Blessed Peter Wright comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Wright, born in Slipton, Northamptonshire, England, in 1603, came from a Roman Catholic family with twelve children. Our saint’s father died when Wright was young. Therefore, our saint had to work in the local solicitor’s office. He did this for a decade. Then our saint enlisted in the English Army in the Low Countries in 1627 or 1628. Wright quickly realized that military life did not suit him. So, he deserted after one month, and traveled to Brabant.
Wright had drifted from his Roman Catholic roots over the years. He returned to those roots at Liège, where some English Jesuits lived. After studying at the Jesuit college in that city, our saint became a Jesuit novitiate at Watten in 1629. Wright, having studied theology and philosophy at Liège, joined the ranks of priests in 1639.
Wright eventually found his proper role within the Society of Jesus. He, assigned to supervise boys at the English College of Saint Omer, proved useless in that assignment. So, the order transferred hour saint to serve as the chaplain to Colonel Sir Henry Gage’s English regiment, based in Ghent. Gage was in the service of the House of Hapsburg. Wright returned to England with Gage’s regiment in the spring of 1644. The English Civil Wars were raging, and Gage’s forces fought under the banner of King Charles I. When Gage died on January 11, 1645, our saint administered the last rites.
Next, Wright served as the chaplain to John Paulet, the Marquess of Winchester. Our saint was about to say Mass in London on Candlemas/the Feast of the Presentation (February 2, 1650), when he became a prisoner. The charge was treason–being a Roman Catholic priest. Thomas Gage, a former Dominican priest and a brother of the late Sir Henry Gage, had betrayed Wright.
By this time, England had become a commonwealth. Parliament had abolished the monarchy and Charles I had gone to his execution in 1649. Roman Catholics, unpopular with the old Anglican establishment (which had martyred its share of Roman Catholic priests), were the targets of more official ire under the new Puritan establishment.
Wright, imprisoned at Newgate, received the sentence of hanging, drawing, and quartering on May 16, 1651. Three days later, before a crowd exceeding 20,000 people, our saint died by hanging. The executioner took relative mercy on Wright by sparing him the drawing and quartering. Then the deputies permitted our saint’s friends to claim the corpse and to bury it in Liège, at the Jesuit college.
Pope Pius XI declared Wright a Venerable then beatified him in 1929.
MAY 10, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE THIRTY-SECOND DAY OF EASTER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ENRICO REBUSCHINI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND SERVANT OF THE SICK; AND HIS MENTOR, SAINT LUIGI GUANELLA, FOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SAINT MARY OF PROVIDENCE, THE SERVANTS OF CHARITY, AND THE CONFRATERNITY OF SAINT JOSEPH
THE FEAST OF ANNA LAETITIA WARING, HUMANITARIAN AND HYMN WRITER; AND HER UNCLE, SAMUEL MILLER WARING, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVAN MERZ, CROATIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF ÁVILA, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MYSTIC, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER; THE “APOSTLE OF ANDALUSIA”
THE FEAST OF JOHN GOSS, ANGLICAN CHURCH COMPOSER AND ORGANIST; AND WILLIAM MERCER, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT VASILE AFTENIE, ROMANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR, 1950
MICHAEL SCHIRMER (BAPTIZED JULY 18, 1606-MAY 4, 1673)
German Lutheran Hymn Writer
Michael Schirmer comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1941), the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), Lutheran Worship (1982), Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), and their hymnal companion volumes. Nobody should confuse this Michael Schirmer with his contemporary, Michael Schirmer (March 26, 1635-October 25, 1672).
Our Michael Schirmer, born in July 1606 and baptized at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, on July 18, was a son of Michael Schirmer. (I wish that, when people followed the Germanic tradition of naming a son after the father, they had employed suffixes, such as “Jr.” or “III.”) The elder Michael Schirmer inspected wine casks for a living. The younger Michael Schirmer studied at the St. Thomas Church school then matriculated at the University of Leipzig in 1619. He graduated with a M.A. degree in 1630.
Schirmer lived during difficult times; the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) raged. It also created and frustrated pestilence, hunger, and economic difficulties. Our saint married and had two children. He also buried his wife and children. And his health was fragile. Not surprisingly, Schirmer suffered from psychological depression. And, despite his brilliance, our saint experienced professional frustration. He taught at the Greyfriars Gymnasium, Berlin for decades. Schirmer became the subrector in 1636 and the conrector in 1651, yet never succeeded to the rectorship. Another applicant always got that job. Nevertheless, Schirmer demonstrated his skill as a playwright and a translator. He wrote a play, Der volfolgte David, completed in 1660. (The Google translation of that title into English–The Full Measure David–is awkward. But what else should one expect from Google Translate?) Schirmer also translated Biblical songs (1650), The Aeneid (1651), and Sirach/Ecclesiasticus (1655) into German.
