I could have added a fifth name easily, but I have chosen to write about that person later and to link the two posts then.  A post can become too busy, after all.

By the way, I have decided to set the mood for typing this post properly by listening to Norwegian classical music of the Romantic era.  That is an appropriate choice, given the influence of one of these four saints on Norwegian music.

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Above:  Scandinavia in 1763

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

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The 1800s in Europe was a time of, among other things, nationalism in the politics, literature, and music.  This was certainly true in Norway, which, after centuries of union with Denmark, became part of Sweden in 1814, as part of the settlement of the Napoleonic Wars.

Above:  Scandinavia in 1815

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

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Finally, in 1905, Norway became an independent nation-state.  Even then the ties to Denmark were sufficiently strong that a Danish prince became Haakon VII (died in 1957), King of Norway, who served his adopted country ably and died a national hero.

Above:  Scandinavia in 1914

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

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The changing politics of Norway played out in the life of our first saint, Wilhelm Andreas Wexels.  He entered the world at Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 29, 1797.  His parents were Fredrik Nannestad Wexels, who worked in the glass industry, and Bolette Cathrine Bolling Wexels.  Our saint had a sister, Marie Louise Wexels (later Wexelsen) (1793-1873), one of whose children was our next saint, Inger Marie Lycke Wexelsen (1832-1911).  Young Wilhelm grew up in Denmark.  He attended the Metropolitan School of Copenhagen before moving to Norway in 1815.  He settled in Christiania (now Oslo), where he studied theology at the University of Christiania, graduating in 1818.  That year he became catechist at the Church of Our Savior, Christiania.  In 1846 his job title changed to curate.  Wexels remained in that position for the rest of his life, which ended on May 14, 1866.  He even turned down an opportunity to become the Bishop of Bergen to remain the Church of Our Savior.

Wexels had an interest in hymnody.  He wrote hymns, translated others, and became the first person to attempt to edit a Norwegian national hymnal.  He edited three hymnbooks (in 1834, 1840, and 1859), not none of them fulfilled that ambition.  Perhaps the main reason for this was that his orthodox Lutheran piety offended rationalistic Lutherans on one side and Pietistic Lutherans on the other.  Another saint, Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802-1880), succeeded, albeit over the vocal objections of Pietists.

Wexels published many works, including the first theological journal in Norway and books about aspects of the New Testament.  Among English speakers, however, his best-known works are hymns which others have translated.  One such text is the following J. C. (Jens Christian) Aaberg (1877-1970) translation, courtesy of the Danish-American Lutheran Hymnal for Church and Home, Third Edition (1938):

Arise, my soul, this Easter morn

With joy and praises heavenborn,

And hear good news from death’s dark portals

To all distress’d and grieving mortals.

O blessed Easter morning, show’r

On us thy pow’r!

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Disarm’d and crush’d, for ever fell

This morn the pow’r of death and hell,

For He who lay in death’s grim prison

With might and glory is arisen.

O blessed Easter morning, show’r

On us thy pow’r!

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Come, souls, by sin and death dismay’d,

With all that in the grave ye laid,

To Him who rose on Easter morrow

And brings you balm for all your sorrow.

O blessed Easter morning, show’r

On us thy pow’r!

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My soul, why shouldst thou grieve and pine?

The peace and joy of heav’n are thine.

The Lord arose with might supernal,

And thou art heir to life eternal.

O blessed Easter morning, show’r

On us thy pow’r!

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Come, people of the Lord, employ

Your heart and soul in songs of joy,

Go forth to meet with praises ringing

The Lord who life for death is bringing.

O blessed Easter morning, show’r

On us thy pow’r!

Niece Marie Wexelsen, whose first name was Inger, lived from 1832 to 1911.  The native of Ostre Toten, Norway, was the daughter of Marie, sister of Wexels, and Wexel Hansen Wexelsen (1784-1867), a cousin of our first saint.  Marie Wexelsen, a novelist and children’s writer, composed at least one Christmas hymn, which exists in an English translation from 1931 courtesy of Professor P. A. (Peter Andrew) Sveegen (1881-1959):

How glad I am each Christmas Eve!

The night of Jesus’ birth;

Then like the sun the Star shone forth,

And angels sang on earth.

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The little child in Bethlehem,

He was a king indeed;

He came from His high state in heav’n,

Down to a world in need.

