Charles Brent

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."

Brent's suggestion led to the founding of the International Opium Commission in 1909 and the subsequent First International Opium Conference in 1912, By his own account, Brent's childhood in the rural village was happy and secure.

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.

Time with Cowley Fathers was crucial. The years he spent with the Cowley Fathers (1888-1891) were crucial to Brent's spiritual formation. The monks taught him how to live "an ordered and disciplined spiritual life." These lessons were invaluable for his future ministry. Thirty-five years later, Brent reflected that the lessons he learned from the Cowley Fathers were "so sound and inspiring that I could covet it for every young priest." More specifically, he said that the "daily meditation was a severe and joyous task." Meditating on "the love of Jesus Christ, the application to modern life of principles by which He lived, and the overwhelming importance of the unseen, were instilled into my being in a manner and to a degree from which there is, thirty-five years later, no escape." Brent served as rector for two months before his election as bishop.

During the ten years of their work together, Brent and Torbert had built St. Stephen's into an impressive mission. Its "physical plant was expanded to include a parish house, a settlement house, a rescue mission, a lodging house, and a wood and coal yard that allowed men to earn money for their meals and housing for the night." The purpose of these ministries was "to minister to the physical, mental and spiritual needs of people in the loving spirit of Christian neighborliness."

Social gospel As Brent ministered in Boston's slums, "he became receptive to the social gospel, then in vogue with urban churches throughout the United States."

Brent was influenced by F. D. Maurice and other Anglican Socialists. During his Boston days, he made friends with American Christian Socialists William Dwight Porter Bliss and Vida Dutton Scudder and with leaders of the settlement movement. Brent's "theology of social reform" was based on Jesus' two great commandments: to love God and to love one's neighbor. These commandments can be read in full at Jesus' two great commandments. Regarding these two commandments, Brent wrote in his first book, With God in the World (1900), "God never considers men apart from, but always as part of, a great social order—a social order that is not a concourse of independent units, but a body instinct with life, a society which is not an organization but an organism." Therefore, in Brent's theology, the command to love one's neighbor "applied to the whole of humanity."

While all these opportunities were in the works, on October 11, 1901, Brent was elected by the Episcopal Church's General Convention meeting in San Francisco as the first missionary bishop of the Philippines. He was "both elated and terrified."

Because, with the exceptions of Liberia, China, and Japan, the Episcopal Church was for the most part "apathetic about foreign missions," it was only "after confiding with close friends and after many days of prayer, Brent accepted the post." On December 19, 1901, in Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston, Brent was consecrated as the Episcopal Church's first Missionary Bishop of the Philippines. He remained in that position until February 19, 1918.

Missionary Bishop After the United States won the Spanish–American War, Spain ceded the Philippines to United States on December 10, 1898. After the United States annexed the Philippines, the colony became an Episcopal Church missionary district on October 2, 1901, by action of the Episcopal Church's General Convention meeting in San Francisco.

The demographics When the United States gained control of the Philippines, there was a population of seven and a half million inhabitants, ninety percent of whom were Catholic. The Catholic Church had been there for three centuries under the Spaniards and had been closely linked with the Spanish colonial government, with the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians together owning "some four hundred thousand acres of land, which they held in a sort of feudal tenure."

In addition to the Catholics, there were three non-Christian groups: In northern Luzon, thousands of head-hunting Igorots practiced their pagan religion. In the southern islands, three hundred thousand Moro people were Muslims "of an extremely militant type." In Manila itself, the Chinese community of shopkeepers was almost entirely non-Christian.

This was the religious situation in the missionary district of which Brent had been elected bishop. Here he would labor for seventeen years to minister to the Christians, to build up the Episcopal church, to convert the non-Christians, and to end the opium traffic throughout Southeast Asia. He made "important contacts with government officials." This included meetings with President Theodore Roosevelt and his cabinet, as well as William Howard Taft, who had been appointed governor of the Philippines. He also wrote that she declared her love for him. Nevertheless, they "agreed that it would be best not to marry." However, they continued to send love letters to each other. In several letters Brent proposed to Mary, but she always refused. Brent wrote about this refusal in his diaries: "I have everything [Mary's love], yet nothing [no hope of marriage]!" The correspondence came to an end on August 29, 1904, when Mary wrote, "another hand has come into my life." Brent's reaction was "immersing himself in his work and devoting himself to a life of celibacy." His celibacy resulted in "loneliness frequently left him depressed in later life."

