In the closest battle of Lent Madness 2019 to date, Nicodemus edged James the Greater 51% to 49% yesterday to advance to the Saintly Sixteen where he'll face Martha of Bethany for a shot at the Elate Eight. See? Every (single) vote counts! But be aware that multiple voting will get you cast out into the outer darkness of Lent Madness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Remember, Big Lent is watching...
Today, we head up to the Great White North of Canada to meet Hannah Grier Coome and back down to Philadelphia to encounter the pioneering ministry of Richard Allen.
Yesterday, in addition to the nail biting Biblical matchup, we offered everyone a rare glimpse behind the Purple Curtain that is the Supreme Executive Committee. In case you missed it, you can catch up here.
Hannah Grier Coome
Hannah Grier Coome was born October 28, 1837, to the Rev. John Grier and Eliza Geddes in Carrying Place, Upper Canada, and is known as the founder of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine in the Anglican Church of Canada.
With her father serving as rector of an Anglican congregation, Hannah had ties to the church from the beginning of her life. On July 23, 1859, Hannah married Charles Horace Coome, a civil engineer working on the railroad. When his contract was complete, he took Hannah back to his native country of England. There, Hannah was influenced by the Oxford Movement and the local Community of St. Mary the Virgin. Hannah was immediately drawn to their works of service and their strong commitment to the mission of Christ’s church in the world.
While living in England, Hannah became pregnant but lost what would be her only child after a dangerous fall. Following a lengthy convalescence, Hannah and Charles left England and ended up in Chicago, Illinois, where her husband died a year later. Hannah returned to Toronto and connected with a group of devout Christians who felt the need to establish a monastic community for women. This group of men and women began working together to raise funds and find a permanent location to establish the sisterhood. Hannah left for upstate New York to train at the Community of Saint Mary in order to gain the education she needed to lead the order.
Sister Hannah returned to Toronto in 1884 to lead the newly founded Sisters of St. John the Divine (SSJD). The sisters were called to serve as nurses to soldiers in the Northwest Rebellion and returned to Toronto to grow the ministry; the Sisters of St. John the Divine continues to this day as a thriving monastic community.
Mother Hannah died on February 9, 1921, on an Ash Wednesday surrounded by her family of sisters. The order she founded lays claim to sister houses (past and present) in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Toronto, British Columbia, and Alberta. The sisterhood is known for training nurses, providing rehabilitative care, opening hospitals, providing education and shelter, and care for the elderly. SSJD serves both urban and rural areas of Canada and founded St. John’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto.
Collect for Hannah Grier Coome
Almighty God, you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses: Grant that we, encouraged by the good example of your servant Hannah, may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at last we may with her attain to your eternal joy; through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Richard Allen
Many Episcopalians have heard the name Absalom Jones; however, few know of Richard Allen, Jones’s Methodist counterpart and co-conspirator for racial justice.
Born as an enslaved man, Allen and his family were sold to a man who owned a plantation in Delaware. The plantation owner was convinced by a Methodist preacher that slavery was sinful and eventually offered his slaves the opportunity to buy their freedom, which Allen did in 1780, changing his name from “Negro Richard” to “Richard Allen.”
Credentialed as a Methodist minister in 1784, Allen eventually moved to Philadelphia to minister to the burgeoning population of free blacks. He became a minister at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church but was relegated to early morning services for black congregants. This segregation was a constant source of tension between the white and black congregations of the church. While at St. George’s, Allen met Absalom Jones, another minister at the church, and the two founded the Free African Society.
In 1787, Allen, Jones, and other black worshipers were pulled from their knees during prayer, and the entire black congregation walked out, vowing never to return. While Jones went on to become an Episcopal priest and lead the Free African Society toward affiliation with the Episcopal Church, Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church for those who wanted to continue in the Methodist tradition. Originally, the church operated out of a blacksmith shop and had to rely on white pastors for oversight and sacramental functions, but Allen was eventually ordained as a Methodist minister in 1799; in 1816, four other churches joined with what was then Bethel AME Church to establish the African Methodist Episcopal Church as the first independent black Christian denomination. Allen was elected as the first bishop, a ministry he served until his death in 1831.
In addition to making history as a religious protestor and founder and first bishop of the first independent black Christian denomination, Allen and his wife Sarah also operated a station on the Underground Railroad.
