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”
A lot of venom in a few of the anti-Marjory comments. I don't care who you vote for, but, wow. Marjory's priest lives on.
It was Kemper who brought the wild and woolly west to Christ vs the "crazy church lady" (mentioned above). We have had many, many of them, bless their souls, but it seems to me that it boils down to Kemp's building of churches and communities vs Margery Kempe's whining about her lot in life. I could only surmise that she must have severely tested Julian's patience.
C.R.
Because of word limits in the bios, I was unable to share more about the gift of tears, and reading through the comments, I'm troubled by the way Margery's gift has been denigrated to the act of an "overly emotional, depressed, or histrionic" woman instead of a gift of the Spirit that is held in high regard by many saints past and present. I wonder why Margery's Gift of Tears is reduced only to a mental illness in which God could not be present, while many other saints behaved in ways that made others uncomfortable, yet we laud those behaviors. Not saying Margery didn't color outside the lines -she most certainly did - as did many of the holy women and men who are saints of the church. Perhaps her Gift of Tears and her spirituality were rooted in something modern day psychology could address, perhaps not. We can't know. For more information on the gift of tears: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/features.php?id=22736
Charismatic Christianity comes in mostly for denigration in the modern world, rather than our admiration. It is to our shame that, as others have noted, we would have Margery drugged into a stupor today just to keep her "under control." Oh, the fallen, prideful human urge to exert our own control over God, rather than allowing him to take control of us!
Don't overlook the ever-present sexism -- Marjory is pathologized in terms we don't apply to men, now, today, right here in River City. She may well have been an almighty pain in the ass, but she had backbone and guts in a time when her life would have been vastly more comfortable if she had neither. Christ spoke to her (maybe; maybe she *was* nuts); she didn't back down from her visions, and she told both her priest and her archbishop they were crap at their jobs because they weren't "pastoral" enough, whatever that meant in the 14th century. Girl speaks truth to power, you have to give her some respect. More than Bp Kemp? That's up to the voters; but does it really matter?
I regret that MK has been pathologized, to use the phrase others have applied ~ that said, she does not hold up even among her contemporaries (i.e., other uppity women identified as mystics).
In this time poor Margery could be medicated for her gift of tears. Her book is more about the negative reactions of those around her to her emotional outbursts. Her story reminds me of tbe many saints observed in mental institutions. Jackson, on tbe otber hand, accomplished so much with so little. He impresses me as saintly. Margery clearly needed mental health help in a time in which it was nkt available.
This was a tough one (as they often are). But a woman who locked horns (figuratively, of course) with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 15th Century! Go Margery!
I am getting good at predicting results, today my first time to be in with the winner. Admire both. New saints for me, your commentaries are so well done. Wringing my hands as I will be away for the whole week leading into Palm Sunday.
Margery doesn't sound particularly saintly to me. Glad to learn about her though. "The Jackson man" seems to have done so much more!
Jackson Kemper was a remarkable man and a worthy saint. Margery, however was an uppity feminist in a dark era. Being an uppity feminist myself, I must vote for her.
Another hard decision ! My children gave me a copy of Margery Kempe's autobiography years ago just because of her name. I was fascinated by her spirituality and wholeheartedly agree with these comments here in her favor. Perhaps it's because I too sometimes feel like yelling at people who say they're following God's will, but are instead following their own.
Did that description of Jackson Kemper really not mention native americans even a single time or did I simply miss the reference?
You are not blind...I wonder what the Native Americans thought of Kemper. And I sure hope he didn't set up some of those Indian schools that tried to wring the last bit of cultural identity and "otherness" out of their students. I realize the context of the time Kemper lived in; and even saints can commit grievous error.
Far from trying to Anglicize the Indians in his areas, Bishop Kemper gave his time, money, and direction to support translations of the Bible and the BCP into the tribes’ languages. He reached out to the Native American population and ordained many of them.
Comments here are mirroring reactions to Margery in real life: some 'got' her, some were highly critical, some simply dismissed her, and some realized after getting to know her that there was so much more to her than her first impression.
Well said! Lent Madness holds a (distant) mirror up to ourselves.
I was trying not to say it, but yes, the pathologization of medieval holy women in order to discount their prophetic power is a cottage industry. I suspect we'll see more of it tomorrow when Hildegard of Bingen's visions are reduced to "migraines."
But she wrote such purty music, did she not? Much more in keeping with the responsibilities appropriate for a Leddy of her stature.
We probably won't see it as much with Hildegard because the match-up will be against another woman (Egeria); and because Hildegard isn't known for the "histrionics" that are one of misogyny's favorite tropes. Rather, she purposefully exploited the tropes of "feminine weakness" in order to add an even sharper edge to her prophetic denunciations of clerical sin -- things had gotten *so* bad that God couldn't even find a man to do the job! Hildegard is "transgressive" in precisely the ways we moderns like our women to be transgressive -- by wielding power on men's terms.
But I will leave the greater comments on the Visionary Doctor until tomorrow!
