In what seems to be shaping up as the Year of the Martyr, today's pairing involves not a whit of martyrdom. The first bishop of the Episcopal Church faces a 7th- century monastic leader and both died of natural causes!
Yesterday, in a most lopsided match-up, Oscar Romero made quick work of Elizabeth Ann Seton defeating her 68% to 32% with nearly 4,500 votes cast. Interestingly the comments were split fairly evenly between the two even if the votes were not.
Many of you, especially those new to Lent Madness (welcome aboard the SS Madness!), have asked how the official bracket is formulated. In this brief video filmed last Eastertide, Scott and Tim give you a peek behind the purple curtain of Lent Madness. You might be surprised at the "scientific/holy" methods used to create our special blend of saintly absurdity.
Samuel Seabury
Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729 – February 25, 1796) was the First Bishop of The Episcopal Church, consecrated as the Bishop of Connecticut on November 14, 1784.
Seabury was born in Groton, Connecticut in 1729. He attended Yale College, and studied theology with his father. From a young age, he had felt a call to ordained ministry; however, canonical age restrictions prevented his ordination following his university studies. To pass the time, Seabury moved to Scotland, where he studied medicine in Edinburgh. In 1753, at age 24, he was ordained as a priest.
Seabury returned to the United States, where he served as rector of several parishes from 1754 onward. It was during his time as Rector of St. Peter’s, Westchester (now the Bronx), that the American Revolution erupted. Seabury proved himself a staunch defender of the crown, writing several tracts under the pen name of “A. W. Farmer” (an exceptionally uncreative acronym for “A Westchester Farmer”). In 1775, Seabury was arrested and imprisoned by local Patriots. During this period, Seabury’s family was beaten, his possessions ransacked – and his wife ultimately died. Seabury faced the possibility of exile in England.
In March, 1783, ten Episcopal clergymen, meeting in Woodbury, Connecticut, elected Seabury as their second choice to be Bishop. When the first choice declined, Seabury sailed to London in July of that year to be consecrated bishop. But after a year of negotiation, Seabury was unable to obtain episcopal orders from the Church of England, since, as an American citizen, he could not give the canonically required oath of allegiance to the King. Seabury turned to Scotland, whose non-juring bishops did not require an oath of allegiance. In return for reception of episcopal orders from the Scottish Church, Seabury signed a concordat agreeing to incorporate elements of the Scottish Eucharistic Liturgy – most notably the invocation of the Holy Spirit (or epiclesis) – into the new American Liturgy. In November, 1784, he was consecrated bishop. Seabury’s consecration as bishop by the Scottish church ultimately spooked the English Parliament enough to make provision for the consecration of foreign bishops: in 1786, William White and Samuel Provoost would ultimately receive their episcopal orders from the Church of England. Seabury returned to New London, Connecticut, where he served as Rector of St. James Church, and Bishop of Connecticut; in 1789, his ordination was recognized by the first General Convention of the Episcopal Church; in 1792, he joined in the first ordination to the Episcopate on American soil when he, White, and Provoost ordained John Claggett of Maryland.
Seabury was ahead of his time in many of his liturgical persuasions – some of which made him a polarizing figure within the church of his day. Today, the innovations don’t seem quite as controversial and instead ahead of their time: Seabury advocated for weekly celebrations of the Holy Communion and was among the first post-Reformation bishops to wear a mitre.
Seabury died in February, 1796, and is buried at St. James Church, New London, Connecticut.
