Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/260020
In celebration of the Feast of Absalom Jones and African-American History Month, the Rev. Dr. Richard Cornish Martin will be the guest preacher at the Church of the Redeemer in downtown Sarasota on Saturday, Feb. 15, and Sunday, Feb. 16, the church has announced. M a r t i n w i l l p r e a c h a t t h e 5 : 3 0 p . m . Contemporary Mass on Saturday and at the 7:30, 9 and 11 a.m. Masses on Sunday. The church is located at 222 S. Palm Ave. Born a slave in Delaware in 1746, Absalom Jones bought his freedom in 1784 and eventu- ally, in 1802, became the first African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church, a news release explains. The feast in his name is a day of devotion set aside each February to commemorate his religious and social action. Martin, now an assistant at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Raleigh, NC, served for many years as rector of both St. George's and Absalom Jones is shown in a portrait by Raphaelle Peele. Image courtesy Delaware Art Museum via Wikimedia Commons CHURCH OF REDEEMER TO CELEBRATE FEAST OF ABSALOM JONES RELIGION BRIEFS