For All the Saints

Here are posts that I wrote for my other blog, “Journeys Home,” mostly in 2016. I studied a number of servants of the church and society.

St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
March 20 is the feast day of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c. 634 – 687). He was a monk, bishop, and (later in life) a hermit. His history is linked to the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria. He was buried at Lindisfarne Priory, where his tomb became a popular place of pilgrimage, with miracles reported from visits to his grave. When his body was viewed in 1104, it was found to be perfectly preserved. Cuthbert is also associated with the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illuminated manuscript of Celtic illustration and calligraphy. Interesting to learn all this today! I have notes on different saints on this little blog, but I hadn’t learned about him.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Cuthbert, Scotland
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019
A Holiness Day
In many Christian denominations, today is All Saints’ Day, although in Eastern Christianity, the
festival is the first Sunday after Pentecost. It is the middle day of Hallowmas, the three-day festival commemorating those saints, known and unknown, who have died (in Catholic theology: those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven). Many churches have a recitation of the names of members of that congregation who have died during the previous year. The feast was mentioned in a sermon as early as 373 AD, and the date of November 1 was instituted by the 8th century Pope Gregory III, while the 9th century Pope Gregory IV made it a feast of the entire church.

In The United Methodist Church, All Saint’s Day focuses upon “the church universal,” all Christians called to holiness, and also those members of local congregations who have recently died. My family and I are looking forward to singing “For All the Saints” (with its Vaughan Williams tune “Sine Nomine”) this coming Sunday.

The Greek word hagioi, meaning “saints” or “holy ones”, is used in the New Testament many times to refer to followers of God. In some though not all early Greek manuscripts, it is the very last word in the Bible (Rev. 22:21). In that spirit, you could call this day “All Believers’ Day,” but if you’re like me, you hesitate very strongly being considered as “holy.” Nevertheless, the sanctity of God’s followers is a major biblical theme.

In the New Testament, the work of Christ includes sanctification of believers. As one writer puts it, “[t]hey [the believer/saints] are to be separated unto God as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1) evidencing purity (1 Cor. 6:9-20; 2 Cor. 7:1), righteousness (Eph. 4:24, and love (1 Thess. 4:7; 1 John 2:5-6, 20; 4:13-21). What was foretold and experienced by only a few in the Old Testament [i.e., the power of the Holy Spirit] becomes the very nature of what it means to be a Christian through the plan of the Father, the work of Christ, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.”[1] The purity and justice to which Christians are called are Spirit-given gifts and, as such, are God’s own holiness born within us which empower our witness to others (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:21, 2 Pet. 1.4). The same author notes, “[God’s] character unalterably demands a likeness in those who bear his Name. He consistently requires and supplies the means by which to produce a holy people (1 Peter 1:15-16).”[2]

These ideas are linked to Old Testament ideas as well. As that author also notes, the word “holy” and its variants appear over 800 times in the OT, referring to God or the holiness of his people. The holiness of God is reflected in Israel’s life in the distinctions between unclean and clean, holy and common, and sacred and profane. We may be tempted to disregard Old Testament ideas of cleanness and uncleanness because of texts like Acts 10:9-16, but in Israel, these were God-given parameters for how to live and how to relate properly to God, not only according to God’s expressed will but according to God’s revealed nature, the Holy God who dwells in Israel. (cf. Zech. 2:13-8:23; 14:20-21).

The holiness to which Israel is called has the component of justice—which, again, reflects the nature of God who is holy, just and righteous. Holiness is never understood (properly at least) as only a concern for right ritual, cleanness, and restoration from uncleanness. Israel also witnesses to God through acts of justice, provision, and care for the needy (Lev. 19; Ps. 68:5).

In an important way, God’s call of holiness links the beginning of the Bible with the end, because the book of Revelation uses the Torah language of cleanness, separation, and holiness to show who, at the end of time, will share eternal life with Christ (Rev. 22:11-15).

But the Spirit also connects us even earlier in the Bible to the narratives of creation, for the church—which is born in and matured by the Spirit who was present at creation—-is a “new creation” in the world (2 Cor. 5:17).[3] We could say that, as God dwelled among his people through the tabernacle, he dwells among us through the Spirit. But as in the ancient times, God calls us to reflect his nature and witness to his holiness. In fact, we prove the very reality of God in so far as we love God and one another in the spirit of holiness.

These might be good ideas and scriptures for us to read and consider on All Saints Day as we remember those who have witnessed to God in the past. What are some ways we reflect God’s holy nature in the ways we serve God and one another, particularly in our current time of growing economic need? What kind of witness would we like to be remembered for, when some future minister reads our names aloud on November 1st? I ask myself that a lot.

Notes:

1. Much of these thoughts and references derive from the article “Holy, Holiness,” in Walter A. Elwell, ed., Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 340-344.
2. “Holy, Holiness,” 343.
3. Nils Alstrup Dahl, Jesus in the Memory of the Early Church (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976), the essay “Christ, Creation, and the Church.”

(From 2013 and 2015 posts.)

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, All Saints’ Day, Holy Spirit
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016
For All the Saints: John Wycliffe, and Hallowmas

On the Episcopal calendar, John Wycliffe (c. 1320-1384) is honored today. He was an Oxford professor, scholastic philosopher, theologian, and noted Bible translator who is still well known in the church. Over a century before Luther, he addressed and criticized what he considered abuses in the Roman Catholic church. He translated the Bible into Middle English by the year 1382, undertaking much and perhaps all of the New Testament with his helpers working on the Old Testament. For him, the Bible should be the church’s central authority and thus he criticized the papacy and doctrines that he considered unscriptural.

Although the Czech reformer Jan Hus was executed for his teachings (several years later, in 1415), and although Wycliffe’s followers were persecuted, Wycliffe himself died of natural causes. Nevertheless, Wycliffe’s remains were exhumed, burned, and scattered; he had been posthumously declared a heretic whose books as well as remains should be destroyed.

With Wycliffe, I conclude my year-long posts about different saints of the church, which I began here. I posted 140 altogether. This has been a personal way that I disciplined myself to think about matters of the Spirit as the days and weeks went by, and I learned a lot in the process! There were many, many interesting and faithful persons—honored on Episcopal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox calendars—whom I missed, so I’ll probably return to this informal study in the future.

From the Facebook page of St Paul Lutheran
Church, Dog Leg Road, Dayton OH
Tomorrow is Reformation Day, the anniversary of Luther’s posting of 95 theses (propositions for debate) upon the door of Wittenberg Church. He did not intend to break with the Roman Catholic Church, only to debate and clarify aspects of church teaching. The statement led eventually to the Protestant Reformation–and certainly, the efforts of Wycliffe and his followers was Luther’s forerunner.

Tomorrow is also All Hallows’ Evening, or the evening before All Hallows’ Day or All Saints’ Day (or Hallowmas). Of course, All Hallows’ Evening is usually contracted to All Hallows’ Eve or just Halloween. It begins the time of Allhallowtide when the dead, including the saints (hallows) and martyrs are remembered and honored. The day may have roots in the Gaelic festival Samhain, but the setting of Hallowmas may date from the 8th century papacy of Gregory III.

And Tuesday is All Saints’ Day. It is the middle day of Hallowmas, the three-day festival commemorating those saints, known and unknown, who have died (in Catholic theology: those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven). Many churches have a recitation of the names of members of that congregation who have died during the previous year. According to the informal research that I did last year, the feast was mentioned in a sermon as early as 373 AD, and the date of November 1 was instituted by the 8th century Pope Gregory III, while the 9th century Pope Gregory IV made it a feast for the whole church.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016
For All the Saints: Crispin and Crispinian

http://www.saintcrispin.com.au/functions-news/news/
I’ve been away from my laptop for a few days while on a trip, so I’m a day late for the October 25th feast day of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, believed to be Roman brothers who pursued missionary work in Gaul. To support themselves, they made shoes and gave some of their earnings to the poor. They were arrested during the Diocletian persecution, tortured, and thrown into a river, and when they survived that, they were beheaded. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04491a.htm

Doing these posts for several months, I realize how many legends and stories of the earlier saints have a similarity: some of these men and women were hard to kill! They endured torture and even fatal encounters yet hung on, and only beheading finally “worked.” But at least one saint on the Orthodox calendar miraculously carried his own severed head for a while. I don’t mean this as a flippant observation, but the stories do emphasize these kinds of heroism and witness.

St. Crispin is remembered in two notable ways in the arts. In the third act of Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger, the shoemakers’ guild sing a song of praise to the saint who made shoes. More famously, perhaps, Shakespeare has Henry V make an inspiring “band of brothers” speech at the beginning of the Battle of Agincourt:

This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Here’s Kenneth Branagh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRj01LShXN8

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2016
For All the Saints: Elizabeth of the Trinity
Mother Teresa was canonized recently, and today Pope Francis canonizes another saint: Élisabeth Catez (1880-1906), Elizabeth of the Trinity, O.C.D. I learned about her thanks to a former student who is a Byzantine Catholic nun, who wrote on her Facebook page about Elizabeth, who entered the Discalced Carmelite order in 1901, took her solemn vows in 1903, and died of Addison’s disease three years later. But the depths of her devotion and her writings have left a significant legacy. Here, for instance, is her prayer to the Trinity (from this site):

“The prayer to the Trinity
“O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to become utterly forgetful of myself so that I may establish myself in you, as changeless and calm as though my soul were already in eternity. Let nothing disturb my peace nor draw me forth f from you, O my unchanging God, but at every moment may I penetrate more deeply into the depths of your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven, your cherished dwelling-place and the place of your repose. Let me never leave you there alone, but keep me there, wholly attentive, wholly alert in my faith, wholly adoring and fully given up to your creative action.
“O my beloved Christ, crucified for love, I long to be the bride of your heart. I long to cover you with glory, to love you even unto death! Yet I sense my powerlessness and beg you to clothe me with yourself. Identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, submerge me, overwhelm me, substitute yourself for me, so that my life may become a reflection of your life. Come into me as Adorer, as Redeemer and as Saviour.
“O Eternal Word, utterance of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, to become totally teachable so that I might learn all from you. Through all darkness, all emptiness, all powerlessness, I want to keep my eyes fixed on you and to remain under your great light. O my Beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may never be able to leave your radiance.
“O Consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, overshadow me so that the Word may be, as it were incarnate again in my soul. May I be for him a new humanity in which he can renew all his mystery.
And you, O Father, bend down towards your poor little creature. Cover her with your shadow, see in her only your beloved son in who you are well pleased
“O my `Three’, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to you as your prey. Immerse yourself in me so that I may be immersed in you until I go to contemplate in your light the abyss of your splendour!”

The Carmelite site gives more information about her: http://ocarm.org/en/content/ocarm/elizabeth-trinity

Here are news stories about her canonization: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/who-was-elizabeth-of-the-trinity-the-story-behind-a-new-saint-86118/

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-at-canonization-mass-prayer-isnt-always-easy-pray-anyway-20989/
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Holy Spirit, prayer, spirituality, Trinity
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2016
For All the Saints: Teresa of Ávila
Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) was baptized Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada. She is well known Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, and theologian. She was canonized in 1622 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1970. Her works include the The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection. This site has a good summary of her eventful life and spiritual pilgrimage:

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
For All the Saints: Holy Startsi of Optina
Something that I’ve learned from these informal posts, is the idea of staret, a revered teacher or elder in the Russian Orthodox tradition. These elders are recognized by people as gifted by the Holy Spirit because of their charismatic gifts, rather than being appointed by a church authority. Here are startsi honored today on the Orthodox calendar:

“Synaxis of the Holy Startsi of Optina Monastery

“Commemorated today are our holy fathers Moses, Antony, Leonid(Lev), Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatolius I, Isaac I, Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatolius the Younger, Nectarius, Nikon the Confessor, and Hieromartyr Isaac the Younger. Hieromartyr Isaac was shot by the Bolsheviks on December 26 1937.
 
“This feast commemorates a few of the holy Fathers who made the Optina Hermitage (Pustyn) a focus for the powerful renewal movement that spread through the Church in Russia beginning early in the nineteenth century, and continuing up to (and even into) the atheist persecutions of the twentieth century. Saint Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15) was powerfully influential in bringing the almost-lost hesychastic tradition of Orthodox spirituality to Russia in the eighteenth century, and his labors found in Optina Monastery a ‘headquarters’ from which they spread throughout the Russian land. The monastery itself had been in existence since at least the sixteenth century, but had fallen into decay through the anti-monastic policies of Catherine II and other modernizing rulers. Around 1790, Metropolitan Platon of Moscow undertook a mission to restore and revive the monastery in the tradition set forth by St Paisius. By the early 1800s the monastery (located about 80 miles from Moscow) had become a beacon of Orthodox spirituality, partly through their publication of Orthodox spiritual texts, but more importantly through the lineage of divinely-enlightened spiritual fathers (startsi, plural of starets) who served as guides to those, noble and peasant, who flocked to the monastery for their holy counsel. The fathers aroused some controversy in their own day; a few critics (some of them from other monasteries) disapproved of their allowing the Jesus Prayer to become widely-known among the people, fearing that it would give rise to spiritual delusion (prelest). For a wonderful depiction of the deep influence of the Jesus Prayer on Russian life during this period, read the anonymously-written Way of a Pilgrim.

“With the coming of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the monastery was of course officially shut down, but some of the Fathers were able to keep it running for a time as an ‘agricultural legion’. Over the years, most of the Fathers were dispersed, to die in exile, in prison camps, or by the firing squad. Many of them are known to have continued to function as startsi to their spiritual children, despite great danger and hardship, for the remainder of their time on earth.
 
“Commemoration of the Optina startsi was approved by the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad in 1990, and by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1996. The Optina Monastery itself was officially re-established in 1987.”

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016
For All the Saints: Vida Dutton Scudder
Only three weeks to go before All Saints Day, when I’ll conclude these informal posts about notable Christian figures in history. One of the pleasures of writing these, has been learning about interesting people who served the church. Today, for instance, Vida Dutton Scudder (1861-1954) is honored on the Episcopal calendar, and I was unfamiliar with her work. She was an American church leader, born in India where her father served as a missionary. She was a notable writer of several books, educator, and activist in the social gospel movement. A graduate of Smith College and Oxford, she taught English literature at Wellesley College; later, she was also the first dean of Wellesley’s Summer School of Christian Ethics. She became active in groups devoted to social reform and became a founder of Denison House in Boston, and also helped organize the Women’s Trade Union League. She was also active in a variety of socialist causes and pro-union groups, and in the 1920s she became a pacifist leader. Her life partner, Florence Converse, was a writer for Atlantic Monthly. Here is a website, “Queering the Church,” that provides more information about Scudder:
http://queering-the-church.blogspot.com/2011/12/vida-dutton-scudder-american-lesbian.html

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016
For All the Saints: Henry Muhlenberg
On both the Episcopal and Lutheran calendars, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787) is honored today (the anniversary of his death) as the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in the United States.

The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica has this: “… When he was twelve years old his father, a member of the city council, died. The son entered the university of Göttingen in 1735, and his work among the poor of Göttingen led to the establishment of the present orphan house there. In 1738 he went to Halle to finish his theological studies; he was a devoted worker in the Franckesche Stiftung, which later served as a partial model for his great-grandson’s community at St Johnland, Long Island. … In 1742, in reply to a call from the Lutheran churches of Pennsylvania, he went to Philadelphia, and was joined from time to time, especially in 1745, by students from Halle. Muhlenberg occupied himself more particularly with the congregation at New Providence (now Trappe), though he was practically overseer of all the Lutheran churches from New York to Maryland. In 1748 he organized the first Lutheran synod in America.

“Muhlenberg married in 1745 Anna Maria Weiser, daughter of J. Conrad Weiser, a well-known Indian interpreter, and herself said to have had Indian blood in her veins; by her he had eleven children. Throughout the War of Independence he and his sons …were prominent patriots. He died at Trappe on the 7th of October 1787. The importance of his work in organizing and building up the American Lutheran Church, of which he has been called the Patriarch, can hardly be exaggerated; but his example in preaching in English as well as in German was, unfortunately for the growth of the Lutheran Church, not followed by his immediate successors. He had no sympathy with the Old Lutherans and their strict orthodoxy on the contrary he was friendly with the Reformed congregations, and with George Whitefield and the Tennents.”

Muhlenberg descendants became prominent in ministry, academia, politics, and the military, and several locations are named for this pioneering minister.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2016
For All the Saints: Francis of Assisi

This past week I kept noticing church marquees in my community, announcing upcoming blessing ceremonies for people’s pets. I surmised that St. Francis’ feast day must be coming up, and sure enough.

Among the most famous saints, Francis (born in 1181 or 1182, died in 1226) was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, in Assisi in central Italy. His nickname was Franceso because his father loved France. He is famous as a friar and preacher, founder of orders, and lover of animals and the natural world. Many churches and places are named for him—we used to live in Flagstaff, AZ in the shadow of the San Francisco Peaks, for instance–and our current pope is the first to take “Francis” as his the papal name. Among the many places to read about him, this is a good short piece about the beloved friar: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=50
Also this site.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, St Francis
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2016
For All the Saints: Thérèse of Lisieux
Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (1873-1897) is one of the most popular and influential Catholic saints of modern times and was declared a Doctor of the Church by John Paul II. Her feast day was yesterday, October 1, and used to be October 3, which is still her feast day in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Also known as Theresa of the Little Flower, she became a nun when she was only 15 and died when she was 24.

The website devoted to her has this: “The world came to know Therese through her autobiography, ‘Story of a Soul’. She described her life as a ‘little way of spiritual childhood.’ She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God’s love. ‘What matters in life,’ she wrote, ‘is not great deeds, but great love.’ Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese’s spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love. She loved flowers and saw herself as the ‘little flower of Jesus,’ who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God’s garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title ‘little flower’ remained with St. Therese.”

Here is a good site that provides more about her: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105

The Living Insights Center here in St. Louis has a statue of St. Therese, to which several miracles have been attributed: http://www.livinginsights.com

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Thérèse of Lisieux
October

Route 185 in Fayette County, IL;
my mother’s side of the family
lived in or near this area
The first weekend of October! All Saints Day is a month away, which will bring to a close my informal study of saints this past year.

September is a happy month for me. Since I’m an educator, September is, for practical purposes, the beginning of a new year, with summer as the leisurely winding-down of a year’s end. I’m guessing that Jews, for whom the new year begins in September or October, have similar feelings. On the other hand, September is the month when both my parents passed away (thirteen years apart), and my dad happened to die on what would’ve been my father-in-law’s birthday. So there is an inevitable, personal melancholy to the month.

So thank goodness when October arrives—really my favorite month of all. Autumn leaves have something to do with that. “Fall color” is an anticipated sight in many areas, of course, but because I was attended Yale for my masters degree, I still think of New England and its beauty with this season. I’ve been rereading Julia Rosenbaum’s book Visions of belonging: New England Art and the Making of American Identity (Cornell, 2006), which discusses the long-time linkage of New England landscape with regional and national history. Autumn adds another element to that love of place.

