John Leonhard Dober — April 1

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936),

Bible connection

Read Acts 13:16-52

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

All about John Leonhard Dober (1706-1766)

Let’s celebrate one of the Moravian Brethren’s first residents in the Americas who then was part of their amazing and extensive missionary efforts in the 1700’s. As you know, the Moravians are still alive and well in the United States. A main center for them is just up the road in Bethlehem, PA.

Leonhard Dober was born on March 7, 1706, in Bavaria, Germany. Like his father, Johann, Leonhard was trained as a potter.

We do not know how his older brother, Martin. heard about a new community in Herrnhut. But when Leonhard was nineteen years old, he walked 315 miles to join him there. The community had been founded by Protestant refugees from Moravia just a few years earlier. By 1727 about half of the population of Herrnhut came from other parts of Germany. Other members of the Dober family soon joined Leonhard and Martin in this vibrant Christian community: their parents, Johann and Anna Barbara in 1730, and their younger brother Andreas in 1733.

In 1731 a life-changing event moved Leonhard in a new direction. A former African slave from St. Thomas named Anton visited Herrnhut. Count Zinzendorf, on whose land the village was built, had become acquainted with Anton in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was employed as a servant. Anton, who was baptized, impressed Zinzendorf and his traveling companions with his accounts of the situation on St. Thomas where Africans lived under the harshest of conditions. Zinzendorf sent Anton to Herrnhut where he told the congregation about his sister on St. Thomas who was “eager to learn about Christianity if only God would send someone to teach her.”

Leonhard felt he should be the person to go to the Caribbean island and tell the slaves about their Savior. The Church, however was not quick to rush into such an enterprise, and it took another year until Dober and David Nitschmann, his fellow missionary, received permission to leave. The day they left Herrnhut, August 21, 1732, marks the beginning of the remarkable missionary work of the Moravian Church.

After being sent out by Count Zinzendorf, the two traveled from Herrnhut to Copenhagen, Denmark, where their plan initially met with strong opposition. When asked by a court official how they would support themselves, Nitschmann replied,

“We shall work as slaves among the slaves.”

“But,” said the official, “that is impossible. It will not be allowed. No white man ever works as a slave.”

“Very well,” replied Nitschmann, “I am a carpenter, and will ply my trade.”

After some difficulty, the missionaries found support from the Danish Queen (a friend of Zinzendorf) and her court. Even though the Danish West Indian Company refused to grant them passage, a ship was eventually procured. They left Copenhagen on Oct 8, 1732 and arrived in St. Thomas two months later on December 13. While in St. Thomas, they lived frugally and preached to the slaves, and had some success.

Some still say they succeeded in selling themselves into slavery and were never heard form again. But Nitschmann returned to Europe four months after arriving. Dober remained until 1734 when he was called back to Germany to become General Elder, a position he held until September of 1741. Other Moravian missionaries continued the work, establishing churches on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John’s, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, and St. Kitts. Moravian missionaries baptized 13,000 converts before any other missionaries arrived on the scene.

Dober served the Moravian Church in many places. He worked in Amsterdam where he tried to evangelize the Jewish inhabitants of that city (1738-39). He was appointed head of Moravian activities in the Netherlands (1741-45), then in England (1745-1746) and later in Silesia (1751-58). He was also ordained a bishop of the Church in 1747. After Zinzendorf’s death, Dober became a member of the Directorate of the Unity – a position he held until he died in Herrnhut on April 1, 1766.

Dober’s letter describing his motivation for going to St. Thomas says:

Since it is desired of me to make known my reason, I can say that my disposition was never to travel during this time [that period in his life], but only to ground myself more steadfastly in my Savior; that when the gracious count came back from his trip to Denmark and told me about the slaves, it gripped me so that I could not get free of it. I vowed to myself that if one other brother would go with me, I would become a slave, and would tell him so, and [also] what I had experienced from our Savior: that the word of the cross in its lowliness shows a special strength to souls. As for me, I thought: even if helpful to no one in it [my commitment] I could still give witness through it of obedience to our Savior! I leave it to the good judgment of the congregation and have no other ground than this I thought: that on the island there still are souls who cannot believe because they have not heard.

More

A lesson from the Greenbay Sunday School in Antigua:

The movie First Fruits (1982) Tells the story.

What do we do with this?

Herrnhut is a good model, don’t you think? Radical Christians crossing lines of nationality and race, prayer, community and imaginative mission worldwide. That’s good Christianity in any era! How are we doing?

Is God is calling you to some new obedience? What will you do about it? You can start by letting others know — even if it takes a long time to be sent into it, it is good to have someone backing you up (and maybe holding you accountable!).

John Donne — March 31

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Young John Donne by an unknown artist ca. 1595

Bible connection

I am a rose of Sharon,
    a lily of the valleys.

As a lily among brambles,
    so is my love among maidens.

As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
    so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
    and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
    and his intention toward me was love. — Song of Solomon 2:1-4

All about John Donne (1572-1631)

During his 10-year service as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Black Plague repeatedly swept through London—three waves—killing tens of thousands with each recurrence. For months Donne thought he would surely be a victim of the disease, himself. This period was just one of his many trying times. Throughout his life, he withstood financial ruin, the destruction of his family, religious persecution, and other plagues. Yet, he became one of England’s greatest love poets, and one of the greatest preachers of the 1600s.

