Archive for the ‘Saints of 1950-1959’ Category
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:
- A Schoolmaster’s Apology (1914);
- Shrewesbury Fables: Being Addresses Given in Shrewesbury School Chapel (1917);
- Eton Fables (1921);
- Twenty Years: Being a Study in the Development of the Party System Between 1815 and 1835 (1921), with John Doyle;
- A translation of Virgil’s Aeneid (1922);
- Through the Shadows (1922);
- Eton Lyrics (1925);
- Elementary Christianity (1927);
- The Fool Hath Said (1933);
- Things Ancient and Modern (1936); and
- Sense and Non-Sense: Being a Study in Elementary Christianity (1949).
Alington also wrote at least eight hymns:
- “Awake, Awake, Put on Thy Strength, Zion;”
- “Come, You People, Rise and Sing;”
- “God, Whose City’s Sure Foundation;”
- “Good Christian Men, Rejoice and Sing;”
- “Lord of All, Thine the Splendor;”
- “Lord of All, to Whom Alone;”
- “Lord, Thou Hast Brought Us to Our Journey’s End;” and
- “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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Above: Nagai Takashi
Image in the Public Domain
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NAGAI TAKASHI (FEBRUARY 3, 1908-MAY 1, 1951)
Japanese Roman Catholic Physician and Spiritual Writer
The “Saint of Urakami”
Also known as Takashi Nagai
Baptismal name = Paul
Nagai Takashi (to follow the Japanese custom of placing the family name first) comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via Robert Ellsberg, All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time. Nagai is a Servant of God in the Roman Catholic Church. He may, in time, become Venerable then Blessed then Saint Nagai Takashi.
Nagai was an adult convert to Christianity. He, born in rural Mitoya, Japan, on February 3, 1908, was a son of physician Nagai Noboru. Our saint began to study medicine at the Nagasaki Medical College in 1928. After his mother, Tsune, died of a brain hemorrhage, Nagai began to read the Pensées of Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). At the time, our saint, still an atheist, boarded with the Moriyama family, Roman Catholics. The relationship with that family remained important to Nagai for the rest of his life. By the time our saint graduated in 1932, meningitis had caused him to become partially deaf. He, unable to practice medicine yet, went to work as a radiologist instead. Moriyama Sadakichi’s invitation to attend Midnight Mass at the cathedral in Nagasaki in 1932proved to be a turning point. Our saint attended that Mass, another milestone on his road to conversion. During military service in Manchuria (starting in 1933), Nagai witnessed Japanese military brutality toward civilians. This troubled his conscience. He, after returning from Manchuria, converted to Roman Catholicism and accepted baptism on June 4, 1934. His baptismal name was Paul. Pascal’s quote which sealed the deal was:
There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.
In late December 1932, Moriyama Midori, daughter of Sadakichi, had suffered from acute appendicitis. Nagai had carried her on his back through the snow to the hospital. In August 1934, our saint married Midori. The couple had a son (Makato, 1935-2001) and three daughters: Ikuko (1937-1939), Sasano (who died shortly after birth), and Kayano (1941-2008). Nagai, confirmed in December 1934, joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, visited patients, and delivered food to the poor. He also met St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), who lived in a suburb of Nagasaki from 1931-1936, and who founded a monastery at Nagasaki.
The Sino-Japanese War (later the Pacific Theater of World War II) changed Nagai’s life. He, mobilized as an army surgeon in 1937, served in China through 1940. In 1939, he learned of the death of his father and first daughter. Nagai returned to Nagasaki and continued his medical studies in 1940. Our saint worked at the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. In that capacity, he tended to civilian victims of the Allied air raid of April 26, 1945. In June of that year, Nagai received his diagnosis of leukemia, with the prediction that he would die within three years. The apparent cause of the disease was conditions of working in radiology. Midori, upon hearing of this diagnosis, counseled her husband:
Whether you live or die, it is for God’s glory.
For years, Nagai had understood that, sometime during the war, the destruction of Nagasaki would occur. Upon hearing of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945), he planned to evacuate his family six kilometers (nearly four miles away) to Matsuyama. Unfortunately, our saint had no time to evacuate them before August 9. That day, Nagai was working in the radiology department of the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital when the second atomic bomb fell in the Urakami district of the city. He suffered severe injuries. Two days later, Nagai found his home destroyed and his beloved Midori dead. After being confined to bed for a month, our saint returned to the Urakami district and constructed a hut out of the ruins of his home. He shared that hut with his two surviving children, Midori’s mother, and two other kinsfolk.
