January 3, 1773 - December 4, 1848
"Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace."
Richard Allen
February 14, 1760 - March 26, 1831
Preacher and Founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
From Sussex County, Delaware
Served in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Affiliation: African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
"My sins were a heavy burden. I was tempted to believe there was no mercy for me. I cried to the Lord both night and day. One night I thought hell would be my portion. I cried unto Him who delighteth to hear the prayers of a poor sinner; and all of a sudden my dungeon shook, my chains flew off, and glory to God, I cried. My soul was filled. I cried, enough for me--the Saviour died. Now my confidence was strengthened that the Lord, for Christ's sake, had heard my prayers, and pardoned all my sins."
Charles Simeon
September 24, 1759 - November 1, 1836
Pastor and a Founder of the Church Missionary Society
From Berkshire, England
Served in Cambridge
Affiliation: Anglican
"By constantly meditating on the goodness of God and on our great deliverance from that punishment which our sins have deserved, we are brought to feel our vileness and utter unworthiness; and while we continue in this spirit of self-degradation, everything else will go on easily. We shall find ourselves advancing in our course; we shall feel the presence of God; we shall experience His love; we shall live in the enjoyment of His favour and in the hope of His glory"
Richard Furman
October 9, 1755 - August 25, 1825
President of the Triennial Convention, the First Nationwide Baptist Association. Also President of Furman University, the South's First Baptist College and named after him posthumously.
From Esopus, New York
Served in Charleston, South Carolina
Affiliation: Baptist
"Consider what multitudes around you need converting grace; and what a change will soon be made in their state and circumstances as well as in your own, when they, with you, will be arrested by the strong hand of death, and summoned to the bar of God."
Francis Asbury
August 20, 1745 - March 31, 1816
Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Leader in the Second Great Awakening and Founder of several Schools
From Hamstead Bridge, Staffordshire, England
Served in England and America
Affiliation: Methodist
"Whither am I going? To the New World. What to do? To gain honor? No, if I know my own heart. To get money? No: I am going to live to God, and to bring others so to do."
Manasseh Cutler
(May 13, 1742 – July 28, 1823)
Pastor, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Founder of Ohio University
From Killingly, Connecticut
Served in Hamilton, Massachusetts and the Northwest Territory
Affiliation: Congregational
"It is not possible, in the nature of things, that human laws, or principles of honor, can be adequate substitutes for religion. … Infidelity is a formidable enemy to the true principles of liberty. It erases from their foundation the main pillars that can support a free government. Freedom deigns not to dwell with general immorality: It cannot be enjoyed without virtue, nor can virtue be maintained without religion."
John Wesley
June 28, 1703 - March 2, 1791
Itinerant Preacher and Founder of Methodism
From Lincolnshire, England
Served in London, England
Affiliation: Anglican and Methodism
"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth."
Jonathan Edwards
October 5, 1703 - March 22, 1758
Pastor during the America's First Great Awakening
From South Windsor, Connecticut
Served in Northampton, Massachusetts
Affiliation: Reformed
"Godliness in the heart has as direct a relation to practice, as a fountain has to a stream, or as the luminous nature of the sun has to beams sent forth, or as life has to breathing…"
Isaac Backus
January 9, 1724 - November 20, 1806
Baptist Preacher who campaigned against state-established churches in New England and helped to found Brown University
From Norwich, Connecticut
Served in Middleborough, Massachusetts
Affiliation: Baptist
"The scheme we oppose evidently tends to destroy the purity and life of religion; for the inspired apostle assures us, that the church is espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ, and is obliged to be subject to him in every thing, as a true wife is to her husband."
Samuel Wesley
December 17, 1662 - April 5, 1735
Pastor, Poet, and Father of John and Charles Wesley
From Dorset, England
Served in Dorset, England
Affliation: Anglican
"The Prophets great Inspirer only praise. / Yet tho to God alone the Praise belong, / With him and thee we share the pleasing Song. / Thus Aaron Incense on its Altar laid, / And, while attending Israel bow'd and pray'd; / The balmy Steams, for Heav'n alone prepar'd, / The Priest, the People, and the Godhead shar'd."
John Calvin
Martin Luther
Ulrich Zwingli
January 1, 1484 - October 11, 1531
Pastor, Theologian, and Leader of the Reformation in Switzerland
From Switzerland
Served in Switzerland
Affiliation: Christian
"Through Christ alone we are given salvation, blessedness, grace, pardon, and all that makes us in any way worthy in the sight of a righteous God."
Jan Hus
1369 - July 6, 1415
Reformer and Theologian
From Czech Republic
Served in Germany
Affiliation: Hussite
Death: Burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church
"I hope, by God's grace, that I am truly a Christian, not deviating from the faith, and that I would rather suffer the penalty of a terrible death than wish to affirm anything outside of the faith or transgress the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Catherine of Siena
John Wycliffe
1320 - December 31, 1384
Theologian, Preacher, and Translator of the Bible into English
From Yorkshire, England
Served in England
Affiliation: Catholic (Early Reformer)
Death: At mass he suffered a stroke while and died, but in 1415 his body was exhumed and his bones burned because of herasy
"Do not let friars enter your wine cellars for fear they will bless every barrel and change the wine into blood."
Bernard of Clairvaux
1098 - September 17, 1179
German Writer, Composer, Philosopher, and Mystic
From Germany
Served in Germany
Affiliation: Catholic
"May the Holy Spirit enkindle you with the fire of His Love so that you may persevere, unfailingly, in the love of His service. Thus you may merit to become, at last, a living stone in the celestial Jerusalem."
Isidore of Seville
560 - April 4, 636
Archbishop of Seville and often viewed as the last Scholar of the Ancient World
From Cartagena, Spain
Served in Seville, Spain
Affiliation: Catholic
"Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear."
Benedict of Nursia
Patrick
387 - March 17, 493
Apostle to Ireland
From Roman England
Served in Ireland
Affiliation: Catholic
“I bind to myself today, the strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity: I believe the Trinity in the Unity, the Creator of the Universe. I bind to myself today. the virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism, the virtue of His crucifixion with His burial, the virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension, the virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.”