Schirmer composed five hymns, which he submitted to Johann Cruger (1598-1662). Cruger published them in Newes vollkoemliches Gesangbuch (1640) and Praxis Pietatis Melica (1648). Only one of these hymns has entered into English-language hymnody. I have found three translations of it. The four hymnal companion volumes erroneously attributed “O Holy Spirit, Enter In” to Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), from The Chorale Book for England (1863). However, I checked the primary source online. I discovered Winkworth’s translation, “O Enter, Lord, Thy Temple,” hymn #71 in that volume. I also compared that translation to “O Holy Spirit, Enter In” and found them to be different translations. Schirmer’s original German text consisted of seven stanzas, each one ten lines long. Winkworth’s translation, as published in 1863, consisted of eight stanzas, each one eight lines long. Hymnal committees have chosen how many stanzas of “O Holy Spirit, Enter In” to include, but each stanza has been ten lines long. I have included the third translation as the addendum to the post containing Winkworth’s translation at GATHERED PRAYERS.
Schirmer, having retired from the Greyfriars Gymnasium in 1668, remained in Berlin. He. aged 66 years, died in that city on May 4, 1673.
That the other four hymns Schirmer wrote have not entered English-language hymnody is a pity, based on the quality of the one hymn which has done so.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 20, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPAL THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF THE POOR
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SIMON WILLIAM GABRIEL BRUTÉ DE RÉMUR, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF VINCENNES
you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to
Michael Schirmer 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
The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.
–Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection; quoted in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997), 24
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Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection comes to this, A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES: AN ECUMENICAL CALENDAR OF SAINTS’ DAYS AND HOLY DAYS, via Ellsberg, All Saints (1997).
Nicholas Herman, born in Hériménil, near Lunéville, France, circa 1614, was a peasant. By the time our saint was 16 years old, he was a soldier in Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). The 16-year-old Herman reported a mystical vision. Later in the war, he was briefly a prisoner and an alleged spy. Herman’s exit from the war came via combat-related injuries that rendered him permanently crippled. After his military service, our saint was a footman to Guillaume de Fuibert, the royal treasurer. Our saint recalled being clumsy, breaking items.
Herman, no longer a footman, entered the religious life. He was a hermit for a while. Finally, our saint, 26 years old, joined the Order of Discaled Carmelites in Paris, as a lay brother. On August 14, 1642, Herman made his solemn vows and became Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
Brother Lawrence had found his niche. He worked in the kitchen for years. Later, he repaired sandals. Our saint learned how to live in continuous prayer. He lived this way by performing his duties with a consciousness of the presence of God that hallows them. Brother Lawrence also became a respected spiritual counselor. François Fénelon (1651-1715), the Archbishop of Cambrai (1695f), was one of his admirers.
Brother Lawrence died on February 12, 1691.
After Brother Lawrence died, Abbé Joseph de Beaufort compiled a book, The Practice of the Presence of God. This volume of our saint’s wisdom has influenced devout Christians from a variety of communions for centuries.
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Loving God, thank you for the gifts of spiritual insight you bestowed
upon your servant Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
May the Church never be bereft of these gifts.
May we perform our duties, no matter how mundane,
with a consciousness of your sanctifying presence.
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Matthew 11:25-30
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSAPHAT KUNTSEVYCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF POLOTSK, AND MARTYR, 1623
THE FEAST OF JOHN TAVENER, ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN THEN ORTHODOX COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, COMPOSER, WRITER, PHILOSOPHER, FEMINIST, AND ALLEGED HERETIC
THE FEAST OF RAY PALMER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY, BRITISH NOVELIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
JOHN CLARKE (BAPTIZED OCTOBER 8, 1609-DIED APRIL 20, 1676)
English Baptist Minister and Champion of Religious Liberty in New England
The Reverend John Clarke comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006), as well as his association with Obadiah Holmes, Sr. (1609-1682).
Many people accept a host of falsehoods about the history of the United States of America. One of these lies is that most Puritans came to this country (when it was still a collection of British colonies) to practice religious freedom. Shall I point to the numerous examples that prove the existence of Puritan theocracies in New England? How about the four executed Quakers (link and link) in the Massachusetts Bay colony? I point also to the cases of Roger Williams (1603?-1683) and Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) and company, exiled for dissenting. To that list I add the case of John Clarke.
Clarke arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in November 1637 yet left soon thereafter. The church in Boston was embroiled in the Antinomian Controversy. Proponents of the Covenant of Grace argued against supporters of the Covenant of Works. (I understand the three Calvinist covenants objectively and intellectually yet cannot muster enough theological interest to become either excited or offended by this dispute.) The Antinomian Controversy did lead to expulsions from the colony and to voluntary relocation. Many people in the Massachusetts Bay Colony cared deeply about this matter.
Clarke and his first wife, Elizabeth Harris Clarke, joined other dissidents (including Williams and the Hutchinsons) who had moved to Rhode Island. He had left England to get away from religious restrictions. Then he had found the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be a Puritan theocracy and not to his liking, either. Rhode Island was not a theocracy, though. The Clarkes settled at Pocasset, Aquidneck Island, in 1638. By the end of the year, however, our saint had helped to establish a new settlement, Newport, and the First Baptist Church there. This was the second Baptist congregation in America.
