These children–unoffending; innocent and beautiful–were the victims of one of the most vicious, heinous crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.

Above:  Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, 1993

Photographer = Jet Lowe

Image Source = Library of Congress

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ADDIE MAY COLLINS (AGE 14)

CAROLE ROBERTSON (AGE 14)

CYNTHIA WESLEY (AGE 14)

DENISE MCNAIR (AGE 11)

Died in the basement of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, Sunday, September 15, 1963

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–The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., September 18, 1963

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This feast comes to my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days via Robert Ellsberg, All Saints:  Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time (1997).

The city of Birmingham, Alabama, was notorious during the Civil Rights Movement.  There, from 1956 to 1963, the city earned its unfortunate nickname, “Bombingham,” due to the at least 28 unsolved racially motivated bombings.  In Birmingham, in 1963, authorities committed unjustifiable violence against peaceful protesters–many of them juveniles–when they sprayed them with water full-force (sufficient to break bones) from fire water hoses and sent dogs to attack protesters.  In Birmingham, in April 1963, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., sat in the jail and wrote his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail, one of the great texts of moral theology in the twentieth century.  And, on September 15, 1963, a few bombers committed a crime that claimed lives and shocked much of the world.

September 15, 1963, was to be Youth Day at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.  Addie May Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair, set aside to lead the 11:00 service, were excited.  They had left Sunday School early and gone to put on their white choir robes in the basement.  The new school year had begun; they were discussing that topic.  Upstairs, in a women’s Sunday School class, the topic of the lesson was “The Love that Forgives.”  Then, at 10:22, a bomb exploded in the basement, destroying the outside stone staircase, blowing a hole in the eastern façade of the building, injuring twenty people, and killing the four girls.

Moral revulsion at this act was global yet not universal.  The Vatican newspaper likened the bombing to a “massacre of the innocents.”  The bombing and the four deaths shocked even many of the most hardened segregationists.  In Birmingham that Sunday, however, the bombing inspired social violence–some of it fatal–by whites on African Americans who were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The wrong place was Birmingham.

At the funeral three days later Dr. King condemned the crime and reminded the mourners that

God has a way of wringing good out of evil.

He also stated the necessity of being concerned with the system and society that produced those immediately responsible for the bombing.

King’s words remain relevant.  His speeches and writings have a simultaneously noble and unnerving quality, for they remain germane when we Americans, as a country, should have made more progress toward social justice.  In the context of 2015-2018 in the United States several factors alarm me.  The move of hateful rhetoric and policies, until recently usually relegated to whispers, coded speech, and unapologetically racist wing nuts on the Far Right into the mainstream of politics, but without the coded language, is sinful.  Many election results of recent years confirm this phenomenon.  Yet this period in U.S. history is not unique, the study of the past teaches me.  White supremacy is an indefensible American tradition.  It is as American as motherhood, apple pie, and

…all men are created equal….

Human depravity is, in my mind, a verified fact, not an article of faith.  I need no faith to believe that which I can prove objectively.

King still teaches us, if we listen.  The deaths of the four girls and the injuries of the twenty other people at the church on September 15, 1963, still teach us, if we listen.  Do we dare to listen to the lessons they impart?

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Loving God of the Incarnation, you identify with us in our joys and our sorrows.

We thank you for your holy children:  Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair.

We also mourn them, murdered in an act of racism, cruelty, and cowardice.

Burn out of us, we pray, all hatred for any of our fellow human beings, and cast out all prejudice that leads to bigotry.

We pray through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, an innocent man who died violently and unjustly.

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

Isaiah 69:17-22

Psalm 37:1-13

Romans 12:9-21

Matthew 2:13-18

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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Above:  George Henry Trabert

Image Source = http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/t/r/a/trabert_gh.htm

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GEORGE HENRY TRABERT (OCTOBER 16, 1843-SEPTEMBER 15, 1931)

U.S. Lutheran Minister, Missionary, and Hymn Translator and Author

How often have you, O reader, read the names of authors and translators of hymns and wondered who those people were?  How often have you wanted to learn their stories?  Such inquisitiveness prompted me to learn and write about George Henry Trabert.

Trabert wrote hymns, translated 40 Swedish hymns into English, served as the first English-language missionary for the Augustana Synod in Minnesota, wrote works of church history, and founded then led a social services agency.  He left a great legacy, to the glory of God.

