Alfred Lee (bishop)
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Episcopal bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, graduated from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1827, and after three years practicing law in New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, he studied for the ministry, graduating from the General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, in 1837. He was rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Calvary Church, in Rockdale, Pa., from 1838 to 1841, when he was chosen as the first Bishop of Delaware
Episcopal Diocese of Delaware
The Episcopal Diocese of Delaware is one of 108 dioceses making up the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It consists of 38 congregations or Parishes in an area the same as the State of Delaware...
. In 1842 he also became rector of St. Andrew's, Wilmington
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. He was a member of the American Committee for the Revision of the New Testament (1881). In 1884 he succeeded Bishop Smith
Benjamin Bosworth Smith
Benjamin Bosworth Smith was an American Protestant Episcopal bishop. He was born at Bristol, R. I., and graduated at Brown University in 1816. The following year he was ordained, beginning his ministry at Marblehead, Mass. He held several pastoral charges and was for a time editor of the...
as presiding bishop of the Episcopal church.
Early life
Alfred Lee’s father was a midshipman in the British Navy who served with honor and distinction until he left the service when he decided to come to America. Little is known about Lee's mother. On September 9, 1807, Alfred Lee was born in CambridgeCambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts. His family was upper–middle class and lived in one of the most prestigious houses in Cambridge. His house is the subject of Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
’s poem “The Old House by the Lindens”. Lee graduated from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
law in 1827, and started his career as an apprentice of law. However, this profession soon lost its appeal to him, and he began looking for a more fulfilling one.
Start of his religious career
Lee moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and enrolled in General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
. After graduating, Lee was elected deacon of Trinity Church in Norwich Connecticut on June 12, 1838. From there, he moved around a lot. His first services as rector were given on September 12 at Calvary church in Rockdale, Pennsylvania, where he lived for three years. During this time he established himself as a notable figure in the local and global Ecclesiastical communities.
Election as Bishop
In 1841, the General Episcopal Convention was held in Georgetown, Delaware. During the convention it was resolved to separate the diocese DelawareEpiscopal Diocese of Delaware
The Episcopal Diocese of Delaware is one of 108 dioceses making up the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It consists of 38 congregations or Parishes in an area the same as the State of Delaware...
from that of Pennsylvania
Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania
The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware in the state of Pennsylvania....
. No longer would Delaware’s clerical needs be overshadowed by those of the much larger state of Pennsylvania. Lee was very well respected in his community because of his demeanor, candor, and resolve; he unanimously won the vote of both the Clerical and Lay Deputies, and was consecrated as the first Bishop of Delaware and the 38th Bishop of America on October 12, 1841, at the age of thirty-four. When Lee arrived in Delaware, only seven Episcopalian parishes held services on a regular basis, and Delaware had only four ordained and acting ministers.
Work in Delaware
In June 1842, Lee was asked to fill in as a temporary rector at St. Andrews parish in WilmingtonWilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, Delaware. Being quite impressed by his service, the parish asked him to become the permanent rector in 1843 . Through his extensive travels, Lee also became president of the Mexican Commission. His willingness to take on responsibilities that were not required of him was a testament to his great determination. In 1884, this devotion to service served him well as he became the Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in The United States of America with the passing of Bishop Smith.
Death
In January 1887, Lee caught typhoid feverTyphoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
, the disease that would ail him until his death four months later. At 3:30 on April 12, 1887, Alfred Lee died. His funeral service was held at his beloved St. Andrews Church.
In 1881, after serving as the Bishop of Delaware for forty years, Lee reflected on his service as Bishop. He had built twenty-four churches and brought two previously abandoned churches back in to service. He had baptized 4,327 people and confirmed 10,082 others. He had traveled across the globe; he went to England for the Lambeth conference and Mexico to set up missions. Lee wrote five formal publications: Life of Saint Peter (1852), Life of Saint John (1854), A Treatise on Baptism (1854), Memoir of Susan Allibone (1856), Harbinger of Christ (1857), and Coöperative Revision of the New Testament (1881). He was extraordinarily well respected. In his time of need he received countless letters of encouragement and support. He had two sons; one was a lawyer and the other a doctor. And he had one daughter by the name of Mrs. McIlvaine.
Stance on slavery
Lee’s position against slavery was critical in the fight against slavery in Delaware because Lee was one of the few public figures who opposed slavery. All of his early years were spent in the north, completely removed from the horrors of slavery. The three years he spent preaching in Pennsylvania were the closest he was to slavery prior to his consecration. Undoubtedly he experienced a culture shock when he first arrived in Delaware. Because Lee did not grow up around slavery, he was not desensitized to it. By coming to the south as an outsider, he was able to see the atrocities of slavery for what they were. He did not, at the start of his service, preach radically against slavery out of self preservation. If he had become public with his views, he may have been thrown out the House of Bishops. The gradual strengthening of his anti-slavery claims through his sermonsallowed for his view to slowly seep into the minds of his congregations and followers. His tact served him well in office. Alfred Lee was a highly regarded man who paved the way for a radical switch in the Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
’s stand on slavery in the 1860s.