Florence Li Tim-Oi was the first woman ever to be ordained in the Anglican church, 30 years before any Anglican church regularised the ordination of women.
In was 1940 and Li was working as a layperson with the church in Hong Kong, helping refugees flee to the Chinese mainland as the Japanese occupied the city. Li was then sent by her Bishop to help with refugees in Macau, but the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and of parts of China had made it impossible for any Anglican priests to get to neutral Macau, and there was no resident priest.
As a result, despite not being ordained a priest at that time, Li was given permission by her Bishop to celebrate the eucharist and administer the sacraments. The Bishop wrote in his note to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple: “I have given her permission to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. If I could reach her physically, I should ordain her priest rather than give her permission … I’m not an advocate for the ordination of women. I am, however, determined that no prejudices should prevent the congregations committed to my care having the sacraments of the Church.”
In January 1944, Li travelled through Japanese-occupied territory the town of Zhaoqing, where she and the Bishop met, and he regularised her administration of the sacraments by ordaining her as a priest on 25 January 1944.
Watch Li’s the moving story on X (formerly Twitter) here, and how she drew strength from her faith in God.
Photo above of Li, by unknown photographer. Source: http://www.anglicanfoundation.org/li-tim-oi-anniversary-celebration/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53537607