Today the American Episcopal church celebrates a feast in honor of the life and ministry of the Rt Rev James Theodore Holly, born the child of freed slaves, and who became the first African-American bishop of their church.
He was born in 1829, his mother a Roman Catholic. As a young adult he crossed over to the Anglican communion. He was ordained a priest in 1856 and served as rector of St Luke’s Church in New Haven, CT.
During these years he was active in the former slave re-settlement scheme, and became interested in Haiti. In 1861 he resigned his pulpit and led a party of 110 people to Haiti. Despite terrible privations, which included the deaths of his mother, wife, and two of his children in their first year, the mission righted itself, and began to flourish.
In 1874 he was consecrated bishop for Haiti. He continued to serve there until shortly before his death in 1911.
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