Kemper vs. Kempe. Sometimes matchups exist solely because the SEC likes the names involved. Sure, there's always prayerful discernment that takes place in the formation of the bracket. But still, how could we not pair these two against one another? Only a single "r" separates Jackson Kemper and Margery Kempe, missionary bishop and 15th century mystic. Who will ride on? Who will be left in a vale of tears? That, dear friends, is up to you.
Yesterday, Brigid of Kildare soundly defeated Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist 68% to 32%. Fortunately, no silver platters were involved.
In case you missed it, we offered everyone a brief peek behind the Purple Curtain of Lent Madness, sharing some insights into how the annual bracket is formulated. A rare glimpse into the mind of the SEC.
Jackson Kemper
The seemingly inexhaustible Jackson Kemper served as the first missionary bishop in The Episcopal Church,working over the course of a thirty-five-year ministry in such untamed wilderness territories as Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and especially Wisconsin, where he established the Nashotah House seminary and eventually made his home.
Born in 1789, Kemper served as a priest for many years in Philadelphia until the deaths of his wife and his mother led him to new fields of service. In 1834, Kemper traveled to Green Bay, Wisconsin. At the same time, a committee of bishops was considering how to approach the western frontier. In 1835, General Convention appointed Kemper as missionary bishop of Indiana and Missouri (with Wisconsin and Iowa thrown in for good measure) and assigned him the tasks of establishing and organizing parishes, recruiting clergy, and fundraising, all at a time when travel was daunting and communication was spotty.
Kemper was up to the challenge due to his “indefatigable zeal and amiable manners,” adding to his portfolio the establishment of schools to train young men and clergy, since he found that many Eastern-trained priests weren’t able to hack it in the harsh midwestern climate. In his spare time, he expanded his Missionary See to more distant territories such as Minnesota, Nebraska, and even further west, making regular visits to parishes and clergy throughout much of this vast region.
Notably, Kemper ceded power and oversight as dioceses became established, turning over territory to duly-elected diocesan bishops in Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Kansas, and declining numerous offers of more comfortable episcopacies elsewhere.
He was also famously generous. His biographer wrote, “so simple were his tastes and so perfect was his economy that out of his annual missionary stipend of fifteen hundred dollars, he was able to give largely to struggling missions in his field; there was probably no one in the church who gave away more in proportion to his income than he.”
After twenty-four years as a missionary bishop, Kemper retired at the age of sixty-nine in 1859, only to take up the role of diocesan bishop of Wisconsin. He continued to make regular visitations within the diocese and further afield for another decade, when failing health forced him to stay near the Nashotah community where he had resided for many years. At the age of eighty, his final episcopal act was a confirmation near his home in April 1870. He continued official duties with the aid of a secretary until days before his death on May 24, 1870.
Collect for Jackson Kemper
Lord God, in whose providence Jackson Kemper was chosen first missionary bishop in this land, and by his arduous labor and travel established congregations in scattered settlements of the West: Grant that the Church may always be faithful to its mission, and have the vision, courage, and perseverance to make known to all peoples the Good News of Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Margery Kempe
The first autobiography written in English is something of a mystical revelation, travel diary, opinion essay, theological discourse, and personal diary all in one. Margery Kempe, who lived in the late-fourteenth to early-fifteenth century, was a middle-class woman living in Norfolk in eastern England.
She began The Book of Margery Kempe recalling a series of crises during and after her pregnancy. She felt tempted by the devil not to confess her sins. In response, she fasted, performed acts of charity, and devoutly prayed, to no avail. She eventually sent for her confessor and confessed sins from “her whole lifetime.” After her confession (of which she was not complimentary of the pastoral skills of the priest), she was disturbed and tormented for almost a year by visions of devils. In a moment of great crisis, she had a vision of Christ but did not fully embrace her mystical deliverance. Only after several business failures did Kempe surrender to a life of mysticism and Christian devotion.
Kempe experienced the gift of tears — frequent sobbing, weeping, and wailing at the sight of the Blessed Sacrament, while engaged in prayer and meditation, or engaged in other acts of devotion. Throughout her book, Kempe remarked at the discomfort others had at her expression of this holy gift. She shared her thoughts and visions of heaven freely, as well as her conversations and visions with our Lord. Kempe, like many medieval mystics, was attached to meditations on the events of Christ’s life and had many visions associated with these events. She also found sexual relations with her husband disgusting and eventually took vows of chastity, after giving birth to fourteen children.