Collect for the Consecration of Samuel Seabury
We give you thanks, O Lord our God, for your goodness in bestowing upon this Church the gift of the episcopate, which we celebrate in this remembrance of the consecration of Samuel Seabury; and we pray that, joined together in unity with our bishops, and nourished by your holy Sacraments, we may proclaim the Gospel of redemption with apostolic zeal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
-- David Sibley
Hilda of Whitby
Hilda was born into nobility, the grandniece of King Edwin, and was baptized on Easter Day in 627 with the entire noble court of the King. We know almost nothing about the first half of her life. Presumably she did not marry, and after King Edwin was killed in battle, she went to live with her sister in East Anglia. She then planned to join her widowed sister in a convent in Chelles in Gaul, but Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne changed her plans, as bishops tend to do. He asked her to settle in Northumbria to be part of a monastic community there. With her companions in this monastery, she lived in the Celtic Christian tradition Aidan brought from Iona. A year later, Aidan asked Hilda to found a double monastery (which accepted both women and men) in Hartlepool. After several years there, Aidan again asked Hilda to take her monastic show on the road and establish a monastery in Whitby in 657. It, too, was a double monastery where men and women prayed, served, and learned together in community.
The Venerable Bede writes of Hilda that she established a regular life in Whitby and “taught the obedience of righteousness, mercy, purity, and other virtues, but especially peace and charity. After the example of the primitive Church, no one there was rich, no one was needy, for everything was held in common and nothing was considered to be anyone’s personal property.” Hilda was called “mother” by all who knew her.
Hilda was an early spiritual director and diplomat. Common people as well as kings and others in power came to her for advice in their spiritual challenges and questions of life. She would have eschewed the title (because she was a big fan of humility and equality) but she was most certainly a Cardinal Mother. Her monastery at Whitby produced five bishops and Caedmon, an early English holy poet who wrote in (shockingly enough) vernacular English, a first in literature of the day. Because of Hilda’s support and encouragement of his poetry and education, she is also called a mother of English literature.
As if being a Cardinal Mother, the founder of several successful monasteries, and the mother of English literature wasn’t enough, Hilda’s denouement in her life of faith occurred at the Synod of Whitby. The male leaders of the day got together to decide (argue) whether the Church in England would follow Aidan’s Celtic Christian lead or fall in line with the more Roman expression of Christianity. The big controversy between the two was not women’s ordination or the full inclusion of lesbians or gays, or the use of incense, but the date of Easter (I know, clutch your pearls). Hilda favored the Celtic tradition, but when the Synod decided to follow the Roman tradition, she spoke passionately and as one with authority that she would be obedient to the Synod’s decision and expected others to do the same.
She died in 680, surrounded by those who called her monastery home. Her last words were not of church power or ecclesiastical wealth, but of faithfully following a Gospel of love and peace. Always.
Collect for Hilda of Whitby
O God of peace, by whose grace the abbess Hilda was endowed with gifts of justice, prudence, and strength to rule as a wise mother over the nuns and monks of her household, and to become a trusted and reconciling friend to leaders of the Church: Give us the grace to recognize and accept the varied gifts you bestow on men and women, that our common life may be enriched and your gracious will be done; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
-- Laurie Brock
Vote!
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169 comments on “Samuel Seabury vs. Hilda of Whitby”
Co-ed, co-op monastery or bringing Heaven down to Earth? I may have to sit this one out. (But the process forced me to look up "epiclesis", for which I am thankful.)
OK, so I just went for the underdog. Besides, our rector is thoughtfully and carefully creative with liturgy, not unlike Bp. Sam.
The imbalance of votes doesn't really reflect the respect both these people deserve. I voted Hilda anyway.
I live in Connecticut, and Seabury has the home court advantage here, but I spent many years living in St. Hilda's House, New York City, and working at St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School. Got to go with Hilda.
Yes! . . . and may she win the Golden Halo!
Couldn't vote for the man who styled himself "the Bishop of all America." Go Hilda!
It's no contest - When you can start 5 bishops and bring the first English language poet and multiple communities off the bench, and know when to stop fouling and let the game end without drawing an ecclesiastical technical, you are going to win most of your games by an overwhelming margin. Hilda, you are the Phil Jackson of your day, and had your piety allowed it, would have been wearing championship rings on all your fingers!
