Two Comerford Lawler brothers and their cousin, Jesuit priests from Bunclody

The Mall House on the Mall, Bunclody, Co Wexford … once the home of the Comerford Lawler family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Two Comerford Lawler brothers from Bunclody, Co Wexford, Father Brendan Comerford Lawler and Father Donald Comerford Lawler, and their first cousin, Father Ray Lawler, were prominent Jesuits priests and teachers, closely identified with the life of Clongowes Wood College and Milltown, and with Jesuit mission work in Hong Kong, Australia and Zambia.

Today (31 July) is the feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. In recent days, I have been writing on this blog about two other Jesuits from the Comerford family: the Revd James Comerford (1885-1963), from Ballinakill, Co Laois, a Jesuit missionary in India and whose mother was from Clonegal, Co Carlow, about 5 km outside Bunclody; and the Revd Richard John Comerford (1911-1970), a Jesuit priest and teacher who spent most of his ministry and teaching career in Sydney, and who was descended from an Irish family that emigrated to New South Wales in the 1830s.

These five Jesuits were contemporaries or near contemporaries and their paths crossed regularly throughout their lives, from Clongowes Wood to Tullabeg, from Rathfarnham Castle and Milltown Park to Hong Kong and Sydney, from Bunclody to Dublin, at ordinations and at family funerals.

Milltown Park, Dublin … Brendan Comerford Lawler was secretary of the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy and Lecturer in Philosophy and Logic (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

1, The Revd Professor Brendan Comerford Lawler SJ, MSc, LPh, STL (1909-1993):

The Revd Professor Brendan Comerford Lawler SJ, MSc, LPh, STL (1909-1993), was born in Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford, on 29 October 1909, the son of Peter Paul Lawler (1862-1914) of Bunclody and his wife Victoria Mary (née Derham) Comerford (1873-1971), formerly of Dublin Street, Skerries.

The Comerford name, inherited by Brendan and his brothers, came from their paternal grandmother. Brendan’s paternal grandparents were Denis Lawler (1831-1892), of Rathvilly, Co Carlow, and Bunclody, Co Wexford, and Anne (Comerford) Lawler (ca 1832/1834-1911), of Bunclody.

Denis and Anne (Comerford) Lawler were married in Bunclody on 17 September 1858 and were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters:

1, Michael Lawler (1859-1909), born 10 May 1859, died 3 July 1909.
2, Mary Lawler (1860- ), born 6 August 1860.
3, Peter Paul Lawler (1862-1914).
4, Anne Lawler (1863-1942).
5, (Dr) William Comerford Lawler (1865-1935).
6, Kate Lawler (1867- ).
7, John Lawler (1868-1939).
8, Denis Lawler (1870-1941).
9, Edward Joseph Lawler (1872-1873), born October 1872, died 23 March 1873.
10, Sarah Anne Lawler (1873- ), born 23 November 1873.

Denis Lawler died in Newtownbarry on 9 July 1892; his widow Anne (Comerford) Lawler died in 1911. Their third child and second son:

Peter Paul Lawler (1862-1914) of Bunclody, was born 29 July 1862. He married Victoria Mary Derham (1873-1971) of Dublin Street, Skerries, in Saint Francis Xavier Church, the Jesuit church on Gardiner Street, Dublin, on 3 July 1907. Peter Lawler died 3 May 1914; Victoria Lawler lived until she was 97 and died in Dublin in 1971. They were the parents of:

1, Desmond Joseph Comerford Lawler (1908-1980), born 12 April 1908, the Mall House, Bunclody; he lived at the Chase House, Carrigduff, Bunclody, and died in 1980.
2, (Revd) Brendan Comerford Lawler (1909-1993).
3, (Revd) Donald Joseph Comerford Lawler (1911-1984).

Brendan Comerford Lawler was born in Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford, on 29 October 1909. His early education was at Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit-run boarding school in Co Kildare and he entered the Society of Jesus or Jesuits on 1 September 192 6at Saint Stanislaus College, the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, known affectionately as ‘the Bog’.

He was a student at Rathfarnham Castle while he was studying science (biology) at University College Dublin in 1928-1932, receiving his MSc in biology. is contemporaries at Rathfarnham Castle and UCD included the Revd Richard John Comerford (1911-1970), an Australian-born Jesuit priest and teacher who would spend most of his ministry and teaching career in Sydney.

