Charles Fillmore (Unity Church) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Sherlock Fillmore
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| Born | August 22, 1854 St. Cloud, Minnesota Territory, U.S.
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| Died | August 5, 1948 (aged 93) Lee's Summit, Missouri, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) |
Myrtle Page
(m. 1881–1931)Cora G. Dedrick
(m. 1933–1948) |
Charles Sherlock Fillmore (born August 22, 1854 – died July 5, 1948) was an American religious leader. He started a church called Unity with his wife, Myrtle Page Fillmore, in 1889. This church is part of the New Thought movement. Charles Fillmore was known as an American mystic. He helped people understand the Biblical Scripture in a spiritual way. He also supported vegetarianism for many years.
Contents
Charles Fillmore's Life Story
Charles Fillmore was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on August 22, 1854. His father, Henry G. Fillmore, was a trader from Buffalo, New York. He traded with the local Ojibwe people. Charles's mother, Mary Georganna Fillmore, was born in New Brunswick, which is now part of Canada.
When Charles was ten, he had an ice skating accident. This accident broke his hip and caused him to have difficulties for the rest of his life. He didn't have much formal schooling. However, he loved to read and study on his own. He read books by famous writers like William Shakespeare and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He also studied spiritualism, Eastern religions, and metaphysics.
In the mid-1870s, he met his future wife, Mary Caroline "Myrtle" Page. They met in Denison, Texas, where Charles worked as a railroad clerk. After losing that job, he moved to Gunnison, Colorado. There, he worked in mining and real estate.
Charles and Myrtle got married in Clinton, Missouri, on March 29, 1881. They then moved to Pueblo, Colorado. Charles started a real estate business there with his brother-in-law. This brother-in-law was related to Nona L. Brooks, who later started the Church of Divine Science.
Discovering New Thought Ideas
After their first two sons, Lowell and Waldo, were born, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. In 1886, Charles and Myrtle went to classes about New Thought. These classes were taught by E. B. Weeks. Myrtle had been very sick with tuberculosis for a long time. After taking these classes, she got better. She believed her recovery came from using prayer and other methods she learned. Charles also started to heal from his childhood accident. He too believed this philosophy helped him. Charles Fillmore became a dedicated student of philosophy and religion.
In 1889, Charles and Myrtle started a new magazine called Modern Thought. This magazine was important because it was the first to publish writings by William Walker Atkinson. He was a young leader in the New Thought movement. In 1890, the Fillmores announced a prayer group. This group was later named 'Silent Unity'. In 1891, Fillmore's own magazine, Unity, was first published. H. Emilie Cady wrote "Lessons in Truth" for this new magazine. These writings were later put into a book. This book became a very important work for the Unity Church.
Charles didn't plan for Unity to become a formal church at first. But his students wanted a more organized group. So, he and his wife became some of the first ordained Unity ministers in 1906. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore ran the Unity organizations from a campus in Kansas City.
Myrtle Fillmore passed away in 1931. Charles married Cora G. Dedrick in 1933. Cora helped him write some of his later books.
Charles Fillmore's Passing
Charles Fillmore died in 1948 in Lee's Summit, Missouri. The Unity movement continued to grow after his death. Today, it is a worldwide movement. Unity World Headquarters at Unity Village and Unity Worldwide Ministries are the main organizations.
What Charles Fillmore Believed
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore both had health problems. They found new ideas that they believed helped them get better. Their main beliefs are simple:
- God is good.
- God is always available, and God is within you.
About a year after starting their magazine, Modern Thought, they had an important idea. They realized that if God is love and intelligence, then God is everywhere. People didn't need to be in the same room to pray together. They could unite their thoughts and prayers from anywhere.
The Fillmores also taught about living a long, healthy life. They believed in the idea of spiritual growth over many lifetimes.
Why Charles Fillmore Became a Vegetarian
Charles's wife, Myrtle, became a vegetarian in 1895. She did this because she believed it was the right thing to do for animals. Charles later became a vegetarian because of her. He first spoke publicly about it in 1903. He wrote an article called "As to Meat Eating." In it, he said that eating meat was not ethical. He also believed that a vegetarian diet could help people grow spiritually. He suggested a diet that included dairy and eggs, but no meat.
Charles and Myrtle ran a vegetarian restaurant called Unity Inn. It was on Tracy Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. At the time, it was one of the largest vegetarian restaurants in the world. It could serve 200 guests. In 1924, Unity published a vegetarian cookbook. It was called The Unity Inn Cookbook and had over 300 meat-free recipes. Charles wrote an essay for the cookbook. It was titled "Relation Between Regeneration and Vegetarianism." After Myrtle died in 1931, Charles started eating fish again.
Books by Charles Fillmore
- Christian Healing (1909)
- Talks on Truth (1922)
- The Twelve Powers of Man (1930)
- Metaphysical Bible Dictionary (1931)
- Mysteries of Genesis (1936)
- Prosperity (1936)
- Jesus Christ Heals (1939)
- Teach Us to Pray with Cora Fillmore (1941)
- Mysteries of John (1946)
- Atom-Smashing Power of Mind (1949)
- Keep a True Lent (1953)
- The Revealing Word (1959)
See also
- Malinda Cramer
- Emmet Fox
- Ernest Holmes
- Emma Curtis Hopkins
- List of New Thought denominations and independent centers
- List of New Thought writers
Images for kids
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Unity Inn, a vegetarian restaurant run by Charles Fillmore, in 1924.