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He dwells again in heaven’s realm,

The Son of God today;

But He knows the little ones,

And hears them when they pray.

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How glad I am each Christmas Eve!

His praises then I sing;

He opens then for ev’ry child

The palace of the King.

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Then mother trims the Christmas tree,

And fills the room with light.

She says that so the Star shone forth

And made the dark world bright.

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She says the Star is shining still,

And never will grow dim;

And if it shines my way,

It leads me up to Him.

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And so I love each Christmas Eve,

And I love Jesus too;

And that He loves me in return,

I know so well is true.

Wexelsen died at Trondheim, Norway, on December 7, 1911.

Above:  The Church of Our Lady, Trondheim, Norway

Image in the Public Domain

Ludwig Mathias Lindeman (1812-1887), a native of Trondheim, Norway, came from a musical family and continued in that tradition.  His father was Ole Andreas Lindeman, who served as the organist at the Church of Our Lady, Trondheim.  Ole, who went on in 1835 to publish the Koralbog, the first Norwegian chorale book, blazed a trail his son followed.  Young Ludwig, who learned music well from his father, substituted for him as young as age 12.  Ole discouraged Ludwig from becoming a professional musician, so our saint, having completed his liberal arts studies, began to study theology at the University of Christiania in 1833.  During his student days our saint played the cello in an orchestra at a theater and substituted for his brother, the organist at the Church of Our Savior, Christiania.  Lindeman, who chose to become a professional musician, succeeded his brother as the organist at the Church of Our Savior in 1839 and held that post until he died on May 23, 1887.  The pastor there during much of that tenure was Wilhelm Andreas Wexels, who thought that Lindeman’s organ playing dominated the service.  Lindeman, in turn, thought that Wexels preached too long each Sunday.

Lindeman became a musicologist and a virtuoso.  In 1848 he started the process of traveling throughout Norway to collect folk tunes.  He published more than 2,500 folk tunes in a series of books from 1853 to 1867.  Composers such as Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) used that collection as source material.  Lindeman’s reputation as a virtuoso of the organ led to him playing a series of recitals in London in 1871 on the occasion of the opening of Royal Albert Hall.  The previous year he had published the Norsk Messebog, which, following Martin Luther’s instructions in the Deutsche Masse (1526), laid the foundations for chanting liturgical texts in Norwegian Lutheran churches.  Our saint, who composed hymn tunes, finished his own Koralbog (1872), which, in 1877, the Church of Norway declared to be the official tune book to accompany the Kirkesalmebog (1869), the new official hymnal which Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802-1880) had edited.  Lindeman broke with the Norwegian Lutheran tradition of singing in half notes and added quarter, dotted quarter, and eighth notes to tunes.  This change proved controversial, of course, for it was something new. But, as one speaker said at our saint’s funeral in 1887, Lindeman taught Norwegians how to sing.

Lindeman, who published at least four other collections of tunes, created a fine musical legacy.  In addition to what I written about already, he taught singing and church music at the University of Christiania.  And, in 1883, he and his son, Peter (whose mother was Aminda Magnhilde Brynne, Lindeman’s wife since 1848), founded the School for Organists, the first conservatory in Norway, at Christiania.  In time this institution became Oslo Conservatory.  Since 1973 the successor to that conservatory has been the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Magnus Brostrup Landstad was an influential in Norwegian folklore and literature as Lindeman was in music.  Landstad entered the world in Maaso, Finmarken, Norway, in the extreme northeast of the country, on October 7, 1802.  His father, Hans Landstad, was a Lutheran minister.  The family was poor.  Our saint was one of ten children, crops often froze before anyone could harvest them, and war and economic depression made matters worse.  The Church transferred the Landstads to Oksnes in 1804, Vinje in 1811, and Seljord in 1819.  The father educated the son until 1822.

