John Coleridge Patteson

John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1871

The Collect:

Almighty God, who called your faithful servant John Coleridge Patteson and his companions to witness to the gospel, and by their labors and sufferings raised up a people for your own possession: Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your church in every land, that, by the service and sacrifice of many, your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John Coleridge Patteson was born in London in 1827. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, and graduated in 1849. After a tour of Europe and a study of languages, he became a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1852. In 1855, he heard Bishop George Selwyn of New Zealand (see 11 Apr.) call for volunteers to go to the South Pacific to preach the Gospel. He went there, and founded a school for the education of native Christian workers. He was adept at languages, and learned twenty-three of the languages spoken in the Polynesian and Melanesian Islands of the South Pacific. In 1861 he was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia.

The slave-trade was technically illegal in the South Pacific at that time, but the laws were only laxly enforced and in fact slave-raiding was a flourishing business. Patteson was actively engaged in the effort to stamp it out. However, injured men do not always distinguish friends from foes. After slave-raiders had attacked the island of Nakapu, in the Santa Cruz group, Patteson and several companions visited the area. They were assumed to be connected with the raiders, and Patteson's body was floated back to his ship with five hatchet wounds in the chest, one for each native who had been killed in the earlier raid. The death of Bishop Patteson caused an uproar back in England, and stimulated the government there to take firm measures to stamp out slavery and the slave trade in its Pacific territories. It was also the seed of a strong and vigorous Church in Melanesia today. Patteson and his companions died on 20 September 1871.*

*The Lectionary, James Kiefer, http://satucket.com/lectionary/John_Patteson.htm

Edward Bouverie Pusey

Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, 1882

The Collect:

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know your presence and obey your will; that, following the example of your servant Edward Bouverie Pusey, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do, and endure what you give us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The revival of High Church teachings and practices in the Anglican Communion, known as the Oxford Movement, found its acknowledged leader in Edward Bouverie Pusey. Born near Oxford, August 22, 1800, Pusey spent all his scholarly life in that University as Regius Professor of Hebrew and as Canon of Christ Church. At the end of 1833, he joined John Keble and John Henry Newman in producing the Tracts for the Times, which gave the Oxford Movement its popular name of Tractarianism.

His most influential activity, however, was his preaching—catholic in content, evangelical in his zeal for souls. But to many of his more influential contemporaries, it seemed dangerously innovative. A sermon preached before the University in 1843 on “The Holy Eucharist, a Comfort to the Penitent” was condemned without his being given an opportunity to defend it, and he himself was suspended from preaching for two years—a judgment he bore most patiently. His principles were thus brought before the public, and attention was drawn to the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. From another University sermon, on “The Entire Absolution of the Penitent,” may be dated the revival of private confession in the Anglican Communion.

When Newman was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, Pusey’s adherence to the Church of England kept many from following, and he defended them in their teachings and practices. After the death of his wife in 1839, Pusey devoted much of his family fortune to the establishment of churches for the poor and much of his time and care to the establishment of sisterhoods. In 1845, he established the first Anglican sisterhood since the Reformation. It was at this community’s convent, Ascot Priory in Berkshire, that Pusey died on September 16, 1882. His body was brought back to Christ Church and buried in the cathedral nave. Pusey House, a house of studies founded after his death, perpetuates his name at Oxford. His own erudition and integrity gave stability to the Oxford Movement and won many to its principles.*

*A Great Cloud of Witnesses, Copyright © 2016 by The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Summer's Last Sunday

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Join us for “at church” or “virtually” for worship this Sunday, September 19, 2021, The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost at St. Alban’s, St. Thomas’, St. Patrick’s, and Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas. Remember - Masks are again mandatory for all, and communion will be offered in one kind - bread only. We strongly urge everyone to get vaccinated. Please maintain social distance in non-family groups.