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Today was World Communion Sunday, always the first Sunday in October, when Christian unity and ecumenical goodwill are symbolized and celebrated via the Eucharist. The observance began in 1933 in a Presbyterian congregation, was adopted by the national Presbyterian Church and then by the Federal Council of Churches, which is now the National Council of Churches.

View of Yale Divinity School,
from ats.edu

To get a head start on tomorrow’s “saints” observance, I noticed that tomorrow, October 3, is the day the Church of England honors two pioneering ecumenists. One is George Kennedy Allen Bell (1883-1958), bishop of Chichester and member of the House of Lords, and a spokesman for peace and postwar reconciliation. The other is John R. Mott (1865-1955), also a promoter of peace and international reconciliation, who was a key person in the founding of the World Council of Churches. When I was at Yale–specifically the divinity school–I worked part-time in the library, which houses Mott’s papers.

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A few years ago I shared that it would be interesting to know the psychological theory of why we have favorite colors. Ever since I was little-bitty, my favorite color has been red. Of course red, along with yellow, orange, and brown, is a traditional autumn color, so I was thus fated to be a fan of this season. In my first home, I kept a display of red-and-yellow Indian corn in my kitchen.

Autumn colors result from the plant’s process of growth and regeneration, as explained at this site. The cessation of chlorophyll production causes the leaves to change color and fall, but the tree is all the while preparing for winter.

Reading that information, I made a roundabout mental connection to a horticultural image in the Bible, that of pruning, for instance, John 15:1-2. Unfortunately, there is an overtone of violence, a cruelty to the metaphor that is inescapable. So I wonder, when we think about God’s guidance, whether we should add to the idea of “pruning” the additional image of autumn leaves. Like plants in autumn, the circumstances in our lives at the time may be times of change and abandonment–not even a time of current growth but of preparation for future growth. But such times will be positive for us and can become a source of blessing for others, too. We can think of discipleship as a succession of times and seasons that introduce beauty into other people’s lives.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, autumn, beauty, ecumenism, New England, World Communion Sunday, Yale Divinity School
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2016
For All the Saints: Remigius
Saint Remigius, Bishop of Rheims (438-533) is known for bringing France to Christianity. He is honored on several Christian calendars today. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“He was born in 438 in northern Gaul. After devoting himself for awhile to secular and sacred learning, he withdrew to a small house near Laon, to live in reclusion and prayer. But when a bishop was needed in Rheims, the clergy and people carried him off from his hermitage and made him their bishop. He was only twenty-two years old at the time. 

“The holy bishop soon became renowned throughout norther Gaul. He converted heretics, brought Arian heretics back to the Orthodox Faith, cared for the many who suffered at the hands of barbarian marauders. Wherever he went, miracles attended him. He healed the sick and demonized and once, when a town was on fire, threw himself into the flames and quenched them. Birds would come to his table whenever he ate, and he would share his meal with them.
 
“In 482 the young warrior Clovis became leader of the Frankish tribes in that region. Though he was a pagan, he knew and admired St Remigius, and was married to a Christian, St Clotilde (June 3). Once, when his army faced defeat by the Alemanii, Clovis prayed to ‘the God of Clotilde and Remigius’ and won a great victory. This answer to his prayers convinced him of the truth of the Christian Faith, and he asked St Remigius to instruct him. Two years later he gathered all his chieftains in Rheims to attend his baptism. The baptism was accompanied by many miracles, seen by all in attendance. Two of the king’s sisters and three thousand of his lords and soldiers were baptized at the ceremony. This event is considered the birth of France as a Christian nation.
 
“In great old age, St Remigius went blind, but miraculously recovered his sight. He reposed in peace at the age of 105 [sic], immediately after serving the Divine Liturgy.”

See also this site: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=376

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
For All the Saints: Vincent de Paul, Lancelot Andrewes

Because of a hectic week, blues about American politics, and sickness, I missed a couple of important saints this week. St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) is well known because of his association with charitable organizations, and he is the namesake of many churches. He founded the Ladies of Charity and the Congregation of Priests of the Mission (Vincentians), and he cofounded (with St. Louise de Marillac) the Daughters of Charity. Vincent had an eventful life, even at one point being kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave! He escaped after two years in slavery and returned to France, where he was from and where he had already been ordained. He was called to help the poor and spent much of his ministry was directed toward them. He also helped priests be better instructed in their work. His feast day is September 27. This site has more about him.

Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) is honored on the Episcopal calendar on September 26 and on the Anglican calendar September 25. He was an English bishop, scholar, and preacher who served in the Church of England during the time of Elizabeth I and James I, and he supervised the translation of the King James Bible. He was known as a fine preacher and his sermons were praised for their beauty.

I go through phases where I want to learn a lot about a particular subject. (That’s one reason for these posts about saints.). In the 1980s I was inspired by T. S. Eliot’s poetry and studied several books. Andrewes’ name immediately came to mind in that context, because Eliot quoted lines from one of the bishop’s sermons at the beginning of “The Gift of the Magi,” and he influenced not only that poem but “Little Gidding” as well. One of Eliot’s books of literary criticism was For Lancelot Andrewes: An Essay on Style and Order. Here is a website with more on all this: http://mariannedorman.homestead.com/Influence.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Eliot (T.S.), poor
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016
For All the Saints: Hildegard of Bingen

I’m a day late to post something about Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), but I can’t overlook a notable woman of the church who, in fact, was recently declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI. She is honored on September 17 in the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican/Episcopal traditions. Here are good descriptions of her and her life and ministry: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-hildegard-of-bingen/
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/hildegardbingen/a/hildegard.htm
https://theherbalacademy.com/hildegard-von-bingen/

The picture is from Wikipedia: “Illumination from the Liber Scivias showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Hildegard of Bingen
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
For All the Saints: Cyprian of Carthage

The third-century bishop and writer Cyprian (c. 200 – 258) is honored today on some church calendars, and yesterday on others–but Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant calendars all honor him.

The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian of Carthage (258)

“He was born to wealthy and noble parents in Carthage (north Africa), and became a prominent lawyer in that city. Around the year 246 he embraced the Christian faith and was baptized by the priest Caecilianus. Immediately he gave all his goods to the poor and retired to a quiet place in the country to devote himself to prayer and study of Christian writings. In 248 or 249 he was elected Bishop of Carthage by the insistence of the people, though some priests opposed the consecration of such a new Christian.
 
“Soon after his election, the Emperor Decius began a terrible persecution of Christians, during which Cyprian, in hiding, upheld his flock by letters. During this time many Christians gave in to fear of death and either sacrificed to the idols or signed statements that they had done so. When the persecution ended, the problem arose of how to treat the apostates who wished to be received back into the Church. Rigorist groups such as the Novatians and Montanists held that these lapsi had removed themselves from all hope of salvation and could never re-enter the Church. Cyprian rejected this view (as well as the position of some who would immediately reconcile the apostates); he established the position, still standard in the Church, that apostates could be restored after confession and long penance. His position led to a schism in the Church at Carthage when Cyprian’s opponents set up Maximus the Montanist as a rival Bishop. The schism was only ended by a plague that swept the Empire and the city of Carthage in 253-254, together with a renewed persecution of Christians. Saint Cyprian’s tireless care for the suffering during this time won most of the schismatics back to his side. When peace returned, Cyprian called a series of Councils in Carthage to resolve the conflicts that had troubled the Church. He upheld the African (and Eastern) churches’ practice of reconciling heretics to the Church by Baptism rather than by laying on of hands, as was done in Rome; though Cyprian did not seek to impose this practice on other churches, Rome was not so tolerant and broke with the African church until the death of Pope Stephen.
 
“In 256, yet another persecution broke out under the Emperor Valerian. Cyprian was arrested and brought before the Proconsul of the region. He refused to defend himself, and when told that he was to be executed, said only Deo Gratias!(Thanks be to God!). At his execution the holy bishop ordered that twenty-five gold pieces be given to the executioner, and put on the blindfold with his own hands.”

One of Cyprian’s famous sayings, from his treatise on the unity of the church, is “He cannot have God as a father who does not have the Church as a mother.” It was written in the context of schisms and heresy, but it has always raised issues about the “visible church” and the invisible “body of Christ,” the extent to which the first represents the second, and the universality of grace.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
For All the Saints: John Chrysostom

Church father and Doctor of the Church John Chrysostom (c. 345 – 407) is honored today on the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran calendars, and on November 13th in the Orthodox tradition. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“He was born in Antioch to pious parents around 345. His mother was widowed at the age of twenty, and devoted herself to rearing her son in piety. He received his literary and oratorical training from the greatest pagan teachers of the day. Though an illustrious and profitable career as a secular orator was open to him, he chose instead to dedicate himself to God. He lived as a monk from 374 to 38, eventually dwelling as a hermit in a cave near Antioch. Here his extreme ascetic practices ruined his health, so that he was forced to return to Antioch, where he was ordained to the priesthood. In Antioch his astonishing gifts of preaching first showed themselves, earning him the epithet Chrysostomos, “Golden-mouth”, by which he became universally know. His gifts became so far-famed that he was chosen to succeed St Nectarius as Patriarch of Constantinople. He was taken to Constantinople secretly (some say he was actually kidnapped) to avoid the opposition of the Antiochian people to losing their beloved preacher. He was made Patriarch of Constantinople in 398.
 
“Archbishop John shone in his sermons as always, often censuring the corrupt morals and luxurious living of the nobility. For this he incurred the anger of the Empress Eudoxia, who had him exiled to Pontus in 403. The people protested by rioting, and the following night an earthquake shook the city, so frightening the Empress that she had Chrysostom called back. The reconciliation was short-lived. Saint John did not at all moderate the intensity of his sermons, and when the Empress had a silver statue of herself erected outside the Great Church in 403, accompanied by much revelry, the Patriarch spoke out against her, earning her unforgiving anger. In 404 he was exiled to Cucusus, near Armenia. When Pope Innocent of Rome interceded on his behalf, the imperial family only exiled him further, to a town called Pityus near the Caucasus. The journey was so difficult and his guards so cruel that the frail Archbishop gave up his soul to God before reaching his final place of exile, in 407. His last words were “Glory be to God for all things.”
 
“Saint John Chrysostom is the author of more written works than any other Church Father: his works include 1,447 recorded sermons, 240 epistles, and complete commentaries on Genesis, the Gospels of Matthew and John, the Acts of the Apostles, and all the Epistles of St Paul…. “

Here is more information from what was previously the American Catholics.org site: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-chrysostom/

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, John Chrysostom
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Teresa of Calcutta
Today is the feast day of a saint who was canonized only yesterday! Everyone knows about Mother Teresa (1910-1997). Catholic.org provides a good article about her life: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5611 She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, of Albanian parents, in the city of Skopje, then part of the Ottoman empire, now Macedonia. Her hometown still honors her: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-motherteresa-macedonia-idUSKCN1182EB. I found this early photo online.

At the age of 18 she went to Ireland to join Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto (not to be confused with a different order, the Sisters of Loretto, which founded the university where my wife and I work). At the order, she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux. The following year, she made her first trip to Calcutta and soon became a teacher for girls in that city. Several years later, in 1946, she felt a call to specially serve the poor and to establish a community for the help of the severely impoverished, the Missionaries of Charity. In 1948, she began this work, and her organization was officially established in Calcutta in 1950. The work spread throughout India and to many other countries as well. She also founded related organizations for men, like the Missionaries of Charity Brothers. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Please read that Catholic.org article for a more full account of her work. That author also writes, “Hidden from all eyes, even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, the darkness. The ‘painful night’ of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.”

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, and in 2015 a second miracle attributed to her intercession was confirmed, leading to her formal canonization by Pope Francis yesterday. Here is one news story: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/04/europe/mother-teresa-canonization/

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, justice, Mother Teresa, poor
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2016
For All the Saints: Prudence Crandall
On the Episcopal calendar, Prudence Crandall (1803-1890) is honored today, the anniversary of her birth, as a prophetic witness. She was a Quaker school teacher who admitted an African American student into her private school in Canterbury, Ct, the first integrated classroom in the U.S. The student was named Sarah Harris, who wanted to teach other free blacks. Crandall refused to expel Harris when townspeople objected. Crandall shortly opened a school for African American girls, and effort supported by William Lloyd Garrison. Crandall suffered legal repercussions, including a night in jail, and a new Connecticut law (on the books for five years) that preheated schools for black students from outside the state, without local permission. Violence by townspeople forced Crandall finally to close the school. She was finally vindicated by the town and state and was recognized for her courageous work. Here are two sites about her:
https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/prudence-crandall/
http://connecticuthistory.org/prudence-crandall-fights-for-equal-access-to-education/
http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/education-preservation/prudence-crandall#.V8qxlztpCT8

Harris (1812-1878) went on to be an abolitionist and activist and has a dormitory named for her at the University of Rhode Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Harris_Fayerweather

Today is also the feast day of Pope St. Gregory the Great, whom I wrote about in March: http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2016/03/for-all-saints-gregory-great.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
For All the Saints: Simeon Stylites
Here’s a saint famous for his eccentric type of devotion. Simeon (c. 388-459) is honored today in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, and on January 5 in the Roman Catholic Church. He was a Syriac Christian ascetic who sought withdrawal from the world by sitting on a platform atop a pillar. (The Greek word style, στυλη, means pillar.)

The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“Born in Syria, he was a shepherd, but at the age of eighteen he left home and became a monk, practicing the strictest asceticism. At times he fasted for forty days. After a few years at a monastery he took up an ascetical discipline unique at that time: mounting a pillar, he stood on it night and day in prayer. Though he sought only seclusion and prayer, his holiness became famous, and thousands would make pilgrimage to receive a word from him or to touch his garments. Countless nomadic Arabs came to faith in Christ through the power of his example and prayers. To retreat further from the world, he used progressively taller pillars: his first pillar was about ten feet high, his final one about fifty. He was known also for the soundness of his counsel: he confirmed the Orthodox doctrine at the Council of Chalcedon and persuaded the Empress Eudocia, who had been seduced by Monophysite beliefs, to return to the true Christian faith. After about forty years lived in asceticism, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine.
 
“He was at first suspected of taking up his way of life out of pride, but his monastic brethren confirmed his humility thus: They went to him as a group, and told him that the brotherhood had decided that he should come down from his pillar and rejoin them. Immediately he began to climb down from the pillar. Seeing his obedience and humility, they told him to remain with their blessing.”

Reading about him in various online articles, I discovered he first used a pillar because, as a popular ascetic, he had so many visitors. People brought him bread and milk. As time went on, he chose taller pillars. He still had many visitors, to whom he devoted particular times of the day. One article notes that holy persons like him served a social need not only as an example of Christian ascetic piety but also as arbitrator in disagreements.

For All the Saints: John Bunyan
A shout-out for my daughter’s birthday today! She’s in Japan this year but we sent her presents and Skyped, and she treated herself to a big cultural festival at the Haneda airport. I’m writing this in the evening, some hours yet from the time of her birth, near midnight Mountain Time.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was honored yesterday on the Episcopal calendar, today with a “lesser festival” in the Church of England, and in other Anglican churches tomorrow (August 31), the anniversary of his death.

Bunyan was the famous English preacher who wrote almost sixty works in his life. As a nonconformist during the Restoration period, he spent twelve years in jail. But while incarcerated his wrote his autobiographical work, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and commenced on his book, The Pilgrim’s Progress. That 1678 book is an allegory in which the main character, Christian, an everyman character, leaves the City of Destruction to make a journey to the Celestial City.

I can’t resist sharing the opening, an Act 1 section, and the final scene and epilogue from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ opera The Pilgrim’s Progress, which has brought me joy since the 1980s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ1XKM68oZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNq5cha0mqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yjOaug8y8U

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Vaughan Williams (Ralph)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2016
For All the Saints: Monica of Hippo

Today is the feast day of St. Monica, the mother of Augustine, who of course was the one of the most influential Christian theologians and author of the
Confessions, City of God, and other works. (His feast day is tomorrow, August 28). Many of us have read the Confessions, and some of us have taught at least portions of it. Monica (d. 387) is almost entirely known from the book, where she is described as a long-suffering Christian who prayed and weeped for her son’s well being. This site has insights about her: http://feminine-genius.com/saint-monica-review This site provides an account of her life:
americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1120&calendar=1 She was buried on the Italian peninsula at Ostia Antica, where her relics were preserved and then, in the 1400s, were brought to Rome; her “cult” was already well established by the 13rd century. The California city of Santa Monica is named for her.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Augustine
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Louis
All my posts this week have had some kind of local connection, especially today’s.

Born and raised sixty miles from St. Louis, I grew up coming to the city during the 1960s and early 1970s. My parents liked to shop at the downtown department stores, where Dad indulged me with toys and stamps to collect and LPs. I remember the Arch’s construction and completion, the city’s bicentennial in 1964, the city’s urban challenges of the time, and family visits to the zoo and planetarium. We had cousins who lived in town; we drove down old Route 66 to visit them in the Dutchtown neighborhood and also out to their new home in Crestwood. I came more seldom to the city after the late 1970s, except for the airport. But sometimes things in life come around again, and in 2009 my wife Beth was selected as president of Webster University in St. Louis. It has been enjoyable to be back in the city and county.

All this to say… today is the feast day of St. Louis, that is, the city’s and county’s namesake, King Louis IX of France (1214-1270). He died on this day of dysentery in Tunisia while on a crusade. Canonized in 1297, he is the only French monarch to be declared a saint and, in fact, has been called the ideal Christian monarch.

He was not perfect, in the hindsight of history: he ordered the burning of Talmuds and was a leader in two of crusades. But his reign was an important one. He patronized the arts and, under his reign, Gothic architecture and art flourished. France’s prestige increased during his reign and he was able to negotiate a peace with the English Plantagenet monarchy. He was renowned for his generosity to the poor, and he founded hospitals and supported convents and monasteries. Known for his faith and personal piety, he sought opportunities to hear cases where he could make a just ruling. His respect and renown were not diminished by the fact that both his crusades failed (and, in fact, he had to be ransomed when he was captured during his first crusade. Here are two sites that provide more information about the king, the namesake of many cities and places in the world.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1011

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-IX

The photograph (from Wikipedia) shows the statue, “Apotheosis of St. Louis,” given to the city following the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair and sculpted by Charles H. Niehaus. It stands outside the St. Louis Art Museum, overlooking the area where the fair was located.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, 1904 World’s Fair
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Pius X
When we lived in Flagstaff, AZ, a local clergy-colleague was the priest at St. Pius X Catholic Church. I’ve forgotten his name now but I appreciated his friendship at the time. I thought of him on this feast day of Pope Pius (Guiseppe Melchiorre Sarto, 1835-1914), the day after the anniversary of Pius’ death (so scheduled because St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s day is August 20th).

The biography linked below discusses aspects of his life and papacy. Pius X is an interesting pope—frustrating. While he shared his predecessor Leo XIII’s promotion of Thomist philosophy and method, Pius aggressively opposed modernism and sought to root out theologians influenced by modernism, which he saw only as a source of error. Compare this with Leo’s promotion of synthesis between faith and science, faith and reason, and theology and culture. He was strict in matters of international relations, and refused to support trade unions that were not Catholic.