Brendan Comerford Lawler moved on from Rathfarnham to study philosophy in Valkenburg, Holland (1932-1935, LPh) and theology in Innsbruck (1935-1938, STL), and he was ordained in Innsbruck on 17 July 1938. He spent those years close to the drama of the rise of Hitler and the Anschluss of Austria. In those years, Innsbruck was also the centre of ‘kerygmatic theology’ and of the liturgical and catechetical renewal spearheaded by JA Jungmann. Soon after Brendan left Innsbruck, the Jesuit house in Sillgasse was turned into Gestapo headquarters. By then, Brendan was safely back in Ireland pursuing further studies.

He was back at Rathfarnham Castle in 1939-1940, spent a year as Professor of Cosmology and Biology at Tullabeg (1940-1941), and then pursued private studies while living in the Jesuit community at 35 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin (1941-1943).

He returned to Tullabeg in Autumn 1943 as Professor of Cosmology and Biology (1943-1962), and during that time he was also Rector (1953-1959). From 1962 to 1968, he was at Loyola House on Eglinton Road, Dublin, as Socius to the Jesuit Provincial.

He returned to academic life in Milltown Park in 1968 as secretary of the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy (1968-1992), Lecturer in Philosophy and Logic, and Assistant Registrar (1982). I got to know him there, and I was a student at the Irish School of Ecumenics in 1982-1984, when it was still based in Milltown Park.

While Brendan was at Milltown, his widowed mother, Victoria Comerford, who was living nearby at 4 Palmerston Villas, Rathmines, died in Harold’s Cross Hospice on 9 May 1971 aged 97.

His natural humour and spirit of companionship blossomed in Milltown. There he organised what came to be called ‘Saturday Theology’, a successful programme of lectures for extra-mural students. Over a period of 20 years, this introduced countless people to the thinking of Vatican II.

His early interest in the scriptures bore fruit in his book Epistles in Focus, for many years the only scholarly book on scripture by a member of the Irish Jesuit Province. During his final years in Milltown he also published in Milltown Studies, including ‘The Star of Implication’ (Milltown Studies, No 5).

He retired to Cherryfield Lodge, the Jesuit retirement home in Ranelagh, in 1993. With the onset of Parkinson’s, he moved to the Royal Hospital, Dublin. He died in Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross, on 16 June 1993 at the age of 83.

Father Don Comerford took his vows as Jesuit novice in Emo Court in 1930 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

2, The Revd Donald Joseph Comerford Lawler (1911-1984):

Brendan Comerford Lawler’s younger brother, the Revd Donald Joseph Comerford Lawler (1911-1984), was also a Jesuit priest.

Donald Joseph Comerford Lawler was born on 2 March 1911 in Newtownbarry, Co Wexford, the son of Peter Paul Comerford (1862-1914) and Victoria Mary (née Derham).

Don’s early schooling was at the Dominican Convent, Wicklow, before going on to Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare. He entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Tullabeg on 1 September 1928, and he took his vows as a Jesuit novice on 2 September 1930 at Emo Park or Emo Court, the former home of the Earls of Portarlington and the Dawson family, which had been acquired by the Jesuits as a novitiate earlier that year.

Don was a student at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, in 1930-1933, studying physics and chemistry. He received his BSc at University College Dublin in 1933, and then studied philosophy at Tullabeg in 1933-1936.

He moved to Hong Kong in 1936, and was in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, in 1937. After two years studying Cantonese, he taught for two years in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong (1938-1940).

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 prevented Don’s return to Ireland for his theology studies, and he was asked to spend another year in Hong Kong. He was then moved to Australia to study theology in Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, from 1941.

He was ordained on 8 January 1944, in Sydney, Australia, alongside the Revd Richard Comerford, the Australian-born Jesuit who had been a contemporary of Brendan and Don in Rathfarnham Castle and UCD. Their ordination group in 1944 was the first group of Jesuits to be ordained in Sydney.

Don was a chaplain at the end of World War II, and then returned to Ireland in 1945 for further studies. After a year in Rathfarnham Castle (1945-1946), he returned to Hong Kong in 1946, and he took his final vows as a Jesuit on 3 February 1947 in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.

