RIP Mother Divine

[jarnon]

Mother Divine, leader of the International Peace Mission, dies at 92

She was a young woman, working as a stenographer in Canada, when she first heard of the Rev. Major Jealous Divine.

He was the charismatic and controversial head of a homegrown religious movement, literally God in the flesh to his followers. They called him Father Divine, and he preached racial equality, celibacy, and total devotion to the kingdom of heaven -- which, he believed, he was creating in Philadelphia.

The stenographer was intrigued. She immigrated to Philadelphia and met Father Divine in his office on South Broad Street.

It was during World War II. She was 21; he was probably in his mid-60s. She was white; he was black. Soon, they were married -- in 1946, in secret in Washington, where interracial marriages were legal -- and Edna Rose Ritchings, the oldest daughter of a florist, became Mother Divine, the “Spotless Virgin Bride,” the living embodiment of her husband’s teachings. The couple maintained that they never consummated their marriage, in keeping with Father Divine's devotion to celibacy.

[Bob Juch]

Mother Divine, leader of the International Peace Mission, dies at 92

She was a young woman, working as a stenographer in Canada, when she first heard of the Rev. Major Jealous Divine.

He was the charismatic and controversial head of a homegrown religious movement, literally God in the flesh to his followers. They called him Father Divine, and he preached racial equality, celibacy, and total devotion to the kingdom of heaven -- which, he believed, he was creating in Philadelphia.

The stenographer was intrigued. She immigrated to Philadelphia and met Father Divine in his office on South Broad Street.

It was during World War II. She was 21; he was probably in his mid-60s. She was white; he was black. Soon, they were married -- in 1946, in secret in Washington, where interracial marriages were legal -- and Edna Rose Ritchings, the oldest daughter of a florist, became Mother Divine, the “Spotless Virgin Bride,” the living embodiment of her husband’s teachings. The couple maintained that they never consummated their marriage, in keeping with Father Divine's devotion to celibacy.

He was actually in his mid-70s. But when you're marrying God does age matter?