Above:  Cyril Alington

Image in the Public Domain

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CYRIL ARGENTINE ALINGTON (OCTOBER 22, 1872-MAY 16, 1955)

Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

Cyril Alington comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns (1966).

Alington was a priest in The Church of England, as well as an educator.  He, born in Ipswich in on October 22, 1872, was a son of H. G. Alington.  Our saint, a graduate of Oxford University (B.A., 1893; M.A., 1895; D.D., 1917), became a Fellow of All Souls’ in 1896.  Alington served as the Assistant Master of Marlborough College (1896-1899) then joined the faculty of Eton College in 1899.  He joined the ranks of deacons in 1899 then priests in 1901.  Alington served as the Headmaster of Shrewesbury School (1908-1916) then the Headmaster of Eton College (1917-1933).  During this time our saint was also the Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield (1914f), the Select Preacher to Oxford (1909-1910, 1928-1929) and the chaplain to King George V (1921f).  Alington became the Dean of Durham in 1933.

Alington found much time to write.  He composed hymns, histories, essays, novels, and theological works.  Our saint also translated Latin texts.  His books included the following:

1. A Schoolmaster’s Apology (1914);
2. Shrewesbury Fables:  Being Addresses Given in Shrewesbury School Chapel (1917);
3. Eton Fables (1921);
4. Twenty Years:  Being a Study in the Development of the Party System Between 1815 and 1835 (1921), with John Doyle;
5. A translation of Virgil’s Aeneid (1922);
6. Through the Shadows (1922);
7. Eton Lyrics (1925);
8. Elementary Christianity (1927);
9. The Fool Hath Said (1933);
10. Things Ancient and Modern (1936); and
11. Sense and Non-Sense:  Being a Study in Elementary Christianity (1949).

Alington also wrote at least eight hymns:

1. “Awake, Awake, Put on Thy Strength, Zion;”
2. “Come, You People, Rise and Sing;”
3. “God, Whose City’s Sure Foundation;”
4. “Good Christian Men, Rejoice and Sing;”
5. “Lord of All, Thine the Splendor;”
6. “Lord of All, to Whom Alone;”
7. “Lord, Thou Hast Brought Us to Our Journey’s End;” and
8. “Ye Know that the Lord is Gracious.”Durham Cathedral (1949); and

Our saint, aged 82 years, died in St. Weonards, Herefordshire, on May 16, 1955.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA; PATRIARCH; AND SAINT ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH AND “FATHER OF ORTHODOXY”

THE FEAST OF CHARLES SILVESTER HORNE, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HASSE, GERMAN-BRITISH MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF ELIAS BOUDINOT, IV, U.S. STATESMAN, PHILANTHROPIST, AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF JULIA BULKLEY CADY CORY, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIGISMUND OF BURGUNDY, KING; SAINT CLOTILDA, FRANKISH QUEEN; AND SAINT CLODOALD, FRANKISH PRINCE AND ABBOT

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Cyril Alington and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

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

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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…and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Above:  Blessed Gjon Koda

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED GJON KODA (APRIL 25, 1893-MAY 11, 1947)

Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1947

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–Matthew 10:38-39, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

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Blessed Gjon Koda comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.  Information about Blessed Gjon Koda seems to be scarce.  We know what we need to know, I suppose.

Our saint, born in Janjevë (Janjevo), Serbia, on April 25, 1893, was a member of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans).  Serafin was his religious name.  Koda, ordained to the priesthood, celebrated his first Mass on July 25, 1925.  He served faithfully in Lezhë, Albania, for years.