He was the senior science master in Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, for more than 30 years (1946-1976). The Cantonese form of his name is: 羅明德神父

He was an outstanding and conscientious teacher of physics to the higher forms, and played a role in organising science teaching in the schools in Hong Kong. In Wah Yan, he was also a vigorous sports master.

He suffered his first stroke in 1976. He returned to Wah Yan and took a slight part in community life. He managed to attend his Golden Jubilee dinner for a short period, and concelebrated Mass on extreme invalid terms. After a second stroke, the Columban Sisters cared for him in Ruttonjee Sanatorium.

After another stroke, he was brought to Saint Paul’s Hospital, Causeway Bay. He was brought by hospital plane to Ireland in 1979.

Don stayed first in Saint Vincent’s Hospital and then in Lisheen Nursing Home, Rathcoole, Co Dublin. The care of his elder brother, Father Brendan Lawler, helped to mitigate the hardship of his prolonged illness. He died on 4 December 1984 after a long illness, aged 73.

He was remembered for his ‘crystal clear mind … lithe vigorous body … (and) unquestioning independence.’ It was said he had ‘a sturdy distaste for loose thinking and for conventional expression or manifestation of piety. Eschewing gush, he had an unrivalled grasp of the theological and spiritual principles underlying … Jesuit life.’

Father Ray Lawler was born at River View House, Bunclody, the home of his father, Dr William Comerford Lawler (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

3, The Revd Raymond John Bolger Lawler (1921-2001):

Brendan Comerford Lawler and Donald Comerford Lawler were first cousins of the Revd Raymond John Bolger Lawler (1921-2001), also a Jesuit priest.

Raymond John Bolger Lawler (1921-2001) was born in Newtownbarry, Co Wexford, 28 May 1921. He was a son of Dr William Comerford Lawler, physician and surgeon, of River View, Newtownbarry, and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Bolger).

Dr William Comerford Lawler (1865-1935) was a son of Denis Lawler (1830-1892) and Anne Comerford (1832-1912). He was born on 13 August 1865. He was married three times. He married (1) Elizabeth McCourt (1867-1909) of 115 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, daughter of Patrick McCourt, in Saint Andrew’s Church, Dublin, on 5 September 1906. She died in Dublin on 23 June 1909. He married (2) Mary Elizabeth Cecilia Bolger (1891-1924), daughter of John Bolger, merchant, of Ferns, Co Wexford, in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, on 26 April 1919. Their children included:

1, Denis Albert Bolger Lawler (1920-2017), born 28 February 1920, 5 Mount Street Crescent, Dublin. He was a solicitor in Milford, Co Donegal, married and had children. He later lived in Dartry, Dublin, and died 11 April 2017. His funeral took place in Rathfarnham Church of Ireland Parish Church.
2, (Revd) Raymond John Bolger Lawler (1921-2001).
3, William David Bolger Lawler (1922- ), born 9 November 1922 at River View, Newtownbarry, later lived in Canada.
4, Teresa Lawler Joynt (1924-2010), of Barroge, Castletown,Co Wexford, married and had children. She died 25 January 2010 and is buried in Bunclody.

Mary Elizabeth (Bolger) Lawler died on 23 October 1924, aged 33. William Comerford Lawler married (3) Josephine Mary Bolger (1896-1971), Mary’s sister and a daughter of John Bolger of Ferns, in Monkstown, Dublin, on 23 February 1927. Josephine Comerford died 3 November 1971.

The second son of William Comerford Lawler:

The Revd Raymond John Bolger Lawler was born in Bunclody on 28 May 1921. Later in life, when he was preaching at the funeral Mass of his neighbour and schoolfriend, Dr Tom Murphy, former President of UCD, in 1997, he jokingly described Bunclody, where they were both born, as the ‘back of beyond.’

At the age of four, Ray too was sent to the Dominican Convent, Wicklow, as a boarder. He was 11 when he was sent to Clongowes Wood College, where he figured prominently at cricket and rugby. Little did he realise that he would spend almost half of his life there as teacher, prefect of studies, higher line prefect, and finally as third line Spiritual Father which he was when he died at the age of 80.