Kempe then began a series of pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Assisi, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela, as well as several holy sites in England. She wrote of her encounters with several historical figures, including the Archbishop of York — who questioned her as a heretic, found her unorthodox, and told her to leave York and never return. She spoke with Julian of Norwich. She called out the Archbishop of Canterbury for the behavior of his clergy. Perhaps in a related story, she was almost burned as a heretic while in Canterbury.
Kempe, who likely dictated her book to a scribe, wrote with a mystical stream of consciousness. She was not concerned with narrative timelines; she did not write a text primarily concerned with intricate depictions of her mystical experiences. She wrote about the exhausting attitudes of others who criticized her life and expression of faith and of moments where she was vindicated for being true to herself. She shared the raw (sometimes outrageous) aspects of all that was her life.
An admission to the Guild of the Trinity at Lynn in 1438 is the final historical mention of Kempe. Her book, known only in excerpts until a manuscript was found in a private collection in the twentieth century, has become a key reflection on the life and spirituality of a middle-class woman in the Middle Ages.
Collect for Margery Kempe
Gracious God, we give you thanks for the life and work of Margery Kempe, hermit and mystic, who, passing through the cloud of unknowing, beheld your glory. Help us, after her example, to see you more clearly and love you more dearly, in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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220 comments on “Jackson Kemper vs. Margery Kempe”
Bishop Kemper got my vote today for his energy as a missionary and Bishop, and his devotion to education, his generosity and pleasant personality. His work made a real difference in the history of the mid-West.
To r or not to r, that is the question...
Jackson it is for me! Braving the wilds of what was then the West was no small feat, and he was faithful to his call from God and his direction from the church.
I don't want to be too hard on Margery - 14 children during any era is no joke! - but she's a little too out there for me. I'm afraid I would have been one of those "others" who was uncomfortable with her holy gift. Ordinarily I'm all for the mystics, but, oh, Margery!
A dyed-in-the wool Midwesterner, how could I not vote for Kemper? Now, when will they put Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple, first Bishop of Minnesota, in the calendar?
Is it just me who can't stop singing "Day by day..."?! I went with Jackson, in spite of Laurie's subtle reference to the fabulous musical "Godspell" .
Yay! Someone caught it! Good on you!
I have a feeling that Jackson Kemper would vote for Margery Kempe. So that's what I did, too; I almost always vote for the mystic.
But I won't be sorry to see JK win, either!
Reading about Kemper made me think of him as a "modern day" apostle. He got my vote.
BTW, where is Aleathia (Dolores) Nicholson this year, does anybody know? I miss her comments....
Amazing how many people focus on Margery's 14 children and extravagant tears (that nearly drove me nuts when reading her autobiography) but nobody mentions her extensive travels to holy places in a time when women didn't usually travel all that much. A hard person to get along with on a pilgrimage? She was trying to keep the penitential nature of the journey while her companions were a bit more rowdy than was seemly. Parts of her autobiography made me want to shake her, but in the end, she was much more than the mother of 14 and a PITA on trips. She was in every sense a mystic who did not tolerate fools lightly. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when she and Julian met.
Our church recently hosted a production of the play "Cell Talk : 1410" by Dana Bagshaw. The play presents a "fly's-eye-view" of the meeting between Margery and Julian. Check out the facebook page for the west coast tour at: http://www.facebook.com/CellTalk1410
Well said! I really thought I was going to vote to Kemper and that would have made my bracket solid so far, and I wasn't a fan of the way Margery's biographer framed her, however truthful. Jackson seems so "perfect" and Margery seems so wacky and pathetic but yet I went with her precisely for the reasons that Linfs Ryan wrote. And, she was the second button!
I'm an Iowa girl (in exile in Illinois) but I had to vote for Margery. Sure, she's kind of crazy (okay, minus kind of) but I can related to a woman struggling with marriage, kids, career setbacks, mental illness, and I really want to hang out with Julian of Norwich.
with several missionary bishops in the family, knowing the work and hardships they've been through I had to go with Kemper
My vote goes to Jackson Kemper. While he was before the founding of my home church (St Cornelius, Dodge City) I stepped out of the fray to check out the website and remember my growing up years... No doubt in a parish whose founding was inspired by Bishop Kemper.
