BOOK 1. 11. What it is to sin, and to make satisfaction for sin.
Anselm.We must ask how God gets rid of men’s sins, but first what is sin itself means.

Boso. You explain and I will listen.

Anselm. If a man or angel always gave to God what is due to him, he would never sin.

Boso. I cannot deny that.

Anselm. So sin is simply not giving God what we owe.

Boso. What debt do we owe to God?

Anselm. To subject every wish to his will.

Boso. That’s perfectly true.

Anselm. No one who pays this debt commits sin. Everyone who does not pay it does sin. This is the righteousness of the heart, of the will, and it is the sole and complete debt which we owe to God, and which God requires of us. If someone sins, he has to restore what he has taken away, before he can be clear of fault . So then, every one who sins ought to pay back the honor of which he has robbed God. This is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to God.

Boso. This is somewhat alarming, but I cannot make any rational objection to it.

Read it all.

Today is the feast of St Anselm, who died in Canterbury on 21 April 1109, as dawn was breaking on the Wednesday before Easter. An eyewitness recorded his last days, when he hoped to live 'at least until I can settle a question about the origin of the soul' https://t.co/mYxGvNcoK2 pic.twitter.com/VcRASHPSqu

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) April 21, 2026

Almighty God, who didst raise up thy servant Anselm to teach the Church of his day to understand its faith in thine eternal Being, perfect justice, and saving mercy: Provide thy Church in every age with devout and learned scholars and teachers, that we may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today's the feast of St Anselm, 11th Century Italian Benedictine monk and theologian, and Archbishop of Canterbury 1093-1109. Here he is putting Henry I in his place in glass by Moira Forsyth, 1964 in Norwich Cathedral. pic.twitter.com/RdcVcC9Q5L

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) April 21, 2026

O loving God, whose martyr bishop Alphege of Canterbury suffered violent death because he refused to permit a ransom to be extorted from his people: Grant, we pray thee, that all pastors of thy flock may pattern themselves on the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep; through him who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever (moved from yesterday).

19 Apr 1012: St.Alphege (Aelfheah) Archbishop of Canterbury killed by #Vikings at drunken feast at #Greenwich #otd

(image: ClerkofOxford ) pic.twitter.com/bzA03olsO2

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 19, 2024

O gracious Father, who gave Saint Donnan the grace to serve as a faithful witness and capable leader even unto death, grant us the strength to follow his example of persevering witness, through Christ our Lord. who with you and the Holy Spirit ever liveth and reigneth in glory everlasting, Amen.

Apr 17: Feast of Donnán and companions (†617), slain on the Isle of Eigg. The ravaging of Toraighe (Tory Island) and burning of Condairi (Connor, County Antrim) in the same year suggest a sea-borne conflagration afflicting the Hebrides and north coast of Ireland. 📸LJ Cunningham pic.twitter.com/DtjGiY0yoa

— North Ages (@NorthAges) April 17, 2026

O gracious God, who gave Saint Magnus the grace to witness unto his death and to pray for those who were his killers, grant us the courage to follow his example of being a faithful disciple to the end, through Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit ever liveth and reignith in glory everlasting, Amen.

Apr 16: Feast of Magnús († c.1116), earl of Orkney. His cousin Hákon Pálsson had him killed in a feud over the division of lands and power in their joint earldom. Orkneyinga saga says Magnús accepted violent death as a sacrifice, praying for his killers. 📸Hew Morrison pic.twitter.com/bQImf8ByHA

— North Ages (@NorthAges) April 16, 2026

If we belong to Christ, because we have become one with him by faith, then we have died with him to sin and risen with him to newness of life.

The merit of his death and the power of his resurrection have both become ours. And one day our bodies will rise too.

We have already been raised with Christ spiritually from the death of sin; we shall be raised from physical death also and clothed with new, glorious bodies like his.

Thus each stage of our salvation is tied to the resurrection of Christ, our justification, sanctification and glorification, that is, our acceptance before God, our growth in holiness, and our acquisition of new bodies on the Last Day.

