Phillips Brooks letter (RLC.Ms.504)

Biographical note

Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) was a prominent Episcopal clergyman. He was born on December 13, 1835, in Boston, Massachusetts, the second of six sons born to William Gray and Mary A. (Phillips) Brooks. Brooks graduated from Harvard College in 1855 and later enrolled in the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. He began his religious ministry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a deacon in 1859. In 1862, he was named rector for the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia, where he became known as a prominent and impressive preacher . Brooks returned to Boston in 1869 as rector of the Trinity Church, a position he held for the next twenty-five years. In 1891, Brooks was elected Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Massachusetts. He held this position for two years, until his death on January 23, 1893.