"Wodbine Willy" Priest & Poet |
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If celebrated as a Lesser Festival, Common of Pastors |
| Born in 1883, Studdert Kennedy was a young vicar in Worcester who became an army chaplain during the First World War. His warm personality and earthy humour soon earned him the respect of soldiers, who nicknemed him 'Woodbine Willie' after the brand of cigarettes he constantly shared with them. After the First World War, he became a writer and regular preacher, drawing large crowds, who were attracted by his combination of traditional sacramental theology with more unconventional theological views. He worked tirelessly for the Christian Industrial Fellowship, but his frail health (largly due to overwork) gave way and he died, at the age of 46, on this day in 1929. |