In the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead we have the proof of our justification, the power of our sanctification, and the pattern of our glorification. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a vital foundation of the Christian religion. The Christian faith is not only “the faith of Christ crucified,” but “the faith of Christ risen”.

Let me apply this to my readers with some direct questions:

First, are you doubtful about the deity of Jesus? Then do examine the evidence for the resurrection. God raised Jesus from the dead in order to demonstrate the deity of his Person. He was powerfully designated God’s Son by the resurrection.

Are you doubtful about your own salvation? Whether you are accepted before God and your sins forgiven? Then do look at the empty tomb! God raised Jesus from the dead to confirm the efficacy of his sacrifice.

Are you doubtful about the possibility of victory? Then do remember that God raised Jesus from the dead in order to complete your salvation! You need to be convinced that Jesus is alive. If you belong to him, you have risen with him, and in the power of the resurrection you and I can be “more than conquerors”.

Read it all.

Christ is Risen!
Many years to all Orthodox on the Feast of the Holy Resurrection! pic.twitter.com/CrUNJn2yum

— Kyra M. (@_sloveni_) April 12, 2026

So how does this way of thinking relate to Easter — to the Christian story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, marked by so many at this time of the year? While Lewis’s writings show him to have had a good grasp of basic Christian theological themes by 1940, his appreciation of their existential depth seems to have emerged later. His Grief Observed, from 1961, incorporates the suffering of Christ on Good Friday into his reflections on his wife’s slow and lingering death from cancer, leading him to a deeper grasp of the ability of the Christian faith to support people in times of bewilderment and suffering.

In much the same way, Lewis’s later realisation that he himself was dying seems to have prompted a more profound reflection on the meaning of Christ’s resurrection. In some of his letters in the final months of his illness, Lewis spoke of the hope that he had in the face of death. He was, he wrote, “a seed waiting in the good earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking.”

Many of Lewis’s fans will make the pilgrimage to Holy Trinity church and stand silently by his graveside. Yet while Lewis’s gravestone might speak of our shared mortality, his works and his witness point to something more profound — hope in a greater reality and a better realm, whose door has been thrown open by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Read it all.

Good morning ☀️ Happy Easter
The Resurrection, Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), 1457-1459 (most sources state 1459), oil on canvas, 71.1 × W. 94 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours pic.twitter.com/XiRjVDVSTc

— SaintsandScripture (@Saint_of_theDay) April 20, 2025

When I see blossoms spring,
And hear the birds’ song,
A sweet love-longing
My heart through-stung, [pierces]
All for a love new
That is so sweet and true,
That gladdens all my song:
I know in truth, iwis,
My joy and all my bliss
On him is all ylong. [is all because of him]

Of Jesu Christ I sing,
Who is so fair and free, [noble]
Sweetest of all thing;
His own ought I well to be.
So far for me he sought,
With suffering he me bought,
With wounds two and three;
Well sore he was swung,
And for me with spear was stung,
Nailed to the tree….

Read it all.

'When I see blosmes springe,
And hear foules song,
A swete love-longynge
Myn herte thourhout stong,
Al for a love newe
That is so swete and trewe,
That gladieth al my song…'

A medieval springtime poem for Eastertide https://t.co/lXKwvyuXB1 pic.twitter.com/Kxkirwbbre

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) April 1, 2024

For then he opened their vnderstanding, that they might perceiue the Scriptures, and sayd vnto them: Thus it is written, and thus it behooued Christ to suffer, and to rise from death the third day, and that there should be preached openly in his name pardon and remission of sinnes to all the Nations of the world (Luke 24.45-47). Yee see (good Christian people) how necessary this Article of our faith is, seeing it was prooued of Christ himselfe by such euident reasons and tokens, by so long time and space. Now therefore as our Sauiour was diligent for our comfort and instruction to declare it: so let vs be as ready in our beliefe to receiue it to our comfort and instruction. As he died not for himselfe, no more did he rise againe for himselfe. He was dead (sayth Saint Paul) for our sinnes, and rose againe for our iustification (1 Corinthians 15.3-4). O most comfortable word, euermore to be borne in remembrance. He died (saith he) to put away sinne, hee rose againe to endow vs with righteousnesse. His death tooke away sinne and malediction, his death was the ransome of them both, his death destroyed death, and ouercame the deuill, which had the power of death in his subiection, his death destroyed hell, with all the damnation thereof. Thus is death swallowed vp by Christs victory, thus is hell spoyled for euer.