Clarke, who had legal training, too, helped to secure the charter for Rhode Island. In 1641, he and Roger Williams traveled to England for this purpose in 1643. Clarke remained in England for a few years, to function as colonial agent. Our saint, back in Rhode Island, resumed his role as pastor of First Baptist Church. In 1647, he was the main author of the colony’s new legal code.
Clarke’s life intersected with that of Obadiah Holmes in 1649. Holmes and eight other members, excommunicated from the church in Reheboth, Massachusetts Bay Colony, had argued with the pastor over infant baptism. The Reverend Samuel Newman was for it; Holmes and company were against it. The excommunicated church members formed a house church, with Holmes as the pastor. Clarke rebaptized the members of the house church in 1649. With the local court declaring the house church illegal, the dissidents of Reheboth moved to Newport and joined First Baptist Church.
John Clarke and John Crandall (1618-1676) of First Baptist Church, Newport, visited William Witten, an old blind man, in Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in July 1651. Obadiah traveled with Clarke and Crandall to visit Witten. The three visitors conducted a church service. They celebrated communion and baptized converts. Authorities arrested the three visitors. The court convicted and fined them:
John Crandall–five pounds, or about $984.15 (2021);
John Clarke–twenty pounds, or about $3,939.37 (2021); and
Obadiah Holmes–thirty pounds, or about $4,270.15 (2021).
The alternative was a severe whipping. Nevertheless, Governor John Endecott considered that punishment lax; he claimed that the three men deserved to die.
Allies offered to pay the fines of all three men. Crandall and Clarke accepted and returned to Newport. Our saint, however, refused. Therefore, he endured 30 strokes on his back. For weeks, he had to sleep on his knees and elbows. For the rest of his life, he called his scars “the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
Clarke returned to England again in 1651, to serve as colonial agent. He remained there until 1664. While in England, our saint wrote against religious persecution in New England and ruffled the feathers of New England Puritan authorities. He also secured a royal charter for Rhode Island in 1663. That charter guaranteed freedom of religion except when a person’s actions
disturb the civil peace of our said colony.
The Clarkes–John and Elizabeth–returned to Newport, Rhode Island, in early 1664. Our saint returned to First Baptist Church, as co-pastor, with Obadiah Holmes. Clarke continued to be active in colonial governance. From 1664 to 1672, not all at once, he did he following:
Clarke represented Newport in the General Assembly.
Clarke served as the Deputy Governor.
Clarke made a digest of the laws of Rhode Island.
Clarke returned to England briefly as colonial agent in 1670.
First Baptist Church, Newport, experienced one major and two minor schisms while Clarke was alive.
Second Baptist Church (somewhat Arminian) formed in 1656. This congregation reunited with First Baptist Church in 1946. The merged congregation took the name United Baptist Church, John Clarke Memorial.
A few members broke away and organized the first Seventh Day Baptist church in America in late 1671. This congregation closed in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Some excommunicated members and their extended family became Quakers in 1673.
Clarke married three times and buried two wives. Elizabeth Harris Clarke having died, our saint married a widow, Jane Fletcher, on February 1, 1671. The couple had a daughter (February 14, 1672-May 18, 1673). Jane died on April 19, 1672. Clarke’s third wife was another widow, Sarah David (d. circa 1692).
Clarke, aged 66 years, died in Newport on April 20, 1676. His will established the oldest educational trust in what became the United States of America. That will specified
relief of the poor or bringing up of children unto learning from time to time forever.
Clarke was a pioneer of religious freedom in what became the United States of America. That part of his legacy has benefited more people than perhaps he could have imagined.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 22, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GENE BRITTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF DONALD S. ARMENTROUT, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF HADEWIJCH OF BRABERT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC
THE FEAST OF KATHE KOLLWITZ, GERMAN LUTHERAN ARTIST AND PACIFIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT VITALIS OF GAZA, MONK, HERMIT, AND MARTYR, CIRCA 625
SAINT RENÉ GOUPIL (MAY 16, 1608-SEPTEMBER 29, 1642)
French Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr in New France, 1642
First Roman Catholic Martyr in North America
Solo feast day = September 29
lay assistant to
SAINT ISAAC JOGUES (JANUARY 10, 1607-OCTOBER 18, 1646)
French Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in New France, 1646
Solo feast day = October 18
colleague of
SAINT JEAN DE LA LA LANDE (DIED OCTOBER 19, 1646)
French Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr in New France, 1646
Also known as Saint Jean Lalande
Solo feast day = October 19
colleague of
SAINT ANTOINE DANIEL (MAY 27, 1601-JULY 4, 1648)
French Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in New France, 1648
Solo feast day = July 4
colleague of
SAINT JEAN DE BRÉBEUF (MARCH 25, 1593-MARCH 16, 1649)
French Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in New France, 1649
Solo feast day = March 16
colleague of
SAINT GABRIEL LALEMANT (OCTOBER 10, 1610-MARCH 17, 1649)
French Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr in New France, 1649
Solo feast day = March 17
colleague of
SAINT CHARLES GARNIER (BAPTIZED MAY 25, 1606-DIED DECEMBER 7, 1649)
French Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in New France, 1649
Solo feast day = December 7
lay colleague of
SAINT NOËL CHABANEL (FEBRUARY 2, 1613-DECEMBER 8, 1649)
French Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr in New France, 1649
Solo feast day = December 8
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Missionaries and Martyrs in New France, 1642-1649
Also known as the Canadian Martyrs
Alternative feast days = March 16 and September 26
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I. INTRODUCTION
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The Martyrs of North America, 1642-1649, come to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church and The Anglican Church of Canada. St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), by himself, is a profiled saint in Robert Ellsberg, All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997).
