On 25 January 1944, Florence Li Tim-Oi (李添嬡, 1907–92) was ordained priest by Ronald Hall, the Bishop of Hong Kong, to assist in the ministry of the church during the chaos of the Japanese invasion. Previously, she had been made a deaconess in 1931, and made deacon a decade later to minister among the refugees from war-ravaged Mainland China fleeing to Macau. After the occupation, Li resigned her license, but not her orders, so as to assuage controversy surrounding her irregular ordination. When, in 1971, the Diocese of Hong Kong ordained two other women to the presbyterate, Li Tim-Oi was officially recognised as a priest.

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA added a commemoration of the eve of her ordination, 24 January, to their calendar in 2003. A year later, the sixtieth anniversary of her ordination, the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, celebrated with the dedication of her icon. Continue reading “Florence Li Tim-Oi” →