Our saint’s story began with two German immigrants, Christopher A. Trabert and Fredericka Stappf Trabert.  They settled in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  There our saint entered the world on October 16, 1843.  At the time of the U.S. Census of 1850 the Trabert household consisted of the parents, our saint, John William Trabert (aged four years), and Anna S. Trabert (aged two years).  The family remained intact for the next decade; a new brother, Christian E. Trabert, was present at the time of the U.S. Census of 1860.

Our saint grew up and left the nest.  In 1867 he graduated from Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Three years later he completed his studies at and graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  By then he was a married man, having wed Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Minnigh (June 5, 1842-January 15, 1930), of Gettysburg, at St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church there on June 23, 1869.  The German Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States ordained Trabert in 1870.

The first stage of Trabert’s career occurred in Pennsylvania.  His first pastorate was Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ephrata, where he served until 1873.  From 1873 to 1877 Trabert was the pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Elizabethtown, and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mount Joy.  Then, from 1877 to the end of 1882, he served as pastor of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lebanon.

Meanwhile, on the home front, our saint’s household was growing in number.  Children born were:

1. Charles Luther Trabert (1871-1945);
2. Ernest E. Trabert (born circa 1873);
3. George Christopher Trabert (1874-1886), who died of diptheria;
4. Elizabeth F. Trabert (born circa 1876);
5. Paul Melancthon Trabert (1878-1886), who died of diptheria;
6. Elsie Amelia Trabert (1879-1886), who died of diptheria; and
7. Ruth E. Trabert (born circa 1881), who became Ruth E. Smith.

Above:  Logo of the Augustana Synod

Effective January 1, 1883, Trabert became a missionary for the Augustana Synod, which was of Swedish immigrant origin.  Both the Ministerium of Pennyslvania and the Augustana Synod belonged to the same umbrella organization, the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America (1867-1918).  The Augustana Synod, which retained the use of the Swedish language into the twentieth century, undertook some missionary work in the English language.  Trabert became their first English-language missionary in Minnesota.  His tenure in the Augustana Synod lasted until 1892.  Trabert, supported also by St. John’s English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, organized four churches in Minneapolis, one in St. Paul, one in Red Wing, and one in Duluth.  The first two congregations were St. John’s English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis (organized June 8, 1883), and Memorial English Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Paul (organized July 24, 1883).  These churches became the cradle of the General Synod’s English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the Northwest (1891).  Other congregations Trabert organized included St. Paul English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Redwing (1884); Elim English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Duluth (1890); and Salem English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis (1890).  There were also, of course, other English-language Lutheran missionaries organizing and leading congregations in Minnesota and neighboring territories and states, as well as southern Canada.

The legacy of Memorial English Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Paul, has survived via a series of mergers.  In 1910 the congregation consolidated with St. James English Evangelical Lutheran Church to form Reformation Lutheran Church.  In 1977 that congregation consolidated with St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church (founded in 1917) to create St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church.

On the home front joy and sorrow marked the Traberts’ life together.  Three children died of diptheria in November 1886, but five new members joined the family from 1883 to 1892:

1. William Henry Trabert (1883-1906),
2. Allen Trabert (born circa 1884),
3. Maude Trabert (born circa 1886),
4. Arthur Trabert (born circa 1889), and
5. Earl Trabert (born circa 1892).

In 1892 Trabert resigned as the pastor of St. John’s, Minneapolis, and returned to Pennsylvania, where he remained for a few years.  He served at St. Paul’s, Warren, from 1892 to 1896 before transferring to St. John’s English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wilkes-Barre, which he left in 1897.  Minnesota beckoned again.

Source = The Minneapolis Journal, Saturday, June 25, 1904, page 10

Accessed via newspapers.com

From 1897 to 1920 Trabert served as the pastor of Salem English Evangelical Lutheran  Church, Minneapolis.  (He had organized that congregation seven years prior.)  While there our saint served beyond the local church.  He was, for example, the President of the Synod of the Northwest from 1901 to 1905.  Furthermore, Trabert became involved in providing social services.

Trabert founded the Lutheran Inner Mission Society of Minneapolis in 1905 and served as its president until 1915.  This organization merged with The Colony of Mercy (founded in 1919) to become the Inner Mission Society in 1922.  Five years later the Inner Mission Society changed its name to The Lutheran Welfare Society, which, in 1963, merged with the Board of Christian Service (late of the Minnesota Conference of the Augustana Synod) to create Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota.  The Inner Mission Society named the Hospice (more of a hotel) for Young Women, capable of housing 78 residents in the original structure and 92 more in the annex), acquired in 1919, Trabert Hall in honor of our saint.

