James Theodore Holly facts for kids
Quick facts for kids James Holly |
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Bishop Jack Holly
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| Bishop of Haiti, and of the Dominican Republic | |
| Born | James Theodore Holly October 3, 1829 Washington, D.C., U.S.A. |
| Died | March 13, 1911 (aged 81) Port-au-Prince, Haiti Interred at St. Vincent's Home, Port-au-Prince |
| Venerated in | Episcopal Church (United States) |
| Feast | 13 March |
James Theodore Augustus Holly (October 3, 1829 – March 13, 1911) was an important leader in the Episcopal Church. He was the first African-American bishop in this church. Bishop Holly spent most of his career as a missionary bishop in Haiti.
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Growing Up and Early Work
James Holly was born in Washington, D.C. in 1829. His parents were free people of African descent. He went to public and private schools. James was first raised in the Catholic Church.
When he was 14, he moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York. His father taught him how to make shoes. In Washington, D.C., and New York City, Holly met many famous people who wanted to end slavery, like Frederick Douglass. By 1848, he was working with Lewis Tappan, another leader against slavery. In 1850, James and his brother Joseph opened their own shoe-making shop.
A New Path
In 1851, Holly married Charlotte. He also left the Catholic Church because it did not allow Black priests. In 1852, they joined the Episcopal Church.
The young family soon moved to Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. There, Holly helped Henry Bibb edit a weekly newspaper called Voice of the Fugitive. Holly also helped organize a meeting for free Black people in Canada. In 1854, he returned to the United States to become a school principal in Buffalo, New York.
Dreams of a New Home
In 1854, Holly attended a meeting in Cleveland about Black people moving to other countries. He became a leader on the National Emigration Board. After this, Holly visited Haiti for the first time. He wanted to see if it was a good place for free Black people to move.
Holly knew that some Black Americans had moved to Haiti before, but many had returned because life was hard there. He believed that free Black people could avoid unfair treatment by moving to Haiti. Haiti had become independent from its rulers. Holly thought this move would also help make Haiti more stable. He often asked the Episcopal Church to send him to Haiti as a missionary, but they always said no.
Religious Career
James Holly studied theology (the study of religious faith). He became a deacon on June 17, 1855, in Detroit. He was then ordained as a priest on January 2, 1856, in New Haven, Connecticut.
At the same time, Holly helped start a group called the Protestant Episcopal Society for Promoting the Extension of the Church Among Colored People. This group worked to get the church to speak out against slavery. It later became the Union of Black Episcopalians.
Reverend Holly was the leader of St. Luke's Church in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1856 to 1861. During this time, he traveled to Haiti several times. In 1857, he published a book of his talks called Vindication of the Capacity of the Negro Race for Self Governance and Civilized Progress. In 1859, he asked Congressman Frank Blair for money to help Black people move to Haiti. However, his request was denied, and the church's mission board also refused to help him raise money.
Moving to Haiti
In 1861, Reverend Holly left his job in New Haven. He led 110 African Americans and Canadians to Haiti. Just two weeks after they arrived, on June 13, 1861, Haiti's President Geffrard made Holly a Haitian citizen.
However, many of the new settlers became very sick with diseases like yellow fever and malaria. Life was very difficult. Holly lost his mother, his wife, and two of his children. Forty-three of the settlers died in the first year. Many of the people who had moved to Haiti returned to the United States, even though the American Civil War was happening there.
Despite these great losses, Bishop Holly stayed in Haiti with his two sons and other dedicated American settlers. By 1863, they had built Holy Trinity Church and schools. Soon, they built other churches and started programs to train pastors and provide medical care in rural areas. The church's mission board began to support their work financially in 1865. Reverend Holly also served as a representative for Liberia in Port-au-Prince from 1864 to 1874.
Becoming a Bishop
In 1874, Reverend Holly received an honorary degree (a D.D. or Doctor of Divinity) from Howard University in Washington, D.C. In the same year, he was made a missionary bishop of Haiti. This happened in a ceremony at Grace Episcopal Church in New York. Bishop Benjamin Bosworth Smith led the ceremony.
Bishop Holly became the first African American to be made a bishop in the Episcopal Church. He was only the second Black person to become a bishop in a major Protestant Christian church.
In 1878, Bishop Holly traveled to England as a delegate to the Lambeth Conference, a big meeting of Anglican bishops. However, he spent most of the rest of his life in his diocese (area of church leadership) on the island of Hispaniola. He received another honorary degree (an LL.D. or Doctor of Laws) from Liberia College in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1882. Bishop Holly also wrote reviews for church magazines. In 1897, he published a book called FACTS ABOUT THE CHURCH'S MISSION IN HAITI. That same year, he was also named bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic.
Later Life and Legacy
Bishop James Holly died in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 13, 1911. He is buried at St. Vincent’s School for Handicapped Children in Port-au-Prince.
In 1936, 25 years after his death, the Haitian government honored Bishop Holly for his 50 years of work for Haiti. They gave him their highest award, Commander in the National Order of Honor and Merit.
The Episcopal Church remembers Bishop Holly with a special day on its feast day on March 13. This is the anniversary of his death. Some churches celebrate his life on November 8, the anniversary of when he became a bishop.
