Readings:
Psalm
146 or 40: 1-10
Lamentations
3:26-36 or Exodus 14:10-15:1
Matthew 25:35-46 or John 13:31-35
Preface of a Saint (2)
PRAYER (traditional language)
Merciful God, who didst raise up thy servant Frances Joseph-Gaudet to
work for prison reform and the education of her people: Grant that we, encouraged
by the example of her life, may work for those who are denied the fullness
of life by reasons of incarceration and lack of access to education ; through
Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.
PRAYER (contemporary language)
Merciful God, who raised up your servant Frances Joseph-Gaudet to work
for prison reform and the education of her people: Grant that we, encouraged
by the example of her life, may work for those who are denied the fullness
of life by reasons of incarceration and lack of access to education ; through
Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen
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Last updated: 24 June 2006
The Commemoration of Frances Joseph-Gaudet was provisionally approved
by General Convention, June 2006 |
FRANCES JOSEPH-GAUDET
EDUCATOR AND PRISON REFORMER
(30 December 1934)
Frances Joseph-Gaudet (1861- December 1934), prison reform
worker and educator, was born in a log cabin in Holmesville, Mississippi
of African American and Native American descent. She was raised by her grandparents.
Later she went to live with a brother in New Orleans where she attended school
and Straight College. Widowed early, she dedicated her life to prison reform.
Beginning in 1894 she held prayer meetings, wrote letters, delivered messages,
and secured clothing for black prisoners, and later for white prisoners as
well. Her dedication to prisoners and prison reform won her the respect of
prison officials, city authorities, the governor, and the Prison Reform Association.
A delegate to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union international
convention in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1900, she worked for the reform of
young blacks arrested for misdemeanor or vagrancy. Joseph-Gaudet was the
first woman to support juvenile offenders in Louisiana, and her efforts helped
found the juvenile court. She eventually purchased a farm and founded the
Gaudet Normal and Industrial School. The school, which eventually expanded
to 105 acres and numerous buildings, also served as a boarding school for
children with working mothers. Joseph-Gaudet served as principal of the school
until 1921 when she donated the school to the Episcopal Church of Lousiana.
Though the school closed in 1950, the Gaudet Episcopal Home opened in the
same location four years later to serve African American children ages four
to sixteen. The endowment fund currently supports St. Luke’s Community
Center on North Dorgenois Street, where a hall honors Frances Joseph-Gaudet.
from the Episcopal Women's History Project
|