INTRODUCTION

Above:  Alessandro Valignano

Image in the Public Domain

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ALESSANDRO VALIGNANO (FEBRUARY 15, 1539-JANUARY 20, 1606)

Italian Jesuit Missionary Priest in the Far East

Father Alessandro Valignano comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via Robert Ellsberg, All Saints:   Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997).

I, as a Christian, respect properly-done missionary work.  On the other hand, improperly-done missionary work makes me cringe and proves to be counter-productive.  It turns people off.  The historical record of Christianity is replete with examples of missionaries whose cultural and political imperialism hindered their effectiveness for God.  I recall easily, for example, that, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), rejecting Christianity became part of the struggle for political independence.  (Christianity was the religion of the Dutch imperial overlords.)

Some of the many holy people I have added to this Ecumenical Calendar have been culturally-sensitive missionaries.  They respected the people to whom they went.  These missionaries’ effectiveness (or lack thereof) depended largely on how much ecclesiastical support they had.  Their cultural sensitivity aided their effectiveness by not alienating the people they were trying to convert.

Now I add another great missionary, a man ahead of his time.

BIOGRAPHY

Alessandro Valignano, born in Chieti, Kingdom of Naples, on February 15, 1539, came from nobility.  Our saint studied at the University of Padua, from which he graduated with a doctorate in law when only 19 years old.  He spent a few years in Rome then studied theology in Padua.  Valignano, who joined the Society of Jesus in 1566, rose to become the Visitor of Missions in the Indies in 1573.  Macao was his base of operations when he was not traveling.

Valignano had much in common with a more famous missionary and a contemporary, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610).  Valignano and Ricci practiced adaptionism, a missionary method that caused much controversy.  As long as nobody violated any matter crucial to Christianity–Roman Catholicism, in particular–adapting to the local culture was necessary and proper.  Adaptionism proved to be controversial; many European purists condemned it.

Valignano became a scholar and a master of Chinese language and culture; he was fluent in both.  This was crucial to the intended success of the Jesuit mission in China, he understood.

Our saint visited Japan (1579-1583, 1590-1592, and 1598-1603).  He brought the message of adaptionism to the Jesuit mission in those islands.  Valignano condemned the racism certain missionaries exhibited.  He also criticized the poor Japanese language skills some Jesuit missionaries had, even after spending years in Japan.  Offending Japanese people was no way to convert any of them, our saint understood.  He imposed strict rules regarding linguistic study for Jesuits in Japan.  Valignano also required that Jesuit missionaries in Japan learn Japanese customs.  Furthermore, he founded seminaries.  Valignano’s reform of the Jesuit mission in Japan coincided with official persecution during the Tokugawa Shogunate.  The government associated Christianity with European imperialism.

Valignano never got to make the mission to China.  Ricci did that.  Ecclesiastical infighting undercut their work.  The Vatican suppressed adaptionism in the 1600s.

Valignano, aged 66 years, died in Macao on January 20, 1606.  At the time, he was planning to visit Ricci in China.

CONCLUSION

The Tokugawa Shogunate martyred hundreds of missionaries and Japanese converts from 1597 to 1639.  Yet Christianity survived underground until the late 1800s, when more missionaries arrived.  Valignano had much to do with the survival of Christianity in Japan.

Eventually, the Vatican realized that Valignano had been wise.

My late grandmother Taylor, a Presbyterian, told me a story about Southern Presbyterian missionaries in a remote part of Peru earlier in the twentieth century.  They were translating the New Testament into the local dialect.  The missionaries encountered a minor difficulty when they got to the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; nobody in the area had ever seen a donkey.  Remaining consistent with the theme of Jesus riding a beast of burden, the missionaries translated “donkey” as “llama.”

Back in northwestern Georgia, opinion regarding this translation choice was divided.  My grandmother and many others understood and approved of the adaptation to the local culture.  Purists, however, disapproved.  Jesus had to ride a donkey, not a llama.  Period.  End of discussion.

Some people had not learned what Valignano knew well, centuries prior.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JEDEDIAH WEISS, U.S. MORAVIAN CRAFTSMAN, MERCHANT, AND MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CARL LICHTENBERGER, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF F. CRAWFORD BURKITT, ANGLICAN SCHOLAR, THEOLOGIAN, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JAMES BOLAN LAWRENCE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSONARY IN SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA, U.S.A.

THE FEAST OF SUNDAR SINGH, INDIAN CHRISTIAN EVANGELIST

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Almighty God, whose will it is to be glorified in your saints,

and who raised up your servant Alessandro Valignano to be a light in the world:

Shine, we pray, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth your praise,

who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Isaiah 49:1-6

Psalm 98 or 98:1-4

Acts 17:22-31

Matthew 28:16-20

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 717

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God does not command the Gospel of Our Lord to be preached with the noise of arms and with pillage. What He rather commands is the example of a good life and teaching.