Read it all.

Happy #Easter! Commemorating the Resurrection of Christ after his Crucifixion on Good Friday, Easter is one of the most important Christian holidays. This dynamic drawing by Rubens from 1614 shows Jesus rising from the tomb pic.twitter.com/0XiN1fMvFI

— British Museum (@britishmuseum) April 1, 2018

O Heavenly Father, who gave Saint Guinoch the grace to serve as a wise counselor and the strength to seek Your aid in times of conflict, May we, like him, find our victory not in our own power, but through your Holy Spirit’s gift of steadfast prayer and trust in Your divine will. Help us to overcome the obstacles before us this day and lead us into the peace of Your kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. who with you and the Holy Spirit ever liveth and reignith in glory everlasting, Amen.

Apr 13: Feast of Guinoch (†838), Scottish saint especially honoured in Buchan, and believed to have been a counsellor of Cinaed (I) son of Alpín (†858), king of the Picts. pic.twitter.com/cOkQUcC7jW

— North Ages (@NorthAges) April 13, 2026

Almighty and everlasting God, we thank thee for thy servant George Augustus Selwyn, whom thou didst call to preach the Gospel to the peoples of New Zealand and Melanesia, and to lay a firm foundation for the growth of thy Church in many nations. Raise up, we beseech thee, in this and every land evangelists and heralds of thy kingdom, that thy Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Died #OTD in 1878: George Augustus Selwyn, 1st Bishop of New Zealand https://t.co/DX3L3ZYTeg

Selwyn was the 1st Bishop of New Zealand (1841-68) before being appointed Bishop of Lichfield on his return to England. Selwyn College Cambridge, est. in his memory, opened in Oct 1882. pic.twitter.com/VkpyA574LM

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 11, 2023

Almighty and everlasting God,
who didst grant to Your servant Berchán
the spirit of wisdom and monastic devotion,
grant that we, like him,
may live in service to others
and keep our hearts fixed on the kingdom of heaven.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Apr 10: Feast of Berchán of Eigg, one of the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides. 📸LJ Cunningham pic.twitter.com/barKVQbLEa

— North Ages (@NorthAges) April 10, 2026

[Easter]…is the proclamation of a war already won. The war is at an end–even though here and there troops are still shooting, because they have not heard anything yet about the capitulation. The game is won, even though the player can still play a few further moves. Actually he is already mated. The clock has run down, even though the pendulum still swings a few times this way and that. It is in this interim space that we are living: the old is past, behold it has all become new. The Easter message tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse and death, are beaten. Ultimately they can no longer start mischief. They still behave as though the game were not decided, the battle not fought; we must still reckon with them, but fundamentally we must cease to fear them anymore. If you have heard the Easter message, you can no longer run around with a tragic face and lead the humourless existence of a man who has no hope. One thing still holds, and only this one thing is really serious, that Jesus is the Victor. A seriousness that would look back past this, like Lot’s wife, is not Christian seriousness. It may be burning behind–and truly it is burning–but we have to look, not at it, but at the other fact, that we are invited and summoned to take seriously the victory of God’s glory in this man Jesus and to be joyful in Him. Then we may live in thankfulness and not in fear.

–Karl Barth Dogmatics in Outline (New York: Harper and Row, 1959), p. 123

Happy Easter!

