Thoughts on the Life of Henry Robert Percival, Priest, by Robert Ritchie (1903)

To know what is in every man’s heart, and so to be able to judge him, is a Divine prerogative which is extended to none but to the Son of Man. We read that oh a memorable occasion, when the sons of Zebedee, with their mother, had made a request of our Lord, the remainder of the Twelve were moved with indignation against the two brethren. Nevertheless, although from a worldly point of view their indignation would seem reasonable, they were not justified by the Master; rather, they were included in the correction which He administered. Both the two and the ten were thinking wrongly and about a forbidden subject. So it is when we attempt to judge one another.

When therefore we come, to review the life of one whom God has called put of this world we are not to be faulted for insincerity if we have nothing to utter but praise. We are not capable of estimating his character justly. We are liable to think there were faults when there were none. We are sure to be blind both to failings and to excellences. But we are not denied the great privilege of looking upon the magnificent gifts of God’s grace to His servant departed. We can rejoice greatly in the glories that are so revealed to us, and draw comfort and admonition to ourselves from what we do see.

In this spirit, not trying to be fair, but to be appreciative, we think of the life of our brother, who has gone to his rest.

Henry Robert Percival was born on the thirtieth of April, 1854. He was the son of Thomas Cuthbert and Elizabeth Percival, of old Philadelphia families. He was brought up religiously in the sound and godly teaching of the Church. From very early childhood the idea of serving God in the priesthood was instilled into him and embraced by his mind with enthusiasm. Very delicate bodily health might have seemed an obstacle, but happily it was not allowed to prevail. He wept to school at the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, and from there to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1872, at the early age of eighteen,. He took a post-graduate course in Latin with Professor Francis A. Jackson, and in due time was made Master of Arts. As he did not reach, the canonical age for the priesthood until six years after his graduation, there was time for a journey in Germany, Italy, France and England during the years 1874. and 1875.

It will be well understood by those who knew him that this was no idle holiday, but that his mind was then stored with treasures upon which he drew throughout his life. Ardently, with keen delight and most intelligent discrimination, be fed upon what was excellent in art, architecture and ecclesiastical tradition.

Returning to this country, he became a candidate for Orders in the Diocese of New York. His health precluding a residence away from home, he pursued his studies, privately, under the direction of Dr. Davies, now Bishop of Michigan, Dr. Hoffman, late Dean of the General Theological Seminary, and Dr. James W. Robins, then Headmaster of the Episcopal Academy. He passed his canonical examinations in the Diocese of New York and was ordained Deacon in 1877 and Priest in 1878, by Bishop Horatio Potter.

His first cure was the Parish of Grace Church, Merchantville, New Jersey. After a short time there he was associated with the Rev. G. Woolsey Hodge, at Christ Church Chapel, Philadelphia. But his chief pastoral work began in 1881 when he became Rector of the Church of the Evangelists, Philadelphia. In the early part of this incumbency there were oppositions and difficulties of a distressing nature arising from the strong and bitter Protestant feeling of some members of the parish. These people naturally felt that the sympathy of the majority of the Diocese and of its rulers was with them rather than with the young rector who was imbued with an earnest zeal for the true and ancient doctrines of Christianity. They therefore proceeded to great lengths, in litigation and in yet more questionable ways to oust the priest who had been duly chosen and appointed.

Dr. Percival in these trying times conducted himself with singular wisdom, discretion and charity. He held back nothing of the truth, but was careful to insist upon nothing that was not clearly essential. With dignity and gentleness he strove to persuade those who opposed themselves, and in fact converted not a few of them who with their children have continued to be faithful Catholics.

Dr. Percival’s conduct towards the bishop is in contrast to much that we have seen in other parishes. From the first he assured Bishop Stevens that any features of ceremonial to which he objected, if not clearly required by the Prayer Book or not essential, would be excluded from the services in the Church of the Evangelists. Thus for seven years there were no vestments, lights, nor incense. The Daily Sacrifice was offered and confessions were heard by a priest wearing a surplice and black scarf. Thus an example of obedience to authority was given which was perhaps more valuable than the lessons derived from a full presentment of the lawful external order.

It does not follow that such a course is best in all cases; but in this instance the sober sincerity and self-denial of the priest were made manifest, and the people were taught, in a very telling way, the relative proportion of obedience and mere ceremonial. When the time came, seven years afterwards, that obedience no longer required the sacrifice, it was announced, on the Sunday preceding All Saints’ Day, that on that Feast the lawful vestments and ornaments would be restored (not introduced) in the Church of the Evangelists. Dr. Percival, was a firm adherent to the law of the Church. He used such things because they were rightful, not because they were pleasing. And he knew the law better than most.

The things for which a faithful priest most deeply feels that he is responsible, the things of pastoral care, are not largely brought into general notice. His good work in the care of souls is done as it were, in secret. But enough is known of Dr. Percival’s pastoral labours to move us to great admiration and thankfulness. While his health permitted he was diligent in season and out of season. His visits, especially to the poor, were full of grace and kindness. “How he cheers me!” was the exclamation of one poor woman. Many rejoiced in the sweetness of his care over them. It was not his custom to give much money, but counsel, uplifting sympathy and tenderness.

In teaching, for which he had eminent gifts, he was most conscientious and successful. There were wonderful Friday night instructions, which were catechetical, from which many obtained a firm grasp of the truth. Daily Mass was the custom from the beginning of his incumbency, and Dr. Percival himself never failed to celebrate every morning except when physical conditions made it impossible. In his late years of increasing weakness and torture from disease, he had a chapel and an altar in his country home at Devon, duly licensed by the Bishop, where he stood morning by morning before the Lord and rejoiced in the performance of this chief priestly duty. 

Space would fail the writer to tell of the unproclaimed and loving, ingenious pastoral works which in the sight of Heaven adorned his life. We can only get hints and see a suggestive portion of the whole. He never thought he had done enough. He could not abandon his poor parishioners even when they were so unfaithful that it seemed useless to strive longer with them. In these things, as in all departments of his life he lived very near to the Good Shepherd.

The faithful pastoral work we have been contemplating was by no means all. As a scholar, in all manner of sacred learning, Dr. Percival excelled. Men of all schools and parties testify to this. There is only one voice. His great library he collected in his earlier years, constantly adding to it. and constantly both using it and allowing and encouraging the use of it by brother clergymen who were not so endowed. Five books from his pen give evidence of his diligence in study and his great ability. His firm faith in the Catholicity of the American Church is shown in these works, and the evidential value of that conviction lies in the fact, which his books also show, that he had a sound and well-founded knowledge of Catholicity. He knew whereof he wrote. The Doctrine of the Episcopal Church was followed by The Glories of the Episcopal Church. There is also a very useful Digest of Theology. These compendious handbooks were followed by a treatise on The Invocation of Saints, concerning which I will only say that it is as sound as it is fascinating, and that it is hard to understand how any one who will read it, with a mind that is open at all, can thereafter be willing to shut himself out from the privilege of asking for the intercessions of the Blessed. Dr. Percival’s last book was Vol. XIV of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, The Seven Ecumenical Councils. In this, his work of editing, with notes, has been very highly praised.

These five books do not begin to comprise all Dr. Percival’s writings. There were many magazine articles; notably a series communicated to the American Church Review on Canon Law, an irenical article in the Nineteenth Century, a number of unsigned articles, privately printed, on the Revision of the Prayer Book, a series of articles in The Churchman on Swedish Orders, which were afterwards put into pamphlet form, many Commentaries and Meditations, unsigned communications to The Guardian on the Clementine Liturgy, an Introduction, which is, perhaps, the most valuable part of the volume published by the Clerical Union under the title of Catholic Papers. There are also many manuscripts which have not yet seen the light, from which, it is to be hoped, we shall hear. He was on the editorial staff of Catholic Champion during its whole course, and a frequent contributor to other Church papers and magazines. He was always busy in his Master’s work except when his physical sufferings forbade. Nashotah Seminary conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, and never has it been more worthily bestowed.

