Patrick Comerford
We are at the end of the Fifth Week of Easter. Two of us have been staying in York for much of this week, and we got back to Stony Stratford and Milton Keynes late yesterday.
Before this day gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection. Following my recent visit to Lichfield Cathedral, I am reflecting each morning this week in these ways:
1, Short reflections on the windows in the Chapter House in Lichfield Cathedral;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
The Nehemiah and Simeon window; two heraldic windows:
The Chapter House in Lichfield Cathedral is currently the venue for the exhibition ‘Library and Legacy,’ showcasing the collections in the cathedral library.
The chapter house was decorated with frescoes and stained glass in the late 15th century by Thomas Heywood, who was Dean of Lichfield in 1457-1492. The glass in the Chapter House once contained figures of the apostles, with other depictions above. These all predated the Cromwellian era, and were destroyed by the Puritans during the Civil War in the mid-17th century.
In the 19th century, the glazing of the chapter house displayed armorial bearings, more or less correct, in imitation of glass known to have ornamented the cathedral in the past. This armorial glass gradually gave way to glass representing scenes in the history of the cathedral. Six of the windows were glazed with these images in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the original but unfilled plan was to fill all the windows in the Chapter House.
The windows I am looking at this morning, are the window showing Nehemiah and Simeon, and the two surviving heraldic windows in the chapter house.
A two-window window at the north end of the passage leading into Chapter House shows the Prophet Nehemiah and Simeon the Old Man in the Temple.
The Prophet Nehemiah is holding a key under a scroll with the words ‘We will not neglect the house of our God’ (Nehemiah 10: 39). Simeon is depicted in the Temple holding the Infant Christ, under scroll with the words ‘Mine eyes have seen thy salvation’ (Luke 2: 30).
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period.
Simeon at the Temple is the ‘just and devout’ man of Jerusalem who, according to Luke 2:25–35, meets Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child as they enter the Temple to fulfil the requirements of Jewish Law on the 40th day from the birth of Jesus in the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
As many of the windows in the Chapter House tell stories of the building or rebuilding of Lichfield Cathedral, this window prepares the visitor appropriately for that series of windows by Burlison & Grylls and CE Kempe.
This window is by Burlison & Grylls and dates from 1879. It is in memory of William Yeend, a cathedral verger, although the memorial inscription is now largely indecipherable.
The two surviving windows with heraldic illustrations in the Chapter House show the coats-of-arms of many former cathedral clergy and families closely associated with the life of the cathedral.
These arms are not labelled or identified, although two shields in particular caught my eye during this visit. One of these shows the arms of the Fitzherbert family. Thomas Comberford (1472-1532) of Comberford married Dorothy Fitzherbert a year or two after had been admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in Lichfield in 1495. She was the mother of both Canon Henry Comberford (1499-1586), Precentor of Lichfield, and Richard Comberford, sometimes confusedly identified as the ancestor of the Comerfords of Ireland. Her immediate family members included Thomas Fitzherbert, Precentor of Lichfield, William Fitzherbert, Chancellor of Lichfield and William Fitzherbert, MP for Lichfield in 1553. The relics of Saint Chad eventually passed from the Jesuits around 1740 to the Fitzherbert family of Swynnerton, near Stafford.
A second shield to draw my attention was that of the Stanley family, which caused me that afternoon to return to the tomb of John Stanley in the south aisle of the cathedral. But the story of that tomb is, I think, appropriate for another day.
John 15: 18-21 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 18 ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.’
Today’s prayer:
The theme this week in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) has been ‘The Work and Mission of the Laity.’ USPG’s Regional Manager for Africa, Fran Mate, reflected on Sunday on the work and mission of the laity.
The USPG Prayer invites us to pray this morning (Saturday 13 May 2023):
Let us pray for the Anglican Communion. May the Churches seek to nurture disciples who are confident of their faith and assured in their mission to love their neighbour.
Collect:
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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