William A. Muhlenberg, son of a leading Lutheran family, poured himself into the parish priesthood at Church of the Holy Communion in New York, where he encouraged Sr. Anne Ayres to become a nun (Sisters of the Holy Communion) and help him found St. Luke's Hospital. In the parish he founded, his influence was wide-ranging: he wrote hymns, emphasized music and beauty in worship, started a parish school and an unemployment fund, refused the rental of pews and celebrated the Eucharist every Sunday, at a time when Morning Prayer was the dominant form. In the century since his death, his ideas have been broadly adopted across the Episcopal Church. (shlson.org)
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