Dr. Percival’s work was in great part, though by no means entirely, polemical, but the occasions were very rare in which he even unwittingly transgressed the line of courtesy, and whenever he was thought to have done so, he was most ready and even eager to make amends or to explain. He was, in the best sense, a broad-minded man, and all that he did and said and wrote was in the spirit of charity. This was realized by those who differed from him, and, of course, great persuasive power was thus added to all his contention.

The clergy; in large numbers, from bishops and heads of religious communities to the humblest fledgling priest, were enlightened, encouraged, consoled and strengthened by intercourse with this wonderful man. His beautiful and ever ready hospitality, in which his mother and sister most lovingly took part, made his home a haven for many priests, who will never forget the help and comfort bestowed on them in the house of this man whose body was so feeble, but whose heart and spirit were so mighty.

Endowed with a moderate fortune, Dr. Percival has left an example of liberality in many gifts to sacred uses; He also doubtless inspired others to join him in thoughtful and devout offering of their substance. It is impossible to give details, but it could not be hid that his was the moving spirit in the erection of two noble churches—the new Church of the Evangelists and St. Elisabeth’s—and that by his zeal and taste they were enriched with treasures of art. He was largely instrumental in the rearing and perfecting of the Church of St. John Chrysostom, and other parishes in their need were strongly aided by his exertions and his influence. It is impossible to say how many young men were guided and largely formed by him and led or assisted in many ways into the sacred priesthood.

In an important sense he was the founder of the admirable Congregation of the Companions of the Holy Saviour. Reflection upon St. Mark iii, 14, “He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach,” kindled the first spark of the fire of love that animates that useful and justly venerated religious body. Dr. Percival devoted himself in every way to its growth and welfare except that, because of his illness, he could not himself become a member. He would have been glad to do so, but, after careful consideration, was convinced that it must not be. The community residing at St. Elisabeth’s, Philadelphia, has affiliated priests in other places numbering about thirty. Its organization is chiefly pastoral and missionary. Its motto is “Ut essent cum Illo,” and as long as the sweet and ardent spirit of Dr. Percival remains with them they will be found faithful Companions of the Saviour.

The imperfect digestion, which, with many attendant ills, had been Dr. Percival’s drawback and torment, seemed increasingly to sap his strength of late years. For a year previous to his death this was especially remarked. Even the power of using his magnificent mind and acquirements seemed, to some extent, to be impaired. When; in the early summer, he left his city house to go to Devon, he expressed his own conviction that he would never return. And so it was. He was permitted to lay down his burden in peace on the afternoon of a beautiful day, September 22d, 1903, in his forty-ninth year. Is it not a strange and wonderful proof of God’s goodness that in these modern days, in the midst of materialism and worldliness and self-seeking, we have seen the shining light of a man whose natural brilliancy was enlightened by spiritual strength, his learning made glorious by the light of faith, his natural grace made the handmaid of an evangelical and soul-winning brotherly love, his earthly possessions turned into heavenly treasures, and even his bodily ills made the fuel of high spiritual attainments?

—Holy Cross Magazine (West Park, New York), November, 1903, pp. 37-40.

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How to Receive Communion in the Polish National Catholic Church (1954)

The Polish National Catholic Church is the only Church in the United States with which the Episcopal Church is in communion. Not only may Episcopalians receive Communion at its altars, but they should do so if this Church is available to them and their own is not.

But apart from such unusual circumstances, Episcopalians will naturally want to acquaint themselves with the members and the worship of a Church with which they enjoy intercommunion and to make its members feel at home when they attend services of the Episcopal Church. It is toward the furtherance of such mutual fellowship that a special issue of The Living Church will carry a complete list of Polish National Catholic parishes in America, with their street addresses and the names of their pastors.

The second Sunday in March is kept in the Polish National Catholic Church as “Polish National Catholic Sunday,” for it was on March 14, 1897 that this part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church was organized. An informative and interesting account of the history, doctrine, worship, and life of the Polish National Catholic Church was published last year in England and this year made available in America. (The Polish National Catholic Church in America and Poland, by Theodore Andrews, Macmillan. Pp. ix, 117, $2.50)

The Polish National Catholic Church is in communion with the European Old Catholics of the see of Utrecht; and it is the only body in America claiming the classification of Old Catholic that is in communion with Utrecht—from which, as a matter of fact, it received its episcopal succession. The Anglican Communion throughout the world is in communion with the see of Utrecht, but intercommunion between the Episcopal Church and the Polish National Catholic Church was not completed until 1946, although relations had been friendly.

In round numbers, the Polish National Catholic Church has an estimated 250,000 communicants in North America, mostly in the United States but including a few places in Canada. It has – or did have – about the same communicant strength in Poland, where it started a mission some years ago. But its members in that country, presumably now without a bishop, are at present cut off from communication with their American brethren.

The communicant strength of the PNC Church is therefore roughly that of the Episcopal Church in 1870, but of course it has not been a going concern nearly as long as Anglicanism in America had been by 1870. It does not have as many parishes or clergy as the Episcopal Church had in 1870: on the other hand, the average communicant strength of PNC parishes is considerably larger than that of the Episcopal Church today.

The Polish National Catholic Church is organized into four dioceses in America—the Eastern or New England Diocese, the Central Diocese, the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese, and the Western Diocese. Elsewhere in the U.S. the P.N.C. Church is not yet at work.

Unlike dioceses of the Episcopal Church, these are not strictly defined geographical areas, but are rather groupings of parishes under one bishop. The parishes in Florida, for example, come under the Western Diocese simply because they were started by it. Similarly, the Western and Buffalo-Pittsburgh dioceses contain Canadian congregations.

PNC churches look very much like Roman churches. Services are in Polish and English, except for a few affiliated congregations of other national backgrounds, which have been allowed to retain the languages to which they were accustomed. Preaching is sometimes in English, sometimes in Polish; sometimes there is a sermon in both languages at the same service.

Holy Communion, in Polish National Catholic churches, is given on the tongue in the form of the bread only. It is received after fasting, and only after a form of general confession, including absolution, similar to that of the Book of Common Prayer (“Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins,” etc.) But in the Polish National Catholic Church the general confession comes just before the Mass and includes a silent period for mental recollection and acknowledgment of one’s sins to God. It is used as a matter of course on certain Sundays (like the first in the month), but is available on request of intending communicants at any Mass.

Thus the Episcopalian who wishes to make his communion in a Polish National Catholic Church should notify the priest, either the day before or a half hour or so before mass, so that he may join in the PNC form of general confession. This general confession is to be distinguished from sacramental confession (with the naming of one’s sins to the priest), which is also provided for in the PNC Church, though it is compulsory only for children. The general confession, required by the PNC Church of all intending communicants, would seem simply to point up the implications of the General Confession in the Book of Common Prayer.

Unpaginated pamphlet. Milwaukee: The Living Church, 1954.

Why A Minister Resigned (1884)

Baltimore, Md.—There is a stir in Protestant Episcopal Church circles here. Ritualistic troubles in the diocese are revived by the Rev. Nelson Ayres resigning from the rectorship of the Church of Our Savior, because the congregation objected to his High Church views. He has been Rector of the church about 18 months, and has gradually been introducing forms and ceremonies of a ritualist or Romish character. He is a prominent clergyman, and personally was popular with his congregation, but his extreme ritualistic practices caused many members to leave the church. The opposition grew against him, and a few Sundays ago he preached a sermon strongly favoring the Roman Catholic view of purgatory, which brought matters to a climax. Before resigning, he appealed to the congregation to stand by him, that he was right, but finding that the majority were against his views he resigned in accordance with their wish. Mr. Ayres will, no doubt, connect himself with one of the ritualistic churches here, or possibly become a Catholic.^[1]

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^[1] The New York Times, February 27, 1884

The “Pro-Roman” Position, by Charles Chapman Grafton (1908)

To the Editor of The Living Church:^[1]

WE have read with much sympathy the article in your late issue in behalf of pro-Romanism. We believe those who agree with it are loyal Churchmen and have a right to a place amongst us. Our heart’s desire is that we Catholics, who are a feeble folk and small in number, shall keep in loving union. We have grown together by years of suffering and struggle and must not let questions which are largely academical divide us into factions.

