McCutchan’s motto might well have been the first line of the hymn “Let all the world in every corner sing.” He devoted himself to bringing hymns into men’s lives.

Above:  Part of the Title Page of Our Hymnody (1937)

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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ROBERT GUY MCCUTCHAN (SEPTEMBER 13, 1877-MAY 15, 1958)

U.S. Methodist Hymnal Editor and Hymn Tune Composer

Pseudonym = John Porter

Robert Guy McCutchan comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Methodist Hymnals of 1935 and 1966.

McCutchan was one of the great American hymnodists.  He made his mark in the field of hymnal companion volumes with Our Hymnody (1937), the companion to The Methodist Hymnal (1935).  This hymnal companion volume has earned its reputation as the first substantial work in its genre in the United States.  The book, at 619 pages long, indicated meticulous attention to details.  It may have been the most detailed and thoroughly researched hymnal companion volume in the United States until the companion to The Hymnal (1941) of the Evangelical and Reformed Church.   Armin Haeusslder’s The Story of Our Hymns (1952) was 1902 pages long.  Since then, the four-tome companion to The Hymnal 1982 (1985) of The Episcopal Church may have claimed the title of the most thorough hymnal companion. 

Carlton R. Young, writing in Companion to the Hymnal (1970), the mate of The Methodist Hymnal (1966), issued his evaluation of our saint:

–605

McCutchan, born in Mount Ayr, Iowa, on September 13, 1877, spent his life in music.  He studied at Park College, Parkville, Missouri, then at Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa (B.M., 1904).  In 1904, our saint began to teach voice at Baker University, Baldwin College.  He also founded the conservatory at that institution of higher education.  After teaching music privately in Berlin and Paris in 1911, McCutchan returned to the United States.  He, the Dean of the School of Music (1911-1937) at DePauw University (1911-1937), served under future bishops Francis J. McConnell (1871-1953; President, 1909-1912) and G. Bromley Oxnam (1891-1963), President from 1928 to 1936.  McCutchan retired in 1937.

Above:  Part of the Title Page of The Methodist Hymnal (1905)

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The time for Methodist hymnal revision had come around again.  Decades had passed since the publication of The Methodist Protestant Church Hymnal (1901) and The Methodist Hymnal (1905).  The hymnal of 1905 had been a joint project of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  Steps toward the new hymnal started in 1928.  In 1931, in the depths of the Great Depression, the three denominations cooperated on a joint hymnal.  That year, McCutchan also became the editor.

Above:  Part of the Title Page of The Methodist Hymnal (1935) Prior to the Merger of 1939

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

McCutchan had his bona fides.  He had collaborated on Better Music in Our Churches (1925) and Music in Worship (1927).  Our saint had also served as the music editor of the American Junior and Church School Hymnal (1928).  And he had written monographs and articles.  Furthermore, McCutchan had composed three hymn tunes (FOWLER, DEPAUW, and OXNAM) and two responses (“The Beatitudes of Our Lord” and “Thy Testimonies are Very Sure”), which he eventually included in The Methodist Hymnal (1935).

Above:  Part of the Title Page of The Methodist Hymnal (1935) After the Merger of 1939

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

McCutchan had a strong sense of propriety.  While serving as the hymnal editor, he composed three more hymn tunes (ALL THE WORLD, MASEFIELD, and TIPLADY) and another response (“O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness).  These, included in The Methodist Hymnal (1935), bore the alleged name of the composer:  John Porter, born in 1877.  In Our Hymnody (1937), McCutchan wrote:

“John Porter” is the nom de plume if a hymn-writer who prefers to remain anonymous.

–32

Elsewhere, McCutchan explained:

It simply would not do for it to be known that the editor was their composer.

–Quoted in Carlton R. Young, Companion to the Hymnal (1970), 605

McCutchan also harmonized the hymn tune CAMPMEETING, found in The Methodist Hymnal (1966) and The United Methodist Hymnal (1989).

McCutchan’s subsequent publications included:

1. Aldersgate, 1738-1938 (1938),
2. Hymns in the Lives of Men (1945),
3. Hymns of the American Frontier (1950), and
4. Hymn Tune Names:  Their Sources and Significance (1957).