Above:  Map of the Province of Paraguay, 1600

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT ROQUE GONZÂLEZ DE LA CRUZ (NOVEMBER 17, 1576-NOVEMBER 15, 1628)

Spanish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1628

Alternative feast day = November 15

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SAINT ALPHONSUS RODRÍGUEZ OLMEDO (MARCH 10, 1595-NOVEMBER 15, 1628)

Spanish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1628

Alternative feast day = November 15

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SAINT JUAN DE CASTILLO (SEPTEMBER 14, 1595-NOVEMBER 17, 1628)

Spanish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1628

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Collective alternative feast day = November 17

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–St. Roque González de la Cruz, quoted in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints:  Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997), 497

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The Jesuit Martyrs of Paraguay come to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church, as well as Elllsberg, All Saints (1997).

The Jesuit missions in South American proclaimed the Gospel of Christ and shielded part of the indigenous population from slavery.  Many European colonists enjoyed exploiting the native people of South America for financial gain.  Therefore, powerful political forces in Europe in the Spanish colonies in the New World pushed back against the Jesuits’ missionary efforts.  Also, some indigenous people did not differentiate between the Jesuits shielding them from slavers and the European slavers.

These three saints lived, worked, and died in this perilous context.

St. Roque González, a son of Spanish colonists, entered the world at Asunción, Paraguay, on November 17, 1576.  His parents, Bartholomé González y de Villaverde and María de Santa Cruz, were from noble families.  Our saint grew up bilingual in Spanish and Guariní.  He, ordained a priest in 1598, became a Jesuit in 1609.  The Jesuits sent him to serve as a missionary in what is now Brazil, but was then within the borders of the Spanish Province of Paraguay.  González was the first person of European ancestry to enter what is now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.  He founded the missions of San Ignacio Mani (1613), Itapúa (1615). Concepción de la Siena Candelaria (1619), San Javier, San Nicolás, Asunción del Ijui, and Todos los Santos de Caaró (1628).

Above:  The Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul

Scanned from Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (1957)

Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

González worked with St. Juan de Castillo.  Castillo, born in Belmonte, Toledo, Spain, on September 14, 1595.  He studied law at the University of Alcalá then became a lawyer.  Yet Castillo found that career unfulfilling.  Therefore, he joined the Society of Jesus on March 21, 1614, with the intention of becoming a priest.  Castillo and St. Alphonsus Rodríguez Olmedo traveled to South America together in November 1616.

St. Alphonsus Rodríguez Olmedo, born in Zamora, Spain, on March 10, 1598, joined the Society of Jesus in Villagarcía de Campos, Valladolid.

Castillo, ordained a priest, spent the rest of his life as a missionary.  He joined González at Ijui.  González left there to found another mission while Castillo ministered at Ijui (now in Brazil).

Rodríguez served in the missions of Paraná and Itapuá in 1628.  Later that year, he helped González found Todos los Santos de Caaró.  On November 15, 1628, González was preparing to supervise the installation of the new bell at the mission church.  However, local chieftain Nheçu had ordered the deaths of the Jesuits there.  González and Rodríguez died via tomahawks.  Hostile tribesmen dragged the corpses into the church and burned it.

Two days later, at Ijui, Castillo also became a martyr, on the orders of Nheçu.

The Jesuit missions in South America continued until 1773, when Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus.  That shameful incident is the backdrop for The Mission (1986).

Holy Mother Church formally recognized these three martyrs.  Pope Pius XI declared them Venerables in 1933 then Beati in 1934.  Pope John Paul II canonized them in 1988.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 30, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES MONTGOMERY, ANGLICAN AND MORAVIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DIET EMAN; HER FIANCÉ, HEIN SIETSMA, MARTYR, 1945; AND HIS BROTHER, HENDRIK “HENK” SIETSMA; RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS

THE FEAST OF JAMES RUSSELL WOODFORD, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF ELY, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN ROSS MACDUFF AND GEORGE MATHESON, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS AND AUTHORS

THE FEAST OF SARAH JOSEPHA BUELL HALE, U.S. POET, AUTHOR, EDITOR, AND PROPHETIC WITNESS

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Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame

of your love in the hearts of your holy martyrs

Saint Roque González de la Cruz,

Saint Alphonsus Rodríguez Olmedo,

and Saint Juan de Castillo:

Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love,

that we who rejoice in their triumph may profit by their example;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 124 or 31:1-5

1 Peter 4:12-19

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 715

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Above:  The Philippines and Japan at the end of the Seventeenth Century

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT LORENZO RUIZ (NOVEMBER 28, 1594-SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)

