May 8

Today is the birthday, in 1828, of Henry Dunant, co-founder of the International Red Cross. He was moved to action after witnessing the horrors of the aftermath of a battle between France and Austria. Many of the wounded and dying lay suffering and untended on the battlefield. He organized makeshift hospitals for all the soldiers, regardless of the side they fought on. 

Born on the same day in the same year, Saint Charbel, in Lebanon, who was respected as a holy man by Muslims, Christians, and Druze. 

Today is also the birthday, in 1753, of Father Miguel Hidalgo, who was the spark for the Cry of Dolores that would lead to Mexican independence from Spain. Even before he became a leader of the revolution, he focused on economic development and self-sufficiency for indigenous people, which Spanish authorities resented and ultimately led to his resistance. 

Today is also the birthday, in 1786, of John Vianney, “the Curé D’ars,” a French priest who, after the French Revolution, helped revive Roman Catholicism in France. 

Today marks the death, in the year 2000, of Henry Nichols, who as a teeneager working toward his Eagle Scout badge decided to disclose that he had HIV in 1991. He had contracted it through a blood transfusion, but used his privilege to reduce stigma around HIV/AIDS and helped pave the way for more public energy toward prevention and research. 

Today also marks the death, in 1915, of Henry McNeal Turner, a powerful preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who preached and spoke against the rise of Jim Crow laws in the South. He had served as a chaplain in the Union Army and also advocated for emigration to Liberia. 

Today also marks the day, in 1373, that Julian of Norwich almost died, and had a series of visions that she would write down a week later. Her writings would become a major work of Christian mysticism.

Reflection:

Just a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the giant of Black Liberation Theology, James Cone. Henry McNeal Turner preceded Cone in declaring that God was black: 

I remember learning about HIV/AIDS. I remember school assemblies, demeaning jokes about gay people, and idiotic questions from classmates. Ryan White became the first kid we learned about who had AIDS, but his was not an intentional public disclosure, and it was the court battle to keep him in school that created publicity. Henry Nichols got tired of living with his secret, and used his public disclosure as his Eagle Scout project. He saw that this was an opportunity to show what real leadership looks like. 

He said: 

Following that quote, it seems relevant that John Vianney said: 

Prayer: Christ our Leader, help us to lead as you do: through our truth-telling. In this society mostly concerned with impressing other and gaining likes, help us to perform not for our culture, but for you and your saints. Amen.