Brent's ministry was congruent with the reasons that McKinley gave for annexing the Philippines. During his seventeen years as missionary bishop, he focused on bringing Christianity to the pagan tribes who lived in the northern part of the island.

Brent "sailed for the islands in 1902, on the same ship with the new Governor General, William Howard Taft whom he had previously met. During the voyage, Brent demonstrated his "ability to deal with American administrators." For the rest of his life, governors and generals found Brent to be "a wise counselor and a spiritual guide."

A clear-cut missionary policy Brent arrived in Manila on August 25, 1902, with the "clear-cut missionary policy" which he had formulated during the eight months' interim before he left the United States. His policy included the following: These three groups were (1) the Chinese community in Manila, (2) the Igorots of the mountains of northern Luzon, and (3) the Muslims who lived in the southern islands.

Manila In accordance with his policy, Brent immediately began "to develop the Anglo-American congregation in Manila." Using some of the more than $120,000. he had raised and brought with him, he purchased property in Manila on which to build "a cathedral and a hospital." On January 25, 1906, the cornerstone of the cathedral was laid. In 1907, the building was completed and consecrated. It could seat one thousand people, and it became the center for many activities. One of the activities was the Columbia Club. It was located in the cathedral's parish house with "a basketball court, tennis courts, bowling alleys, showers, and a swimming pool." The Club sometimes had "more than 450 members."

Also, as part of his ministry in Manila, Brent served as "the first president of the University of the Philippines in Manila."

The Chinese. Of the three non-Christian groups toward which Brent's policy directed missionary efforts, the nearest to Manila was the Chinese community in the city, so the effort was directed to this group first.

Applied social gospel. In his "theology of the social gospel," Brent held that the purpose of "the Christian mission" was to renew "the spiritual, social, and economic life of a people."

Summer capital of Baguio In Manila, there is a long hot and humid season. The American colony there faced two problems: how to endure the hot and humid season and how to educate their children without sending back to the United States. The government solved the climate problem "by establishing a summer capital at Baguio, a cool location in northern Luzon." Brent recognized Baguio as an ideal location a school for the education of the children of English-speaking parents. Here he established two schools. Easter School for Igorot boys "who show signs of superior intelligence and capacity for leadership," was opened in 1906. The cost of the school was raised by Brent. That same year, he established a school for the children of English-speaking parents. This school was later called the Brent School.

The Igorots One of three non-Christian groups Brent focused on converting was "the pagan head-hunting Igorots of the mountains of Luzon. In 1903, Brent took a journey through this "wild and inaccessible" territory. "He traveled by train, by horse and mule, by chair, and on foot." As a result of the journey, Brent envisioned "a chain of mountain stations, to carry the Church's teaching from Manila all the way to the northern coast. As a step toward implementing his vision, a mission church was established for the Bontoc Tribe of the Igorots in the Bontoc, Mountain Province where they lived. The Bontoc missionaries wrote the first Igorot grammars, which were published by the government.

The Moros Another of the three non-Christian groups Brent focused on converting was the Muslims who lived in the southern Sulu Archipelago.

The visit that effected Brent's winning a measure of confidence in him was planned by Brent in collaboration with the government. William Howard Taft, the American governor and friend of Brent also wanted a peaceful settlement. A meeting with the pirates was negotiated. On the day of the meeting, both an armed naval ship and a small unarmed boat from the ship went out to meet the Moro pirates. Before the Moro's boats would come closer, the ship had to depart the scene and leave the small boat alone to meet the pirates. Brent and his co-worker, Mrs. Lorillard Spencer, were in the boat unarmed. Some of the pirates jumped into the small boat "heavily armed and plotting murder." Brent stood up, threw his penknife down on the deck. He pointed to the knife and said, "You call yourselves brave men. There is the only weapon I have. You came aboard my boat in the presence of an unarmed white man and a defenseless white woman as my guests, heavily armed." Shame-faced, the pirates put their weapons down on the deck with Brent's penknife.

Brent felt that the Moro mission was so important that, when the Episcopal church's Board of Mission decided not allocate money for the mission, he "made the Moro mission his personal enterprise and raised money from friends at home."

With the money he had raised and with the measure of confidence effected by his meeting with the pirates, Brent was able to begin his mission to the Moros. In 1905, he dedicated the Mission of the Holy Trinity, Zamboanga on the island of Mindanao. The mission provided "the first contact" between the Episcopal Church's missionaries of the Moro people.

Fought opium use William Howard Taft arrived in the Philippines as the American Governor on the same ship with Brent. Brent's opposition made him "a world figure in the fight against opium traffic."