McCutchan, as a hymnologist, was ecumenical and down-to-earth.  He was a Methodist, of course, and he spent much time thinking about the realities of music in churches ranging from rural, wood-frame structures to Gothic buildings in urban settings.  His work entailed collecting many American hymnals and song books–more than a thousand at the time of this death.  He bequeathed that collection to the associated colleges at Claremont, California.  And McCutchan devoted much time to music in Adventist, Brethren, and Congregationalist churches, too.  He devoted his life to helping worshipers in churches sing great hymns.

McCutchan suffered from cancer during his final years.   His wit, according to his widow, 

came to his aid and those who cared for him through all the difficult days.

–Quoted in Young, Companion to the Hymnal (1970), 606

McCutchan, aged 80 years, died in Claremont, California, on May 15, 1958.  His first wife, Carrie, had predeceased him.

McCutchan spent his life well, in the service of God.  He spent that life in the field of hymnody. 

Hymns, being sung theology, have long been crucial to the faith of many Christians.  St. Paul the Apostle quoted a portion of a hymn in Philippians 2:6-11.  Many people have matched the words and tunes of hymns they have used to renew their faith.  And many have derived spiritual highs from wonderfully-composed and beautifully-performed descants.  McCutchan’s contribution to church music and his grasp of hymnody mattered greatly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 19, 2021 COMMON ERA

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

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

thank you for those (especially Robert Guy McCutchan)

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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Rick Murphy represented, perhaps better than anyone else on campus, what it means to teach, to do research, and to offer oneself wholeheartedly to a community such as ours. He was an internationally renowned and prolific scholar and a significant, if always unassuming, presence on campus. But what motivated him was our students and his desire to give them the many tools they will need to make their own marks on the world.

Above:  College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, Circa 1906

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-det-4a12944

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FREDERICK JAMES MURPHY (AUGUST 16, 1949-SEPTEMBER 13, 2011)

U.S. Roman Catholic Biblical Scholar

Also known as Rick Murphy

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Students loved Rick, and their experience in his classrooms hints at what made him so special to all of us. Nothing was better than simply to hang out with Rick. He knew and loved politics, opera, classical and contemporary music, literature and history, theology. In his fifties he learned to pilot a plane, and in that same period he assembled, by himself, from the ground up, a computer that was years ahead of its time.

But more than all of this, everyone wanted to be around Rick because he had an endless supply of himself to give. I came to Holy Cross 40 years into my life and considerably more than a decade into my academic career. But I learned anew from Rick how to be a colleague, what it means to be a friend, and, in the past five years, I learned from him how a person can confront a devastating illness with such dignity and lack of self-pity as to truly astound.

So we learned from Rick, from his approach to life, from his words, from his ideas and ideals, from his books and articles, but more than anything from the way he lived-an unparalleled life of dignity and integrity that changed us all and that leaves a cherished, everlasting legacy.

–Dr. Alan Avery-Peck, Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies, College of the Holy Cross, 2011

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Professor Frederick J. Murphy comes to my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days via The New Interpreter’s Bible (12 volumes, 1994-2002).

Murphy, a graduate of St. John’s High School, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, became an internationally renowned scholar.  After graduating with his B.A. from Harvard University in 1971, Murphy joined the Society of Jesus.  During his seven years as a Jesuit, he taught high school, earned his B.D. from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and worked with poor people in South America.  Our saint married his wife, Leslie, in 1980; the couple had a son (Jeremy) and a daughter (Rebecca).  Murphy returned to Harvard, where he earned his M.A. then, in 1984, his Ph.D.

Murphy’s academic community, to which he contributed much, was the College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit institution in Worcester, Massachusetts.  From 1983 to 2011 our saint was Professor of Religious Studies, specializing in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, Second Temple Judaism, the Historical Jesus, and apocalypticism.  Murphy, the recipient of the Distinguished Teacher of the Year award in 2001, became the first Class of 1956 Professor in New Testament Studies in 2007.  He was a respected colleague and professor.  Like all excellent teachers, our saint taught not only the subject matter, but also intangible and no less valuable lessons.  Caitlin LoCascio-King, Class of 2006, wrote the following tribute:

I was shocked and saddened to read about the passing of Prof. Murphy in my Holy Cross email earlier today. A 2006 graduate, I was a religious studies major and a member of the Student Advisory Committee for the Religious Studies Department. More importantly for this email, my fourth year I had the pleasure of creating a one-on-one course with Prof. Murphy regarding the synoptic gospels. My first year, he taught the religious studies courses for the FYP program. His students all raved, and I was determined to meet this man and take a class. My third year I took Introduction to the Old Testament with him and quickly learned what they were talking about. Based on that experience, I set my mind to creating a seminar with him and ultimately he agreed to help me form one on the gospels.