(Although founded many years after his death, the Society of St. Pius X is a famous organization that rejects the Second Vatican Council and resulting liturgical reforms. The group has no canonical status with the church.)

Pius was also notably pastoral and compassionate and brought his previous pastoral experience to his office. As pope, for instance, he continued to preach regularly, and had kindness for those in need. He was already in poor health when World War I commenced, and his depression at the outbreak of war hastened his death.

Among his other distinctions, Pius codified Canon Law, reformed the liturgy, and like our recent John Paul II he was very devoted to the Virgin Mary. He supported the American Catholic church, although he once refused an audience with former president Roosevelt.

Pius was canonized in 1954. Many churches and schools are named for him, including a high school here in St. Louis.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=313

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016
For All the Saints: Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was canonized in 1174 and made a “Doctor of the Church” in 1830. He is honored on August 20 in the calendars of the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and ELCA Churches and on August 19 in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. So we can think about him on both days.

Here is a site that gives some background on Bernard: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1113&calendar=1 and also http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/moversandshakers/bernard-of-clairvaux.html That second author comments: “It’s hard to know how to characterize Bernard of Clairvaux. On the one hand, he is called the ‘honey-tongued doctor’ for his eloquent writings on the love of God. On the other hand, he rallied soldiers to kill Muslims. He wrote eloquently on humility; then again, he loved being close to the seat of power and was an adviser to five popes.” Bernard joined the new community, the

Cistercians, and therein practiced very strict asceticism that, unfortunately, damaged his health. But he worked tirelessly throughout his life to raise standards of monasteries and to found new ones. Along with his regrettable support of the Second Crusade, undertaken in obedience, he raised objections to the philosophy of contemporary Peter Abelard and also wrote and preached. His book On Loving God is a classic, as well as his Sermons on the Song of Songs, wherein the text of that book became a springboard for Bernard to touch upon many theological topics.
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Bernard of Clairvaux, Bible
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016
For All the Saints: The Assumption of Mary
Across all the church calendars, Mary the mother of Jesus is honored today. Here is what I wrote last year: http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2015/08/interfaith-days-assumption-of-mary.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Virgin Mary
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016
For All the Saints: Florence Nightingale
On the Episcopal calendar today (August 12), and on the ELCA calendar tomorrow (August 13), Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is honored as a social reformer and humanitarian. She is considered the founder of modern nursing, based on her tireless work during the Crimean War. She also pushed for improved healthcare in Britain and for employment for women. Although seriously ill for over half her life, she wrote and published extensively, not only about medicine but religion and other subjects as well, and she advised on the conditions of field hospitals during the American Civil War as well as sanitary conditions in British India. She was also skilled in math and statistics and popularized the use of diagrams of statistical data. Biography.com has a good account of her life: http://www.biography.com/people/florence-nightingale-9423539 There is a Florence Nightingale museum in London: http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Civil War, justice
MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016
For All the Saints: Dominic
On Roman Catholic and Protestant calendars, St. Dominic is honored today. Dominic (Domingo Félix de Guzmán, 1170-1221), was a Castilian priest who founded the Dominican Order. Here is a good site concerning his life and faith: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=178 Also:
http://www.dominicans.ca/Family/life_dominic.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2016
For All the Saints: Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Matthias Grünewald
I thought that the saints honored on the Episcopal calendar sounded familiar, and yes, they are honored on April 6th on the Lutheran calendar, and I already found some information about them: http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2016/04/for-all-saints-durer-cranach-grunewald.html

Although he’s not yet on any saint list, in this context I’d like to remember Dr. Roland Bainton, who used works of Dürer and others in his books. For many years, Beth and I have gotten out his collection of Luther’s Christmas sermons, illustrated with Dürer engravings, during the holiday season. Bainton was a retired Yale Divinity School professor who enjoyed stopping by and visiting with students during the years I was there (1979-1982). Famously he wrote a multi-speed bicycle around hilly New Haven. He passed away in 1984 at the age of 89. (http://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/14/obituaries/dr-roland-h-bainton-dies-retired-yale-divinity-teacher.html).

He wrote wonderful books, of which his biography of Luther is best known (and still in print). He was also a fine preacher, and a significant witness for world peace. Although I didn’t know him well I’m glad to have had the chance to meet and hear this devoted Christian teacher and scholar.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Bainton (Roland), Luther
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
For All the Saints: George Freeman Bragg, W. E. B. Du Bois
On the Episcopal calendar, George Freeman Bragg and W. E. B. Du Bois are honored today. Bragg (1863-1940) was the twelfth African American ordained as a priest in that denomination. He worked as a journalist, was priest at a Baltimore congregation for nearly fifty years, worked to hire African American teachers in city schools, helped found a black orphanage, worked to encourage African American congregations, and wrote a number of books.

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) was an author, editor, civil rights activist, and was a cofounder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. He wrote several books, worked to end lynching, Jim Crow laws and discrimination, and organized Pan-African congresses to support people of color around the world.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Japan

Having recently returned from a first-time visit to Japan, I was interested in reading about St. Nicholas (Ivan Dimitrovich Kasatkin), a Russian Orthodox missionary born on this day in 1836. Although his feast day is February 16 old style, the Orthodox Saints sitelists him today on his birthday, and has this:

“Born in Russia in 1836, he became one of the great Orthodox missionaries of modern times. As a boy, he resolved to become a missionary in the far East. With the counsel and blessing of Bishop Innocent of Siberia and Alaska, he went to Japan in 1861 and joined a small Russian mission there. Though the mission’s official purpose was to minister to the Russian consular community, the consul-general who invited Hieromonk Nikolai hoped to bring the light of the Orthodox Faith to the Japanese people as well.

“Realizing that he could only hope to convert the Japanese people if they understood one another well, Fr Nikolai immersed himself in the study of Japanese thought, culture and language. Over the course of his life he translated most of the Bible and most of the Orthodox services into Japanese, and became a fluent speaker of the language. He encountered much resistance: Preaching of Christian doctrine was officially banned in Japan, and a Samurai once approached him with the words “Foreigners must die!” It was this same Samurai who later became his first Japanese priest. In 1880 he was elevated to Bishop of Japan.

“During the Russo-Japanese war he remained in Japan and labored successfully to overcome nationalist strife that might have harmed or destroyed the Church in Japan. He encouraged all his Japanese faithful to pray for the Japanese armed forces, though he explained that as a Russian he could not do so, and excluded himself from all public services for the duration of the war. He sent Russian-speaking Japanese priests to the prison camps to minister to Russian prisoners of war.

“At the time of his repose in 1912, after forty-eight years in Japan, St Nikolai left a Cathedral, eight churches, more than 400 chapels and meeting houses, 34 priests, 8 deacons, 115 lay catechists, and 34,110 Orthodox faithful. The Church of Japan is now an autonomous Orthodox Church under the care of the Moscow Patriarchate.”

This site also has an account of his life: http://oca.org/saints/lives/2016/02/16/100419-st-nicholas-equal-of-the-apostles-and-archbishop-of-japan

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016
For All the Saints: Ignatius Loyola
On the Roman Catholic and Episcopal calendars, Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) is honored today, the anniversary of his death. There is even a hashtag, #IgnatiusDay, on Twitter! He was a Spanish knight, born Íñigo López de Loyola, who became a priest in 1537, founded the Society of Jesus in 1541, and through his Spiritual Exercises and spiritual guidance he became a still-popular author of Christian spirituality, appreciated by non-Catholics as well as Catholics. Here is a summary of his life: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=56
The AmericanCatholics.org site also has a good summary: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1093&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, spirituality
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2016
For All the Saints: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
On Catholic and Protestant calendars, the New Testament siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are honored today. A few years ago I wrote about the sisters, here., and my friend Suzanne is blogging about the sisters this week, here. The Catholic site that I use to learn about these various saints has this about Martha (probably the one with whom we identify):

“Christ in the House of Mary and Martha”
by Diego Velazquez, 1618
“No doubt Martha was an active sort of person. On one occasion (see Luke 10:38-42) she prepares the meal for Jesus and possibly his fellow guests and forthrightly states the obvious: All hands should pitch in to help with the dinner.

“Yet, as biblical scholar Father John McKenzie points out, she need not be rated as an ‘unrecollected activist.’ The evangelist is emphasizing what our Lord said on several occasions about the primacy of the spiritual: ‘…[D]o not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear…. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness’ (Matthew 6:25b, 33a); ‘One does not live by bread alone’ (Luke 4:4b); ‘Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…’ (Matthew 5:6a).

“Martha’s great glory is her simple and strong statement of faith in Jesus after her brother’s death… Scripture commentators point out that in writing his account of the raising of Lazarus, St. John intends that we should see Martha’s words to Mary before Lazarus was raised as a summons that every Christian must obey. In her saying ‘The teacher is here and is asking for you,’ Jesus is calling every one of us to resurrection—now in baptismal faith, forever in sharing his victory over death. And all of us, as well as these three friends, are in our own unique way called to special friendship with him.”

(I know I’ve neglected Lazarus in this post, but I wrote more about him here.)

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Mary and Martha
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016
For All the Saints: Bach, Schütz, Handel, Purcell

Bach’s grave in Leipzig
On the Lutheran (ELCA) calendar, Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Schütz, George Frederick Handel are honored today, the anniversary of Bach’s death. Bach (1685-1750) was the Baroque composer, known during his lifetime for his organ playing, but in the 19th century, his many compositions began to be appreciated, so that now he is considered one of the greatest composers.

Handel (1685-1759) is known for works like Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks, and he wrote many operas, organ concertos, anthems, and oratorios. Born in Halle, he emigrated to London and became a British subject. A few years ago we visited his grave in Westminster Abby.

Schütz (1585-1672) was one of the most important composers prior to Bach and one of the greatest of the 1600s. His sacred music survives, and a few secular works, about 500 altogether. In Dresden, we saw a memorial to the composer; he was buried in the former Frauenkirche in that city.

On the Episcopal calendar, Bach and Handel are honored today and also Purcell instead of Schütz. Purcell (1659-1695) was the most important English composer prior to the 20th century. He is known for his anthems, keyboard works, songs, and his opera Dido and Aeneas. He too is buried in Westminster Abbey.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Bach (J.S.), Handel (George Frideric), Purcell (Henry)
SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2016
For All the Saints: Thomas à Kempis

This famous Dutch canon regular was born about 1380 and died on this day in 1471. He was born in Germany and went to Utrecht to attend school, and stayed in the area at the Monastery of Mount St. Agnes. He was known as a prolific writer and copyist, copying the Bible at least four times and writing spiritual material. His four books for novices were collected and named The Imitation of Christ, one of the most famous texts in Christian history. The Christianity Today site has this: http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/innertravelers/thomas-kempis.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Thomas a Kempis
FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2016
For All the Saints: Mary Magdalene

Sandys’ very Pre-Raphaelite
vision of Mary Magdelane
Across the church calendars, Mary Magdalene is honored today. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene

“She was from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, for which reason she is called “Magdalene.” The Lord Jesus cast out seven demons from her, after which she became His faithful disciple, following Him even to the Cross when most of His disciples had fled. With the other holy Myrrh-bearers, she prepared the spices to anoint His body and carried them to His tomb. There she was one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection, and the first to proclaim it.
 
“Various traditions hold that, after Christ’s ascension, she traveled to Rome, where she presented the Emperor with a red egg and proclaimed “Christ is Risen!” For this reason her icons often show her holding a red egg, and from this the tradition of distributing red eggs at Pascha is said to have arisen. She is then said to have travelled to Ephesus where she helped St John the Theologian in his gospel ministry before reposing there.
 
“Mary Magdalene is sometimes identified with the “sinful woman” of the Gospels, but this is not the Church’s tradition. Neither the Gospels nor the sacred hymnography of the Church make this connection.
 
“The name ‘Madeleine’ is a form of ‘Magdalene’.”
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Mary Magdalene
MONDAY, JULY 18, 2016
For All the Saints: Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas (c. 1481-1566) was a Dominican friar, historian, the first resident bishop of Chiapas, and reformer concern for the plight of indigenous peoples. He is honored today on the Episcopal calendar and yesterday on the ELCA calendar. When de las Casas came to the Americas, he initially participated in the abuse of Indians by the Spanish. But he began to oppose the atrocities and sought the help of authorities, including the Pope, on their behalf. Unfortunately he advised the use of African slaves instead of Native slaves. For much of his ministry life he intervened on behalf of Native Americans and sought justice for them. Although tragically flawed in his outlook toward African slavery, and although his efforts on behalf of indigenous peoples failed, he did shine a light on ethical issues of colonialism and is remembered as an important and early human rights advocate. Here is more about him: http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/coloniallatinamerica/p/lascasas1.htm

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, colonialism
SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2016
For All the Saints: Ecumenical Fathers; Righteous Gentiles
On the Orthodox calendar, the Sunday that falls between July 13-19 is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“In the Russian usage, only the first six Ecumenical Councils are commemorated today.
The Seven Ecumenical Councils are:
At Nicea, 325. Condemned the doctrine of Arius, who denied that the Son is of one essence with the Father. Composed the Creed.
At Constantinople, 381. Condemned the doctrine of Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Edited the Creed to its present form.
At Ephesus, 431. Condemned the doctrine of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who denied that Jesus Christ is fully God.
At Chalcedon, 451. Condemned the teaching of Eutyches, that after the Incarnation there was only one nature, the divine, in Jesus Christ.
At Constantinople, 535. Condemned the teaching of Origen and of Theodore of Mopsuestia.
At Constantinople, 680. Condemned the Monothelite heresy, that in Jesus Christ there is only one will, the divine.
At Nicea, 787. Condemned Iconoclasm and upheld the holy icons.
Each of these Councils also put forth various canons and made other decisions.”

I missed the special day yesterday: on the Episcopal calendar, July 16 is the day that honors Righteous Among the Nations (חסידי אומות העולם‎‎, khassidey umot ha-olam”righteous of the world’s nations”). In the State of Israel, the phrase describes Gentiles who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/statistics.asp#!prettyPhoto
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Christ, theology, Trinity
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2016
For All the Saints: Nathan Söderblom
Back in the 1990s, I researched the history of the ecumenical movement for a freelance writing project, and I greatly enjoyed learning more about modern ecumenism and incorporating additional aspects of that work into my own faith and ministry. I was happy to see a figure in that movement honored today, the anniversary of his death, on the Lutheran (ELCA) and Episcopal calendars. Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931) was a Swedish clergyman, professor at Leipzig University, and Archbishop of Uppsala in the Church of Sweden. He was a leader in the Christian “Life and Work” movement and urged the application of Jesus’ teachings to social life. He is considered one of the founders of the ecumenical movement and received the Nobel Prize in 1930. He was also a Gifford lecturer. Here is the Nobel site that gives more information about him: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, ecumenism
MONDAY, JULY 11, 2016
For All the Saints: Benedict of Nursia

Another saint that is honored across all Christian calendars is Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – 543 or 547). He is honored today on Roman Catholic and Protestant calendars and on March 14 in Orthodox Christianity. Benedict is well known for his “Rule of Saint Benedict,” instructions and requirements for monks at the twelve communities he founded. His rule is still a major aspect of monasticism. The American Catholic site has this about him: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1441&calendar=1

The Orthodox Saints site also has this:
“His name, Benedictus, means “Blessed” in Latin. He was born in 480 in Nursia, a small town northeast of Rome. He had only rudimentary schooling: he wrote later of his fear that through book-learning he might ‘lose the great understanding of my soul.’ At an early age he fled to a monastery where he was tonsured; he then withdrew to a remote mountain, where he lived or several years in a cave, perfecting himself in prayer. His only food was some bread brought to him by Romanus, the monk who had tonsured him. When he became known in the area, he fled his cave to escape the attentions of the pious; but flight proved useless, and in time a community of monks formed around him. He was granted many spiritual gifts: he healed the sick and drove out evil spirits, raised the dead, and appeared in visions to others many miles away.
 
“Benedict founded twelve monasteries, most famously that at Monte Cassino. Initially, each monastic house had twelve monks, to imitate the number of the Twelve Apostles. The Rule that he established for his monks was based on the works of St John Cassian and St Basil the Great, and became a standard for western monasteries. Thus he is sometimes called the first teacher of monks in the West.
 
“Six days before his death, the Saint ordered that his grave be opened, gathered all his monks together, gave them counsel, then gave his soul back to God on the day that he had predicted. At the moment of his death, two monks in different places had the same vision: they saw a path from earth to heaven, richly adorned and lined on either side with ranks of people. At the top of the path stood a man, clothed in light and unspeakably beautiful, who told them that the path was prepared for Benedict, the beloved of God. In this way, the monks learned that their abbot had gone to his rest.”

For All the Saints: Procopius
As I’ve studied this year about historical figures honored on Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox calendars, I learned how the concept of “holy fool” seems particularly important among Orthodox saints. Drawing upon the Apostle Paul’s phrase “fool for Christ,” a holy fool not only gives up worldly possessions and devotes all of life to prayer, but also pretends to be insane. Their silly behavior and feigned insanity creates outrage and avoids the praise of others, while disguising the person’s actual holiness.

An Eastern saint honored today is St Procopius, who died on this day in 1303. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“He was a prominent merchant of German origin. Visiting Novgorod on business, he was so moved by the beauty of Orthodoxy that he embraced the Orthodox faith. Seeking to follow Christ more fully, he gave away all his goods to the poor and lived as an indigent, giving his life to prayer and asceticism but feigning madness to avoid the praise of men. He was granted the gifts of prescience and of insight into the hearts of others: he would often speak to those who came to him of their secret sins, and several times he predicted natural disasters. Once he stopped a deadly hailstorm in town of Ustiug through his fervent prayers before the icon of the Mother of God. He was found dead on the road, covered with snow; a church was built over his relics, which worked many wonders.”
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Labels: “For All the Saints”
WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2016
For All the Saints: Jan Hus, Maria Goretti
On the Episcopal and Lutheran calendars, Jan Hus (c. 1372-1415) is honored today. He was the Czech priest who, along with the earlier John Wycliffe, is considered one of the first church reformers. Influenced by the legacy and writings of Wycliffe, Hus criticized aspects of Catholic doctrine over a century before Luther’s efforts, such as aspects of eucharistic doctrine, the moral failings of the clergy, the Crusades the practice of indulgences, and other aspects. He was executed for heresy, but followers of his teachings, the Hussites, continued his efforts.

On the Roman Catholic side, a famous and beloved saint, Maria Goretti, is also honored today. Here is the page about her from the American Catholic site: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1436&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, JULY 4, 2016
For All the Saints: Tsar Nicholas II and Family
On the Orthodox Saints site, I discovered that the murdered tsar and his family are honored in the Eastern Church today as martyrs. Their entry reads:

“Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia: Tsar Nicholas II, Tsaritsa Alexandra, Crown Prince Alexei, and Grand duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and those martyred with them (1918).