I admire Seabury tremendously (without him we might all be Unitatirans in fancy dress!) and I am proud to be descended from Connecticut clergy and early New London residents, AND Seabury often has gotten an undeserved bad rap (read Paul Marshall's "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic"). But my heart says vote for Hilda. She was a wonderful leader and irenic figure. Besides, my grandmother's name was Hilda, and her father always claimed there was some family connection to Hilda of Whitby...but how would one know?
You are an Episcopal and a senior seminarian. You are sitting in a room with important people who are asking you important questions. You know you really need to get one last question correct. Which of these two questions do you hope they ask you:
1. Who was the first bishop in the Episcopal Church?
OR
2. Who is the mother of modern English literature?
You are an Episcopalian, a senior seminarian. You are sitting in a room with important people who are asking you important questions. You know you really need to answer one last question correctly. Which of these two questions do you hope they ask you:
1. Who was the first bishop in the Episcopal Church?
OR
2. Who is the mother of modern English literature?
Well, now that we've played Lent Madness, bring it on! Of course, that doesn't mean that the "important" people will allow you to go to seminary in the first place!
I was sure I was going to vote for my ancestor, Samuel Seabury, the more so because I first joined the Episcopal Church as a member of parish that considered itself to follow the Scottish tradition. But Hilda, as both spiritual mother and a mother of English literature, not to mention an adherent to the Celtic tradition, wins my vote today.
Why cant I vote from my email?
Wow, this is a hard one. I spent a week in Whitby in 2011 and St. Hilda is still important there. I also come from Norwalk, CT, where the communion table where Samuel S. presided over the Eucharist is preserved in the side aisle. Both these people did a lot and had really interesting lives. I will be an irresponsible voter and flip a coin. LOL!
Which way did you vote? Hope you didn't ruin my theory that anyone that has been to Whitby is voting for Hilda 😉
Samuel Seabury is one of the main people we have to thank for the existence of the
Episcopal Church in the USA. After the Revolution, Anglicanism in this country was
in real danger of disappearing altogether. In spite of the fact that Seabury had been
a Loyalist (and had suffered for it) he didn't flee to Canada or England. Many other
Loyalists had done so, but for the sake of the Church he chose to remain in this country(not an easy option, since everyone knew he had been a Tory). He accepted
the new government and when he went to England seeking episcopal consecration,
he refused to swear allegiance to the King. By God's grace he obtained the episcopacy
through the Scottish Church and brought it home to us. Episcopacy was vital for our
survival, and by providing it Seabury is one of the saviors of Anglicanism in this
country. Whatever grandiose personal ambitions he may have had, he was a good
son of the Church and a faithful servant of God.
I didn't read all that much particularly redeeming about Seabury other than that he was the first Episcopal bishop (and not even the first choice for that), whereas Hilda was a woman providing strong leadership in a time when women were rarely able to do that, all the while retaining her humility. Plus Laurie Brock had the good little snark in there at bishops in general. Hilda all the way.
The 6th and 7th grades voted for Hilda, with only 3 votes for Bp. Seabury. So, I have cast our collective vote for Mother Hild of Whitby.
Late-comer to the fun. Thanks!
There once was an Abbess named Hild
With her grace all of Whitby was filled
Tho' a Celtic Church staple,
She caved and went Papal
Yet we still clutch her Bede's and are thrilled.
Another fine piece of literature, courtesy of Hild.
Got any more?
Thanks!
Good Ol' Sam may have been the second choice for the first Episcopal Bishop, and he may have had to set aside his Tory ways for the advancement of the faith but bottom line is at our parish level our priest presented info on Seabury last night and I presented on Hilda. LOVE Hilda but it is more about her advancing to the second round so my rector doesn't!
I am clutching my pearls! GO HILDA!!!
My great-grandfather was baptized in the church of St. Hilda in Hartlepool, so I feel an affinity for St. Hilda. She gets my vote.
