Native Holy Men and Women |
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The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important and influential people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in high church or Anglo-Catholic traditions may explicitly invoke saints as intercessors in prayer, though saints are mainly recognized in the Episcopal Church as merely examples in history of good Christian people. The Episcopal Church published Lesser Feasts and Fasts in 2006, which contains feast days for the various men and women the Church wishes to honor. This book is normally updated every three years, when notable people can be added to the liturgical calendar by the General Convention. In 2009, Holy Women, Holy Men, a new calendar, introduced a large number of new commemorations, but that work was not given final approval at the General Convention of 2012. In 2015, at the General Convention, another calendar, entitled A Great Cloud of Witnesses, was presented which incorporated much of Holy Women, Holy Men. It was approved on first presentation and it may be given final approval at the Convention in 2018. Until then, the additions and changes to the calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2006 remain provisional. Two native clergy were added to the Holy Women, Holy Men calendar, and their stories can be read by clicking on the links in this page: 1) Enmegahbowh, an ordained priest of Ojibway ancestry in 2000; and 2) David Pendleton Oakerhater, an ordained Deacon of Cheyenne ancestry in 1985. In addition, two native sovereigns of Native Hawaiian ancestry, HRH Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, were added to the calendar in 1987. Two more indigenous peoples are currently awaiting approval to be included in the Calendar: 1) Matoaka (aka "Pocahantas"), daughter of Wahunsenacawh, the chief leader of the Powhatan Confederacy, wife of John Rolfe, and the first baptized indigenous member of the Anglican Communion; and 2) HRH Queen Lili‘uokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
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Holy Eucharist St. John's By-the-Sea |
