Calendar of Saints: Gallaudet and Syle (2)

Twice a week I post a quote from saints from the Episcopal Calendar of Saints that week. They are to be meditative and mindful, playful and thought inducing. I hope they are helpful in your spiritual journeys.

Thomas Gallaudet (1822 - 1902)
Henry Winter Syle (1846 - 1890)
Priests
August 27

(In a change from normal, instead of posting a quote from Henry Syle, here is a sign-language version of Amazing Grace)



One of Gallaudet's students and parishioners was Henry Winter Syle, deaf from an early age, who had attended Trinity College (Hartford, Conn), St John's (Cambridge, England), and Yale. Gallaudet encouraged him to become a priest, and in 1876 he became the first deaf person to be ordained by the Episcopal Church in the United States. He faced significant discrimination about his desire to become a priest since he was unable to speak. A number of prominent churchmen came to his side and the ordination was approved. He established a congregation for the deaf in 1888.

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