The label “Canadian Martyrs,” accurate in 1642-1649, is a contemporary misnomer, for not all eight martyrs died in what we now call Canada. Some died in what is now upstate New York.
With eight saints, we–you, O reader, and I, have some proverbial bouncing balls to follow. Telling their stories together is logical, however.
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II. ENTER THE “BLACK ROBES”
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GOUPIL
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St. René Goupil offered himself to the service of God. Goupil, born in Saint-Martin-du-Bois, Anjou, France, was a son of Hippliite Goupil and Luce (Provost) Goupil. Our saint, a surgeon, became a Jesuit novice in Paris on March 16, 1639. However, deafness forced him to leave the Society of Jesus. Nevertheless, Goupil volunteered as a lay missionary. He, having arrived in New France in 1640, served at the Saint-Joseph de Sillery Mission, Québec. There he worked in the hospital though 1642.
Goupil and about 40 other people visited Huron missions in 1642. One of the other missionaries was St. Isaac Jogues.
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JOGUES (I)
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St. Isaac Jogues was a Jesuit priest. He, born in Orléans, France, on January 10, 1607, was the fifth of nine children of Laurent Jogues and Françoise de Sainte-Mesmin. Jogues, educated first at his bourgeois home then at Jesuit schools, became Jesuit novice at Rouen in 1624. He was seventeen years old at the time. The Jesuit missions to New France started in 1625. Those early missionaries inspired Jogues, who decided to become a missionary to New France, too. Our saint professed his vows in 1626, studied philosophy at La Flèche for a few years, taught humanities at a boys’s school in Rouen (1629-1633), studied theology at Paris (1633-1636), and joined the ranks of priests (1636).
In 1636, Jogues, not yet a priest, met three of his heroes. They were St. Jean de Brébeuf, Charles Lalemant, and Ènemond Massé, missionaries who had recently returned from New France.
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BRÉBEUF
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St. Jean de Brébeuf was another Jesuit missionary priest. He, born in Condé-sur-Vire, France, on March 25, 1593, joined he Society of Jesus in 1617, at the age of twenty-four years. Brébeuf, a teacher at Rouen (1619-1621), joined the ranks of priests in February 1622. Then he served three years as the Steward of the College of Rouen. In 1625, our saint became a missionary to New France. The group of five missionaries arrived in Québec in June 1625.
Brébeuf, who had a talent for learning languages, ministered mostly among Hurons. Due to international politics (Anglo-French) tensions, the missionaries returned to France in 1629. They returned in 1633. Missionary work was challenging and not always successful. The deaths of many indigenous people from European diseases complicated the matter. But the missionaries were faithful.
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DANIEL (I)
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St. Antoine Daniel was one of the other Jesuit missionaries with Brébeuf in New France. Daniel, born in Dieppe, Normandy, France, on May 27, 1601, studied philosophy for two years and law for for one year before joining the Society of Jesus at Rouen on October 1, 1621, Our saint taught at Rouen (1623-1627), studied theology at Paris (1627-1630), joined the ranks of priests (1630) and taught at the College of Eu (1630-1632).
Daniel began to minister in New France in 1632. At first, he tended to a flock of colonists at St. Anne’s Bay, Cape Breton (-1633). Then he joined Brébeuf’s mission. In 1634, Brébeuf and Daniel were two of the tree missionaries who traveled to Wendake. Daniel learned the language of the Hurons. He translated the Lord’s Prayer and the Nicene Creed, and set them to music. For two yeas, Daniel also ran a school for indigenous boys. In 1638, when Brébeuf moved onto a different assignment, and Daniel relieved him.
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JOGUES (II)
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In 1636, Brébeuf and company, back in France, told the other Jesuits of the great dangers of the mission in New France. Jogues, not discouraged, became more determined to serve as a missionary in New France. Shortly after ordination to the priesthood (1636), he and St. Charles Garnier sailed for New France.
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GARNIER
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St. Charles Garnier was a priest. He, baptized in Paris, France, as an infant on May 25, 1606, was a son of of a secretary to King Henry III. Garnier became a Jesuit novice in September 1624. In time, our saint served as the Prefect of the College of Clermont, completed his studies in philosophy and rhetoric, and taught at the College of Eu for two years. Next, Garnier finished his studies in theology, culture, and language. Then, in 1635, he joined the ranks of priests.
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BRÉBEUF, GARNIER, AND JOGUES
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Garnier, Jogues, and company arrived in New France in June 1636. Immediately, he traveled to the Huron mission. Brébeuf was a strong influence on our saint.