(Doubting Thomas by Rembrandt) pic.twitter.com/tj6P0tIwyi

— Brant Law (@Mr_BLaw) April 9, 2023

Creator of light, we offer thanks for thy priest Henry Budd, who carried the great treasure of Scripture to his people the Cree nation, earning their trust and love. Grant that his example may call us to reverence, orderliness and love, that we may give thee glory in word and action; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen (moved from last Thursday).

Henry Budd, remarkable Métis teacher + first Aboriginal Anglican minister http://t.co/cNylyidA9n pic.twitter.com/NKf1FYX271

— Paul Smith (@Otipemisiwak) April 14, 2015

The day of resurrection!
Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness,
The Passover of God.
From death to life eternal,
From earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over,
With hymns of victory.

Our hearts be pure from evil,
That we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal
Of resurrection light;
And list’ning to His accents,
May hear, so calm and plain,
His own “All hail!” and, hearing,
May raise the victor strain.

Now let the heav’ns be joyful!
Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph,
And all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen
Their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen,
Our joy that hath no end.

–John of Damascus

Easter Monday

Christ showed His two disciples how His passion was prefigured in various ways; He was sold like Joseph, His scourging by Joseph's blood-stained coat, His crown of thorns by the ram in the briers, His bearing the Cross by Isaac carrying the wood to his sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/LcxuVI42A9

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) April 5, 2026

God of justice and truth, let not thy Church close its eyes to the plight of the poor and neglected, the homeless and destitute, the old and the sick, the lonely and those who have none to care for them. Give us that vision and compassion with which thou didst so richly endow William Augustus Muhlenberg and Anne Ayers, that we may labor tirelessly to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Died #OTD in 1877: William Augustus Muhlenberg, also commemorated in the Episcopal lectionary https://t.co/NDYR3rMKMI

From a distinguished German Lutheran family, he was an Episcopal priest & early Social Gospel exponent, and is considered the father of church schools in the US pic.twitter.com/LN1pnHhQMN

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 8, 2021

Now. Christian, change thy note a moment. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay,” with joy and gladness. He does not lie there now. Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but his divinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! he hath burst the bonds of death; he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath his feet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there — he is risen. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

Read it all.

Easter Sunday

"O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns." – St. John Chrysostom pic.twitter.com/AnTEP951Rm

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) April 5, 2026

If I had a Son in Court, or married a daughter into a plentifull Fortune, I were satisfied for that son or that daughter. Shall I not be so, when the King of Heaven hath taken that sone to himselfe, and married himselfe to that daughter, for ever? I spend none of my Faith, I exercise none of my Hope, in this, that I shall have my dead raised to life againe. This is the faith that sustains me, when I lose by the death of others, and we, are now all in one Church, and at the resurrection, shall be all in one Quire.

–John Donne (1572-1631) [my emphasis]

Happy easter everyone…

Caravaggio pic.twitter.com/zvEWthyHY5

— Ahmet Duran Hergün (@AhmetDuranHergn) April 5, 2026

Holy God, holy and mighty, who hast called us together into one communion and fellowship: Open our eyes, we pray thee, as you opened the eyes of thy servant Tikhon, that we may see the faithfulness of others as we strive to be steadfast in the faith delivered unto us, that the world may see and know Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be glory and praise unto ages of ages. Amen.

Today we commemorate Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, Enlightener of North America

Read the account: https://t.co/DlyJyMMjXy

More saints commemorated today: https://t.co/pu5iqBFru6

Music downloads & other resources: https://t.co/Kr2umoteTU #saints #feastsandsaints pic.twitter.com/uMYRfigoew

— Orthodox Church OCA (@ocaorg) April 7, 2026

From there:

MOST glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!

And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same againe;
And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
With love may one another entertayne!
So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought.

The Holy Women at the Empty Tomb greeted by an Angel:

"Quid quaeritis viventem cum mortuis?"

BL Lansdowne 383; the 'Shaftesbury Psalter'; England; 12th century; f.13r @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/Zx4j0KnDDx

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 6, 2026

Teach thy Church, O Lord, we beseech thee, to value and support pioneering and courageous missionaries, whom thou callest, as thou didst thy servant James Lloyd Breck, to preach and teach, and plant thy Church in new regions; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever (moved from Friday).