Will my pro-Roman friends give one who for sixty years has been in the fore-front of the battle a kindly hearing? God, in His good providence, has placed us here in this portion of His vineyard with a special work to do in reviving in the Church its Catholic heritage and preparing souls for their exaltation into the kingdom of Glory. This is our great mission, and if I may so say, the terminus ad quem of the Catholic movement.

We have all of us, at times, sorrowed with our Lord over the condition of a divided Christendom and desire to see its reunion. But we must be careful in our spiritual life not to make of reunion an idol, nor, by determining the way in which it might be brought, to dictate seemingly to Almighty God. The Church is Christ’s Church and not ours, and as He can make all things work together for good, even the sins of men, so He can the division of Christendom. Christ prayed both for internal unity and the outward union of His Church, and His prayer was accomplished. The Apostolic Church became one by unity of a divine life sacramentally given that cannot be broken; also for a thousand years it was, with some disorders, practically united. Through the sins of men, Christian fellowship has been interrupted, but whether it is God’s will that it should be reunited by restoring inter-communion, or otherwise, no one can affirm. He did not pray or promise that if union was once lost it should ever be restored. He did not bring the Jewish nation together after its disruption, and we cannot affirm that it is God’s will to do so to the Christian Church. So far as God’s will is made known to us in Holy Scripture it does not look like it. For the prophecies concerning the Church foretell its outward rending. The gates of hell will not prevail against it, but it is not said they shall not divide it. While the inner garment of Christ was preserved in its entirety, the outward garment was rent in pieces. While it was prophesied that no bone of His body should be broken, and thus unity should be preserved, it was also written that all His bones should be “out of joint.” The gospel ship in which salvation was promised nevertheless outwardly goes to pieces, though all in it are saved. In the latter days we know that both sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall fall, and “when Christ cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”

We cannot, therefore, say but that it is the will of His good pleasure to let the divisions existing remain and to work through each to the gathering in of the predestinated number of the elect. We must, therefore, not make an idol of any scheme or theory or plan of our own concerning the Church’s earthly future, for doing so only brings distress and unsettlement of mind; but we must learn to rest securely in His dear will, though it is a hidden will of God.

If, indeed, it is His purpose to reunite divided Christendom, then is it not more likely that the reunion should begin by an establishment of our recognition by the East? We are but very slightly separated from the East in doctrine, and more like the Orthodox Churches there than we are now in agreement with Rome. From Rome we differ in our form of Church government, having for our final authority a General Council, and, with the East, rejecting the monarchial idea of the Papacy. Our rule of faith differs from that of Rome, which involves a belief in the Papal infallibility, and so does that of the East. We reject together the dogmas of Papal infallibility and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. While agreeing with the East in allowing a married clergy, we differ from Rome in this and its discipline, give with the East the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds, and have the services in a tongue understood by the people. Is it not rather, then, through the East that union should first come, if reunion is the will of God’s good pleasure?

Of course we recognize that there is a difference between ourselves and our pro-Roman friends in regard to the Papacy. We believe that there is a difference between the mediaeval and modern monarchical Papal claims and the precedence of honor and dignity of the early ages, While some of our pro-Roman friends give a minimizing interpretation to the Vatican decrees, we must, as serious thinkers and practical men, take the interpretation of them as given by accredited authorities. According to Roman authorities the Pope is “the source and fountain of all jurisdiction.” The appointment of all Bishops is claimed by him. He is the source of all legislation, so that the Church without him can do nothing. He is, in a word, the absolute monarch of the Church, and apart from general councils, his utterances, when he speaks ex cathedra, are infallible. Along with the Eastern Church We believe this claim to supremacy is largely the outcome of a human spirit and the great cause of the divisions of Christendom.

Your correspondent refers to the statements of Harnack and Dr. Briggs concerning the Papacy, but the environment of neither has been such as to give them a spiritual insight into the gospel system or make them authorities for Churchmen. We possess no such Biblical learning as either of these scholars, but we venture humbly to state that we know more about the relations of the blessed apostles, including St. Peter, than either of them. We have stated the discoveries the Holy Spirit enabled us to make in our book, Christian and Catholic, which we believe if our friends will seriously consider they will abandon their view that the modern monarchical Papacy is entitled to any divine authority.

How in this condition of things can union be ever brought about? Certainly not by any arrangement or scheme of theologians. No joining together in such wise as diplomats might arrange an alliance or union of nationalities would result in any spiritual benefit to either party or to the world. A restoration of Christian fellowship to be spiritually effective must be brought about by the action of the Holy Ghost leading all parties of the Church to repentance for their own sins and those of their forefathers. If Peter is to strengthen his brethren he must first of all be converted.

Catholicity and the Papacy are two distinct things. One is of God, the other largely of man. Until the Papacy is repented of and given up, reunion with Rome is impossible; and if this is impossible, so, too, reunion with Rome is. Our pro-Roman friends, we fear, will not agree with this, and holding what they do, these courses of action are those apparently open to them:

First, believing in the divine authority of the Papacy, they might individually submit to it.

Secondly, holding that their orders, in which they believe, prevent this, then to work for reunion with Rome by making our Church as like her as possible; and to show their sincerity in the importance of this, for those who are married to separate themselves from their wives.

Thirdly, if this plan involves an immoral rejection of obligations they have assumed, then to apply for some sort of a Uniat Church, which, while it would involve the desertion of their posts of duty and assumption of the responsibility of the harm done to souls, and involve a reordination and create another scheme, would, on the other hand, allow of the retaining of their wives and give them the gratification of a smug little Church all by themselves with the academical delight of using King Edward the Sixth’s liturgy.

Or, lastly, they might give up their own wills and submit to God’s will, who can overrule the divisions of Christendom to His own ends of gathering in the predestinated number of the elect. Then would they be at peace in their own souls, and would find that they could work best for the union of Christendom, if that was God’s will, by staying where they are and helping on the good, work of developing our own Church’s Catholicity.

We shall do our best work for reunion by standing firmly for the ancient Catholic faith as set forth by the Ecumenical Councils, and by working for the renewal amongst ourselves of a true Catholicity, and cultivating a spirit of charity towards all in our own communion, and a greater trust in God.

C. C. Fond du Lac.
Baltimore, Feb. 11, 1908.

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^[1] The Living Church, February 22, 1908, pp. 567-568.

Greek Liturgy Celebrated in a Church of the Anglo-American Communion (1865)

We are indebted to the Guardian for the following well condensed report, taken, in the main, from the New York papers:—

An event which has recently taken place in America, in connection with the movement for the renewal of friendly relations and intercommunion between the Eastern Orthodox and Anglican Churches, deserves something more than a passing notice. If, as appears probable, this step should lead to other and more important results, and if the courtesies interchanged between individual Churchmen should extend to the clergy generally, the service celebrated on the 2nd March, 1865, in Trinity Chapel, New York, will be referred to as an historical incident; for on that day, for the first time in a thousand years, the Sacred Liturgy (or Eucharistic Service) was celebrated in a Western Church by a priest of the Holy Orthodox Communion, and the Creed of Christendom was chanted in English without that Filioque clause which caused the great schism of East and West.

In October last year, Father Agapius Honcharenko, a Slavonian in Russo-Greek orders, monk of Mount Pentelicus, near Athens, was sent by his ecclesiastical superiors to minister to the spiritual wants of the members of the Greek communion in and about New York. The cordial letter of commendation which he took with him from Mr. Hill, the American missionary and English chaplain at Athens, at once obtained for him the sympathy and co-operation of the clergy in the United States; and a school-room was placed at his disposal by the Rector of Trinity, the oldest and most influential parish inAmerica. The Rev. J. Freeman Young, whose recent visit to Russia has done much towards the removal of prejudice and ignorance about the two Churches, made known to the Bishop of New York the wish of Father Agapius publicly to celebrate the Liturgy of the Orthodox Church on the 2nd March, the anniversary of the accession of the Emperor Alexander II.

