Feast Day June 6
Priscilla Lydia Sellon November 20 Feast Day (Church of England)
Mother Harriet Monsell Feast Day March 26 (in Church of England)
Father James Huntington Feast Day Nov 25
Father Richard Meux Benson Feast Day January 16
Before the icon
V. There was a consciousness of God's Saints actually around and about us,
R. Which moved and inspired us to do and to dare anything and everything.
A reading
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned
(Song of Songs 8:6-7)
A collect
O God, by whose grace your servants Priscilla, Harriet, James and Richard, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Blessed Priscilla, Harriet, James and Richard; aflame with God's love and discipline, pray for us.
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The Restoration of the Religious Life in Anglicanism Feast Day June 6. I suggest that date because it is when the first vows of the religious life were taken by Marian Rebecca Hughes.
First Vows
On Trinity Sunday, June 6, 1841, Mother Marian Hughes made religious vows of poverty and celibacy and obedience before Edward Pusey She was the first woman to take such vows in the Church of England since the Reformation. She then went to a Eucharist celebrated by John Newman at Saint Mary’s, Oxford. At the time there was no community for her to be part of. Marian Hughes continued to live in Oxford with her mother until her mother’s death (early 1850s). After that she became the first Superior of the Society of the Holy and Undivided Trinity at Oxford. The society was dedicated to the service of the poor and the care of the sick. They also ran schools. During a cholera outbreak in Oxford the sisters showed great courage in ministering to the ill. More on Mother Marian.
Priscilla Lydia Sellon
November 20 Feast Day (Church of England) Web
March 21, 1821 – November 20, 1876. In 1848 Bishop H. Phillpotts of Exeter appealed for help in working among the poor. Miss Sellon responded and set out to work in Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse. Others came and they created a community life , then called the Devonport Sisters of Mercy. In 1856 that community joined with the Sisters of the Holy Cross at Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park, in London. Miss Sellon became the Abbess of the combined sisterhood — the "Society of the Most Holy Trinity. Later the community was located at Ascot Priory..
Mother Harriet Monsell
Feast Day March 26 (in Church of England) Web
Born in 1811 and died March 25, 1883. In 1849 the Community of St John Baptist (CSJB) was founded. Mother Harriet Monsell, was the first superior. By the 20th century there were over 200 members, six houses for "fallen women", seven orphanages, nine elementary and high schools and colleges, five hospitals, mission work in 13 parishes. CSJB has a house in Mendham, NJ.
Father James Huntington
Feast Day Nov 25 (date of his entry into the religious life) Web
Father Huntington founded the Order of the Holy Cross in 1884.
died on 28 June 1935 and is buried in the Monastery Church of St Augustine in West Park. The order he founded remains active; several of the schools the order founded also continue teaching children. The Episcopal Church commemorates Rev. Huntington annually on the anniversary of his entry into monastic life, 25 November 1884.
Father Richard Meux Benson
Feast Day Jan 16 Web
July 6,1824 – January, 14 1915. Fr. Benson was a priest in the Church of England and founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. SSJE was the first religious order of monks in the Anglican Communion since the Reformation. The website of the American community.
More on the Restoration of the Religious Life
Icon writer: Christine Simoneau Hales Web