“Tsar Nicholas II was the son of Alexander III, who had reposed in the arms of St John of Kronstadt. Having been raised in piety, Tsar Nicholas ever sought to rule in a spirit consonant with the precepts of Orthodoxy and the best traditions of his nation. Tsaritsa Alexandra, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of England, and a convert from Lutheranism, was noted for her piety and compassion for the poor and suffering. Their five children were beloved of all for their kindness, modesty, and guilelessness.
 
“Amidst the political turmoil of 1917, Tsar Nicholas selflessly abdicated the throne for what he believed was the good of his country. Although he had abdicated willingly, the revolutionaries put him and his family under house arrest, then sent them under guard to Tobolsk and finally Ekaterinburg. A letter written from Tobolsk by Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest of the children, shows their nobility of soul. She writes, ‘My father asks that I convey to all those who have remained devoted to him… that they should not take vengeance on his account, because he has forgiven everyone and prays for them all. Nor should they avenge themselves. Rather, they should bear in mind that this evil which is now present in the world will become yet stronger, but that evil will not conquer evil, but only love shall do so.’

“After enduring sixteen months of imprisonment, deprivation, and humiliation with a Christian patience which moved even their captors, they and those who were with them gained their crowns of martyrdom when they were shot and stabbed to death in the cellar of the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg in 1918.

“Together with them are also commemorated those who faithfully served them, and were either slain with them, or on their account…(Great Horologion)”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2016
For All the Saints: Walter Rauschenbusch, Washington Gladden, Jacob Riis
Three prophetic witnesses are honored today on the Episcopal calendar. Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) was a Christian theologian and author of Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907). Rauschenbusch believed that Christians spread God’s kingdom through addressing social problems that lead to suffering. Instead of a gospel that gives people the way to heaven, the gospel must transform life in the world. His theology influenced later figures like Dr. Martin Luther King and archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as Rauschenbusch’s own grandson, the philosopher Richard Rorty.

Washington Gladden (1836-1918) was another Social Gospel leader. Gladden was pastor of Columbus, Ohio’s First Congregational Church for nearly forty years and wrote many books and articles. Active in Progressive politics, he advocated for workplace unionization, supported municipal ownership of public works, and opposed racism and the treatment of Southern blacks. But he also supported the Spanish-American War.

Jacob August Riis (1849-1914) was a “muckraking” journalist and social reformer who used his skills in photography and journalism to document the living conditions of persons living in poverty. His influential work was How the Other Half Lives. Theodore Roosevelt was deeply inspired by Riis’ work and sense of justice, and consulted with Riis during the years when he (Roosevelt) served as New York police board president.

As an aside, today is the birthday of two notable African American leaders: Thurgood Marshall (born 1908) and Medgar Evers (born 1925).
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, church, economy, justice, King (Martin Luther)
FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2016
For All the Saints: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Pauli Murray
I’ve been out of the country for three weeks and intentionally left my MacBook at home. So I haven’t written anything here for a while. Time to begin again.

On the Episcopal calendar, Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) is honored as a prophetic witness on this anniversary of her death. Of course, she was an abolitionist and author whose 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabingalvanized the public concerning slavery and did much (both through the novel itself and its dramatized version) to inspire antislavery sentiments in the country. A member of the famous Beecher family, she wrote thirty books altogether.

Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray (1910-1985) is also honored today on that calendar, also on the anniversary of her death. She was a civil rights and women’s wrights activist, the first African American to receive a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Yale, and also the first black woman
to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. She was also an author, whose book on race laws in the country was (in Thurgood Marshall’s word) the bible of the civil rights movement. As this article puts it, “A black feminist lesbian who ‘favored a masculine-of-center gender performance during her 20s and 30s,’ she dedicated her work to challenging preconceived notions of race, gender, sexuality and religion.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, church, Civil War, civil/human rights
THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2016
For All the Saints: Columba
Here is a favorite saint of mine, honored across the Christian church calendars on this anniversary of his death in 597. I first learned about Columba (also known as Columcille, which means “Dove of the Church”), when a best friend was married in a Catholic church named for him. Columba was born in 521 near Donegal. He was a monk and then a priest. He was involved in an argument about the copying of a psalter, and unfortunately, the dispute lead to a full-scale battle, the Battle of Cul Dremhe, with many casualties. Talk about a church fight! In penance for what happened, Columba left Ireland and embarked for Scotland. He landed on Iona. There he founded a monastery and conducted a renowned missionary effort to Scotland. Interestingly, he is said to have raised from the death a man killed by the Loch Ness Monster. He is revered in Scotland and is one of the three patron saints of Ireland (with St. Patrick and St. Brigid of Kildaire). He was long considered the traditional author of the Book of Kells.

Here is a photo in 2011 I took of the Columba window at Edinburgh Castle.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Ireland
SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2016
For All the Saints: Boniface
Boniface (c. 675? – 754) is honored today in the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions on the anniversary of his death. He was an Anglo-Saxon Christian, originally named Wynfrith and from Wessex. He is known as a reformer of the Frankish church, the organizer of Christianity in Germania, and as fomenter of the alliance between the Carolingian royal family and the Roman papacy. The American Catholic site has a short essay about Boniface.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2016
For All the Saints: Justin Martyr
Across all Christian calendars, both Western and Eastern, Justin Martyr is honored today. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“Born in 103, he was a philosopher from the Samaritan town of Shechem in Palestine, who had devoted his life to the search for truth, trying many philosophical schools and sources of human wisdom: the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans and finally the Platonists. One day an old man (whose name and origin are unknown) appeared to him and spoke to him of the Prophets and Apostles who had learned of God not by their own wisdom, but by revelation of God Himself. He read the scriptures and was convinced of the truth of the Faith, but he would not be baptised or call himself a Christian until he had tested all the pagans’ arguments against Christianity. To this end he traveled to Rome, where he engaged in debate at philosophical gatherings, impressing all with his wisdom. In Rome he also witnessed the martyrdom of Sts Ptolemy and Lucian; this moved him to write an Apologia for the Christian faith and the Christian people, which he gave to the Emperor Antoninus and the Senate. They were so moved by this document that the Emperor ordered that persecution of Christians should cease.
 
“For the remainder of his life, Justin devoted all his skills to the proclamation of the Gospel and the defense of Christians. To the end of his life, wherever he preached Christ, he always wore his philosopher’s garb. In addition to his Apologia, he wrote a number of other learned defenses of the faith.
 
“Eventually he was imprisoned following the false accusations of Crescens, a jealous Cynic philosopher. He died (one source says by beheading, another by poison) in Rome in 167 under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, successor to Antoninus.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, MAY 30, 2016
For All the Saints: Joan of Arc
On the Roman Catholic and Anglican calendars, Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc, 1412-1431) is honored today, the anniversary of her execution for heresy. She is, of course, a great heroine of France for her part in the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years’ War. Although she was not canonized until 1920, she became an enduringly legendary figure not long after her death and beyond. The American Catholic.org site has this: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1741&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016
For All the Saints: John Calvin
The Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) is honored today on the Episcopal calendar and yesterday on the Lutheran calendar. Of course, Calvin was the French theologian who established and systematized Reformation theology, in the form later known as Calvinism, that stressed God’s absolute sovereignty. He wrote works like his famous Institutes as well as commentaries on the scriptures and many sermons. He led the Protestant community in Geneva, supported refugees, opposed heretics (Michael Servetus being the tragic example), and encouraged the Reformation in Europe. Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian denominations trace their histories to Calvin. Here is Calvin’s church, St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, which my wife Beth and I visited in 2015.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2016
For All the Saints: Augustine of Canterbury

Another saint associated with England is honored on both Western and Eastern church calendars. Augustine of Canterbury (died May 26, 604) was prior of a Rome mastery when the pope, Gregory the Great, selected him to go to the Kingdom of Kent to try to convert King Æthelberht. Although the lands were dominated by Anglo-Saxon paganism, Æthelberht was already married to a Christian. Landing at Kent in 597, Augustine went to Canterbury and was able to effect the king’s conversation. This opened the way for more missionaries to go to England. Augustine established the episcopal see of Canterbury and became the first archbishop there. Much of what we know about his life comes from the writings of Bede, who was honored yesterday. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=25

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016
For All the Saints: the Venerable Bede

Bede (c. 672-735) is honored today in the Anglican, LCMS, and Roman Catholic calendars, and on May 27 on the Orthodox calendar. He is also the only native-born British person to be designated a Doctor of the Church. He was an English monk at monasteries in the Northumbrian region. He translated many Greek and Latin theological works for his Anglo-Saxon contemporaries, and wrote many books on the Bible, theology, science, and he also wrote poetry, and history. His Ecclesiastical History of the English People was foundational for English history.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2016
For All the Saints: Copernicus and Kepler
On the Episcopal calendar, Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler are honored today. Copernicus (1473-1543), whose birth name was Mikołaj Kopernik, was of course the astronomer and mathematician who introduced a heliocentric model of the universe, in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres).

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German astronomer and mathematician who developed the laws of planetary motion which, in turn, set the bases for Newton’s gravitational theories. His work in optics and his improvements of the telescope were acknowledged by Galileo.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, science
MONDAY, MAY 16, 2016
For All the Saints: Martyrs of Sudan

The martyrs of Sudan are honored today on the Episcopal calendar. Here is more information about them: http://satucket.com/lectionary/Sudan.htm

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
For All the Saints: Frances Perkins

On the Episcopal calendar, Frances Perkins is honored as a prophetic witness.

Her Wikipedia entry begins: “Frances Perkins Wilson (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. She and Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet to remain in office for his entire presidency.

“During her term as Secretary of Labor, Perkins executed many aspects of the New Deal, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration and its successor the Federal Works Agency, and the labor portion of the National Industrial Recovery Act. With the Social Security Act she established unemployment benefits, pensions for the many uncovered elderly Americans, and welfare for the poorest Americans. She pushed to reduce workplace accidents and helped craft laws against child labor. Through the Fair Labor Standards Act, she established the first minimum wage and overtime laws for American workers, and defined the standard forty-hour work week. She formed governmental policy for working with labor unions and helped to alleviate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service. Perkins dealt with many labor questions during World War II, when skilled manpower was vital and women were moving into formerly male jobs.”

She is also honored during LGBT History Month: http://www.eriegaynews.com/news/article.php?recordid=201510francesperkins

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Roosevelt (Franklin D.)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016
For All the Saints: Methodius and Cyril
The Orthodox Saints site has this interesting account of the first Christian teachers to Slavs, who also devised the alphabet for Slavic language.

“Holy Equals-to-the-Apostles Methodius (885) and Cyril (869), first teachers of the Slavs. The two saints were brothers, born in Thessalonica. St Methodius, the elder brother, served as a soldier for ten years before becoming a monk. Cyril was librarian at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; then he too became a monk.
 
“Their first missionary work was not among the Slavs: When the king of the Khazars (a Mongol people who then inhabited much of what is now Russia) petitioned the Emperor Michael to sent teachers to instruct his people, the Emperor chose Cyril and Methodius as his emissaries. They converted the Khazar king to the Christian faith, along with many of his nobles and commoners.

“When King Rostislav of Moravia likewise sought teachers of the Christian faith, Cyril and Methodius were again sent forth. This time they devised an alphabet for the Slavic language (based on Greek but adding characters to indicate sounds particular to Slavonic), and used it to translate many of the Greek service books into the language of the people. (In theory, the Orthodox people have always been privileged to hear the Church’s services in their own tongue, though often attachment to dead languages has prevented this ideal from becoming reality.) Both brothers were repeatedly attacked by Germanic priests of the region, who opposed the use of the common tongue in the liturgy. At different times, both brothers were forced to appeal for exoneration and protection to the Pope of Rome, who supported them warmly each time.

“After the two Saints reposed, attacks on their work continued, and their disciples were eventually driven from Moravia. The disciples, fleeing southward, found a warmer welcome among the southern Slavic peoples, and their work bore much fruit in Bulgaria (including modern-day Serbia) and other countries. And, of course, the alphabet that they devised, called Cyrillic after St Cyril, remains the standard alphabet of both the Slavonic service books of the Church and the Slavic languages of today.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016
For All the Saints: Julian of Norwich

from https://citydesert.wordpress.com/
2014/05/08/julian-of-norwich-english-anchoress/
The first woman writer in the English language lived from about 1343 until about 1416. She was an anchoress in Norwich who became seriously ill but, during that time, she began to receive visions of Christ and his mother. The subsequent book of her visions was Showings (or Revelations) of Divine Love. As this site indicates, “Juliana pondered the deepest mysteries of the Christian faith: both the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self, which she believed were inseparable. She summed up her doctrine of God in these words: ‘And I saw full surely that ere God made us He loved us; which love was never slacked, nor ever shall be. And in this love He hath done all His works; and in this love He hath made all things profitable to us; and in this love our life is everlasting.’” Very little is known of her life, even her actual name. She is honored today in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions; although she has not been beatified or canonized in the Roman Catholic Church, she is honored there on May 13.

See also this site: https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/incontext/article/julian/

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2016
For All the Saints: Monica
Anyone who has read all or portions of Augustine’s Confessionsare quite familiar with the story of his mother Monica, known for her sorrowful and prayerful devotion to his spiritual well-being. She may have been a Berber, married to a Roman name named Patricius, and had three children who survived infancy. She died in about 387 and was buried at Ostia, though her remains were later moved to the Basilica of Sant’Agostino, Rome. Namesake of Santa Monica, CA and many churches, she is honored today on the Orthodox and Anglican calendars and on August 27 on Roman Catholic calendars. http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1120 http://www.antiochian.org/node/18343

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Augustine
TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016
For All the Saints: Robert Hunt
The first Protestant chaplain in the New World is honored today on the Episcopal calendar. Robert Hunt (c. 1568–1608) was a Church of England victor. He had a tumultuous career in England, leaving one parish because of his wife’s adultery, and leaving this second parish because of his own adultery. He was consequently sent to North America with the London Virginia Company and arrived at Chesapeake Bay on April 26, 1607. Circumstances were horrible, as anyone knows who has studied the history of Jamestown. But Hunt found a calling as chaplain, preaching, celebrating the probable first Protestant communion service in the colonies, and helping settle disputes and quarrels among the colonists. God gives us many “second chances”! Hunt is honored with a memorial at Jamestown, and in 2015, remains found in a Jamestown church were identified as Hunt’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hunt_(chaplain)
https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/the-reverend-robert-hunt-the-first-chaplain-at-jamestown.htm

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MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2016
For All the Saints: Mark

Across western and eastern church calendars, Mark the Evangelist is honored today. He is traditional author of the Gospel of Mark and identified with John Mark in the New Testament writings. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“Mark was an idolater from Cyrene of Pentapolis, which is near Libya. Having come to the Faith of Christ through the Apostle Peter, he followed him to Rome. While there, at the prompting of Peter himself and at the request of the Christians living there, he wrote his Gospel in Greek… Afterwards, travelling in Egypt, he preached the Gospel there and was the first to establish the Church in Alexandria. The idolators, unable to bear his preaching, seized him, bound him with ropes, and dragged him through the streets until he, cut to pieces on rocks, gave up his soul. It is said that he completed his life in martyrdom about the year 68. He is depicted in holy icons with a lion next to him, one of the living creatures mentioned by Ezekiel (1:10), and a symbol of Christ’s royal office, as St Irenaeus of Lyons writes.” (Great Horologion)

For All the Saints: St. George, Toyohiko Kagawa
One of the most popular saints across western and eastern Christianity, St. George, is honored today, the anniversary of his AD 303 martyrdom. There is so much to know about George, in terms of his scant factual biography and the many legends, as well as devotions, prayers, and artworks concerning him: see, for instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_in_devotions,_traditions_and_prayers

In the Episcopal and Lutheran churches, the Japanese pacifist and activist Toyohiko Kagawa is remembered today, the anniversary of his 1960 death at the age of 71. Author of over 150 books, he was also active in relief work, labor organization, environmentalism, the women’s suffrage movement in Japan, and efforts on behalf of the poor and exploited. One of his books, Brotherhood Economics, described an economic alternative to socialism and capitalism.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
For All the Saints: John Muir and Hudson Stuck
On this Earth Day, the Episcopal calendar honors John Muir and Hudson Stuck.

Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist and author who advocated for wilderness preservation in the US, including Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park, and others. He pushed Congress for the passage of the 1890 National Park bill, wrote several books and many articles, and founded the Sierra Club. Several locations are named for him. With a deep sense of natural theology, he considered himself a disciple of Thoreau.

Stuck (1863-1920) was a London-born American missionary and social reformer, ordained in the Episcopal Church. He was a leader of the first successful climb of the mountain Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, in 1913. He had begun as a missionary in Alaska nine years before; he established a parish and hospital in Fairbanks and traveled thousands of miles each year to visit communities and missions.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, environment, mission, Muir (John), nature
THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016
For All the Saints: Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – April 21, 1109) is honored today. He was a Benedictine monk, theologian, and eventually Archbishop of Canterbury. In the latter role, he took the church’s side amid the Investiture Controversy.

The Catholic Saints site has this about the ups and downs of his life: “Indifferent toward religion as a young man, Anselm became one of the Church’s greatest theologians and leaders. He received the title ‘Father of Scholasticism’ for his attempt to analyze and illumine the truths of faith through the aid of reason.

“At 15, Anselm wanted to enter a monastery, but was refused acceptance because of his father’s opposition. Twelve years later, after careless disinterest in religion and years of worldly living, he finally fulfilled his desire to be a monk. He entered the monastery of Bec in Normandy, three years later was elected prior and 15 years later was unanimously chosen abbot.

“Considered an original and independent thinker, Anselm was admired for his patience, gentleness and teaching skill. Under his leadership, the abbey of Bec became a monastic school, influential in philosophical and theological studies.

“During these years, at the community’s request, Anselm began publishing his theological works, comparable to those of St. Augustine (August 28). His best-known work is the book Cur Deus Homo (“Why God Became Man”).

“At 60, against his will, Anselm was appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. His appointment was opposed at first by England’s King William Rufus and later accepted. Rufus persistently refused to cooperate with efforts to reform the Church.

“Anselm finally went into voluntary exile until Rufus died in 1100. He was then recalled to England by Rufus’s brother and successor, Henry I. Disagreeing fearlessly with Henry over the king’s insistence on investing England’s bishops, Anselm spent another three years in exile in Rome.”

The writer goes on to describe Anselm’s concern for the very poor and for his active opposition to slavery.

Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of God is a familiar topic to anyone who teaches or studies philosophy, and his Christology, with reference to the Atonement, has been similarly influential in theology. Here are two articles about his thought: http://www.iep.utm.edu/anselm/#H7 and http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anselm/

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Anselm
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016
For All the Saints: Father Damien

The famous Father Damien (Saint Damien of Molokai, SS.CC.) is honored today, the anniversary of his 1889 death. His birth name was Jozef De Veuster, born in 1840. He was a Catholic priest from Belgium, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and he took Damien as his religious name. He wanted to do mission work, and he sailed to Hawaii in 1864. There, persons who had leprosy (Hansen’s disease) were quarantined to an isolated area of Mokoka’i. Damien volunteered to be priest for the group, and he moved to the colony in 1873, where he provided spiritual needs as well as helping the colonists with practical matters including grave digging.

