What's in a name? Fortunately for Harriet Bedell, this contest won't be decided by the number of letters in one's name. In this category Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereshewsky would not only win 30 to 13 but he'd run the entire Lent Madness table. Two fascinating stories, two amazingly saintly lives, yet only one will move on to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen.
In yesterday's Lent Madness action, despite a late charge by old man Simeon, Phillips Brooks defeated him 52% to 48% and will face Catherine of Siena in the next round.
Enjoy today's penultimate first round match-up and don't forget to watch the latest edition of Monday Madness. We guarantee it will make your Tuesday even more like a Monday (it's a Lent thing).
Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereshewsky
Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky was born to Jewish parents in Lithuania in 1831, and his early life and studies were designed with the intention that he be ordained to the rabbinate. After studies at the Rabbinical College in Zhitomeer, Russia, he moved to Breslau, Germany for two further years of graduate study. It was there that, under the influence of missionaries, and after his own reading of a Hebrew translation of the New Testament, Schereschewsky became a Christian. In 1854, he emigrated to the United States, settling in Pittsburgh. There he entered the Western Theological Seminary, with plans to seek ordination in the Presbyterian Church. After two years in Pittsburgh, he became an Episcopalian. He enrolled at The General Theological Seminary in New York City as a candidate for Holy Orders from the Diocese of Maryland. He completed his studies there in 1859 and was ordained deacon that year, and priest the next.
In response to a great need for missionaries in China, Schereschewsky continued to wander the globe, this time boarding the ship Golden Rule and moving to China in 1859. Already very talented at learning foreign languages, he taught himself Mandarin during his voyage in order to further his missionary work. The time after he landed was extraordinarily productive–by 1865, Schereschewsky had translated the Psalms and the bulk of The Book of Common Prayer into Mandarin Chinese; from 1865 to 1873, he translated the entirety of the Old Testament.
In 1875, Channing Moore Williams, who had been the Bishop for Japan and China, was assigned to Japan alone. Schereschewsky was elected as the new Bishop of Shanghai, but he declined, not trusting himself to be fit for the office. In 1877, he was elected again, and this time he accepted and was consecrated. While bishop, he founded Saint John’s University and began yet another Bible translation, this time into Wenli, the local dialect.
After developing Parkinson’s disease, he resigned his See in 1883. He remained dedicated to his translation work, even after becoming almost fully paralyzed, and typed the last 2,000 pages with the one finger he could still move. He moved to Tokyo in 1897, where he died in 1906.
Collect for Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky
O God, in your providence you called Joseph Schereschewsky from his home in Eastern Europe to the ministry of this Church, and sent him as a missionary to China, upholding him in his infirmity, that he might translate the Holy Scriptures into languages of that land. Lead us, we pray, to commit our lives and talents to you, in the confidence that when you give your servants any work to do, you also supply the strength to do it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- David Sibley
Harriet Bedell
Born in Buffalo, New York in 1875, Harriet Bedell first trained to be a schoolteacher, but her life’s work was not to be contained in a classroom. When she was thirty years old, she attended a lecture given by a missionary to China. Soon after she attended the Episcopal Training School for Deaconesses in New York City, a one-year program where she learned about religion, teaching, mission, hygiene, and nursing. Her mother balked at an overseas posting, so in 1907 Bedell accepted an assignment to serve as a missionary-teacher among the Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne) people at the Whirlwind Mission in Oklahoma. She served in Oklahoma for nine years until the mission closed. She was then called to work with the Gwich’in people in Stevens Village, Alaska. She was finally made a deaconess there in 1922.
However, Alaska was not to be her life’s work. In the depths of the Great Depression, funds were scarce to run the boarding school she had helped to found. She returned to New York in 1931 to plead for funds, but the school was closed and she never returned to Alaska. One door was shut, but another would soon open.
On a speaking tour in Florida, Bedell visited a Seminole Indian reservation. Appalled by the living conditions, she wasted no time, moving right in to the Blade Cross Mission, where she lived for the next thirty years. She encouraged tribal members to revive many traditional crafts to sell in the mission store. Her friendship with the Seminole people won their respect, and her faithful witness contributed to the improvement in their quality of life. She continued to serve until Hurricane Donna destroyed the mission in 1960. She died in 1969.
Bedell’s ministry placed value on health, education, and spiritual comfort over religious conversion. Once, when asked to speak at a Seminole funeral, she translated Psalm 23: “The Great Spirit watches over all of us. He feeds us and leads us to the waters of comfort. When we walk in the shadow of death, we need fear no bad things. The love and mercy of the Great Spirit will be with us all our lives and we will always be welcome in the Great Chickee.”
Such was her verve and passion for life and work, the Rev. Howard V. Harper wrote in his essay, “Always Welcome in the Great Chickee” that Bedell “played all of life in the Key of C Major.”
Collect for Harriet Bedell
Holy God, you chose your faithful servant Harriet Bedell to exercise the ministry of deaconess and to be a missionary among indigenous peoples: Fill us with compassion and respect for all people, and empower us for the work of ministry throughout the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Heidi Shott
Vote!
[poll id="86"]
143 comments on “Joseph Schereschewsky vs. Harriet Bedell”
Had to vote for Joseph. Typing 2,000 pages with one finger - now that's some dedication!
I have admired Schereschewsky for so many years I have to vote for him but this is really a toughy because they were both so dedicated and committed to the spread of the reign of God. Unbelievable saints.