John Donne was born to an old Roman Catholic family when anti-Catholicism was running high in England. At age 2, his grand-uncle was hanged for being a priest. His father died of more natural causes when he was 4. His younger brother Henry died in prison, having been arrested for sheltering a priest. Donne himself, a noteworthy student at both Oxford and Cambridge, was refused a degree at both schools because of his faith.

Donne’s youthful response to these calamities was to reject his Catholicism. But neither did he accept the Protestantism of his family’s persecutors. Instead, he walked the line between cynical rebel and honest truthseeker, listing the pitfalls of various denominations and sects in his first book of poetry, Satires [see complete works online]. At the same time, he lived a brazenly sensual life, writing some of the most erotic English poetry ever written.

Sometime during this period, Donne converted to the Church of England, and in 1596 sailed as a gentleman-adventurer on a naval expedition against Spain. When he returned, he was appointed the private secretary to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, sat in Queen Elizabeth I’s last Parliament, made connections, and continued his lustful ways. Then England’s greatest love poet fell in love.

Her name was Anne More—the niece (by marriage) of the wife of his boss. As she was only 17 (Donne was then nearly 30), they married in secret. Her father was furious and had Donne immediately thrown into jail and removed from his post. Imprisoned, he wrote a characteristic pun, “John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone.”

Donne was quickly released. The lovers reunited and lived in poverty for the next 13 years. Adding to their poverty, Anne bore 12 children (five of whom died in childhood). Donne, plagued by headaches, intestinal cramps, and gout, fell into a deep depression. His longest literary work during that period was an essay endorsing and contemplating suicide: “Whensoever any affliction assails me, methinks I have the keys of my prison in mine own hand and no remedy presents itself so soon to my heart as mine own sword.”

During this time, he also began studying religion more closely. One of two anti-Catholic works he published, Pseudo-Martyr, earned him the favor of King James I because it argued Catholics could pledge allegiance to the king without renouncing their faith.

The object of his poetry now became God, and he employed the same degree of ardor and amorousness as ever, since, He reasoned, “God is love.” He took a page from Solomon, whom he observed “was amorous, and excessive in the love of women: when he turned to God, he departed not utterly from his old phrase and language, but … conveys all his loving approaches and applications to God.”

Thus, even some of his “Holy Sonnets” had amorous overtones:

Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new …
Take me to you, imprison me, for I
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Friends encouraged Donne, deemed by some critics to be a pornographer, to become a priest in the Church of England. Donne repeatedly refused, lamenting that “some irregularities of my life have been so visible to some men.” But when King James refused to employ him anywhere but the church, Donne relented. He was granted a doctorate of divinity from Cambridge and took his first parish job in 1616.

The following year, Anne died. Grief-stricken, Donne pledged never to marry again and threw himself at his work. It seems to have done wonders for his vocation. By 1621 he was dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the foremost preacher of his day. One hundred sixty of his sermons still survive.

Older John donne — Late 17th century copy of Isaac Oliver portrait.

In 1623 John Donne fell seriously ill and believed he was dying of the plague. Unable to read but able to write, he penned his famous Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. In it, he records hearing church bells tolling a declaration of death, which he mistook to be an announcement of his own demise. When he realized they were for another, he penned one of literature’s most famous lines: “No man is an island, entire of himself; … therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Eight years later, the bell did toll for Donne, who died of stomach cancer about a month after preaching his famous “Death’s Duel” sermon. Though he has occasionally been accused of an obsession with death (a claim backed up by his 54 songs and sonnets, 32 of which center on the topic), his poetry, sermons, and other writings clearly show his affinity for what lay beyond the tolling bells:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so …
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

More

Poetry Foundation bio

David Barnes reads the Holy Sonnets

An interesting bio from an English magazine editor:

What do we do with this?

Donne is nothing if not passionate. Consider how you FEEL about God and others⁠—and your own plight in this world. There is the sense in Donne’s work of personal, heartfelt relationships⁠—even in the poems there is often a dialogue going on, sometimes internal, often with a person outside the poem. What are your internal dialogues, in particular like? And how do they lead you to relate to God?

Write a poem yourself. What literary art would you use to express your longing for God and the feelings you feel when you live among the tragedies of life?

Joachim of Fiore – March 30

Europe, Forerunners (33-1226)
Joachim of Flora, in a 15th-century woodcut

Bible connection

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.  He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” — Revelation 14:6-13

All about Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202)

For most Christians, the New Testament book of Revelation has served as the go-to text for all things eschatological (the study of the end times). This was especially true of Europe in the Middle Ages. The leading authority on the matter was Joachim of Fiore, the legal secretary (notary), monk, abbot, hermit, theologian and prophet from Calabria, the toe of the boot in Southern Italy.

Joachim was a household name in his day for his alleged prophetic powers. He wrote many books, but his most influential was the Expositio in Apocalipsim (Exposition of the Book of Revelation), finished around 1196–1199. In this work he introduces his famous tripartite division of history into the Ages (each a “status”) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He taught the fruition of the Age of the Holy Spirit was at hand — an era in which peace and love would prevail, and God’s secrets would finally be revealed to the world.

While Joachim was being educated to follow in his father’s footsteps as a notary in the Norman Kingdom of Naples, he took a trip to the Holy Land and was never the same. Like so many people who made the pilgrimage, he had a deep, spiritual experience that changed his course.

After returning to Italy, he decided to live in a cave, located near Mount Etna in Sicily. He lived as a hermit there for some time, before transferring to a Cistercian monastery. The Cistercians were born out of a restoration movement within the Benedictine observance. In 1098 a group of reformers founded an abbey at Cîteaux, near Dijon, France. The goal was to revert to what they considered the original spirit of St. Benedict’s Rule in three main ways: return to self-sufficiency, simplicity and separation from the world.

