WHEREAS, Thanksgiving Week marks the thirty-second consecutive Christian Heritage Week in West Virginia; thus continuing a tradition of annual proclamations beginning with Governor Gaston Caperton in 1992 thru 1996 and continued by Governor Cecil Underwood from 1997 thru 2000, Governor Bob Wise from 2001 thru 2004, Governor Joe Manchin from 2005 thru 2010, and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin from 2011 thru 2016 and Governor Jim Justice in 2017 thru 2023; and,
WHEREAS, 239 mayors from 142 cities, towns and villages throughout the State of West Virginia have proclaimed Christian Heritage Week since 2001; and,
WHEREAS, local churches are encouraged to participate with relevant Sunday School lessons, sermons, patriotic song services, youth programs and prayer meetings; and,
WHEREAS, Psalm 127:1 warns, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
NOW, THEREFORE, Let it be Known that November 19-25, 2023, Thanksgiving Week is hereby proclaimed as:
Christian Heritage Week
in the
Town of Peterstown
and I invite all citizens to join me in this observance each in their own way.
WHEREAS, Christianity is the world’s largest and most widespread religion representing one-third of the global population with roughly 2.4 billion followers worldwide, and representing 58 percent of the Massachusetts population; and
WHEREAS, Christianity promotes the principles of love, kindness, decency and respect; and
WHEREAS, The Bible, a collection of religious texts that has sold over five billion copies worldwide, is the sacred text in Christianity and has played a critical role in literacy over centuries across the world; and
Whereas, Our fundamental right of religious freedom was born here in Massachusetts and will continue to be upheld across the state; and
Whereas, One of the most famous verses from the Bible is a quote from Jesus that says “love your neighbor as yourself,” a sentiment all can strive to follow, as a Christian or not,
Now, Therefore, I, Maura T. Healey, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim the week of November 19th through 25th, 2023, to be,
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE WEEK
And urge all the residents of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance.
Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the two hundred and forty-seventh.
WHEREAS, the week of Thanksgiving marks the thirtieth consecutive observance of Christian Heritage Week in West Virginia; thus continuing a tradition of annual proclamations beginning with Governor Gaston Caperton in 1992 thru 1996 and continued by Governor Cecil Underwood from 1997 thru 2000, Governor Bob Wise from 2001 thru 2004, Governor Joe Manchin from 2005 thru 2010, and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin from 2011 thru 2016; and Governor Jim Justice in 2017 thru 2023; and,
WHEREAS 239 mayors from 142 cities, towns and villages throughout West Virginia have proclaimed Christian Heritage Week since 2001; and,
WHEREAS, local churches are asked to participate with relevant Sunday School lessons, sermons, patriotic song services, youth programs and prayer meetings; and
WHEREAS, quoting Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.”
NOW, THEREFORE, Let it be Known that November 19-25, 2023, Thanksgiving week, is hereby proclaimed as:
Christian Heritage Week
in the
City of Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia
and I invite all citizens to join in this local event each in their own way.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the City of Grafton to be affixed this 3rd day of October, in the year of our Lord, two thousand and twenty-three.
WHEREAS, Thanksgiving week marks the thirty-second consecutive Christian Heritage Week in West Virginia; thus continuing a tradition of annual proclamations beginning with Governor Gaston Caperton in 1992 thru 1996 and continued by Governor Cecil Underwood from 1997 thru 2000, Governor Bob Wise from 2001 thru 2004, Governor Joe Manchin from 2005 thru 2010, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin from 2011 thru 2016 and Governor Jim Justice in 2017 thru 2023; and
WHEREAS, 240 mayors from 142 cities, towns and villages throughout the State of West Virginia have proclaimed Christian Heritage Week since 2001; and,
WHEREAS, local churches are encouraged to participate with relevant Sunday School lessons, sermons, patriotic song services, youth programs and prayer meetings;
NOW, THEREFORE, Let it be Known that November 19-25, 2023, Thanksgiving Week, is hereby proclaimed as:
Christian Heritage Week
in the
City of Milton, West Virginia
And I invite all citizens to join me in this observance, each in their own way.
Whereas, the Preamble to the Constitution of West Virginia declares, “Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people o West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God”; and
Whereas, the Bill of Rights to the Constitution of West Virginia guarantees religious freedom; and the “Sundays expected” provision of Article 7, Chapter 14 historically recognizes Sunday as a day of rest and worship; and
Whereas, For many West Virginians, public school days began with a daily Pledge of Allegiance, prayer and bible reading; and
Whereas, the state songs, The West Virginia Hills and West Virginia my Home Sweet Home, contain the lyrics, “With their summits bathed in glory, like our Prince Immanuel’s land!” and “there I work, and I play, and I worship Sunday,” ; and
Whereas, the influence of Christianity in West Virginia is evident by her many churches and Christian charities, ministries, missions and schools; cherished Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving holiday seasons; and a willingness of Mountaineers to love thy neighbor as thyself; and
Whereas, Thanksgiving week is an appropriate time to center attention on our thanks to Almighty God for His great and good Providence and for the Christian faith, which is part of West Virginia’s and America’s history.
Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved that I, Jim Justice, Governor of the Great State of West Virginia, do hereby proclaim November 19-25, 2023 as:
Christian Heritage Week
in the Mountain State and invite all citizens to join me in observance.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of West Virginia to be affixed.
Done at the Capitol, City of Charleston, State of West Virginia, this the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand Twenty-Three, and in the One Hundred Sixtieth year of the State.
Jim Justice , Governor
By the Governor:
Mac Warner, Secretary of State
Oliver Ames (1831-1895) was governor of Massachusetts from 1887-1890. This proclamation was issued on October 26, 1887 for a day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer to be held on November 24, 1887. (See also the Massachusetts 1887 Fasting Proclamation here.)
Commonwealth of Massachusetts By His Excellency Oliver Ames, Governor A Proclamation of Thanksgiving and Praise
In accordance with a good and honored custom established by our fathers, which has added to the happiness of all who have dwelt within our boundaries.
I hereby appoint, with the advice and consent of the Council, Thursday, the twenty-fourth day of November next, to be a day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God for his rich and constant blessings to the people of our beloved Commonwealth.
Let us, on that day, assemble in our places of public worship, and meet our loved ones in the privacy of our homes, not forgetting the unfortunate, the needy, and the sorrowing, but letting our hearts go out to them with the charity of our sympathy and of our abundance.
Let us remember with gratitude that we live under political institutions which guarantee freedom of conscience to all, and which open every avenue of education and virtue to all who desire to walk therein.
Let us humbly acknowledge our dependence upon Him from whom all blessings flow, and heartily thank Him for the prosperity which prevails throughout the Commonwealth.
Given at the Council Chamber, in Boston, this twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and twelfth.
Oliver Ames,
By His Excellency, the Governor, with the Advice of the Council.
Henry Peirce, Secretary.
A PROCLAMATION FOR A DAY OF PUBLIC
THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE
At the springtide and at the ebbing of the year, two American holidays are dedicated to gratitude. On Memorial Day we gather to commemorate the sacrifices made by man: on Thanksgiving Day we reverently acknowledge our debt to the mercy and providence of Almighty God.
In accordance with a custom at once reverent and inspiring, I, therefore, with the advice and consent of the Council, appoint Thursday, November Twenty-eighth, as a day of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praise.
May the scattered children of the Commonwealth return to the ancient hearthstone, that the successful may rejoice with those who have known them as brothers, that the afflicted may feel the consoling touch of a mother’s hand.
Material prosperity has been ours beyond the fortune of any other people, and with prosperity has come almost measureless power at the Council Board of the Nations. May it be granted to us to use that power for good. May we remember that the venerable charter of the colony from which our Commonwealth arose cites that the purpose to which Massachusetts was dedicated is reverence for religion and the spread of civilization and happiness among those less favored than ourselves.
Confident that even hardship and misfortune would, under Divine Providence, be converted for good, the Pilgrim Founders of the Feast gathered together in hope and even in joy, and faced their trials with a song.
Let us in our flood-tide of success desert not the duties of religion. In the liberality of faith, respecting every honest conviction, let us remember that no nation of atheists has ever been allowed to live. In returning thanks for the ever broadening Brotherhood of Man, let us the more gratefully acknowledge the beneficent Fatherhood of God.
Given at the Council Chamber, this thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and thirty-second.
CURTIS GUILD, Jr.
By His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council.
Oliver Ames (1831-1895) was governor of Massachusetts from 1887-1890. This proclamation was issued on March 2, 1887 for a day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer to be held on April 7, 1887. (See the 1887 Massachusetts Thanksgiving Proclamation here.)
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
By His Excellency
Oliver Ames, Governor.
A Proclamation for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer.
In conformity to a good ancient custom, established by our fathers, continued without interruption to the present time, and sanctioned by law,
With the advice and consent of the Executive Council, I hereby designate Thursday, the seventh day of April next, to be observed by the people of Massachusetts as the annual Fast Day.
I earnestly invite our people, humbly recognizing our dependence on our Heavenly Father, to keep the day as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer.
Given at the Council Chamber in Boston, this second day of March, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eleventh.
Oliver Ames.
By His Excellency the Governor, with the Advice and Consent of the Council.
This proclamation was issued on October 17, 1888 for a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to be held on November 29, 1888.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. By His Excellency Oliver Ames, Governor: A Proclamation for a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise.
