This book passed through many editions and generally had a wholesome effect on church music, especially in the larger cities.

Above:  Greatorex’s Gloria Patri

Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor from The Methodist Hymnal (1935)

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

HENRY WELLINGTON GREATOREX (DECEMBER 24, 1813-SEPTEMBER 18, 1858)

Anglican and Episcopal Organist, Choirmaster, and Hymnodist

Henry Wellington Greatorex comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Methodist Hymnal (1935), The Hymnal (1941), and The Methodist Hymnal (1966).  My main sources for this post are the companion volumes for those hymnals.

Henry, born in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, on December 24, 1813, came from an illustrious family of church musicians.  Our saint’s grandfather, Anthony Greatorex, was the organist at Burton-on-Trent, as well as the composer of the hymn tune BURTON.  Our saint’s father, Thomas Greatorex, was the organist at Carlisle Cathedral.  In 1819. Thomas became the organist at Westminster Abbey.  He also composed hymn tunes (including TOTTENTAM), chants, and other church music.  Furthermore, Thomas was a conductor.   When he died, he was destined for a burial inside Westminster Abbey.  Henry, born in Burton-in-Trent, site of the family’s country home, grew up there and in London.  He also received a fine education, especially in church music.

Above:  Center Church, Hartford, Connecticut

Image Source = Google Earth

Henry moved to the United States in 1839.  He had accepted an invitation to become the organist at Center Church (the First Church of Christ), Hartford, Connecticut.  Our saint, who enjoyed living in Hartford, served as the organist of Center Church for about two years.  After leaving Hartford and staying away briefly, he moved to West Hartford and became the organist at St. John’s Episcopal Church, recently founded.  

Above:  St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, New York

Image Source = Google Earth

In 1846, Henry transferred to St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, New York, to work as the organist.  After leaving St. Paul’s Chapel, our saint served as the organist-choirmaster of Calvary Episcopal Church, New York, New York.  Then he relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1853, to serve as an Episcopal Church organist.  He died of yellow fever on September 18, 1858.  He was 44 years old.

Our saint married twice.  He married Frances (Samantha) Filley, of Windsor, Connecticut, while he worked in Hartford.  Their son, Frank Henry Greatorex, born in New York, New York, had a fine singing voice, as did his father.  Frank eventually settled in St. Augustine, Florida.  Frank never knew his mother, who died shortly after his death.  Henry married Eliza Pratt, a native of Ireland, as well as a Methodist preacher’s kid, in 1849.  Eliza was a capable and world-famous sketch artist.  She and our saint had three children–one son and two daughters.  The daughters became activists, too.  Eliza also had a fine contralto voice.

In 1851, Henry published A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Chants, Anthems, and Sentences for the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, and For Congregations of Other Denominations, as Well as for Societies and Schools.  This volume included an arrangement of the hymn tune SEYMOUR, as well as his original hymn tune MANOAH.  The Collection also included an arrangement of the Gloria Patri.  In all, thirty-seven compositions and arrangements in the Collection bore the initials “H. W. G.”

Robert Guy McCutchan (1877-1958), who valued good church music, held our saint’s Collection in high esteem.  McCutchan wrote:

—Our Hymnody:  A Manual of The Methodist Hymnal (1937), 396

Henry’s death left Eliza a widow.  She died in Paris, France, on February 9, 1897.  She was 87 years old.

Our saint’s high standard in church music and indicated his reverence.  It was a standard many church musicians would still do well to emulate.  In the Preface to the Collection, Henry wrote:

The Editor of this work trusts that the following pages will be found generally useful in the service of the church.  His aim has been to furnish good music, rather than light, frivolous melody–to restore, as nearly as practicable, the old standard tunes and chants to their original harmonies, while, in the selection of the new, he has endeavored to avoid vulgarity, or straining after effect.

