Alfred Lee

Alfred Lee (September 9, 1807 – April 12, 1887) was an American Episcopal bishop. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard in 1827, and after three years practicing law in New London, Connecticut, he studied for the ministry, graduating from the General Theological Seminary, New York, in 1837. He was rector of Calvary Church, in Rockdale, Pa., from 1838 to 1841, when he was chosen as the first Bishop of Delaware. In 1842 he also became rector of St. Andrew's, Wilmington. He was a member of the American Committee for the Revision of the New Testament. In 1884 he succeeded Bishop Smith as presiding bishop of the Episcopal church.

Early life Alfred Lee's father was a midshipman in the British Navy who served with honor and distinction until he left the service when he decided to come to America. Little is known about Lee's mother. On September 9, 1807, Alfred Lee was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His family was upper–middle class and lived in one of the most prestigious houses in Cambridge. During the convention it was resolved to separate the diocese Delaware from that of Pennsylvania. No longer would Delaware's clerical needs be overshadowed by those of the much larger state of Pennsylvania. Lee was very well respected in his community because of his demeanor, candor, and resolve; he unanimously won the vote of both the Clerical and Lay Deputies, and was consecrated as the first Bishop of Delaware and the 38th Bishop of America on October 12, 1841, at the age of thirty-four. When Lee arrived in Delaware, only seven Episcopalian parishes held services on a regular basis, and Delaware had only four ordained and acting ministers.

Work in Delaware In June 1842, Lee was asked to fill in as a temporary rector at St. Andrews parish in Wilmington, Delaware. Being quite impressed by his service, the parish asked him to become the permanent rector in 1843. Through his extensive travels, Lee also became president of the Mexican Commission. His willingness to take on responsibilities that were not required of him was a testament to his great determination. In 1884, this devotion to service served him well as he became the Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in The United States of America with the passing of Bishop Benjamin Bosworth Smith. A decade earlier, he had assisted Presiding Bishop Smith in consecrating James Theodore Holly as missionary bishop for Haiti; thus Rt.Rev. Holly became the first African-American to be consecrated a bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

Death In January 1887, Lee caught typhoid fever, the disease that would ail him until his death four months later. At 3:30 on April 12, 1887, Alfred Lee died. His funeral service was held at his beloved St. Andrews Church. In 1881, after serving as the Bishop of Delaware for forty years, Lee reflected on his service as Bishop. He had built twenty-four churches and brought two previously abandoned churches back into service. He had baptized 4,327 people and confirmed 10,082 others. He had traveled across the globe; he went to England for the Lambeth conference and Mexico to set up missions. allowed for his view to slowly seep into the minds of his congregations and followers. His tact served him well in office. Alfred Lee was a highly regarded man who paved the way for a radical switch in the Episcopal Church's stand on slavery in the 1860s.