Each week, he and I would meet in his office for a couple of hours and discussed various topics on the three gospels, their applicability to ancient times, modern times, the Old Testament, the New Testament and, inevitably, our own personal lives. That seminar was more reading and more work than almost any other class I took in my four years on the Hill, but it was one of my most memorable. He taught me how to think, how to write, how to hone a critical eye. But what he really taught me was self-confidence, a new understanding of my view on academics and that sacred book and the ability to really delve into anything I work on. I can say with confidence that Prof. Murphy knew more about the gospels than I will ever forget. But I certainly will never forget him.

Murphy wrote books and articles.  He contributed an article, “Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature,” to Volume VII (1996) of The New Interpreter’s Bible.  His books were:

1. The Religious World of Jesus:  An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism (1991), winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award in the Humanities;
2. Pseudo-Philo:  Rewriting the Bible (1993);
3. Fallen is Babylon:  The Revelation to John (1998), for the New Testament in Context series;
4. Breviary Lives of the Saints:  February-May:  Latin Selections with Commentary and a Vocabulary (2003);
5. Breviary Lives of the Saints:  September-January:  Latin Selections with Commentary and a Vocabulary (2003);
6. An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels (2005);
7. Early Judaism:  The Exile to the Time of Jesus (2006); and
8. Apocalypticism in the Bible and Its World:  A Comprehensive Introduction (2012), published posthumously.

Murphy died on September 13, 2011, after a long illness.  He was 62 years old.

One wonders how many more students Murphy would have helped and how much more he might have contributed to Biblical scholarship had he lived longer.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 13, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, JR., EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND HYMNODIST; AND HIS NEPHEW, JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, III, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH PAYSON PRENTISS, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JEREMY TAYLOR, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF DOWN, CONNOR, AND DROMORE

THE FEAST OF JOHN BAJUS, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Frederick J. Murphy and all others]

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

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

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

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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Above:  Bohemia, 1559

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

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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PETER OF CHELCIC (CIRCA 1390-CIRCA 1460)

Bohemian Hussite Reformer

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GREGORY THE PATRIARCH (CIRCA 1420-SEPTEMBER 13, 1473)

Founder of the Moravian Church

I have been writing about saints from the history of the Moravian Church for a while.  With this post I add two foundational figures from the history of that denomination to the Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days.

Peter of Chelcic (circa 1390-circa 1460), whose origins have remained mysterious, was the Moravian forerunner.  The opinions of the fiery preacher were not mysterious, however.  He condemned the union of church and state, the violence of the Hussite Wars, the profiteering of priests who charged fees for the administration of sacraments, the existence of religious sects, and royal authority.  He was a communalist, a pacifist, an anarchist, a radical egalitarian, an advocate of simple living, and a champion of the poor.  Peter, a leader of the Bohemian Reformation, had read and absorbed works of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.  Peter taught the priesthood of the believer, communal living, and a life of voluntary goodness.  Good works, he said, are vital even though all people depend on divine grace.  He also affirmed only two sacraments–baptism and the Holy Eucharist–and offered Eucharistic theology which presaged Lutheran Consubstantiation.  Peter’s theology also influenced the Anabaptist movement, which came into existence in the 1520s.

There were Hussite factions after the execution of Jan Hus in 1417.  The two germane to this post were the Taborites and the Calixtines/Utraquists.  Peter of Chelcic was a Taborite.  The Taborites were similar to the Lollards, who formed in support of Wycliffe’s views and expanded on them.  The Calixtines/Utraquists, many of whom had returned to Holy Mother Church in 1434, were the Hussite establishment.  They administered the Holy Eucharist in both kinds–wafer and wine, hence the name “Utraquist.”  The leaders of the Utraquists were the Bohemian monarchs and the Archbishop-Elect of Prague.  From 1448 the latter was John Rockycana (circa 1396-1471).  He was the Archbishop-Elect, not the Archbishop, because Prague was a vacant see from 1421 to 1561, for political reasons.

