Josephine Butler
1828-1906 19th century Feast day: May 30
Prayer that pushes outward, toward those society covers with shame.
Who was Josephine Butler?
An English Anglican, mother and Bible scholar, she made prayer the ground of a public battle: the defense of prostituted women and the fight against the trafficking of girls across Europe. After her daughter died before her eyes, she sought a pain greater than her own and found it among the most despised. She campaigned for twenty years until the laws that delivered up these women were repealed.
In their own words
This evil is a moral one, and can only be met by moral and spiritual forces.
We need a great revival of spiritual life, and armies of people, men as well as women, to take to heart the reformation of their own cities.
The degradation of these poor women is not their degradation alone; it is a blow to the dignity of every woman.