October 12
Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) witness
Today the Anglican Church commemorates Elizabeth Fry, a prison reformer.
Elizabeth Gurney was born in Earlham, Norfolk in 1780. At the age of twenty she married Joseph Fry, a London merchant and observant Quaker. Admitted to the Society of Friends as a minister, Elizabeth became a famous preacher.
When she learned of the deplorable conditions of her country's jails, she decided to fight to improve the living conditions of women prisoners at Newgate.
In 1820 Elizabeth was among the founders of a shelter for London's homeless, and in that year she began to travel throughout Europe, fighting for prison reform in every country she visited.
Sustained by her strongly evangelical vision, Elizabeth Fry ended her struggle only on the day of her death, October 12, 1845.
BIBLICAL READINGS
Isa 58:6-11; Heb 13:1-3; Mic 25:31-46
THE CHURCHES REMEMBER...
ANGLICANS:
Wilfrid of Ripon (d. 709), bishop, missionary
Elizabeth Fry, prisoner reformer
Edith Cavell (d. 1915), nurse
WESTERN CATHOLICS:
Edwige (d. 1243), religious (Ambrosian calendar)
COPTS AND ETHIOPIANS (2 babah/teqemt):
Coming to Egypt of Severus of Antioch (Coptic Orthodox Church)
Gregory of Nissa (d. 395), bishop (Coptic Catholic Church)
LUTHERANS:
Elizabeth Fry, benefactress in England
MARONITES:
Probus, Tarachus and Andronicus of Anazarbe (d. 304), martyrs
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS AND GREEK CATHOLICS:
Probus, Tarachus and Andronicus, martyrs
Onophrius Garegeli (d. 1733), monk (Georgian Church)