| William Augustus Muhlenberg (April 8th) was one of the most influential figures in the Episcopal Church during the 19th century, leaving a legacy that reached the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. He was born into a prominent Lutheran family in Philadelphia in 1796. Their local congregation worshipped in German, and Muhlenberg was drawn to the Episcopal Church because of its use of English.
As a priest, he became deeply involved in the "Sunday School Movement," which provided not only religious instruction but also taught reading and writing to the working poor. For 20 years, he led a boys' school in Flushing, NY. His emphasis on a rich liturgy for worship was eye-opening for an entire generation of students, many of whom themselves became leading lights in the Church. In 1846, he founded the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City, where the Eucharist was celebrated every Sunday at a time when many Episcopal churches did so only quarterly. Again, beauty in worship—vivid and symbolic—was at the heart of the congregation, while Muhlenberg's ministry was visionary: free pews for everyone, a parish school, a parish unemployment fund, and trips to me country for poor city children.
Muhlenberg is perhaps best remembered for the proposal he made to the General Convention that called for bold and innovative changes that would broaden the Church's mission and increase the scope of its influence in American society. This "Muhlenberg Memorial" combined an insistence on the Church's Catholic traditions with the Reformation doctrine of grace in order to promote evangelism. The vision of this proposal wielded great influence for several decades, particularly in liturgical reform and ecumenical action. Muhlenberg died in 1877. |
