This Week's Feast Days

Robert Grosseteste, [circa 1168–1253]



One of the greatest intellects produced by our tradition, Grosseteste, who was the Bishop of Lincoln in what was the "English Church" [that is, the Church of Rome in England, the forerunner of the  Church of England], was a talented theologian, philosopher, and scientist.  As a bishop, he was also an able and active leader, pastor, and administrator.  Oh, for a bishop these days who is any of just one of those things.

Here's a portion of his biography from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, no less:

"...one of the most prominent and remarkable figures in thirteenth-century English intellectual life. He was a man of many talents: commentator and translator of Aristotle and Greek patristic thinkers, philosopher, theologian, and student of nature. He was heavily influenced by Augustine, whose thought permeates his writings and from whom he drew a Neoplatonic outlook. But he was also one of the first to make extensive use of the thought of Aristotle, Avicenna and Averroes. He developed a highly original and imaginative account of the generation and fundamental nature of the physical world in terms of the action of light, and composed a number of short works regarding optics and other natural phenomena, as well as works of philosophy and theology. As bishop, he was an important figure in English ecclesiastical life, focusing his energies on rooting out abuses of the pastoral care, which in later life he traced to the papacy itself. He made a powerful impression on his contemporaries and subsequent thinkers at Oxford, and has been hailed as an inspiration to scientific developments in fourteenth-century Oxford.

O God, our heavenly Father, who raised up your faithful servant Robert Grosseteste to be a bishop and pastor in your Church and to feed your flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of your Holy Spirit, that they may minister in your household as true servants of Christ and stewards of your divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Vita Dutton Scudder, [1861-1954]

To be honest, I don't really know what recommends Scudder to the calendar as she seems a rather ordinary member of the Episcopal Church's gentry. She was certainly of an academic intelligence, as she was educated at Smith College and Oxford; she spent her teaching career in the English department at Wellesley College. She was an Episcopalian.

Scudder was gay, or at least we are told so, although the notion of socially active gay women in Boston was a cliché even by the late 19th century. She was an avowed Socialist with an affection for Karl Marx, espoused pacifism, was pained by her class consciousness and attempted to atone for being privileged by working on behalf of what her educated, wealthy world regarded as the "underclass".

She lived a long life filled with comfort. I'm guessing that, as with many recent additions to the lesser feast calendar, she serves to represent a political demographic in the Episcopal Church. Certainly, privileged white people who favor socialism and suffer from cultural oikophobia make up about half of those with whom I've worked over the last thirty years, so she does have some representation.

I find her collect below somewhat bland, as if its author also didn't really know why she was included on a calendar of martyrs, high achievers, literary artists, church musicians, scientists, or cultural forerunners. Perhaps, one bright and shining day, one of those members of the "underclass" will be given a calendar date. Am I a dreamer or what?

Most gracious God, you sent your beloved Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Raise up in your Church witnesses who, after the example of your servant Vida Dutton Scudder, stand firm in proclaiming the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[It's always been interesting to me that the Episcopal Church is so remarkably faux populist that it not only hesistates to include the "underclass" on the calendar, at least among those who, like Scudder, were of ordinary acheivement, but the Church also would never consider giving J. P. Morgan, the Gilded Age millionaire and Episcopalian, a date on the calendar, despite the fact that he created the Church Pension Fund; an organization that greatly benefits each and every ordained person the Church.  Apparently, there is an area between too little and too much money that serves as the well from which to draw the honorees.]