Good grief, just think of Margery Kempe. She had fourteen children in a space of less than 20 years. She was trying to convince her husband to be chaste for several of those years, finally succeeding when she was 40. No wonder she had fits of crying. Then she went on all those pilgrimages. Oh my I cannot resist even though I am a great admirer of Kemper.
When I was a church reporter in Canada, I read up on some of these pioneer bishops. They had an astoundingly hard time and the physical demands of the West literally killed some. Kemper is my man. Besides the "gift of tears," Kempe was aware of others' discomfort at her histrionics (you can see the eye-rolling).
I voted for Kemper today. He reminds me of Bishop Harry Kennedy, Bishop of the Orient.
My cousins and brother and I were confirmed on different islands of the Pacific.
Bishop Kennedy served the entire Orient including the Military members.
He was a gracious and loving man and I owe my beginning faith to him.
He asked my confirmation class would we die for Christ. He was in constant jeopardy from the communists in China so that question was close to him.
RIP Bishop Kennedy.
Love the mystics but never really took to Margery - too much weeping and wailing for quiet contemplation. So I voted for Kemper who sounds a much more amiable companion (Amiable is a word not used enough!)
Margery Kempe comes off as a real drama queen. I voted for the Cheesehead bishop with his real world missionary fervor.
Margery sounds much like women through the ages who have been trapped by the limitations placed on them by the societies within which they lived. Trapped to pregnancy after pregnancy, to no opportunity other than staying in her role while longing for so much more. Worn down by children, unending housework, constant exhaustion. No wonder she was angry and depressed, possibly experiencing chronic postpartum depression. That she was able to try and offer this all to God, write her feelings out and leave us a written legacy, is pretty noteworthy. In some ways, she reminds me of the women of more recent years crying for equal rights! We do her as great a deservice in lableing her "neurotic" as we did the "housewife" of the 1950's! Blaming the victim, making it internal to her, pathologizing her is not acceptable. Her witness shines a light on what it was like in her day. Her life shows me the grit that was needed to indure and makes me eternally grateful for the life I have today. Thank you for introducing me to her. She has my respect and empathy. I can understand and relate to her efforts to find peace and healing in prayer and contemplation. Maybe, in the end, this is the model of sainthood that one meets everyday in school, at shops or at tea. Just like you and like me. Living out out lives ever so faithfully as best we can within our circumstances!
I have great admiration for Bishop Kemper. He's always been one of my heroes. I intended to vote for him. But I've talked myself to the point that I must vote for Margery much to my surprise.
AMEN, Millie Ericson!
Well said, Millie! (Even though I voted for Kempe for other reasons.)
I have been suspicious of these mystical experiences like Margery's....telling the difference between an encounter with God and an emotional breakdown. Heaven knows after 14 kids, the badgering, and the pursed lips, she was certainly prone to a breakdown Kemper, plodding along through the harsh seasons and experiencing the usual stress of the bishopric, just seems more "real."
My vote goes to the saint I first heard of as the Bishop of All Outdoors.
And the first Episcopal clergy in the real NW arrived in Oregon starting with Michael Fackler (VTS) via the Oregon Trail circa 1849 & William Richmond (GTS) via boat-portage across Isthmus of Panama-boat in 1851. Together they founded the mother parish of the Pacific NW, Trinity, Portland. Richmond founded many other parishes in the NW. Fackler went on to found others too, including one in Boise that took the name of St. Michael's in his honor. Both St. Michael's & Trinity eventually became Cathedrals. Fackler & family traveled back East via the Panama route and along the way encountered a cholera outbreak. He ministered to the sick and dying, eventually becoming ill and dying. He is buried in Key West. That the Rev. Mr. Fackler isn't in HWHM yet continued to amaze me. (But Mr. Rogers isn't there yet either.) But at least the Bishop of All Outdoors is there & I can vote for him.
Kudos for bringing up Michael Fackler and the Oregon Trail. As a recent transplant to Eastern Oregon I have just begun to learn of the pioneering bishops who spread the gospel in this area and founded the churches in the communities that exist today. I had known about Kemper before and had to vote for his pioneering spirit as well.