Chinese-Filipino Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr in Japan, 1637

Alternative feast day = September 29

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SAINT ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ (1593-SEPTEMBER 24, 1637)

Spanish Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr and Japan, 1637

His feast transferred from September 24

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SAINT GUILLERMO COURTET (CIRCA 1590-SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)

French Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr in Japan, 1637

His feast transferred from September 29

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SAINT MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ DE AOZARAZA DE LEIBAR (FEBRUARY 1598-SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)

Spanish Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr in Japan, 1637

His feast transferred from September 29

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SAINT VICENTE SHIWOZUKA DE LA CRUZ (CIRCA 1576-SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)

Japanese Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr in Japan, 1637

His feast transferred from September 29

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SAINT LAZARO (OR LAZARUS) OF KYOTO (DIED SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)

Japanese Roman Catholic Layman and Martyr in Japan, 1637

His feast transferred from September 29

St. Lorenzo Ruiz comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic.  You, O reader, may notice that I have transferred feasts from September 24 and September 29 to September 28.  This Ecumenical Calendar is one of my hobbies, so I get to do whatever I want here.  Also, I reserve September 29 for St. Michael and All Angels, given my policy (with very few exceptions) of reserving some days for just one post, if that post is about a Biblical character or Biblical characters.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz, born in Manila, the Philippines, on November 28, 1594, came from a Roman Catholic family.  His father was Chinese.  Our saint’s mother was Filipino.  Ruiz, bilingual in Chinese and Tagalog, served as an altar boy in the family’s parish church.  The Dominican friars taught him Spanish.  Our saint, a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, married one Rosario.  The couple had two sons and one daughter.

Then, in 1636, our saint’s life took a detour.  Ruiz, falsely accused of murdering a Spaniard, fled the country.  He escaped on a ship carrying four Dominican priests and a layman.  They were:

1. St. Antonio González, born in Léon, Spain, in 1593, became a Dominican priest and missionary. 
2. St. Guillermo Courtet, born in Sérignan, Languedoc, France, circa 1590, became a Dominican priest and missionary.
3. St. Miguel González de Aozaraza de Leibar, born in Oñate, Guipúzcoa, Spain, in February 1598, became a Dominican priest and missionary.
4. St. Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, born in Nagasaki circa 1576, became a Dominican and missionary.
5. St. Lazaro (or Lazarus) of Kyoto, born in Kyoto, was a layman and a leper.

The six saints sailed for Okinawa.

The Tokugawa Shogunate, which pursued an isolationist foreign policy, persecuted Christians.  After someone at Okinawa betrayed the six saints, they spent more than a year in prison and endured tortures.  St. Antonio González died first at Nagasaki, on September 24, 1637.  St. Vincente Shiwozuka de la Cruz briefly wavered in his faith yet recovered it.  Likewise, Ruiz briefly became ready to renounce his faith in exchange for release while hanging upside-down over a pit in Nagasaki for two days.  Yet he recovered his faith in time to die as the first Filipino martyr on September 28.  Sts. Guillermo Courtet, Miguel González de Aozaraza de Leibar, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and Lazaro (Lazarus) of Kyoto received the crown of martyrdom on September 29.

Holy Mother Church recognized these saints formally.  Pope John Paul II declared them Venerables in 1980, Beati in 1981, and full saints in 1987.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2021 COMMON ERA

HOLY SATURDAY

THE FEAST OF LUTHER D. REED, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS BURGENDOFARA AND SADALBERGA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESSES, AND THEIR RELATIVES

THE FEAST OF MARC SANGNIER, FOUNDER OF THE SILLON MOVEMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, HERMIT AND PENITENT

THE FEAST OF REGINALD HEBER, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, AND HYMN WRITER

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Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the

flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyrs

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz,

Saint Antonio González,

Saint Guillermo Courtet,

Saint Miguel González de Aozaraza de Leibar, 

Saint Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and

Saint Lazaro (or Lazarus) of Kyoto:

Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love,

that we who rejoice in their triumph may profit by their examples;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 124 or 31:1-5

1 Peter 4:12-19

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 715

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Two things I recognize, O Lord, in myself: nature, which Thou hast made; and sin, which I have added.

Above:  Lancelot Andrewes

Image in the Public Domain

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LANCELOT ANDREWES (1555-SEPTEMBER 26, 1626)

Anglican Bishop of Chichester then of Ely then of Winchester

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–Lancelot Andrewes

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Bishop Lancelot Andrewes comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Anglican Communion.

