- Charles Chapman Grafton
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Charles Chapman Grafton 2nd Bishop of Fond du Lac 
Province The Episcopal Church Diocese Fond du Lac Enthroned 1888 Reign ended 1912 Predecessor John Henry Hobart Brown Successor Reginald Heber Weller Orders Consecration April 25, 1888 Personal details Born April 12, 1830
Boston, MassachusettsDied August 30, 1912 (age 82)
Fond du Lac, WisconsinBuried St. Paul's Cathedral The Right Reverend Charles Chapman Grafton (April 12, 1830 – August 30, 1912) was the second Bishop of the Diocese of Fond du Lac in The Episcopal Church.
Contents
Early Life
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was an ardent supporter of the Oxford Movement, an affiliation of High Church Anglicans that led to Anglo-Catholicism in The Episcopal Church. In 1853 he graduated from Harvard with a degree in law but found himself drawn toward the ordained ministry. Grafton studied theology under Bishop William Whittingham of Maryland and was ordained deacon on Dec. 23, 1855.
Priesthood
Grafton began his ordained ministry as assistant at Reisterstown, Maryland and on May 30, 1858, he was ordained priest and served as curate at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and chaplain of the deaconesses of the Diocese of Maryland. At the close of the Civil War he went to England and with Richard Meux Benson and Simeon Wilberforce O'Neill he co-founded the Society of St. John the Evangelist, also known as the Cowley Fathers. Grafton returned to the United States, and in 1872 became fourth Rector of Church of the Advent, Boston. A jurisdictional dispute concerning Grafton's overseas religious superior led to his withdrawal from SSJE. Bishop Grafton also helped establish the American Congregation of Saint Benedict (now known as The Benedictine Order of St John the Beloved) and in 1888 he was a founder of the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity, along with Mother Ruth Margaret.
Episcopate
Grafton was consecrated on December 15, 1888 at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin by William E. McLaren of Chicago, Alexander Burgess of Quincy, and George F. Seymour of Springfield. During his tenure as Bishop, Grafton spearheaded a great expansion the Diocese of Fond du Lac, much of it driven by contributing much of his own personal wealth and soliciting contributions from many of his wealthy friends back east. He also left behind a legacy of printed works, sermons and essays.
In 1900 Grafton was chief consecrator of Reginald Heber Weller as bishop coadjutor of Fond Du Lac. The liturgy of the consecration was controversial. The Russian Orthodox bishop of Alaska, Saint Tikhon was present as well as Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church. Bishop Grafton was photographed with these other bishops wearing copes and miters (which was not widely accepted in the Episcopal Church at that time). The photo became known as the "Fond du Lac Circus".
Veneration
Grafton is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on August 30.
See also
- List of Succession of Bishops for the Episcopal Church, USA
Sources
- A Sketch-book of the American Episcopate, by Hermon Griswold Batterson (Philadelphia: J.P. Lippencott Company, 1891)
- The Episcopate in America, by William Stevens Perry (New York: The Christian Literature Company, 1895)
- The Catholic Movement in the American Episcopal Church (2nd Ed) by George DeMille (Philadelphia: Church Historical Society, 1950)
- A History of the Episcopal Church by Robert Prichard (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Pub., 1999)
External links
- Documents by and about Grafton from Project Canterbury
- Fond Du Lac Circus from the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac
- Bishop Grafton Institute
- Charles Chapman Grafton, Second Bishop of Fond du Lac from The Living Church, by Richard Mammana
Episcopal Church (USA) titles Preceded by
John Henry Hobart Brown2nd Bishop of Fond du Lac
1888–1912Succeeded by
Reginald Heber WellerCategories:- 1830 births
- 1912 deaths
- Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
- People from Boston, Massachusetts
- People from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
- American Episcopalians
- American Episcopal priests
- Anglo-Catholic bishops
- Religious leaders from Wisconsin
- American religious leaders
- Anglican saints
- 19th-century Anglican bishops
- 19th-century American Episcopalians
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