Today the Episcopal Church celebrates James Lloyd Breck, Priest, 1876 https://t.co/DhExxD2sbf

Inspired by the Oxford Movement, Breck served as a missionary priest in the newly opened territories of America's West, founding Nashotah House & Seabury Divinity School pic.twitter.com/Cuta3W2dpR

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 2, 2022

This day, when my Soules forme bends toward the East.
There I should see a Sunne, by rising set,
And by that setting endlesse day beget;
But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall,
Sinne had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare I’almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for mee.
Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye;
What a death were it then to see God dye?
It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke,
It made his footstoole crack, and the Sunne winke.
Could I behold those hands which span the Poles,
And tune all spheares at once peirc’d with those holes?
Could I behold that endlesse height which is
Zenith to us, and our Antipodes,
Humbled below us? or that blood which is
The seat of all our Soules, if not of his,
Made durt of dust, or that flesh which was worne
By God, for his apparell, rag’d, and torne?

Read it all.

'Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing''
Luke 23: 34#GoodFriday pic.twitter.com/Udz7vgYqvS

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) April 3, 2026

Almighty God, who hast restored our human nature to heavenly glory through the perfect obedience of our Savior Jesus Christ: Keep alive in thy Church, we beseech thee, a passion for justice and truth; that we, like thy servant Federick Denison Maurice, may work and pray for the triumph of the kingdom of thy Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

'It is impossible to follow the track of any great moral question without entering into the region of pure Metaphysics.'
– F. D. Maurice, 1845 pic.twitter.com/DXEyQWeOpt

— Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes (@PeterSjostedtH) January 20, 2026

These poems speak, as [Philip] Yancey says, to “the guilt and fear and helpless faith that marked [Donne’s] darkest days.” They also answer one of the toughest questions we can face, “In the midst of plague times, how can we give thanks?”

Here are the three poems excerpted by Yancey, with his clarifying revisions of Donne’s eighteenth-century language…

Read it all.

25 Nov 1625: exiled in #Chelsea due to plague, John Donne reports #otd he has written out 80 of his sermons (NPG) #lockdown pic.twitter.com/cob4YrgVSo

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) November 25, 2025

Almighty God, the root and fountain of all being: Open our eyes to see, with thy servant John Donne, that whatsoever hath any being is a mirror in which we may behold thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

“Then, as my soul to heaven, her first seat, takes flight,
And earth-born body in the earth shall dwell,
So fall my sins, that all may have their right,
To where they’are bred, and would press me, to hell…”
John Donne, died 31 March 1631#johndonne #poem pic.twitter.com/quP2lXIVW3

— Peter Parker (@PParkerWriting) March 31, 2026

The master of the asses asked them why they untied his asses, and in the same way the chief men of every people perversely opposed the preaching of God. But when they saw that the preachers, through God’s power, healed the lame and the blind, and gave speech to the dumb, and raised the dead to life, then they could not withstand those miracles, but all at last turned to God. Christ’s disciples said, “The Lord needs the asses, and sends for them.” They did not say ‘our Lord’, or ‘your Lord’, but simply, ‘the Lord’; for Christ is Lord of all lords, both of men and of all creatures. They said, “He sends for them.” We are exhorted and invited to God’s kingdom, but we are not forced. When we are invited, we are untied; and when we are left to our own choice, then is it as though we are sent for. It is God’s mercy that we are untied; but if we live rightly, that will be both God’s grace and our own zeal. We should constantly pray for the Lord’s help, since our own choices have no success unless they are supported by the Almighty.

Christ did not command them to lead to him a proud steed adorned with golden trappings; instead he chose a poor ass to bear him, because he always taught humility, and gave the example himself, saying “Learn from me, for I am meek and very humble, and you shall find rest for your souls.” This was prophesied of Christ, and so were all the things which he did before he was born as man…

Read it all.