I have chosen to be more generous to Rockycana than J. E. Hutton, author the now-public domain A History of the Moravian Church (1909), was.  He, in Chapter 5, wrote of Rockycana:

For all his fire in the pulpit, he was only a craven at heart.

Later in the same paragraph Hutton wrote that Rockycana sought not

the Kingdom of God, but his fame and glory.

That evaluation might be correct, but I do not know that for a fact.  I do know for a fact that Rockycana was in a difficult situation, flung between the Roman Catholic Church on one side and radical Hussite factions on the other side.  In an age when the union of church and state was normative, there was no separation between matters political and theological.  Thus the union of church and state created perilous ground to tread.  In that context Rockycana helped the nascent Moravian Church, or the Bohemian Brethren, until he stopped doing so, as he balanced political-theological considerations.  This reality made him imperfect, but not necessarily “a craven at heart.”

Rockycana’s nephew was Gregory the Patriarch (circa 1420-September 13, 1473), the founder of the Moravian Church.  Gregory, a son of a Bohemian knight, had been a monk.  The monastery, he learned, however, was corrupt, so he left.  Rockycana gave his nephew a copy of some of the writings of Peter of Chelcic.  Gregory found much worthy in them and befriended Peter.  Later, Gregory, with support from Rockycana, established a settlement in the valley of Kunwald in 1457 or 1458.  (J. E. Hutton wrote in A History of the Moravian Church that the traditional date, March 1, 1457, which the Moravian Church has taken as its founding, lacks documentary support.)  Thus the origins of the Moravian Church, or the Bohemian Brethren, entailed merging Taborite and Calixtine/Utraquist elements.  King George Podiebrad of Bohemia (reigned 1458-1471), who was initially supportive of the Kunwald settlement, changed his mind in 1461, when he learned that the Brethren of Kunwald were administering the Holy Eucharist in the forms of bread (not wafers) and wine.  This seemed like heresy to him, and he resolved not to condone heresy in his realm.  The first persecution of the Moravian Church followed.  It entailed incarcerating people, torturing them, and burning some of them at the stake as heretics.  Gregory endured torture until his uncle arranged for his release.

The scattered community of Kunwald reconstituted itself in time.  The synod of 1467 established the Moravian episcopate.  That succession of bishops has remained unbroken despite the century or so (1620-1722) the Moravian Church existed as an underground institution.  The first bishop was Matthias of Kunwald (died in 1500), who succeeded Gregory as the leader of the Brethren in 1473.

The Moravian Church, the original Protestant denomination, has blessed the human race with a generous theology (“In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love”) and a magnificent musical legacy.  Peter of Chelcic and Gregory the Patriarch were present at creation, laying the foundations of a work which has grown to become a global church.  I, although an active member and communicant of a different communion, one to which I am suited by temperament, thank God for the Moravian Church.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 17, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEASET OF SAINT MARY EUPHRASIA PELLETIER, FOUNDER OF THE CONTEMPLATIVES OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERT OF CHAISE DIEU, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

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Almighty God, we praise you for your servants

Peter of Chelcic and Gregory the Patriarch,

through whom you have called the church to its tasks and renewed its life.

Raise up in our own day teachers and prophets inspired by your Spirit,

whose voices will give strength to your church and proclaim the reality of your reign,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 46

1 Corinthians 3:11-23

Mark 10:35-43

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Above:  The Germane Part of a Map of India, 1945

Image Source = Hammond’s New Era Atlas of the World

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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NARAYAN SESHADRI OF JALNA (DIED JULY 21, 1891)

Indian Presbyterian Evangelist and “Apostle to the Mangs”

This saint’s name came to my attention via The Book of Worship of the Church of North India (1995), which lists his feast day as September 13.

The Free Church of Scotland emerged from the Great Disruption in the Church of Scotland in 1843.  The new denomination’s first convert in India was Narayan Seshadri, a Brahmin, who became a Christian on September 13, 1843.  This happened despite strong opposition (including a court case) from his family.  Our saint, ordained in 1854, ministered in Bombay and Poona until 1862, when he departed for Jalna, in the Nizan territory of Hyderabad.  At Jalna he founded the Bethel Mission, through which he ministered to the poor, especially the Mangs, the outcaste poor of the region.  Our saint, who received a D.D. from the University of Montreal, traveled in Scotland and North America to raise funds for the Bethel Mission.  He died en route to Scotland on July 21, 1891.

