Today is set apart on the Episcopal Church calendar as the date for Commemorating Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts (1835-93) has been called "the greatest American preacher of the 19th Century." He became an Episcopal priest in 1859. He was known for his support of freeing the slaves and allowing former slaves to vote. He went to Philadelphia and became rector of the Church of the Advent in 1859 and of Holy Trinity Church in 1862. In 1869, he became Rector of Trinity Church in Boston. W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in The Crisis, 1934 "There are fewer Negroes in Boston churches today than when...colored people sat in the pews under Phillips Brooks' preaching". Booker T. Washington Wrote in My Larger Education published in 1911 "It has been my privilege to attend service in Trinity Church, Boston, where I heard Phillips Brooks. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged that Brooks's preaching was the inspiration for his sermon "The Dimensions of a Complete Life.""  In 1872, he helped design the Trinity Church building, which today stands in Boston’s Back Bay. In 1891, he became Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts.
Today he is best known for writing the Christmas hymn "O little town of Bethlehem". In 1865 at the age of 30, Brooks was helping with a Christmas Eve service in Bethlehem. He was inspired by the view of Bethlehem from the hills of Palestine as he descended from Jerusalem into Bethlehem riding a horse hence the lyrics of O Little Town of Bethlehem, Music: "St. Louis," Lewis H. Redner, 1868. Redner was Brooks’ organist at Holy Trinity Church, Philadelphia. The tune came to him on Christmas Eve, and was first sung the next day. He is the author of several volumes of sermons, including The Candle of the Lord (1881), Sermons Preached in English Churches (1883), The Light of the World (1890), and The Law of Growth (1902).