–Quoted in Our Hymnody (1937), 396

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 24, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF OSCAR ROMERO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SAN SALVADOR; AND THE MARTYRS OF EL SALVADOR, 1980-1992

THE FEAST OF SAINT DIDACUS JOSEPH OF CADIZ, CAPUCHIN FRIAR

THE FEAST OF PAUL COURTIER, APOSTLE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY

THE FEAST OF THOMAS ATTWOOD, “FATHER OF MODERN CHURCH MUSIC”

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LEDDRA, BRITISH QUAKER MARTYR IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1661

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

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

thank you for those (especially Henry Wellington Greatorex)

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

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

Above:  A Scan from Volume XII (1957) of The Interpreter’s Bible

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

AMOS NIVEN WILDER (SEPTEMBER 18, 1895-MAY 4, 1993)

U.S. Congregationalist Minister, Poet, Literary Critic, and Biblical Scholar

Amos Niven Wilder comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Interpreter’s Bible.

Wilder came from a remarkable family.  Amos Parker Wilder (1862-1936) was a journalist and sometime diplomat.  He was, until 1906, the editor and partial owner of the Wisconsin State Journal.  During the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, he was U.S. Consul to China, based first in Hong Kong (1906-1909) then Shanghai (1909-1914).  Isabella Thornton Niven (1873-1946), daughter of a Presbyterian minister, was a poet.  She encouraged her children to love language, drama, and literature.  Those children were:

1. Amos Niven Wilder, born in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 18, 1895;
2. Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), playwright and novelist;
3. Charlotte Wilder (1898-1980), poet;
4. Isabel Wilder (1900-1995), novelist; and
5. Janet Wilder (Dakin) (1910-1994), zoologist and conservationist.

Our saint combined Biblical scholarship and literary skill.  He matriculated at Oberlin College in 1913, but left to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1916.  Wilder, a corporal, drove ambulances in France and Macedonia.  He, discharged in 1919, studied at Yale University, from which he graduated with a B.A. the following year.  His first volume of poetry, Battle Prospect (1923), won the Yale Younger Prize.  Another volume of poetry, Arachne, followed five years later.  Wilder, as a literary critic, wrote The Spiritual Aspects of the New Poetry (1940).  The ministry beckoned to the young Wilder.  He, while studying at Mansfield College, Oxford, in 1921-1923, was the secretary to Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965).  After continuing theological studies at Yale in 1924, Wilder became a Congregationalist minister in 1926.  He was, for a few years, the pastor of First Church of Christ, Congregational, North Conway, New Hampshire.

Wilder was mainly an academic, though.  After teaching at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, he became Professor of the New Testament at Andover Newton Theological Seminary, Newton Centre, Massachusetts.  That was his professional position when he met Catharine Kerwin (December 3, 1906-September 1, 2006) during the summer of 1934 and married her in August 1935.  She came from a socially progressive family active in the suffragette movement.  In other words, Catharine and her relatives were the kind of people many would, in the cynical, regressive terms of 2018 that excuse social injustice and other perfidy, label “Social Justice Warriors.”  Catharine, active in the post-World War I peace movement, had earned her B.A. in history from Smith College and became a teacher.  The Wilders, married for nearly 58 years, had two children, Catharine Dix Wilder (b. 1937) and Amos Tappan Wilder (b. 1940).

Wilder, a Ph.D. from Yale since 1933, became Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Chicago Theological Seminary and The University of Chicago and a member of the Federated Theological Faculty of Chicago in 1943.  There he remained until 1954.  In 1949-1950 Wilder doubled as the President of the Chicago Society of Biblical Research.  Wilder spent 1954-1963 as the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard University.  Then, at the age of 68 years, he retired.

Wilder wrote 35 books, published various articles, and contributed to The Interpreter’s Bible.  Theological works included Otherworldiness and the New Testament (1954) and Theopoetic:  Theology and the Religious Imagination (1976).  The posthumously published book was Armageddon Revisited (1994), a memoir of war.  He also served as a Consulting Editor of The Interpreter’s Bible, wrote the article “The Teaching of Jesus II:  The Sermon on the Mount” for Volume VII (1951), and wrote the introduction to and exegesis of the three Letters of John for Volume XII (1957).

Wilder, active in retirement, traveled around the world with Catharine.  He also continued to play tennis, which he had done since his college years.  Wilder was a nationally ranked tennis player.