Above: Nagasaki in Ruins, 1945
Image in the Public Domain
The local chapter of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul built a new home for Nagai and his family in 1947. He named the new home “Nyokodo,” or “As-Yourself Hall,” after the Golden Rule. He had finished writing a book, The Bells of Nagasaki, by August 9, 1946. By then, Nagai was confined to bed. Yet he could still write, and he did. Our saint wrote of spiritual issues, especially those related to the aftermath of World War II in Japan.
Nagai, aged 43 years, died in the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital on May 1, 1951.
His epitaph reads:
We are merely servants; we have done no more than our duty.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 21, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIA OF VERONA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC TERTIARY AND MARTYR, 1574
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK GJANI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS
THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Almighty God, whose prophets taught us righteousness in the care of your poor:
By the guidance of your Holy Spirit,
grant that we may do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in your sight;
through Jesus Christ, our Judge and Redeemer,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Isaiah 55:11-56:1
Psalm 2:1-2, 10-12
Acts 14:14-17, 21-23
Mark 4:21-29
—Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 736
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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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I am a great believer in tunes which are wholesome and masculine.
–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:
Noble’s hymn tunes included the following:
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: 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: 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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The Holy Face is my life. He is my strength.
–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: 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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In gratitude and humble trust,
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:
- Calvary Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California (1929-1944);
- Trinity Community Presbyterian Church, North Hollywood, California, a church plant (1944-1961); and
- 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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Above: Blessed Ndue (Karl) Serreqi
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED NDUE SERREQI (FEBRUARY 26, 1911-APRIL 4, 1954)
Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954
Also known as Blessed Karl Serreqi
Blessed Ndue (Karl) Serreqi comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Our saint, born Ndue Serreqi in Shkodrë, Albania, on February 26, 1911, studied under Franciscan friars. He joined that order as a young man. Our saint, ordained a priest, as Father Karl, in Brescia, Italy, in June 1936, served as a parish priest in the mountains of Albania.
Albania, formerly under Italian fascist occupation, came under communist control in 1944. The government began to suppress religion in 1946; it focused particular ire on Roman Catholics, who had enjoyed official favor during the fascist occupation. This stereotyping labeled all Albanian Roman Catholics as fascists.
Consider the following, O reader:
Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the “sacramental seal,” because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains “sealed” by the sacrament.
—The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (1997), paragraph #1467
Albanian authorities arrested Serreqi on October 9, 1946. They demanded that Father Karl reveal details of the confessions of anti-communist rebels. The priest, incarcerated and tortured, refused to break the sacramental seal of confession. The court sentenced our saint to death on January 18, 1947. However, the sentence became life in prison. The priest, having suffered greatly in prison, died behind bars on April 4, 1954. He was 43 years old.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Father Karl. Pope Francis declared Serreqi a Venerable then a beatus in 2016.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 17, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JUTTA DISIBODENBERG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND HER STUDENT, SAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZYGMUNT SZCESNY FELINSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF WARSAW, TITULAR BISOHP OF TARSUS, AND FOUNDER OF RECOVERY FOR THE POOR AND THE CONGREGATOIN OF THE FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF THE FAMILY OF MARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZYGMUNT SAJNA, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1940
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Gracious Lord, in every age you have sent men and women
who have given their lives for the message of your love.
Inspire us with the memory of those martyrs for the Gospel
[like your servant Blessed Ndue (Karl) Serreqi]
whose faithfulness led them in the way of the cross,
and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives
to your Son’s victory over sin and death;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ezekiel 28:40-42
Psalm 5
Revelation 6:9-11
Mark 8:34-38
–Adapted from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37
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Above: Blessed Hanna Helena Chrzanowska
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED HANNA HELENA CHRZANOWSKA (OCTOBER 7, 1902-APRIL 29, 1973)
Polish Roman Catholic Nurse
Blessed Hanna Helena Chrzanowska comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Our saint was originally a subject of the Russian Empire. She, born in Warsaw on October 7, 1902, came from a family of mixed religious heritage. One side of the family was Roman Catholic; the other side was Protestant. Her parents were Wanda Szlenkier (from a landowning family) and industrialist Ignacy Chrzanowski (1866-1940). The family earned its reputation for committing charitable deeds.