Jogues arrived at his assigned mission station in Québec in September 1636. He joined Brébeuf, the Superior of that Jesuit mission, at Saint-Joseph, on Lake Huron. Immediately, an epidemic struck the Jesuits and the Hurons. (This happened repeatedly.) Fearful natives accused the “Black Robes” of trying to kill them. Jogues caught a fever, but recovered. He ministered to the Hurons at Saint-Joseph for six years.
In the winter of 1639-1640, Jogues and Garnier visited the Petun, a tribe in what is now southern Ontario. That mission proved fruitless. For two months, the Jesuit missionaries traveled from village to village, to a chilly reception.
In September 1641, however, Jogues and Charles Raymbaut found a receptive population of Ojibwe. Jogues ministered at the new Saint-Marie Mission for a while.
Garnier worked at the Saint-Joseph Mission from 1641 to 1646.
Brébeuf also wrote hymns. Perhaps the most popular one was the Huron Carol, which Jesse Edgar Middleton (1872-1960) translated into English as “Twas the Moon of Winter Time.”
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III. GOUPIL AND JOGUES, 1642
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Goupil and about 40 other people visited Huron missions in 1642, Jogues was part of this team, which included Christian Hurons. On August 3, some Mohawk warriors attacked these Christians near present-day Auriesville, New York. The Mohawk warriors tortured their victims. Goupil, by this time a Jesuit lay brother, taught a Mohawk boy the sign of the cross. For this, Goupil died via tomahawk to the head. Jogues gave him last rites on September 29, 1642.
The Mohawk warriors also slowly tortured then killed the Huron converts. (Hurons and Mohawks were traditional enemies.)
The Anglican Church of Canada, in its brief summary of this feast, states that Brébeuf, in 1649, suffered
atrocities which defy description.
Applying this statement to Jogues (in 1642) and Brebeuf and St. Gabriel Lalemant (in 1649), that statement is objectively inaccurate. Finding descriptions is as easy as using Google. I choose do describe the sufferings of these saints in general terms only.
Jogues emerged his captivity a mutilated man. He returned to France for medical treatment. Pope Urban VIII called Jogues a “living martyr.” That “living martyr” returned to New France voluntarily in 1644.
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IV. TO 1646
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CHABANEL AND GARNIER (I)
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St. Noël Chabanel was a Jesuit missionary. He, born in Saughes, France, on February 2, 1613, became a Jesuit novice when he was 17 years old. Chabanel taught at Jesuit colleges and earned a sterling reputation. Our saint arrived in New France in 1643. What he lacked in Algonquin linguistic acumen for a while he made up for with piety. Chabanel, assigned to Sainte-Marie Mission, worked with Garnier.
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LALEMANT
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St. Gabriel Lalemant was a priest. He came from an extended family (including Charles Lalemant) deeply involved in the Society of Jesus and the mission to New France. Our saint, born in Paris, France, on October 31, 1610, was the third of six children of an attorney. Lalemant joined the Society of Jesus in 1630. He tried to get sent to New France years before he succeeded; ill health stood in the way for years. Finally, in 1646, uncle Jerome Lalemant, the Vicar-General of Québec, interceded. In the meantime, our saint had taught at the college in Moulins (1632-1635), studied theology at Bourges (1635-1639), became a priest (1638), and taught at various schools (1639-1646).
Lalemant arrived in Québec in September 1646. He spent months studying the languages and customs of the Hurons.
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LA LANDE
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St. Jean de la Lande (a.k.a. St. Jean Lalande) was a Jesuit lay brother. He, a native of Dieppe, Normandy, France, was just 19 years old when he arrived in New France.
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V. 1646: JOGUES AND LA LANDE
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St. Isaac Jogues became the French envoy to the Mohawk Nation in the Spring of 1646. (The Huron and Mohawk Nations had forged a fragile peace the previous year.) Jogues arrived with de la Lande and other members of the diplomatic party in September 1646. Mohawk warriors captured the Jesuits and took them to the village of Ossermenon (the site of Auriesville, New York, today). Jogues died of a tomahawk to the head on October 18, 1646. The following day, la Lande attempted to recover the corpse. He also died of a tomahawk to the head.
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VI. TO 1649
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DANIEL (II)
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St. Antonie Daniel returned to the main Huron town, Teanaostaye, on July 4, 1648. While the majority of Huron men were away, trading in Quêbec, Iroquois warriors attacked the town. Daniel tended to his flock in the chapel as best he could. Then he absolved them of their sins, baptized catechumens, and confronted the attackers. The priest, vested, carried a cross toward the Iroquois warriors. They killed him, placed his body in the chapel, and burned the chapel. By then, many of the Hurons who had been in the chapel had escaped.
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BRÉBEUF, LALEMANT, AND CHABANEL
+++++++++++++++++++
St. Jean de Brébeuf, master of languages, had done much to help the Jesuit mission in New France. His translated works included a catechism and a collection of Biblical prayers, proved invaluable for a long time. Yet he met a gory end, too.
