| Absalom Jones (February 13™) was the first Black American to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. He was born a slave in Delaware in 1746 and taught himself to read. At 16, he was sold to a merchant in Philadelphia, PA, where he attended a night school for Blacks. He married another slave when he was 20, and purchased her freedom with his earnings. Not until 1784 was he able to buy his own freedom.
He then became a lay minister serving the Black membership of St. George's Methodist Church in Philadelphia. So successful was his evangelism (along with his friend Richard Alien) that the Black membership increased dramatically. The White leadership was alarmed at this and decided to segregate Blacks into an upstairs gallery, limiting their attendance to those fewer seats. At this, the Black members of St. George's all walked out as a body.
In 1787, Jones led a group of Black Christians to organize the Free African Society, the first organization of its kind in American history. Members paid dues for the benefit of those in need and encouraged similar groups to form in other cities. In 1794, the Society completed its own church, and applied for membership in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, on the condition that Jones be licensed as a layreader to lead them and, when qualified, ordained a priest. They were admitted as "St. Thomas' African Episcopal Church." Jones was ordained a deacon in 1795 and by the end of that year the church had grown to over 500 members. He was ordained a priest in 1802, serving until his death in 1818.
He was noted as a strong preacher and as an activist against slavery, but it was his diligent pastoral care and personal gentleness that made him so beloved. Today, St. Thomas' Church continues with almost 1,000 members. |