Young Hanna, suffering from immune and respiratory system deficiencies, spent much time in hospitals and sanitariums. She started her life’s work of humanitarianism while a child, in a hospital. A boy, another patient, had arrived in extremely ragged clothing. The staff had had to dispose of these clothes. Therefore, our saint arranged for new clothes for the boy to wear home.
Our saint’s family moved to Kraków in 1910. Blessed Hanna graduated with honors from an Ursuline high school. After tending to soldiers’ injuries during Russia’s revolutionary period, she commenced formal nursing studies in Warsaw in 1920. Blessed Hanna worked for a time under another nurse, Sister Magdalena Maria Epstein (1875-1947), designated a Servant of God as of the writing of this post. Our saint’s formal education in nursing continued in France (1925f). She also worked as a Red Cross nurse and observed nursing in Belgium.
Blessed Hanna rose in esteem and prominence in her profession. She taught at Kraków (1926-1929), edited Nurse Poland (1929-1939), and helped to form the Catholic Association of Polish Nurses (1937). She, fusing faith and profession, became a Benedictine oblate.
World War II presented our saint with many challenges. Her father died in a concentration camp. A brother, Bogdon, perished in a Stalinist massacre. Blessed Hanna, stuck between Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, organized nurses to provide home health care (when possible) and worked to resettle and feed refugees. She also administered a nursing home and mentored nursing students.
Other challenges awaited Blessed Hanna after the war. She worked as the Director of the School of Psychiatric Nursing, Kobierzyn, until the communist government closed it. Next, she tended to the poor and neglected in her parish. Our saint, diagnosed with cancer in 1966, underwent operations. Yet the cancer spread. She died in Kraków on April 29, 1973. Blessed Hanna was seventy years old. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla–later Pope John Paul II–presided at the funeral Mass.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Blessed Hanna. Pope Francis declared her a Venerable in 2015 then one of the beati in 2018.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE, BISHOP AND MARTYR, 258; AND SAINTS CORNELIUS I, LUCIUS I, AND STEPHEN I, BISHOPS OF ROME
THE FEAST OF JAMES FRANCIS CARNEY, U.S.-HONDURAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, REVOLUTIONARY, AND MARTYR, 1983
THE FEAST OF MARTIN BEHM, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
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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 joy.
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 Mykolai Charnetskyi
Fair Use
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BLESSED MYKOLAI CHARNETSKYI (SEPTEMBER 14, 1884-APRIL 2, 1959)
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Titular Bishop of Lebed, and Martyr, 1959
Also known as Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky
Alternative feast day (as one of the Martyrs of Ukraine) = January 6
Alternative feast day (as one of the Martyrs Killed Under Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe) = June 27
Blessed Mykolai Charnetskyi comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Charnetskyi was originally a subject of the Russian Empire. He, born in Semakivitsia, Ukraine, on September 14, 1884, came from a large family; Alexander and Parasceva Charnetskyi had nine children. The family belonged to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in communion with the Bishop of Rome. Our saint, when eighteen years old, commenced his theological studies at the Ukrainian College, Rome. He, ordained a priest in 1909, completed his doctorate in theology, in Rome, in 1910.
Charnetskyi lived during revolutionary and tumultuous times. Empires fell, new countries came into existence, and borders shifted more than once. He taught philosophy and dogmatic theology at the Seminary in Stanislavov (now Ivan-Frankivsk), Ukraine, as well as provided spiritual direction to students, from 1910 to 1919.
Yet Charnetskyi discerned a change in his vocation. He became a Redemptorist novice in 1919 then made his first profession the following year. From 1920 to 1926, our saint served as a teacher at a minor seminary as well as a parish priest. The Redemptorist order opened a mission to Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox reconciliation in 1926. Charnetskyi, as part of that mission, became the Apostolic Visitor in the Volhynia region of Poland (now Ukraine) that year. In 1931, our saint received a more elevated title–Titular Bishop of Lebed.
World War II disrupted Chanetskyi’s work. He fled to Lviv in 1939, after the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland. Germany occupied the area of Lviv in 1941-1944. Our saint taught at the Lviv Theological Academy from 1941 to 1945.