By 1884, Damien realized that he, too, had the disease, but he continued with building of facilities and in helping in numerous ways. He died at the age of 49, was first interred in the colonist cemetery, but was reinterred later to his hometown of Leuven, though his right hand was later buried in his first, Moloka’i grave. He was beatified in 1995 and canonized in 2009. The site http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2817 has words of praise for his selfless work, and the National Park Service site has more information.
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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016
For All the Saints: William Law, Teilhard de Chardin
Two interesting figures in Christian history are honored today on the Anglican and Episcopal calendars. William Law (1686 – 1761) was a Church of England priest who lost his position at Cambridge because he would not swear an oath of allegiance to the Hanoverian monarch George I. He became known as a teacher and writer and was the author of A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection and A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, both of which influenced revivalists like John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and others. His spiritual writings are still in print.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ (1881-1955) was a priest, paleontologist, geologist and theologian. He was part of the team that discovered Peking Man (Homo erectus pekinensis). In addition to his writings and field work, he is known for his book The Phenomenon of Man, where he argued that the cosmos and humanity were unfolding and developing toward an ultimate union with Christ, which he called the Omega Point. Thus he incorporated evolutionary theory into both spirituality and culture. He also wrote books The Phenomenon of the Spirit and The Divine Milieu. http://kheper.net/topics/Teilhard/Teilhard-evolution.htm

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, evolution, science
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016
For All the Saints: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
On the Episcopal, Anglican, and ELCA calendars today, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) is honored on this anniversary of his death. He was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, a founding member of the Confessing Church and an anti-Nazi activist who was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1943. He and other plotters to assassinate Hitler were hanged during the last weeks of the Third Reich. He wrote several books, of which The Cost of Discipleship is perhaps best known. The familiar 4-by-7, dark-green paperback, 1975 edition, came out when I was a freshman at a Christian college, a challenging first introduction to his life and work. He also wrote Act and Being, Sanctorum Communio, Life Together, the posthumous Letters and Papers from Prison, and the works. Bonhoeffer’s student Eberhard Bethge did much to make Bonhoeffer known to an international audience, with a biography and editions of the theologian’s works. A doctoral classmate, Charles Marsh, recently published a new biography, Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Knopf, 2014).

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016
For All the Saints: Dürer, Cranach, Grünewald, Michelangelo

Self-portrait of Dürer, who died
on this day in 1528.
On Lutheran calendars, four Renaissance artists (three Germans and an Italian) are commemorated today. Albrecht
Dürer (1471-1528) was an influential painter and print maker known for his engravings, woodcuts, and watercolors. Lucas Cranach der Ältere (c. 1472 – 1553) was also a printmaker and painter, who was also a portraits and artist of religious subjects. Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470 – 1528) was another painter of religious subjects, who retained a late Medieval Central European style in his work. His best known piece, the large Isenheim Altarpiece, was an inspiration to the twentieth-century theologian Karl Barth. Finally, Michelangelo (1475-1564) was an Italian, High Renaissance sculptor, painter, engineer and poet who has needless to say, significantly influenced Western art and is one of the greatest artists.

Dürer, Grünewald, and Cranach are honored on the Episcopal calendar on August 5.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Barth (Karl)
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016
For All the Saints: Venerable Mark of Trache
The 4th and 5th century saint Mark of Trache (or Mark of Athens) is honored today on the Orthodox calendar. After the death of his parents, he considered the transitory nature of all things. He donated his belongings to the poor, embarked upon the sea, and asked God to guide him. He landed in Libya and became a hermit at Trache mountain, where he lived for 95 years, struggling with temptation and eventually sustaining on food brought by angels. As the story goes, he expounded upon Matthew 17:20, where Christ talks about faith that moves mountains. At that moment, the mountain actually moved.

Here is more about Marc: http://www.orthodox.net/menaion-april/05-the-venerable-mark-of-trache.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016
For All the Saints: Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the Episcopal calendar, Dr. King is honored today on the anniversary of his 1968 death. Many important and interesting aspects of Dr. King and his life and theology, as well as information about Mrs. King and the family’s ongoing ministry, can be found at the King Center website: http://www.thekingcenter.org/about-king-center

Here is a very thought provoking article that a Facebook friend found and shared: “Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did” by Hamden Rice (Aug. 29 2011). http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011562/-Most-of-you-have-no-idea-what-Martin-Luther-King-actually-did

Here’s a link to Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” from 1963. Always worth studying and considering. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

About to make a campaign speech that evening in an African American neighborhood in Indianapolis, Robert Kennedy realized the crowd had not heard the news. So Kennedy gave this short, touching speech—now considered one of the great speeches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TgVLDvBIlU
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, King (Martin Luther)
THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2016
For All the Saints: John Donne
In the Anglican communion, as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the English poet and cleric John Donne (1572-1631) is honored today, the anniversary of his death.

Here is an excellent summary of his life and influence (and the source of this picture): http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-donne

And here are three favorite poems:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

---

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

---

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Donne (John)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016
For All the Saints: John Klimatos, & an Uncondemning Monk

Icon of John Klimatos,
from Wikipedia
On the Orthodox calendar, St John Climatus (John of the Ladder) of Sinai is honored today in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, and he is also honored in Orthodox churches on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. Few facts are known of his life during the 600s; he joined the monastery at Mount Sinai during his teens and lived there until his death at 80. During a period of twenty years when he lived in a cave, he wrote a classic work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which is still read a treasury of spiritual wisdom which is read in its entirety in monasteries during every Lenten season. In that work, Jacob’s Ladder Genesis 28) is used as an analogy for the progression of one’s body and should to God. Each step corresponds to different virtues until one reaches the highest, which is love. In the 19th century, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard used “John Climatus” as one of his pseudonyms.

March 30 is also the day for honoring “an uncondemning monk.” The Orthodox Saints site has this:
“This monk died joyfully because he had never in his life condemned anyone. He was lazy, careless, disinclined to prayer, but throughout his entire life he had never judged anyone. And when he lay dying, he was full of joy. The brethren asked him how he could die so joyfully with all his sins, and he replied: ‘I have just seen the angels, and they showed me a page with all my many sins. I said to them: “The Lord said: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ I have never judged anyone and I hope in the mercy of God, that He will not judge me.” And the angels tore up the sheet of paper.’ Hearing this, the monks wondered at it and learned from it.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2016
For All the Saints: Richard Allen

On the Episcopal Church calendar, Richard Allen (1760-1831) is honored today, the anniversary of his death. Born into slavery, Allen founded the first independent black denomination in the US, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1794, and was elected its first bishop in 1816. In the AME Church, he hoped to give free blacks a place to worship with respect and dignity. He also organized Sabbath schools to teach literacy, promoted the well being of American blacks, and operated an Underground Railroad station. As a young person he had taught himself to read and write. Already active in Methodist evangelizing, he was qualified as a preacher in 1784 when the Methodist Church was founded at at the famous Christmas Conference in Baltimore. He became a preacher at the St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, but when the white Methodists ordered the blacks to worship separately, he and the rest of the black congregation left and formed the basis of the AME Church, which in twenty years had nearly 1300 members.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016
For All the Saints: Oscar Romero
Archbishop Óscar Romero is honored today, the anniversary of his 1980 death, when he was assassinated while offering mass. The prelate of San Salvador, he was known for his ministry to the poor and for his criticism of the Salvadoran government for its human rights abuses, and of the U.S. for its military aid. He was beatified in 2015. The United Nations General Assembly designated Marhc 24 as “International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims.” The Catholic Saints site has this summary of his life. See also: http://www.un.org/en/events/righttotruthday/romero.shtml

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Romero (Oscar)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2016
For All the Saints: Gregory the Illuminator
The founder of Christianity in Armenia is honored today in the Anglican Communion and on September 30 in the Eastern Church. St. Gregory the Illuminator (c. 257 – c. 331) was the son of an Armenian Parthian noble who had been executed for the assassination of King Khosrov II. Gregory married but eventually he joined a monastery and, to atone for what his father did, he felt called to evangelize Armenia. Unfortunately, Kohosrov’s son was the king and he imprisoned Gregory for years. He was eventually released so that he could help the new king, Tiridates II, whom Gregory baptized. That kind subsequently allowed Gregory to lead Christianity in Armiaia, resulting in he beginning of the Armenian church and the building of the Mother Church in Echmiadzin. At the end of his life he retired to a small convent of monks.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Armenia
MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
For All the Saints: Thomas Cranmer

In the Anglican Communion and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) is honored today. He was Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI and part of the reign of Mary I. As archbishop, especially during Edward’s reign, he made significant reforms to the Church of England, writing the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, and establishing doctrine in, for instance, the Thirty-Nine Articles. Earlier he helped establish the English monarch as sovereign over the English church. During Mary’s reign, he was imprisoned for heresy and treason, during which time he recanted his earlier views, but he finally withdrew his recantations and was executed as a heretic.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Joseph

Today is St. Joseph’s Day in many traditions: the feast day of Joseph the husband of the Virgin Mary, although in Eastern Christianity, his day is the Sunday after Christmas. Joseph is only mentioned in the Bible in Matthew’s and Luke’s birth narratives, and Matthew’s genealogy for Jesus is that of Joseph’s family. Mary is present throughout Jesus’ adulthood and also in Acts 1, but we’ve no scriptural traditions about Joseph’s death. For many centuries Joseph has been venerated as the protector and guardian of Jesus, and whose work as a carpenter Jesus shared prior to his ministry.

The Catholic Saints site has this about Joseph: “The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment: he was a ‘just’ man. … By saying Joseph was ‘just,’ the Bible means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. He became holy by opening himself totally to God.

“The rest we can easily surmise. Think of the kind of love with which he wooed and won Mary, and the depth of the love they shared during their marriage….

“The just man was simply, joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in marrying Mary, in naming Jesus, in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt, in bringing them to Nazareth, in the undetermined number of years of quiet faith and courage.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016
For All the Saints: Cyril of Jerusalem
During the past several months of reading about different saints of the church, I’ve learned that a few of them have been formally declared Doctors of the Church, those who contributed specially to theology and doctrine. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386), whose feast day is today, was declared such a doctor by Pope Leo XIII in 1883. A bishop of Jerusalem, he is honored on Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox calendars today.

The Roman Catholic Saints site has this about him:

“The crises that the Church faces today may seem minor when compared with the threat posed by the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ and almost overcame Christinity in the fourth century. Cyril was to be caught up in the controversy, accused (later) of Arianism by St. Jerome (September 30), and ultimately vindicated both by the men of his own time and by being declared a Doctor of the Church in 1822.

“Raised in Jerusalem, well-educated, especially in the Scriptures, he was ordained a priest by the bishop of Jerusalem and given the task of catechizing during Lent those preparing for Baptism and during the Easter season the newly baptized. His Catecheses remain valuable as examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in the mid-fourth century.

There are conflicting reports about the circumstances of his becoming bishop of Jerusalem. It is certain that he was validly consecrated by bishops of the province. Since one of them was an Arian, Acacius, it may have been expected that his ‘cooperation’ would follow. Conflict soon rose between Cyril and Acacius, bishop of the rival nearby see of Caesarea. Cyril was summoned to a council, accused of insubordination and of selling Church property to relieve the poor. Probably, however, a theological difference was also involved. He was condemned, driven from Jerusalem, and later vindicated, not without some association and help of Semi-Arians. Half his episcopate was spent in exile … He finally returned to find Jerusalem torn with heresy, schism and strife, and wracked with crime. Even St. Gregory of Nyssa, sent to help, left in despair.

“They both went to the (second ecumenical) Council of Constantinople, where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated in 381. Cyril accepted the word consubstantial (that is, of Christ and the Father). Some said it was an act of repentance, but the bishops of the Council praised him as a champion of orthodoxy against the Arians. …”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Patrick

Today is St. Patrick’s Day! Here’s what I wrote about the saint last year:
http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2015/03/interfaith-days-st-patricks-day.html
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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016
For All the Saints: Gregory the Great

Pope Gregory I, or St. Gregory the Great, was born in about 540 and was pope from 590 until his death on March 12, 604. He is honored today on the Episcopal, Lutheran, and Orthodox calendars, although the Roman Church moved his feast day from March 12 (which falls during Lent) to September 3. The Orthodox Saints site has this:

“He was born in Rome to a wealthy senatorial family. He received a good education in secular and spiritual learning, and became Prefect of Rome. While still in the world, he used his great wealth mostly for the good of the Church, building six monasteries in Sicily and another in Rome itself. At this monastery, dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, Gregory was tonsured a monk. He was appointed Archdeacon of Rome, then, in 579, Papal legate to Constantinople, where he lived for nearly seven years. He returned to Rome in 585 and was elected Pope in 590.
 
“He is famed for his many writings, his generous charity (he gave almost all his income to the poor, and often invited the poor to share his table), and for initiating missionary work among the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, celebrated on Wednesday and Friday evenings during Great Lent, was compiled by him. St Gregory introduced elements of the chanting that he had heard in Constantinople into Western Church chant: The Gregorian Chant which beautified the Western churches for many years is named for him. Its system of modes is related to the eight tones of the Eastern church. He is called ‘the Dialogist’ after his book The Dialogues, an account of the lives and miracles of Italian saints….”

Gregory increased the power of the papacy, bringing bishops back in strong connection with Rome. He was declared one of the Doctors of the Church and a Latin Father, and he was canonized not long after his death by popular acclamation.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016
For All the Saints: Perpetua and Felicity
Anyone who has studied the history of the early church has likely heard of Perpetua and Felicity and perhaps has read the classic text, The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their Companions. I think I read that account in college and then again in seminary.

The saints, martyred in 203, are honored today of Roman Catholic and Protestant calendars and on February 1 on the Orthodox calendar. The Orthodox site has this account:

“Perpetua, Felicity, Saturus, Saturninus, Secundus and Revocatus were all young catechumens living near Carthage. Perpetua was of noble birth; Felicity (Felicitas) was her slave. All were arrested under Emperor Valerian’s persecution and sent to Carthage. Perpetua had a young child still at the breast, which she asked to take with her.

“The holy martyrs appeared before the tribunal and joyfully received their sentence of condemnation to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. Felicity, who was eight months pregnant, was concerned that her martyrdom might be postponed because of her pregnancy, but at the prayers of her friends, she went into labor three days before the games. As she groaned in labor, a jailer mocked her, telling her that the pain she felt was nothing to the pain that she would feel in the arena. The Saint replied, ‘Here I suffer for myself; then there will be Another with me, who will suffer with me; and my sufferings will be for Him!’ When she gave birth, she entrusted her newborn child to the care of a Christian couple and prepared for her end.
 
“On the day of the games, the brothers and sisters in Christ entered the arena together. The men were soon killed by the beasts, but Perpetua and Felicity, though mauled, remained alive. The impatient persecutors ordered that they be beheaded. Walking to the center of the arena, the two spiritual sisters exchanged the kiss of peace and gave up their souls to God.”

Here is another account: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=48

For All the Saints: John and Charles Wesley
On the ELCA calendar, John and Charles Wesley are honored today as renewers of the church; they are honored tomorrow (March 3) in the Anglican communion. Here is a good site about them: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Wesley.htm

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:42 AM 2 comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Wesley (Charles), Wesley (John)
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
For All the Saints: David of Wales

With a little Welsh ancestry, I was interested in today’s saint, David (c. 500 – c. 589), bishop of Mynyw and patron saint of Wales. Today is the Welsh holiday St. David’s Day.

The Roman Catholic site has this information: “It is known he became a priest, engaged in missionary work and founded many monasteries, including his principal abbey in southwestern Wales. Many stories and legends sprang up about David and his Welsh monks. Their austerity was extreme. They worked in silence without the help of animals to till the soil. Their food was limited to bread, vegetables and water.

“In about the year 550, David attended a synod where his eloquence impressed his fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate of the region. The episcopal see was moved to Mynyw, where he had his monastery (now called St. David’s). He ruled his diocese until he had reached a very old age. His last words to his monks and subjects were: ‘Be joyful, brothers and sisters. Keep your faith, and do the little things that you have seen and heard with me.’

“St. David is pictured standing on a mound with a dove on his shoulder. The legend is that once while he was preaching a dove descended to his shoulder and the earth rose to lift him high above the people so that he could be heard. Over 50 churches in South Wales were dedicated to him in pre-Reformation days.”

According to his Wikipedia page, “‘Do ye the little things in life’ (‘Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd’) is today a very well known phrase in Welsh.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2016
For All the Saints: George Herbert, St. Gabriel
Please forgive the links: here is a link to something I wrote last year, about the poet George Herbert, who is commemorated today in the Anglican Communion (and this coming Monday in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American): http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2015/02/my-souls-shepherd-too-george-herbert.html

A saint on the Roman Catholic calendar captured my interest today, because (as this link indicates) he was devoted to God in small acts of kindness, which I find very inspiring: St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (1838-1862): http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1304&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016
For All the Saints: St. Photine

from: http://chantblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/
st-photine-of-samaria.html
My Lenten Bible study book, which I’ve been promoting lately, has a lesson on the Samaritan woman in John 4. The Old Testament tie-in is the power of water, the promised Holy Spirit, and the teaching of Jesus about living water.

The Samaritan woman, unnamed in the Bible, is honored today on the Orthodox Saintscalendar. I hadn’t realized that the Orthodox tradition names her, Photine, which means enlightened one. That site has this:

“[Photine] was the Samaritan Woman who met Christ at Jacob’s Well (John ch. 4). She repented, and told her townsmen that she had met the Christ, for which she is sometimes called the first to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. She converted her four sisters (Phota, Photis, Parasceva, and Cyriaca), and her sons (Victor and Joses), and all of them became tireless evangelists for Christ. After the martyrdom of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, she traveled to Carthage to proclaim the Gospel there. She, with her Christian sisters and sons, all met martyrdom under the persecutions of Nero. She is also commemorated on the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman during the Paschal season.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016
For All the Saints: Polycarp

The 2nd century bishop Polycarp (c. 69 – 155) is honored on most church calendars today. He is considered one of the three major Apostolic Fathers (with Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome), and his Epistle to the Philippians is an important source for the study of early Christianity. The Orthodox Saints site has this biography of the bishop:

“…. St Irenaeus of Lyons, his disciple, says that St Polycarp was ‘a disciple of the Apostles and acquainted with those who had seen the Lord.’ His parents died as martyrs, and he was given into the care of a devout lady named Callista. As a child, the Saint was so eager to follow the commandments of Christ that he repeatedly emptied his foster-mother’s pantry to feed the poor. Since her supplies were always miraculously renewed, Callista changed his name from Pancratius to Polykarpos, meaning ‘Much fruit.’

“When grown, Polycarp became a disciple of St John the Theologian, and in time became Bishop of Smyrna; it is told that the messages to the Church at Smyrna in the Book of Revelation are addressed to St Polycarp and his flock. He knew St Ignatius of Antioch personally, and some of their correspondence is preserved.

