Bulletin insert on 'Holy Women, Holy Men' issued for Oct. 10
Episcopal News Service. September 27, 2010 [092710-01]
In July the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music launched a year-long open forum on Holy Women, Holy Men, the first complete revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts in 40 years. The book recently was issued by Church Publishing Inc. for trial use. In the second of a series, Episcopal Life Weekly bulletin inserts for Oct. 10 list new commemorations added to the calendar in September and October, and gives directions for contributing comments to SCLM's forum.
Full text of the inserts is below. Inserts may be downloaded here.
The Saints of God: Holy Women, Holy Men
Second in a series
I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true … and one was a doctor and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green …—Hymn 293, Hymnal 1982
In July 2010 the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music launched a year-long open forum on Holy Women, Holy Men, the first complete revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts in 40 years. The book recently was issued by Church Publishing Inc. for trial use.
"More than 100 new commemorations were approved at the 2009 General Convention," SCLM notes on its blog, http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/. "Nine years in the making, the new volume offers a fuller representation of the diversity of the Episcopal Church as well as a broader ecumenical and international mix of commemorations.
"We invite you to join us in this prayer each day, whether by worshiping with a congregation or by including the commemoration in your personal devotion," SCLM continues. "Then tell us about your experience. How did this person's life witness to the Gospel? How does this person inspire us in Christian life today? How well does the collect gather the prayers of the assembly and pray about the significance of the person? How well do these lessons speak to the life of this saint?"
The online survey to assist in gathering feedback became available on July 1 and will close on June 30, 2011. After compiling the data from the survey, SCLM will prepare a comprehensive report for the 77th General Convention, meeting in 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
To participate in the survey, visit the website. Comments may also be sent to sclm@episcopalchurch.org.
New commemorations for September and October
(Year listed in each case is the date of death)
September
3 Prudence Crandall, teacher and prophetic witness, 1890. A Quaker, she founded a school for African-American girls in Connecticut in the 1830s, in spite of harassment, arrest and trial for violating the state's "Black Law."
5 Gregorio Aglipay, bishop and founder of the Philippine Independent Church, 1940. The PIC entered full communion with the Episcopal Church in 1960.
7 Elie Naud, Huguenot witness to the faith, 1722. Founded a school in New York for poor children, especially those of enslaved persons and Native Americans.
8 Nikolai Grundtvig, bishop and hymnwriter, 1872. A Danish Lutheran, Grundtvig wrote more than 1,000 hymns, some still in common use.
8 Søren Kierkegaard, teacher and philosopher, 1855. He was sometimes called the "father of existentialism," known for his concept of the "leap of faith."
11 Harry Thacker Burleigh, singer and composer, 1949. Burleigh was influential in bringing the African-American spiritual to the church and the wider public.
15 James Chisholm, priest, 1855. During a yellow fever epidemic in Virginia, Chisholm remained behind to care for the sick. He eventually died of the fever.
26 Wilson Carlile, priest, 1942. Established the Church Army, an organization dedicated to the proclamation of the gospel in some of London's poorest areas.
27 Vincent de Paul, religious and prophetic witness, 1660. He advocated for greater spiritual education for all and worked for charitable causes aiding the poor.
27 Thomas Traherne, priest and poet, 1674. A lesser-known member of the group of Anglican writers dubbed the "Metaphysical Poets."
28 Richard Rolle, 1349, Walter Hilton, 1396, and Margery Kempe, c. 1440, mystics. Visionaries and writers who had a profound effect on the English church.
October
3 George Kennedy Allen Bell, bishop of Chichester and ecumenist, 1958. Active in securing safe haven in England for Jews and others escaping Nazi Germany. Co-founder, World Council of Churches.
3 John Raleigh Mott, evangelist and ecumenical pioneer, 1955. Chair of the 1910 International Missionary Conference that began the modern ecumenical movement. Co-founder of the World Council of Churches.
6 Miles Coverdale, translator of the Bible, 1568. Major translator of "The Great Bible" of 1539, he shares commemoration on October 6 with William Tyndale.
7 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Lutheran pastor in North America, 1787. Muhlenberg led Lutheran immigrants as they formed a single unified church.
8 William Dwight Porter Bliss, priest, 1926, and Richard Theodore Ely, priest and economist, 1943. Both advocated the principles of a social gospel, economic justice and social reform.
9 Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, medical missionary, 1940. Grenfell built hospitals, schools, clothing distribution centers and other institutions to assist British workers in Labrador.
19 William Carey, missionary to India, 1834. A Baptist, Carey established missions in India, where he translated the Bible into Bengalil and Sanskrit.
30 John Wyclif, priest and prophetic witness, 1384. Believing that the scriptures should be available to all who could read them, Wyclif translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English.
31 Paul Shinji Sasaki, bishop of Mid-Japan and of Tokyo, 1946, and Philip Lindel Tsen, bishop of Honan, China, 1954. Both were inspirational leaders of Anglican churches in Asia, in spite of persecution and imprisonment.