St. Gabriel Lalemant ministered in the area of the Three Rivers trading center through September 1648. He, having been Brébeuf’s assistant at Wendake (September 1648-Feburary 1649), had gone to Saint-Louis Mission. Lalemant replaced Chabanel. Meanwhile, Brébeuf had transferred to Saint-Ignace Mission, near Saint-Louis Mission.
+++++++++++++++++++
VII. 1649
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BRÉBEUF AND LALEMANT
+++++++++++++++++++
In March 1649, when most of the Huron warriors were away, Iroquois warriors attacked Saint-Ignace. Huron warriors from Saint-Louis delayed the attackers, thereby allowing women, children, and elderly people to escape Saint-Ignace. Iroquois warriors captured Brébeuf and Lalemant. Both saints suffered terrible tortures. They received the crown of martyrdom–Brébeuf on March 16 and Lalemant on the following day.
The Society of Jesus closed and burned Sainte-Marie Mission, rather than permit the Iroquois to desecrate the site.
+++++++++++++++++++
CHABANEL AND GARNIER (II)
+++++++++++++++++++
St. Noël Chabanel, transferred from Saint-Louis Mission, went to Saint-Joseph Mission.
St. Charles Garnier, living in a Petun village, died during an Iroquois raid on December 7, 1649.
The following day, a “renegade Huron” killed Chabanel, apparently for being French. According to “alternative facts”–lies–the French had betrayed the Hurons and entered into an alliance with the Iroquois.
+++++++++++++++++++
VIII. CONCLUSION
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Pope Pius XI declared these martyrs Beati in 1925 then full saints five years later.
Writing hagiographies can lead to a sense of spiritual inadequacy. One may think of oneself as a good person. Perhaps one is a good person. But is one as good as, for example, these eight martyrs? I am not.
Consider St. Isaac Jogues, for example, O reader. Imagine yourself in his position. Knowing the risks, would you have done what he did? And having suffered as he did, would you have remained so dedicated?
The North American Martyrs acted out of the love of Christ. Each one took up his cross and followed Jesus to his individual Golgotha.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 21, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROMAN ADAME ROSALES, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927
THE FEAST OF SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM, CAPUCHIN FRIAR
THE FEAST OF GEORGE B. CAIRD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST THEN UNITED REFORMED MINISTER, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF GEORGIA HARKNESS, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, ETHICIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT SIMEON BARSABAE, BISHOP; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 341
OBADIAH HOLMES, SR. (BAPTIZED MARCH 18, 1609 OR 1610-DIED OCTOBER 15, 1682)
English Baptist Minister and Champion of Religious Liberty in New England
Born Obadiah Hulme
The Reverend Obadiah Holmes, Sr., comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).
Many people accept a host of falsehoods about the history of the United States of America. One of these lies is that most Puritans came to this country (when it was still a collection of British colonies) to practice religious freedom. Shall I point to the numerous examples that prove the existence of Puritan theocracies in New England? How about the four executed Quakers (link and link) in the Massachusetts Bay colony? I point also to the cases of Roger Williams (1603?-1683) and Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) and company, exiled for dissenting. To that list I add the case of Obadiah Holmes, Sr.
Obadiah Hulme grew up in a devout Anglican family. He, baptized on March 18, 1609 or 1610, in Didsbury, Lancashire, England, was a son of Katherine Johnson Hulme (d. 1630) and Robert Hulme (d. 1640). Obadiah led a rebellious, wild youth. After his spiritual awakening, his blamed himself for his mother’s death. Our saint was, by profession, a weaver and a glass maker. On November 20, 1630, at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, St. Denys and St. George, Manchester (now Manchester Cathedral), he married Katherine Hyde. The couple had nine children, starting with John, who died in 1633. The other eight children (four sons and four daughters) were:
Jonathan;
Mary;
Martha;
Samuel;
Obadiah, Jr.;
Lydia;
John (II); and
Hopestill.
The growing Holmes family immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. They settled in Salem and joined the church there. Obadiah worked as a glass maker. He, finding the church in Salem too rigid, left and moved the family to Reheboth in 1645. Reheboth proved unsatisfactory, too. Obadiah and the eight other members of the church there split away (during a dispute over infant baptism) and formed a house church in 1649. He became the minister of the new congregation. According to the local court, the house church was illegal. In 1650, Obadiah and the rest of his congregation moved to Newport, Rhode Island. They affiliated with the First Baptist Church in that city. This made sense; pastor John Clarke (1609-1676), of Newport, had rebaptized the members of the house church in 1649.
Rhode Island was rare in British North America; it had a policy of religious toleration. First Baptist Church, Newport, was the second Baptist congregation in what became the United States of America. John Clarke founded it in 1638, shortly after Roger Williams had founded the First Baptist Church, Providence.
John Clarke and John Crandall (1618-1676) of First Baptist Church, Newport, visited William Witten, an old blind man, in Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in July 1651. Obadiah traveled with Clarke and Crandall to visit Witten. The three visitors conducted a church service. They celebrated communion and baptized converts. Authorities arrested the three visitors. The court convicted and fined them:
John Crandall–five pounds, or about $984.15 (2021);
John Clarke–twenty pounds, or about $3,939.37 (2021); and
Obadiah Holmes–thirty pounds, or about $4,270.15 (2021).
