Image Source = The Portsmouth Herald, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Friday, June 19, 1942, Page 1

Accessed via newspapers.com

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FERDINAND QUINCY BLANCHARD (JULY 23, 1876-JULY 2, 1966)

U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer

The Reverend Ferdinand Quincy Blanchard left a legacy of outreach and hymnody.  His time as a clergyman spanned three stages of U.S. Congregational denominational life, from Congregationalist to Congregational Christian to the United Church of Christ.

Our saint, born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on July 23, 1876, was a child of Edward Richmond Blanchard and Winifred Quincy Blanchard.  The young man’s vocation included ordained ministry, the path he followed.  He graduated from Newton High School, Newton, Massachusetts, then attended Amherst College (A.B., 1898) and Yale Divinity School (B.D. 1901).  The young minister, newly ordained, became the minister of the First Congregational Church, Southington, Connecticut, in May 1901, and, shortly thereafter that year, the husband of Ethel Hebard West.  The couple had two children, Edward R. (aged five years at the time of the census of 1905) and Virginia W. (aged three years at the time of the 1920 census).   From 1904 to February 1915 Blanchard served as the pastor of the First Congregational Church, East Orange, New Jersey.  His final pastorate, nearly 36 years to the day, was Euclid Avenue Congregational Church, Cleveland, Ohio, from which he retired at the age of 74.  (That congregation has been South Euclid United Church of Christ since July 2014.)

Image Source = The Evening Independent, Massillon, Ohio, Saturday, February 3, 1951, Page 3

Accessed via newspapers.com

The author of the item above mistook 1951 minus 1915 as equaling 35.

Blanchard served beyond the parish level also.  He reached out to African Americans by serving as a trustee of Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee (starting in 1917), and a member of the Executive Committee of the American Missionary Society from 1908 to 1936, serving as chairman during the last nine years.  Our saint also sat on the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (starting in 1936).  And, in 1942-1944, he was the Moderator of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches.

Blanchard, who received honorary doctorates from Amherst College (1918) and Oberlin College (1919), left a literary legacy.  He edited an edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island for the Barnes Company School Classics series.  Books our saint wrote included the following:

1. For the King’s Sake (1916);
2. The Authority of Jesus (1923);
3. How One Man Changed the World:  A Story Told for Boys and Girls (1928);
4. Jesus and the World’s Quests:   A Study of Jesus’s Relation to Modern Life (1930).

Blanchard also wrote at least five hymns:

1. “O Child of Lowly Manger Birth” (1906), an abridged version of which is “O Jesus, Youth of Nazareth;”
2. “Bethlehem Sleeps Beneath the Stars” (1909);
3. “Before the Cross Our Lives are Judged” (1928);
4. “Clear O’er the Hills Ring Out the Glad Hosannas” (1929); and
5. “Word of God, Across the Ages” (1951), for the publication of the Old Testament of the Revised Standard Version (1952).

Our saint died in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on July 2, 1966, three weeks before what would have been his ninetieth birthday.

Some of his hymns remain in current denominational hymnals as of the writing of this post.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 29, 2016 COMMON ERA

TUESDAY IN EASTER WEEK

THE FEAST OF ERNEST TRICE THOMPSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND RENEWER OF THE CHURCH

THE FEAST OF DORA GREENWELL, POET AND DEVOTIONAL WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN KEBLE, ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JONAS AND BARACHISIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Ferdinand Quincy Blanchard and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

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

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

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

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

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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

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