Collect for Richard Allen
Loving God, who makes us all your children by adoption in Jesus Christ: May we, following the example of your servant Richard Allen, proclaim liberty to all who are enslaved and captive in this world; through Jesus Christ, Savior of all, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Marcus Halley
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203 comments on “Hannah Grier Coome vs. Richard Allen”
This is the kind of match-up that causes me to really examine my own biases, known and unknown, intentional and subconscious - Anglican v. non-Anglican, contemplative v. active (though Hannah was an active contemplative), monastic v. parochial, male v. female, and yes, person of color v. European ancestry. While I've voted, it's something I will reflect on for the rest of the day, and I won't be unhappy with either moving forward. They are both commemorated, so both have something to offer us and teach us! Most importantly, I hope I will learn from both of them.
Oh, that's lovely, Sister Elizabeth!
LIKE. Thanks, Sister Elizabeth. I'm casting my vote for Mother Hannah in honor of my Canadian biological mother, Isabelle!
Well said - may we each examine our hearts in like manner and reflect and learn from each of these precious saints!
Dirk, I am enjoying your comments; they have given me something to ponder all day. Thank you!
Ahh, there is the real meaning in Lent Madness! I will follow your example and do the same.
Hi Dirk.
I'd planned on oting for Richard. I kew him. Hannah I didn't but reading Hannah's write-up I had no choice. I am blessed to work at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine soooo Hannah You Go Girl!
This has been a tough day — I planned on VOTING for Richard. I KNEW him, etc.
Hi, Dirk. I would argue that contemplative vs. active is a false dichotomy. I am learning that many if not most contemplatives by their seeing God in everyone and everything feel drawn to activism. Once you see God in your neighbor or in nature, you are pained by their pain or harmed by their harm and want to do all you can to help or change the situation.
If you're talking about desert monks or anchorite nuns, their activism may be limited, but modern contemplatives such as Thomas Merton and Thích Nhất Hạnh have done a lot to change the world.
But I know what you mean.
Thank you for this, and I totally agree. I wrestled with that!
I voted for Hannah. The idea of germinating and growing an order of women in Canada, a beautiful field of service, is too charming to resist. I cannot help but see that as a type of women's empowerment, through organization and service. An Anglican house of women would be a powerful force for good. Hosannah Hannah.
I kept thinking of "Call the Midwife" and sure enough, the Community of St John the Divine in England is indeed the inspiration for the book and the series. The Sisterhood of St John the Divine in Canada "has been active in liturgical renewal and unequivocal in its acceptance of the Book of Alternative Services" (Wikipedia). I must go visit St John's House in Victoria, BC. The women will be very distinctive; they wear bright blue habits!
I'm glad to know that habit is blue; it looked like Victorian funereal habiliment! Blue is much better, I think.
If I’d known about “Call the Midwife” I definitely would have voted for Hannah. This is what comes of voting early, before the additional information starts to flow.
But if you wait too late, then few people will come back to engage with your comments! 🙁
I'm thinking it's well past time for the admins to generate Lent Madness 2.0 with more robust software. This old WordPress jalopy is definitely clanking and dripping oil and throwing rods right and left. The laity have been demanding "like" buttons for--like--forever. And we need textboxes that auto-populate (they did up until this year), and a system of alerts to know whom to respond to in order to stimulate discussion. Also what is this font size? 3? Is reading through the pious commentary to become a method of self-mortification during Lent? I'm agin' it! I vote for a technological upgrade for next year. Perhaps dedicate all the proceeds of the Lentorium to an ad hoc committee with tech support to come up with a new and improved software package for next year. This is social media as it should be. When the saints come marching in, they need to find vibrant, user-friendly discussion threads!
Hear, hear, St Celia! Surely the great and powerful SEC can make these things happen! Whatever encourages conversation should be done!
Toughest choice yet for me, still will vote for Hannah as I was until now unaware of her brave choice.
I guess it wouldn’t be Lent “Madness” if it were easy! Both Hannah and Richard are worthy of votes, but how do I decide to cast mine? Btw, the songs and poems are wonderful and put each candidates’ qualities/accomplishments in perspective. Thank you to all those creative writers (I especially love the show tunes!)
Hannah and Richard took their ‘adversity’, Hannah’s being female with the loss of both infant and husband, and Richard’s being African American in the 18th century, and used that to energize them into performing good works for their faith. They BOTH are deserving to move on to the next level! Such a quandary!
What a conundrum! Who to choose? I voted for Hannah because I also lost a child.
Very sorry for your loss.
Hannah gets my vote today. She might have become victim to self pity given the loss of her child and her husband, but she chose a life of service to others and established a powerful network of devout people dedicated to training nurses, providing rehabilitative care, opening hospitals, providing education and shelter, and care for the elderly. A life of service to others gets Hannah my vote.
