In 1870 the Church of the Advent in Boston, occupying its fourth site in Bowdoin Street, was without a rector, the Rev. James A. Bolles having resigned in December, 1869, and was in charge of the Rev. Moses P. Stickney as rector ad interim. It was proposed to the Society of St. John the Evangelist, of which Father Benson was the Superior, to take over the administration of the parish. Father Benson and two associates visited Boston and examined the situation, but the Bishop of Massachusetts refused to allow the "foreigners" to officiate in public worship, and they could only speak in unconsecrated halls or private rooms. Thus, it was asked that one of the Brotherhood, a priest in Holy Orders in the American Church, might become Rector, and permission was given to Father Grafton to accept the proffered office. After several months' service by Father Prescott, Mr. Stickney having resigned at Easter, 1871, Father Grafton's acceptance was received by the parish at the Easter meeting, 1872, his letter dimissory to Massachusetts from Maryland, with which he had retained official connection, being dated February 24, 1872. After many years a question arose on a matter of jurisdiction between the Cowley House, established at Philadelphia, and the mother house at Oxford. Father Prescott conferred with Father Grafton and it was decided to appeal to the English Superior to grant an American Constitution, which had long been contemplated and which would put the American priests in right relations to their Bishops. But this appeal was not acted on, and it was finally arranged for various good and sufficient reasons, among which was the placing of the Americans in right relation to their Bishops, that they should leave the Society, be honorably released from their vows, and allowed to form an American Order of their own. Father Grafton had contributed a large sum of money towards the purchase of the house of worship in Bowdoin Street, which it was proposed should become the home of the American organization. But a large number of the members of the parish of the Advent had become convinced that an organic connection with a religious order was not wholly desirable in the development of parochial life, so Father Grafton assented to the transfer of the building on Bowdoin Street to the Cowley society, retaining, of course, his rectorship of the parish of the Advent, and the administration of the new parish church, which had been built under his inspiration and influence. The land having been purchased at Easter, 1875, was broken March 21, 1878; the chancel first built and walled in, used as a chapel on Easter, 1879, and the building of the nave commenced in the spring of 1881. The rector established the House of the Holy Nativity in 1882, a sisterhood which largely assisted in preparing for and building up the increased congregation for the new church. The first service was held in the completed fabric on the Thursday before Palm Sunday, 1883. Father Grafton's heart was yet full of missionary enterprise and of the desire to promote an Ameri can Order of missionaries. Seeing the great prosperity of the parish of the Advent in its new and magnificent building, the church crowded, the parish expenses all met and everything at the highest point of success, he felt that he could give his work into other hands, and in April, 1888, he resigned the rectorship of the Advent and took the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity to Providence. His future plans were to be shaped in an unexpected manner. On the thirteenth day of November, 1888, Father Grafton was elected, by the Council of that diocese, Bishop of Fond du Lac, and he felt this call imperative to a difficult field which was practically a missionary one. On the fourth of April, 1889, the Presiding Bishop certified to the fulfilment of the necessary canonical conditions for the consecration, which sacred function took place on St. Mark's Day, April 25, in the Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac. A farewell service was held in the parish of the Advent, Boston, April 13, at which the future Bishop was celebrant at the Eucharist and Bishop Paddock of Massachusetts was the preacher. At this service many of the clergy of Massachusetts assisted, and many others were present among the large congregation. It was a most affecting occasion. One of the numerous public notices of this service, voicing its expression, said of the participants in this farewell, that "their sorrow is tempered by their confidence in the career of the future Bishop. If his particular delicacy and cultivation have aided his work in the East, the predominant elements of his character, the piety and purity of his nature, are what have really effected its great results, and the more difficult the field the more shining will be his influence and example." An address was prepared by a committee of the Clerical Union of Massachusetts, handsomely engrossed, and presented to Father Grafton, in the following form: "On the part of many brethren in the sacred ministry of the Church of this diocese, these words of congratulation, affection, and farewell are presented. We feel honored that one of our own number has been called to accept an office of the highest dignity and usefulness. You are to be the successor of one whom it is no ordinary privilege to follow, for the character and labors of the first Bishop of Fond du Lac have made his episcopate forever memorable. We rejoice that you are entering upon a field of labor which offers you every prospect of wide and enduring usefulness. While the episcopate has always been a position of honor, and while it has always offered special opportunities for reaching and influencing men for good, it is almost impossible to overestimate the value of the services of the Bishop of a growing diocese in our new land, as a leader of sound thought, as a promoter of active benevolence, and as an originator and helper of wholesome influences for the welfare of the people committed to his charge. We heartily congratulate you upon being thus called to be a Bishop in the Church of God, and our affection for you will make us eager for your success. You have endeared yourself to us by your generous and brotherly qualities, and our hearts will be with you as you meet the labors, cares, and responsibilities of a position for which we consider you most eminently qualified. You may always be sure of the sympathy of your many friends in Massachusetts in whatever may be done for the extension and upbuilding of the Church of Christ. In bidding you farewell we have the assurance that we are but transferring you to other friends, who are eager to attest their loyalty to you, and to hold up your hands in the work given you to do among them. That God's blessing may rest upon you in all your efforts to advance His glory and kingdom is our earnest prayer. (Signed) GEORGE W. SHINN A. ST. JOHN CHAMBRE CHARLES W. KETCHUM Committee" The material results of Father Grafton's sixteen years' rectorship of the parish of the Advent are well known. First, the magnificent half-milliondollar church with its large and growing endowment, the one practically completed and the other well launched before he laid down his authority. The cost of land and buildings and fittings was not contributed disproportionately by any great giver or group of givers, but by little children, by the widow who gave her mite, by the wage-earner whose giving meant real sacrifice, as well as by the well-to-do. His appeal was made to all the members of the congregation by one whose own ascetic life made it much more effective than such an appeal would be from the mouths of men of known comfortable incomes who, themselves, set no particular example of self-denial. He who lived in the hardness of the religious life could urge the forgoing of a car fare, of some little indulgence in food or raiment, for the sake of adding a living stone to the Temple of the Lord-so many of which were built into its walls. Meetings of rally |