The poor, as Narayan Seshadri of Jalna and St. Laurence of Rome understood, are the treasures of the Church.  The radical message to defend the poor from the onslaughts of exploitation and artificial scarcity is evident in the Law of Moses, the words of Hebrew prophets, and the ethics of the New Testament.  Yet it remains a radical message, one which some critics within the Church accuse readily and falsely of being dangerous, perhaps even communistic or (gasp!) socialistic.  Yet “Blessed are the poor,” Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Luke.  The poor will always be with us for a number of reasons, especially unjust socio-economic-political systems, but the proportion of economic justice to economic injustice can increase.

May no agent of the Church ever scorn the poor.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 13, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT HERMENEGILD, VISIGOTHIC PRINCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK

THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN BISHOP OF TALLINN

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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 same 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), page 736

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Above:  Wells Cathedral, Between 1890 and 1900

Published by the Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-08952

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GODFREY THRING (MARCH 25, 1823-SEPTEMBER 13, 1903)

Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

The Reverend John Gake Dalton Thring, Rector of Alford, Somerset, England, and his wife, Sarah Jenkyns Thring, had a son, Godfrey Thring, in 1823. A previous son, Edward Thring, had arrived in 1821.

Edward was a remarkable person.  He, ordained by The Church of England in 1846, served as the headmaster of Uppingham School from 1853 to 1887.  He transformed it from a small, rural school into a large, public one.  Edward also encouraged music education, considered one of his duties to be to identify what each student could do well, and wrote Theory and Practice of Teaching (1883) for young teachers.  He was one of the leading English educators of his day.

Both Edward and Godfrey grew up in a household that taught them more of duty than of sentimentality.  John Gale Dalton Thring wanted Godfrey to enter the Royal Army, but Sarah Jenkyns Thring, insisted upon the priesthood for her younger son.  Godfrey obeyed his mother and fulfilled his duties with great care.  He served a few congregations for the first twelve years of his priesthood.  Then, in 1858, the Baillol College, Oxford-educated Godfrey succeeded his father as the Rector of Alford.  He was a rural dean (1867-1876) then the Prebendary of East Harptree at Wells Cathedral (1876-1893).

Our saint made his primary contribution in the realm of hymnody.  He wrote many hymns.  He also compiled three hymnals:

• Hymns Congregational and Others; Hymns and Verses (1866);
• Hymns and Sacred Lyrics (1874); and
• A Church of England Hymn Book Adapted to the Daily Services of the Church Throughout the Year (1880); revised as The Church of England Hymn Book (1882).

Our saint’s 1880/1882 hymnal constituted a protest against the practice of factions within The Church of England publishing their own hymnals, thereby denying adherents of other factions certain hymns.  The 1880/1882 hymnal also established a new, higher literary standard for English hymnals.  It favored quality of words over rampant Victorian sentimentality.

I got the impression from reading the brief biography of our saint in Robert Guy McCutchan, Our Hymnody:  A Manual of The Methodist Hymnal, 2d. Ed. (Nashville, TN:  Abingdon Press, 1937) that McCutchan preferred more sentimentality than did Godfrey Thring.  But there is such a thing as excessive sentimentality.

In a letter Edward Thring told his brother, our saint:

Be sure that no painting, no art work you could have done, by any possibility could have been so powerful for good, or given you the niche you now occupy.  As long as the English language lasts, sundry of your hymns will be read or sung, yea, even to the last day, and many a soul of God’s best creatures thrill with your words.  What more can a man want?  Very likely, if you had all the old heathendom rammed into you, as I had, and all the literary artists slicing and pruning, and had been scissored like me, you would have lost the freshness and simple touch which make you what you are.  No, my boy, I make a tidy schoolmaster and pass into the lives of many a pupil, and you live on the lips of the Church.  So be satisfied.  And what does it matter, if we do the Master’s work?