After World War II, the Soviet government persecuted the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Soviet government arrested all bishops and turned church property over to the Russian Orthodox Church. Agents of the NKVD arrested Charnetskyi, sixty years old, on April 11, 1945, on the charge of treason. The verdict was guilty, of course. Our saint spent the next eleven years suffering tortures and performing hard labor in thirty prisons. Upon release in 1956, he seemed to be near death. Our saint’s health was broken.
Nevertheless, Charnetskyi rallied. He spent the rest of this life ministering to the underground Ukrainian Greek Catholic community. Our saint, aged seventy-four years, died in Lviv, Ukraine, on April 2, 1959.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized our saint. Pope John Paul II declared him a Venerable in 2001. Later that year, the same Supreme Pontiff made our saint one of the beati.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE HOLY CROSS
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Almighty God, by whose grace and power
your holy martyr Blessed Mykolai Charnetskyi
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 2:2-12
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 714
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Above: The Logo of the Augustana Synod
Image in the Public Domain
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RUTH YOUNGDAHL NELSON (1904-APRIL 6, 1984)
U.S. Lutheran Renewer of Society
Ruth Youngdahl Nelson 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). A remembrance by daughter Mary Nelson rounds out the available information significantly. A YouTube video of our saint addressing students at Augsburg College (now University), Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 28, 1969, is worth your attention, O reader. And a few other websites fill in other corners with information.
Ruth Youngdahl, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1904, was a child of John Carl Youngdahl and Elizabeth (Johnson) Youngdahl. One brother, Luther Youngdahl (1896-1978), served as the Governor of Minnesota (1947-1951).
Our saint spent her life obeying her conscience, following Jesus, and challenging social conventions. As a student at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, the athletic Youngdahl helped to organize then led the college’s chapter of the National Women’s Athletic Association. She also made national headlines in 1923 by playing on a co-educational football team.
Our saint married Clarence T. Nelson, a minister in the old Augustana Synod. The couple had four children and fostered three others. The Nelsons served in churches in Minnesota, Illinois, and the District of Columbia. In addition, they served in Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. (Clarence spent four years in the kingdom as a chaplain to oil workers.)
Nelson spoke out and wrote boldly about a variety of issues.
- The arms race during the Cold War alarmed our saint. She advocated making peace.
- Racial and economic justice were also priorities for Nelson.
- She and her husband welcomed former inmates into their home.
- Our saint led a weekly Bible study in a women’s prison and lobbied for halfway homes for women emerging from prison.
- In 1982, Nelson and son Jonathan participated in an armada that attempted to block a nuclear Trident submarine headed for a naval base in Bangor, Washington. The protesters, arrested for this act of civil disobedience, never went to trial; the court dismissed the charges.
- During her final months, the wheelchair-bound saint, 80 years old and recovering from cancer surgery, participated in a demonstration against weapons of mass destruction in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Nelson wrote ten books, including the following:
- The Christian Woman (1951),
- The Woman Beautiful (1954),
- God’s Song in My Heart (1957),
- Where Jesus Walks (1966),
- You Can Make a Difference (1974),
- Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters (1976),
- God’s Joy in My Heart (1980), and
- A Grandmother’s Letters to God (1983).
Daughter Mary Nelson wrote:
My mother lived out her faith: that we are all loved by God, created in the image of God, and a part of God’s family–no matter what word we use for God.
Our saint said of herself:
I am no theologian. I can only speak and write about what Christ can do in my everyday life.
Ruth Youngdahl Nelson, who died on April 5, 1984, lived her generous Christian faith. She, therefore, set an example–a formidable one, and a high bar.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF PETER OF CHELCIC, BOHEMIAN MORAVIAN REFORMER; AND GREGORY THE PATRIARCH, FOUNDER OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK J. MURPHY, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF GODFREY THRING, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JANE CREWDSON, ENGLISH QUAKER POET AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF NARAYAN SESHADRI OF JALNA, INDIAN PRESBYTERIAN EVANGELIST AND “APOSTLE TO THE MANGS”
THE FEAST OF ROBERT GUY MCCUTCHAN, U.S. METHODIST HYMNAL EDITOR AND HYMN TUNE COMPOSER
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Holy and righteous God, you created us in your image.
Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil
and to make no peace with oppression.
Help us [like your servant Ruth Youngdahl Nelson]
to use our freedom to bring justice among people and nations,
to the glory of your name;
through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Hosea 2:18-23
Psalm 94:1-14
Romans 12:9-21
Luke 6:20-36
–Adapted from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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