Holy Eucharist, Rite Two

St. Alban’s - 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.*

St. Thomas' - 10:00 a.m.*

St. Patrick’s – 1:30 p.m.*

* These liturgies will be Live-Streamed on Facebook for those who choose to remain at home. 

Download a pdf of the leaflet to print or to use on your phone or tablet. 

Holy Eucharist -  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LYmngX7I3EaziZ

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La Santa Eucaristía: Rito Dos

Iglesia Episcopal La Esperanza de Familias Unidas – Domingo - 5:00 p.m.

y vía transmisión en vivo en nuestra página de Facebook.

Zoom Compline 
Sunday -  8:00 p.m.

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We hope to “see” you all on Sunday as you are most comfortable!

Dawnell+, Whit+, Rob+ and Deacon Rita

Art from Clip Art, Steve Erspamer, Liturgy Training Publications – ltp.org

Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen, Mystic and Scholar, 1179

The Collect:

God of all times and seasons: Give us grace that we, after the example of your servant Hildegard, may both know and make known the joy and jubilation of being part of your creation, and show forth your glory in the world; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hildegard of Bingen has been called by her admirers "one of the most important figures in the history of the Middle Ages," and "the greatest woman of her time." Her time was the 1100's (she was born in 1098), the century of Eleanor of Aquitaine, of Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux, of the rise of the great universities and the building of Chartres cathedral. She was the daughter of a knight, and when she was eight years old she went to the Benedictine monastery at Mount St Disibode to be educated. The monastery was in the Celtic tradition, and housed both men and women (in separate quarters). When Hildegard was eighteen, she became a nun. Twenty years later, she was made the head of the female community at the monastery. Within the next four years, she had a series of visions, and devoted the ten years from 1140 to 1150 to writing them down, describing them (this included drawing pictures of what she had seen), and commenting on their interpretation and significance. During this period, Pope Eugenius III sent a commission to inquire into her work. The commission found her teaching orthodox and her insights authentic, and reported so to the Pope, who sent her a letter of approval. (He was probably encouraged to do so by his friend and former teacher, Bernard of Clairvaux.) She wrote back urging the Pope to work harder for reform of the Church. The community of nuns at Mount St. Disibode was growing rapidly, and they did not have adequate room. Hildegard accordingly moved her nuns to a location near Bingen, and founded a monastery for them completely independent of the double monastery they had left. She oversaw its construction, which included such features (not routine in her day) as water pumped in through pipes. The abbot they had left opposed their departure, and the resulting tensions took a long time to heal. 

Hildegard travelled throughout southern Germany and into Switzerland and as far as Paris, preaching. Her sermons deeply moved the hearers, and she was asked to provide written copies. In the last year of her life, she was briefly in trouble because she provided Christian burial for a young man who had been excommunicated. Her defense was that he had repented on his deathbed, and received the sacraments. Her convent was subjected to an interdict, but she protested eloquently, and the interdict was revoked. She died on 17 September 1179. *

* The Lectionary, James Kiefer, http://satucket.com/lectionary/Hildegard_Bingen.htm

Ninian

Ninian, Bishop, c.430

The Collect:

O God, by the preaching of your blessed servant and bishop Ninian you caused the light of the Gospel to shine in the land of Britain: Grant, we pray, that having his life and labors in remembrance we may show our thankfulness by following the example of his zeal and patience; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Ninian is also called Nynia, Ninias, Rigna, Trignan, Ninnidh, Ringan, Ninus, or Dinan. He was a Celt, born in southern Scotland in about 360, and is regarded as the first major preacher of the Gospel to the people living in Britain north of the Wall--that is, living outside the territory that had been under Roman rule. He is said to have studied in Rome (note that he is contemporary with Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine), but was chiefly influenced by his friendship with Martin of Tours, with whom he spent some considerable time when he was returning from Italy to Britain. It is probable that he named his headquarters in Galloway after Martin's foundation in Gall. Martin had a monastery known as LOCO TEIAC, a Latinized form of the Celtic LEUG TIGIAC. LEUG means "white, shining," and TIG means "house" (a shanty, or SHAN-TIG, is an old house). The suffix -AC means "little." Thus, Martin's monastery had a name which in Celtic means "little white house." At about the time of Martin's death in 397, Ninian built a church at Galloway, in southwest Scotland. It was built of stone and plastered white, an unusual construction in a land where almost all buildings were wood. He called it Candida Casa (White House) or Whithorn, presumably after Martin's foundation at Tours. Archaeologists have excavated and partially restored his church in this century. From his base at Galloway, Ninian preached throughout southern Scotland, south of the Grampian Mountains, and conducted preaching missions among the Picts of Scotland, as far north as the Moray Firth, He also preached in the Solway Plains and the Lake District of England. Like Patrick (a generation later) and Columba (a century and a half later), he was a principal agent in preserving the tradition of the old Romano-British Church and forming the character of Celtic Christianity. Some historians think that the number and extent of his conversions has been exaggerated, but throughout southern Scotland there are many and widespread churches that bear his name, and have traditionally been assumed to be congregations originally founded by him. 

Our information about him comes chiefly from Bede's History (Book 3, chapter 4), an anonymous eighth century account, and a 12th century account by Aelred. Aelred is writing 700 years after the event, and is for that reason rejected as untrustworthy by many critics. However, he claims to rely on an earlier account, "written by a barbarian." This suggests that he may have had an authentic record by a member of Ninian's community in Galloway. *

*The Lectionary, James Kiefer, http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Ninian.htm

Catherine of Genoa

Catherine of Genoa, Mystic and Nurse, 1510

The Collect:

Gracious God, reveal to your church the depths of your love; that, like your servant Catherine of Genoa, we might give ourselves in loving service, knowing that we have been perfectly loved by you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno, 1447 – 15 September 1510) was an Italian Roman Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor and remembered because of various writings describing both these actions and her mystical experiences. She was a member of the noble Fieschi family, and spent most of her life and her means serving the sick, especially during the plague which ravaged Genoa in 1497 and 1501. She died in that city in 1510.

Her fame outside her native city is connected with the publication in 1551 of the book known in English as the Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa.

Catherine was born in Genoa in 1447, the last of five children. Catherine wished to enter a convent when about 13; however, the nuns to whom her confessor applied on her behalf refused her on account of her youth, and after this Catherine appears to have put the idea aside without any further attempt. After her father’s death in 1463, aged 16, she was married by her parents' wish to a young Genoese nobleman, Giuliano Adorno. The marriage turned out wretchedly:

After ten years of marriage, she was converted by a mystical experience during confession on 22 March 1473. This marked the beginning of her life of close union with God in prayer, without using forms of prayer such as the rosary. She began to receive Communion almost daily, a practice extremely rare for lay people in the Middle Ages, and she underwent remarkable mental and at times almost pathological experiences.

She combined this with unselfish service to the sick in a hospital at Genoa, in which her husband joined her after he, too, had been converted. He later became a Franciscan tertiary, but she joined no religious order. Her husband's spending had ruined them financially. He and Catherine decided to live in a large hospital in Genoa, and to dedicate themselves to works of charity there. She eventually became manager and treasurer of the hospital.

Towards the end of her life a Father Marabotti was appointed to be her spiritual guide. He had been a director of the hospital where her husband died in 1497. To him she explained her states, past and present, and he compiled the Memoirs.

She died in 1510, worn out with labours of body and soul.*

*The Lectionary, via Wikipedia - http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Catherine_Genoa.html

Join us tonight, Wednesday night, September 15, for Evening Prayer and to learn more about Catherine of Genoa.

Zoom Evening Prayer
Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
 
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From Our Bishop Today

Dear Friends,

Holy Cross Day blessings. Here are a couple of Maya Angelou quotes that seemed appropriate for the day:

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” 

“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” 

Peace,

+Jake