–Quoted in Robert Guy McCutchan, Our Hymnody (1937), 70

Godfrey Thring occupied a fine niche in the Church.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 12, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF EDWIN PAXTON HOOD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, CONGREGATIONALIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF EMMEGAHBOWH, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT FREDERICK OF UTRECHT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR; AND SAINT ODULT OF UTRECHT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST

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Eternal God, light of the world and Creator of all that is good and lovely:

We bless your name for inspiring Godfrey Thring

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

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

lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

1 Chronicles 29:14b-19

Psalm 90:14-17

2 Corinthians 3:1-3

John 21:15-17, 24-25

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 728

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Above:  Falmouth, Cornwall, England, Between 1890 and 1900

Image Creator = Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002696587/)

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-08217

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JANE FOX CREWDSON (OCTOBER 1809-SEPTEMBER 14, 1863)

English Quaker Poet and Hymn Writer

Of Jane Crewdson (1809-1863) I found little information.  She was born Jane Fox in a Quaker family at Cornwall in October 1809.  Jane married Thomas D. Crewdson, a manufacturer in Manchester, in 1836.  She wrote books of poetry:

• Aunt Jane’s Verses for Children (1851);
• Lays of the Reformation and Other Lyrics (1860);
• The Singer of Eisenach; and
• A Little While, and Other Poems (1864).

Sources refer to an unspecified “long illness” which caused our saint much pain.  Of Jane Crewdson James Moffatt wrote:

As a constant sufferer, the spiritual life deepening, and the intellectual life retaining all its power, she became well prepared to testify to the all-sufficiency of her Saviour’s love.

–Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 310)

I have already posted two of our saint’s hymns here.  Her hymns did reflect a profound spirituality, for which I honor her.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 11, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BARNABAS THE APOSTLE, COWORKER OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

THE FEAST OF VERNON JOHNS, NATIONAL BAPTIST PASTOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER

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Aunt Jane’s Verses for Children:

http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009563432

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Jane Crewdson 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

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Forget-Me-Nots

Image Source = Wilder Kaiser

1 (Dionysius Exiguus, Roman Catholic Monk and Reformer of the Calendar)

• David Pendleton Oakerhater, Cheyenne Warrior, Chief, and Holy Man, and Episcopal Deacon and Missionary in Oklahoma
• Fiacre, Roman Catholic Hermit
• François Mauriac, French Roman Catholic Novelist, Christian Humanist, and Social Critic

2 (Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942 and 1943)

• David Charles, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Dianna Ortiz, U.S. Roman Catholic Nun and Anti-Torture Activist
• William of Roskilde, English-Danish Roman Catholic Bishop

3 (Jedediah Weiss, U.S. Moravian Craftsman, Merchant, and Musician)

• Arthur Carl Lichtenberger, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, and Witness for Civil Rights
• F. Crawford Burkitt, Anglican Scholar, Theologian, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator
• James Bolan Lawrence, Episcopal Priest and Missionary in Southwestern Georgia, U.S.A.
• Sundar Singh, Indian Christian Evangelist

4 (Paul Jones, Episcopal Bishop of Utah, and Peace Activist; and his colleague, John Nevin Sayre, Episcopal Priest and Peace Activist)

• Birinus of Dorchester, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dorchester, and the “Apostle of Wessex”
• E. F. Schumacher, German-British Economist and Social Critic
• Gorazd of Prague, Orthodox Bishop of Moravia and Silesia, Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, Hierarch of the Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia, and Martyr, 1942
• William McKane, Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar

5 (Carl Johannes Sodergren, U.S. Lutheran Minister and Theologian; and his colleague, Claus August Wendell, Swedish-American Lutheran Minister and Theologian)

• Athol Hill, Australian Baptist Biblical Scholar and Social Prophet
• Teresa of Calcutta, Founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity
• William F. Albright and G. Ernest Wright, U.S. Biblical Scholars and Archaeologists
• William Morton Reynolds, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Episcopal Priest, Educator, and Hymn Translator

6 (Charles Fox, Anglican Missionary in Melanesia)

• Aaron Robarts Wolfe, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
• Allen Crite, Artist
• Joseph Gomer and Mary Gomer, U.S. United Brethren Missionaries in Sierra Leone

7 (Beyers Naudé, South African Dutch Reformed Minister and Anti-Apartheid Activist)

• Elie Naud, Huguenot Witness to the Faith
• Hannah More, Anglican Poet, Playwright, Religious Writer, and Philanthropist
• Jane Laurie Borthwick and Sarah Borthwick Findlater, Scottish Presbyterian Translators of Hymns
• John Duckett and Ralph Corby, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs in England, 1644
• Kassiani the Hymnographer, Byzantine Abbess, Poet, Composer, Hymn Writer, and Defender of Icons