The letter in which Bishop Potter expresses his ready acquiescence in the suggestion shows how fully he appreciated the opportunity thus afforded for promoting a good under standing between the two Churches. He says:

“Rev. and dear Brother,—In reply to your inquiry respecting a proposed public celebration of the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Orthodox Oriental Church on the2nd day of March (N.S.) next in one of the churches of my diocese, I beg to say that Í have great pleasure in giving m y hearty consent and approbation. In so doing it adds much to my satisfaction that the proposed service is intended to do honour to the anniversary of the accession of His Imperial Majesty Alexander II.,the present Emperor of Russia, who has done so much to promote the true glory and welfare of his own people, and who has so generously encouraged the friendly feeling of Russia towards our country. Such courtesies as the one now proffered, between Churches which have so much in common, it has seemed to me might be very well extended, without prejudging, on either side, any of the questions that may affect their relations with each other. On occasion of the visit of the Russian fleet to the port of New York last year, I took pleasure, as you know, in giving permission, through you, to the rev. the chaplains, to hold any service which they might find desirable, anywhere within the limits of my diocese. The rev. the chaplains of the Russian fleet did not find it necessary to avail themselves of the permission granted them, but it was very grateful to me to hear that the feelings which prompted that trifling act of Christian courtesy were duly appreciated in Russia, and that some of the most venerated of the prelates of the Holy Orthodox Church would have been well pleased had the offer made by me been accepted. On the present occasion I shall be happy if this proffer of one of the churches of my diocese for the proposed public service, shall be accepted here and in Russia as as light token of my fraternal regard for the Church of the nations which our beloved brother, the Priest Agapius, represents.

“I am, my dear Brother, most truly and affectionately yours,

“HORATIO POTTER,
Bishop of New York.
“New York, Feb.4, 1865.”

Episcopal sanction having thus been obtained, it remained with Mr. Young to ensure the complete success of the proposed service, and to render it as perfect and beautiful as possible. Fortunately, he had procured the score of the liturgical music in Russia, and by means of constant practice and careful arrangement of the parts under his own superintendence, he was able to overcome the difficulty which arose from the pronunciation of a strange language. The choir included members of various quartette societies, who volunteered their services from interest in the occasion, learning the responses by the representation of Slavonic sounds in English letters. Mr. Young, also, himself directed the preparation of the Oriental vestments the first ever made in America. The proposed celebration excited very general interest, although all public announcement of it was avoided, and on the morning of the 2nd March TrinityChapel, one of the few really beautiful churches in New York was completely filled. The building, it may be added, is of considerable length, with an hexagonal apsidal chancel, but without side aisles, and is capable of seating 900 or 1000 persons. The sixty or seventy Slavonians and Greeks residing in New York occupied seats at the end of the nave ;near them were more than fifty clergymen of the American Church, while Bishop Southgate, formerly missionary Bishop at Constantinople, the rector and clergy of Trinity parish, together with Dr. Thrall, a member of the Russo-Greek committee, and Dr. McVickar, the oldest presbyter of the diocese of New York, occupied the choir stalls. The chancel was brilliantly lighted by the corona above, two standing candelabra with clustered lights below, and a smaller one on the altar itself. Under the white linen altar-cloth, and upon the stone altar, was a board about two feet square, over which the consecration of the Eucharist was to take place— the rules of the Greek Church for bidding this to be done upon stone. This custom is due to the fact that the cross was of wood. So far do the Orientals carry their aversion to the idea of a carnal sacrifice, that they do not suffer even the books used at the altar to be bound in the skins of animals, or anything made therefrom. Gold, silver, cloth, silk, velvet, or jewelled work may be used, but no kind of leather. Those of the clergy who were present in the chancel were in black gowns, it being the Oriental custom that those only should be vested who take part in the service of the altar.

Father Agapius was clad in a white phænolion, adorned with bands and borders of gold, under which the epitrachelion of crimson, similarly adorned with gold, hung down in front. When he had entered, and made his lowly obeisance at the holy table, the deep silence was first broken by his chanting, in a high tenor voice of great sweetness and purity, the opening of the service in Slavonic, “Blessed be the kingdom of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and forever, even unto ages of ages.” At once the whole congregation rose, as if by instinct, and remained reverently standing throughout the entire service, according to Oriental custom. The well-trained choir of men’s voices responded, and as the solemn service proceeded, the oft-recurring response, Hospode pomelue (Lord have mercy), swelled forth again and again. The Liturgy was that of St. Chrysostom, translated into Slavonic, and the Russian music, which has been in use about two hundred years, is very simple, grave, and sweet. The organ was not used, only vocal music being employed in the Orthodox worship. The Beatitudes were chanted in English, the Trisagion in the original Greek, to a rich and varied harmony; but the “Eje Cheruveme,” or Greek Cherubic Hymn, was the vocal crown of beauty, and each repetition of its exquisite strains gave it a fresh hold upon feeling and upon memory. The following translation of it is from the pen of a well-known English scholar, G. M.:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand,
Ponder nothing earthly-minded—for, with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand.

King of Kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood,
Lord of Lords, in Human Vesture—in the Body and the Blood
He will give to all the Faithful His own Self for Heavenly Food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of Light descendeth from the realms of endless day,
That the Powers of Hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.

At His Feet the six-winged Seraphs Cherubim with sleepless eye
Veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord most High!

But the most thrilling part of the service was the chanting of the Nicene Creed in English, so distinctly that each word was heard throughout the church, and the singing of the phrase, “Who proceedeth from the Father,” showed how easily at least two great branches of the Catholic Church could be reconciled on the old foundations laid by the General Councils. The cloud of incense, which ascended from time to time, added much to the beauty of the ceremony. Before the communion of the priest, the Lord’s Prayer, chanted in English, united the congregation in the act of worship, and the Cherubic Hymn again filled the air with the depths and heights of its swelling harmony. The Liturgy proper was followed by the special service for the day (the accession of the Czar), during which the officiating priest, the clergy, and all the congregation knelt. After the Amen all rose, and the familiar tones of the Gloria in Excelsis, in English, brought this beautiful service to a close. May it prove to be only the beginning of a new era of “peace and good will” among the long-severed branches of the one true Vine! It is stated that the leading motive of Father Agapius in holding this public service was to show his fraternal sympathy and fellowship with the American Church and with the whole Anglican communion , and his desire to aid in bringing about full intercommunion. Nor can we take leave of this affecting service without calling attention to the fact, thus publicly demonstrated, that the common inheritance of all Christendom belongs neither to the one nor to the other communion, but that the Lord’s Prayer, the Glorias, the Beatitudes, the Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and, with the exception of one clause, the whole Nicene Creed, can be thus used in the same tongue, in the same words, and with the same sentiments in the two Churches.

—Frederick George Lee (editor), The Union Review: A Magazine of Catholic Literature and Art (London: J. T. Hayes, 1865), pp. 336-339.

Watering the Stock, by Charles Chapman Grafton (1907)

To the Editor of The Living Church:^[1]

IT is well known that since the Crapsey condemnation, the Radical party has been busy in its endeavor to lower the Church’s standard of doctrine, and make it more comprehensive. They are attached in a degree to the Church’s worship, but feel the strain upon their consciences of being obliged to utter in it statements of doctrine which they do not believe. It is the old story of the Low Churchmen, at the time of the Cummins movement, over again. More astute and clever than the straightforward Evangelicals, they will probably seek their end in the coming General Convention, in a more subtle manner. A meeting, we understand, has lately been held in New York, presided over by the Hon. Seth Low, and encouraged by letters from several Bishops, which considered the best methods of “Liberalizing the Church.” To the worldly and carnal-minded the cry of “liberalizing” will be a popular one. But to old-fashioned, conservative Churchmen of all schools, it will look like a method borrowed from Wall Street, known as “Watering the Stock.”

In favor of the plan, it will be urged that there is a considerable body of men now outside the Church’s organization who would willingly join her if from her doctrines the supernatural could be eliminated, and the Church be brought more into agreement with modern rationalistic, i.e., unbelieving thought.