The troubled political history of Albania included the Fascist Italian occupation (1939-1943), the Nazi occupation (1943-1944), and the rise of the communist government (1944).  During the Fascist Italian occupation, the Mussolini government favored the Albanian Roman Catholics.  The predictable political backlash, which began after the Albanian communists came to power, entailed labeling all Albanian Roman Catholics as fascists.  (Communists and fascists have long opposed each other.)  In 1946, the communist government nationalized most religious institutions in the country; it seized most religious property, expelled foreign religious workers, and forbade religious groups from educating the young and operating philanthropic institutions.  Roman Catholics shared in the persecution alongside their Orthodox and Muslim neighbors.  However, the Roman Catholics had something their Orthodox and Muslim neighbors lacked:  the Papacy, an international institution, with its own authority and its headquarters in a sovereign state.  So, loyalty to the Bishop of Rome made one an enemy of the Albanian communist state.

Koda, arrested in Lezhë in the spring of 1947, endured two weeks of torture.  Authorities wanted him to confirm the party line–and lie–that his brother Franciscans were plotting against the Albanian state.  Koda refused to satisfy his torturers.  On May 11, they martyred our saint by driving nails through his throat.  He was 54 years old.  Authorities interred in the corpse in a secret grave, which remained hidden until September 16, 1994.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Koda.  Pope Francis declared him a Venerable then a beatus in 2016.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 25, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT DISMAS, PENITENT BANDIT

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Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Blessed Gjon Koda

triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:

Grant us, who now remember him in thanksgiving,

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

that we may receive with him 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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I am a great believer in tunes which are wholesome and masculine.

Above:  St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York, New York

Image Source = Google Earth

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THOMAS TERTIUS NOBLE (MAY 5, 1867-MAY 4, 1953)

Anglican then Episcopal Organist and Composer

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–T. Tertius Noble, to the committee for the The Hymnal (1941) of the old Evangelical and Reformed Church, July 18, 1938

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T. Tertius Noble comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal (1941) of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, The Hymnal 1940 (1943) of The Episcopal Church, and their companion volumes.

Thomas Tertius Noble, born in Bath, England, on May 5, 1867, was a son and the youngest of nine children of Sarah Jefferson Noble and silversmith Thomas Noble.  Given that our saint was the third Thomas in his family, he received the middle name Tertius.

Our saint, known as “Tommy” during his youth, manifested musical talent, which he valued.  He, shipped off to a boarding school when ten years old, complained that the curriculum provided no opportunities to develop this talent.  Noble longed to return home.  Eventually, he did return to his home.  Noble found opportunities to develop his talent, starting in 1881.  In 1881, he, an adolescent, by the standards of 2023, moved in with Charles Everitt, the retired Canon of Gloucester and the new Rector of All Saints’ Church, Colchester.  Everitt needed a parish organist.  On May 22, 1943, at a Hymn Society of America dinner held in his honor at The General Theological Seminary, New York, New York, Noble recalled:

I could not play the organ very well.  It was an awful, old organ; it had four stops, and the mechanism rattled so loudly that you could not hear the music…. Learning on this organ was difficult, but it was good for me….

–Quoted in Amin Haeussler, The Story of Our Hymns:  The Handbook to the Hymnal of the Evangelical and Reformed Church (1952), 827

Above:  The Parish Church of All Saints, Colchester, England

Image Source = Google Earth

Noble had a more satisfactory musical experience from 1886 to 1889, when he studied at the Royal College of Music.  He had won a scholarship in 1886.  Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) was one of our saint’s mentors and teachers there.  Noble, after graduating in 1889, served as Stanford’s assistant organist at Trinity College, Cambridge (1890-1892).

Other jobs as an organist followed.  Noble served at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely (1892-1898).  While there, he began to compose his first anthems, including Souls of the Righteous.  Noble also married Meriel Maude Stubbs 1897.  She was a daughter of Charles Stubbs (1845-1912), the Dean of Ely (1893-1905) then the Bishop of Truro (1906-1912).

Above:  The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely, England

Image Source = Google Earth

Then Noble worked at the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter (the York Minister), York (1898-1913).  He and Meriel welcomed their son, Philip Raymond (1903-1979).  Our saint also founded a symphony orchestra; conducted the York Pageant in 1909; and revived the York Musical Festival, dormant for three quarters of a century, in 1912.