Joachim chose the Cistercians to use monastic contemplation as a way to experience God directly. His choice also highlights his enthusiasm for the spiritual revival taking place in Europe at the time, which centered on a widespread preoccupation with the life of the Apostles. From the year 1000, more and more people began to reject what they saw as the degeneration of Christian life which had occurred in the centuries before them and sought to return to the example set by Christ and his first followers. Primarily, that meant living in poverty (as in Mark 6: 4-13), engaging in the communal sharing of goods (as in Acts 2:44-47), and itinerant preaching (as in Luke 10:1-24). Francis of Assisi may be the best known convert.

After spending time as a Cistercian monk, Fiore took up the life of a wandering preacher. In 1171, he was elected as the abbot of another Cistercian monastery in Corazzo, back home in Calabria. He was now in his late thirties. It was during this time he began to write (17 works are extant!).

Joachim was particularly interested in discovering the hidden meanings behind scripture. For Fiore and his contemporaries, the Bible was not merely a collection of works, to be read in light of their respective historical contexts. Rather, it was one coherent and unified Word of God. Accordingly, many believed it was encoded with theological truths, some of which could be discovered through careful study. Joachim’s discoveries often came via encounters with God’s Spirit.

Joachim illustrates his theory of the three overlapping eras of history.

Central to his findings was the correspondence between the Old and New Testaments. Simply put, Fiore believed the events recorded in the Old Testament prefigured those of the New, which in turn, predicted the future. This was linked to Joachim’s famous tripartite division of history, with each epoch corresponding to a person of the Trinity. Thus, the Age (status) of the Father began with Adam, came to fruition with Abraham and ended with Christ, while the status of the Son began with King Uzziah of Judah, came to fruition with Zechariah—John the Baptist’s father—and was about to end in Joachim’s own time.

The last point accounts for the popularity of Fiore’s prophetic message. According to Joachim, the Age of the Holy Spirit, believed to have begun with Saint Benedict of Nursia, was soon to be fulfilled. In fact, this would occur in the year 1260 — and people needed to prepare. Why 1260? Revelation 12:1-6 reads: “A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun … and (she) fled into the wilderness … so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.” It was that simple.

According to Fiore, in 1260 the Age of the Holy Spirit would fully unfold, ushering in a new world ruled by perfect, divine Love. There would be no more need for laws. Freedom, tolerance and peace would prevail. Life would be “without scandal, without worry or terror, since God shall bless it and He shall sanctify it.” At this time, the Gospel would become subordinate to a greater, “eternal gospel” (Revelation 14:6). Indeed, for Joachim, Jesus’s crucifixion was no longer the most important event in history. It was awesomely meaningful, for sure. But something else was coming. Something greater than even Christ himself. And that was the Holy Spirit, who would bestow on humankind a perfect and direct knowledge of God.

A 1573 fresco depicting Gioacchino da Fiore, in the Cathedral of Santa Severina, Calabria, Italy

Joachim became dissatisfied with his position as abbot, and received permission from the pope to once again become a hermit. In 1189, he built a hermitage (today, known as San Giovanni in Fiore Abbey). Since he had a number of disciples, it turned into an entire community of hermits. The strict regime that he set up for them was approved by Pope Celestine III in 1196, thereby creating the Florensian Order. He died in 1202. His remains were moved to San Giovanni in Fiore in 1226. His tomb is still visited there.

His followers continued and were called “Joachimites.” Many belonged to the new Franciscan Order. Some friars came to believe they had a special role to usher in the Age of the Holy Spirit, which  was supposed to bring an end to the Church in its entirety. The ecclesiastical establishment found these ideas quite threatening. As time went on, Joachim’s prophecies came under greater scrutiny by the authorities. In 1263, Joachim’s writings (not the man himself) were officially declared heretical.

The influence of Fiore’s ideas lived on and can be seen to this day. The Third Reich and Marxism have been called versions of his “new age” teachings, and some see him as a foretaste of the “age of Aquarius” and other “new age” ideas.

More

A Catholic vlogger under the title Sensus Fidelium complains that Vatican II falls into the category of Joachimite excesses beginning in the 20th Century, quoting Pope John the XXIII calling for a new Pentecost.

Nice 10-minute comparison of Augustine’s and Fiore’s view of history:

An intriguing AI-generated bio from 2023 [link]

Details about the Florensian Abbey [link]

If you want to know everything, this dissertation should get you there.  [link]

What do we do with this?

Joachim had an international reputation in the late 12th century. He functioned as an “apocalyptic advisor” to a number of the popes of the 1180s and the 1190s. Despite living on a lonely mountaintop in his monastery in Calabria, the prophet’s fame had spread very wide. So it shouldn’t surprise us that King Richard the Lion Hearted, when he’s on his way to the Third Crusade and he has to spend the winter in Sicily (because you can’t sail during the winter on the Mediterranean), stops in Messina to asks for Joachim’s prophetic advice about what will happen. There are accounts of Joachim meeting with the king in the winter of 1190-1191. Richard, like any medieval figure, believed in prophetic visions which could provide guidance as to what was to come. One of the accounts says Joachim predicted a victory for Richard — and we know Richard achieved at best a kind of Pyrrhic victory. Consider your own experience with prophets. Do you despise them?