I grew up in an area where several deaconesses had conducted an amazing ministry in the outlying areas. They had retired by the time I became a teenager but I was blessed to have worked one summer with a couple of them, who continued their ministry even in retirement.
That being said, Schereschewsky has one of the most amazing stories of any modern clergy person I've ever heard about. In comparision, his travels from Eastern Europe to America to China make St. Paul's journeys seem like he went out for a couple of Sunday strolls! So Schereschewsky it is.
This was by far the hardest vote to decide. The SEC is making this very difficult as each one deserves the Golden Halo.
I am glad there is no like button because if we had one, I fear people would simply say "like", instead of writing comments, and we would lose some of the community spirit that Lent Madness provides, at least for me. The discussion always helps me make a more informed decision before I vote, people are pleasant in their comments - what a rarity these days - and I leave feeling each time feeling more a part of the Church than before. Thank you SEC, your fiendish plan is clearly working.
Harriet Bedell died in 1969 which is not yet 50 years ago.... hmmmm.. (Voted for her anyway, but wondered about this in relation to earlier discussions of another not-yet-included-in-HWHM but deserving personage.)
Last year's winner, Frances Perkins, has not been dead for 50 years -- so apparently that is not an important fact.
Is the door opening a small crack for Fred Rogers? Can he wedge his foot in and prevent the SEC from slamming it shut?
It's not the SEC, it's the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (held every 3 years) that approves such matters. The SEC is not going to put someone on the bracket that is not on some church's approved calendar. Now if the Presbyterians would like to start up a calendar and add him to it, then we'd have a little more leverage with the SEC.
Both avid missionaries, devoted converts. As a devoted convert, I was torn. Then there was the edict to go forth and teach the nations. Harriet cared for the nations of Native Americans, a thoroughly denigrated, demeaned and disinherited group. That won my vote.
Does anyone know where I can find Harriet's complete translation of Psalm 23???
One of the most difficult choices yet. But the best part was being introduced to two people whom I'd never met before. And two amazing people they are.
This was a very difficult one for me too. I understand the point of view that Christian saints should focus on conversion. Yet I know no more powerful way of doing that than living the example of Christian humility, and what could be more humble than putting aside a primary focus on conversion in order to focus on meeting the most basic needs of this tribe?
Have to go with Harriet as I am also a native Buffalonian. Wonder whether Harriet would vote for Anchor Bar or Duffs wings? 🙂 Thanks for your comments Lauren..... I agree that we live the Gospel first and let God handle the rest.
SIJS has long been a marvel to me--languages, humility, perseverance, faithfulness, and the soul of a seeker. What an adventure his life was. Deaconess Bedell is very worthy, also an adventurer, and will do well in the next round, too, I'm sure....it's pretty much all over, I see after voting...but I'm sorry we won't get to go further with Bp. Schereschewsky.
In honor of my friend Margaret Watson and her current work, I voted for Harriet.
I am so glad all the historical saints in LM have achieved sainthood! The saints of today were both missionaries to cultures vastly different from their home cultures. Both had considerable facility with languages. Both worked many decades evangelizing for Christ. One a deconess; one a bishop. I vote for Bishop Schereschewsky for his massive work translating the Bible into two other languages. During much of his working life, he was progressively disabled. And yet, he continued.
Another difficult choice. I have been a fan of Schereschewsky for years (ever since I learned to pronounce his name) and really appreciate his finishing his translation with one finger. However, as a woman priest, I have to vote for Bedell who could only be a deaconess and did such wonderful work with the Native Americans after she was denied the opportuity to go to China.
I voted for Harriet in memory of my friend Johanna Mott - who wrote a history of the Episcopal Training School for women in NYC.
Mott, Johanna K., and Frances M. Sydnor. A History of Windham House, 1928-1967.
I arrived in NYC Columbia U. in 1965, having left the Southern Baptists behind after seminary & years of ministry for Tenn. Baptists. & Broadman Press.
Johanna tried to get me to consider her Episcopal community & the possibility of ordination ahead for women.
I went instead to Riverside Church there and now many years of spiritual wandering - including several years spent in a Cistercian monastery - have finally found a spiritual home and community in the Episcopal fold.
Well, my conclusion is if its a man and woman against each other, the woman will win. I think they were placed that way intentionally. There has been one exception to this I think. No doubt it was set up this way.
That was the toughest one yet - they were both very deserving. In the end I just had to pick one, so Harriet got my vote - mostly because of her work with indigenous people, and not at all for the frock she wore. She looks more like a nun than a deacon(ess) - what's the difference?
What a choice tonight! Schereschewsky has long been one of my favorite "saints" & I love the linguistic prowess he exhibits as well as his willingness to go wherever God leads. However, my heart must go out to Harriet Bedell, much more recently "found" by me, but a woman of utmost courage who bloomed wherever she was planted & died the year I finished college, so I like the immediacy of Ms. Bedell.
Difficult but I went with Harriet. The relationship between white Christians and the indigenous peoples of North America has been very fraught, and for good reasons. It's good to honour someone who spent her time caring about the actual people she knew, above and before trying to get them to say the right words. Go Harriet for being an example of what Christ would do.
Though I have to say as a granddaughter of missionaries to China, with a family friend with Parkinson's, the fella with the long name was tempting.
Hi Jane Cox, I will happily wedge my foot in the door with Saint Fred. Try to slam it on a size 12 foot. Wearing steel toe boots yet.
I choose BOTH!! What amazing saints … but having spent my teens in Florida and having made some of my dearest lifelong friends there, I will go with Harriet … and be grateful for the introduction to each of these amazing people!