Brent's work against opium continued with the February 1909 International Opium Commission in Shanghai. He was "chief commissioner of the American delegation" and he presided over the meeting which was "dominated by his leadership and vision." Brent was the chairman of the American delegation to this conference.

Attitude toward Catholic Church in the Philippines Brent disapproved proselytizing Catholics because of doctrinal reasons. He saw "considerable value" in Catholic theology, so he supported cooperation at first. However, after eighteen months in the Philippines, Brent "expressed almost complete disillusionment" with the Catholic Church.

Ecumenical movement In the first part of the twentieth century, Christians "began to seek the reconciliation of their divided churches." Brent believed in Ecumenism and was one of the leaders of this movement.

At first, Brent worked for "interdenominational co-operation." Later, he worked for "organic union."

After his participation in the Edinburgh Conference, Brent became even more of an "international celebrity" in religious circles. From the Edinburgh Conference through the 1927 Lausanne Conference, Brent was considered "the animating spirit of the Faith and Order Movement." His prior assignments had prepared Brent for such an occasion. During his time with the Cowley fathers in Boston, Brent was assigned to "St. Augustine's Mission for Negroes." It was "an early schooling" for Brent "in the spiritual care of colored folk" as preparation for working with people of other races in the Philippines. This ministry also increased "his conviction that the Christian Gospel could overcome all the human divisions of race and culture."

After his assignment at St. Augustine's, Brent had ministered ten years (1891–1901) as assistant minister at St. Stephen's Mission, Boston.

Brent's belief in the "equality before God of all men" was reflected in his address at Howard University. He asserted that "God's intention for mankind is that it should be a wonderfully diversified family, a family at unity with itself." Within this diversity, Brent said that "all of us" are seeking "manhood." This, said Brent, is "the one thing that God gave us the capacity for, which will differentiate us from all the rest of creation, and from the very angels in heaven." God gave mankind the capacity, but "no man ever gained manhood, no woman ever gained womanhood, without fighting for it." Given the necessity of fighting for it, Brent challenged the students to "determine above all else to reach the highest goal; to reach the goal of manhood; and having gained manhood, you have gained the best thing that God or the world can bestow upon you." In 1917, he left the Philippines permanently because of ill health. Pershing invited Brent to be the Chief-of-Chaplains of the American Expeditionary Forces. Although Brent was "a lover of peace," he accepted the invitation. He served in this capacity from 1917 to 1918.

During his service, Brent was sometimes called "the khaki-colored bishop." He often functioned as "a good-will ambassador" reconciling disagreements between organizations and between nations, especially between Great Britain and the United States. Brent was chosen in 1918 by Pershing to deliver the General's message to the men on the American and British ships stationed in the North Sea. He convinced the French government to take action against the "organized vice which threatened the morality of the army."

Return to United States While he was serving as Chief-of-Chaplains, Brent was elected as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York on October 2, 1917, just over a year before the Armistice on November 11, 1918. Brent's health was broken, he could not return to the unhealthy climate of Manila, so he accepted. He took up residence and his duties in 1919.

Evaluation of Brent's mission strategy During his fifteen years as Missionary Bishop of the Philippines, Brent "wrote fourteen books and became the most persuasive spokesman for missions in the Episcopal church"

On the positive side, Brent's leadership effected a strong Episcopal Church in the Philippines. During his time as bishop (1901-1918), "hospitals, churches, schools for boys and girls, mission-stations, and a great cathedral-center were established."

On the less positive side, there were significant problems:

Destruction in World War II In the fall of 1945, Chaplain W. Hubert Bierck visited the area where the Igorot people live to assess the damage done and the repairs that had been done by the United States Army Corps of Engineers since the Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945. He found that in Baguio the Easter School (founded by Brent in 1906) was badly damaged. In Sagada, St. Mary's Church, the houses where mission people lived, and the boys' school were all totally destroyed. In Bontoc, Mountain Province, the church was damaged "beyond repair." On the positive side, Bierck noted that in the whole Ingorot area, there were Christian adult women and men, some of whom had been children when Bishop Brent explored the region and started missions and schools some forty years earlier.

Return to New York After Brent finished his service as senior chaplain of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, he did not return to his missionary diocese in the Philippines. He was elected the fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York on October 2, 1917.

After his election, Brent was given an "acknowledgment service" in St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo, on February 7, 1919. He assumed his duties on February 19, 1918. The diocese granted him an assistant the next year when The Rev. David Lincoln Ferris, D.D., of Rochester was consecrated his suffragan."