Lancelot Andrewes, born in London in 1555, became one of the leading Anglican divines, as well as a fine scholar and a Biblical translator.  He mastered fifteen languages.  Our saint, educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge (matriculated, 1571; B. A.; Fellow, 1576; M.A., 1578; Master, 1589f) joined the ranks of Anglican clergy.  He became a deacon in 1579 then a priest in 1580.  After serving as the chaplain to Henry Hastings, the Third Earl of Huntingdon, Andrewes became the Vicar of St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, in 1588.  The following year, our saint added other portfolios to that one:

1. Chaplain to John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury;
2. Prebendary of St. Pancras, Cathedral of St. Paul, London;
3. Prebendary of Southwell; and
4. Master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.

Andrewes, a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I in 1570, turned down two offers of bishoprics (Ely and Salisbury) from her in 1598.  Yet our saint eventually accepted promotion.  He was:

1. the Dean of Winchester (1601-1605),
2. the Bishop of Chichester (1605-1609),
3. the Lord Almoner (1605-1619),
4. the Bishop of Ely (1609-1619),
5. the Dean of the Chapel Royal (1618-1626), and
6. the Bishop of Winchester (1619-1626).

Andrewes, a skilled preacher and a conscientious hearer of confessions, was also a Patristic scholar who made lasting contributions to theology and English-speaking Christianity.  Our saint, who applied the highest standards of personal behavior to himself and others, served as the head of the committee that revised the Bishop’s Bible (1568, 1572, 1602) into the Authorized (King James, as we call it on this side of the Pond) Version (1611).  Our saint was a defender of the Anglican Via Media against critics from both Roman Catholicism and Calvinism.   Andrewes, with Richard Hooker (1554-1600), was one of the architects of Anglican theology.  Our saint defended the catholicity of The Church of England, affirmed that the body of blood of Christ were present in the Eucharist, and used incense.  His aversion to Calvinism was impossible to miss.

Andrewes, who brought intellect to his piety, died at Southwark on September 26, 1626.  He was about 71 years old.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 27, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP; BISHOP OF THE PHILIPPINES; BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK; AND ECUMENIST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS NICHOLAS OWEN, THOMAS GARNET, MARK BARKWORTH, EDWARD OLDCORNE, AND RALPH ASHLEY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1601-1608

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HALL BAYNES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MADAGASCAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA

THE FEAST OF STANLEY ROTHER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN GUATEMALA, 1981

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Almighty God, you gave your servant Lancelot Andrewes

the gift of your Holy Spirit and made him a man of prayer

and a faithful pastor of your people:

Perfect in us what is lacking in your gifts,

of faith, to increase it;

of hope, to kindle it;

that we may live in the life of your grace and glory:

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 11:1-5

Psalm 63:1-8

1 Timothy 2:1-7a

Luke 11:1-4

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 603

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Everlasting God,

you guided your servant Lancelot Andrewes

in preaching and prayer

to bring forth ancient treasures

for renewing the English Church.

Grant us to share his conformity to Christ,

that our hearts may love you, our minds may serve you

and our lips may proclaim the greatness of your mercy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God now and for ever.  Amen.

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 51:13-22

Psalm 78:1-6

Matthew 13:44-52

–The Anglican Church of Canada

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Holy and loving God,

from you Lancelot Andrewes received

gifts of scholarship

and a singular power in prayer;

teach us to pray

not only for ourselves

but for your struggling world,

through him who showed us how to pray,

Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

or

Blessed are you, God of beauty and order,

in Lancelot the preacher and devoted scholar;

may we too strive for wisdom to serve the church.  Amen.

Proverbs 3:1-8

Psalm 63:1-9 or 119:97-104

1 Peter 5:1-4

Matthew 13:44-46, 52

–The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

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Above:  St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL (JANUARY 28, 1572-DECEMBER 13, 1641)

Cofoundress of the Congregation of the Visitation 

Also known as Saint Jeanne de Chantal and Saint Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal

Alternative feast days = August 18 and December 13

Former feast days = August 21 and December 12

St. Jane Frances de Chantal comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church, as well as Robert Ellsberg, All Saints:  Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997).

Our saint came from a prominent and wealthy family.  She, born in Dijon, France, on January 28, 1572, was a daughter of Margaret de Berbisey and Bénigne Frémyot, president of the Burgundian parliament.  St. Jane’s brother André grew up to become the Archbishop of Bourges, serving from 1602 to 1621.  Margaret died when our saint was 18 months old.  Bénigne, as a widower and a single father, raised his daughter to become a refined young woman.

At the age of twenty years, St. Jane married Baron Christophe de Rabutin.  The happy marriage produced seven children, three of whom died in infancy.  It was a brief marriage, though; the Baron died in a hunting accident in 1601, after eight years of marriage.  St. Jane, widowed at twenty-eight years of age and raising four children, struggled.  She depended on her family, made a personal vow of chastity, and spent much time in prayer.  Life in her father-in-law’s household was miserable for our saint.

