January 24: Florence Li Tim-Oi, Priest, 1992

The Collect of the Day

Florence Li Tim-Oi

Almighty God, who pours out your Spirit upon your sons and daughters: Grant that we, following the example of your servant Florence Li Tim-Oi, chosen priest in your church, may with faithfulness, patience, and tenacity proclaim your holy gospel to all the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Florence Li Tim-Oi

Almighty God, who dost pour out thy Spirit upon thy sons and daughters: Grant that we, following the example of thy servant Florence Li Tim-Oi, chosen priest in thy church, may with faithfulness, patience, and tenacity proclaim thy holy gospel to all the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Galatians 3:23–29
Psalm 116:1–12
Luke 5:1–11

Florence Li Tim-Oi was the first woman ordained as a priest in the Anglican Communion. Named by her father “much beloved daughter,” Li Tim-Oi was born in Hong Kong in 1907. When she was baptized as a student, she chose the name of Florence in honor of Florence Nightingale. Florence studied at Union Theological College in Guangzhou (Canton). In 1938, upon graduation, she served as a lay worker, first in Kowloon and then in nearby Macao.

In May 1941 Florence was ordained as a deaconess. Some months later, Hong Kong fell to Japanese invaders, and priests could not travel to Macao to celebrate the Eucharist. Despite this setback, Florence continued her ministry. Her work came to the attention of Bishop Ronald Hall of Hong Kong, who decided that “God’s work would reap better results if she had the proper title” of priest. On January 25th, 1944, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Bishop Hall ordained her as a priest.

When World War II came to an end, Florence Li Tim-Oi’s ordination became the subject of much controversy. She made the personal decision not to exercise her priesthood until it was acknowledged by the wider Anglican Communion. Undeterred, she continued to minister with great faithfulness, and in 1947 was appointed rector of St. Barnabas Church in Hepu where, on Bishop Hall’s instructions, she was still to be called priest.

When the Communists came to power in China in 1949, Florence undertook theological studies in Beijing to further understand the implications of the Three-Self Movement (self-rule, self-support, and self- propagation) which now determined the life of the churches. She then moved to Guangzhou to teach and to serve at the Cathedral of Our Savior. However, for sixteen years during the Cultural Revolution, from 1958 onwards, all churches were closed. Florence was forced to work first on a farm and then in a factory. Accused of counter-revolutionary activity, she was required to undergo political re-education. Finally, in 1974, she was allowed to retire from her work in the factory.

In 1979 the churches reopened, and Florence resumed her public ministry. Then, two years later, she was allowed to visit family members living in Canada. While there, to her great joy, she was licensed as a priest in the Diocese of Montreal and later in the Diocese of Toronto, where she finally settled until her death on February 26th, 1992.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

¹I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.

²The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; *I came to grief and sorrow.

³Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: *“O Lord, I pray you, save my life.”

⁴Gracious is the Lord and righteous; *our God is full of compassion.

⁵The Lord watches over the innocent; *I was brought very low, and he helped me.

⁶Turn again to your rest, O my soul. *for the Lord has treated you well.

⁷For you have rescued my life from death, *my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.

⁸I will walk in the presence of the Lord *in the land of the living.

⁹I believed, even when I said, “I have been brought very low.” *In my distress I said, “No one can be trusted.”

¹⁰How shall I repay the Lord *for all the good things he has done for me?

¹¹I will lift up the cup of salvation *and call upon the Name of the Lord.

¹²I will fulfill my vows to the Lord *in the presence of all his people.

Gospel

¹Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.