The Rev. Alison Cheek, who in 1974 was one of 11 women who defied the male hierarchy of the Episcopal Church to be ordained as priests , then later that year became the first female priest to celebrate the Eucharist in an Episcopal service , died on Sept. 1 at her home in Brevard, N.C. She was 92 .

Her son Timothy said the cause was congestive heart failure.

Ms. Cheek and 10 other women made history on July 29, 1974, when they were ordained at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia in a ceremony not authorized by the Episcopal Church’s leadership. The women became known as the Philadelphia 11, and the defiance they and the four male bishops who ordained them showed that day drew considerable condemnation, even at the service itself.

Several male priests read statements from the chancel accusing them of breaking their vows to uphold church law and of going against God’s will.

“God here now as father and judge sees you trying to make stones into bread,” the Rev. George W. Rutler, one of those opposed, was quoted as saying. “You can only offer up the smell and sound and sight of perversion.”