Today is the Feast of James Lloyd Breck, someone most people have never heard of. He was born in 1818 and from a young age wanted to become an Episcopal priest and missionary. In 1841 Breck and two of his seminary classmates went as missionaries to Wisconsin, which was considered the frontier at that time. There they founded Nashotah House. The “House” was based on Benedictine principles and was a both semi-monastic community and theological seminary. Here is an excerpt from one of Breck’s letters about life at Nashotah House:
The students boarding with us are all theological. They are chiefly young men, sons of the farmers, and all communicants of the Church. Our students, like ourselves, are poor, but not the less worthy for all that. They seek the Ministry, but are unable to attain it without aid. We have a house; for this we pay no rent; it belongs to the Church, and so do we. We have land. They work four hours a day for their board and washing, and we give them their education without cost. Thus their clothing is their only expense, and to enable them to purchase this, we give them six weeks vacation during the harvest, when they can earn the highest wages.
Brother Adams and myself work four hours, except when we are teaching or doing Missionary labor. We must all work for our board. That is the only way in which they will feel it their duty to labor and to study, and the only way in which our people will feel their duty to the Church, and to ourselves as clergy of the same.
We rise at 5am, Matins at 6. The Morning Service of the Church at 9. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the Litany at 12. On Thursdays, the Holy Eucharist at the same hour of 12. The Evening service of the Church at 3, and Family Prayer or Vespers at 6:30 or 7pm. Our students labor between 7 and 9 in the morning, and 1 and 3 in the afternoon.
(Thanks to James Kiefer’s post about Breck on missionstclare.com for this quote)
Why am I posting this? Well, I was blessed to have been a seminarian at Nashotah and to be called a “daughter of the House.” Although life has changed since the early 1800’s, worship, study, and work still make up the daily round of life, and it grounded my life as a priest. So today, I give thanks for God’s call on Breck’s life and for Nashotah House’s continued ministry in forming priests for God’s service.
I’m glad to see you are blogging again after a long hiatus. I had started to follow your posts in 2017. Your studies in Israel intrigued me because I have developed a profound interest in recent years in understanding the Jewish roots of Christianity, along with an appreciation of Judaism in its own right. I loved your piece on Breck. You are truly an outstanding Daughter of the House. I hope you and Scott are well.
Dean Munday – what a joy to see your note today. I am afraid that I am rather sporadic in my posts and in checking my site. I am getting ready to upgrade it, which should fix some problems, and then I am committed to posting more regularly. I, like you, have become more and more interested in the Hebraic Roots of Christianity, I think it is so important for a sound understanding of the New Testament. I also have a great love for Biblical Historical Geography.
The updated site should be up and running in the next week or so. Thank you again for your note and kind words. Heidi