Ray entered the Jesuits at Saint Mary’s, Emo, Co Laois, on 7 September 1938. He was a student at Rathfarnham Castle, studying arts at UCD (1940-1943), and receiving a BA honours in Latin and French at UCD. He then studied philosophy in Tullabeg (1943-1946), while his cousin Brendan was Professor of Cosmology and Biology. He spent two years at the Jesuit community in the Crescent, Limerick (1946-1948), a year at Clongowes Wood College (1948-1949), and studied theology in Milltown Park (1949-1953).

He was ordained priest in Milltown Park on the feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, 31 July 1952.

After a further year at Rathfarnham Castle (1953-1954), he returned to Clongowes Wood College (1954-1962), teaching Latin and French and Religion, and he took his final vows as a Jesuit on 2 February 1956. He was Prefect of Studies in Clongowes in 1956-1962.

When an official visitor from Rome to the Irish Jesuit Province made changes in personnel, Ray was moved to Belvedere College, Dublin, for two years (1962-1964). He returned to Clongowes in 1964 again as higher line prefect (1964-1968) and as a teacher (1968-1981).

He was an excellent teacher of French, coached rugby and played cricket regularly for the local club, North Kildare. He was a regular sight on the college golf course and competed frequently in Naas Golf Club.

At 60, Ray had a sabbatical in Toronto, Canada, in 1981-1982. This was followed by two years in Zambia teaching French and Scripture to Jesuit novices in Lusaka (1982-1984). As he left for Zambia, the school secretary said , ‘If there were a university degree for gentleness, I think that Father Lawler would have a PhD’. His character was summed up in the phrase ‘a lovable and loving person.’

When he returned to Ireland, he spent a year in Tullabeg as Director of the Spiritual Exercises (1984-1985), followed by 10 years at Gardiner Street Church as parish chaplain (1985-1995). His uncle Peter Paul Lawler had been married in the same church in 1907.

When Ray was 74, he returned to Clongowes Wood as the third line spiritual father (1995-2001), and he also assisted in chaplaincy in Cherryfield, the Jesuit retirement home near Milltown Park.

He enjoyed good health to the end. He preached on Mandy Thursday to the past pupils who were on retreat in Clongowes and played golf on Good Friday afternoon. He died in his room in Clongowes on Holy Saturday following a massive heart attack, on 14 April 2001 at the age of 80.

Although his funeral took place during school holidays, the college chapel was full for his funeral Mass. Members of his family and students of the school carried his coffin along the Third Line gallery. Present and past pupils formed a guard of honour in a moving tribute to a priest who had come to mean so much to so many young people over so many years.

Psalm 138 (139) was his favourite and he often quoted the lines: ‘It was you who created my being … I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all your creation.’ The Psalm ends with the words: ‘See that I follow not the wrong path and lead me in the path of life eternal.’

Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare … part of the lives of Brendan, Don and Ray Lawler

This posting is now available on the Comerford Genealogy site as part of the series of Comerford Profiles HERE

For a posting on Comerford missionaries, visit HERE

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (64) 31 July 2023

The three principle figures in the Peel window in Tamworth represent Life (left), Death (right) and Resurrection (centre), with the angelic figures above them representing Faith (left), Hope (right) and Love (centre) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity yesterday (30 July 2023). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (31 July) remembers the life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who died in 1556.

I plan to visit Southwark Cathedral later today. But, before this day gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reading and reflection.

This morning I continue my reflections which in recent days have included:

1, Looking at stained glass windows in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church, Tamworth;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The war memorial window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, in memory of the Revd Maurice Berkeley Peel, Vicar of Tamworth in 1915-1917 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Maurice Peel memorial window, Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth:

Saint Editha’s Church in Tamworth has three interesting war memorials side-by-side in the North Aisle, and the windows have interesting connections with the Pre-Raphaelite windows in Saint George’s Chapel.

The first of these windows, at the west end of the north aisle, is the World War I Memorial Window, dating from 1920, and by Henry George Alexander Holiday (1839-1927), which I described in a posting yesterday.

The second war memorial window, which I am reflecting on this morning, is in memory of the Revd Maurice Berkeley Peel, Vicar of Tamworth in 1915-1917.

