November 13

Today is the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who was born in 1850 and died in 1917. She was initially turned down when she applied to enter a convent, so she instead became an administrator at an Italian orphanage. She went on to found other orphanages, nurseries, and hospitals. After she took religious orders, she asked to be sent on mission to China, but instead her bishop sent her to the United States, where she went on to found nearly 70 orphanages, schools, and hospitals. She is a reminder that administration can be a gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Today is also a feast day in the Church of England for Charles Simeon, who died on this day in 1836. He was an evangelical Anglican who, like John Wesley, emphasized preaching for conversion. When he was appointed to Holy Trinity church, the congregation members locked the doors to keep him out.  

Today marks the birthday, in 1869, of Helene Stöcker, a German feminist philosopher, pacifist, and journalist who founded the League for the Protection of Mothers, which advocated for single mothers and both bodily and economic autonomy. She lobbied for lesbian rights, abortion rights, and contraception long before these issues entered the contemporary political debate. 

On this day in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation by race on buses in Alabama was unconstitutional, ending the Montgomery bus boycott.   

Reflection: 

Helene Stöcker wrote: 

While I had a hard time finding primary material on Helene Stöcker, there is a good summary of her life and philosophy in this Master’s Thesis by Lynne J . Miles-Paul.

Charles Simeon said:

Prayer: God, we know you care far less about our denominational affiliation and theological opinions than you do about our actions toward the most vulnerable. Align our hearts with your heart. Amen.