In Lent 1604, St. Jane’s father invited her to visit Dijon and hear St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), the Bishop of Geneva, and the “Apostle of Charity,” speak.  Our saint accepted that invitation.  That address changed the course of St. Jane’s life.  She recognized him as the man in the vision she had received at her father-in-law’s house in Monthelon.  St. Francis advised St. Jane to spend less time with her father-in-law in Monthelon and more time with her father in Dijon.  Our saint obeyed that counsel and attended to both men.

The two saints and their families became close.  St. Jane considered joining a Carmelite convent in Dijon in 1605; St. Francis dissuaded her.  The two saints became part of the same extended family in 1610.  St. Jane’s daughter, Marie Aymée, married Bernard, the youngest brother of St. Francis.  After St. Jane’s youngest daughter, Charlotte, died, our saint, her son Celse-Bénigne, and her daughter Françoise relocated to Annecy, where Marie Aymée and Bernard lived.  Then St. Francis bought a house in the area.

Above:  Annecy, France

Image Source = Google Earth

Sts. Jane and Francis founded the Congregation of the Visitation on Trinity Sunday, June 6, 1610, in Annecy.  St. Jane’s 15-year-old son, Celse-Bénigne, opposed his mother’s plan to enter religious life.  He asked her not to leave, and he laid down in front of the door.  Our saint literally stepped over her son, out of the house, and into religious life.  The Congregation of the Visitation was controversial from the beginning.  The rule of the Congregation was relatively lenient.  The Congregation also accepted women whom other orders had rejected for being too ill or too old.  St. Jane, the Congregation’s first Superior, presided over its expansion to 86 convents.

St. Jane died, aged 69 years, in Moulins, France, on December 13, 1641.  

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized St. Jane.  Pope Benedict XIV beatified her in 1751.  Pope Clement XIII canonized our saint in 1767.

St. Jane’s patronage is for widows, for parents separated from children, against problems with in-laws, against the death of parents, against abandonment, and for abandoned or forgotten people.

Members of the Congregation of the Visitation continue to lead contemplative lives, run schools, and work with widows and ill women.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 4, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHARLES SIMEON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND PROMOTER OF MISSIONS; HENRY MARTYN, ANGLICAN PRIEST, LINGUIST, TRANSLATOR, AND MISSIONARY; AND ABDUL MASIH, INDIAN CONVERT AND MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF HENRY SUSO, GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, PREACHER, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN EDGAR PARK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEN CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF PAUL CUFFEE, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY TO THE SHINNECOCK NATION

THE FEAST OF THOMAS HORNBLOWER GILL, ENGLISH UNITARIAN THEN ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER

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O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich:

Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we,

inspired by the devotion of your servant Saint Jane Frances de Chantal,

may serve you with singleness of heart,

and attain to the riches of the age to come;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Song of Songs 8:6-7

Psalm 34

Philippians 3:7-15

Luke 12:33-37 or Luke 9:57-62

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 722

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What I cannot say in words I will seal with my blood.

Above:  The Flag of England

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED GEORGE NICHOLS (1550-JULY 5, 1589)

BLESSED RICHARD YAXLEY (CIRCA 1560-JULY 5, 1589)

English Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1589

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BLESSED HUMPHREY PRITCHARD (DIED JULY 5, 1589)

Welsh Roman Catholic Martyr, 1589

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BLESSED THOMAS BELSON (CIRCA 1564-JULY 5, 1589)

English Roman Catholic Martyr, 1589

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Nichols, Yaxley, Pritchard, and Belson = Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales (November 22)

Nichols, Yaxley, Pritchard, and Belson = Martyrs of Oxford University (December 1)

Nichols, Yaxley, and Belson = Martyrs of Douai (October 29)

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–Blessed Humphrey Pritchard, July 5, 1589

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Once upon a time, being a Roman Catholic priest in England was, by law, committing treason.  The verdict was always guilty.  Torture preceded execution.  The sentence was always hanging, drawing, and quartering.  Lay members who assisted priests risked arrest, torture, and execution via hanging.

Blessed George Nichols, born in Oxford, England, in 1550, graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford University, in 1573 then taught at St. Paul’s School, London.  After our saint converted to Roman Catholicism, he matriculated at Douai College, Rheims, France, in 1581.  Nichols joined the ranks of priests in September 1583.

Blessed Richard Yaxley also became a priest.  He, born circa 1560 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, was a son of William Yaxley and Rose Langton (Yaxley).  Our saint studied at Oxford University and Douai College.  He received the sacrament of ordination to the priesthood on September 21, 1585.