I once had a dearly loved parishioner named Marjorie Kemp who is a wonderful worker for God, and I love our mystical saints. However, this time I had to go with Bp. Kemper: his gift of developing churches throughout the northern parts of the U.S., plus his sacrificial monetary gifts to the churches he established, including Nashota, make him a standout in this round.
As one who was privileged to attend Kemper Hall, I must go with the Right Reverend.
As a woman who also walked the Camino de Santiago, my vote goes to Margery who walked this pilgrimage during its heyday in the Middle Ages when mostly men walked it. She managed to find a way to end the years of domestic drudgery that gender roles and her time in history demanded of her, but I do hope the last baby was at least of school-age and in good hands when she left for Santiago as she was probably gone from England for 2 or 3 months!
Voting from Dallas, Texas, during a cold, driving wind and rain, I wonder how anyone lived, much less worked as a missionary, north of San Antonio during the winter, or south of Amarillo during the summer, I choose Bp. Kemper. I don't think that mental illness or emotional instability was the cause of Marjorie Kempe's tears, and I agree with the other voters who believe that 14 children could put the damper on romance.I admire her chutzpah in confronting the Archbishop of Canterbury about the behavior of his clergy, and I'm sure that her account of her travels is fascinating. As colorful and devout as she was, however, I'm in a practical frame of mind on this cold March day, and Bp. Kemper gets my vote.
With a name like Jackson, he has to be my choice!
Poor Margery... sounds like she was desperately in need of today's psychiatric counseling, not to mention contraceptives: I'd cry and have visions, too! Gotta go with Kemper.
One of the greatest things I got out of my many, many British lit classes in undergrad was a love of Margery Kempe. Thanks, Dr. Stargardt--this vote's for you!
Margery drew attention to Julian of Norwich, a plus. (Say, where's Julian, anyway?) But I was ordained in the Diocese of Minnesota, so I owe Kemper.
A footnote to Kempe: many today use "middle class" to mean just plain folks. In Margery's time it wasn't a legal or sociological term, bht we can use it anachronistically to mean rich but not noble. Like Chaucer's Wife of Bath she could pay her own way, though as a wandering schizophrenic she may well have begged her way. Medieval Christians had a gift of discernment that is rare today: to see Christ in lunatics andfools.
Yes but why must we "label" as lunatics those who are different than we? If we are basing lunacy on what society defines as normal.
Margery Kemp for me. Any woman who can have a revelation from God after being hit by a brick falling from church roof repair, and the revelation is to open a pub, well this just makes me glad. A little more Monty Python and a little less starch please. And it would have been wonderous, in the Holy Sepulcher, with all those pious pilgrims to be there when God gave Margery her amazing scream. This woman wrote the first female autobiography in english. Wow!
I had to vote for Jackson Kemper because having studied Margery Kemp at some length, on my own while in seminary, I thought she was crazier than a loon, a sort of Julian of Norwich wannabe who did not quite measure up. However, given that she made it to this most holy context, I shall reconsider my position as perhaps in error. Still It was Bp. Kemper for today.
On Nashotah!
contest, not context
i resided in the diocese of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. for 10 yrs & sat in on some Nashota House classes. You may rest assured that May 24 is akin to a national holiday. That said, I have to cast my vote for Margery Kempe. Seems like most the votes this year have been going the"Mary" types while The Martha have been skimmed over.
I simply must ask, are putting worth to those visible works, than on "chosen the better part"
It would be nice recognize some these lesser known candidates for the Golden Halo to see the bigger picture of our heritage
I admire Margery Kempe for many reasons, and had never heard of Bishop Kemper before, but I am voting for him in memory of a pioneer Episcopal minister in early 20th century New Mexico, Hunter Lewis, for whom my father had great respect. He traveled up and down the railway line, preaching and ministering in the little towns along the way, and eventually building seven or eight churches in southern New Mexico. He occupied some of his travel time crocheting hats for children--I still have my "Preacher Lewis hat". Let's remember the pioneers of all our churches--this is our own heritage.
In 1851 Bishop Kemper celebrated the first service in Plymouth, WI and in 1858 he consecrated our present church. Thanks, Bishop Kemper - and keep rooting for those Packers.
I'm glad I liked the bio of Bishop Kemper because I had to vote for him. I went to camp at Kemper Hall, run by the Sisters of St. Mary. However, I'm still sorry for Ms. Kempe who must have had post-partum depression -- it can do things to you head. The times didn't help her much, either.
Take note, SEC! The Collect for Margery Kempe, which has been adapted from the Holy Women Holy Men Collect for Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, and Margery Kempe, is not quite accurate: Kempe was a mystic, but not a hermit. She visited Julian of Norwich, an anchoress, but was not herself a solitary. A good revision would read, "pilgrim and mystic."
Another hard choice, but because of the Nashotah House connection I voted for Kemper.
I was moved to tears during the ceremony when I was received into the Episcopal church but that was because I was having a Cuban moment.