Better known in his later years as a politician, journalist, and physician, Dr. Joseph Robert Love was the first black clergy person to serve in the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. Born in the Bahamas on October 2, 1839, Love was educated at St. Agnes Parish School and Christ Church Grammar School in Nassau. He worked as a teacher before moving to Florida in 1866. In 1871, Bishop John F. Young of the Diocese of Florida ordained him a deacon. Later that year, he moved to Savannah, becoming the Deacon in Charge of St. Stephen’s Church. Founded in 1854, St. Stephens was the first church founded for African Americans to become a parish, a fe years after its founding. In 1872, citing discrimination in St. Stephen’s against those with darker skin color, he founded St. Augustine’s Church.

Love moved to Buffalo, New York in 1876 to accept a call as Rector of St. Philip’s Church. In 1877, Bishop Arthur Cleveland Coxe of the Diocese of Western New York ordained him to the priesthood. While there, he studied in the medical school at the University of Buffalo. On February 25, 1880 was awarded his Doctor of Medicine degree, becoming the first black graduate of the school.

In 1881, he moved to Haiti to become the Rector of an Anglican Church in Port-au-Prince, serving for Bishop James Theodore Holly who was the first African-American Bishop in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Holly deposed Love from the priesthood while he served in Haiti.

Dr. Love served as a physician to the army and became active in politics, getting expelled from Haiti in 1889. He moved to Kingston, Jamaica, spending years trying to regain entry into Haiti. He became a newspaperman, founding the Jamaica Advocate in 1894. He was a fervent advocate for improving the living conditions for blacks in Jamaica, and for increasing access to education for girls as well as boys. He died in Jamaica on November 21, 1914.

Note: On September 24, 1943, the St. Stephen’s and St. Augustine’s churches in Savannah reunited and St. Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist, was chosen as the patron saint.