Above:  The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter, York, England

Image Source = Google Earth

Noble, speaking on May 22, 1943, recalled:

The strain on a cathedral organist is enormous.  I had been responsible for fourteen services a week for twenty years, and looked forward, in England, to many more.  This was the time to change, though the various canons at York could not see why I should exchange the Minister for just a parish church!

So, in 1913, Noble moved to New York, New York, to assume the duties of organist and choir director at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.  Our saint brought the Anglican cathedral choir tradition to his new parish.  Noble founded the choir school there in 1919 and served faithfully until he retired in 1943.  Along the way, our saint received honorary degrees from Columbia University (1918); Trinity College (1926); and Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1932).  St. Thomas Church unveiled a window in honor of Noble’s half-century as a church musician in 1932.

Noble composed sacred and secular music and edited editions of compositions by other composers.  He edited the G. Schirmer edition of George Frederick Handel‘s The Messiah.  Incidental music flowed from his pen.  So did the following, among other masterpieces:

• Choral Prelude on the Tune Picardy,
• Choral Prelude on the Tune Rockingham,
• Fantasy on Leoni,
• Go to Dark Gethsemane,
• Grieve Not the Holy Spirit,
• Introduction and Passacaglia,
• Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in A Minor,
• Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B Minor, and
• Toccata and Fugue in F Minor.

Noble’s hymn tunes included the following:

• ANNISQUAM,
• ELY CATHEDRAL,
• MAUBURN,
• NEW ENGLAND,
• ORA LABORA (Come, Labor On),
• ROCKPORT,
• ST. AUBREY, and
• SANTA MONICA.

Noble also made his imprint in writing.  He wrote The Training of the Boy Chorister (1943).

On the denominational level, Noble’s service extended to the committees for The Hymnal 1916 (1919) and The Hymnal 1940 (1943).

Above:  St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Rockport, Massachusetts

Image Source = Google Earth

Noble retired to Rockport, Massachusetts, in 1943.  He, one day shy of his eighty-sixth birthday, died there on May 4, 1953.

Noble’s legacy persists.  The choir school at St. Thomas Church, New York, New York, still exists.  And every time someone sings one of his hymn tunes, our saint’s legacy lives in that way, also.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 19, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF NAZARETH, HUSBAND OF SAINT MARY OF NAZARETH, MOTHER OF GOD

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

thank you for those (especially T. Tertius Noble)

who have nurtured and encouraged the reverent worship of you.

May their work inspire us to worship you in knowledge, truth, and beauty.

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

1 Chronicles 25:1-8

Psalm 145

Revelation 15:1-4

John 4:19-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGIAN

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Above:  Old Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland

Image Source = Google Earth

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH HODGES (1830-MAY 1, 1915)

Episcopal Priest, Liturgist, Organist, and Composer

Also known as J. S. B. Hodges, John Sebastian Bach Hodges, and J. Sebastian B. Hodges

Johann Sebastian Bach Hodges comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal 1940 (1943), The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns (1966), and their companion volumes.

Edward Hodges (1796-1867) and Margaret Robinson Hodges (d. 1863) presided over a musical family.  Edward was an organist and a composer in The Church of England.  Margaret, raised in the classical music tradition of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum), was a talented vocalist.  Edward married Margaret on her nineteenth birthday.  The couple raised eight children–George Frederick Handel, Faustina Hasse, Miriam, Jubal, Johann Sebastian Bach, Deborah, Cecilia, and Asaph–four of whom lived past twenty years and became organists.  Faustina Hasse Hodges (1822-1895), also a composer, wrote her father’s biography yet died prior to its publication.  Johann Sebastian Bach Hodges edited the book for publication (1896).  The other two children who survived past twenty years and became organists were Deborah (still alive in 1896) and Jubal (who died at the age of forty-two years).