This window is dedicated ‘To the Glory of God and in affectionate memory of the Hon Maurice Berkeley Peel, BA, MC, vicar of this parish 1915-1917, who when Chaplain to the Forces in France, was killed whilst tending the wounded, May 1917. This window is placed by his family and the parishioners of Tamworth.’

The Revd Maurice Peel (1873-1917) was the son of Arthur Wellesley Peel (1829-1912), 1st Viscount Peel,Speake of the House of Commons. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, and was ordained in 1899.

At the outbreak of World War I, he became a chaplain in France with the 7th Division, and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1915. He was wounded in action but refused medical attention until all the other men had been looked after. He was sent home to England and took a year to recover. In the course of that year was appointed Vicar of Tamworth.

Peel volunteered again in 1917, and was sent to his old battalion. He was killed by a sniper shortly on 14 May 1917 at Bullecourt, while going to rescue a wounded man. The senior chaplain, the Revd Eric Milner-White (later the creator of the Servuce of Nine Lessons and Carols in King’s College Cambridge, and subsequently Dean of York), set out to discover how he had died and where he was buried.

Again, this window is the work of Henry Holiday.

The three principle human figures in the three lights are caught up in the wind and represent Life (left), Death (right) and Resurrection (centre), with angelic figures above them who represent Faith (left), Hope (right) and Love (centre). Each panel has further meanings too.

The figure in the first panel represents ‘Man toiling up the stony road and overcoming obstacles on the way.’ The face of this figure is the face of the Revd Maurice Peel. Here man is toiling up the stony road, overcoming the obstacles in his way. Pleasure on one side and cares and riches on the other side are pulling him by the skirts of his garment.

But above him are the words ‘We walk by Faith not by Sight,’ and Faith guides him with one hand, while the other hand is removing the obstacles. Below him are the words ‘Thou wilt show me the path of life.’

In the third panel, ‘Death,’ Man is going through the deep waters. The words below tell us, ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee.’ But through the depths, Hope is guiding him, with a reminder in the words above, ‘The righteous hath Hope in his Death.’

In the centre panel, Man is rising above the clouds that have obscured his vision in the material world, fulfilling the words below him, ‘This mortal must put on immortality.’ Above him, the words promise, ‘Make perfect in Love.’

In the tracery lights are the badge of the regiment to which Peel was attached, his family coat of arms, and the coat of arms of New College, Oxford.

The third war memorial window, at the east end of the north aisle of Saint Editha’s is a World War II Memorial Window from 1949. It is inspired by the themes in the canticle Te Deum, and I hope to look at this window in detail in this prayer diary tomorrow.

The figure in the first panel in the Peel window represents ‘Man toiling up the stony road and overcoming obstacles on the way’ … the face is of the Revd Maurice Peel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Matthew 13: 31-35 (NRSVA):

31 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. 35 This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet:

‘I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.’

In the centre panel in the Peel window, Man is rising above the clouds that have obscured his vision in the material world (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Reflections from the International Consultation.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones of the Church in Wales.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (31 July 2023) invites us to reflect on these words:

Help us Lord to speak up for modern-day slavery around the world. To be vigilant and aware in our communities. We pray that through our actions we can help bring an end to human trafficking.

Collect:

Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

In the third panel in the Peel window, ‘Death,’ Man is going through the deep waters (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

The badge of Peel’s regiment, the Peel family coat of arms, and the coat of arms of New College, Oxford, in the tracery lights (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Richard Comerford (1911-1970), an Australian Jesuit priest who studied in Dublin

Rathfarnham Castle, the former Jesuit house of studies in Dublin … Richard Comerford was a student from 1929 to 1932 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Revd Richard John Comerford (1911-1970) was a Jesuit priest and teacher who spent most of his ministry and teaching career in Sydney. He was from an Irish family that emigrated from Dublin to New South Wales in the 1830s, and he returned to Ireland for part of his studies in Rathfarnham Castle and University College Dublin, from 1929 to 1932.

Father Richard Comerford was a near contemporary but a generation younger than Father James Comerford (1885-1963), from Ballinakill, Co Laois, the Irish Jesuit missionary in India I was writing about yesterday, who had once been at school with James Joyce.

Richard Comerford was born on 7 January 1911 in Chiltern, Victoria, Australia. His father was Joseph Richard Comerford (1880-1953); his mother was Mary Elizabeth (Walsh) Comerford (1889-1978).