In the olden time our pious ancestors, surrounded by dangers that imperiled their existence, annually devoted a day to the giving of public thanks to Almighty God that He had spared their lives and granted them so many mercies.
This custom has continued to the present time, binding the past to the present as with a golden thread. In conformity with this revered usage, and in recognition that the people of this Commonwealth have enjoyed another year of peace, prosperity, and happiness, I hereby appoint, with the advice and consent of the Council, THURSDAY, the twenty-ninth day of November next, to be the annual Thanksgiving Day,
“whom from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired, New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored.”
Putting aside on that day our usual cares and occupations, as we assemble in our cautionary places of public worship or in the privacy of our homes, let us be thankful to Almighty God for His many blessings.
And may our thankfulness be so devoid of selfishness that we remember the erring, the unfortunate, and the suffering, and from our abundance contribute to their comfort and happiness.
Given at the Council Chamber, in Boston this seventeenth day of October, in their year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and thirteenth.
Oliver Ames.
By His Excellency the Governor, with the Advice and Consent of the Council.
{Henry B. Pierce}, Secretary.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was involved in many professions throughout his life. He was a lawyer, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1769-1775), served in the Continental Congress (1775-1776) where he drafted the Declaration of Independence, was governor of Virginia (1779-1781), and the U.S. minister to France (1785-1789). Jefferson also served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington, was Vice President under John Adams, and was the nation’s third President. During his time as governor of Virginia, Jefferson issued the following proclamation on November 11, 1779 calling for a statewide day of thanksgiving and prayer on December 9, 1779.
The text of this proclamation can be found in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julia P. Boyd (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951), 3:177-179.
Whereas the Honourable the General Congress, impressed with a grateful sense of the goodness of Almighty God, in blessing the greater part of this extensive continent with plentiful harvests, crowning our arms with repeated successes, conducting us hitherto safely through the perils with which we have been encompassed and manifesting in multiplied instances his divine care of these infant states, hath thought proper by their act of the 20th day of October last, to recommend to the several states that Thursday the 9th of December next be appointed a day of publick and solemn thanksgiving and prayer, which act is in these words, to wit.
“Whereas it becomes us humbly to approach the throne of Almighty God, with gratitude and praise, for the wonders which His goodness has wrought in conducting our forefathers to this western world; for His protection to them and to their posterity, amidst difficulties and dangers; for raising us their children from deep distress, to be numbered among the nations of the earth; and for arming the hands of just and mighty Princes in our deliverance; and especially for that He hath been pleased to grant us the enjoyment of health and so to order the revolving seasons, that the earth hath produced her increase in abundance, blessing the labours of the husbandman, and spreading plenty through the land; that He hath prospered our arms and those of our ally, been a shield to our troops in the hour of danger, pointed their swords to victory, and led them in triumph over the bulwarks of the foe; that He hath gone with those who went out into the wilderness against the savage tribes; that He hath stayed the hand of the spoiler, and turned back his meditated destruction; that He hath prospered our commerce, and given success to those who sought the enemy on the face of the deep; and above all, that he Hath diffused the glorious light of the Gospel, whereby, through the merits of our gracious Redeemer, we may become the heirs of His eternal glory. Therefore,
George Washington, Patrick Henry, and members of the First Continental Congress join with Rev. Jacob Duché in prayer.
Resolved, that it be recommended to the several states to appoint THURSDAY the 9th of December next, to be a day of publick and solemn THANKSGIVING to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of PRAYER, for the continuance of His favour and protection to these United States; to beseech Him that he would be graciously pleased to influence our publick Councils, and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness and success; that He would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory; that He would grant to His church, the plentiful effusions of divine grace, and pour out His Holy Spirit on all Ministers of the Gospel; that He would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth; that He would smile upon the labours of His people, and cause the earth to bring forth her fruits in abundance, that we may with gratitude and gladness enjoy them; that He would take into His holy protection, our illustrious ally, give him victory over his enemies, and render him finally great, as the father of his people, and the protector of the rights of mankind; that He would graciously be pleased to turn the hearts of our enemies, and to dispence the blessings of peace to contending nations.
That he would in mercy look down upon us, pardon all our sins, and receive us into his favour; and finally, that he would establish the independence of these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue, and support and protect them in the enjoyment of peace, liberty and safety.”
I do therefore by authority from the General Assembly issue this my proclamation, hereby appointing Thursday the 9th day of December next, a day of publick and solemn thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God, earnestly recommending to all the good people of this commonwealth, to set apart the said day for those purposes, and to the several Ministers of religion to meet their respective societies thereon, to assist them in their prayers, edify them with their discourses, and generally to perform the sacred duties of their function, proper for the occasion.
Given under my hand and the seal of the commonwealth, at Williamsburg, this 11th day of November, in the year of our Lord, 1779, and in the fourth of the commonwealth.
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Mayoral Proclamation