Edward spent much of this life in North America.  In 1838, he moved to Toronto to become the organist at the Anglican Cathedral of St. James.  By the end of the next year, he had become the organist at Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, New York.  Edward served in that capacity until illness forced his retirement in 1859.  At Trinity Church, Wall Street, Edward introduced the Anglican cathedral music tradition to The Episcopal Church.  He also sent for his children, one by one.  Johann arrived in New York City in 1845.

Johann remained in the United States even after his father, a new widower, returned to the mother country in 1863.  Our saint studied at Columbia University (B.A., 1850; M.A., 1853) then at The General Theological Seminary (S.T.D., 1854).  Hodges, ordained to the diaconate in 1854 then to the priesthood the following year:  served on the staff of Trinity Church (now Cathedral), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1854-1856.  Then our saint spent a few years in the Midwest; he served on the faculty of Nashotah House, Nashotah, Wisconsin.  During this time, Hodges also served at the Church of the Holy Communion, Chicago, Illinois.  In 1860, our saint returned to the East; he became the Rector of Grace Church, Newark, New Jersey, and served in that capacity through 1870.  Next, Hodges served as the Rector of (Old) St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore, Maryland (1870-1906).

Hodges started making his greatest contributions to ecclesiastical life prior to arriving in Baltimore in 1870.  He compiled The Book of Common Praise:  Music for The Book of Common Prayer; For Use in Congregations and Sunday Schools (1868).  Our saint continued his musical-liturgical contributions in Baltimore.  In 1873, Hodges replaced the parish’s paid male-female quartet with a choir of men and boys.  He also founded the first choir school in the United States.  The choir, trained at this choir school, earned its reputation for excellence.  Our saint’s work of facilitating The Episcopal Church’s transition from metrical psalms to hymns, begun in Newark, continued in Baltimore.  He served on the committee to revise The Hymnal (1874) into The Hymnal (1892).  Our saint, the composer of about a hundred anthems and hymn tunes (including EUCHARISTIC HYMN), completed Hymn Tunes, Being Further Contributions to the Hymnody of the Church (1903).

Hodges entered retirement in 1906.  During this period, he published Christmas Carols and Hymns for Children Set to Music by the Rev. J. S. B. Hodges, S.T.D. (1908).

Our saint, aged about 85 years, died in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 1, 1915.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 16, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTIETH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, SAINT RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CACCIAFRONTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND MARTYR, 1183

THE FEAST OF SAINT MEGINGAUD OF WURZBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THOMAS WYATT TURNER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SCIENTIST, EDUCATOR, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST; FOUNDER OF FEDERATED COLORED CATHOLICS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM HENRY MONK, ANGLICAN ORGANIST, HYMN TUNE COMPOSER, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR

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

thank you for those (especially Johann Sebastian Bach Hodges)

who have nurtured and encouraged the reverent worship of you.

May their work inspire us to worship you in knowledge, truth, and beauty.

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

1 Chronicles 25:1-8

Psalm 145

Revelation 15:1-4

John 4:19-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGIAN

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Above:  Blessed Ndoc Suma

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED NDOC SUMA (JULY 31, 1887-APRIL 22, 1958)

Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1958

Blessed Ndoc Suma comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Suma, born in Nënphat, Lezhë, Albania, on July 31, 1887, was a subject of the Ottoman Empire until Albanian independence (1912).  he studied theology at Skrodrë, Albania, then at the Jesuit Collegium Canisianum, Innsbruck, Austria, Austria-Hungary.  Our saint returned to Albania, whwere he joined the ranks of priests in the Archdiocese of Skrodrë-Pult on September 21, 1911.

During the subsequent political changes and stages of his homeland, Suma served as a parish priest in seven towns.  After the fascist occupation ended in 1944, the communist government came to power.  That government cracked down on religion.  Albanian authorities arrested Suma while he was saying Mass in Laçu on December 8, 1946.  The charge was being a spy.

