Florence Li Tim-Oi of Macau (above, centre) became the first woman priest of the Anglican communion today in 1944, due to wartime shortages extending to ministers. She was already a deaconess, but her ordination was upgraded to priest, allowing her to give the sacraments to Anglicans. She is pictured above with the vestry of her church in 1945.
Today is the feast of St Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the great brains of the early church. He was the leading light of the Council of Constantinople in 381. Although it enshrined his theology, and its creed (the Nicene Creed) is still recited week by week in churches around the world today, he was so disgusted by the politics of this ‘gaggle of geese’ that he resigned his bishopric.
‘As a fish cannot swim without water, and as a bird cannot fly without air, so a Christian cannot advance a single step without Christ.’ Gregory of Nazianzus
Today is Welsh Valentine’s Day, celebrating St Dwynwen, the 5th century patron saint of lovers. Why not celebrate by confusing an English person with a St Dwynwen’s Day card?
By happy coincidence, today is also Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s wedding anniversary. Their marriage in 1533 was done in secret, because Anne was pregnant, and because Henry was already married to Catherine of Aragon, to whom Anne was lady-in-waiting. Henry was in desperate need of a son to pass on his throne, and Catherine had ‘failed’ to produce one, and so it was to legitimise this second marriage and its offspring that Henry created the Church of England. It was unfortunate – particularly for Anne – that all her pregnancy produced was a girl (Elizabeth I).
Talking of whom, 33 years later, today in 1566, Queen Elizabeth I wrote a letter to her Archbishop, Matthew Parker, scolding him for being too soft in making sure that priests wore the right vestments and conducted the right ceremonies in the churches. As a result Parker cracked down on the clergy, and his inspections are said to be how the term ‘nosey Parker’ entered the English language.
Image: Montreal Dio