Enmegahbowh, Priest and Missionary, 1902
Almighty God, who led your pilgrim people of old by fire and
cloud: Grant that the ministers of your church, following the example of your
servant Enmegahbowh, may lead your people with fiery zeal and gentle humility;
through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Enmegahbowh (c. 1820 – June 12, 1902; from Enami'egaabaw,
meaning "He that prays [for his people while] standing"; also known
as John Johnson) was the first Native American to be ordained a priest in the
Episcopal Church. Born around 1820, Enmegahbowh (pronounced En-meh-GAH-boe),
was the only child of the chief of an Ojibwe Band on Rice Lake near
Peterborough, Canada. He was raised in a Christian village near Petersburg
which was affiliated with the Methodists. On July 4, 1841 Enmegahbowh married
Biwabikogeshigequay (a/k/a Iron Sky Woman and baptized Charlotte), niece of
Hole-in-the-Day. He met the Rev. Ezekiel Gilbert Gear, chaplain at Fort
Snelling at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, and became
an Episcopalian. Gear eventually introduced Enmegahbowh to the Rev. James Lloyd
Breck, a missionary who had arrived in Minnesota in 1851, and who baptised
Enmegahbowh. Bishop Jackson Kemper ordained the youth a deacon in 1859, and
Enmegahbowh went to Crow Wing, Minnesota to assist in founding St. Columba
Mission. During the Dakota War of 1862, which began as treaty payments were due
for distribution to the starving Sioux at Fort Ridgely, the Gull Lake Band of
Mississippi Chippewa rose to attack near-by Fort Ripley. Enmegahbowh prevented
other Ojibwa bands from joining the Gull Lake Band, for which the rebels
imprisoned him. Enmegahbowh escaped and traveled thirty miles at night to warn
Fort Ripley. This discouraged the Gull Lake Band from attacking the fort. In
1867 Bishop Whipple ordained Enmegahbowh a priest. In 1869 he encouraged Chief
White Cloud's mission to establish peace between the Ojibwe and the Sioux in
1869. Enmegahbowh died at the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern
Minnesota on June 12, 1902 at the age of 95, and is buried in St. Columba's
churchyard.*
*The Lectionary, James Kiefer and Wikipedia, http://satucket.com/lectionary/Enmegahbowh.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enmegahbowh