Nichols and Yaxley returned to their homeland as underground priests.  Nichols arrived in late 1584.  Yaxley returned in 1586.  Two of their helpers were Blessed Thomas Belson and Blessed Humphrey Pritchard.  Belson, arrested for taking information to a Roman Catholic priest, spent time in the Tower of London.  He, released and banished, returned to England.

Above:  The Flag of Wales

Image in the Public Domain

The Catherine Wheel Inn, Oxford, was a meeting-place for Roman Catholics.  Pritchard was a pot-boy there for 12 years.  During that time, he helped many priests evade authorities.  A false convert betrayed our four saints in early 1589.  Authorities arrested the four saints together.  Belson, apprehended with Father Nichols, his confessor, joioned the priests and Pritchard in prison.  All four saints endured tortures.  Father Nichols, approaching his martyrdom, heard the confessions of a highwayman named Harcot and reconciled him to God and Holy Mother Church.  All five died in Oxford on July 5, 1589.  The priests were the first to receive the crown of martyrdom.

The Church has officially recognized these four saints.  Pope John Paul II declared them Venerables in 1986.  The following year, he beatified them.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

THE FEAST OF JOHANN OLAF WALLIN, ARCHBISHOP OF UPPSALA, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GENNARO MARIA SARNELLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MISSIONARY TO THE VULNERABLE AND EXPLOITED PEOPLE OF NAPLES

THE FEAST OF HEINRICH LONAS, GERMAN MORAVIAN ORGANIST, COMPOSER, AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF PAUL HANLY FURFEY, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, SOCIOLOGIST, AND SOCIAL RADICAL

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP POWEL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1646

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Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyrs

Blessed Humphrey Pritchard,

Blessed George Nichols,

Blessed Richard Yaxley, and

Blessed Thomas Belson

triumphed over suffering and were faithful even to death:

Grant us, who now remember them in thanksgiving,

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

that we may receive with them the crown of life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

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

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12

Psalm 116 or 116:1-8

Revelation 7:13-17

Luke 12:2-12

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

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Above:  Orlando Gibbons

Image in the Public Domain

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ORLANDO GIBBONS (BAPTIZED DECEMBER 25, 1583-JUNE 5, 1625)

Anglican Organist and Composer; the “English Palestrina”

Orlando Gibbons comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via sacred music and my unapologetic Western classicism.  I state without reservation that the quality of church music in the global West has, with few exceptions, declined since the 1500s and 1600s.  It peaked with Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina, Thomas Tallis, Gregorio Allegri, Orlando Gibbons, and company.

Gibbons, baptized in Oxford, England, on Christmas Day, 1583, was a great musician from a musical family.  His father was William Gibbons (circa 1540-1595), a vocalist in Cambridge, starting in 1567.  William Gibbons was, in English terms, a wait, a public musician.  Our saint’s siblings included:

1. Edward (1568-circa 1650), an Anglican priest and a composer; most of his compositions have not survived the ravages of time;
2. Ellis (1573-1603), a composer; most of his compositions have also gone the way of all flesh;
3. Ferdinando (born 1581), a vocalist/wait in Lincoln.

Above:  The Music Lesson, by Johannes Vermeer

Image in the Public Domain

The woman is playing a virginal.

Gibbons had a fine musical education.  In 1596, at the age of 12 years, he joined the choir of King’s College, Cambridge.  He became the greatest organist and virginalist in England.  (A virginal was a rectangular harpsichord with strings stretched parallel to the keyboard.)  x  From 1605 to his death, Gibbons served as the organist at the Chapel Royal.  He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Cambridge in 1606.  Our saint became the court virginalist in 1619 then the organist of Westminster Abbey in 1623.

Gibbons composed both sacred and secular music.  His oeuvre contained motets, madrigals, and 40 sacred anthems and services.  He composed sacred music for The Church of England.  His sacred anthems included O Clap Your Hands Together and Drop, Drop, Slow Tears.

Gibbons was a favorite of the Stuart Kings of Great Britain.  He played the organ at the funeral of King James VI/I in 1625.  On the Day of Pentecost, June 5, 1625, our saint accompanied King Charles I to Dover to greet the future queen, Henrietta Maria, arriving from France.  Later that day, on the way back, Gibbons suffered a stroke in Canterbury and died.  He was 41 years old.

Gibbons had seven children.  One son, Christopher (1615-1676), composed keyboard and incidental music.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 24, 2020 COMMON ERA

GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE

THE FEAST OF SAINT EGBERT OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK; AND SAINT ADALBERT OF EGMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF SAINT FIDELIS OF SIGMARINGEN, CAPUCHIN FRIAR AND MARTYR, 1622

THE FEAST OF JOHANN WALTER, “FIRST CANTOR OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH”

THE FEAST OF SAINT MELLITUS, BISHOP OF LONDON, AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

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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 Orlando Gibbons 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 Women:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 728

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Nun danket alle Gott, (Now thank we all our God,)

Above:  Martin Rinckart

Image in the Public Domain

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MARTIN RINCKART (APRIL 23, 1586-DECEMBER 8, 1649)

German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer

Also known as Martin Rinckart

Martin Rinckart comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via hymnody.