Wilder, aged 97 years, died on May 4, 1993.

Catharine, aged 99 years, died on September 1, 2006.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 30, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JEANNE JUGAN, FOUNDRESS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF JOHN LEARY, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR

THE FEAST OF KARL OTTO EBERHARDT, GERMAN MORAVIAN ORGANIST, MUSIC EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER

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

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

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Amos Niven Wilder 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

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

Above:  Edward Bouverie Pusey

Image in the Public Domain

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

EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY (AUGUST 22, 1800-SEPTEMBER 16, 1882)

Anglican Priest

Feast day in The Church of England = September 16

Feast day in The Episcopal Church = September 18

Edward Bouverie Pusey, born into a wealthy family, spent most of his adult life at Oxford University.  He, from 1841 the leader of the Oxford Movement, was a priest more influential in the Anglican Communion than most bishops were.

Pusey, born near Oxford on August 22, 1800, took naturally to university life.  He, educated at Eton then Christ Church, Oxford University, became a Fellow of Oriel College in 1824.  He spent 1825-1827, studying in Berlin and Göttingen, where he met leading German Biblical scholars and critics, as well as studying Semitic languages in Germany and at Oxford.  In 1828 and 1830 Pusey published An Historical Enquiry into the Probable Causes of the Rationalist Character Lately Predominant in the Theology of Germany (two parts), a work critical (in the academic sense of that word) of German Rationalistic theology.  He linked it to spiritually dead Protestant orthodoxy.  When certain people mistook the work for a defense of German Rationalistic theology, he withdrew the Historical Enquiry.  Also in 1828, Pusey married Maria Catherine Barker (1801-1839).  The couple had four children.  Our saint, ordained to the diaconate then to the priesthood of The Church of England, accepted appointment as the Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon, a position he held for the rest of his life.

At Oxford Pusey met John Keble (1792-1866) and John Henry Newman (1801-1890), leader of the Oxford Movement, also known as Tractarianism and Anglo-Catholicism.  The Roman Catholic revival within Anglicanism was controversial.  Some opponents, who thought that Holy Mother Church was the Whore of Babylon and the Pope was the Antichrist, went to the logical and predictable extreme of labeling the Oxford Movement nothing short of Satanic.  For decades priests bowing to altars, candles being present on the altar, and other practices were controversial.

The Tractarians, whom Pusey joined in 1833, took their name from the Tracts of the Times series.  Our saint wrote some of the Tracts, notably #18 on fasting on its spiritual benefits) in 1834 and #67 and #69 (on baptism) in 1836.  The Tractarians, consistent with their priority on classicism, published the Library of the Fathers series.  Pusey translated the first volume, the Confessions of St. Augustine of Hippo, in 1838.

Pusey became the leader of the Oxford Movement in 1841, as Newman moved toward his conversion to Roman Catholicism, in 1845.  Our saint became so identified with the Tractarian Movement that “Puseyite” became a synonym for Tractarian.  He remained within The Church of England, so many who would otherwise have followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church chose not to cross the Tiber River.

Pusey donated generously to churches for the poor and founded a religious community to minister to impoverished people.  The Sisterhood of the Holy Cross, also known as the Park Village Community, founded in 1845, was the first Anglican religious community founded since the English Reformation.  In 1856 the Sisterhood of the Holy Cross merged into the Society of the Most High Trinity, founded by Priscilla Lydia Sellon (1821-1876) in 1849.

Pusey frequently found himself engaged in controversies.

