C021 Second General Convention Reading to add Élie Naud, Huguenot Witness to the Faith, 1722, to Lesser Feasts and Fasts
Resolved, the House of ________________ concurring,
That the 81st General Convention reaffirm the inclusion of Élie Naud, Huguenot Witness to the Faith, 1722, in Lesser Feasts and Fasts, to be commemorated on or near September 7, his day of death in 1722.
Explanation
Élie Naud, also spelled Élie Neau, was a French Huguenot (French Reformed) born in 1661. It was an era when French Roman Catholicism was increasingly dominant and the persecution of Protestants was becoming more violent. Naud fled France and landed in England, where he sojourned briefly before settling permanently in New York. During his early years in New York, he traveled frequently to Europe to raise money for Huguenot causes, having to survive in stowage because he was not a Roman Catholic. His unwillingness to renounce his French Reformed faith resulted in his imprisonment for nearly two years in the infamous Château d’If.
In New York he became acquainted with Episcopalians and fell in love with the Book of Common Prayer. He became a member of Trinity Church, Wall Street, where he served for fifteen years as a catechist among Black slaves and Native Americans, preparing them for baptism. He was later a member of the Église du Saint-Esprit, a French-speaking Episcopal parish in New York City. Naud founded a school for the children of the poor and for the children of slaves. Upon the recommendation of the Rector of Trinity Church, the Bishop of London, acting for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), licensed Naud as a missioner “to slaves and ragged people in the New World.” Naud also became involved in colonial politics by trying to influence Parliament for the passage of British laws that would demand Christian instruction for the children of slaves and Native Americans as well as the formation of schools for their education. It was only through these means, he believed, that an equal and free society could be created. During the New York slave riot of 1712, Naud remained faithful to his vision. The outraged people of New York who believed that the education of slaves fueled such uprisings threatened him with death.
Naud continued to write hymns and poetry in his native French throughout his life. He died on September 7, 1722, and was buried in the churchyard at Trinity Church, Wall Street.