This Week in Texas Methodist History  April 2

Bishop Hartzell Receives Stage Full of Roses in San Antonio    1923

One of the most significant bishops in Methodism came to San Antonio in 1923 as a representative of the Foreign Mission Board of the MEC.  His welcome was unlike anything I have ever heard of.

James C. Hartzell was born in Moline, Il., in 1842.  He was ordained in 1866 and served Pekin, Il, but in 1870 transferred to New Orleans.  He served a local church there, but in 1873 was appointed to editorial and educational duties for the MEC in the South.  He created the Southwestern Cristian Advocate.  He also helped foster the 45 MEC schools in the South and served on the New Orleans School Board.  The publication continued well past his retirement from that office in 1896.   Much of his work was funneling northern philanthropy to schools for African Americans in the South during the days of Reconstruction and the years immediately following.  

In 1896 he was elected Missionary Bishop for Africa for the MEC. During this period the MEC had bishops with general authority and also bishops whose authority extended only to missions.  He then spent much of his time in Liberia and the Portuguese colonies of what later became Mozambique and Angola as well as the British Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe).   He even tried to establish missions in Tunisia and Algeria.  As part of his work he solicited funds and land for the establishment of medical missions and schools.   His connections with both Presidents Roosevelt and Taft meant that they added their voices to the fund raising appeal.

In 1923 Harzell was 80 years old but still strong enough to travel to San Antonio to attend the West Texas Conference of the MEC meeting in St. Paul's Church.   This conference was presided over by Bishop Robert Jones who had been editor of the Southwestern Advocate until his election as bisho in 1920.  The MEC had eliminated the post of Misionary Bishop and Jones was one of the first two African Americans to be elected with full authority.

St. Paul's was packed to the rafters.  Chairs were set up in the aisles and the balcony was full in anticipation of the Hartzell speech.  Chairs for elderly ministers were set up on the stage and all the furniture was removed to make even more room for the large crowd. 

Before Bishop Jones introduced Bishop Hartzell, the stage was cleared.  After the introduction but before Hartzell could speak, audience members on the front row removed roses from their lapel and threw them toward the pulpit.  Then the whole congregation followed, even those who had been in the balcony.  Then boxes of roses appeared form their hiding places and those flowers added to the mass of blooms around the pulpit. The entire chancel was covered in roses--what a tribute for a life of service.