“Polycarp led his Church in holiness for more than fifty years, and became known throughout the Christian world as a true shepherd and standard-bearer of the Faith. About the year 154 he traveled to Rome and consulted with Pope Anacletus on the defense of the Faith.

“Not long after he returned to Smyrna, a fierce persecution was unleashed against Christians in Asia Minor; along with many others, St Polycarp was arrested, having predicted his imminent martyrdom. (The account of his martyrdom that follows is based on eyewitness accounts gathered immediately after his death.)
 
“On the evening of Holy Friday, soldiers burst into the farmhouse where he was staying. The Bishop welcomed them cheerfully, and ordered that a meal be prepared for them. He was granted some time to pray, and for two hours stood commemorating everyone that he had known and praying for the Church throughout the world. His captors sorrowed that they had come to take such a venerable man, and reluctantly took him to the Proconsul. When urged to deny Christ and save his life, the aged Saint replied, ‘For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has wronged me in nothing; how can I blaspheme my King and Savior?’ Told that he would die by fire if he did not apostatize, Polycarp replied ‘You threaten me with a fire that burns for a short time and then goes out, while you know nothing of the fire of the judgment to come and of the everlasting torment awaiting the wicked. Why wait any longer? Do what you will!’
 
“Placed on the pyre, Polycarp lifted his eyes heavenward and gave thanks to God for finding him worthy to share with the holy Martyrs of the cup of Christ. When he had said his Amen, the executioners lit the fire. The eyewitnesses write that the fire sprang up around him like a curtain, and that he stood in its midst glowing like gold and sending forth a delightful scent of incense. Seeing that the fire was not harming him, the executioners stabbed him with a sword. His blood flowed so copiously that it put out the fire, and he gave back his soul to God. His relics were burned by the persecutors, but Christians rescued a few fragments of bone, which were venerated for many generations on the anniversary of his repose.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, history
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016
For All the Saints: Eric Liddell
A beloved Scottish athlete, Eric Henry Liddell (1902-1945) is honored today. I had forgotten that he was the subject of the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, with its stirring Vangelis music. At the University of Edinburgh Liddell ran and played rugby, and was notable in both—for instance, winning a long-equalled record in the 100 yards at the 1923 AAA Championships. In the 1924 Summer Olympics (in which he refused to participate on Sunday because of his religious beliefs), he won a gold medal for the 400 meters (setting a record) and a bronze medal for the 200 meters.

Born in Northern China to missionary parents, Liddell returned there following the Olympics and did missionary work, for instance as a college teacher. He continued to compete and used his athletics to train boys in sports. He remained in China during the war, sending his family to stay with family in Canada, and he was eventually interned in a Japanese camp. As the Wikipedia site puts it, “Liddell became a leader and organiser at the camp, but food, medicine and other supplies were scarce. There were many cliques in the camp and when some rich businessmen managed to smuggle in some eggs, Liddell shamed them into sharing them. While fellow missionaries formed cliques, moralised and acted selfishly, Liddell busied himself by helping the elderly, teaching at the camp school Bible classes, arranging games and by teaching science to the children, who referred to him as Uncle Eric.” He died of a brain tumor in February 1945, likely hastened by the distress of his internment.

The Eric Liddell Centre’s website provides much information about his life and service.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2016
For All the Saints: John Henry Cardinal Newman

John Henry Newman is honored today, the anniversary of his 1801 birth. He was widely and early known in the Oxford Movement, the group of Anglicans who sought to return the church to Catholic rituals and beliefs. First ordained a priest in the Church of England, he joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and soon became a priest therein. He became a noted church leader, was created a cardinal in 1879, and helped found what is now University College, Dublin. Among his noted books are Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1866), a defense of his beliefs, and An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent(1870), in which he argued that faith is a true product of human rationality. He died in 1890 and was beatified in 2010.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2016
For All the Saints: Frederick Douglass

From last All Saints Day until the next, I’m selecting noted people from among four church calendars, and thinking about their legacy. On the Episcopal calendar, Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895) is honored today as a prophetic witness. Born in slavery, Douglass was taught to read and write by a kindhearted slaveowner’s wife and continued to teach himself literacy prior to his escape from slavery in 1838. By 1845 he wrote his bestselling autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. This book, and his 1855 book My Bondage and My Freedom greatly promoted the abolitionist cause in the U.S. He worked against slavery and also supported women’s suffrage and the equality of all; for instance, he foresaw the need for equality for Asians who were beginning to emigrate to the country’s west coast. He was widely known as a powerful orator and writer, both in the U.S. and abroad. After Lincoln’s second inaugural address, Douglass came to the White House and was disallowed entry because of his race, but Lincoln ushered him in and sought his opinion of the speech. Douglass’ final autobiographical account was the 1881 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Civil War
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2016
For All the Saints: Janani Luwum

In the Episcopal and Anglican churches, Janani Jakaliya Luwum is honored today on the anniversary of his death in 1977. He was an influential leader of the modern church in Africa. Born in the village of Mucwini, he received his religious education from Buwalasi Theological College and was ordained a priest in 1954. He was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda in 1969 and then as Archbishop of the Metropolitan Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga (in Zaire) in 1974. Luwum was a vocal critic of the Idi Amin regime and its violence. He and two others were arrested in February 1977 and reportedly died in a car crash as he and the others were driven to an interrogation center. But their bodies were riddled with bullets. He is commemorated as a martyr on this day, and with a statue on the outside wall of Westminster Abbey.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2016
For All the Saints: Onesimus

In the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Saint Onesimus is honored today. He is the slave who is the subject of Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. Onesimus was a runaway slave who was converted to Christianity by Paul. Subsequently, his master Philemon converted, too. Paul hoped that Onesimus would stay with him, but he sent him back to Philemon with the hopes that they could be reconciled and Onesimus released. The letter was an important text in the American debate concerning slavery.

According to the Wikipedia page, Onesimus’ day was changed from February 16 to 15 in the Roman Catholic tradition. Philemon himself is also honored today in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, but on November 22 in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, somewhat overshadowed that day by St. Cecilia.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Bible
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2016
For All the Saints: Valentinus
The Orthodox Saints site has this to say about February 14!

“What Happened to Valentine’s Day? On February 14 the Roman church commemorates two Saints named Valentinus, both martyred in Rome at different times (one was a bishop in Italy). Both are also saints of the Orthodox Church, but are commemorated on July 30 and October 24. As for chocolates, flowers, cards, etc., the Encyclopedia Britannica says: ‘St Valentine’s day as a lovers’ festival… has no relation to the saint or to any incident in his life. These customs seem rather to be connected either with the pagan Roman festival of the Lupercalia which took place in the middle of February, or with the spring season in general.'”

Also: http://www.stmgrts.org.uk/archives/2012/02/st_valentines_day.html

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, love
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2016
For All the Saints: Absalom Jones

The Episcopal Church honors Absalom Jones (1746-1818) today, the anniversary of his death. He was an African American clergyman and abolitionist who was the first black man ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of America. Freed from slavery in 1784, he had already learned to read and write. He first became one of the first African Americans licensed to preach in the Methodist Church, but although the congregation was interracial, he left when told he and the black members could not sit and kneel with the white members. He and Richard Allen (who became a noted African American Methodist leader) formed a society to help freed slaves, the Free African Society. The services of that organization became the foundation of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia’s first black church, and Jones was ordained a priest in 1804. He was known for his oratory, his anti-slavery sermons, and his work to end slavery in the U.S and to assist freed slaves.
http://www.episcopalarchives.org/Afro-Anglican_history/exhibit/leadership/jones.php
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, race
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2016
For All the Saints: Fanny Crosby
On the Episcopal Church calendar, poet Fanny Crosby is honored today. Frances Jane (Crosby) van Alstyne (1820-1915), who lost her sight during infancy, wrote over 8000 hymns and gospel songs, as well as over 1000 secular poems and other works. Her hymns—like “Blessed Assurance,” “Praise Him, Praise Him,” “To God Be the Glory,” “I Am Thine, O Lord (Draw Me Nearer),” “Rescue the Perishing,” and others were popular evangelistic and revival hymns and remain popular selections in many hymnals. They were certainly among the first hymns I learned during childhood Sunday school! During her long life, she was also involved in rescue mission work and in public speaking. According to the Christianity Today site, she was at one stage under contract to send her publisher three hymns a week, but she was known to write several a day.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Crosby (Fanny)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
For All the Saints: Nicephorus of Antioch
Since last All Saints Day, I’ve been reading about different saints and significant people named on four different church calendars. Here is an interesting story for February 9 from the third century, quoted from the Orthodox Saints site.

“Sapricius the priest and the layman Nicephorus lived in Antioch of Syria. Though they were the closest of friends, a disagreement between them led to estrangement and then to outright enmity. In time, Nicephorus came to himself and realized that reconciliation and love among brethren are precious in the sight of the Lord, and he sent to Sapricius to ask his forgiveness for Christ’s sake. But his messengers were turned away, and Sapricius coldly refused any reconciliation. At the same time he violated the Lord’s commandment by continuing to serve at the altar without seeking to make peace. Nicephorus finally went in person and threw himself at Sapricius’ feet, but even this had no effect.

“Soon, persecution of Christians broke out, and Sapricius was arrested. When he confessed Christ without fear or hesitation, and refused to make sacrifice to the idols even under torture, he was condemned to be beheaded. Nicephorus was distressed that Sapricius might give his life in Christ’s name while still at enmity with a brother; and that he himself would lose his chance to make peace. As Sapricius was being led to the place of execution, Nicephorus went on his knees before him and cried ‘Martyr of Christ, forgive me the offences for which you are angry with me!’ Still, Sapricius coldly spurned his former friend’s pleas. For this reason, as the executioner was raising his sword, and the crown of martyrdom was only seconds away, God withdrew his grace from the priest, who turned to the executioner and declared his readiness to adore the idols. Nicephorus, who was among the witnesses, begged him not to apostatise, but his words were of no effect. Nicephorus then turned to the executioner and shouted ‘I am a Christian! I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ whom he has just denied. Let him go and put me to death in his place!’
 
“The Governor agreed, and ordered the release of Sapricius and the execution of Nicephorus. The Martyr laid his neck on the block joyfully and claimed the crown that Sapricius had thrown away. The Synaxarion concludes:
 
“‘When he departed for heaven to receive the crown of glory, Saint Nicephorus left to us Christians a vivid illustration of these words uttered by the Holy Spirit: If I deliver my body to be burned but have no love, I gain nothing (1 Cor. 13:3). If you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses… For the measure you give will be the measure you get (Matt. 6:15; 7:2).'”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
For All the Saints: 26 Martyrs
The Roman Catholic and Episcopal Church calendars honor today the 26 Catholics who were executed in Nagasaki in 1597. A Catholic mission had begun in Japan in 1549 and was accepted at first. But the government and the shogunate began to see the church as a potential colonial threat. The church was persecuted, and these Catholics were crucified and then killed with spears. The martyrs included twenty Japanese, four Spaniards, a Mexican, and an Indian. http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1283&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016
For All the Saints: Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams
On the Episcopal Church calendar, Roger Williams (c. 1603 – 1683) and Anne Hutchinson (1591 – 1643) are honored today as prophetic voices. Williams was a colonial proponent of religious freedom and separation of church and state. When Puritan leaders exiled him from Salem, he established a settlement that he called Providence, which would be a place for dissenters seeking “liberty of conscience.” For the first time in history, religion and citizenship were separate. Williams was also a forerunner in the Baptist Church in the colonies, advocated for good relations with Native Americans, and was a forerunner in calling for the prohibition of slavery in the colonies.

Anne Hutchinson was another colonial proponent for religious freedom and was also a pioneer for women in ministry and church leadership. Questioning the theology of ministers of Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was exiled from the colony and excommunicated. Hutchinson and her followers established the Portsmouth settlement with the encouragement of Roger Williams. As her Wikipedia page indicates, “She challenged the authority of the ministers, exposing the subordination of women in the culture of colonial Massachusetts. She is honored by Massachusetts with a State House monument calling her a ‘courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration.'”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, history, religion
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
For All the Saints: The Four Chaplains

On the Episcopal calendar, the Four Chaplains are honored today, the anniversary of their deaths in 1943 when their ship, the SS Dorchester, was torpedoed by a German sub and sunk. Rev. George Fox was a Methodist Minister, Rev. John P. Washington was a Catholic priest, Dr. Alexander D. Goode was a Reform rabbi, and Rev. Clark V. Pooling was a Reformed Church minister. As the ship sank, they assisted soldiers in boarding lifeboats and gave their own life jackets to soldiers. They prayed for the men and sang hymns together, their arms joined, and went down with the ship. Most of the 904 persons on board did not survive.

As this site indicates, the four chaplains are honored in numerous ways, including the 1948 postage stamp pictured here. I first learned of the men when I was little and collected stamps, and my dad, who was a Pacific war veteran, told me the story.

See also http://www.fourchaplains.org

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, interfaith
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016
Candlemas
Today is Candlemas, or the Presentation of the Lord. Here is a Catholic article that explains the significance of both today and tomorrow! https://www.ncregister.com/blog/joseph-pronechen/forget-the-groundhog-remember-the-real-celebration

Posted by Paul Stroble at 9:41 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Candlemas
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
For All the Saints: Brigid of Kildare
We fell in love with Ireland during our first visit in 2011 (I’ve pre-famine Irish ancestors on Mom’s side) and we planned another Ireland trip two years later. I’m eager to return! Meanwhile, I was pleased to see that today is the special church day for Brigid, who along with Patrick and Columba is one of Ireland’s beloved saints. She was born about 451, of a mother whom Patrick himself had baptized. (Brigid was also friends with Patrick.) According to stories about her, miracles and holiness were attributed to her even when she was a child. When she was around 30, she founded a monastery in Kildare that had been a Celtic shrine to the goddess of the same name, Brigid, and within a few years she also founded a monastery for men.

She died February 1, 525. As seen in the painting, the reed cross known as Saint Brigid’s Cross or “Crosóg Bhríde” is still popular in Ireland and elsewhere. She is considered the patron saint of scholars because of the prominence of her Abbey of Kildare, and she is also known for her compassion and ministry for the poor.

Although she’s not listened on any church calendar, I never forget that today is the birthday of my grandma Crawford (born in 1890), whose example was very important to me.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Ireland, St. Patrick
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016
For All the Saints: Thomas Aquinas
In Western churches, Thomas of Aquino, or Thomas Aquinas is honored today. He lived from 1224 or 1225 until 1274. A Dominican friar and priest, he is known for his contributions to theology philosophy, scriptural commentary, ethics, and even hymnody. In works like Summa Theologica and Summa contra Gentiles, he synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian philosophy in a way not attempted outside the Muslim world. He was an exponent of natural theology, the way God can be known by reason, although he affirmed that doctrines of the church can only be known via revelation. Although his theology faced controversy and even condemned by a bishop prior to and after his death, his theology soon rose in stature and is now considered the basis of Catholic doctrine. Thomas was canonized and also declared a Doctor of the Church. He is also the saint of Catholic schools.

For All the Saints: Francis de Sales
This famous saint (who lived in 1567 till 1622), was Bishop of Geneva, known for books like Treatise on the Love of God and Introduction to the Devout Life. He was canonized in 1665 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877. Son of a noble family, he had a privileged background, but a religious crisis led him to devote himself to the Virgin Mary, to dedicate his life to God, and to affirm the God of Love in his practice and writings. The king of France appreciated Francis because he was both a devout Catholic and an educated gentleman of noble background. When he became Bishop of Geneva, his resided in Annecy because of the dominant Calvinism in Switzerland. He was known for his gentleness and patience, traits that he practiced as a result of his focus upon God’s love and Mary’s love.

The site that I use to learn about Roman Catholic saints has this nice piece about Francis:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1270&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016
For All the Saints: Agnes of Rome
The saint honored today is commemorated in both Western and Eastern churches, and is one of the seven women named in the Canon of the Mass.

Agnes of Rome lived from about 291 till about 304. Her name harkens both to the Latin word for lamb, agnus, and the Greek adjective hagnē, which means pure or chaste. According to legends, she was identified as a Christian by a rejected suitor and taken to a brothel, but any man who tried to rape her was struck blind (or, in some versions, a man was struck dead but resuscitated when she prayed for him. She was condemned to be burned but when the wood would not catch fire, she was beheaded (or stabbed) and thus martyred at the age of about thirteen. This was during the reign of emperor Diocletian, when religious persecutions were notably ruthless.

http://www.passionistnuns.org/Saints/StAgnes/index.htm

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016
For All the Saints: Athanasius
Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 293-373) is honored today on Western and Eastern church calendars. He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria, from 328 till 373, but nearly half of his episcopate was spent in exile because, as a defender of trinitarian theology, he was opposed by different Roman emperors who were sympathetic to Arianism. Athanasius had a major role in the first Council of Nicaea which affirmed the “consubstantiality” of the Son with the Father, as opposed to the theology of Arius that affirmed that the Son is subordinate to the Father. “Athenians contra mundum” (Athanasius against the world) is an expression that reflects his courageous integrity in affirming what became orthodox Christian teaching about the nature of God .

The Orthodox Saints website (http://www.abbamoses.com/months/january.html) has this:

“…Even as a child, his piety and devotion to the Faith were so notable that Alexander, the Patriarch of the city, took Athanasius under his protection. As a student, he acquired a thorough education, but was more interested in the things of God than in secular learning, and withdrew for a time into the desert to sit at the feet of Saint Anthony (January 17), whose disciple he became and whose biography he later wrote. On returning to Alexandria, he was ordained to the diaconate and began his public labors for the Church. He wrote his treatise On the Incarnation, when he was only twenty. (It contains a phrase, still often quoted today, that express in a few words some of the depths of the Mystery of the Incarnation: God became man that man might become god.)
 
“Just at this time Arius, a priest in Alexandria, was promoting his enticing view that the Son and Word of God is not of one essence with the Father, but a divine creation of the Father. This view, which (as Athanasius realized) strikes at the very possibility of mankind’s salvation, gained wide acceptance and seemed for a time to threaten the Christian Faith itself. In 325, the Emperor Constantine the Great convoked a Council of the Church at Nicaea to settle the turmoil that had the Arian teaching had spread through the Church. Athanasius attended the Council, and defended the Orthodox view so powerfully that he won the admiration of the Orthodox and the undying enmity of the Arians. From that time forth his life was founded on the defense of the true consubstantiality (homoousia) of the Son with the Father.
 
“In 326, not long before his death, Patriarch Alexander appointed Athanasius to be his successor, and Athanasius was duly elevated to the patriarchal throne. … Though the Arian heresy had apparently been condemned once and for all at Nicea, Arius had many powerful allies throughout the Empire, even in the Imperial court, and Athanasius was soon subjected to many kinds of persecution, some local, some coming from the Imperial throne itself. Though he was Patriarch of Alexandria for more than forty years, a large amount of that time was spent in hiding from powerful enemies who threatened him with imprisonment or death. Twice he fled to Rome for protection by the Pope, who in the early centuries of the Church was a consistent champion of Orthodoxy against its various enemies. From his various hiding places, Athanasius issued tracts, treatises and epistles which helped to rally the faithful throughout Christendom to the Orthodox cause… He reposed in peace in 373, having given his entire adult life, at great suffering, to the defense of the Faith of Christ.”

