LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Blessed Charles Henry Brent, Bishop

Charles Henry Brent was born in Canada in 1862. Educated and Ordained to the Priesthood in that country, he came to the United States where, at the age of 39, he was chosen by the House of Bishops to become the Missionary Bishop of the Philippines. He began a crusade against the opium traffic, represented the United States on the League of Nations Narcotics Committee, and was active in ecumenical matters, particularly with the Philippine Independent Church, eventually leading to full intercommunion with that Church, a relationship which continues to this day. After seventeen years as Bishop of the Philippines, he was elected to be Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York where he served for eleven years until his death in 1929.

Bishop Brent was the outstanding figure of the Episcopal Church on the world scene for two decades. He led the Episcopal Church in the movement which culminated in the first World Conference on Faith and Order. He has been described as “a saint of disciplined mental vigor, one whom soldiers were proud to salute and with whom children were happy to play, who could dominate a parliament and minister to an invalid…a priest and bishop who gloried in the heritage of his Church, yet who stood among all Christians as one who served…he was everywhere an ambassador of Christ.” Bishop Brent, who is portrayed in a stained glass window in Saint James Church, Hendersonville, was very much a man of prayer. One of his prayers for the mission of the Church is found in the Book of Common Prayer (p. 101) “Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross…” from Lesser Feasts and Fasts

[A personal note: Bishop Brent was the mentor of Father S. Whitney Hale who was my mentor, and so, Bishop Brent is someone for whom I have a special veneration. A.T.K.Z.+]

A Collect for the Feast of Blessed Charles Henry Brent + March 27

Heavenly Father, whose Son prayed that we might all be one: Deliver us from arrogance and prejudice, and give us wisdom and forbearance, that, following your servant Charles Henry Brent, and aided by his prayers, we may be united in one family with all who confess the Name of your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

ATKZ+

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To learn more about Blessed Charles Henry Brent from the website of the Brent International School which he founded in the Philippines, click here.

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