Scholars have traced how Joachim de Fiore’s influence has continued to impact Eurocentric thinking [see Paul Ziolo]. Our present Speaker of the House in the U.S. has been focused on the dawning of the Age to Come his entire life. [Rod’s post about this]. Ask Jesus how important his teaching about this is.

Charles Wesley — March 29

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

Bible connection

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:4-7

All about Charles Wesley (1707–1788) 

Charles Wesley was said to have averaged 10 poetic lines a day for 50 years. He wrote 8,989 hymns, 10 times the volume composed by the only other candidate in his league (Isaac Watts). He composed some of the most memorable and lasting hymns of the church:

And yet he is often referred to as the “forgotten Wesley.”

His brother John is considered the organizational genius behind the founding of Methodism. But without the hymns of Charles, the Methodist movement may have gone nowhere. It is commonly said, “The early Methodists were taught and led as much through Charles’s hymns as through John Wesley’s sermons and pamphlets.” Charles preached too!

Charles Wesley was the eighteenth of Samuel and Susannah Wesley’s nineteen children (only 10 lived to maturity). He was born prematurely in December 1707 and appeared dead. He lay silent, wrapped in wool, for weeks.

When he was older, Charles joined his siblings each day as his mother, Susannah (who knew Greek, Latin, and French), methodically taught them for six hours. Charles then spent 13 years at Westminster School, where the only language allowed in public was Latin. He added nine years at Oxford, where he received his master’s degree. It was said that he could reel off the Latin poet Virgil by the half hour.

Next, it was off to Oxford University. To counteract the tepid spirituality of the school, Charles formed the Holy Club, and with two or three others celebrated Communion weekly and observed a strict regimen of spiritual study. Because of the group’s religious regimen, which later included early rising, Bible study, and prison ministry, members were called “methodists.” John was included later.

In 1735 Charles joined his brother John (they were now both ordained) as a missionary in the colony of Georgia—John as chaplain of the rough outpost near Savannah and Charles as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. Shot at, slandered, suffering sickness, shunned even by Oglethorpe, Charles could have echoed brother John’s sentiments as they dejectedly returned to England the following year: “I went to America to convert the Indians, but, oh, who will convert me?”

It turned out to be the Moravians who could do it. After returning to England, Charles taught English to a Moravian Church bishop, Peter Böhler, who prompted Charles to look at the state of his soul more deeply. During May 1738, Charles began reading Martin Luther’s volume on Galatians while he was ill. He wrote in his diary, “I labored, waited, and prayed to feel ‘who loved me, and gave himself for me.’” He shortly found himself convinced, and journaled, “I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoice in hope of loving Christ.” Two days later he began writing a hymn celebrating his conversion.

At evangelist George Whitefield’s instigation, John and Charles Wesley eventually submitted to “be more vile” and do the unthinkable: preach outside of church buildings. In his journal entries from 1739 to 1743, Charles computed the number of those to whom he had preached. Of only those crowds for whom he stated a figure, the total during these five years comes to 149,400. From June 24 through July 8, 1738, Charles reported preaching twice to crowds of ten thousand at Moorfields, once called “that Coney Island of the eighteenth century.” He preached to 20,000 at Kennington Common plus gave a sermon on justification before the University of Oxford.

On a trip to Wales in 1747, the adventurous evangelist, now 40 years old, met 20-year-old Sally Gwynne. They were soon married. By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one.

Charles continued to travel and preach, sometimes creating tension with John, who complained that “I do not even know when and where you intend to go.” His last nationwide trip was in 1756. After that, his health led him gradually to withdraw from itinerant ministry. He spent the remainder of his life in Bristol and London, preaching at Methodist chapels.

Throughout his adult life, Charles wrote verse, predominantly hymns for use in Methodist meetings. He produced 56 volumes of hymns in 53 years, producing in his lyrics what brother John called a “distinct and full account of scriptural Christianity.” Charles Wesley quickly earned admiration for his ability to capture universal Christian experience in memorable verse. In the following century, Henry Ward Beecher declared, “I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley’s, ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul,’ than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth.” The compiler of the massive Dictionary of Hymnology, John Julian, concluded that “perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, [Charles Wesley was] the greatest hymn-writer of all ages.”

More

The Poetry Foundation examines him as a poet

What do we do with this?

Of course: sing! Any one of the linked songs might help you feel the exuberance Charles is trying to stoke.  Since we are in Lent, maybe you’d like a foreshadowing of what is to come with this karaoke version of Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.

It is worth noting that the French Revolution followed a year after Charles died — May 5, 1789. The Wesleys went with the opportunities their changing world offered and began their own version of the revolution. Many have argued that their spiritual revolution was every bit as effective as the political ones – maybe more long-lasting. It makes us wonder what we have to offer in our present changing world.

Caroline Chisholm — March 25

Australia/Pacific Islands, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
1985 Five Dollar note

Bible connection

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. — Matthew 25:36-36

All about Caroline Chisholm (1808-1877)

Although we could place Caroline Chisholm in England or India, her heart mostly seemed to be with Australia most of her life.

She was born in 1808 in Northampton, England, the youngest of at least twelve children of her father, and the last of seven born to her mother. Her father was a pig dealer who fattened animals for sale. Her family was a product of the evangelical revival and influenced by William Wilberforce.