The verdict was guilty, of course.  Our saint, sentenced to thirty years in prison, as well as hard labor, was near death when freed on November 25, 1957.  He, aged seventy years, died in the village of Pistull on April 22, 1958.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Suma.  Pope Francis declared him a Venerable in 2016 then a beatus later that year.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT HONORIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF MARY RAMABAI, PROPHETIC WITNESS AND EVANGELIST IN INDIA

THE FEAST OF RICHARD CHALLONER, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOLAR, RELIGIOUS WRITER, TRANSLATOR, CONTROVERSIALIST, PRIEST, AND TITULAR BISHOP OF DOBERUS

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Almighty God, who gave to your servant Blessed Ndoc Suma boldness

to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world,

and courage to die for this faith:

Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us,

and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ;

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

2 Esdras 2:42-48

Psalm 126 or 121

1 Peter 3:14-18, 22

Matthew 10:16-22

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 713

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Above:  Blessed Lucien Botovasoa 

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED LUCIEN BOTOVASOA (1908-APRIL 14, 1947)

Malagasy Roman Catholic Martyr, 1947

Blessed Lucien Botovasoa comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Blessed Lucien, born in 1908 at Vohipeno, Madagascar, was one of nine children.  He was a subject of the French colonial regime.  Despite many dispersions regarding the French military from a plethora of critics in the twenty-first century, the French colonial regimes in places such as Madagascar and Algeria tolerated no hint of rebellion.  Tactics were harsh.

Blessed Lucien pursued a religious vocation.  He, baptized in 1918, made his First Communion four years later.  He studied at the Jesuit Saint Joseph College (1922-1928) then taught there.  Lives of the saints were part of our saint’s lessons for his pupils.  Blessed Lucien married Suzanna Soazana on October 10, 1930.  The married man and father, who joined the Crusaders of the Heart of Jesus on August 18, 1935, became a Secular Franciscan tertiary in 1940.  He made his final vows on December 18, 1944.  Blessed Lucien also took an interest in married saints and direct his parish choir.

Blessed Lucien was apolitical.  He, encouraged to seek public office in early 1947, refused.  Yet politics overtook him.  The Malagasy Uprising (1947-1949) started in March.  Predictably, French imperial repression triggered a violent rebellion.  Predictably, rebels targeted institutions of foreign influence.  The Roman Catholic Church became one of these targets.

On April 14, 1947, Blessed Lucien was eating lunch with his four children and pregnant wife.  In this context, our saint learned that he, as a Catholic teacher, would immediately become a target of rebels.  Instead of fleeing, Blessed Lucien remained with his family.  Our saint, arrested, tried, and convicted by the local chief that night, died between 10:00 p.m. and Midnight.  The guards, as well as the executioner, who beheaded Blessed Lucien, were some of his former students.  They threw the corpse into the Mattanana River.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized our saint.  Pope Francis declared him a Venerable in 2017.  The following year, Lucien became Blessed Lucien.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JEHU JONES, JR., AFRICAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER

THE FEAST OF FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE, ANGLICAN POET, ART CRITIC, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH HOSKINS, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT LORENZO RUIZ AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES AND MARTYRS IN JAPAN, 1637

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Almighty God, by whose grace and power

your holy martyr Blessed Lucien Botovasoa

triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:

Grant to us, who now remember him in thanksgiving,

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

that we may receive with him 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:  Blessed Symforian Ducki

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED SYMFORIAN DUCKI (MAY 10, 1888-APRIL 11, 1942)

Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942

Also known as Felix Ducki and Antonio Ducki

Alternative feast day (as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II) = June 12

Blessed Symforian Ducki comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Felix Ducki was originally a subject of the Russian Empire.  He, born in Warsaw on May 10, 1888, was a son of Julian Ducki (a locksmith) and Marianna (Lenardt) Ducki.  Our saint joined the Franciscan Capuchins at Warsaw on January 3, 1918, during revolutionary times in Russia, as well as prior to the reestablishment of independent Poland.  His first monastic name was Antonio.  That name became Symforian on May 19, 1921.

