Jonathan Myrick Daniels

The calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts is a way that the Episcopal Church celebrates the life and ministry of many people who have been an example of Christ like behavior in the world. On August 14th about twenty people gathered at the Church of the Epiphany in Providence to celebrate the feast day of Jonathan Myrick Daniels. Jonathan Daniels was a young seminarian who in the 1960s went to Alabama to march with Martin Luther King Jr. and fight for the right to vote for African Americans. One day Jonathan was walking with two young African American girls, after being released form prision. They were going to get a drink from a store and the owner was at the door telling them that they could not come in. In his hands he held a shot gun. The store owner then went to shoot one of the young African American girls, and Jonathan pushed her out of the way taking the fatal bullet himself. Jonathan spent some time working at Christ Church in Providence, which is no longer standing.


As we gathered for the remembrance celebration on the 14th, I learned that there were a few people there who knew Jonathan making what we were doing that much more personal. To hear the stories of his life was extremely inspiring. At 6.30 we gathered in the mission house for the beginning part of the Eucharist up until the homily. We then left the mission house and marched around the block singing the zimbabwe alleluia. As we marched we were lead by the cross. There were also two banners that some of the kids there carried.

Also Rev. Al Barnaby carried an icon of Jonathan that he had made. We finally gather in the back of the church for the prayer of consecration. As we were concluding out Eucharist the sun was setting. We gathered in the mission house and shared a meal and some wonderful fellowship.

As a young person, myself and my peers, so often take all that we have for granted. Taking part in an event like this celebration really put things into perspective for me. To be in a community where several had been personally affected by this man was remarkable. Someone had even brought two pieces of the old Christ Church, the parish Jonathan worked at, with them.

There have been a small handful of Eucharists that I have been to that I will never forget. Gathering around the icon of Jonathan, the pieces of Christ Church, sharing in the Eucharist, with the sun setting in the background was a truly unforgetable sacramental moment. This is just a small thing that we can do to celebrate the life of Jonathan and all the Civil Rights Martyrs who dedicated their lives to ensuring equality for all.