But did the Venerable Bead clutch his pearls?
I understand Seabury donned the headgear for clout in theological debates. "Sam, you have a point there."
Hmm... epiclesis vs. love and peace... Oh, well, Sam already has a publishing house. I'll vote in honor of Caedmon! (After all, didn't he go on to make chocolate bars?)
I do believe you're thinking of Cadbury, maker of those lovely chocolate Easter eggs.
I votred for Hild but am grateful to the Seaburites for broadening my appreciation for his fi8nding a way to get a bishp in the new country and the Scotish connection and their take on the eucharist.
Thank you for the biographies. I didn't know much about either one. I admire Hilda's example more than that of Seabury.
This was again a tough choice. I'm grateful for the lives of both. Seabury was of the highest integrity and his time in Scotland is reflected in the independence of his thinking. He had great influence over the form of our BCP but also in maintaining that it should be a living documentation and should (must) change to reflect the spiritual growth we were expected to have as we the Church grew in the liberation, through the Spirit, by Via Media. I also am grateful for his leadership as a proponent for weekly Eucharist. I think weekly Eucharist, as we practice, on knees when able, and elbow to elbow, side by side, has been a factor in our new tradition of full inclusion. Regardless of what one thinks about the person next to you, ultimately it's very difficult to then refuse them the full stature of being grace filled and Christ inspirited fellow human beings.
My vote was for Hilda. I love her powerful spirit and power over the misogyny of the times, though in the Celtic Church, it was less of a factor as women were on more equal footing. I love the Celtic tradition which is at the core of our vowed community. I sit with an icon of her as well. She helps remind me that I must open my heart to She the Spirit and invite her in. I must act, I must be open hearted and vulnerable to the workings of God's love, as all real change occurs from the inside out.
Hilda gets my vote today. A remarkable woman to establish a double monastry and to encourage others in their gifts and callings. An English Poet and Five Bishops is a wonderful legacy. She must have been very well loved and respected. I also love the Celtic Tradition and so heartily put my vote with her.
Seabury is no less a worthy contender, standing the English up going to the Scots to become Bishop. He certainly got their attention! Again, well done for another great match up.
Hilda has long been a (s)hero of mine. I first did a paper on her in my M.Div. studies as I studied the turn taken at the Synod of Whidbey--regretfully, I might add. The examplary leadership, generous spirit and gender equality typified by Hilda, Bridget and other women of the Celtic church should be reclaimed by our church of today
Why can I not vote? My wife voted earlier today; but I can not. NO VOTING BOX. Same thing happened to her last Friday or Sat/
Some more trivia about Bp. Claggett: First, his consecration did not take place until Bp. Madison had been consecrated in England for VA (he was of the same family as the President) and this was because the Scottish Bps were not then in communion with the CofE and Seabury did not want any problems to develop about Claggett's orders. Second, Claggett followed Seabury's example and had a mitre (very similar to SS's) made for himself (I remember seeing it Bp. Powell's office when I lived in Baltimore 50+ years ago.
I've served in CT for more than 40 years (under 6 of SS's successors, and I have also had the opportunity to visit Whitby -- did you know that Dracula was written there, and (in the book) actuall visited Whitby?
It is now so obvious that Hilda wins that I just have to vote for the home team this time!
Cecilia -- you can't vote via e-mail; you need to go to the site itself. And, John, if your wife already voted you'll need to try a different browser (ie. explorer or firefox).
Tim, it worked. I normally use Safari as my browser. SO I dusted off the Forfox, got in and was able to vote. I don't recall, however, any warning that each family member must use a different browser to vote, How are larger families able to vote? There are not THAT many broswer, are there?
Actually, there are many different browsers.
Even AOL is a browser, remember? Safari, Firefox, Aurora, AOL, etc.
Cheers.
Hilda appears to be winning but I am voting for Seabury. Tory or not--he seems to have been responsible for much for which we Episcopalians can be thankful.