Trabert retired in 1920, having lived for 76 years and served as an active minister for half a century.  He remained in Minneapolis.  At the time of the U.S. Census of 1920 his household included his beloved Lizzie (77); a daughter, Ruth (38); her husband, Rolland A. Smith (40); and their children, Charles P. Smith (6) and Priscilla E. Smith (newborn).  Lizzie died on January 15, 1930, after 60 years of marriage.  Trabert continued to live with Ruth and her family until he died, aged 87 years, on September 15, 1931.

Trabert left a written legacy also.  He translated 40 Swedish hymns into English and wrote at least two original hymns.  (I have located four of these texts and added them to my GATHERED PRAYERS weblog.)  He also translated The Life of Luther in Picture and Verse, by J. A. Darmstedter, from German into English in 1879.  Furthermore, Trabert wrote the following published works:

1. Genuine vs. Spurious Revivals:  A Tract (1876);
2. The Mode of Baptism as Taught in God’s Word:  A Sermon Preached in the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Elizabethtown and Mount Joy, Pa. (1876);
3. Ebenezer:  An Address Delivered in St. John’s English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minn. (1890);
4. Historical Sketch of the Mission of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Among the Telugus of India (1890);
5. Church History for the People (1897);
6. Questions and Answers on Luther’s Small Catechism:  For the Use of the Church, School and Family (1911); and
7. English Lutheranism in the Northwest (1914).

Dorris A. Flesner wrote a biography, George Henry Trabert:  Pioneer English Lutheran Home Missionary in Minnesota (1985).

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 16, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE BERKELEY, IRISH ANGLICAN BISHOP AND PHILOSOPHER; AND JOSEPH BUTLER, ANGLICAN BISHOP AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN FRANCIS REGIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF NORMAN MACLEOD, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER; AND HIS COUSIN, JOHN MACLEOD, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF RUFUS JONES, QUAKER THEOLOGIAN

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God of grace and glory, we praise you for your servant George Henry Trabert,

who made the good news known in Minnesota.

Raise up, we pray, in every country, heralds of the gospel,

so that the world may know the immeasurable riches of your love,

and be drawn to worship you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Isaiah 62:1-7

Psalm 48

Romans 10:11-17

Luke 24:44-53

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 59

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Above:  The Grave Marker of James and Jane Page Chisholm

Image Source = Jweaver28

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JAMES CHISHOLM (SEPTEMBER 30, 1815-SEPTEMBER 15, 1855)

Episcopal Priest

James Chisholm devoted his life to Christ and gave that life while being a pastor during an epidemic.  He exemplified the truth that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s brothers and sisters.

Chisholm, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, entered the world on September 30, 1815.  He grew up a Baptist.  His father was William Chisholm, a Scottish immigrant and a member of a family with Jacobite sympathies.  Our saint’s mother was Martha Vincent, of Italian ancestry as well as a native of Salem.  William died when our saint, as a youth, was 12 years old.

Our saint, as a youth, established certain life-long patterns.  He was a bookish youth with a gift for languages.   By the time Chisholm graduated from Harvard College in 1836 he had mastered the written and oral forms of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, German, and Italian.  He was also fond of singing sacred music and attending church and Sunday school regularly.  The serious-minded young man was able to obtain an education because of the financial support of his siblings.  Chisholm understood the principle of interdependence, by which he lived until the end.

Chisholm taught for a few years after graduating from Harvard College.  For less than a year, starting in 1836, our saint taught at the Academy in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia).  In Charles Town our saint became enamored of worship according to The Book of Common Prayer (1789) and attended Episcopal services regularly.   David Holmes Conrad, Chisholm’s biographer, wrote:

The beautiful simplicity of the ancient ritual spoke to his taste; the subdued and chastened emotions of the communicants, to his better feelings; the deep import of the whole, to his heart.  It was the first direct appeal of the Spirit, and was not unheeded.

—Memoir of the Rev. James Chisholm (1856), page 25

For a year and half, starting in 1837, our saint lived in Washington, D.C., where he taught at a classical school.  In Washington, on February 24, 1839, he became an Episcopalian.  He studied at the Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia, graduating in 1840.  Chisholm became a deacon on October 4, 1840.

Chisholm was a clergyman for about 15 years.  For about two years he worked among the slaves of U.S. Senator William Cabell Rives of Virginia.  In 1842 our saint, as a priest, began to serve at Norborne Parish, Berkeley County, Virginia.  The parish consisted of two rural congregations–Trinity Church, Martinsburg, and Mount Zion Church, Hedgesville.  Chisholm attended to the needs of his flock faithfully and revitalized the congregations.  He remained there until 1850, when he left for financial reasons.  Chisholm, having married Jane Page of Clarke County, Virginia, in 1847 and became the father of William Byrd “Willy” Chisholm in September 1848, had a family to support.