Then, at age 20, our saint embarked on his own career.  In 1822 he enrolled at the University of Christiania.  Five years later he graduated, having taken a year off due to financial necessity to work as a family tutor in Gran, in the Hadeland district.  Landstad, who wrote the first of his nearly 175 hymns in 1825, married Vilhemine M. Lassen of Gran in 1829.  The couple lived long enough to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Landstad, as a minister, served at Gausdal (1828-1834), Kviteseid (1834-1839), and Seljord (1840-1849), succeeding his father.  In 1848 the Church of Norway asked Landstad to prepare the next official hymnal.  At first he declined, citing his pastoral workload.  In 1849, however, our saint transferred to Frederikshald, where the Church provided an assistant pastor to share those responsibilities, thereby enabling Landstad to work on the hymnal.  Our saint commenced work on the project in 1852.  The first edition, Udhast til Kirkesalmebog, was ready in 1861.  The book was radical, for its language was Norwegian, not the conventional Danish.  Also, the language was popular, contemporary Norwegian.  Furthermore, there were the usual complaints that certain hymns were absent.  The revised edition, the Kirkesalmebog, became the official hymnal in 1869.  Landstad had created the first Norwegian national hymnal, a collection of Norwegian texts and translated Greek and Latin texts.  He excluded almost all rationalistic Lutheran hymns.  Pietists were generally quite unhappy due to the orthodox, objective Lutheran piety of the hymnal.  (Pietism began as a reaction against a certain form of orthodox Lutheranism.)  Nevertheless, his Kirkesalmebog became widely accepted.  The Church of Norway authorized a revised and expanded version of it in 1926 before replacing that volume in 1985.  Norwegian Americans sang out of the 1869 hymnal, reprinted it, and added hymns to it.

Landstad was also a folklorist.  In 1853 he published Norske Folkviser (Norwegian Ballads), an influential collection of folklore and folk songs.  Norwegian literary giants such as Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) found much useful material there.

Landstad retired in 1877.  The Norwegian parliament voted unanimously to grant him a pension in recognition of his work in the Church and his contributions to Norway.  He died at Christiania on October 9, 1880.

These saints received and used gifts of creativity, leaving legacies of faith and artistic beauty.  They did well.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 3, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE-LEONIE PARADIS, FOUNDER OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY

THE FEAST OF THOMAS COKE, U.S. METHODIST BISHOP

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WHITING, HYMN WRITER

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

thank you for those (especially Wilhelm Wexels, Marie Wexelsen, Ludwig Lindeman, and Magnus Landstad)

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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Above:  The Logo of the Moravian Church

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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JOHANN GOTTFRIED WEBER (OCTOBER 7, 1740-MARCH 30, 1797)

German Moravian Musician, Composer, and Minister

Classical church music has been among the fine legacies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum).  Johann Gottfried Weber (1740-1797) contributed to that legacy.  Weber, born at Herrnhut, came from a family of the Moravian Church.  He learned his father’s trade, weaving, as well as music.  Our saint, who joined the Moravian Church in 1754, served as a church organist from 1766 to 1785.  He served in that capacity at the following places:

1. Kleinwalka, Saxony (1766-1769);
2. Neudietendorf, Saxony (1769-1772);
3. Herrnhut, Saxony (1772-1785).

He became an ordained minister in 1785, serving at Barby, Saxony, then at Gothenburg, Sweden, before returning to Herrnhut in 1788.

Weber composed music also.  He wrote many anthems plus eight sonatas for two trumpets and two trombones.  He sent copies of the sheet music of the sonatas from Herrnhut to Salem, North Carolina, in 1785.

Weber died at Gnadau, Saxony, on March 30, 1797.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 26, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, 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 OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES

THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA

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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 Johann Gottfried Weber

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

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

lives and reigns, 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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Above:  Birds in the Woods

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-3929

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BRADFORD TORREY (OCTOBER 9, 1853-OCTOBER 7, 1912)

U.S. Ornithologist and Hymn Writer

Many, if not most, of the hymn writers I add to the Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days come from the ranks of professional religious people–ordained or lay.  Others are married or related to them.  Then there are others–bankers, jewelers, historians, scientists, et cetera.  Bradford Torrey (1843-1912) belongs to this category.

Our saint, an ornithologist and nature writer, entered the world in Weymouth, Massachusetts.  He, educated in the public schools of Weymouth, worked as a staff member at The Youth’s Companion from 1886 to 1901.  Later he published in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly.  Torrey, who retired to Santa Barbara, California, in 1901, died eleven years later, two days shy of his sixty-ninth birthday.

