| James Lloyd Breck | |
|---|---|
Rev. James Lloyd Breck, 1866 |
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| Born | June 27, 1818 Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania[1] |
| Died | 2 April 1876 (aged 57) Benicia, California |
| Honored in | Episcopal Church USA |
| Feast | April 2 |
James Lloyd Breck (June 27, 1818 – April 2, 1876) was a priest, educator and missionary of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
James Lloyd Breck is commemorated on April 2 on the Episcopal calendar of saints.
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Breck was born in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He attended high school at the Flushing Institute, founded by William Augustus Muhlenberg, who inspired him to resolve at the age of sixteen to devote himself to missionary activity. He received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 and a B.D. from General Theological Seminary in 1841.[1]
In 1844, by then a priest, he went to the frontier of Wisconsin with two classmates, under the direction of Bishop Jackson Kemper, to found Nashotah House, intended as a monastic community, a seminary, and a center for theological work. It continues today as a seminary.[2]
In 1850 Breck moved to Minnesota where he founded schools for boys and girls such as Breck School in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and the Seabury Divinity School at Faribault, Minnesota. He also began mission work among the Ojibwa.[3] On June 23, 1850, on top of Grandad Bluff, Father Breck celebrated the first Episcopal[4] Holy Communion in the La Crosse area.[5]
In 1867 he moved to Benicia, California to build another two institutions.[6]
Breck was known as "The Apostle of the Wilderness."[7]
James Lloyd Breck died in Benicia in 1876. He was buried beneath the altar of the church he served as rector but later his body was removed and reinterred on the grounds of Nashotah House in Nashotah, Wisconsin. The recommittal service there had 14 bishops, around 100 priests and numerous lay people in attendance.[1][8]