'It is the custom in God's church, established by its teachers, that everywhere the priest should bless palm-branches on this day, and distribute them, thus blessed, to the people.'

An Anglo-Saxon sermon for Palm Sunday ('Palmsunnandæg' in Old English): https://t.co/h4hm9Y5pdw pic.twitter.com/jZ3mdTx73l

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) March 29, 2026

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know thy presence and obey thy will; that, following the example of thy servant John Keble, we may accomplish with integrity and courage that which thou givest us to do, and endure that which thou givest us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Did you know that John Keble was only the second person to ever obtain a double first (in 1810 in Latin and Mathematics) from the University of Oxford? (The first was Robert Peel who later went on to become Prime Minister) #Keble150 #KebleArchives pic.twitter.com/oJvz2cav3W

— Keble College, Oxford (@KebleOxford) April 25, 2020

In 1891, a 29-year-old Charles Henry Brent was appointed assistant minister at St. Stephens Episcopal church in Boston. It was a previously abandoned church in the poor south end, and Brent would be serving in second place. He was initially disappointed. The young man, born in Newcastle, Ontario, was pegged from an early age as an overachiever in academics and athletics. He was a talented musician, having served his previous parish as both priest and organist. He once considered becoming a musician but felt a calling to the ministry From an early age. He wrote that he had to ask himself these questions: “What will you do with a quiet and hidden post?” and “How will you deal with second place?”

Little did he know that at the end of his life, he would be feted around the world. The day of his death- this, the 27th of March would be dedicated to him by the Episcopal church, and his monument in Lausanne where he was buried read:

• Bishop of the Philippine Islands
• Bishop of Western New York
• A Servant of God
• A Friend of Humanity
• An Apostle of Christian Unity
• Chief of Chaplains, American Expeditionary Forces
• President, First World Conference on Faith and Order.

 At that formerly abandoned church on the south end of Boston the young priest was a missionary to the poor who had little interest in church. And so he sat with them on their porch steps, played music with them and became a trusted white face amongst a minority population.

Perhaps his success at that “quiet and hidden post” was what led to the surprise telegram he received in 1901, in which he was elected the first Bishop of the Philippine Islands, recently ceded from the Spanish to the Americans. He would gain a reputation as an effective missionary and pacifier amidst hostilities between locals and Westerners. This earned him the respect of William Howard Taft (recently made governor of the Philippines) and General John J. Pershing.

As a missionary, he became known for 1. Not competing with the Roman Catholic workers, and 2. For arguing that one shouldn’t “beat down every religion he meets in order to substitute Christianity” but rather “turn to the beauty of native religions” and lift them into the “fulfilling religion of Christianity.”

Read it all.

#OTD March 27, 1929
Death in Lausanne, Switzerland, of Charles Henry Brent, an Episcopal priest active in the ecumenical movement. Two years before his death, he had presided over the 1927 World Conference on Faith and Order, in Lausanne, Switzerland. pic.twitter.com/NgUT4qgI34

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) March 27, 2022

Heavenly Father, whose Son did pray that we all might be one: deliver us, we beseech thee, from arrogance and prejudice, and give us wisdom and forbearance, that, following thy servant Charles Henry Brent, we may be united in one family with all who confess the Name of thy Son Jesus Christ: who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Commemoration of Charles Henry Brent (1862 – 1929). He was the Episcopal Church's first Missionary Bishop of the Philippine Islands; Chaplain General of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I; and Bishop of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Western New York. pic.twitter.com/K0nJSYCFYL

— Margery Kempe's Chivalric Prayer Fellowship ✝️ (@MKCPFellowship) March 27, 2025

Loving God, who hast made us all thy children by adoption in Jesus Christ: May we, following the example of thy servant Richard Allen, proclaim liberty to all who are enslaved and captive in this world; through Jesus Christ, Savior of all, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

#OTD February 14, 1760
Richard Allen, the first black man ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church (1799), and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816, was born in slavery in Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/NdyqrDiWNT

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) February 14, 2023