1. In 1843 his sermon before Oxford University entitled “The Holy Eucharist, a Comfort to the Penitent,” in which he favored Transubstantiation, led to his suspension from the Oxford pulpit for two years.
2. Another sermon, “The Entire Absolution of the Penitent” (1846), was a defense of the proposition that The Church of England had the priestly power to absolve sins.  This was the beginning of private confession in Anglicanism, a practice still too Catholic for many Anglicans.
3. In 1862 Pusey accused Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893), the Regius Professor of Greek of heresy.  Jowett, a Hegelian, had written “On the Interpretation of Scripture” for Essays and Reviews in 1860.  Pusey found Jowett’s conclusions theologically erroneous.  The Chancellor’s Court acquitted Jowett, who remained at Oxford and received promotions.
4. In 1865 Pusey wrote that barriers to Anglican reunion with the Roman Catholic Church included purgatory, indulgences, and Marian devotion.  During the next few years Newman and Pusey engaged in a long-form, written debate, topics of which also included Papal Infallibility and the Immaculate Conception.
5. One of the controversies in The Church of England in the late 1800s was whether to remove the Athanasian Creed from Morning Prayer.  Pusey argued for retaining it.  Although that creed remained in the form for Morning Prayer in The Book of Common Prayer (1662), the practice of congregational recitation of that creed declined within Anglicanism.

Pusey, aged 82 years, died at Ascot Priory, Berkshire, of the Society of the Most Holy Trinity, on September 16, 1882.  He was a transformational figure and a positive influence within Anglicanism.

Pusey House, a religious institution at St. Giles, Oxford, constitutes a tangible part of our saint’s legacy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 20, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZACCHAEUS, PENITENT TAX COLLECTOR AND ROMAN COLLABORATOR

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

Grant, O God, that in all time of testing we may know your presence and obey your will;

that, following the example of your servant Edward Bouverie Pusey,

we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to bear;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 36:24-28

Psalm 106:1-5

1 Peter 2:19-23

Luke 3:10-14

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 591

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

1953 – Dag Hammarskjöld, generalsekreterare FN
Foto: Pressens Bild Kod: 190
COPYRIGHT PRESSENS BILD

Above:  Dag Hammarskjold

Image in the Public Domain

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

DAG HJALMAR AGNE CARL HAMMARSKJOLD (JULY 29, 1905-SEPTEMBER 18, 1961)

Secretary-General of the United Nations

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

Give me a pure heart that I may see Thee,

A humble heart that I may hear Thee,

A heart of love that I may serve Thee,

A heart of faith that I may abide in Thee.

–Dag Hammarskjold in Markings (published in 1963)

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

In this post I do something I seldom do.  I refer you, O reader, to a biography of the saint at another website and proceed directly to reflections.

Dag Hammarskjold operated based on Christian values he learned in his Lutheran family in Sweden.  He internalized the importance of building up “the least among us” and of seeking peace.  He even died while on a peace mission.

Such people tend to attract both admirers and detractors, both for their goals and their methods.  The question of methods is a procedural one, but such goals should win universal acclaim.  Yet they do not.

Greatness is never appreciated in youth, called pride in middle age, dismissed in old age, and reconsidered in death.  Because we cannot tolerate greatness in our midst we do all we can to destroy it.

–Lady Morella in Point of No Return (1996), an episode of Babylon 5

The purpose of politics should be to unify diverse groups of people and seek the common good, not to pit groups against each other and propagate prejudice and ignorance, often in the name of making one’s country great again.  One can consider the legacy of Hammarskjold and recognize an example of constructive politics, not, as an unfortunately accurate joke indicates, many bloodsucking creatures.  One can learn from our saint the value and imperative of love, not hatred, and of faith, not fear.

Every day and at home, we are warned about the enemy.  Is it the alien?  Well, we are all alien to one another.  Is it the one who believes differently than we do?  No, oh no, my friends.  The enemy is fear.  The enemy is ignorance.  The enemy is the one who tells you that you must hate that which is different.  Because, in the end, that hate will turn on you.  And that same hate will destroy you.

–The Reverend Will Dexter in And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place (1996), an episode of Babylon 5

The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, the Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, encourages us in the Diocese of Atlanta to

love as Jesus loves.