Rinckart became a Lutheran minister.  He, born in Eilenburg, Saxony, on April 23, 1586, was a son of Georg Rinckart, a cooper.  Our saint studied at the Latin school in Eilenburg.  Next, he studied (on scholarship) at St. Thomas’s School, Leipzig, and sang in the church choir, starting in November 1601.  Rinckart also became a theological student at the University of Leipzig in 1602.  He remained in that city until he completed this degree.  Our saint served as the schoolmaster in Eisleben and the cantor at St. Nicholas’s Church from June 1610 to May 1611.  Then he served as the deacon of St. Anne’s Church, Eisleben, from May 1611 to December 1613.  Next, Rinckart became the pastor at Erdeborn and Lyttichendorf, near Eisleben, in December 1613.  Finally, in November 1617, he became the Archdeacon of Eilenburg.

Rinckart also composed drams and hymn texts.  He wrote plays for the centennial of the Protestant Reformation in 1617.  Some of his hymns have, via translators, become part of English-language hymnody.  The most enduring of these texts has been Nun danket alle Gott (1636), which Catherine Winkworth (1829-1878) rendered as “Now Thank We All Our God” in 1858.  Some of the less popular English translations of hymn texts by Rinckart have included “Where Shall the Weary Find,” “Let All Men Praise the Lord,” and “Grant Majesty Above, of Prayer None Else.”

Mit Herzen, Mund und Händen, (With heart, and hands, and voices,)

Der grosse Dinge tut (Who wondrous things hath done,)

An uns und allen Enden; (In whom His world rejoices;)

Der uns von Mutterleib (Who from our mothers’ arms)

Und Kindesbeinen an (Hath blest us on our way)

Unzählig veil zu gut (With countless gifts of love,)

Bis hieher hat getan. (And still is ours today.)

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Der ewig reiche Gott (O may this bounteous God)

Woll’ uns bei unserm Leben (Through all our life be near us,)

Wein immer frölich Herz (With ever joyful hearts)

Und edlen Frieden geben, (And blessed peace to cheer us;)

Und uns in seiner Gnad’ (To keep us in His grace,)

Erhalten fort und fort (And guide us when perplexed,)

Und uns aus aller Not (And free us from all ills)

Erlösen hier und dort. (In this world and the next.)

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Lob, Ehr’ und Preis sei Gott, (All praise and thanks to God,)

Dem Vater und dem Sohne, (The Father, now be given,)

Und dem, der beiden gleich (The Son, and Him who reigns)

Im höchsten Himmelsthrone: (With them in highest heaven,)

Ihm, dem dreiein’ gen Gott, (The One Eternal God,)

Wie es im Anfang war, (Whom earth and heaven adore;)

Und ist und bleiben wird (For thus it was, is now,)

Jetzund und immerdar! (And shall be evermore.)

Eilenburg suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1848).  It was a walled city, so many wartime refugees sought shelter there.  Eilenburg became overcrowded.  Swedish forces captured the walled city and demanded a high ransom.  Rinckart negotiated with the Swedish commander.  After the first negotiation proved unsuccessful, our saint returned to his church and urged people to pray.  Then he negotiated again and saved the city.  The city’s leaders did not thank him.  The overcrowded walled city became the site of a pestilence in 1637.  About 8000 people, including our saint’s first wife, died.  Rinckart conducted 4,480 funerals.  The war broke our saint physically .

Rinckart died in Eilenburg on December 8, 1649.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 8, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF EDWARD KING, BISHOP OF LINCOLN

THE FEAST OF FRED B. CRADDOCK, U.S. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST MINISTER, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND RENOWNED PREACHER

THE FEAST OF GEOFFREY STUDDERT KENNEDY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN HAMPDEN GURNEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS HOSPITALLERS OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD

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Heavenly Father, shepherd of your people, we thank you for your servant Martin Rinckart,

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

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

we may by your grace grow into the full stature of our Lord Jesus Christ.  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 the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 38

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Yes and no, all things exist.

Above:  Jakob Böhme

Image in the Public Domain

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JAKOB BÖHME (APRIL 24, 1575-NOVEMBER 17, 1624)

German Lutheran Mystic

Jakob Böhme comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via William Law (1686-1761), whom he influenced.

