LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

 

Home
Up

 

Blessed John Mason Neale, Priest

Blessed John Mason Neale was one of the great priests of the 19th century Church of England. Born in London in 1818, he was ordained in 1842. Despite poor health, he was a prolific writer and creative poet, translating many Latin and Greek hymns into effective English. A contemporary described Neale as having “gentleness combined with firmness, good humor, modesty, patience and devotion, but especially unbounded charity toward others.”

Although he had been appointed Vicar of the parish in Crawley, Sussex, ill health prevented his assuming that post and for three years he struggled to regain sufficient strength to function as a priest. Finally, in 1846, he became Warden of Sackville College, a ministry he carried on for twenty years until his early death at the age of 46. In 1854, he founded the Sisterhood of Saint Margaret, a religious order for women based on the rules of St. Francis de Sales for the Visitation nuns, and St. Vincent de Paul’s Sisters of Charity. The Sisterhood of Saint Margaret (SSM) grew to be one of the leading religious communities in the Church of England. It also has houses in the United States and in Haiti. When the famous Children’s Hospital of Boston, Massachusetts was established, it was nuns from the SSM who were brought to the America to run and staff that institution.

Though he never received preferment in England, his great contributions were honored both in the United States and in Russia. He died on the Feast of the Transfiguration, leaving a lasting mark on Anglican worship. His Feast Day is August 7th. Among his most widely used and loved devotional poetry are “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” sung almost everywhere on Palm Sunday, “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle” used at the climactic point of the Good Friday liturgy, and “Jerusalem the Golden.”

 

COLLECT FOR THE FEAST OF BLESSED JOHN MASON NEALE
 

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 John Mason Neale, and aided by his prayers, we may with integrity and courage accomplish what you give us to do, and endure what you give us to bear, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
 

[Compiled by A.T.K.Z. from several sources]

--------------

To learn more about the Blessed John Mason Neale from Wikipedia.org, click here.

 


 

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