When she was 7 years old a soldier recuperating from his injuries came to live with them and he captured the little girl’s heart with his stories of the battles and hardships of emigrants to Britain’s colonies. He also told tales of the tremendous potential for those emigrants who worked hard to make a much better life for themselves than they ever could have done at home. After hearing these things, one of Caroline’s favorite games became “Immigrants” with boats she made out of fava beans. Her pocket money went to buy little dolls who emigrated to far off lands. Her mother was not amused when she spilled an “ocean” on her bed one day. After that, she played the game in the coal cellar by candlelight.

As a young woman she had several young men propose to her, but she made it clear she would only marry someone if she were free to carry out what she felt was her God-given calling to help the poor. She met such a man. In December of 1830 when she was 22, Caroline married Archibald Chisholm who was ten years older than she. He was an officer serving with the East India Company’s Madras Army and a Roman Catholic. Around this time, Caroline converted to his faith. They raised their children as Catholics.

In 1838, Captain Chisholm was granted a two-year furlough on the grounds of ill health. Rather than return to England, the family decided the climate in Australia would be better for his health so they set sail for Sydney and settled nearby.

On trips to Sydney, Chisholm and her husband became aware of the difficult conditions  facing immigrants arriving in the colony. They were particularly concerned for the young women who were arriving without any money, friends, family, or jobs to go to. Many turned to prostitution to survive. Chisholm found placement for many of these young women in shelters, including her own home, and helped find them permanent places to stay. She started an organization to create and sustain an immigrant women’s shelter.

In 1840, Captain Chisholm returned to his regiment in India, but he encouraged his wife to continue her philanthropic efforts. Her singlemindedness is reflected in how her hometown newspaper quoted her: “I never can imagine that Almighty God sent females into the world to be cooks and housemaids all their days” (Northampton Mercury, 5 March 1853).

She set up a home in Sydney for young women and organized other homes in several rural villages. Where she knew there was an eligible bachelor, she would often place a capable girl with the nearest neighbors. This resulted in numerous marriages.

Caroline Chisholm
Monument in Woodend, Victoria reads: Erected to honor the work of Caroline Chisholm who established shelters, one of which was in this vicinity, for women travelling to the goldfields.

In March 1842, Chisholm rented two rowhouses in East Maitland, about 100 miles north of Sydney, outside Newcastle. She converted them into a single cottage to be used as a hostel for homeless immigrants who had travelled to the Hunter Valley in search of work. Now called Caroline Chisholm Cottage, it is the only building in New South Wales directly associated with Chisholm. Built in the 1830s, the cottage offers a rare example of early working-class housing.

During the first seven years Chisholm was in Australia, she placed over 11,000 people in homes and jobs. She became a well-known woman and much admired. She was asked to give evidence before two Legislative Council committees. She carried out her work in New South Wales without accepting money from individuals or individual organizations, as she wanted to act independently. She did not want to be dependent upon any religious or political body. What’s more, the young women and families Chisholm helped came from different backgrounds and held different religious beliefs and she did not need “authorities” questioning their propriety. She raised money for the homes through private subscriptions.

Her husband was forced to leave the Army for health reasons in 1845 and returned to Australia. They returned to England in 1846, where she continued her advocacy for Australian immigrants.

In 1854 Chisholm returned to Australia and toured the goldfields of the new Victoria Colony. She was appalled by the conditions of miners and their families. She proposed the construction of shelter sheds which received support from the government. Chisholm continued to work in Melbourne, travelling to and from the home and store which the Chisholms had purchased in Kyneton. Due to her ill health, the family moved back to warmer Sydney in 1858 where she recovered. Her health improved and she gave political lectures, calling for land to be allocated so emigrant families could establish small farms. She also wrote a novella, Little Joe, that was serialized in the local paper.

Her husband accompanied the younger children back to England in 1865. Archibald Jr. accompanied his mother on her return 1866. There, they lived in relative poverty and obscurity. Caroline Chisholm died in London, England on March 25, 1877, and her husband died in August that year. Five of their eight children survived their parents.

Here’s what the Governor of New South Wales had to say about her:

I expected to have seen an old lady in white cap and spectacles, who would have talked to me about my soul. I was amazed when my aide introduced a handsome stately young woman who proceeded to reason..as if she thought her reason and experience were worth as much as mine.

Caroline Chisholm did her utmost to encourage family life. By protecting immigrant women, she gave them the opportunity to become valuable colonists. She helped everyone, regardless of religious affiliation and she did this in spite of the fact it was improper for a woman in those times to be involved in the public arena. Caroline Chisholm was an inspiration to her contemporaries; even Florence Nightingale declared that she was Mrs. Chisholm’s friend and pupil.

More

Chisholm is an Anglican saint. Her feast day is May 16.

Letter to Australasian Chronicle, December 21 1841:

BASE ATTEMPT AT SEDUCTION.