But this, we may observe, is a mere gold-brick scheme. There is no such body of men desirous of joining the Church, and kept from it by her consistent witness to the Faith once delivered. For any such persons, there are already many organizations of a religious character open and glad to welcome their support, but they do not join them. The only effect upon this body of men would be to make them yet more contented in their present attitude of indifference. Men do not, or should not, join the Church because they like its form and service, but because, having been brought under conviction of sin, and converted, they come into it to find Christ their Saviour. Propositions to liberalize mean parting with some of the Church’s inherited faith, either in respect to her government, or her doctrines, and accepting in place a large amount of variable opinions produced in the theological workshops by the clash of modern thought.

Now the ancient doctrines and practices of the Church have upon them the stamp and signature of the Church in all ages, countries, and times. They are doctrines and practices which have borne the test of nineteen centuries. Their value has been demonstrated by the conversion of millions of people and the lives of saints. We are asked to surrender some portion of this true and good money for a lot of unauthorized “green goods.” It is a “green goods” game, which it will be well for the Church not to take part in.

Another delusive comment pressed, is that if we wish our Church to grow and become the Church of the land, it must be more “liberal.” But certainly the way to develop the real spiritual growth and efficiency of any religious body is not by letting down the bars, and by making matters of indifference of doctrines received from the beginning and held universally in the Church. It is just those bodies that have held more stringently to the Faith, and have more positively taught it, that in this age of unsettlement have drawn the greater number within their fold.

The spiritual growth of our own body depends, not upon liberalizing, i.e., minimizing the Faith, but upon more explicitly avowing our Catholic heritage, apostolic government, and sacramental system of worship.

An important factor in the plan of the liberals to enlarge our membership they overlook. They mistakenly think a number of half-breeds now partly Christian and partly infidel, will be drawn into the Church. But they do not stop to consider how many more they will drive out of this Church. No well instructed Christian Churchman could remain in a Church which, for instance, made formal recognition of the position taken by Professor Allen, i.e., that the Anglican Church has broken with the fourth Ecumenical Council, or any Ecumenical Council! The Church has affirmed again and again she has not done so. But if now the Protestant Episcopal Church takes that position, she breaks the thread of life that binds her to the Church as founded by Christ. She is no longer Catholic. She has committed spiritual suicide. And no loyal Churchman could remain in her communion. To one who might be drawn to her, those who left would be counted by the hundred.

There is, with some, a desire to see all Protestant bodies, as they are called, brought into some one great confederation. It goes along with the American trust-forming business spirit. Its dominant idea is the formation of a big concern. It measures strength by quantity, not quality. It thinks of the Kingdom of God as if it were a mere human-made society, or a combination of societies. It would make the Episcopal Church simply an annex or member of a man-made trust. If such indeed is the course that our Church is to take, our liberal friends cannot avoid adopting for it a new name. They would not, of course, take the title of “American Catholic.” They would want a title which would express the new attitude and the changed quality of the old Episcopal Church. A title we would therefore respectfully suggest for their consideration. Considering the left-handed connection with the sectarians involved and the embodiment of Unitarian principles, the title might well be “The Great American Liberal Morganatic Church.”

When the popular cry of Liberality is raised, it is well for Churchmen to consider that the word “liberal” means to make free with, and we have no right to make free or give away that which is not our own. Now the Faith has been given in trust to the Church. St. Paul’s command to Timothy was in the selection of clergy, to pick out “faithful men;” men, that is, who would be faithful to the Church. In our day, the Church is asked to embark, so to speak, in a speculation for its growth. Promises are made of an increased number of adherents, and of large sums of money, and of increased missionary enterprise. And it is proposed, in order to secure this great, enticing profit, that the Church shall put her hand into the strong-box of her creeds and abstract from that sacred deposit of her Faith some of her most valued possessions. The Church is being thus tempted to betray her trust and commit a crime; a crime worse than that of any embezzlement or defalcation of earthly money. Men who would abhor committing such a crime in respect to funds entrusted to them, think it right to be liberal or “make free with” the things of God.

This attempt to modify the Church’s Catholic position and doctrines breaks her continuity with the past, reduces her thereby into the condition of a sect, and under the specious promise of greater growth and earthly prosperity, it brings before the Christian mind the solemn scene of our Lord’s final temptation. Disguised as an angel of light, Satan proposed to the Master, simply on condition of His acknowledging his authority, to give Him all the kingdoms of the world. There was to be no crucifixion, no opposition on the part of man. It was a Broad Church offer. It had a business-like ring. Undoubtedly Satan could have done what the Radical party cannot do—deliver the goods. But the Kingdom of God was not to be a successful kingdom in the world, or for the world, or even over the world, but was to be built up and prepared for the eternal reign with Christ in glory of those who are dead to the world, and crucified with Christ.

We do not know what the plan of the liberalizing party is. It has been suggested that any legislation respecting the establishment of a Court of Appeals in matters of doctrine will be opposed. So long as none exists, the followers of Crapsey can say the Church has not condemned them. Or if a Court of Appeals must be had to complete our system, then they would have a small one, whom they might influence, composed of a few Bishops, clergy, and laity. Such an one would not be a Churchly one. The only Churchly Court on doctrine should be the House of Bishops. They are elected by the Church and represent her. Their number secures a balanced judgment. They have been especially commissioned by Christ as the guardians of the Faith.

C. C. Fond du Lac.

---

^[1] The Living Church, July 6 , 1907, p. 340-341.

Reminiscences, by Charles Chapman Grafton (1903)

To the Editor of The Living Church: ^[1]

THE Catholic party has in the course of its eventful history made its mistakes. It has, however, never been unwilling to recognize them when kindly pointed out by friend or foe. Our cause has been too great not to be able to bear criticism, and too precious not to be willing to avail ourselves of it.

Having for more than fifty years been closely identified with it in America and England, let me, with the open acknowledgment of my own blunders and inferiority to many of my juniors, give your readers the result of some of my observations and experience.

The Tractarian movement under its earliest leaders was one of notably great learning and holiness. No one could be with such men as Pusey, Keble, Marriott, or Carter but felt he was in the presence of saints. But in its earlier manifestations the movement was largely academical. It touched mostly the intellectual, the scholars, the refined. But it did not reach the masses. Then a day came when an intense missionary spirit was kindled and Catholics began that wonderful work among the poor in the East of London of which Charles Lowder and Mackonochie were such notable leaders. Along with this popular missionary work Ritual began to be more strikingly developed than it had previously been.

There was always from the beginning a class of the Tractarians who devoted themselves to the study of the ancient liturgies, architecture, and ceremonial. The Cambridge-Camden Ecclesiological Society took in this department the lead. Much had been done in the improvement of the interior of the old churches. All Saints’, Margaret Street, had been built and was looked on as a sort of Catholic Mecca. But in the later fifties and early sixties there was a much greater ceremonial development. The common folk could not read the learned treatises which established the continuity of the English Church with the past, or the validity of her orders, or the sacramental life she possessed. It had to be brought home to them by ritual as an object lesson.

And so, based upon the ornaments rubric which stood at the beginning of the office of Morning Prayer, the practical missionaries of that day revived the vestments and lights and ceremonial that the English Church by this rubric claimed as her inheritance. Whenever it was tried along with faithful parish work, and with the deep evangelical spirit of the early pioneers, great marvels were wrought and the English Church began to regain its hold on the masses, especially the poor.

But now came a trial. The Low Church party were held in the grip of their inherited Calvinistic or Puritan theology. They were intense partisans and had succeeded in getting a worldly Prime Minister to fill most of the Bishoprics with Low Churchmen. They saw, and would see, nothing in the Tractarian movement but an approach to Rome. It was undoing the work of the blessed Reformers. It was reestablishing priestcraft and was a retrogression to the Dark Ages. And by inflammatory appeals to the Englishman’s inherited prejudices against Rome they lashed the popular mind into a white heat of hatred and distrust. The poor Tractarians were seeking like Wesley to save souls. They were working for Christ and were trying to develop a higher standard of holiness. They were setting the example in the midst of a worldly age, of entire consecration and self-sacrifice. Their watchword was the Bible and the Prayer Book; the Bible the Word of God, the Prayer Book its interpreter. But it did not matter. The mark of the scarlet woman was on them. So the Bishops thundered opposingly in their charges, and the world’s great organ, the “London Times,” never ceased to rage against them. Under the stress some were driven, as Newman had been before, to Rome. But in the sixties and there along, there were not so many secessions, save of inferior persons and some fashionables whom Manning, the great apostle to the “Genteels,” captivated.

