At her birth in Hong Kong on 5 May 1907 Li Tim-Oi's father called her "Much Beloved" because he valued her as a daughter even if others prefered sons.

When she was baptized as a student, Tim-Oi chose the name Florence after Florence Nightingale, the famous 19th century English nurse known as 'the Lady of the Lamp'.In 1931 at the ordination of a deaconess in Hong Kong Cathedral, she heard and responded to the call to ministry. She took a four-year course at theological college in Canton. She was made Deacon in 1941, and was given charge of the Anglican congregation in the Portuguese colony of Macao, thronged with refugees from war-torn China.

When a priest could no longer travel from Japanese-occupied territory to preside for her at the eucharist, for three years Tim-Oi was licensed to do so as a deacon. Bishop R O Hall of Hong Kong then asked her to meet him in Free China, where on 25 January 1944 he ordained her "a priest in the Church of God". He knew that this was as momentous a step as when the Apostle Peter baptised the Gentile Cornelius. As Peter recognised that God had already given Cornelius the Baptismal gift of the Spirit, so Bishop Hall was merely confirming that God had already given Tim-Oi the gift of priestly minstry, but he resisted the temptation to rename her Cornelia.

To defuse controversy, in 1946 Tim-Oi surrendered her priest's licence, but not her Holy Orders, the knowledge of which carried her through Maoist persecution.

She resumed the practice of her priesthood in the Church in China, and in Toronto when she retired in 1981. She was awarded Doctorates of Divinity by General Theological Seminary, New York, and Trinity College, Toronto.

She died on 26 February 1992 in Toronto and is buried there.

In Minneapolis on 4 August 2003, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of USA agreed to insert the Anniversary of Tim-Oi's Priesting in the Church's Calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts - to be observed on 24 January.

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada meeting in St Catharine's Ontario in June 2004 agreed to include Florence Li Tim-Oi in the Calendar of Holy Persons in their Book of Alternative Services - on the anniversary of her death, 26 February.

[More details of Li Tim-Oi's story were included in A Letter to Florence, delivered on the Diamond Jubilee of her Priesting, and at Lambeth and Bishopthorpe Palaces at the Centenary of her birth.]

Resources:

Return to Hepu : Li Tim-Oi's story as filmed by the Rev Dr Bob Browne on a return visit to China with Tim-Oi and sister in 1980. DVD may be borrowed free for showing at a local fund-raising event from The Knowle, Deddington, Banbury OX15 0TB . US-version available from the Episcopal Media Center, or search the web for Video Libraries.

Raindrops of My Life : Florence Tim-Oi Li's own memoirs in English [Anglican Book Centre, Toronto 1996 - 128pp - ISBN 1 55126 128 6]

Much Beloved Daughter : Florence Tim- Oi Li with Ted Harrison [DLT paperback 1985 - 118pp - ISBN 0 232 51632 4] Reprint is a possibility; express your interest to the Foundation. Or try Amazon for a rarity-priced 2nd hand copy.

R O - The Life & Times of Bishop Hall of Hong Kong : David M Paton [Hardback 1985 - 332pp ISBN 0951085107] - last stock of new copies available through Amazon. Proceeds to 'Li Tim-Oi Foundation'.

Beyond Hepu a video by the Rev Dr Bob Browne containing memories of those who knew her.

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