Mr. EDITOR

The good done by the ” Female Immigrants’ Home” is but partially known. The following case, related to me by one of the committee, will show it to be a grand means of preventing the ruin of virtuous females. A few days ago, at a very early hour in the morning, there stood outside of the door of the “Female Immigrants’ Office” a tall respectably dressed female. At first Mrs. Chisholm took her to be a person looking for a servant, and accordingly asked her if she wanted one. She stooped her head, and made no reply. Her silence and the early hour at which she called caused Mrs. Chisholm to think that, instead of looking for a servant, perhaps she herself wanted employment. Mrs. Chisholm therefore said, “Do you want a situation?” The immigrant, for she was one recently arrived, expressed her assent by a slight motion of her head, and at the same time applied a handkerchief to her eyes. Mrs. Chishom took her into her own private room, and, to answer a call from another apartment of the barracks, left her by herself for a few minutes. When she returned she saw her taking a letter out of a bag, and the tears still dropping from her eyes. Mrs. Chisholm said, “Let me see that letter;” she hesitated. “Tell me,” says Mrs. Chisholm, “have you lost character?” She now spoke for the first time, and in the most feeling manner slowly said, “Not yet:” Being encouraged to speak unreservedly, she said that for the last three days her only nourishment was coffee; that the letter in her hand was the letter of a seducer, and that it contained a cheque for £20. Hereupon Mrs. Chisholm read the letter. It gave directions for the poor, the destitute, but virtuous female to go and reside in a cottage not seven miles distant from Sydney. Mrs. Chisholm placed her in the service of a respectable family in the country, and wrote to the vile fellow that, if he attempted to give her any further annoyance, his letter would be published. Had the “Female Immigrants’ Home” rescued from ruin but this one female since its foundation, it would have done much good…

Yours truly,

MORUS.

Cowpastures, 16th December, 1841.

World-famous French historian Jules Michelet (1798-1874) who died before Chisholm, said, “The fifth part of the world, Australia, has up to now but one saint, one legend. This saint is an Englishwoman.”

Charles Dickens, an admirer of Caroline’s, amalgamated her and two other women into the matronly but formidable character who is also a “telescopic philanthropist” called Mrs. Jellyby in his novel Bleak House (1852-53).

What do we do with this?

Caroline Chisholm talked a local government leader into giving her an empty barracks for a women’s shelter. We might want to consider how often we take no for an answer.

Chisholm had an idea of who she was as a child and organized her adulthood to obey that heavenly vision, even holding out for a husband who supported work women generally did not take on, individually, at the time. Are you underestimating how valuable your are?

Oscar Romero — March 24

North America, This century (1937-2025)

Bible connection

Read Isaiah 61

The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world.
Everyone will praise him!
His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring,
with plants springing up everywhere.

All about Oscar Romero (1917-1980)

Until he was 62 years old, Óscar Romero y Galdámez served as priest, bishop, and finally Archbishop of San Salvador in the Central American nation of El Salvador. On Monday, March 24, 1980, Romero was shot through the heart while lifting the chalice as part of the communion meal. The day before, in a sermon broadcast by radio, Romero called on Salvadoran soldiers to disobey orders that would contradict a life in Christ―namely carrying out the government’s repression and denial of basic human rights.

His appointment to Archbishop was seen as a “safe” move by conservative elements of the church and the government, while the progressive priests were disappointed. The latter were involved in criticizing the systemic sin ruining their country and were open with their teaching and activism surrounding class conflict, sometimes implicating the Catholic Church as part of the oppressor class. Their worldview, and later Romero’s, became widely known as Liberation Theology.

After a friend of Romero’s was assassinated for his “subversive” activities in 1977, Romero was astonished at the lack of help in the investigation he received from the authorities. He felt a call to follow his late friend, Rutilio Grande, in his work and potentially into death. His letter to President Jimmy Carter petitions “His Excellency” as a Christian and as someone who cares about human rights to cut off  military aid to the Salvadoran government because it would violently carry out the interests of the military oligarchy not the people. After Romero’s death the U.S. government increased military aid, having previously restricted it to humanitarian.

Romero wrote: “We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.”―from The Violence of Love (read it online at Romero Trust)

More

Nice video from the Martyr’s Prayer Project [link]

The movie: Romero. [IMDB link] Free on YouTube. [Trailer]

Oliver Stone’s Salvador [Trailer: link]

Jean Donovan and the murdered nuns [link]

The Salvadoran government admitted to the murder of priests twenty years later [link]

Jon Sobrino on Romero [link, in Spanish]

What do we do with this?

The Salvadoran Church was instrumental in ending the country’s civil war. They risked their lives for the gospel and stood in solidarity with the poor, often at the cost of family ties and livelihoods. The United States was intimately involved in the repressive policies and work of the death squads. Everybody, in El Salvador and the United States, had a difficult time seeing the evil, even with people dying around them. Consider what evil you accept as normal.

Gordon Cosby — March 20

North America, This century (1937-2025)

Bible connection

May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. — Matthew 6:10 NRSVUE

All about Gordon Cosby (1918-2013)

On this day in 2013 Gordon Cosby died at the age of 95, just a few years after retiring.

In 1944 Cosby helped invade Utah Beach on D-Day, where he witnessed enormous loss and served those injured and dying. From then on he was convinced of the futility of war and convicted to help the church equip people to make the transition into what is after death.

He planted the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. in 1946. By 1953 the group had become more official and had also purchased land in Maryland to build Dayspring, a retreat lodge for silence and rest. Over the years, nine faith communities and several notable non-profits formed with Gordon and his wife Mary serving as catalysts. The idea was to keep the congregation small so people could go deep and be necessary.

As an activist, Cosby participated in numerous non-violent direct actions as well as creating space for people to organize for justice. In 1960, his church began the first Christian coffeehouse, The Potter’s House, as a place to get the church further into needed social spaces in the world rather than being cloistered. Cosby led people to BE the church for over sixty years, beginning successful and lasting ministries for foster kids, the homeless, people with HIV/AIDS, housing creation, and job training, The Church of the Savior has been a pioneer in numerous inward practices and disciplines such as retreating and linking between urban and rural areas, as well as on the forefront of outward practices such as racial reconciliation and local justice work.

