July 20

Anne Hutchinson and Saint Frumentius

Author

David Barnhart
July 20, 2025

Totemic face in a stone wall, Bolivia, 2004. Own photo.

This is the day, in 1591, when Anne Hutchinson was baptized as an infant. She would go on to lead weekly religious meetings in her home, and became a controversial religious figure, ultimately being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She claimed direct revelation from God about certain prophecies regarding the colony, and the Puritan leaders we clearly put out with the way a woman usurped their power. She has become a symbol of religious freedom, in part because of her defense at her trial at which she said, “It was never in my heart to slight any man, but only that man should be kept in his own place and not set in the room of God.”

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Frumentius in the Roman Catholic Church, who died in 383. He was a key figure in Ethiopian Christianity, having come to the court of the King of Aksum as a slave and eventually becoming bishop. He translated the New Testament into Ge’ez, the Ethiopian and Eritrean language of the time. 

Reflection:

Anne Hutchinson gave no idle care. When called upon to defend her theology in court, she said: 

“Do you think it not lawful for me to teach women and why do you call me to teach the court?”

John Winthrop said of her: 

“She was a woman of haughty and fierce carriage, a nimble wit and active spirit, a very voluble tongue, more bold than a man.”

At this point, I have been posting one devotional a day for seven months. I started this devotional blog on January 19, just before the beginning of our current fascist regime in the United States. I did it because I believe it is important, in the face of such monumental selfishness, cruelty, and human evil to lift up the opposite: the lives of the saints and people we aspire to emulate, those who have started or sustained social movements and contributed to the good of the world; people like my grandparents, who raised their family in the Methodist Church, fought Nazis, and, as educators, advocated for racial integration and for students with special needs.

I’m pleased that I’ve stuck with it for seven months without missing a day. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. If you find this blog helpful, please share it with others.

Prayer: God, in addition to fierce wits, we need tenacious courage and resolute love. Give us all three. Amen.