Absalom Jones is listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints and remembered liturgically on the date of his death, February 13, in the Book of Common Prayer as “Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818.” He first appeared on the Episcopal calendar of saints in the Book of Common Prayer in 1979.
Collect for Absalom Jones
“Set us free, heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear; that, honoring the steadfast courage of your servant Absalom Jones, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which you have given us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.” Amen (“Holy Women, Holy Men,” p.221)
Born into slavery in Delaware in 1746. while still a slave Absalom Jones married Mary King, who was also a slave in 1770. He worked or eight years to buy his wife’s freedom so that their children would be free, and seven years later, he was able to purchase his own freedom.
Jones became an active member of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, serving as lay preacher for the black members of the congregation. A gifted orator, Jones increased black membership in the church at such a rapid rate that white parishioners began trying to segregate the congregation; black parishioners were told by church officials that they would have to sit in the balcony. After a Sunday service in November 1786, when ushers tried to force all black parishioners, including Jones, to the balcony, Jones and his followers left St. George’s.
Absalom Jones and Richard Allen founded the Free African Society (FAS), first conceived as a non-denominational mutual aid society in 1787, to help newly freed slaves in Philadelphia, PA. After 1794, Jones and Allen later separated, as their religious lives took different directions; however, they remained lifelong friends and collaborators.
By 1791, the African Society had evolved into the African Church, which was received into the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania in 1794. The diocese renamed the church St. Thomas African Episcopal Church and it became the first black Episcopal parish in the United States. After founding, St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, Absalom Jones was the first African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church of the United States, in 1804.
Absalom Jones born November 7, 1746; died February 13, 1818, was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman.
Source: Copyright 2014 The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society | www.episcopalchurch.org
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