Posted by Paul Stroble at 8:34 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Trinity
SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2016
For All the Saints: Anthony of Egypt
In several church calendars, both Western and Eastern, St Anthony of Egypt (or Anthony the Great) is honored today. Not the first Christian ascetic, he nevertheless caught the church’s imagination with his desert asceticism, and the way his particular calling inspired the development of Christian monasticism. The Orthodox Saints website has this about Anthony:

“Saint Anthony, the Father of monks, was born in Egypt in 251 of pious parents who departed this life while he was yet young. On hearing the words of the Gospel: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor’ (Matt. 19:21), he immediately put it into action. Distributing to the poor all he had, and fleeing from all the turmoil of the world, he departed to the desert. The manifold temptations he endured continually for the space of twenty years are incredible. His ascetical struggles by day and by night, whereby he mortified the uprisings of the passions and attained to the height of dispassion, surpass the bounds of nature; and the report of his deeds of virtue drew such a multitude to follow him, that the desert was transformed into a city, while he became, so to speak, the governor, lawgiver, and master-trainer of all the citizens of this newly-formed city. But the cities of the world also enjoyed the fruit of his virtue. When the Christians were being persecuted and put to death under Maximinus in 312, he hastened to their aid and consolation. When the Church was troubled by the Arians, he went with zeal to Alexandria in 335 and struggled against them in behalf of Orthodoxy. During this time, by the grace of his words, he also turned many unbelievers to Christ.

“He began his ascetical life outside his village of Coma in Upper Egypt, studying the ways of the ascetics and holy men there, and perfecting himself in the virtues of each until he surpassed them all. Desiring to increase his labours, he departed into the desert, and finding an abandoned fortress in the mountain, he made his dwelling in it, training himself in extreme fasting, unceasing prayer, and fierce conflicts with the demons. Here he remained, as mentioned above, about twenty years. Saint Athanasius the Great, who knew him personally and wrote his life, says that he came forth from the fortress ‘initiated in the mysteries and filled with the Spirit of God.’ Afterwards, because of the press of the faithful, who deprived him of his solitude, he was enlightened by God to journey with certain Bedouins, until he came to a mountain in the desert near the Red Sea, where he passed the remaining part of his life. Saint Athanasius says of him that ‘his countenance had a great and wonderful grace. This gift also he had from the Saviour. For if he were present in a great company of monks, and any one who did not know him previously wished to see him, immediately coming forward he passed by the rest, and hurried to Anthony, as though attracted by his appearance. Yet neither in height nor breadth was he conspicuous above others, but in the serenity of his manner and the purity of his soul.’
 
“‘So passing his life, and becoming an example of virtue and a rule for monastics, he reposed on January 17 in the year 356, having lived together some 105 years.’ (Great Horologion)”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016
For All the Saints: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King is honored today on the anniversary of his 1929 birth. Many important and interesting aspects of Dr. King and his life and theology, as well as information about Mrs. King and the family’s ongoing ministry, can be found at the King Center website: http://www.thekingcenter.org/about-king-center A good resource to reflect upon his legacy today and over this weekend!

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, King (Martin Luther)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016
For All the Saints: Hilary of Poitiers

http://classicalchristianity.com/category/
bysaint/st-hilary-of-poitiers-ca-300-368/
I used to live in a community where I daily passed a Catholic parish named St. Hilary. He was a 4th century saint, born in Poitiers in around 310. Educated in Neo-Platonism, he and his family converted to Christianity, and eventually he was chosen as bishop of the Christians of Poitiers. Once in office, he was embroiled in controversy against Arian theology and soon excommunicated an Arian bishop and his supporters. Unfortunately, Hilary himself was shortly sent into exile. While away from Poitiers, however, he wrote epistles that described the differences between Arian and Athanasian/Nicene theology. In affirming and elucidating what became orthodox trinitarian theology, in works like De Trinitate, Hilary became a significant figure in those debates along with Athanasius, the later Cappadocian Fathers, and others. Returning to Gaul in 361, he continued both his diocese leadership and his theological teachings and controversies. He died in about 367, and in honored on this day in both the Western and Eastern churches.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, theology, Trinity
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016
For All the Saints: Aelred of Rievaulx
Today is the feast day of Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167), An English writer and monk of Northumbrian background. After he became the first abbott at the Rievaulx abbey in Lincolnshire, the abbey grew considerably under his leadership. He was also involved in political negotiations and in writing books like “The Mirror of Charity” and “On Spiritual Friendship,” as well as histories. Evidence suggests that he was a homosexual; his own writings emphasize vows of virginity and chastity outside of marriage. Gay-affirming groups such as Integrity (in the Episcopal Church) and the Order of St. Aelred in the Philippines look to Aelred as patron saint. Here is an essay about Aelred’s theology of friendship.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Friendship, LGBTQ issues
MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2016
For All the Saints: The Venerable Vitalis
Since this past November, I’ve been writing about persons who are honored on different liturgical lists. A “saint” can mean someone formally canonized by the Roman Catholic church, or any servant of God who became historically memorable. Lord willing, I’ll continue this series until All Saints’ Day 2016, which puts me in sight of my sixtieth birthday. It’s a personal way that I discipline myself to think about matters of the Spirit as the days and weeks go by, plus I’ll learn and share interesting things as I go. I’ve bookmarked sites of saints on the Lutheran and Episcopal calendars and also a Roman Catholic and an Orthodox site. Most days, I select at least one saint from among these calendars and write something about her or him, based on Wikipedia and other online sites.

Today’s saint is a little obscure and certainly had a different kind of discipleship! But I loved this last paragraph about him (all from the Orthodox Saints website). What an excellent lesson for many of us!

“The Venerable Vitalis (5th c.). He lived for many years as a monk in Palestine, then went to Alexandria to labor for the salvation of women living as prostitutes. He worked with his hands by day, keeping only a tenth of his earnings for himself. By night, he would take the rest of his earnings to the prostitutes’ quarter and offer his money to one of them, on condition that she would not give herself up to sin that night, but instead stay with him, praying all night for his salvation. When he left her, he would make her promise to tell no one of this arrangement. Not surprisingly, complaints soon reached the Patriarch, St John the Merciful (November 12) about this monk who was causing scandal by his immoral life; but the Patriarch, discerning Vitalis’ heart, did nothing. When St Vitalis died, a writing tablet was found near his body, on which was written: “Inhabitants of Alexandria, judge not before the time, until the coming of the Day of the Lord.” Then many women who had been converted from an immoral life by the Saint came forward and told of his good deeds. The people of Alexandria honored him with a lavish funeral.

“Saint Vitalis shows us in at least two ways that the wisdom of the holy is foolishness to the world: He never sought to justify himself in the eyes of the world, but on the contrary did everything he could to hide his virtues; and, for all his holiness, he counted himself more sinful than the “fallen,” asking them to pray for his salvation.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, humility, salvation
SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2016
For All the Saints: Cappadocian Fathers
In the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Cappadocian Fathers are commemorated today; they are also honored in both the Western and Eastern Churches on other days. Basil the Great (330–379), the bishop of Caesarea, his brother Gregory, bishop of Nyssa (c. 332-395), and friend Gregory of Nazianzus (329–389), who became Patriarch of Constantinople, were church leaders influential in Christian theology, especially trinitarian doctrine. The distinction of “one substance” (ousia) in “three persons” (hypostasis) was terminology they used to explain the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within the essential unity of the godhead. This terminology became part of orthodox Christian teaching about God.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Trinity
MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2016
For All the Saints: Elizabeth Ann Seton
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821) was the first native-born citizen of the U.S. to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (in 1975). She is honored today on the anniversary of her death.

Elizabeth married at the age of 19, and she and her husband lived in Manhattan where they attended Trinity Episcopal Church. The Setons had five children and also raised her husband’s six younger siblings. Elizabeth was widowed in 1803, and shortly thereafter she became a Roman Catholic.

She began an academy for young women, but met a priest who was a member of the Sulpician Fathers. Elizabeth was invited to move to the community in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she founded St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School, so that Catholic girls could be education. She also established a community, called the Sisters of Charity, which founded a religious school or poor children—essentially the beginning of parochial schools in this county.

My daughter went to Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA (below), still maintained by the Sisters of Charity (and not to be confused with Seton Hall University in New Jersery). Other schools and several churches are also named for Mother Seton.

The Roman Catholic site has a good piece on her: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1250&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, college
FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2016
For All the Saints: Blessed Waldo
Today’s saint, a monk from northern Italy, is remembered for his solitary calling and the power of his prayers. The Roman Catholic site provides a lovely summary:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1377&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, solitude
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2015
For All the Saints: Thomas Becket
In Roman Catholic churches and the Anglican communion, Thomas Becket is honored today, the anniversary of his assassination. he was born in 1119 or 1120, and became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1164. That same year, King Henry II acted to achieve a lessened connection of the English church to Rome and also less clerical independence. He was able to gain the consent of all the higher clergy of England—all but Becket. Over the course of the next few years, Becket still would not give his formal consent, and when Henry expressed his frustration aloud—one version of what he said is, “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?”—four of the king’s knights took the words as an order to kill Becket, which they did at Canterbury on December 29, 1170.

Becket was canonized quickly, by 1172, and his reputation as a faithful servant and martyr grew through the years. The poets Alfred, Lord Tennyson and T.S. Eliot and the dramatist Jean Anouilh wrote plays him. A famous quotation from Eliot’s play (Murder at the Cathedral) comes from Becket’s struggles with pride and right motives.

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Eliot (T.S.), poetry
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015
Interfaith Days: Holy Innocents
In Christianity, this day commemorates the Holy Innocents, the tragedy recorded in the Gospel of Matthew where King Herod orders the killing of all the young male children in and around Bethlehem in order to slay Jesus. Matthew uses the story (which apparently has no historical evidence apart from the gospel account) as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and it connects the baby Jesus to the baby Moses, who also escaped a similar massacre. This is also a day of commemoration on Western church calendars; Orthodox churches commemorate the Holy Innocents on December 29th.

This site gives some of the historical information about the day.

Tomorrow (December 29, 2015) is also the 125th anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee, another kind of slaughter of innocent persons. http://blog.nmai.si.edu/main/2015/12/125-commemoration-wounded-knee.html
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Holy Innocents Day, interfaith holidays, Wounded Knee
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2015
For All the Saints: John the Apostle

In the Western Churches, John the Apostle is honored today. He is honored on May 8th in Orthodox Churches. He was one of Jesus’ twelve students, brother of the apostle James, and son of Zebedee and Salone. Traditionally, he is said to be the only of the apostles to die a natural death. Also by church tradition, he is considered the Beloved Disciple of the Gospel of John, and also the author of that account, as well as other New Testament writings. The Roman Catholic site has this nice account of John.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015
For All the Saints: Stephen
Today is St. Stephen’s Day in many Western Churches; in many Eastern churches, his day is tomorrow. Stephen is considered the first martyr of Christianity, according to the Book of Acts; he was executed on a charge of blasphemy after he gave a lengthy speech about biblical history and Jesus (Acts 7). Another significant thing about his speech and death is that Saul of Tarsus, whose story is also told in Acts, was nearby. He was also among the first deacons selected to serve the needy of the church. St. Stephen’s Day is a public holiday in several countries.

The site of Orthodox Saints adds: “According to holy tradition, the martyrdom of St Stephen occurred exactly a year after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. His body was taken and secretly buried by Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhendrin and secretly a Christian.
 
“Saint Stephen’s relics were discovered by the priest Lucian in 415 following a vision. They were translated to the church built for them in Jerusalem by the Empress Eudocia, and later taken to Constantinople.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, witness
MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015
For All the Saints: Procopius of Vyatka
I found an interesting saint, honored today on the Orthodox calendar: Saint Procopius of Vyatka, Fool for Christ. What a calling! That site reads:

“Saint Procopius, the son of devout peasants, first feigned madness to escape a marriage that was being urged on him. He spent his life in the streets half-naked, slept wherever night overtook him and would never accept the shelter of a house. He used signs to make himself understood and never spoke a word, except to his spiritual father, with whom he would converse normally as a man in possession of all his faculties. When he was given an article of clothing, he wore it for a while out of obedience and then give it away to someone poor. When he visited the sick, he set fire to the beds of those who were going to get better, and rolled up in their sheets those who were going to die. He made many predictions, often by means of disconcerting prophetic signs, whose meaning became clear with the event. He spent thirty years in foolishness for Christ and, having foretold his death, fell asleep in peace in 1627.” (Synaxarion)

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:55 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, poor
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2015
For All the Saints: Katharina von Bora
In Lutheran churches, Katharina von Bora is honored today, the anniversary of her 1552 death. Born in 1499, she was educated in monasteries and became a nun, but she became interested in the reform movement and asked Martin Luther for help in fleeing the monastery. Luther did so, and in fact, Luther soon married her (1525). They lived at a former monastery where Katharina administered the continuing business aspects of the facility, including a hospital and a brewery. She had six children by Luther, three of whom grew to adulthood, and they also raised four orphans. She survived Luther by six years and led a a turbulent, eventful life. She is said to have declared on her deathbed, “I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.” See also this site and this site.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Luther
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015
For All the Saints: William Lloyd Garrison, Maria W. Stewart

On the Episcopal calendar, two prophetic voices are honored today. William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) was the editor of the famous abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, which began in 1831. He was a founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society. During his career he faced death threats and mob violence as he continued to call for “immediate emancipation” of American slaves. After the Civil War, he continued a long-time interest in women’s suffrage.

Maria W. Stewart (1803-1880) was a former domestic servant who became a prominent African American journalist and lecturer. She was the first African American woman to make public lectures and first American woman to speak to a mixed audience of whites and blacks and women and men. Garrison’s newspaper published her pamphlets. She was also a leader in women’s suffrage.
http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/reformers/maria-miller-stewart/#.VnH9vUvldg0
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Maria_W._Stewart.aspx
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Garrison (William Lloyd), Stewart (Maria W.)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015
For All the Saints: John of the Cross
On Western Christian calendars, St. John of the Cross, O.C.D., is honored today. This Spanish friar and priest lived from 1542 till 1591. He was a significant figure in the Counter-Reformation, including his reforming work for the Carmelite Order. He and St. Teresa of Avila founded the Discalced Carmelites mendicant order. Suffering privation during his life and also imprisonment, he therein found the love of God which he expressed in hundreds of poems, some of which are classics of Spanish literature. The phrase “dark night of the soul” originates from the poem of that title, which traces the soul’s journey to God. His other works include Ascent of Mount Carmel, and A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul. He is considered one of the “doctors of the church,” those who contributed significantly to the church and its theology. Salvador Dali’s painting Christ of Saint John of the Cross is based on a drawing by St. John.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=65

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, John of the Cross
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015
For All the Saints: St. Lucy
On nearly all Christian calendars, today is the day St. Lucy (in Italian, Santa Lucia) is honored. Wikipedia provides many of the kinds of celebrations of St. Lucy’s Day, including Scandinavia and Italy. One of the eight women commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass, she was about twenty when she was martyred, circa 304 in Syracuse, during the Diocletian Persecution. The earliest accounts of her life are from the 400s, Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea. By the Middle Ages, legends developed that her eyes were gouged out (or that she removed her own eyes) prior to execution, but that her eyes were miraculously restored when her body was taken for burial. The legends implicitly connect eyes with the Latin word for light (lux, plural luces) and her name, as does the prayer at this site:

Saint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see. We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did, but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives. Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation — every corner of our day. Amen.

For All the Saints: Karl Barth and Thomas Merton
Two significant and prolific Christian thinkers are honored on some church calendars today, the anniversary of their deaths. They both died on the same day, in fact, December 10, 1968.

Karl Barth (1886-1968) is close to my heart because I did my doctoral dissertation on his theology, and I visited his hometown and grave this past summer. He was a Swiss Reformed theologian who began as a pastor. Discouraged by the popular liberal theology of his time, he wrote a commentary on the letter to the Romans, Der Römerbrief (1919, revised 1922), which unexpectedly propelled him to the center of theological discussion. His “dialectical theology” developed through the 1920s and early 1930s, and during the 1930s he was also a leading voice against Hitler and National Socialism. Ordered to leave Germany, he returned to Switzerland and, aided by his assistant and companion Charlotte von Kirschbaum, he embarked on his magnum opus, the Church Dogmatics (1933-1962), at over 9000 pages one of the longest works of systematic theology.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was born in France, his father was from New Zealand and his mother from the states. His mother died when he was young, and his somewhat absent father also died, and subsequently, Merton lead a life of travel and discovery, with some dark chapters of drinking and womanizing, for instance, during his Cambridge years. He came to the U.S. to study at Columbia, and the cultured and interesting but still lost young man developed an interest in Catholicism. Eventually that interest led him to become a priest and monk at Gethsemane Abbey in Kentucky. He wrote an autobiography, The Seven Story Mountain (1947) that became an unexpected best-seller. He was passionate about spirituality, monastic practice, prayer, art, world religions, and social issues. Although he died accidentally at the age of 52, he wrote many books of theology, essays, literary criticism, and poetry, as well as private journals that were eventually published.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Barth (Karl), Merton (Thomas)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2015
For All the Saints: St. Ambrose
All the church calendars this week honor St. Ambrose on this day, December 7th. The Orthodox site that I use tells us about Ambrose:

“….Brilliant and well-educated, he was made a provincial Governor in 375 and took up residence in Milan. In those days, the Arian heresy was still dividing the Church, despite its repudiation at the Council of Nicaea in 325. When the time came to elect a new Bishop in Milan, the Orthodox and Arian parties were so divided that they could come to no agreement on a new Bishop. When Ambrose came as Governor to try to restore peace and order, a young child, divinely inspired, called out ‘Ambrose, Bishop!’ To Ambrose’s amazement, the people took up the cry, and Ambrose himself was elected, though he tried to refuse, protesting that he was only a catechumen (it was still common in those days to delay Holy Baptism for fear of polluting it by sin). He even attempted to flee, but his horse brought him back to the city. Resigning himself to God’s will, he was baptized and, only a week later, elevated to Bishop. Immediately, he renounced all possessions, distributed all of his money to the poor and gave his estates to the Church. Straightaway, he entered into a spirited defense of Orthodoxy in his preaching and writings to the dismay of the Arians who had supported his election. Soon he persuaded Gratian, Emperor of the West, to call the Council of Aquilea, which brought an end to Arianism in the Western Church…

“Saint Ambrose, by teaching, preaching and writing, brought countless pagans to the Faith. His most famous convert was St Augustine (June 15), who became his disciple and eventually a bishop. Ambrose’s many theological and catechetical works helped greatly to spread the teaching of the Greek fathers in the Latin world. He wrote many glorious antiphonal hymns which were once some of the gems of the Latin services….”

