Above:  Lititz Moravian Church, Lititz, Pennsylvania, November 1942

Photographer = Marjory Collins

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-USW3-011809-D

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BERNARD ADAM GRUBE (JUNE 21, 1715-MARCH 20, 1808)

German-American Moravian Minister, Missionary, Composer, and Musician

The hit parade of pious Moravian Church musicians continues with Bernard Adam Grube (1715-1808).  The native of Walschleben, near Erfurt, Germany, studies theology at Jena.  He, ordained in 1740, served congregations in The Netherlands and in Livonia (Latvia).  Then, in 1748, he arrived in America as a missionary to Native Americans.  He learned the Delaware language and traveled in New England, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.  His ministerial career continued at Lititz, Pennsylvania, where he served as the pastor from 1765 to 1785.  There he organized the choir and the collegium musicum.  Such musical activity was natural for Grube, who had a life-long interest in music and who had started teaching music at age seventeen.  He also composed sacred vocal works.  Subsequent pastorates were at Hope, New Jersey, and at Bethlehem and Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

In 1778 Grube married for a second time; his first wife had died two years prior.  Wife number two was Sara Van Vleck Eberhardt (1727-1793), of the Van Vleck family, prominent in U.S. Moravian musical history.  I have read about that family during my self-directed education in Moravian musical history.  In fact, I have made plans to add some Van Vlecks to this, the Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, soon.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 7, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FRANCIS FENELON, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CAMBRAI

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALDRIC OF LE MANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF JULIUS WELLHAUSEN, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIAN OF ANTIOCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

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Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Bernard Adam Grube,

whom you called to preach the Gospel to Native Americans in New England, Pennyslvania, and North Carolina.

Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom,

that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ,

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

–Isaiah 52:7-10

Psalm 96 or 96:1-7

Acts 1:1-9

Luke 10:1-9

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 716

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