8 (Nikolai Grundtvig, Danish Lutheran Minister, Bishop, Historian, Philosopher, Poet, Educator, and Hymn Writer)

• Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer, German Lutheran Attorney and Hymn Writer; and Frances Elizabeth Cox, English Hymn Writer and Translator
• Shepherd Knapp, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Søren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher and Theologian, and Father of Existentialism
• Wladyslaw Bladzinski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944

9 (Martyrs of Memphis, Tennessee, 1878)

• Francis Borgia, “Second Founder of the Society of Jesus;” Peter Faber, Apostle of Germany, and Co-Founder of the Society of Jesus; Alphonsus Rodriguez, Spanish Jesuit Lay Brother; and Peter Claver, “Apostle to the Negroes”
• Lucy Jane Rider Meyer, Novelist, Hymn Writer, Medical Doctor, and Founder of the Deaconess Movement in the Methodist Episcopal Church
• Sarah Mapps Douglass, U.S. African-American Quaker Abolitionist, Writer, Painter, and Lecturer
• William Chatterton Dix, English Hymn Writer and Hymn Translator

10 (Alexander Crummell, U.S. African-American Episcopal Priest, Missionary, and Moral Philosopher)

• Lynn Harold Hough, U.S. Methodist Minister, Theologian, and Biblical Scholar
• Mordecai Johnson, Educator
• Nemesian of Sigum and His Companions, Roman Catholic Bishops and Martyrs, 257
• Salvius of Albi, Roman Catholic Bishop

11 (Paphnutius the Great, Roman Catholic Bishop of Upper Thebaid)

• Anne Houlditch Shepherd, Anglican Novelist and Hymn Writer
• Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, French Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, and Martyr in China, 1840
• John Stainer and Walter Galpin Alcock, Anglican Church Organists and Composers
• Patiens of Lyons, Roman Catholic Archbishop

12 (Kaspar Bienemann, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer)

• Ernest Edwin Ryder, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Hymn Writer, Hymn Translator, and Hymnal Editor
• Franciscus Ch’oe Kyong-Hwan, Korean Roman Catholic Catechist and Martyr, 1839; Lawrence Mary Joseph Imbert, Pierre Philibert Maubant, and Jacques Honoré Chastán, French Roman Catholic Priests, Missionaries to Korea, and Martyrs, 1839; Paul Chong Hasang, Korean Roman Catholic Seminarian and Martyr, 1839; and Cecilia Yu Sosa and Jung Hye, Korean Roman Catholic Martyrs, 1839
• William Josiah Irons, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Hymn Translator; and his daughter, Genevieve Mary Irons, Roman Catholic Hymn Writer

13 (Peter of Chelcic, Bohemian Hussite Reformer; and Gregory the Patriarch, Founder of the Moravian Church)

• Frederick J. Murphy, U.S. Roman Catholic Biblical Scholar
• Godfrey Thring, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• Jane Crewdson, English Quaker Poet and Hymn Writer
• Narayan Seshadri of Jalna, Indian Presbyterian Evangelist and “Apostle to the Mangs”
• Robert Guy McCutchan, U.S. Methodist Hymnal Editor and Hymn Tune Composer

14 (HOLY CROSS)

15 (Martyrs of Birmingham, Alabama, September 15, 1963)

• Charles Edward Oakley, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
• George Henry Trabert, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Missionary, and Hymn Translator and Author
• James Chisholm, Episcopal Priest
• Philibert and Aicardus of Jumieges, Roman Catholic Abbots

16 (Cyprian of Carthage, Bishop and Martyr, 258; and Cornelius, Lucius I, and Stephen I, Bishops of Rome)

• James Francis Carney, U.S.-Honduran Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary, Revolutionary, and Martyr, 1983
• Martin Behm, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer

17 (Jutta of Disibodenberg, Roman Catholic Abbess; and her student, Hildegard of Bingen, Roman Catholic Abbess and Composer)

• Zygmunt Szcesny Felinski, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Warsaw, Titutlar Bishop of Tarsus, and Founder of Recovery for the Poor and the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary
• Zygmunt Sajna, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1940

18 (Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations)

• Amos Niven Wilder, U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Poet, Literary Critic, and Biblical Scholar
• Edward Bouverie Pusey, Anglican Priest
• Henry Lascelles Jenner, Anglican Bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand
• Henry Wellington Greatorex, Anglican and Episcopal Organist, Choirmaster, and Hymnodist
• John Campbell Shairp, Scottish Poet and Educator

