Absalom Jones Feast Day

Absalom Jones was born enslaved to a wealthy Anglican planter in 1746 in Delaware. Following unsuccessful attempts to buy his freedom as a young adult, he was granted manumission in 1784. Jones became an active lay leader and preacher in the Methodist and Episcopal Churches. He went on to become the first person of African descent to be ordained priest in the Anglican Church, by Bishop William White in 1802. Known as “the Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church,” Jones was an example of persistent faith in God and in the Church as God’s instrument. Jones died on February 13, 1818.