Absalom Jones, First Priest of African Descent (Feb 13)

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Absalom Jones, the first priest of African descent in the United States, is honored on the Episcopal Calendar February 13^th.  My parish, however, and many other parishes, will honor the saint during the Sunday Services on February 10^th. Below is information about Absalom Jones.





ABSALOM JONES, February 13^th (from the Lectionary)
ReadingsPsalm 137:1-6Isaiah 11:1-5Galatians 5:1-5John 15:12-15       Collect   Set us free, O heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear: that, honoring the steadfast courage of thy servants Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
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In 1786 the membership of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia included both blacks and whites. However, the white members met that year and decided that thereafter black members should sit only in the balcony. Two black Sunday worshippers, Absalom Jones (1746-1818) and Richard Allen (1760-1831), whose enthusiasm for the Methodist Church had brought many blacks into the congregation, learned of the decision only when, on the following Sunday, ushers tapped them on the shoulder during the opening prayers, and demanded that they move to the balcony without waiting for the end of the prayer. They walked out, followed by the other black members. 
     Absalom Jones conferred with William White, Episcopal Bishop of Philadelphia, who agreed to accept the group as an Episcopal parish. Jones would serve as lay reader, and, after a period of study, would be ordained and serve as rector. Allen wanted the group to remain Methodist, and in 1793 he left to form a Methodist congregation. In 1816 he left the Methodists to form a new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Jones (ordained deacon and priest in 1795 and 1802) and Allen (ordained deacon and elder in 1799 and 1816).  by James Kiefer  


THE REV. ABSALOM JONES, February 13^th from the the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas
Absalom Jones, (1746-181), Founder of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas
Absalom Jones was born into slavery in Sussex County, Delaware, on November 6, 1746. He taught himself to read and knew the New Testament thoroughly at an early age.  When he was 16, Absalom's owner took him to Philadelphia, Pa., where he served as a clerk and handyman in a retail store.
He was allowed to work for himself in the evenings and keep his earning.  He was married in 1770. By the time Jones was 38 years old, he had purchased his wife's freedom, and his own, and had bought a house. Later he built two more houses and used them for rental income.
During this period he met Richard Allen, and they became lay preachers in St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church and lifelong friends. Their efforts met with great success, and the congregation multiplied tenfold.
Jones and Allen, in 1787, organized the Free African Society.  The Society was both religious and benevolent, helping widows and orphans and assisting in sick, relief and burial expenses, and the assimilation of newly freedmen into urban life.  Because of racial tensions and an altercation with church officials, they left St. George's congregation.
In 1792, under the leadership of Absalom Jones, "The African Church" was organized as a direct outgrowth of the Free African Society.   In 1793, the two men organized the Black community to serve as nurses and attendants during Philadelphia's severe Yellow Fever epidemic.
In 1794, "The African Church" building was completed and dedicated on July 17th of that year.  Absalom Jones led his African Church in applying to Bishop William White for membership in the Episcopal Church.  On Sunday, September 14, 1794, the congregation was received into the fellowship and communion of the diocese of Pennsylvania.  The following year the Diocesan Convention approved the affiliation with the stipulation that the Church could not participate in the Diocesan Convention this was not resolved until 1864. So "The African Church" became The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, and Absalom Jones was ordained Deacon. Some nine years later he was ordained Priest, becoming the first priest in America of African descent.
During his ministry, Absalom Jones never lost his deep conviction that religious and social action go hand in hand. He founded schools for his people, helped them in distress, and supported them in their protest against slavery and oppression.  He helped to found an insurance company, and a society which fought vice and immorality.  Absalom Jones died at his home, 32 Powell Street, Philadelphia, Pa., on February 13, 1818. In 1973, the 64th General Convention of the Episcopal Church added his name to the Church calendar as an optional feast to be celebrated.