The alternative was a severe whipping. Nevertheless, Governor John Endecott considered that punishment lax; he claimed that the three men deserved to die.
Allies offered to pay the fines of all three men. Crandall and Clarke accepted and returned to Newport. Our saint, however, refused. Therefore, he endured 30 strokes on his back. For weeks, he had to sleep on his knees and elbows. For the rest of his life, he called his scars “the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
Later in 1651, Clarke traveled to England, to serve as Rhode Island’s colonial agent. Obadiah began to serve as pastor of First Baptist Church, Newport. After Clarke returned, in 1664, the two men served as co-pastors (1664-1667, 1671-1676). Our saint was pastor at Newport until he died, on October 15, 1682.
First Baptist Church, Newport, has become the United Baptist Church, John Clarke Memorial, Newport.
No freedoms are absolute in any society. Mutuality requires that people be responsible to and for each other. And it does not license trampling the rights of anyone. Therefore, in the case of freedom of religion, some restrictions are necessary, in extreme cases. When, for example, someone’s religion endangers public health, public health properly takes precedence. Most circumstances are not extreme, though. Living in a free society requires much mutual toleration, if not acceptance. So be it.
All of the legal troubles Obadiah Holmes, Sr., endured in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were indefensible. He was not endangering public health and safety. He was not endangering anyone in any way. No, he was defying a theocracy. He refused to conform.
“Conform” and “conformity” are, by the way, the most profane words in the English language. Mutuality embraces mutual responsibility and tolerates all dissent and individuality that does not endanger the common good.
I write in a politically divided society. Labels such as “liberal” and “conservative” function as weapons to use against members of the other tribe. Actually, many people who weaponize these terms strip these words of their real meanings, inherently relative to the center. A better way (NOT original to me) is to ask whether one prioritizes order or justice. Properly, of course, justice establishes a morally defensible order. Likewise, order is necessary for justice, which cannot exist in the midst of anarchy. Nevertheless, not all order is just. In fact, much order is unjust. And many people favor an unjust order over justice. I favor justice every day. Whenever a given order is unjust, I support tearing it down and replacing it with a just order. Call me a revolutionary if you wish, O reader.
Obadiah Holmes, Sr., favored justice. He worked for a just order.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; AND HIS NEPHEW, WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT DAVID URIBE-VELASCO, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927
THE FEAST OF GODFREY DIEKMANN, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, PRIEST, ECUMENIST, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGICAL SCHOLAR
SAINT LORENZO RUIZ (NOVEMBER 28, 1594-SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)
Chinese-Filipino Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr in Japan, 1637
Alternative feast day = September 29
+++++
SAINT ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ (1593-SEPTEMBER 24, 1637)
Spanish Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr and Japan, 1637
His feast transferred from September 24
+++++
SAINT GUILLERMO COURTET (CIRCA 1590-SEPTEMBER 29, 1637)
French Roman Catholic Missionary Priest and Martyr in Japan, 1637
His feast transferred from September 29
+++++
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
+++++
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
+++++
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:
St. Antonio González, born in Léon, Spain, in 1593, became a Dominican priest and missionary.
St. Guillermo Courtet, born in Sérignan, Languedoc, France, circa 1590, became a Dominican priest and missionary.
St. Miguel González de Aozaraza de Leibar, born in Oñate, Guipúzcoa, Spain, in February 1598, became a Dominican priest and missionary.
St. Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, born in Nagasaki circa 1576, became a Dominican and missionary.
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
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
English Quaker Martyrs in Boston, Massachusetts, 1659 and 1660
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Therefore, seeing my Request is hindered, I leave you to the Righteous Judge and Searcher of all Hearts, who, with the pure measure of Light he hath given to every Man to profit withal, will in his due time let you see whose Servants you really are, to of whom you have taken Counsel, which desire you search into….
–Mary Dyer, writing to the General Court from prison, 1659, after the execution of William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson; quoted in G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006), 247
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Those who claim that most Puritans who settled in what became the United States sought religious freedom either lie or labor under a misconception.
The majority of Puritans, whether in the old country or on this side of the Pond, created and maintained theocracies when they had the opportunity. Religious toleration was not a dominant Puritan value; religious persecution was.
Quakers, with their pacifism, egalitarianism, and mysticism, threatened the hierarchical Puritan social order by merely existing. Being a Quaker in Puritan colonies in New England was illegal, therefore. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, prior to 1659, penalties included:
Expulsion,
Lashing behind a cart,
Abandonment deep in a forest,
Branding with an “H” for “heretic,”
Branding of the tongue, and
Cutting off of the ears.
Some Quakers, convinced that their Inner Light told them to preach the Friends gospel despite the risks, returned anyway. From 1659 to 1661, in the Massachusetts Bay colony, the list of penalties expanded to include death by hanging. Four Quakers became martyrs.
