January 12
-Benedict Biscop. Abbot and scholar 689
-Margeurite Bourgeoys, Educator in New France, 1700
-John Horde, Bishop of Moosonee, Missionary, 1893
Benedict Biscop, an English monastic founder, born of a
noble Anglo-Saxon family, c. 628; died 12 January 690. He
spent his youth at the court of the Northumbrian King Oswy.
When twenty-five years old, he made the first of his five
pilgrimages to Rome. On his return to England, Benedict
introduced, whenever he could, the religious rites as he saw
them practised in Rome. Soon afterwards he made a second
pilgrimage, stopping on his return at Lérins, in 666, to take
the religious habit. When, two years later, he returned to
Rome, Pope Vitalian sent him and the monk Adrian as
advisers with Theodore, the newly appointed Archbishop of
Canterbury. After two years, in 671, he resigned this office and made another
pilgrimage to Rome. During this and his two succeeding pilgrimages to the city of the
Apostles he collected numerous relics, books, and paintings for the monasteries of
Wearmouth and Jarrow, the former of which he founded in 674, the latter in 682. He
also engaged Abbot John, Arch-cantor of St. Peter's in Rome, to teach Roman chant at
these monasteries. Benedict was the first to introduce into England the building of
stone churches and the art of making glass windows.
Marguerite Bourgeoys was born the sixth of twelve
children of devout parents. After her mother died,
Marguerite at 19 took care of her brothers and sisters.
Her father, a candle maker, died when she was twentyseven. A few years later, the governor of Montreal,
Canada, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was in France
looking for teachers for the New World. He invited
Marguerite to come to Montreal to teach school and
religion classes. She accepted the offer.
Marguerite Bourgeoys gave away her share of the
inheritance from her parents to other members of the
family. In 1653, she sailed for New France. On arriving,
she initiated the construction of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel in honour of
Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She opened her first school in 1658 and she first worked
with rich children, but soon started working with poor and rich people. She returned to
France the next year to recruit more teachers, convincing four to accompany her. In
1670, she went to France again, and brought back six more women. Having braved
dangerous travel and pioneer conditions, these women became the first Sisters of the
Congregation of Notre Dame.
Bourgeoys and her sisters helped people in the colony survive when food was scarce,
opened a vocational school, taught young people how to run a home and farm.
Bourgeoys' congregation grew to 18 sisters, seven of them Canadian. They opened
missions, and two sisters taught at the Native American school. Soon after, Bourgeoys
received the first two Native American women into the congregation.
In 1693, Mother Marguerite handed over her congregation to her successor, Marie
Barbier, the first Canadian to join the order. The congregation's religious rule was
approved by the Church in 1698.
Marguerite spent her last few years praying and writing an autobiography. On
December 31, 1699, as a young sister lay dying, Mother Marguerite asked God to take
her life in exchange. By the next morning of January 1, 1700, the sister was
completely well. But, Mother Marguerite had a raging fever, suffered 12 days, and
died on January 12, 1700.
John Horden was an Englishman, and was born of
humble parents at Exeter, in 1828 At seven years of
age he was entered at St. John's School, Exeter, a
charity of long foundation, John Horden resolved,
when quite a child, that he would be a missionary. In
1850 he offered himself to the Church Missionary
Society, and was accepted, to be sent to the foreign
field when opportunity should offer. On the 10th of
May, 1851, he received a letter from the secretary of
the C.M.S., telling him that be had been appointed to
Moose Factory, on James' Bay, the southern point of
Hudson's Bay in British North America. His work
was to be amongst the Indians there. On the 26th of
July, 1851 John Horden and his wife reached
Hudson's Bay. In 1852 he was visited by Bishop
Anderson and during this visit he was made a deacon and before he left he ordained
him a priest also.
Horden was a great linguist. Besides the Cree language he learned a little Norwegian,
for there were some of that tongue about the fort. He learned Eskimo and Ojibbeway,
and studied also Hebrew, in order that he might make better translations of the Old
Testament into his various new languages. By the year 1864 it was estimated that Mr.
Horden had baptized about 1,800 Indians. In 1872 Dr. Horden (for the Archbishop of
Canterbury had conferred upon him the degree of D.D.) went to England where he
was consecrated as Bishop in Westminster Abbey, on December 15th, 1872, by the
Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Tait), assisted by the Bishop of London (Dr. Jackson)
and other English prelates; also his old diocesan, Bishop Anderson. Bishop Horden
left England in May 1873, and returned to the newly named Diocese of Moosonee
After many more years of work in the diocese of Moosonee, Bishop Horden died ion
January 12 1892.