19 (Gerard Moultrie, Anglican Priest, Hymn Writer, and Translator of Hymns)

• Clarence Alphonsus Walworth, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Poet, Hymn Translator, and Hymn Writer; Co-Founder of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (the Paulist Fathers)
• Emily de Rodat, Founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Villefranche

• Walter Chalmers Smith, Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
• William Dalrymple Maclagan, Archbishop of York and Hymn Writer

20 (Henri Nouwen, Dutch Roman Catholic Priest and Spiritual Writer)

• Elizabeth Kenny, Australian Nurse and Medical Pioneer
• John Coleridge Patteson, Anglican Bishop of Melanesia, and His Companions, Martyrs, 1871
• Marie Therese of Saint Joseph, Founder of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus
• Nelson Wesley Trout, First African-American U.S. Lutheran Bishop

21 (MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR)

22 (Philander Chase, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, and of Illinois; and Presiding Bishop)

• C. H. Dodd, Welsh Congregationalist Minister, Theologian, and Biblical Scholar
• Charlotte Elliott, Julia Anne Elliott, and Emily Elliott, Anglican Hymn Writers
• Justus Falckner, Lutheran Pastor and Hymn Writer
• Stephen G. Cary, U.S. Quaker Humanitarian and Antiwar Activist

23 (Francisco de Paula Victor, Brazilian Roman Catholic Priest)

• Churchill Julius, Anglican Bishop of Christchurch, and Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand
• Émelie Tavernier Gamelin, Founder of the Sisters of Providence
• Jozef Stanek, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1944

24 (Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, African-American Episcopal Deaconess in Georgia, and Educator)

• Henry Hart Milman, Anglican Dean, Translator, Historian, Theologian, and Hymn Writer
• Juvenal of Alaska, Russian Orthodox Martyr in Alaska, and First Orthodox Martyr in the Americas, 1796
• Peter the Aleut, Russian Orthodox Martyr in San Francisco, 1815
• Silouan of Mount Athos, Eastern Orthodox Monk and Poet

25 (Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany, African-American Educator; her sister, Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany, African-American Dentist; and their brother, Hubert Thomas Delany, African-American Attorney, Judge, and Civil Rights Activist)

• Bernhard W. Anderson, U.S. United Methodist Minister and Biblical Scholar
• Euphrosyne and her father, Paphnutius of Alexandria, Monks
• Herman of Reichenau, Roman Catholic Monk, Liturgist, Poet, and Scholar
• Judith Lomax, Episcopal Mystic and Poet
• Sergius of Radonezh, Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Sergiyev Posad, Russia

26 (Paul VI, Bishop of Rome)

• Frederick William Faber, English Roman Catholic Hymn Writer
• John Bright, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Biblical Scholar
• John Byrom, Anglican then Quaker Poet and Hymn Writer
• Joseph A. Sittler, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Theologian, and Ecumenist
• Lancelot Andrewes, Anglican Bishop of Chichester then of Ely then of Winchester

27 (Francis de Sales, Roman Catholic Bishop of Geneva; Vincent de Paul, “The Apostle of Charity;’ Louise de Marillac, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul; and Charles Fuge Lowder, Founder of the Society of the Holy Cross)

• Edward McGlynn, U.S. Roman Catholic Priest, Social Reformer, and Alleged Heretic
• Eliza Scudder, U.S. Unitarian then Episcopalian Hymn Writer
• Joanna P. Moore, U.S. Baptist Missionary and Educator
• Martyrs of Melanesia, 1864-2003
• Thomas Traherne, Anglican Priest, Poet, and Spiritual Writer

28 (Jehu Jones, Jr., African-American Lutheran Minister)

• Francis Turner Palgrave, Anglican Poet, Art Critic, and Hymn Writer
• Joseph Hoskins, English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
• Lorenzo Ruiz and His Companions, Roman Catholic Missionaries and Martyrs in Japan, 1637

29 (MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS)

30 (Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury)

• Mary Ramabai, Prophetic Witness and Evangelist in India
• Richard Challoner, English Roman Catholic Scholar, Religious Writer, Translator, Controversialist, Priest, and Titular Bishop of Doberus

Floating

• Labor Day

 

Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.