I believe Bishop Kemper made it all the way to California and established the church in Benecia. I understand that he was buried there and just recently Nashotah wanted him and so he is now reburied there.
I too found Margery a little over the top and found my regard for the Bishop more to my comfort level. He got may vote today.
I m made a big mistake ! It was Beck not Kemper. disregard what I said! Sorry!
I served in two parishes established by Jackson Kemper. He established parishes from Wisconsin to Mississippi and much of his work remains a testament to his tenacity. Margery Kempe could use a dose of cymbalta or maybe a zoloft regimen. I am not certain I would have the pastoral skills to care for her either.
Well, Kempe frankly sounds like a bit of a fruit-loop to me. I would be one of those who felt "discomfort" at frequent sobbing, weeping, and wailing, and her taking a vow of chastity after having fourteen children sounds like closing the barn door after a lot of horses have escaped. She doesn't seem to have found sex disgusting before then. Okay, I stand accused of lack of charity--not for the first time. Mea culpa.
Kansas Clergy for Saint Jackson Kemper!
Any woman who has 14 children deserves to take a vow of chastity. Margery all the way, baby!
I'm from West Missouri, so Bp. Kemper was our first bishop. It would be disloyal to vote for anyone else. Besides, generosity is cool.
Margery is a great example of the 'second act' for women. I would probably have found her a bit hard to put up with, though. I voted for her because of the connection with Julian. She is also a layperson as we would think of the concept, one of the first to appear in the Christian record.
Sheesh! Another difficult matchup. Bp. Kemper models a heroism whose depth requires historical imagination on our part: in his day travel in the Upper Midwest was almost as tough and dangerous as European travel in the Middle Ages. How rapidly has the American landscape been transformed since his day, and perhaps in part through his action! The breadth of Kemper's vision is remarkable: he foresaw much of what the Episcopal Church understands as its mission today, more than a century later. As for Margery Kempe, she models a type of spirituality that was widely recognized in ancient and medieval times but often escapes our notice today. We have pathologized our understanding of people like her, locking them up, managing them, treating them like children, condescending to tbem. We do everything but LISTEN to them, and our failure to do so shuts one door against the prompting of the Spirit. God speaks through all his children, not just the sane, the practical, the industrious. He makes us uncomfortable by doing so? Isn't that His job?
I like the thoughtful answer of John Lewis. Yes, God can and does speak through everyone. If we say God can only speak through the clean, well dressed, and rational person, we may miss hearing what God has to say to us.
I suspect Margery would have been exhausting and annoying to be around, but her story is fascinating and she shouldn't be so easily dismissed. John the Baptist dressed funny and seemed a bit cray cray too. Just sayin’!
The introduction of the Staley edition describes some of the values at stake in Margery’s life choices. Above all, Margery was trying to follow and love Jesus.
1. Nothing against Kemper, but he is celebrated for going walkabouts, and Kempe is condemned for not staying home to take care of the kids? Please remember Margery was sharing the gospel with people she met as she travelled, too.
2. I greatly admire her courage in challenging clerical sins and corruptions while maintaining a pastoral heart with the priests and monks she ministered to.
3. As more of a Frozen Chosen myself I look a bit askance at Margery’s willingness to give herself over to a 'full-body' Pentecostal-style experience of worship but hey - King David danced around nakee before the Ark of the Covenant and no one (besides his wife) called him out for it, or dismissed him as 'neurotic' or 'self-absorbed'.
4. Re: Kempe’s vow of married chastity - as she understood it, she was trying to remain full-body faithful to Jesus, and it was actually negotiated with her husband. Important to remember also, I think, the state of medicine and the real risks of childbearing in the 15th century. No idle decision either way, but after 14 children I sure wouldn’t fault her for taking a break to do other things.
5. "Contemplation” does not mean "sit on your butt and do nothing" nor it is all she did. She took time to carve out a spiritual vocation while also being caregiver to her children AND (spoiler alert) her debilitated husband. What a woman!
6. In the unlikely event she wins Golden Halo 2015, pretty please can her mug be decorated with pears and bears?
I voted today for Jackson Kemper. This is the first I've ever heard of either of these saints. Love learning through Lent Madness!! Margery strikes me as strange and a little sad. Though I might be strange and sad after 14 children. Heavens! I admire JK's zeal and amiable manners.