Ducki lived and served mostly in Warsaw through 1941.  He, as a friar, collected funds for the poor.  Our saint served his brother friars as a cook.  Ducki, who made his final vows on May 22, 1925, led this holy life until the Third Reich intervened.

Agents of the Gestapo arrested the Franciscan Capuchin friars of Warsaw on June 27, 1941, and initially incarcerated them at Pawiak.  Ducki, sent to Auschwitz on September 23, 1941, spent the rest of his life performing hard labor.  He, aged 53 years, died on April 11, 1942.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized our saint.  Pope John Paul II declared Ducki a Venerable in 1999 then a beatus later that year.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL VI, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN BRIGHT, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF JOHN BYROM, ANGLICAN THEN QUAKER POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH A. SITTLER, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND ECUMENIST

THE FEAST OF LANCELOT ANDREWES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CHICHESTER THEN OF ELY THEN OF WINCHESTER

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Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love

in the heart of your holy martyr Blessed Symforian Ducki:

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

that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his 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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The Holy Face is my life. He is my strength.

Above:  St. Gaetano Catanoso

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT GAETANO CATANOSO (FEBRUARY 14, 1879-APRIL 14, 1953)

Founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (the Missionaries of the Holy Face)

Alternative feast day = September 20

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–St. Gaetano Catanoso

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St. Gaetano Catanoso comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Catanoso came from a large, devout, and wealthy family of Chioro di San Lorenzo, Reggio Calabra, Italy.  He, born on February 14, 1879, was one of eight children of Antonio and Antonia Catanoso.  Our saint, who started his theological studies in October 1889, joined the ranks of priests on September 20, 1902, when he was twenty-three years old.

Catanoso spent most of his priestly career in parishes, with ministries in communities.  After spending 1902-1904 as a prefect of seminarians, our saint became a parish priest.  He encouraged priestly vocations, improved catechesis, revived Marian and Eucharistic devotions, encouraged the observance of liturgical feasts, and worked with other local priests to arrange for priests to hear confessions in each other’s parishes.  Catanoso also served as a spiritual director at a seminary (1922-1949) and hospitals (1922-1933).  Furthermore, he founded an orphanage for war orphans in 1943.  In 1935, our saint founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (the Missionaries of the Holy Face) to work with the poor and to offer perpetual prayers.  The congregation received diocesan approval in 1958.

When Catanoso died, aged seventy-four years, on April 4, 1953, he was ill and blind.  He was also justifiably beloved.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Catanoso.  Pope John Paul II declared him a Venerable in 1990 then a beatus in 1997.  Pope Benedict XVI canonized our saint in 2005.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ANNA ELLISON BUTLER ALEXANDER, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL DEACONESS IN GEORGIA, AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF HENRY HART MILMAN, ANGLICAN DEAN, TRANSLATOR, HISTORIAN, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JUVENAL OF ALASKA, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MARTYR IN ALASKA, AND FIRST ORTHODOX MARTYR IN THE AMERICAS, 1796

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER THE ALEUT, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MARTYR IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1815

THE FEAST OF SAINT SILOUAN OF MOUNT ATHOS, EASTERN ORTHODOX MONK AND POET

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Lord God, your Son came among us to serve

and not to be served,

and to give his life for the life of the world.

Lead us by his love to serve all those to whom

the world offers no comfort and little help.

Through us give hope to the hopeless,

love to the unloved,

peace to the troubled,

and rest to the weary;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-14

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37

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Above:  Blessed Maria Antonia Bandres y Elosegui

Image in the Public Domain

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BLESSED MARIA ANTONIA BANDRÉS Y ELÓSEGUI (MARCH 6, 1898-APRIL 27, 1919)

Spanish Roman Catholic Nun

Blessed Maria Antonia Bandrés y Elósegui comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.