It's Hannah for me: prayer, education, including the latest medical diagnostic technology at the time (x-ray), expert care of the sick. She was a Strong Woman indeed, strong in her love of God and of neighbor, and of course, determined!
Hannah founded a religious order, but Richard founded a whole church. An absurd (and maybe typically male) basis for a vote, but the alternative would have been a coin toss.
SPOILER ALERT
After voting I looked at the current results and was surprised. Sarah doesn’t deserve to be down by so much. I’d reverse my vote if I could.
Tough choice today - both inspiring saints - but I went with Hannah because she founded an order that cares for the elderly and provides shelter. Plus she overcame great grief (losing an only child and a husband) to do great good in the world for the glory of God.
Hard choice, both such worthy candidates, but I had to go with Hannah. Fellow Canadian, plus a big fan of the SSJD!
Most fitting that Anna Fitch Courie wrote about a nurse. Good job.
Delighted to make the acquaintance of two inspiring saints. My vote goes to Richard Allen who knew great injustice yet strived for good, took great risks to help others, and for his great faithfulness.
Here in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, I honor the witness and ministry of both Absalom Jones and his colleague Richard Allen; Richard gets my vote. But I also served in New York for several years, and must point out to Hannah's biographer that even back in the 19th century, Peekskill, in Westchester County, where Hannah sojourned with the Community of St. Mary, was not in upstate New York! #AManhattanitesViewOfTheWorld
Voted for Richard Allen, though Hannah was quite compelling. We are also enjoying the limericks, poems, musical takeoffs, and hymns along the way. They help lighten the load of choosing between two very worthy folks.
A Canadian! Hurray for the SSJD - may their work long continue - prefer to vote for active service. Their retreats and spiritual development for women who are seeking, enhancing or developing their faith lives are well known in Canada - especially the Companions program. Such ongoing richness and vitality - a living faith!
Here in the southern US, AME churches are scattered across fields and urban street corners throughout. I'm very impressed to have learned that Richard Allen is the reason! And even though I desperately wanted to be a nun as a child, and even though my heart goes out to Hannah for losing both her child and her husband, I'm voting for Richard for overcoming so many obstacles to start the AME.
I was crushed to read that Allen's plantation owner had a conversion experience to free his slaves, but only if they paid him for it. Nevertheless, Richard persisted. and housed a station on the Underground Railroad to boot!
Proud to have been raised in the AME church. Team Allen Richard all the way. “God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Holy Spirit our Comforter, Humankind our Family”. AME motto
The songs have enhanced the site. Hannah for her rehab committment.
Richard Allen's story is certainly worthy of a vote, but as a patriotic Ontarian Anglican I have to cast mine for Hannah Grier Coome. As a sidebar, I must comment on how much I appreciate the many informative and insightful comments that are posted on Lent Madness. This is my first year as a Lent Madder, and I regret missing the previous nine.
The Rev. Allen for me -- what courage in the face of so much racism. And my vote is also in honor of the struggles facing the US Methodist Church today -- may God's love for all prevail.
I voted for Mother Hannah, as the founder of the first religious order for women in North America that welcomed sisters of colour when they were not allowed to join any of the US communities.
Where is Oliver?? Anyone know?
I'm missing you!
And Pailet, seven years old and voting on the first day! Ou est Pailet?
Richard Allen a true Hero for all times! He endured the degradation of slavery and than being Free endured the inequality in trying to have a life!
Richard never gave up on his personal aspirations. Richard remained true and walked the talk of Jesus Christ. Amen
This is a tough one, but as a Canadian I have to vote for Hannah!
Scott and Tim, you must compile a Lent Madness hymnal from the best of the commenters -- truly inspired this year.
I voted for Hannah today. Love them both, but a good friend of mine is an Episcopal nun, and as the descendant of railroaders, I liked that connection as well.
I like the way Allen maintained a spiritual path throughout the ordeals. Working on the Underground Railroad was far preferable to send freedmen to Canada because of the Black Codes of many Northern States that forbade free blacks to live there, than the violence which many abolishionists were advocating and some initiating in the South
such as Lysander Spooner and others.
First of all, I cannot believe James the Greater was defeated ! He always seemed to get a bad rap anyways.
I am reading The Invention of Wings, a novel about slavery in the early 1800s.
Such atrocities did occur to these poor black families, and one cannot even conceive of the mindset of slavery.
I voted for Rev. Allen
I Voted for Mother Hannah. She visited my mother on her death bed in September 1987. I put Hanna's picture up at the foot of the bed and my mother's eyes lit up. I know she came to take my mother to heaven.
Having been schooled by the Sisters of St. Mary at St. Mary’s in Peekskill, New York, Hannah gets my vote.