With Gregory the Great, Jerome, and Augustine, Ambrose was one of the four original “doctors of the church” as first declared in 1298. He is the traditional author of the Te Deum hymn and is credited for bringing Eastern hymnody to the Western church.
Posted by Paul Stroble at 8:19 PM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Augustine, church music
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2015
For All the Saints: St. Nicholas
On most if not all Christmas liturgical calendars, today is the feast day of St. Nicholas. It’s also on my
Interfaith Calendar from dapstl.org . I wrote about Nicholas last year:
http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2014/12/feast-day-of-st-nicholas.html
Posted by Paul Stroble at 8:28 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Advent, generosity, interfaith holidays, joy, poor, St. Nicholas
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015
For All the Saints: John of Damascus

Here’s another saint honored on both Eastern and Western (including Protestant) calendars, the Syrian saint named John of Damascus. He was born in 675 or 676 and died on December 4, 749 (or 760, according to this site). He is honored by Catholics as a Doctor of the Church, as a strong defender of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and the Eastern Church commemorates his defense of icons. He was a skillful theologian and also a skillful poet, writing hymns that are still used, for instance, in Orthodox Pascha services. Before his service as a monk and priest, he had been a civil servant for the Muslim caliph in Damascus.

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:34 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, John of Damascus
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2015
For All the Saints: Francis Xavier

Honored today on both Roman Catholic and Protestant calendars is Saint Francis Xavier, SJ (April 7, 1506-December 3, 1552). He was co-founder of the Society of Jesus, was thus a friend of Ignatius of Loyola, and was among the first seven Jesuits who took their vows in 1534. Canonized in 1622, he is known as a missionary to Asia. See: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1218&calendar=1

Posted by Paul Stroble at 9:07 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015
For All the Saints: Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/
blog/martyrs-el-salvador
Since this past All Hallows’ Tide (a time of remembering the saints of the church), I’ve been writing briefly about persons who are honored on different liturgical lists. A “saint” can mean someone formally canonized by the Roman Catholic church, or any servant of God who became historically memorable.

On the ELCA liturgical calendar, four women martyred in El Salvador are honored today, the anniversary of their deaths. Sister Dorothy Kazel, O.S.U. (b. 1939), was an American Ursuline Religious Sister and missionary to El Salvador. Sister Maura Clarke, M.M. (b. 1931), lay missionary Jean Donovan (b. 1953), and Sister Ita Ford, M.M. (b. 1940), were beaten, raped, and murdered by members of the El Salvador military on December 2, 1980. The soldiers were tried and convicted, and the US-supported El Salvadoran government was brought into world scrutiny. The day before, Ford had quoted in her conference talk a passage from Archbishop Óscar Romero: “Christ invites us not to fear persecution because, believe me, brothers and sisters, the one who is committed to the poor must run the same fate as the poor, and in El Salvador we know what the fate of the poor signifies: to disappear, be tortured, to be held captive – and to be found dead.”

http://globalsistersreport.org/news/us-women-religious-look-back-el-salvador-martyrs-ahead-delegation-mark-35th-anniversary-34421

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:30 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, foreign policy, Romero (Oscar)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015
For All the Saints: St. Andrew

Caravaggio
In many churches, both West and East, today is the feast day of St. Andrew. The Orthodox saints site has this to say about Andrew:

“He was the brother of the Apostle Peter, from Bethsaida on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Andrew left his fisherman’s trade to become a disciple of St John the Baptist. Soon after the Forerunner had baptized Jesus, he said to Andrew and his other disciple John the Theologian, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ At this, both disciples followed after Jesus. After conversing with Christ, Andrew hurried home and told his brother Simon Peter, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ For being the first to recognize Jesus as the Christ, St Andrew is called the First-Called.
 
“After Pentecost, Andrew was appointed to preach the Gospel around the Black Sea and in Thrace and Macedonia, traveling as far as Lazica in the Caucasus. According to Slavic tradition his travels took him even further, into the land that was later to be called Russia.
 
“In later travels the Apostle preached throughout Asia Minor with St John the Theologian, then traveled to Mesopotamia, then back to Sinope on the Black Sea, and finally to Patras in the Peloponnese, where he soon established a large community of Christians. One of his converts was Maximilla, the wife of Aegeates, the Proconsul of that region. Aegeates was so angered by his wife’s conversion that he had the Apostle arrested and crucified head downwards on a cross in the shape of an ‘X.’ The holy Apostle rejoiced to be allowed to suffer the same death as his Master.

“The holy relics of St Andrew, after various travels, were returned to Patras in 1964, where they are now venerated.
 
“In the West, St Andrew is venerated as the patron of Scotland: in the Middle Ages, more than eight hundred churches in Scotland were dedicated to him.”

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:23 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2015
For All the Saints: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was honored yesterday by the Lutheran Church and today by the Anglican and Episcopal Churches. An English theologian and hymn author, he wrote about 750 hymns. Although churches of his time used biblical poetry in worship services, Watts developed a style of original hymns (poetry) noted both for theological appropriateness and genuineness of emotions. He also set the biblical Psalms into meter that could be sung by congregations. Some of his many hymns still hung include “Joy to the World,” “Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,” “O God, Our Help in Ages past,” “When I survey the wondrous cross,” “Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,” “I sing the mighty power of God,” and others.

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:23 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Watts (Isaac)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2015
For All the Saints: St. Cecilia
Saint Cecilia, the saint of musicians, is honored today in the churches like the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox. Historical information about her is less abundant than legends, but she was probably martyred, in either the 2nd or 3rd century. It was said of her that she “sang in her heart to the Lord.” Because of her association with music, musical events have traditionally happened on November 22, her feast day, and composers like Purcell, Gounod, Britten, and Finzi, among others, have written music to St. Cecelia. Here, for instance, is a piece by Handel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwN7_R25P6g

Posted by Paul Stroble at 7:22 AM No comments:
Labels: “For All the Saints”, Britten (Benjamin), Finzi (Gerald), Handel (George Frideric),music, Purcell (Henry)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2015
For All the Saints: John Merbecke, William Byrd, Thomas Tallis
On the Episcopal calendar, three musicians are honored today. John Merbecke (c. 1510- c. 1585) is known as the writer and musician who provided musical uniformity for the first Book of Common Prayer. His work was rediscovered and published in the 1840s, and again in the 20th century.

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585), was another English composer. His choral music has been widely anthologized. Although Roman Catholic, he was able to find favor among succeeding 16th century monarchs because of his stylistic adaptability. One of his melodies was made famous by Ralph Vaughan Williams in his piece Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Tallis worked with the younger composer William Byrd (c. 1539 or 40 – 1623). Byrd wrote Catholic as well as Anglican sacred music. Among other pieces, his three masses are available on contemporary recordings.
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Byrd (William), church music, Tallis (Thomas), Vaughan Williams (Ralph)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2015
For All the Saints: Albertus Magnus, Francis Asbury, George Whitefield
My very first experience teaching at the college level, was the year I served as a teaching assistant at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT (1981-1982). At the time it was still a women’s college. On the Roman Catholic calendar, that school’s namesake, Albert the Great (1206-1280), is honored today. This site , no longer available, had this: “Students of philosophy know him as the master of Thomas Aquinas. Albert’s attempt to understand Aristotle’s writings established the climate in which Thomas Aquinas developed his synthesis of Greek wisdom and Christian theology. But Albert deserves recognition on his own merits as a curious, honest and diligent scholar…. His boundless interests prompted him to write a compendium of all knowledge: natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, politics and metaphysics…[He] is the patron of scientists and philosophers.”

On the Episcopal calendar, Francis Asbury and George Whitefield are honored. Asbury (1743-1816) was one of the first two Methodist bishops when the movement was founded as a denomination in 1782. He worked for many years as a leader and preacher of the church. Whitefield (1714-1770) was an Anglican preacher who helped spread the Great Awakening in the British colonies and, although Calvinist rather than Arminian in his outlook, was associated with the Methodist movement.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, New England, United Methodism
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2015
For All the Saints: Samuel Seabury

In the Anglican and Episcopal traditions, Samuel Seabury is honored today, the day of his birth in 1729. (He died in 1796). He was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He attended Yale College and is honored at my alma mater, Yale Divinity School, with a wing on the campus’ north side. He was a noted Loyalist during the Revolution, and was imprisoned for a short time at the war’s beginning, but he was loyal to the new nation afterward. He helped develop the Anglican liturgy for the North American church.

In the Orthodox church, today also commemorates the Apostle Philip, Jesus’ follower who figures in John 1, as well as other passages.

Seabury Wing at YDS is on the left by the leafless tree.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Yale Divinity School
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015
For All the Saints: Mother Cabrini, John Chrysostom

Today the church honors Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American sister who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. This order supported Italian immigrants to the U.S. After she arrived in America in 1889, she soon began to organize schools and orphanages for immigrants, and eventually also hospitals. She founded 67 institutions altogether. Although Elizabeth Seton was the first native-born American to be canonized (1975), Cabrini was the first naturalized U.S. citizen to be canonized (1946). See also this site.

John Chrysostom, early Church Father who died in 407, is honored on several days: in the Catholic and some Lutheran Churches, in September, and in some other churches in January. In Orthodox churches, he is honored today. Chrysostom was an Archbishop of Constantinople and is considered among the great Church Fathers. He wrote commentaries on several biblical books, along with nearly 1450 sermons and 240 epistles.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, John Chrysostom
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015
For All the Saints: John the Merciful
An interesting saint on the Orthodox calendar today: John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, who died in 619. He puts me to shame as an example of generosity and lovingkindness, so I copy some information about him here, to remind me later.

As the Orthodox calendar that I’ve consulted indicates: “On the day of his elevation to the Patriarchate, he ordered a careful census of his ‘masters,’ as he called the poor and beggars. It was found that there were 7,500 indigents in the city, and St John ordered that all of them be clothed and fed every day out of the Church’s wealth…. His lack of judgment in giving to the poor sometimes dismayed those around him. Once a wily beggar came to John four times in four different disguises, receiving alms each time. When the holy Patriarch was told of this, he ordered that the man be given twice as much, saying ‘Perhaps he is Jesus my Savior, who has come on purpose to put me to the test.’ Still, the more generously he gave, the more generously God granted gifts to the Church, so that money was never lacking either for the poor or for the Church’s own real needs. One of the clergy once gave only a third of what the Patriarch instructed to a rich man who had fallen into poverty, thinking that the Church’s treasury could not afford to give so much. Saint John then revealed to him that a noblewoman who had planned to give an enormous gift to the Church had, shortly thereafter, given only a third of what she originally planned.

“Once, when he was serving the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral, the Patriarch stopped just before the consecration, instructed the deacon to repeat the litanies, and sent for one of his clergy who bore a grudge against him and would not come to church. When the man came, the Patriarch prostrated himself before him and, with tears, begged his forgiveness. When they were reconciled, he returned to the altar and proceeded with the service.”

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, forgiveness, generosity, poor, reconciliation
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
For All the Saints: Martin of Tours
I looked at my sites of church liturgical calendars and realized St. Martin of Tours is on all four lists, although Orthodox Christians honor him on the 12th rather than the 11th of November. Born about 315, he was first a Roman soldier but even in the military he tried to live the life of a Christian monk, even using his sword to cut his clothes in half to help a beggar stay warm in winter. Many artistic renderings of Martin, like this painting by El Greco, focus upon this story.

This site provides many other stories about his piety and service. Eventually he became Bishop of Tours, and his shrine became a stop for pilgrims. He died in about 397 (unlike many other early Christians regarded as saints, he was not a martyr), and he is remembered for his constant devotion, asceticism, and concern for the poor. Although he is associated with France—when the 1918 armistice was signed on St. Martin’s day, some French saw the coincidence as providential—he is a popular saint across Europe and elsewhere in the world.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, poor
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2015
For All the Saints: Leo the Great

Today is the feast day of Pope Leo I. He was born about 400, became pope in 440, and died November 10, 461. He strengthen the office of the Bishop of Rome and wrote theological works that became foundational for the Council of Chalcedon, which elucidated the hypostatic unction of Christ’s two natures. He actually met the famous Attila the Hun and persuaded him not to invade Italy! Here is a site that praises important aspects of St. Leo’s papacy:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1195&calendar=1

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, pope
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2015
For All the Saints: Duns Scotus

On the Roman Catholic calendar, the philosopher John Duns Scotus is honored today. He died on November 8, 1308, aged about 42 years. With William of Ockham and Thomas Aquinas he is considered one of the three most important theologian-philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He is known for several things, for instance: his metaphysical argument for the existence of God, his Augustine-influenced voluntarism that emphasized both the divine will and human freedom, his denial of a real distinction between essence and existence, his Aristotle-influenced metaphysics of being and transcendentals, and his defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a defense that was cited in Pope Pius IX’s declaration of the dogma in 1854. Duns Scotus was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993. The online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides a summary of his life and thought, which is still influential. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/duns-scotus/

Thank you, Lord, for Duns Scotus.

In the Greek Orthodox church, today is also a day for honoring the angels and archangels: “the Synaxis of the Chief Captains of the Heavenly Host, Michael and Gabriel, and of the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven.” (The Western church honors the angels on Michaelmas, September 29.)

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, Duns Scotus, Michaelmas, philosophy, Thomas Aquinas, Virgin Mary
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015
For All the Saints: Willibrord

http://heiligeninkruissteek.50webs.com/
ZZwillibrordus.html
Back in 1979, during my first semester at Yale Divinity School, I joined two Episcopalian friends for the Wednesday evening vespers at nearby Berkeley Divinity School. The Berkeley dean preached about the saint commemorated that day, the Northumbrian missionary Willibrord. The dean was lighthearted about the saint’s name, which he kept pronouncing Willy Board (or something like that). One of my friends thought the dean had been too flippant—whatever. I’ve long since forgotten what the dean preached about, but I was glad to see this saint on the list for today, and to recall his significance on the thirty-sixth anniversary of the evening that I first learned about him.

Born about 658, Willibrord was called to be a missionary to the pagan North Germanic tribes of Frisia, in what is now the Netherlands. He made two trips to Rome, not as a pilgrim (not uncommon even for other Anglo-Saxons) but to be consecrated by the pope as a missionary. Pope Sergius, consequently, consecrated him as Bishop of the Frisians (and thus he became the first bishop of the new diocese of Utrecht), where Willibrord preached, founded churches, established a monastery at Utrecht, as well as the Abbey of Echternach and a Benedictine covent at Horren in Trier. Escaping the area during a time of persecution in the 710s, Willibrord persevered and lived a long time, until November 7, 739. He was interred in Echternach, in what is now Luxembourg. He was considered a saint very soon after his death. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15645a.htm

Thank you, Lord, for Bishop Willibrord.

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Labels: “For All the Saints”, mission, Yale Divinity School
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015
For All the Saints: William Temple
On the Episcopal calendar of saints, William Temple (1881-1944) is honored today. In the Church of England he was Bishop of Manchester (1921–29), Archbishop of York (1929–42) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1942–44). He was known for his social vision, his ecumenical and interfaith work, his efforts for a just society, and his efforts to help Jewish refugees during World War II. A preacher, teacher, and author, he wrote a well known book, Christianity and Social Order (1942), among other books. This site provides more information about him, including the praise of George Bernard Shaw! http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/61.html

Thank you, Lord, for William Temple.
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, church, Judaism
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015
For All the Saints: Hermas, Patrobolus, Linus, Gaius, Philologus
On the Orthodox Christian calendar, five saints are honored today. I call these “walks-ons”—anyone who is mentioned in the Bible only a time or two, but who are significant nevertheless.

The Orthodox church count these five among Jesus’ Seventy Disciples. This information is from http://www.abbamoses.com.

St. Hermas and St. Patrobolus, both mentioned by St. Paul in Romans 16:4. St. Hermas may be the author of the early Christian writing called The Shepherd of Hermas, and he became Bishop of Philippi. St. Patrobolus was Bishop of Pozzuoli in Italy.

St. Linus is traditionally considered the immediate successor to St. Peter as Bishop of Rome. He is mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21.

St. Gaius (Romans 16:23) was Timothy’s successor as Bishop of Ephesus.

St. Philologus (Romans 16:15) became Bishop of Sinope via the apostle Andrew.
According to my other list of saints, today is the commemoration day of Elizabeth, cousin and friend of Mary and mother of John the Baptist, in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. In the context of friendships, I wrote about Elizabeth a few years ago: http://paulstroble.blogspot.com/2012/06/friendships.html

Thank you, Lord, for these faithful people from the Bible.

For All the Saints: Martin de Porres
Martin de Porres Velázquez, O.P. died on this day in 1639, aged 59. He was a lay brother of the Dominican order, known for his tireless work for the poor. Living by an austere personal lifestyle, he begged a considerable amount of money each week to care for the sick and poor of Lima, Peru. Biracial, he was allowed to join the Dominicans even though his superiors normally disallowed black persons. He also set up a children’s hospital, an orphanage, and an animal shelter for the care of sick stray animals. He was beatified in 1827 and canonized in 1962. He is the patron saint of people seeking interracial harmony and of mixed-race persons. See also: catholicsaints.info/saint-martin-de-porres/

Thank you, Lord, for Marin de Porres.
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Labels: “For All the Saints”, #BlackLivesMatter, animals, poor, race
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015
For All the Saints: Daniel Alexander Payne
This is the beginning of a new year-long series for this blog.

During the past two years, I’ve felt my own spiritual life helped by committing to year-long reflections. In 2014, I listened to and wrote about Bach’s sacred cantatas, on or near the special days for which they were written. In 2015, I’ve written short summaries of interfaith holidays. Working on these posts has kept me focused upon spiritual realities during times when I was very busy, or blah-feeling, or distressed, or whatever—all the usual things that make a person neglect matters of the Spirit.

Beginning with this last day of All Hallows’ Tide, a time of remembering the saints of the church, I want to write about persons who are honored on different liturgical lists. A “saint” can mean someone formally canonized by the Roman Catholic church, or any servant of God who became historically memorable. Lord willing, I’ll continue this series until All Saints’ Day 2016, which puts me in sight of my sixtieth birthday. It will be a personal way that I discipline myself to think about matters of the Spirit as the days and weeks go by, plus (as with the other two series) I’ll learn and share interesting things as I go. I’ve bookmarked sites of saints on the Lutheran and Episcopalcalendars and also a Roman Catholic and an Orthodox site. Each day, I’ll select at least one saint from among these calendars and write something about her or him, based on Wikipedia and other online sites.

I live in St. Louis, which has been a focal point of the Black Lives Matter movement, so it’s wonderfully appropriate that the first saint (in this case, from the Lutheran calendar), is Daniel Alexander Payne, an American bishop, college leader, educator, and author who was a major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce College in Ohio and was the first African American college president in the U.S. He also led efforts to support southern freedmen following the Civil War. He died on this day in 1893, aged 82.

Thank you, Lord, for Bishop Payne.

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