Blessed feasts of blessed martyrs, holy women, holy men,
with affection’s recollections greet we your return again.
Worthy deeds they wrought, and wonders, worthy of the Name they bore;
we, with meetest praise and sweetest, honor them for evermore.
– Twelfth century Latin text, translated John Mason Neale #238, The Hymnal 1982
Throughout the year, The Episcopal Church celebrates women and men, both ancient and contemporary, that have left a spiritual mark on the world.
We will highlight one of these saints each week, and you can read more about them in the posts below. You can also explore on your own, using the resource Lesser Feasts and Fasts.
Vida Dutton Scudder
Vida Scudder was involved in social change inside and outside of the Episcopal Church. Most gracious God, you sent your beloved Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Raise up in your church witnesses who, after the example of your...
St. Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet, and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty, he became a beggar and itinerant preacher. Most high,...
Deaconess Anna Alexander
Anna Ellison Butler Alexander (1865-1947) was born to recently emancipated slaves on Butler Plantation in MacIntosh County, Georgia. She was the first (and only) African-American set aside as a deaconess in the Episcopal Church in 1907. She founded Good Shepherd...
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen is a Doctor of the Church. She was also a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, and German Benedictine abbess. Hildegard quickly became recognized for her immense knowledge of all things faithful, music and natural science, with...
Alexander Crummell
Alexander Crummell settled in Washington, D.C. in 1873 and became “missionary at large to the colored people.” He focused on founding and strengthening urban black congregations that would provide worship, education, and social services for their communities. In 1883...
Meet the Saints – Constance and her companions
Constance and Her Companions - also known as the Martyrs of Memphis - devoted themselves to helping the sick and suffering during a deadly 19th-Century yellow fever outbreak in Memphis, Tennessee. In doing so, they lost their lives to the very disease they were trying...