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: \u201cWhat will you do with a quiet and hidden post?\u201d and \u201cHow will you deal with second place?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps his success at that \u201cquiet and hidden post\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a missionary, he became known for 1. Not competing with the Roman Catholic workers, and 2. For arguing that one shouldn\u2019t \u201cbeat down every religion he meets in order to substitute Christianity\u201d but rather \u201cturn to the beauty of native religions\u201d and lift them into the \u201cfulfilling religion of Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> #OTD<\/a> 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<\/a><\/p>— \u2627 Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) March 27, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>