Before becoming bishop of the Diocese of Western New York, "Brent had become ... the most widely influential Episcopal clergyman in the United States."

Brent's predecessor and successor MC: Brent's predecessor was William David Walker. Walker opposed association with other Christian denominations. He controlled his clergy "with an iron hand." Brent differed from Walker "in points of view and methods of administration." Brent supported working with other denominations. He removed Walker's inhibitions on diocesan clergy. Rather than controlling his clergy with "an iron hand" as Walker did, Brent led "by precept and example."

Brent's successor David Lincoln Ferris said that in serving with Brent, he was serving with "one of the greatest men in the Episcopate."

Extremely active within his diocese and away from it Within his diocese, in order to fulfill his duties and diocesan bishop, Brent had to keep so many appointments that he was known for driving over the speed limit to make them.

Away from his diocese, he worked for "Christian unity" and for "world peace." His away activities included the following:

Served on the board of overseers of Harvard University. Delivered the Duff Lectures at Edinburgh in 1921. President Harding appointed Brent as a member of the Advisory Committee on Narcotics of the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in 1923 and 1924. Served as chairman of the Sub-Committee on International Affairs at the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm in 1925. Served as "titular Chancellor" of Hobart College, Geneva, New York. Served as Bishop-in-Charge of the American Episcopal Churches in Europe from 1926 to 1928. Elected President of the First World Conference on Faith and Order held at Lausanne in 1927.

1925 "The Authority of Christ" sermon In 1925, Brent preached the sermon at the consecration of Ernest M. Stires as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island. The subject of the sermon was "The Authority of Christ." At the time of this sermon, Brent was involved in planning for the first World Conference on Faith and Order which he had proposed in 1910 while he was Missionary Bishop of the Philippines. In 1925, he met with the planning committee in Stockholm, Sweden to make final plans for the Conference that was held in 1927 in Lausanne, Switzerland. In his sermon, Brent summarized the belief that motivated his efforts in the ecumenical movement: "The unity of Christendom is no longer a beautiful dream. It is a pressing necessity for the arousing of that passion for Christ which will be the most flaming thing in the world, that certainty of voice and touch which will quell honest doubt and perplexity, that fund of wisdom which will open up spiritual vistas such as now we only yearn for."

In 1929, just before Brent "sailed for that ecumenical journey in 1929 on which he died," he gave an interview explaining why he believed church colleges were so important. He described "a Church college" as one "in which there is no dodging of facts, no coloring of science, but also and even more one in which Christ's revelation about the meaning of the universe and about the nature and destiny of man is assumed in all the teaching, in the administration, in the life of the place." The faculty would "know and respect" the "central convictions" of Christianity and teach them. Brent said that he would like to keep up his effort but that he knew he "had not long to live."

Work for Church unity During his tenure as bishop of Western New York, working for church unity often took him away from his diocese as it had when he was in the Philippines. "The unity of Christendom," he declared, "is not a luxury, but a necessity, and the world will go limping until Christ's prayer that all may be one is answered." During his years as a missionary bishop in the Philippines, he had recognized that only a united Church could succeed in converting great nations. He had seen for himself "the waste of energy, money, personnel, and the confusion and weakness of competing Christian bodies."

From August 3–12, 1927, the First World Conference on Faith and Order met in Lausanne, Switzerland. Preparation for the Conference had taken seventeen years. Brent worked during that time as one of the organizers. The Conference was attended by 406 delegates from 108 Christian denominations. Brent was elected as presiding officer by a unanimous vote. He opened the Conference by reminding the delegates that neither "total agreement" nor "a federation" of the denominations was their purpose. Their purpose was, he stated, "to learn to fellowship with one another, to listen sympathetically, and to open themselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit." This Brent asserted would be "an important first step in a long pilgrimage to restore the true catholic church."

Poor health. The success of the conference was in large part the result of Brent's leadership. "His sense of humor, his diplomatic skill, and his patience kept the conference from breaking up on several occasions." For Brent, the conference was his "finest hour, but it was bittersweet." His health was poor and he died less than two years after the conference on March 27, 1929.

Critics. Brent also had his critics. "It seemed to many" that Brent's commitment to church unity resulted in his "minimizing fundamentals of Christian doctrine." His broad "definition of the Catholic Church" and "his latitudinarianism with regard to Holy Orders" were denounced." He died in Europe without ever returning to his diocese.

Death and legacy Brent preached his last sermon in Canterbury Cathedral in November 1928. Its subject was "The Way to Peace."

