Today is the feast day of Edward Pusey. Some of you will know the name Edward Bouviere Pusey. He was the Regis professor of Hebrew at Oxford, and an essential part of the Oxford Movement. But many of you might not know this story of him. Six years after the death of his beloved wife, which he blamed himself for, Edward Pusey set out to do penance by contributing his own personal wealth to build a church in the city of Leeds. And I don’t mean a small church either. His church was to serve some 11,000 souls in the slums of Leeds, and be served by a group of priests, whom Fr Pusey would select himself. He wrote to his friend WF Hook, the high church vicar of Leeds, he said, “I know a person who wishes to make up a broken vow.” He wrote that his friend wished to build a church in Leeds, the only condition being that it should display the inscription “YE WHO ENTER THIS HOLY PLACE, PRAY FOR THE SINNER WHO BUILT IT.” Fr Hook accepted the offer, and plans were underway. Throughout the early 1840s, Fr Pusey acting as “agent” of the donor, involved himself in planning the new church and recruiting its clergy. He contacted an architect who understood what his anonymous donor was going for. Pusey’s own wish, embodied in the design of the church and its furnishings, was that everywhere the worshipper looked, he should see a cross: the church itself was to be cruciform. And every window and fitting was to be embellished with a cross. It would be named Holy Cross Church. Troubles started almost immediately, first with the bishop then with Pusey’s friend Hook, the vicar of Leeds. The bishop objected to the name Holy Cross Church. The Church of England, he said, did not accept the legend of the discovery of the Holy Cross, and it could not risk implying that it did. Pusey reluctantly changed the name to St Saviors. The bishop also thought his plan for the church to be served by a group of clergy was too monastic, the plans for the vicarage made no space for a wife and children; the covered walk connecting the vicarage to the church looked too much like a cloister and could not be permitted. Pusey yielded at every point to the bishop. A west window had been designed for the church incorporating an illustration of the Holy Face of Jesus. The bishop rejected this as too Romish. A new plan was produced, approved and executed, but shortly before the scheduled consecration of the church, someone complained to the bishop that it showed a crowned Virgin Mary and angels catching the blood of Christ in a chalice. The bishop of Ripon was unimpressed by Pusey’s argument that the bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury had these same images in their official seals. And the offending panels had to be taken out and replaced with clear glass before the service could happen. The altar linen also proved to be unacceptable since it did not cover the entire table. But the saddest conflict was over a communion set. In 1844, Pusey’s daughter Lucy, dying of tuberculosis at the age of 15, had expressed a wish that her jewelry and her inheritance should go to make up a set of communion plate. The Camden society’s design pleased her very much and so after her death, her brother, sister and friends saw to the completion of her wish. It was six pieces that incorporated over 200 diamonds, rubies, pearls and emeralds. Pusey himself had the plate inscribed in Latin, “Have mercy Lord on Lucy Maria.” As the clergy were lining up for the procession into the church at its consecration service, Bishop Longley refused to go ahead if the plate were used. The inscription was a prayer for the dead, which to the bishop implied a belief in Purgatory. A person who was present when the gift was refused said he never forgot the sadness in Pusey’s face. But one more matter remained to be resolved. The bishop noticed the inscription over the west door, asking for prayers for the donor of the church. He demanded that it come down. But relented when he was assured that the donor was still living and that he would be informed if the donor died while he was bishop. At long last, the troubled church, Pusey’s self-denying and anonymous gift, was consecrated. (Summarized from Shelton Reed’s “Glorious Battle”) (fb)

Evening Prayer Rite II is on page 115 of your prayerbook. You can follow along online here: https://www.bcponline.org/DailyOffice/ep2.html We’d love to support you on other platforms too! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holycrossdowntown Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChurchHolyCross Website: https://churchholycross.org/ **Sunday Service with Holy Eucharist:** In-person and Online, 11:00am - 12:00pm Evening Prayer & Compline: Online, Mon. - Sat. 6:00pm #EveningPrayer #Episcopal #Shreveport #holycross (fb)