I detect that ethic in the life of Hammarskjold, who had both admirers and detractors in life and retains both in death.  Critics will always be present among us.  When–not if–someone criticizes you, O reader, may it be for works of righteousness that benefit people and glorify God.  May the criticism reflect badly on the critic, not you.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 14, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BASIL THE GREAT, FATHER OF EASTERN MONASTICISM

THE FEAST OF DOROTHY FRANCES BLOMFIELD GURNEY, ENGLISH POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF HANS ADOLF BRORSON, DANISH LUTHERAN BISHOP, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT METHODIUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PATRIARCH

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

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 Dag Hammarskjold, to work for justice among people and nations,

to the glory of your name, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

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

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

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

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

Above:  Edinburgh from the Castle, Between 1890 and 1900

Published by the Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-07583

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

JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP (JULY 30, 1819-SEPTEMBER 18, 1885)

Scottish Poet and Educator

John Campbell Shairp, born at Houstoun, Linlithgowshire, attended Edinburgh Academy, the University of Edinburgh, and Baillol College, Oxford.  He pondered taking Anglican Holy Orders yet chose to remain a layman instead and to enter the field of education.  For eleven years he served as the Headmaster of Rugby School.  In 1856 he became Deputy Professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow.  From 1857 to 1861 our saint was an Assistant Professor of Humanity at the University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland.  He served as the Chair of Humanity there from 1861 to 1868.  Then, from 1868 to 1885 Shairp was the Principal of the United College of St. Salvator and St. Leonard, St. Andrews, doubling as a Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1877 to 1885.

Shairp was a great intellectual and a poet.  He wrote a biography of Robert Burns (1759-1796) and authored the following volumes:

• Kilmahoe, a Highland Pastoral, with Other Poems;
• Glen Desseray and Other Poems;
• The Bushaboon Traquais;
• Studies in Poetry and Philosophy;
• The Poetic Interpretation of Nature;
• Culture and Religion; and
• Aspects of Poetry.

Among his hymns was the following, from 1871:

‘Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt

Our feelings come and go;

Our best estate is tossed about

In ceaseless ebb and flow.

No mood of feeling, form of thought,

Is constant for a day;

But Thou, O Lord, Thou changest not:

The same Thou art alway.

+++++

I grasp Thy strength, make it mine own;

My heart with peace is blest;

I lose my hold, and then comes down

Darkness, and cold unrest.

Let me no more my comfort draw

From my frail hold of Thee,

In this alone rejoice with awe—

Thy mighty grasp of me.

+++++

Out of that weak, unquiet drift

That comes but to depart,

To that pure heaven, my spirit lift

Where Thou unchanging art.

Lay hold of me with Thy strong grasp,

Let Thy almighty arm

In its embrace my weakness clasp,

And I shall fear no harm.

+++++

Thy purpose of eternal good

Let me but surely know;

On this I’ll lean—let changing mood

And feeling come or go,–

Glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul,

Not lorn when clouds o’ercast,

Since Thou within Thy sure control

Of love dost hold me fast.

Our saint had good character, for people knew him to be delightful, charming, generous, humorous, and a good friend.  The combination of keen intellect, good character, and deep spirituality was excellent and most commendable.

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

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

For Further Reading:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Shairp%2C%20John%20Campbell%2C%201819-1885

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

Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

John Campbell Shairp 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

Above:  Trinity College, Cambridge, Between 1890 and 1900

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-08091

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

HENRY LASCELLES JENNER (JUNE 6, 1820-SEPTEMBER 18, 1898)

Anglican Bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand

Henry Lascelles Jenner, born in Chislehurst, Kent, was the son of Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust (1778-1852), Dean of the Arches (an ecclesiastical judge at Canterbury).  Our saint, educated at Harrow and Cambridge (Trinity Hall), took Holy Orders in The Church of England in 1843.  He served five congregations through 1854, when he became the Vicar of Preston-next-Wingham.  Twelve years later our saint became the first Bishop of Dunedin, New Zealand.  He returned to Preston in 1870 and resigned as Bishop of Dunedin the following year.

Jenner, who had a longstanding interest in ancient hymns, plainsongs, and other matters liturgical, composed hymn tunes, such as Quam Dilecta.

Bishop Jenner took the corporate worship of God seriously.  May we do the same.

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

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

For Further Reading:

http://anglicanhistory.org/nz/jenner/

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

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

thank you for those (especially Henry Lascelles Jenner)

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

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.