LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

 

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Blessed Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest

Born in 1800, Pusey early showed that he was a brilliant scholar.  He was educated at Eton and then at Christ Church (Oxford), being elected to be a Fellow of Oriel College at the age of 23.  He spent some time in Germany getting to know many of the leading Bible scholars there, as well as studying Hebrew, Arabic, and other Semitic languages.

At the age of 28, Pusey was ordained to the priesthood and appointed to the prestigious posts of Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church (the cathedral of the Oxford diocese), positions he held for the rest of his life.  In 1833, he became one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement which recalled the Church of England to its historic Catholic roots.  As one of the outstanding preachers of his day, he won many to the Faith, but perhaps his most influential sermon was one for which he was condemned without being given any opportunity to speak on his own behalf, and was punished by being suspended from preaching for two years.  The condemnation, however, brought wide attention to the sermon, one which strongly affirmed the Real Presence of Christ in the consecrated Bread and Wine in the Eucharist, and ironically won a far larger audience for that teaching.

After the death of his wife in 1839, Pusey devoted much of his family fortune to the establishment of churches for the poor and in 1845, he founded the first Anglican Community of nuns since the Reformation.  At the age of 82, he died at that community's convent, but his body was brought back to Oxford and buried in the nave of the cathedral.  After his death, his many friends and admirers founded Pusey House, a House of Studies at Oxford which continues to this day.

 

Collect for the Feast of Blessed Edward Bouverie Pusey

Grant, O God, that in all time of our testing we may know your presence and obey your will; that, following the example of your servant Edward Bouverie Pusey, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do, and endure what you giver us to bear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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To learn more about Edward Bouverie Pusey from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, click here.

To learn more about the Oxford Movement from Wikipedia.org, click here.

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:40 PM