Torrey wrote the following books:

1. Birds in the Bush (1885);
2. The Foot-Path Way (1892);
3. A Florida Sketch-Book (1894);
4. A Rambler’s Lease (1894);
5. Spring Notes from Tennessee (1896);
6. A World of Green Hills:  Observations of Nature and Human Nature in the Blue Ridge (1898);
7. Everyday Birds:  Elementary Studies (1901);
8. Footing It in Franconia (1901);
9. The Clerk of the Woods (1903);
10. Nature’s Invitation:  Notes of a Bird-Gazer North and South (1904);
11. Friends of the Shelf (1906); and
12. Field-Days in California (1913; published posthumously).

He also edited The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (twenty volumes, 1906).  All of these volumes are available at archive.org.  Volume I is here.

Torrey also wrote a hymn in 1875.  For decades the attribution was incorrect, for hymnal editors assigned authorship to Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), as in The Pilgrim Hymnal (National Council of Congregational Churches in the United States, 1904).  The Confusion resulted from the fact of one man’s mistake as to who “B. T.” was.  The Pilgrim Hymnal (1912) corrected the error, however.

Not so in haste, my heart!

Have faith in God and wait;

Although he seems to linger long,

He never comes too late.

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He never comes too late,

He knoweth what is best;

Vex not thyself,–it is in vain:

Until he cometh, rest.

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Until he cometh, rest,

Nor grudge the horns that roll;

The feet that wait for God, ’tis they

Are soonest at the goal,

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Are soonest at the goal

That is not gained by speed;

Then hold thee still, O restless heart,

For I shall wait his lead.

That is an excellent lesson to learn–one difficult for many of us.  The truly enlightened include those for whom it is an easily acquired one.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 17, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF BENNETT J. SIMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ATLANTA

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF COMPIEGNE

THE FEAST OF SAINT NERSES LAMPRONATS, ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF TARSUS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WHITE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

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God of grace and glory, you create and sustain the universe in majesty and beauty:

We thank you for Bradford Torrey and all in whom you have planted

the desire to know your creation and to explore your work and wisdom.

Lead us, like them, to understand better the wonder and mystery of creation;

through Jesus Christ your eternal Word, through whom all things were made.  Amen.

Genesis 2:9-20

Psalm 34:8-14

2 Corinthians 13:1-6

John 20:24-27

–Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 738

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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.

Above:  John Woolman

Image in the Public Domain

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JOHN WOOLMAN (OCTOBER 19, 1720-OCTOBER 7, 1772)

Quaker Abolitionist

John Woolman, born in Burlington, New Jersey, on October 19, 1720, was an itinerant Quaker preacher in the American colonies.

As a young man Woolman discovered a robin’s nest full of hatchlings and their mother.  He threw rocks at the mother robin, killing her.  Filled with remorse and realizing that the young birds could not live much longer without her, he removed the nest from the tree and killed the hatchlings quickly and out of  mercy.  This was a turning point in Woolman’s life, for thereafter he loved all living things.

As an adult Woolman opposed slavery actively, convincing many fellow Quakers to free their slaves.  He wore undyed clothing because the manufacture of dyes entailed slave labor.  Also, he paid slaves whenever a slaveholder extended him hospitality.  Woolman’s writings on slavery contributed to the increase of abolitionism among the Friends.

Being a Quaker, Woolman was a pacifist.  Hence he protested the French and Indian War, and refused to pay taxes used to support that conflict.

In 1772 Woolman traveled to England (in steerage, voluntarily, consistent with his creed of simplicity).  At London he convinced that Yearly Meeting to oppose slavery.  Shortly thereafter he died of smallpox at York.

KRT

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A Prayer by John Woolman, from The Communion of Saints: Prayers of the Famous, edited by Horton Davies:

O Lord my God! The amazing horrors of darkness were gathered round me, and covered me all over, and I saw no way to go forth; I felt the depth and extent of the misery of my fellow-creatures separated from the Divine harmony, and it was heavier than I could bear, and I was crushed down under it; I lifted my hand, I stretched out my arm, but there was none to help me; I looked round about, and was amazed.  In the depths of misery, O Lord, I remembered that thou art omnipotent; that I had called thee Father; and I felt that I loved thee, and I was made quiet in my will, and I waited for deliverance from thee.  Thou had pity on me, when no person could help me; I saw that meekness under suffering was showed to us in the most affecting example of thy Son, and thou taught me to follow him, and I said, “Thy will, O Father, be done!”

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Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.  Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression.  Help us, like your servant John Woolman, to work for justice and peace among people and nations, to the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36