Blessed Maria, born in Toloso, Guipúzoca, Spain, on March 6, 1898, came from a large and devout Roman Catholic family.  She was the second of fifteen children of Teresa Elósegui and attorney Ramon Bandrés.  Antonita, as the family called our saint informally, was an attentive big sister.  She, educated by the Daughters of Jesus, demonstrated Christ’s love for poor people in her hometown as a child.  Blessed Maria tended to poor people on the outskirts of town.

Blessed Maria joined the daughters of Jesus at Salamanca on December 8, 1915, when seventeen years old.  She made her profession on May 31, 1918, when twenty years old.  Our saint, strong in faith and weak in health, remained a model nun until she died, aged twenty-one years, while singing a Marian hymn, on April 27, 1919.

Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Blessed Maria.  Pope John Paul II declared her a Venerable in 1995 then added her to the beati the following year.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF PHILANDER CHASE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF OHIO, AND OF ILLINOIS; AND PRESIDING BISHOP

THE FEAST OF C. H. DODD, WELSH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT, JULIA ANNE ELLIOTT, AND EMILY ELLIOTT, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITERS

THE FEAST OF JUSTUS FALCKNER, LUTHERAN PASTOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF STEPHEN G. CARY, U.S. QUAKER HUMANITARIAN AND ANTIWAR ACTIVIST

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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 Blessed Maria Antonia Bandrés y Elósegui,

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,

in the unity of 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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In gratitude and humble trust,

Above:  Calvary Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California

Image Source = Google Earth

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FRANK VON CHRISTIERSON (DECEMBER 25, 1900-APRIL 24, 1996)

Finnish-American Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer

Born Friedrich von Christierson

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We bring our best today,

To serve your cause and share your love

With all along life’s way.

O God, who gave yourself to us

In Christ, your only Son,

Teach us to give ourselves each day

Until life’s work is done.

–Frank von Christierson, from As Men of Old Their Firstfruits Brought (1960, 1972); quoted in The Worshipbook:  Services and Hymns (1972)

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Frank von Christierson comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via various denominational hymnals, mainly The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns (1966).  (The United Methodist Hymnal of 1989 lacks any texts by our saint.)

Friedrich von Christierson was originally a subject of the Russian Empire.  He, born at Lovisa, near Helsinki, Finland, on December 25, 1900, left for the United States with his parents and five brothers in 1905.

Christierson (B.A., psychology, Stanford University, 1923), went into church work.  He spent a few years as the youth director at First Presbyterian Church, San Luis Obispo, California.  During this time, Christierson married Frances May Lockhart in 1925.  The couple had two children.  Our saint matriculated at San Francisco Theological Seminary (B.D., 1929; M.A., 1930).  Christierson, ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1929, continued his clergy status in the PCUSA’s successors, The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  He served in the following congregations from 1929 to 1966:

1. Calvary Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California (1929-1944);
2. Trinity Community Presbyterian Church, North Hollywood, California, a church plant (1944-1961); and
3. Celtic Cross United Presbyterian Church (now Celtic Cross Presbyterian Church), Citrus Heights, California, a church plant (1961-1966).

Christierson was also active beyond the congregational level.  He served as the Moderator of the San Francisco Presbytery and the Los Angeles Presbytery.  For three years in the early 1960s, he served as the chairman of the radio and television ministries of the Sacramento Area Council of Churches.  In this capacity, our saint created a television program, Capital and Clergy, in 1962.

Christierson remained active in retirement.  He filled various pulpits, as an interim pastor, in California and Nevada through 1970.  Then, from 1970 to 1982, our saint was a part-time associate minister at First Presbyterian Church (now Centerpoint Community Church), Roseville, California.  He focused on the elderly and the ill.

Our saint, a fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada since 1983, published Make a Joyful Noise (1987), a volume of his hymns.

Christierson, aged 95 years, died in Roseville, California, on April 24, 1996.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Frank von Christierson and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

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

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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