St. John’s Church, Portsmouth, founded as a High Church congregation at a time when that was a subject of heated controversy in The Episcopal Church, called Chisholm to be their first rector.  He accepted.  During the next few years our saint’s family life continued.  The Chisholm’s welcomed their second son, Johnny.  Then, on February 28, 1855, Jane died of natural causes, leaving our saint a widower with two young sons.

Matters turned for the worse in late July 1855, when the outbreak of yellow fever in the tidewater region of Virginia began.  By the time the epidemic was over, thousands of people had died during several months.  Many people, especially the wealthy and many physicians and pastors, escaped to safety.  This reality made matters worse for those who could not leave and those who chose to remain.  Chisholm, who chose to remain, sent his two sons away, to live with their aunt, Mary Page, of Cumberland County, Virginia.  Nevertheless, Johnny died of measles on August 31, 1855.  The priest, who had to contend with personal grief, helped many in their times of desperation.  He, for example, functioned as a pastor, delivered food, served as a medic, and dug graves, often to the point of exhaustion day after day.  He died of yellow fever on September 15, 1855, 15 days short of his fortieth birthday.

Although Chisholm, as a youth, was capable of long walks without difficulty as a youth, had a delicate constitution by the 1850s.  He was also an introvert, so many of his duties, even during the best of times, must have proved difficult.  (Aside:  My experience is that many, if not most, church members prefer extroverted ministers.  I have also known holy, capable, and introverted priests need to undertake long retreats occasionally.)  Chisholm was definitely compassionate, however, and he died because he insisted on living compassionately.

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Merciful God, you called your priest James Chisholm to sacrifice his life in working

to relieve his parishioners and the people of his city during a yellow fever epidemic:

Help us remember that in giving up our lives to your service,

we win the eternal crown that never fades away in that heavenly kingdom where,

with Jesus Christ our Savior and the Holy Spirit, you reign, one God, in glory everlasting.  Amen.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 38:9-17

Psalm 116:5-9

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Matthew 24:1-8

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 585

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Above:  General View of Covent Garden, Looking North, Circa 1720

From an Engraving by Sutton Nicholls

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-12670

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CHARLES EDWARD OAKLEY (1832-SEPTEMBER 15, 1865)

Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

Charles Edward Oakley, born in Rhyl, Wales, attended Oxford and trained in civil law.  His real vocation, however, was the priesthood.  He served as the Rector of Wickwar from 1856 to 1863 then as Rector of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, London, from 1863 until his untimely death.  He also wrote hymns, such as the following, with missions and Advent themes:

Hills of the North, rejoice:

River and mountain-spring,

Hark to the advent voice!

Valley and lowland, sing!

Though absent long, your Lord is nigh,

He judgment brings, and victory.

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Isles of the Southern seas,

Deep in your coral caves

Pent be each warring breeze,

Lulled be your restless waves:

He comes to reign with boundless sway,

And make your wastes His great highway.

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Lands of the East, awake!

Soon shall your sons be free,

The sleep of ages break,

And rise to liberty:

On your far hills, long cold and grey,

Has dawned the everlasting day.

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Shores of the utmost West,

Ye that have waited long,

Unvisited, unblest,

Break forth to swellkng song;

High raise the note, that Jesus died,

Yet lives and reigns—the Crucified!

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Shout while ye journey home!

Songs be in every mouth!—

Lo, from the North we come,

From East, and West, and South:

City of God, the bond are free;

We come to live and reign in thee.

Our saint’s memorial at S. Paul’s Church reads in part:

This remarkable man, endowed with mental powers of the highest order, had cultivated and excelled in all.  None could hear without admiration his brilliant and impressive eloquence, or fail to love his noble and gentle nature…..He bore witness not only with his lips but in his life to the power of Divine grace….Although his pastoral charge over this parish lasted for only two years, yet the great work which in that short time he was enabled to effect will long be gratefully remembered by those who would appreciate the worth of his loving spirit, devotedness of life, and eminently Christian character.

–Quoted in James Moffatt, Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, 451).

Charles Edward Oakley could have done more for the glory of God and the benefit of others with more time, but he did much with the short life he had.  What will you, O reader, do with the time God has granted you?