Böhme, born in Alteidenberg, near Görlitz, circa April 24, 1575, was a shoemaker-turned-mystic.  In 1600, he had a mystical experience.  He realized that

Böhme spent the rest of his life struggling with difficult questions.  He, always rooted in Christianity, wrote 29 books and tracts, some of which renamed incomplete when he died.  Our saint struggled with questions of sin, good and evil, yes and no, and darkness and light in the context of God and spiritual unity in God.  How, Böhme wondered, could the divided world become one in God?  Many of his early writings caused theological controversy.  Our saint disavowed some of the earliest writings as he matured theologically and spiritually.  Yet he never stopped wrestling with difficult matters of faith.  Some of his later works included On the Election of Grace (1623), Mysterium Magnum (1623), and The Way to Christ (1623).

Böhme died on November 17, 1624.  He was 49 years old.

His influence continued, however.  Aside from William Law, the diverse group of thinkers Böhme influenced included theologians and philosophers, such as:

1. George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Religious Society of Friends;
2. Paul Tillich (1886-1965), a prominent theologian;
3. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), a philosopher;
4. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), a philosopher; and
5. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), a philosopher.

May each of us, like Jakob Böhme, struggle with difficult questions faithfully.

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Loving God, you have granted us intellects

and a thirst to know you as well as we can.

Thank you for these gifts.

May we, like your servant Jakob Böhme,

use them to maximum effect,

for your glory and the benefit of others.

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

1 Samuel 3:1-21

Psalm 63

Ephesians 2:11-22

John 1:1-18

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 7, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES HEWITT MCGOWN, HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINTS DRAUSINUS AND ANSERICUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF SOISSONS; SAINT VINDICIAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CAMBRAI; AND SAINT LEODEGARIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF AUTUN

THE FEAST OF EDWARD OSLER, ENGLISH DOCTOR, EDITOR, AND POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA ANTONIA DE PAZ Y FIGUEROA, FOUNDRESS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE DIVINE SAVIOR

THE FEAST OF SAINTS PERPETUA, FELICITY, AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS AT CARTHAGE, 203

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Above:  St. Jan Sarkander

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT JAN SARKANDER (DECEMBER 20, 1576-MARCH 17, 1620)

Silesian Roman Catholic Priest and “Martyr of the Confessional,” 1620

Protestant-Roman Catholic tensions have cooled since the lifetime of St. Jan Sarkander, but petty personal politics have remained constant.  Unfortunately, so has judicial murder.

St. Jan Sarkander, born in Skotschan, Silesia (now Skocjow, Poland), on December 20, 1576, was a son of Georg Mathias Sarkander and Helene Kornize (Sarkander).  Georg died when our saint was young.  Jan’s marriage ended with the death of his wife.  The couple had no children.  Then Sarkander turned to the Church.

Sarkander became a priest.  He studied under Jesuits in Prague, earning his master of philosophy degree in 1603.  Then he studied theology in Austria.  This led to his ordination to the priesthood in 1607, at Grozin.  Sarkander, curate at Boskowitz from 1613 to 1616, became a parish priest in Olmütz, Moravia (now Olomouc, Czech Republic).  Moravia was a strongly Protestant area.  Bitowsky von Bystritz, a wealthy landowner and a Protestant, opposed our saint.  Sarkander had a prominent supporter and parishioner, though; Baron von Labkowitz favored him.

Sarkander became a victim of Bystritz.  The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) was, in part, a war of religion (Protestant versus Roman Catholic).  Our saint, briefly forced into exile during Protestant occupation of the area, returned to tend to his flock.  In 1620, when Roman Catholic forces approached the area, Sarkander prevented combat by taking a monstrance to the would-be battlefield.  Bystritz accused the priest of treason.  Bystritz was really seeking information to use against Labkowitz.  Sarkander never violated the seal of the confessional, despite tortures.  He died (by burning alive) at Olmütz on March 17, 1620.  He was 43 years old.

The Roman Catholic Church recognized Sarkander formally.  Pope Pius IX declared our saint a Venerable in 1859 then beatified him the following year.  Pope John Paul II canonized Sarkander in 1995.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 22, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN JULIAN, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNOLOGIST

THE FEAST OF ALEXANDER MEN, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1990

THE FEAST OF LADISLAO BATTHÁNY-STRATTMANN, AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST

THE FEAST OF LOUISE CECILIA FLEMING, AFRICAN-AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY AND PHYSICIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI, FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE, THE UNION OF CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE, AND THE SISTERS OF THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE

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Gracious God, in every age you have sent men and women

who have given their lives for the message of your love.

Inspire us with the memory of those martyrs for the Gospel

[like your servant Saint Jan Sarkander] whose faithfulness led them in the way of the cross,

and give us the courage to bear full witness with our lives

to your Son’s victory over sin and death; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37

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