Mary Dyer had been a Puritan. She and her husband, William Dyer, were Puritans when the married in England in 1633. They moved to Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1635, and joined First Church. The Dyers befriended Anne and William Hutchinson, whom they followed to Rhode Island. The Dyers traveled with Roger Williams to England in 1643, when he went to secure a colonial charter (1644) for Rhode Island. William Dyer returned to Rhode Island, to bring news of the charter. Many remained in England for years. She met George Fox and became a Quaker.
Dyer returned to New England in 1657. Then her legal problems started. The ship docked in Boston. Our saint would have passed through the Massachusetts Bay colony to Rhode Island without incident except for her arrest for being a Quaker. William, without consulting his wife, secured her release without consulting his wife; he promised on her behalf that she would return to Rhode Island immediately and never return to the Massachusetts Bay colony. Dyer had other ideas.
Marmaduke Stephenson and William Robinson were English Quakers living in Rhode Island in 1659. Stephenson was a former plowman from Yorkshire. Robinson had been a merchant in London. Stephenson, Robinson, and Dyer returned to Boston in 1659 to protest anti-Quaker laws. Authorities arrested then banished them. Stephenson and Robinson returned again. Dyer returned to visit them in jail in Boston. Authorities arrested her. Governor John Endecott ordered the execution of the three Quakers in October 1659.
Stephenson and Robinson died by hanging in Boston on October 27, 1659. Dyer, spared that day, received banishment instead. On May 21, 1660, she returned to Boston, to preach. She, arrested, met her fate on June 1, 1660.
William Leddra became the last of the four Quaker martyrs in Boston the following year.
In May 1661, Puritan authorities received new orders from King Charles II forbidding any more executions for alleged heresy. This order arrived in time to prevent a fifth execution for being a Quaker in the Massachusetts Bay colony.
I use absolute terms, such as “never,” sparingly, so take note, O reader.
Freedom is never absolute; life in society requires the surrender of some individual freedom from everyone for the common good. Consider a practical, generally non-controversial example, O reader; we must, for the sake of all, obey traffic laws. Freedom of religion should be as broad as possible, with sensible restrictions. One should never, for example, get away with child abuse or endangering public health on the grounds of freedom of religion. And, if one’s religion mandates an honor killing, a court should define that act as murder. Law is easy at the extremes. On the opposite extreme, the mere refusal to conform to theocracy or a dominant form of faith should never constitute a crime, and law should bend over backward, so to speak, to allow for a wide variety of peaceful expressions of religion, within reasonable limits. Life in a free society requires much mutual toleration.
Quakers, with their theology of the Inner Light, affirmed that God spoke to everyone. The most germane question, from that perspective, was if one was listening. This doctrine called into question the Puritan spiritual hierarchy, with the ministers at its heart. Quakerism constituted an existential threat to the Puritan social order.
Authorities tend to go to great and frequently morally unjustifiable lengths to protect the social order. If morally unjustifiable lengths prove necessary to preserve that social order, perhaps it should fall, so that a just society may emerge.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 18, 2020 COMMON ERA
SATURDAY IN EASTER WEEK
THE FEAST OF ROGER WILLIAMS, FOUNDER OF RHODE ISLAND; AND ANNE HUTCHINSON, REBELLIOUS PURITAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT CORNELIA CONNELLY, FOUNDRESS OF THE SOCIETY OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA ANNA BLONDIN, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF SAINT ANNE
THE FEAST OF SAINTS MURIN OF FAHAN, LASERIAN OF LEIGHLIN, GOBAN OF PICARDIE, FOILLAN OF FOSSES, AND ULTAN OF PERONNE, ABBOTS; AND SAINTS FURSEY OF PERONNE AND BLITHARIUS OF SEGANNE, MONKS
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROMAN ARCHUTOWSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1943
Henri Dumont comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via my Western classicism and unapologetic musical elitism.
Dumont was a native of the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium). He debuted in Looz (now Bargloon) in 1610. Our saint was a son of Henri de Thier (Sr.) and Elisabeth Orban (de Thier). The family moved to Maastricht in 1613. Henri and his brother, Lambert, sang in the choir of Notre Dame, Maastricht.
Henri was a church organist. From 1630 to 1632 he held a position in Maastricht. Nevertheless, our saint spent much time in Liége, studying under Léonard de Hodémont (1575-1639), a choirmaster, organist, and composer. Henri resigned in 1632; Lambert succeeded him. Our saint moved on to St. Paul’s Church, Paris, France. He began to use the surname “Dumont” (alternatively, “du Mont”).
Dumont joined the ranks of royal servants. He became a harpsichordist in the court of the Count of Anjou in 1652. Eleven years later, our saint became the Master of the Chapel Royal, Versailles. Ten years after that, he became the Master of the Queen’s Music.
On the personal side, Dumont married Mecthild Loyens in 1653. Our saint lived long enough to become a widower. He inherited her benifice, an abbey in Normandy.
Dumont resigned all his positions in 1683. He died in Paris on May 8, 1684.
Dumont’s compositions were almost exclusively sacred works. His sacred music included:
SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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