Henry Winter Syle

{{Infobox saint

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Henry Winter Syle

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Henry Winter Syle.png

| imagesize = thumb

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| birth_date = November 9, 1846

| birth_place = Shanghai

| death_date = January 6, 1890

| death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

| venerated_in = Anglican Communion

| feast_day = August 27

}}

Henry Winter Syle (November 9, 1846 – January 6, 1890) was the first deaf person to be ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States.{{cite book|author1=Leslie, Frank|author2=Deems, Charles Force|author3=Thomas De Witt Talmage|authorlink1=Frank Leslie|authorlink2=Charles Deems|authorlink3=Thomas De Witt Talmage|editor1-last=Talmage|editor1-first=Thomas De Witt|editor1-link=Thomas De Witt Talmage|title=Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine|date=25 January 1886|publisher=Frank Leslie's Publishing House|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-1246600933|page=434|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015068366551;view=1up;seq=434|accessdate=1 December 2015|format=PDF|quote=The first deaf mute clergyman in the United States was the Rev Henry WL Syle who was ordained deacon by Bishop Stevens of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in October 1876 and advanced to the priesthood in 1883}}{{cite web|title=Henry Winter Syle|url=http://giving.gallaudet.edu/HOF/pastinductees/henry-winter-slye|website=Gallaudet University|publisher=Gallaudet University|accessdate=1 December 2015}}

Henry Winter Syle was born in Shanghai, China; Syle was a student and parishioner of Thomas Gallaudet. He was deaf from an early age. He attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, St. John's College in Cambridge, England,{{acad|id=SL867HW|name=Syle, Henry Winter}} and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Syle was encouraged to become a priest by Gallaudet. Ordained on October 14, 1883, he became the first deaf clergyman in the United States. He established a congregation for the deaf in 1888.

Syle struggled with poor health his whole life. He died of pneumonia on Jan. 6, 1890, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.{{cite web|title=Sixth Biographical Record of the Class of 1869|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RLkNAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Henry+Winter+Syle%22+place+of+death&pg=PA114|website=Google Books|year = 1895|publisher=Yale University|accessdate=30 November 2015}}

He is commemorated along with his teacher, Thomas Gallaudet on August 27 on the Episcopal calendar of saints.{{cite web|title=Thomas Gallaudet with Henry Winter Syle|url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/thomas-gallaudet-henry-winter-syle|website=The Episcopal Church|publisher=The Episcopal Church|accessdate=1 December 2015}}

He died on January 6, 1890, and was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.{{cite web |title=Henry W. Syle |url=https://remembermyjourney.com/memorials/henry-w-syle?id=BW5LQQdw |website=remembermyjourney.com |publisher=webCemeteries |access-date=23 November 2024}}