The "last public appearance" by Brent was "as representative of the Episcopal Church at the enthronement of Cosmo Gordon Lang as archbishop of Canterbury" on December 4, 1928.

Somewhat improved Brent's rest in American Embassy seemed to have improved his health. During this period, in a letter to his diocese, he said, "I am happy to think that by the time this greets your eyes, I shall have once more taken up active work with you again." The letter also contained "in detail his plans for the next eight months."

To further his health improvement, in March, 1929 Brent set out on a trip to the Mediterranean for a cruise with Sir Thomas. Arriving in Paris on March 21, Brent called on General Pershing and attended service at Holy Trinity Church on Palm Sunday, March 24, the last service he ever attended." The next day Brent began his trip. He stopped at Lausanne, Switzerland where he died on March 27, 1929. "And so Lausanne became the final resting-place for this gallant, daring, and consecrated soldier and servant of Christ." Brent was buried in the Bois de Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Lausanne "had become the enduring symbol" of Brent's "greatest contribution to Christendom." There Brent presided over the first World Conference on Faith and Order, which met in Lausanne, Switzerland, August 3–12, 1927."

During his life Brent had become "one of the most intrepid and gallant ambassadors of Christ the world has known for many years." After his death "the Christian world mourned the passing of a tall, somewhat austere, often deeply lonesome man who had grown during his lifetime into one of modern Christendom's foremost leaders, prophets, and seers."

Things that Matter On January 2, 1929, Brent wrote in his diary that the title of his next book would be Things that Matter. He did not have time to write the book, but in the few weeks before he died in March, he wrote an article addressed to the laity and clergy of his diocese and called "Things that Matter." The article deals with things that matter "in this world and the next." Brent said that he was writing from "the edge of the grave."

Two realities. In the article, Brent wrote that "there are but two great realities in the whole universe–the heart of God and the heart of man, and each is ever seeking the other. It is this that makes the adventure for God not an experiment, but a certainty. The appeal issuing from man's abysmal need is met by the amplitude of the divine supply."

Prayer. Regarding prayer, Brent wrote:

At the St. Paul's Cathedral service, the Rt. Rev. James Sweeny, D. D., bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto delivered two messages from the Church of England in Canada. The message from the Missionary Society expressed "their admiration of the greatness and power of [Brent's] life as one of the foremost Missionary Leaders and Christian Statesmen of this age." The message from Diocese of Toronto's Clergy and Laity said in part, "by his international work on behalf of World Peace, of Christian Unity, Faith and Order, and of the restriction of the Opium traffic, Dr. Brent made his influence felt as widely as that of any living Churchman. At Brent's memorial service on April 24, 1929, he was recognized as "one of the foremost Missionary Leaders and Christian Statesmen of [his age]."

Commemorated in two liturgical calendars Brent is commemorated in the Episcopal Church's Liturgical Calendar on March 27.

In addition to being commemorated, a prayer for mission in Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer (Rite 1 on page 58; Rite 2 on page 101) was written by Brent. The Rite 2 version of Brent's prayer is as follows: Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.

The Anglican Church of Canada also commemorates Brent on March 27 as "Charles Henry Brent, Bishop of the Philippines, and of Western New York, 1929."

The historian James Thayer Addison characterized Brent as a "a saint of disciplined mental vigor, one whom soldiers were proud to salute and whom children were happy to play with, who could dominate a parliament and minister to an invalid, a priest and bishop who gloried in the heritage of his Church, yet who stood among all Christian brothers as one who served ... He was everywhere an ambassador for Christ." Doctor of Divinity: Toronto, 1901; King's College, 1907, Harvard, 1913; Yale, 1919; Glasgow, 1920; Trinity College, Hartford, 1921 Doctor of Sacred Theology: Columbia, 1920 Doctor of Laws: Rochester, 1922; Union College, 1924; Toronto, 1924; New York University, 1925 Companion of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) Brent School in Baguio: Shows plagues about Brent's founding the school in both English and Tagalog. Distinguished Service Medal (United States). conferred by General Pershing

Brent International School Brent went to the Philippines as missionary bishop with "a three pronged mission" one of which was education. In fulfillment of this mission, in 1909, Brent founded the Brent International School, at first named Baguio School, in Baguio. The school was patterned on schools in the United States such as the Groton School." Girls were admitted in 1925 which made Brent the first co-educational day and boarding school in East Asia. Today, there are two other campuses: one in Manila and one in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. For 2016 information about the school and its history click on Brent School.