But in the development of their onward ritual movement some of our good men made a grievous tactical blunder. They went on too fast in their ritual development. Mackonochie, to whom all honor belongs for his noble, self-sacrificing life, “felt,” as Canon Woodford, afterward Bishop of Ely, said to me—“the pulse of his congregation but not of the Church. The Church was ready for an advance on the ritual of All Saints’, but was not prepared for what Fr. Mackonochie introduced.”

Some of us here in America have made the same mistake. We have thought what it was possible to do in our own parishes and have not considered whether we might not be endangering the whole cause. It requires much judgment so to advance as to draw more with us than we drive back. Mackonochie and his friends went ahead and developed a ritual that at the time startled the Church. It might have succeeded if his friends had not asserted, and in seemingly defiant tones, that this was the legal ritual; that it was the legal ritual authorized by the rubric, the legal ritual that all true Churchmen were bound to obey.

It was this attitude that created the opposing Church Association. I always thought we were partly to blame for its existence. For this attitude simply made the Low Churchmen mad. And no wonder. It was as much as saying, nolens volens, you, too, have got to wear all these abominable and popish vestments. So, as fighting for their very existence, the Church Association arose and appealed to the Law.

Now the Ritualists were able and learned men, and especially skilled in the history of the Prayer Book, but they were Englishmen, and insular and obstinate at that. The ornaments rubric declared that vestments and altar lights and incense were legal. Our friends started in with that conviction. I remember in the fifties, being then a student of law at Harvard, examining the question and coming to the same conclusion some great English lawyers subsequently did. I believed the six points were part of our lawful heritage.

But our English friends made one mistake. They were Englishmen, and had a great belief that justice would be rendered in their courts of law. What was law would of course be decided to be law. Now courts of last resort in all countries, in France, in the United States, and in England, when political or religious questions are involved, do not decide according to law. They have not done so since the days of Pontius Pilate. These courts are governed by policy. Some have a theory that, being courts of last resort, they may usurp legislative functions, but it is scarcely defensible. Anyway, so it turned out in England. The Privy Council, whose judges are selected, was packed with persons known, like the Presbyterian Judge Collins, to be of a hostile mind. The notorious Lord Westbury was another member. The decision in one instance was so in violation of justice, that one of its members, Chief Baron Kelly, publicly proclaimed it was a decision governed by policy. The decisions became contradictory and were afterwards riddled by experts. But we Ritualists were to blame for not knowing, or not believing when told, that the decisions were bound to be not according to law, but to public opinion.

The Ritualists played the game badly. They ought to have deferred a legal contest till they were stronger. But they did not accept the cautions given them by Pusey and older men. They should have acted more unitedly, and advanced more together, and not have joined horns in legal battle till they had got a public moral backing of some weight behind them. Well! we got beaten in the English Law Courts, and badly beaten, and for nigh twenty years the movement sagged and suffered. Then came the deliverance.

The (Low) Church Association had wisely, up to this time, picked out for attack churches whose Rectors had little standing. They attacked, for instance, Purchas of Brighton, who was a florid Ritualist, and then attacked a precocious young Ritualist whose name was Ridsdale. The Church Union was forced into their defense. The old Tractarian leaders among themselves regretted the unwisdom of these men, but they could not help themselves. These advanced Ritualists, not caring for others, threw the match into the powder magazine. The Church Association won their triumph over them. But, flushed by success, at last the Church Association ventured to attack the saintly Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. King. Then Archbishop Benson took the matter into his own hands, and sweeping away the Privy Council’s authority and decisions, gave a judgment which allowed of a use of lights and vestments and the mixed chalice, and so gave new life to a beaten cause.

Upon this, our friends acted with their usual unwisdom. In London a few, without any reference to their Bishop, with whom as Catholics they knew the jus liturgicum resides, began to introduce new and additional services. One had Benediction, one the saying of the Rosary, another the Roman offices for Holy Week. They began to have a wild time generally. We are Catholics and believe no national Church can contradict the utterances of undivided Christendom. But has any priest a right to introduce any service in addition to those in the Prayer Book without at least the tacit assent of the Ordinary? But our friends, shouting out, “Catholicity, not Anglicanism,” went their own way. Not a little that frightened the public was the unwise negotiation with Rome. No wonder the English public went mad. No wonder a Kensit arose. No wonder the Archbishops decided against the use of incense. No wonder that the British Parliament has brought in a new drastic Church Discipline Bill. Our extremists in England have just steered their ship on the rocks.

God, who had delivered the people again, and again, may allow and overrule all this to a readjustment of the relations of the Church and State. But we Ritualists have chiefly to blame ourselves for the disaster.

The mischief is done, in England. The question for us in America is, Shall we follow the lead of those who have brought such disaster upon the English Church?

C. C. Fond du Lac.

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^[1] The Living Church, May 9, 1903; reprinted in Works, Vol. 7, pp. 205-212.

Independent Polish Catholic correspondence with Charles Chapman Grafton (1900-1910)

From the Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Bishop II, Grafton, Charles Chapman, Box 4.

ALS by L. W. Pochiechowski to CCG, Chicago, February 16, 1900.

            I am perfectly to his Grace but I hope his Excellence will exept my following prayers as I am an old friend to the Episcopalion church in American and my prayers are as follow. Being well acquainted with a student from Krakow Austria Europe who received Subdiaconate from Duke Bishop Przen formerly the Slavonic Greek Catholic and now Roman Catholic Bishop, The Subdiacon Anthony Ostrogski. I have advised him to ask your grace to ordain him as priest for the Slavonic Independent Church in America or for Roman Church or to ordain him as an missionary the gentleman can not write English therefore I am doing this. The gentleman concerning to the Slavonic Greek Catholic Church understands well the ceremonies in there own native language as well as the Romans Missaele I must say that the gentleman has got good moral standing and not from common family but he is alone without any friends and is in need and out of financial. I made him proposition to go to the Old Catholic Bishop Kozlowski and he answered I should never go to a two faced man, than Kozlowski’s consecration is very low and I as well as my friends shall always look out from Kozlowski and Kaminski. I do not blame the gentleman then when my priest who was ordained by Kaminski in Buffalo and comes to Kozlowski is ordained again so Kaminski repeats the same way. Now we can see how low these two Church Prelats standing between there country people. So I must say that the circumstances as well as the hope is very poor and further would not be any use for me to take it into consideration as there is no God’s blessing. The Slavonic people would be very glad to have there own priest and the prayers in there own language the gentleman is perfectly satisfied to ask your Grace to receive the Holly ordination from your blessed hands. We have seen your worthly photograph it represents a Roman Bishop, and it is very nice token therefore the wishes of the gentleman are to be ordained as a priest from yours Grace and not from other Episcopalian Prelats.

I Remain Yours,

Homilibus servus

L. W. Pochiechowski

28 Mautene Ct.

Chicago, Ill.

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, August 10, 1900. Letterhead of Independent Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

Right Rev. Sir:—Your communication of the 7th inst. to hand and contents noted.

            When you arrive at Chicago kindly let me know either by mail or telephone and I will be greatly pleased to pay you a visit at the Auditorium and extend you an invitation to see the Hospital which I am building. I will be pleased to talk over the propositions made by you. With kind and fraternal regards I remain

Respectfully Yours

Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, September 3, 1900. Letterhead of Independent Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

Right Rev. Sir:—I must beg pardon for not answering immediately to your favor of the last month enclosing $100.00 for which kindly accept my sincere thanks, everything is progressing quite favorably and our in hopes to visit you when the time arrives.

            The loan is progressing slowly as the opposition is giving us a great deal of trouble.