Jim Wallis of Sojourners recounts (link below)

Gordon Cosby never needed or wanted to be out front or become a famous public figure. He could have spoken across the country, and was often invited to do so. But he instead decided that his own vocation was to stay with a relatively small group of people trying to “be the church” in Washington, D.C.: the Church of the Savior, which has produced more missions and ministries, especially with the poor, than any church I know of anywhere in the country — even the huge mega-churches who capture all the fame. He never…went on television, talked to presidents, planted more churches, built national movements, or traveled around the world. He just inspired everybody else to do all those things and much more. And the world came to him.

Cosby has been credited as a mentor or inspiration by countless ministries, leaders, activists, pastors, and churches over the decades, including churches we have served. In a sermon in 1989, Cosby said,

Faith is trusting the flow and reveling in the view and being carried beyond all existing boundaries. Faith is being excited about the final destination, even when the destination is mystery. When Jesus says, ‘Believe in God, believe also in me,’ he is saying, Get into the stream with us. It is a stream of pure grace and mercy. Go into its depths and find us there.

Jim Wallis on Cosby [link] and his interview with Mary [link]

More

Church of the Savior online [link]

Four minute piece on NPR’s All Things Considered [link] WETA [link]

Memorial piece in Washington Post [link]

Articles by Cosby in Sojourners [link]

Frontline article on the Church of the Savior [link]

Elizabeth O’Connor was a staff member of Church of the Savior for 40 years. Her classic book Journey Inward, Journey Outward articulates Cosby’s vision. Here is a seminarian’s bio.

Here is a detailed history of the church and Cosby’s development. [link]

What do we do with this?

Gordon Cosby wrote several books. His Handbook for Mission Groups was influential in how our former church decided to form our compassion teams. You might want to check it out.

What do you think of Cosby’s conviction to stay local? He poured himself into his territory in Washington D.C. and into the people of his church. He resisted the fame game. How do you see yourself? Do you long to be more honored than you are? Do you respect people who are more honored more for being famous than for what they do?

Patrick of Ireland — March 17

Europe, Forerunners (33-1226)

 

Bible connection

Read Acts 2:14-24 

What you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.

All about Patrick of Ireland (c.395-c.492)

Because Patrick lived so long ago some of his life remains a mystery to us. For instance, his death is believed to have been on this day in about 492, but the date is controversial.

We do know he was born into a wealthy family in Britain, to a father who was a Christian deacon. We do not have evidence about Patrick being particularly faithful himself as a child.

When he was sixteen, Patrick was captured by a group of Irish raiders and taken back to Ireland as a slave where he remained for the next six years. He worked as a shepherd, living an isolated life, and turned to his family’s faith during this period, becoming very devout. After six years in slavery, he escaped. According to his writings, he ran away after God spoke to him through a dream. Once he was home, he had another dream and an angel told him to go back to Ireland and tell his captors the good news of Jesus.

The Muiredach Cross at Monasterboice in Co. Louth

At this point Patrick began religious studies that lasted fifteen years. Once he was ordained as a priest, he returned to Ireland. Since he was familiar with the language and the culture, Patrick built traditions from Ireland into his lessons about Jesus. He chose not to attack Irish beliefs, but to incorporate certain practices and demonstrate how they were fulfilled in Christ. That’s why he superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol of worship, on the cross to create the Celtic cross. He famously used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the concept of the trinity. Patrick had spectacular success in converting the Irish and a body of stories developed around him and his successful evangelism tactics for centuries following his life.

We have sometimes incorporated lighting a “fire of resistance” into our celebration of Patrick because of this story. It is told that Patrick came to the Hill of Slane in County Meath in an early attempt to convert pagan Ireland to Christianity. On the eve of the Christian feast of Easter in 433, which coincided with the Druid feast of Bealtine (Beal’s fire) and the Spring Equinox, Patrick defiantly lit a bonfire on the Hill of Slane. By doing so, he violated a decree (and an ancient tradition) that no fire should be lit in the vicinity when the great festival fire of Bealtine blazed at the royal seat of power on the nearby Hill of Tara, easily visible from Slane.

The lighting of a fire may seem trivial, but at the time it was equivalent to declaring war on the Druid religious leaders and challenging the power of the High King of Ireland. That small act of starting a fire was a turning point in Patrick’s life and in the history of Ireland.

We remember the courage and love Patrick showed when he returned to those who had stolen his youth, and became their servant, bringing the revelation of Jesus to the Irish people. His life is a testament to listening to God, following dreams, and courageously giving witness to what one receives from the Holy Spirit.

More

Read Patrick’s Confession online!

There are interesting translations of Patrick’s famous prayer: Breastplate.

Here’s a nice little biography suitable for kids, too: link

Patrick’s miracles are recounted by a chatty writer for the Jesuits.

What do we do with this?

Light a fire! Where is your faith being run over or where is it nonexistent? That is a good place to light a fire in some way. You may not be called to be as dramatic as Patrick (but maybe you are!). But what can you do to give people a chance to know Jesus and escape what enslaves them?

Celtic Christianity [a guide from the Northumbria Community] is good at taking individuals seriously while still appreciating how we are all tied into the gift of life from God. Try the “Breastplate” prayer above and see if it helps calm your anxiety and increase your sense of being solid in your own place in Creation and in Eternity.  If its old language does not feel right in your mouth, rewrite it in a way that does. What might you say as your waking prayer each day? When you  are walking into a anxiety-provoking situation, what would you like to remember?