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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O God, our heavenly Father, who raised up your servant Charles Edward Oakley

to be a pastor in your Church and to feed your flock:

give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of the Holy Spirit,

that they may minister in your household as true servants of Christ

and stewards of your divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord,

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

Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84 or 84:7-11

Ephesians 3:14-21

Matthew 24:42-47

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 719

Above:  Sheep and Shepherds

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-10045

Image Source = Library of Congress

Precious to God

The Sunday Closest to September 14

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 and Psalm 14

or 

Exodus 32:7-14 and Psalm 51:1-11

then 

1 Timothy 1:1-12

Luke 15:1-10

The Collect:

O God, because without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Some Related Posts:

Prayer of Praise and Adoration:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/prayer-of-praise-and-adoration-for-the-seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost/

Prayer of Confession:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/prayer-of-confession-for-the-seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost/

Prayer of Dedication:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-seventeenth-sunday-after-pentecost/

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The benighted man thinks,

“God does not care.”

–Psalm 14:1, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

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Changing God conceptes in the Bible interest me.  Yahweh, in Genesis and Exodus, is willing to annihilate sinful populations.  But God, in Jeremiah 4, holds back the worst of judgment for sins.  And God, as characters in parables in Luke 15:1-10, finds lost, sinful people precious, even necessary to find and to redeem.

I like the translation of Psalm 14:1 from TANAKH:  The Holy Scripures.  The standard English translation from the Hebrew text into English is that a fool claims that God does not exist.  But, as Atheism was rare in the original context of that psalm,

God does not care

works well as what the fool says.  The fool acknowledges the existence of God while being a practical Atheist.  This rendering of the verse reminds me of the Deist concept of God as a watchmaker who refuses to intervene in events.

The God of the Bible–whichever understanding of that deity from which one speaks–cares deeply.  And I, as a Christian, affirm that the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth, who died and rose again, defeating perfidious schemes and conquering evil.  And, if each of us is precious to God, how precious should we be to each other?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 24, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE, MARTYR

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Above:  A Map of Gaul in 628 Common Era

SAINT PHILIBERT OF JUMIEGES (CIRCA 608-CIRCA 685)

Roman Catholic Abbot

His feast transferred from August 20

preceded

SAINT AICHARDUS OF JUMIEGES (DIED 687)

Roman Catholic Abbot

His feast = September 15

St. Philibert was the son of Philiband, Bishop of Aire.  The saint, educated in the court of Dagobert I (reigned 623-639), King of Austrasia from 623 and of all Franks from 629, entered the monastery at Rabais at age twenty.  In time he became abbot, but left that post because of a dispute with some monks.  Next the saint founded the monastery at Jumieges in 654; Clovis II (reigned 639-657), King of Neustria and Burgundy, donated the land.   The saint also founded St. Benedict’s Abbey, Quincay, then the monastery at Jumieges.  And, at one point, he, under the authority of Ansoald, Bishop of Poiters, led the monastery at Lucon.

Not all was well between St. Philibert and the royal court, however.  He condemned Ebroin, the perfidious Mayor of the Palace and a man with whom there was a paucity of virtue.  This political situation led to an exile of the saint on Herio Island, off the Atlantic coast.  During his exile the saint founded the monastery at Noirmoutier.  At least something positive came out of the situation.

The life of St. Philibert intersected with that of St. Aichardus.  This saint, educated at the Poitiers monastery, rejected his presumed career path–the military, where his father had made a life–and became a monk instead.  For thirty-nine years St. Aichardus lived at St. Jouin Abbey, Ansion.  Then he led St. Benedict’s Abbey, Quincay, which St. Philibert had founded.  Next St. Aichardus succeeded St. Philibert as abbot of the monastery at Jumieges.  This was the last post St. Aichardus held.  He did it well, leading by example and inspiring his 900 monks to live their rule strictly.

Men such as these proved crucial to preserving Western civilization.  All of us should thank God that they lived and fulfilled their vocations; I do.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 20, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS FLAVIAN II OF ANTIOCH AND ELIAS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCHS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANSEGIUS OF FONTANELLE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, AMELIA BLOOMER, SOJOURNER TRUTH, AND HARRIET ROSS TUBMAN, WITNESSES TO CIVIL RIGHTS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS AND WOMEN

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O God, by whose grace your servants  Saints Philibert and Aichardus of Jumieges,

kindled with the flame of your love, became bright and shining lights in your Church:

Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline,

and walk before you as children of light;

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.

Acts 2:42-47a

Psalm 133 or 34:1-8 or 119:161-168

2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Matthew 6:24-33

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 723

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.