Monthly Archives: October 2021

Elizabeth FryElizabeth Gurney was born at Earlham in Norfolk in 1780. At the age of twenty, she married Joseph Fry, a London merchant and a strict Quaker. She was admitted as a minister in the Society of Friends and became a noted preacher. The appalling state of the prisons came to her notice and sheContinue reading “Oremus for Tuesday, October 12, 2021”

Philip the EvangelistPhilip, who has been traditionally referred to as a Deacon and an Evangelist, was one of seven honest men appointed, some sources say ordained, by the apostles to distribute bread and alms to the widows and the poor in Jerusalem. After the martyrdom of Stephen, Philip went to Samaria to preach the gospel.Continue reading “Oremus for Monday, October 11, 2021”

Antiphon 1 Ant. O Lord, if you were to take into account our iniquities, who would withstand the test? But forgiveness abides with you, O God of Israel.V. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; *Lord, hear my voice!O let your ears be attentive *to the sound of my pleadings. Psalm 130 AlmightyContinue reading “Oremus for Sunday, October 10, 2021”

Vida ScudderVida Dutton Scudder was born on December 15, 1861, the child of Congregationalist missionaries in India. In the 1870s, Vida and her mother were confirmed in the Episcopal Church by Bishop Phillips Brooks. After studying English literature at Smith College and Oxford University, Scudder began teaching at Wellesley College. Her love of scholarship wasContinue reading “Oremus for Saturday, October 9, 2021”

William Dwight Porter BlissWilliam Dwight Porter Bliss was born in Constantinople, Turkey, on August 20, 1856, the son of Edwin Elisha Bliss and Isabella Holmes (Porter) Bliss, who were Christian missionaries there. He attended Hartford Theological Seminary, where he first learned about religion in relation to social problems. His immediate work after seminary also greatly impacted the trajectory ofContinue reading “Oremus for Friday, October 8, 2021”

Henry Melchior MuhlenbergHenry Melchior Muhlenberg is the principal organizer of American Lutheranism. He was born in Einbeck, Germany, in 1711, and studied at Goettingen and at Halle. Lutherans in America at that time were found in a few scattered communities, of various national backgrounds, with no central organization, and with a grave danger of factionalism.Continue reading “Oremus for Thursday, October 7, 2021”

William TyndaleOn this day in 1945, the United States hastened the end of World War II in the Pacific by dropping the first nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, it bombed the city of Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered shortly thereafter. Given what we now know Born in Gloucestershire in aboutContinue reading “Oremus for Wednesday, October 6, 2021”

Harry Emerson FosdickHarry Emerson Fosdick, America’s greatest liberal preacher of the 20th century, was at the forefront of theological and social thinking for more than 40 years. He was also a source of controversy as he brought to his country a prophetic voice of reasoned faith and enlightened hope. A man for all seasons, FosdickContinue reading “Oremus for Tuesday, October 5, 2021”

FrancisFrancis was born in Assisi in central Italy either in 1181 or the following year. He was baptised Giovanni but given the name Francesco by his father, a cloth merchant who traded in France and had married a French wife. There was an expectation that he would eventually take over his father’s business but FrancisContinue reading “Oremus for Monday, October 4, 2021”

Antiphon 1 Ant. All things are submitted to your will, O Lord, *and no one can resist your de-cisions; you have madeall things, heaven and earth, and all that is contained underthe vault of the sky; you are the master of the universe.V. Blessed are those whose way is blameless, *who walk in the lawContinue reading “Oremus for Sunday, October 3, 2021”