            Kindly inform me whether and when I could visit you prior to the consecration, say about the first of Oct., I would like to see you. I remain

Respectfully Yours

Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by Alexander S. Leszczynski to CCG, September 18, 1900

To His Lordship:

            Your letter to hand and contents noted. Bishop Kozlowski has left the city for several days and I reply to your letter, stating that he will notify you twenty four hours prior to his departure to Fond du Lac, by telegraph. Will be very glad to visit with you and hope that his visit will be of some benefit towards the hospital. I remain with kind regards,

            Respectfully yours,

Alex. S. Leszczynski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, September 28, 1900. Letterhead of Independent Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

My Dear Bishop: I have been very much pleased with my visit to you at Fond du Lac and shall be pleased to visit you in November. I have spent a very pleasant few hours with you and am pleased to have the opportunity of meeting you again.

            I have received several books from you which have pleased me greatly, for which please accept my thanks.

            The hospital is progressing and I hope to move into it shortly, nevertheless my opponents are causing all sorts of objections which gives me a great deal of unnecessary work.

            Hoping that your work is nearing completion and that your school is fairly started. With the best regards I remain

            Most Respectfully Yours in Christ—

            Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, November 9, 1900.

Rt. Rev. Sir:—We have arrived home safely last evening, after spending an excellent and enjoyable day. I think the plan talked over is very feasable and by united efforts can be brought about.

            I am very sorry that I could not bid you a hearty good by, I have been looking for your Excellency but that we were hurrying home so as to go out and gather some means to pay my men working upon the hospital, have been unable to meet you before the train left.

            Another reason for my hurry home is that those working on the hospital must be looked after, for when I am not at home they only spend their time in idleness.

            I am certain that the efforts on your Excellency step forward toward the unity of Catholics will, by the visit of San Francisco and [torn page with lost text] good results I remain

            Most Respectfully Yours in Christ—

            Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, November 25, 1900

Rt. Rev. Sir:—“Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hands of the enemies hath touched me.”

            The above as you will see is exactly my position at present. The Romans are persecuting me at every point. Loans which I have attempted to make have fallen, through their continuous watch, and now I must appeal to my friends to assist me in my undertaking. I would therefore kindly ask Your Lordship, if possible to assist me, or refer me to some charitably inclined persons who will be kind enough to give me immediate assistance.

            Hoping my few remarks will be received by Your Lordship as from a friend striving for the same cause and that my remarks at Fond du Lac will be remembered I remain

            Most Respectfully Yours in Christ—

            Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, December 6, 1900

Right Rev. Sir:—I have noticed that an article circulated, endeavors to connect me with Mgr. Leon Bouland, who, at present is somewhere in the East. In reply to such a charge I will state that he (Bouland) has been with me for a brief period, (about 3 months), and was contemplating the building of an industrial school. As the work I am interested in and finding his commercial interests, also that I could not associate with a man who was dispossessed of all religious faith, I at once dropped him.

            I am sorry to hear that he (Bouland) is in any way connecting my name in seeking aid for his own enterprise. He had permission to collect for the work I am interested in, while at Chicago, but a day before his departure we learned that he as Judas sold Christ for a few silver pieces, would sell what is holy. Having proof of the above we demanded the return of our permission for collection of funds, but also not to use our name, as it would be absurd to be connected with such people. If you can kindly inform me where he is I shall make a demand for the return of the permission etc.

            Hoping that this explanation will sufficiently vindicate me of the connections between us and Mgr. Bouland, and that you will kindly espouse the Christian cause for which we are endeavouring, that the “American Churchman” will kindly use its columns to rid me of such charges I remain

            Most Respectfully Yours in Christ—

            Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, April 3, 1901. Letterhead of Polish Catholic Diocese.

Rt. Rev. Sir:—Having returned from the East and having had the pleasure of visiting Bp. H. C. Potter also lunch and conference with the Bishop which has given us great pleasure.

            We have also visited a number of men with wealth, which we need at present to complete our work, and results have been quite favorable.

            Although promises, we are pressed for the present, as our work progresses, it requires to much obligations. We are also giving a Concert and entertainment at the Auditorium for the benefit of our work, which takes place on the 11th inst. and hope to make it a success. We would kindly as Your Lordship to write a letter to Bishop Wm. E. McLaren 1825 Rosco Bould. asking him to recommend us to Bishop Wm. A Leonard 840 Euclid Ave. Cleveland Ohio, as the Bishop has promised us assistance providing he had reference from Bishop McLaren to present to various men of means in Cleveland.

            We must also inform you that while at New York, we had the pleasure of being at his church and taking part in Confirmation and the Rt. Rev. Bishop invited us to call on him any time we should be at New York.

            From what we have heard from the European Bishops as Herzog etc. that they are of the same opinion as we are as to the unity of Churches, and have faith in the Lord that the unity will soon take place.

            We enclose under another cover some of our phamphlets setting forth our works.

            Hoping Your Lordship is enjoying good health and Your Co-Adutor Bishop Weller also.

            We remain

Yours in Christ

Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, June 14, 1901. Letterhead of Polish Catholic Diocese.

Rt. Rev. Sir:—Kindly inform me when I could pay you a visit at your residence. I would be greatly pleased to call upon your Lordship, to have a personal conference with you, when you are at your earliest leisure.

            Hoping you will kindly give me an early reply I remain

Yours in Christ

Bishop Anthony Koslowski

ALS by William E. Enman to Moorehouse, Nashua, New Hampshire, February 11, 1903

Dear Mr. Moorehouse,

            My Polish friend, whom I saw Sunday, is much pleased that his letter has been published, and also with your editorial. But he says it is a mistake to say that Fr. Hodour was “refused” consecration by the Armenians. When Fr. Hodour went to Europe early last autumn he did not even see the Armenian Bishops, but had hoped while in Poland to complete the negotiations begun in this country, through correspondence. The Eastern Polish Catholics still have reason to hope that the Armenian Bishops will confer the episcopate upon Fr. Hodour, whom they (the Poles) say is in every way worthy of it.

            My friend would be pleased if you would correct the statement that Fr. Hodour was refused consecration.

            What follows is not for publication:

            My friend considers that Bp. Kozlowski is large to blame for the fact that the Poles in the East are not consolidated with those West. He says the Bishop was invited to the conference held by their priests. Bp. K. did not attend and has treated them with great indifference. He says “Bp. Kozlowski has no energy.” My friend would like to see the Eastern Poles consolidated with those of the West under a Bishop consecrated by the Old Catholics. He thinks that possibly Bp. Grafton might be able to stir Bp. Kozlowski up to a sense of his duty in this respect. I said I thought I would write Bp. Grafton about it.

            I have written this to you thinking that possibly sometime you might find opportunity to make suggestions to some who could help.

            Yours very sincerely,

            William E. Enman

P.S. There are 14 churches under Fr. Hodur, who is very energetic in forming parishes. Besides these there are a number of independent congregations not yet attached to any Bishop or overseer.

ALS by AK to CCG, Chicago, July 25, 1903

Rt. Rev. and Dear Bishop,

            Your kind letter of the 24th inst. to hand.

            I am sorry I cannot accompany you to Europe to the Old Catholic Conference which takes place on the 26th day of August 1903 at Warnsburg, Bohemia, also the Holy Synod at St. Petersburg, Russia, the fist reason being that financially I am unable to undertake the trip, and secondly I cannot go to Russia as being a Pole their politics will not permit me.

            I am very pleased to learn that Your Lordship has been honored with the invitation to attend the Holy Synod at St. Petersburg and hope that the Conference will result for the good of the Unity of the Holy Catholic Church.

            I have had a very pleasant visit (when East) with Bishop Potter at Cooperstown and was promised that the Bishop would do all in his power to aid me so as to secure a loan for the hospital, but as time is passing fast and the loan is not consummated, probably a few words from Your Lordship  to Bishop Potter would hasten matters. I also had a conference with Rev. Dr. Huntington and others at New York, at Boston I have seen Rev. Dr. Van Allen, Rev. Dr. Lindsey and others.

            Financially no results were obtained, as the wealthy people have had left for their summer resorts, and will not return until fall. I have seen some very Influential persons and showed them Your Lordship’s recommendation also Bishop Potter’s, they expressed the greatest of sympathy and promised aid in the fall.

