Frank H. Nelson of CincinnatiHerrick, Warren Crocker
Religion
Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati
Herrick, Warren Crocker
Nelson, Frank Howard, 1869-1939
The strength of the Lord dwelt in his heart else he never could have
given himself so indefatigably to the demands of a great city parish.
There were no barriers of access to him. Until 1919 he did not have a
private secretary, preferring to answer personally all his mail in long
hand, and the only times he allowed himself to be out of reach of the
telephone were during Holy Week and possibly on Saturdays. Everyone who
came to the office was able to see him without any formality. I remember
showing him an article in a church paper on the misuse of the title
"Reverend," and suggesting that it might be well to print it in the
Sunday leaflet. He was amused and only said, "What does it matter what
we are called as long as they _call_ us." This intense desire to give of
himself lay back of his disappointment when friends and parishioners
failed to communicate with him because they hesitated to trouble so busy
a man. Former Mayor Russell Wilson remarked that "Frank Nelson was the
spiritual advisor to many men whom you would not think of as having
spiritual advisors." The downright sincerity of the man and his
"at-homeness" with human beings of all kinds made it natural for men to
talk with him.
There was, however, more in his personality than mere sociability and a
genial manner, because an indefinable power or strength went forth from
him. It was in his ministry to the sick that people felt especially a
certain grace in his faith. He carried about with him "the medicine of a
merry heart," and patients wanted to see him. He was a door through
which a person passed to a deeper consciousness of the mystery and
greatness of life and the infinities which brood over it. Therefore, his
ministry to the sick commended itself to an unusual degree. One of the
leading surgeons of Cincinnati, Dr. J. Louis Ransohoff, declared it his
firm conviction that Frank Nelson gave a patient a double chance. Few
ministers are welcomed by the medical profession in as intimate a role
as this pastor took upon himself. Well known in Cincinnati is the story
of his entering a Roman Catholic Hospital to be greeted by the Mother
Superior with a hearty "Good-morning, Father Nelson," and the Jewish
surgeon, "Good-morning, Rabbi Nelson," while the parishioner-patient
said, "Good-morning, Mr. Nelson." His presence calmed panic-stricken
patients, and if he had sought to carry further along this line, there
are those who felt that he could easily have established a clinic or
healing class. Of no end are those who maintained that they could not
have undergone an operation without his standing beside them. Because he
cared he often came out haggard and worn. Such incidents are revealing
examples of the acceptance on the part of a large portion of the entire
city of the ministry of one who was utterly sincere, utterly genuine.
Those who follow the same calling must with pride point to him as
superbly a man of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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