Harriet Tubman — March 10

North America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

 

From H.G. Smith Studio in Boston, Massachusetts, ca. 1887

Bible connection

Read Exodus 3:11-20

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

All about Harriet Tubman (c.1820-1913)

Harriet Tubman, a.k.a. “Moses,” escaped enslavement in Maryland and went to Philadelphia when she was 29 years old. She is justifiably famous for helping others escape and for undermining slavery.

  • She helped her dear friend, John Brown, plan the infamous raid on Harper’s Ferry.
  • She helped plan the Union’s Combahee River raid in 1863, during which 750 slaves escaped.
  • Her 20+ personal expeditions back down south freed at least 70 people, and she never lost a single “passenger” on what became known as the Underground Railroad.

Harriet remained a devout Christian throughout her life. She accomplished much despite never learning to read or write effectively. (She may have had a learning disability stemming from a serious head injury at the hand of her overseer). Her reputation sparked hope among the enslaved peoples of North America and perhaps equal anger among the slaveowners.

She was as irritating to the slaveowners as Moses was to Pharoah. Harriet used “Go Down, Moses” to let slaves know she was there to pick them up. As is true of many of the Negro Spirituals, “Go Down, Moses” had multiple levels of meaning. It was about the liberation story from Exodus; it was about hope for liberation, but it was also about the possibility of Tubman herself coming to liberate, and depending on which verses one sang, it contained advice for escape tactics.

After the end of the Civil War, Tubman settled in Washington, D.C. and participated in the emerging national women’s suffrage movement. In 1911, two years before she died, she attended a meeting of the suffrage club in Geneva, New York, where a white woman asked her: “Do you really believe that women should vote?” Tubman reportedly replied, “I suffered enough to believe it.”

Harriet Tubman quotes:

  • Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
  • I think there’s many a slaveholder’ll get to Heaven. They don’t know better. They acts up to the light they have.
  • As I lay so sick on my bed, from Christmas till March, I was always praying for poor ole master. ‘Pears like I didn’t do nothing but pray for ole master. ‘Oh, Lord, convert ole master;’ ‘Oh, dear Lord, change dat man’s heart, and make him a Christian.’
  • Twasn’t me, ’twas the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust to you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ an’ He always did.

Did you see the movie that came out in 2019?: Harriet.

A short piece from the Smithsonian Channel:

What do we do with this?

Moses was not sure he had the strength to free the people of Israel who had been enslaved in Egypt. Like him, Harriet Tubman relied on the strength of God to accomplish her daring work. Large or small, what are you moved to do that requires God with you to accomplish?

There is a movement to replace Andrew Jackson (slave owner and Native American relocater) with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Joe Biden spoke in favor of this, but he apparently thought it would cause an anti-woke firestorm he did need, so it got put off until 2026. It is likely Tubman might get a kick out of being on a $20 bill; but it is more likely she had deeper resources to draw on for her affirmation. How are you and Jesus discerning what to do with the ongoing issues race causes in the U.S.?

John of God — March 8

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Manuel Gómez-Moreno González. San Juan de Dios salvando a los enfermos de incendio del Hospital Real (1880)

Bible connection

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. — James 1:22-27 NLT

All about John of God (1495-1550)

The Roman Catholic order called the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God opened a spectacular shrine to their founder in Granada, Spain in 1759. It has been called the city’s best kept secret trove of art. It does not reflect the saint who inspired it.

The Portuguese man, Joao Duarte Cidade, has an inspiring life story. He ended up an orphan, became a soldier, then a refugee, and then a printer. He did not have much direction for his life until he was over 40 when he had a vision of Jesus who told him to move to Granada. He moved, and was so overwhelmed by his religious experiences there the townspeople had him committed. A spiritual director helped refine his understanding and then helped him apply his fervor to helping the sick.

John’s personal hospital housed a collection of people he found who had no way to receive care — the crippled, mentally ill, starving, and demented — the same people we still cast off today. Soon people joined him in service, including two notorious enemies he helped reconcile by helping them work side by side, expressing their true selves in acts of love. Before long there was an organized group doing the work which was recognized as an order by the church. It is still active in 53 countries.

John died of pneumonia on his 55 birthday after he unsuccessfully tried to save a man drowning in the cold Genil River. He passed in the house of his benefactor, even though he asked to be left among the poor in his hospital. The Hospitallers now invite pilgrims into the luxurious home, which is a museum.

The picture above does not do justice to the gaudy splendor of the order’s  over-the-top expression of praise for God and John. It is a baroque masterpiece full of art, passion, irony and oddness. For instance, the remains of the saint are in a silver chest which he probably would have cashed in to feed orphans.

On the other hand, the spectacle has always lured unsuspecting tourists at appointed times to watch the chapel take life. The altar leads them through the story the wall tells about salvation and compassion. Parts of it are even mechanized and extend out to make a point! It is all about God’s incarnate love in action.

Part of John’s story includes what people claim were his last words:

There are three things that make me uneasy. The first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own.

The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly.

The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.

More

Wikipedia has a helpful article.

The Hospitaller Order of St. John of God has their definitive bio

The website of the Basilica of St. John of God in Granada Spain

Roman Catholic online school bio:

What do we do with this?

John was in his forties before he did his most profound work. It is never to late to follow what your soul knows is your destiny.

He had a vision. Paul says we should not follow people who are puffed up with their visions and overly abusive of their bodies:

“Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.” (Colossians 2:18)

But Paul was not afraid to follow one of his own, no matter the cost:

“Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:8-10)

How do you sort out Paul’s and John of God’s visions and where does it lead you?