Charles Henry Brent (April 9, 1862 – March 27, 1929) was the Episcopal Church's first Missionary Bishop of the Philippine Islands (1902–1918); Chaplain General of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I (1917–1918); and Bishop of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Western New York (1918–1929). The historian and Episcopal minister Frederick Ward Kates characterised him as a "gallant, daring, and consecrated soldier and servant of Christ" who was "one of modern Christendom's foremost leaders, prophets, and seers."
Early life and education
Charles Henry Brent was born on April 9, 1862, in Newcastle, Ontario. He was the third of ten children of the Reverend Henry Brent, who was the Anglican rector in Newcastle for forty-two years, and Sophia Francis Brent. By his own account, Brent's childhood in the rural village was a happy and secure one.
Education
Brent was educated in Ontario. He planned his education to prepare him for the ordained ministry. First, Brent attended the town's public schools until 1880. Second, Brent's college preparation was done in 1880–1881 at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. Third, he attended Trinity College, Toronto, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical honors in 1884. Throughout his education, Brent was both "a gifted and apt scholar" and "a formidable athlete." After graduating from Trinity College, he returned to Port Hope where from 1884 to 1886 he both taught at Trinity College School and studied privately for ordination.
Ordination
From Brent's earliest memories he felt called to the ordained ministry. He once said, "I do not recall an instant of my life when I aspired to any vocation excepting that of the Ministry, but on one brief occasion when I faced the possibility of becoming a musician. As a boy at school the Ministry seemed to me the one vocation worth considering. ... Were I again on the threshold of life I would choose as I have chosen."
Brent was ordained a deacon on March 21, 1886, in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1886. However, there were no openings for him in his diocese, so he looked for a position in the United States. In 1887, he was ordained to the priesthood on March 6, 1887. After that, he was called to his first ministerial position in Buffalo, New York.
Ministry
Before being elected bishop, Brent had "pastorates" in Buffalo, New York, and Boston. Massachusetts. During that time he was naturalized as a United States citizen.
Throughout his ministry, Brent was "essentially a pastor with a prophetic vision." His biographer Eleanor Slater wrote that Brent "was born a poet; he made himself a prophet."
Brent was also "a popular preacher." His biographer Eleanor Slater wrote that Brent "gradually learned to be a great preacher. ... His eloquence was the eloquence of simplicity, of self-forgetfulness, of the inner compulsion to share his treasure."
Buffalo
In 1884, Brent accepted a position as curate and organist at St. John's Church, Buffalo in the Diocese of Western New York. He remained in that position until 1887.
In 1887, Brent was ordained to the priesthood on March 6 and accepted a position as a curate at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (now cathedral) in Buffalo. He was assigned to St. Andrew's Mission Chapel in Buffalo. While at St. Andrew's, Brent placed candles on the altar, but the bishop of the diocese Arthur Coxe ordered him to remove them. As a result, Brent resigned and moved to Boston. Later, he explained his resignation: "I did not set such store by the candles as I did by my rights as a priest."
Boston
In 1887, Brent had met and been influenced by Father Hall, a member of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, an Anglican monastic order, often called the Cowley Fathers. Thus, when he resigned his St. Andrew's assignment, Brent moved to the Cowley monastery in Boston. The Cowley Fathers placed Brent in charge of St. Augustine's chapel which had been built to minister to African-Americans living in the West End of Boston.
Leaving monastery. Brent lived and worked with the Society of St. John the Evangelist from 1888 until 1891, but he never took monastic vows. It is likely that Brent would have taken his final vows and become a member of the order if a disagreement had not occurred between the Father Superior of the order in England and the Boston house. The disagreement had to do with the election of Phillips Brooks as Bishop of Massachusetts which was opposed by the Father Superior. The Father Superior's highhandedness led Brent to leave the order.