The Right Reverend Charles Henry Brent D. D. |
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First Bishop of the Missionary District of the Philippine Islands (1901–1917) 4th Bishop of Western New York (1918–1929) |
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Church | Episcopal Church |
In office | 1919–1929 |
Predecessor | William D. Walker |
Successor | David L. Ferris |
Orders | |
Ordination | Deacon on March 21, 1886 Priest on March 6, 1887 |
Consecration | December 19, 1901 |
Personal details | |
Born |
Newcastle, Ontario, Canada |
April 9, 1862
Died | March 27, 1929 Lausanne, Switzerland |
(aged 66)
Nationality | Born Canadian Naturalized American |
Previous post | Bishop of the Missionary District of the Philippine Islands (1901–1917) |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Toronto |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | The Episcopal Church’s Liturgical Calendar commemorates Brent on March 27. The Anglican Church of Canada commemorates Brent on March 27 as "Charles Henry Brent, Bishop of the Philippines, and of Western New York, 1929." |
Charles Henry Brent (April 9, 1862 – March 27, 1929) was the Episcopal Church’s first Missionary Bishop of the Philippine Islands (1902–1918); Chaplain General of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I (1917–1918); and Bishop of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Western New York (1918–1929). He has been characterized as a "gallant, daring, and consecrated soldier and servant of Christ" who was "one of modern Christendom's foremost leaders, prophets, and seers."
Charles Henry Brent was born on April 9, 1862 in Newcastle, Ontario, the town in which he and grew up. He was the third of ten children of the Reverend Henry Brent, who was the Anglican rector in Newcastle for forty-two years, and Sophia Francis Brent. By his own account, Brent's childhood in this rural village was a happy and secure one.
Brent was educated in Ontario. He planned his education to prepare him for the ordained ministry. First, Brent attended the town's public schools until 1880. Second, Brent’s college preparation was done in 1880–1881 at Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario. Third, he attended Trinity College, Toronto, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical honors in 1884. Throughout his education, Brent was both "a gifted and apt scholar" and "a formidable athlete." After graduating from Trinity College, he returned to Port Hope where from 1884 to 1886 he both taught at Trinity College School and studied privately for ordination.
From Brent's earliest memories he felt called to the ordained ministry. He once said, "I do not recall an instant of my life when I aspired to any vocation excepting that of the Ministry, but on one brief occasion when I faced the possibility of becoming a musician. As a boy at school the Ministry seemed to me the one vocation worth considering. ... Were I again on the threshold of life I would choose as I have chosen."
Brent was ordained a deacon on March 21, 1886, in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1886. However, there were no openings for him in his diocese, so he looked for a position in the United States. In 1887, he was ordained to the priesthood on March 6, 1887. After that, he was called to his first ministerial position in Buffalo, New York.