            Our work is progressing. I have an addition of five new parishes, but am short of priests who speak Polish.

            With the best of wishes and an enjoyable trip to Europe

            I am Yours in Christ,

Bishop Anthony Kozlowski

To Rt. Rev. C.C. Grafton

Bishop of Fond du Lac

ALS by Henry Codman Potter to AK, New York, November 12, 1903

My dear Bishop

            I believe in you, and in your work, and I am assured, on authority that I think good, that the property on which you want a loan is abundantly worth more than you want temporarily to borrow. I can not command any such sum; but I shall be glad to subscribe one hundred Dollars toward the interest for one year.

Fraternally yours,

H.C. Potter

Typescript “excerpt from letter dated Fond du Lac, July 18, 1905.”

I hear of the result of the book in various directions. A Roman Catholic Priest of clean life and obvious ability, has put himself in correspondence with me, and desires to enter my Diocese. He wants, as he says, to be a Catholic but not a Roman. I believe there are many such, and if our Church was only what S. Edwards is, or our Cathedral here, we should have more applications than we should know what to do with.

            Bishop Potter and some others are really awakened to the Polish Catholic movement in this country. For several years I addressed the House of Bishops on the subject and gained but little hearing. Now they want me, with some others, to see what can be done in the way of establishing intercommunion.

I cannot begin to tell you of the enthusiasm and love and unity manifested amongst the clergy in my diocese. The influence of it is extending in various directions. I cannot be too thankful to God for the love of my clergy and their co-operation.”

Typescript “excerpt from letter dated Fond du Lac, September 23, 1905.”

On the 8th Sept. I dedicated the new Convent here. It was an epoch. The building is strictly Conventual. It cost about $60,000 and is paid for. The Chapel is very devotional and was the gift of Miss Codman of Boston in memory of her mother. We had 32 Sisters and postulants in line.

I have been called on to help in drawing up a Constitution for the Old Catholics in this country and they have taken my suggestion and adopted verbatim my Theological Articles. Some members of the Committee appointed by our house meet Bp. Kozlaski and others October 4. It is only a preliminary.

Typescript “excerpt from letter dated Fond du Lac, November 22, 1910.”

My very dear Friend:

            I know that you are so much interested in all my doings, and follow me with such loving prayers, that I write to tell you what the doctor says of me. You know I have been troubled for many months with this pain in my right knee and leg, and nothing seems to relieve it. Dr. Wiley gave me an examination yesterday, and gave this disorder some technical name. He says nothing will relieve it except absolute rest, and has put me in bed for a couple of weeks, so I shall keep my Thanksgiving Day in bed, but hope to be up before Christmas surely.

            It has been a spiritual benefit to me to think how our dear Lord fell in carrying His Cross to Calvary, and so bruised His knees and I may humbly hope that this dispensation of His Providence may be like a little stigmata of the Passion. I am all unworthy to be united to Him in any way, but it may thus be for my own sanctification and the good of the Church. 

I am trying to arrange a meeting between our Committee and the Polish Old Catholic Bishop, and also with the Syrian Bishop Raphael. I am glad I can help somewhat by direction and prayer.

            You must take care of yourself, my very dearest Friend, for God has given us a work to do together for His Church.

            With my loving regards and blessing,

Bishop Kozlowski and the Quadrilateral, by Charles Chapman Grafton (1907)

To the Editor of The Living Church:^[1]

I HAD not before heard that the mode of administering the Sacrament by the Old Catholic Polish Church had been a ground of objection to entering into Christian fellowship with them. It never came up in any official dealings with Bishop Kozlowski, and he would not, I believe, have objected, had it been made a condition of conforming to our custom. Indeed he did so on some occasions. The feast of St. John is one of special observance by the Poles and in his church the Sacrament was administered in both kinds. It is fair to presume he would have done it always if asked to by us whose advice and counsel he sought. Administration in both kinds was commonly done, I know, in one of his churches. The Old Catholics in Europe, of which his organization was a part and by whose Bishops he had been consecrated, give the Communion in both kinds. I have three congregations of the Old Catholics (French) under my jurisdiction, and the same rule obtains. We should remember and make allowance for the fact that under Bishop Kozlowski the large body of Poles were being led out of Romanism and were in a transition state.

The objection raised by some was that in putting forth the Quadrilateral, we were only stating the preliminaries to a conference and that we should in practice demand much more than an acceptance of them. It was argued that we ought to have an authoritative statement of the faith of anybody seeking fellowship with us. In response a series of articles was drawn up and adopted in Synod by the Polish Old Catholics. I subjoin a copy. You may have published them before. But as such matters are quickly forgotten, I would respectfully ask their reinsertion. If we can bear in our communion with Pusey and Keble and Liddon and all of that school of Churchmanship, I do not see why we could not have allowed intercommunion between ourselves and these Old Catholics.

It is true that the opposition of Bishop McLaren had something to do with the failure. But with all respect to his great ability and theological learning, he, like some others, did not look kindly on any who left the Roman obedience. He thought they ought to stay where they were. He had no sympathy with the Old Catholic movement and consequently was opposed to Bishop Kozlowski. But if the Old Catholics had no right to break with the Papacy, neither had we, and I venture to think his ground was not in accord with the spirit of the Quadrilateral.

Concerning the latter, its third condition is somewhat ambiguous. It requires that there shall be in the administration of the Lord’s Supper “the unfailing use of Christ’s words of Institution and of the elements ordained by Him.” I think the general teaching of Catholic Christendom is that the priest in the prayer of consecration should purpose to do what Christ did. Our own words of consecration seem to be descriptive of what He did, rather than a repetition of the exact words He used. Does any part of the Church claim to know or use the words just as Christ spoke them? Then as to the elements, the condition was chiefly to guard against the practices of those who substitute water or grape juice or who do not use proper bread. While so far agreed as to the requisites of a valid consecration as to the administration of the Sacrament, the Catholic Church is not so unanimous. The Eastern Church administers by intinction. The Roman to the laity under one species. We may hold ours the better and more scriptural way, but it would be temerarious to say that the Roman laity did not receive Christ. And if this is the more charitable opinion, is it right for us to make the mode of administration a condition of intercommunion? I am loath to believe this is the determined position of our Church and the meaning of our peace-loving and peacemaking Quadrilateral. It would make the reestablishment of intercommunion with the East and West an impossibility.

Allow me to say one word for Bishop Kozlowski. I had much intercourse with him. He was a well-read theological student, a man of marked sincerity, one who made great sacrifices in leaving Rome, who was notedly humble and most responsive to advice, who lived in great poverty and self-denial, who had heavy burdens to bear and was incessantly attacked and plotted against, who suffered as few are called to do. He could not but feel the way his overtures and himself were treated by us. For one I am thankful his life of toil and suffering is over. He was a Christian hero and a devoted servant of God.C. C. Fond du Lac.

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^[1] The Living Church, February 9, 1907, pp. 505-506; reprinted in Works, Vol. 7, pp. 212-215.

Early and Evening Communions, by Charles Chapman Grafton (1911)

To the Editor of The Living Church: ^[1]

I AM aware that the Rev. Daniel Wilson, an Evangelical clergyman, had an early celebration of the Eucharist. I do not think he began the practice. In the Annals of the Low Church Party, vol. I., p. 344, it is stated: “In 1828, Mr. Wilson commended a celebration of the Eucharist at 8 A.M., though how often we are not told. It was probably once a month.” Early celebrations were not a partisan movement inaugurated by the High Churchmen.

I was not aware that Dr. Hook had an evening celebration. I should be glad if anyone would cite the authority for it, as I do not find it referred to in his Life. Possibly he may have had a Maundy Thursday celebration, but that is a different thing. Evening celebrations, as established by Low Churchmen, have the aspect of a partisan movement, for the reason given for them, viz., to provide for the wants of the servant and laboring class, is evidently a fictitious one, as the Roman Church, which deals largely in this class, finds no need for evening Communion.

C. C. Fond du Lac.

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^[1] The Living Church, October 14, 1911, p. 815.