Marcelino Manuel da Graça (January 25, 1881 or 1884—January 12, 1960), better known as Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace, or Daddy Grace, was the founder and first

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the predominantly

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

denomination, the

United House of Prayer For All People The United House of Prayer for All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith was founded by Cabo Verdean Marcelino Manuel da Graça. In 1919, Grace built the first United House of Prayer For All People in West Wareham, Massachusetts, ...

. He was a contemporary of other religious leaders such as

Father Divine Father Divine (September 10, 1965), also known as Reverend M. J. Divine, was an African-American spiritual leader from about 1907 until his death in 1965. His full self-given name was Reverend Major Jealous Divine, and he was also known as "t ...

Noble Drew Ali Timothy Drew, better known as Noble Drew Ali (January 8, 1886 – July 20, 1929) founded the Moorish Science Temple of America. Considered a prophet by his followers, in 1913 he founded the Canaanite Temple in Newark, New Jersey, Newark, New ...

and

Ernest Holmes Ernest Shurtleff Holmes (January 21, 1887 – April 7, 1960) was an American New Thought writer, teacher, and leader. He was the founder of a spiritual movement known as Religious Science, part of the greater New Thought movement, whose spir ...

. Many of his followers claimed miraculous acts of

faith healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

while attending services and others saw his ministry as a sign from God of the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

Origins and family

Marcelino Manuel da Graça's parents were Manuel (1837–1926) and Gertrude (1847–1933) da Graça. Marcelino da Graça's sibling group consisted of one brother, Benventura, and four sisters: Eugenia, Slyvia, Amalia, and Louise. He was born January 25, in Brava in the

Cape Verde Islands , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, then a Portuguese possession off the west coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. There is no verifiable information to confirm Grace's exact birth year, but most sources either state 1881 or 1884. The family of Manuel da Graca, the father of Marcelino, arrived in America at the port of

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...

, aboard a ship called the ''Freeman'' in May 1902. It is unclear whether Marcelino was aboard the ship in 1902, but ship manifests show that he visited America in 1903, and in 1904 he came as a cabin passenger aboard the schooner called Luiza. Marcelino Grace married twice. His first wife was Jane "Jennie" Lomba, a Cape Verdean woman also known as Jennie Lombard. They were married in 1909. They had a daughter, Irene, in 1910 and son, Norman in 1912. Norman died in 1947. Whether they officially divorced was disputed. His second wife was named Angelina (Montano) Grace, a woman of Mexican descent, whom he married in 1932. They had a son, Marcelino, in 1935. They divorced in 1937. In her book ''Daddy Grace'', Marie W. Dallam notes that the entire da Graca family were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

s in their homeland and opened up to different forms of the Christian experience once they immigrated to the United States. The US-based Protestant

Church of the Nazarene The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa within Johnson County, Kansas. With its members co ...

was the first non-Catholic Christian church to establish a mission in Cape Verde in 1900. Benventura da Graça, the brother of Marcelino, would later become a Church of the Nazarene pastor in the US. Marcelino, however, was said inside the da Graça family (according to the research done by Dallam) to have always been a "special child". Unlike the conventional ministry of his brother, he went on to establish a unique and independent Christian ministry. After becoming a famous bishop it was recounted that as a youth he had received a commission to preach directly from God.

United House Of Prayer

Marcelino Manuel da Graca Mausoleum Exterior

After leaving his job as a railway cook, Marcelino Manuel da Graca, using the anglicized version of his name, Charles Manuel (Emmanuel) Grace, began using the title "Bishop". In 1919, he built the first House of Prayer in West Wareham,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

at the cost of $39. He later established branches in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

and

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.the United House of Prayer for All People. The Constitution and By-Laws of The United House of Prayer, promulgated in 1929, stated that the purpose of the organization in pertinent part was "to erect and maintain places of worship and assembly where all people may gather prayer and to worship the Almighty God, irrespective of denomination or creed." He traveled extensively throughout the segregated South in the 1920s and 1930s preaching to integrated congregations years before the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s and the religious ecumenical movements which followed. Bishop Grace died in 1960 and is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in

Faith-healing savior

For Bishop Grace and his followers the miraculous stories as told of the

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

s in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

did not end with their deaths. Grace asserted that such miracles were available again, through him. As "Daddy Grace", the bishop and leader of the United House of Prayer, he was well known and respected by his followers as a

faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

and miracle worker. Grace also claimed that by the power of the

Holy Ghost For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third person of the Trinity, a Triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each entity itself being God.Grud ...

he could raise the dead, one such person who claimed that he did was his younger sister Jeannie (Eugenia), who reportedly died and was raised again by Grace. She would accompany Grace in his missionary tours and testify to the fact.

Style

Grace was an early prototype of what is now understood in western culture as the "celebrity preacher". Active during the early and mid-20th century, Grace used attention-getting maneuvers such as wearing loudly colored suits with bold, different-colored piping and shiny buttons, along with glitzy, expensive jewelry and long fingernails not painted.

Legacy and followers

The most notable organizational outcome of the 40 year ministry of Bishop Grace in the United States of America is the religious denomination known as the

. Each successive leader/Bishop of the

United House of Prayer for All People The United House of Prayer for All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith was founded by Cabo Verdean Marcelino Manuel da Graça. In 1919, Grace built the first United House of Prayer For All People in West Wareham, Massachusetts, ...

continues in the one-man leadership style initiated by Bishop Grace and each successive Bishop is called "Daddy" in turn. Besides the

, other USA denominations also trace their origins to the ministry of Bishop Grace. Prominent among them is the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based "House of the Lord Pentecostal Church on the Mount".

References

External links

Charles Emanuel "Daddy" Grace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graca, Marcelino Manuel da 1880s births 1960 deaths American people of Cape Verdean descent Clergy of historically African-American Christian denominations Cape Verdean emigrants to the United States People from Brava, Cape Verde African-American Christian clergy American Pentecostal pastors Founders of new religious movements 20th-century African-American people American faith healers