This week in Christian history: first Mother’s Day celebration, Father Damien travels to leper colony
Church holds first US Mother's Day celebration – May 10, 1908
This week marks the anniversary of when the first Mother’s Day celebration was held in the United States, taking place at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
The effort had been spearheaded by Anna Jarvis, the daughter of 19th century social activist Anna Reeves Jarvis, and who, ironically, never became a mother herself.
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Although Jarvis successfully lobbied to make Mother's Day a national holiday by 1914, she eventually came to reject the still popular observance due to its commercialization.
"While Jarvis had initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother's Day's profile, by 1920 she had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized," explained history.com.
"By the time of her death in 1948, Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar."
