Absalom Jones Day 2010: For all members of the Diocese of Central Florida
Posted January 3rd, 2010
For 31 years the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida has honored one of the Church’s most inspiring pioneers by sponsoring the CELEBRATION OF THE FEAST OF ABSALOM JONES. This year’s Absalom Jones Day will be on Saturday, Feb. 13, 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, downtown Orlando.
There will be fun, fellowship, music and worship – Food for the body and soul.
The Central Florida Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) in conjunction with the Anti-Racism Training Committee of the Diocese of Central Florida is organizing the event, and stresses that the day is for all members of the Diocese.
Absalom Jones was born a slave in Sussex, Del. on Dec. 6, 1746. He learned to read as a child. At 16 he was taken to Philadelphia to work in his master’s shop where a clerk taught him to write. His savings enabled him to buy first his wife’s and then his freedom. He became a friend of Richard Allen and together they founded the Free African Society, which served as a protective society and social organization for free blacks. Jones and Allen were both inclined to preach and were part of St. George’s Methodist Church. Harassed by white members, they made a decision to organize blacks outside of the church and so the Free African Society grew.
Did you know?
Toward the end of 1790, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen were encouraged to inaugurate a separate black church. In an election the majority of members of the Free African Society voted to affiliate with the Church of England. Absalom Jones accepted the pastorate and in 1794 the African Church of St. Thomas opened. Jones was active in the civic life of Philadelphia and in 1799 was among 75 free black men who sent a petition against the slave trade to Congress.
This petition was the first official protest to Congress by blacks in America. Jones died on February 13, 1818. The Episcopal Church recognizes Absalom Jones as its first black priest. A Day of Devotion is annually set aside in February by the church to commemorate the work of Absalom Jones.
