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St.
Andrew's Day in the USA |
As for St. Andrews' Day - here in
the U.S., it is a celebration of the beginning of the legitimacy
of the Episcopal Church of the United States. During the
American Revolution, the Anglican Church in the U.S., which had
never had a Bishop, was cut loose because many of the leaders of
the revolt belonged to the Anglican Church. Because legitimacy
of clergy follows through an ordination by a Bishop and for
Bishops, consecration by a group of Bishops, the American church
needed a Bishop. Samuel Seabury, a Connecticut clergyman was
chosen to go to London for consecration by English Bishops.
However, the Bishops in London would not consecrate him unless
he took a oath of allegiance and fealty to the King. Since a
war to break loose from the King was going on in the colonies,
this would have been ridiculous. Seabury hung around in London
for three years, not knowing what to do and not able to convince
the Bishops in London to consecrate him without the oath. Then
one day, he got a note from three Anglican Bishops of the
Episcopal Church of Scotland saying they would consecrate him if
he would come to Aberdeen. These Bishops were of the Non-juring
type and were, themselves, refusing to swear the oath to the
King which was being required after the Scottish revolt over
Bonnie Prince Charlie. Seabury went to Aberdeen, received his
consecration and came home to be the first Bishop of the
Episcopal Church of the United States. The only thing that the
Scottish Bishops requested was that the new Bishop institute the
Prayer Book of the Scottish Church and use their services and
rituals. He did this, and our church has always been more like
the Scottish than the English. Each year, many of our parishes
celebrate St. Andrews Day, the anniversary of the Consecration,
with bagpipes in church, the use of a Scottish service ritual
and prayers and shortbread and other Scottish foods afterward.
Our thanks to
Patricia Parker for
this information.
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