His family can be traced back to Patrick Comerford (1730-1795), who married Mary Harty (1770-1865), and they were the parents of:

James Comerford (1769-1839), who seems to have lived most of his life in Dublin. He married Mary Lowan, and they were the parents of:

Patrick Comerford (1792-1855). He was born in Dublin on 11 November 1792, and was baptised in Saint Michan’s Parish, Dublin (sponsors: Matthew and Mary Ryan). He married Jane Pigot (1810-1870). In 1834, he emigrated through Liverpool to Australia, and was followed by his wife and Dublin-born children.

Patrick and Jane Comerford were the parents of eight children:

1, Teresa Comerford (1828- ), born Dublin, baptised Saint Nicholas Parish 19 October 1828.
2, James Charles Comerford (1830-1907), born Dublin, October 1830.
3, Patrick Peter Comerford (1834-1902), born Dublin, 1834.
4, John Comerford (1836- ), born New South Wales, Australia, 1836.
5,Jane Mary Comerford (1839-ca 1849), born New South Wales, 1839, died before 1849.
6, Richard Comerford (1841-1892), born West Maitland, Australia, 1841.
7, Rebecca Clara Comerford (1842-1918), born Maitland, New South Wales, 9 August 1842.
8, Jane Ann Comerford (1849-1903), born 9 February 1849, George Street, Sydney.

Patrick Comerford died in Sydney on 28 March 1855; his wife Jane (Pigot) Comerford, died Chiltern, Victoria, on 24 October 1870, and was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton North, Melbourne City. Their eldest son:

James Charles Comerford (1830-1907), was born in Dublin in 1830, and was baptised in Saint Nicholas Parish 25 October 1831 (priest: James Rickard; sponsors: John and Rebecca Pigott). He was an infant when he emigrated from Ireland to Australia with his family. He married Mary Horn (1858-1893) in Chiltern, Victoria, on 4 November 1877. They were the parents of two children:

1, Jane Anne (1878-1958), married Alfred Blackney (1875-1956) Cootamundra, New South Wales, in 1896.
2, Joseph Richard Comerford (1880-1953).

James Charles Comerford died on 29 May 1907, aged 75. His only son:

Joseph Richard Comerford (1880-1953) was born 6 September 1880 in Chiltern, Indigo Shire, Victoria. He married Mary Elizabeth Walsh (1888-1978) and they were parents of eight children, one son and seven daughters:

1, (The Revd) Richard John Comerford SJ (1911-1970), born on 7 January 1911 in Chiltern, Victoria, Australia.
2, Kathleen Clare Comerford (1913-1932).
3, Sheila Comerford (1916-1916), twin.
4, Joyce Comerford (1916-1916), twin.
5, Eileen Mary Comerford (1918-1920).
6, Maureen Beatrice (1920-2003), married Francis Joseph Patton (1921-2002).
7, Patricia Wilma (1923-2004), married Martin Francis Reidy (1924-1981).
8, Carmel (1928-2012), married Patrick Simon Ryan (1930-2014).

Joseph Richard Comerford died on 26 July 1953 in Kew, Victoria, at the age of 72, and was buried in Fawkner, Victoria.

Richard John Comerford was born in Chiltern, Victoria, on 7 January 1911. His early education was at Saint Patrick’s College, Melbourne, before entering the Society of Jesus or Jesuits in Loyola College, Greenwich, Sydney, on 2 March 1927.

After his first vows, he was sent to Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin, at the age of 18 in 1929 to begin his Jesuit studies and to study at University College Dublin. His contemporaries at Rathfarnham Castle and UCD included the Jesuit brothers from Bunclody, Co Wexford, the Revd Brendan Comerford Lawler (1909-1993) and the Revd Donald Joseph Comerford Lawler (1911-1984) The Revd Donald Joseph Comerford Lawler (1911-1984)During his time in Dublin, Richard had an accident. Although there was no lasting damage, he received quite a shock, and he returned in 1932.

On his return to Australia from Dublin, Richard was sent to teach in Saint Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, from 1932 to 1936 where he also assisted the Prefect of Discipline. Then in 1937, he studied philosophy in Canisius College, Pymble, Sydney, and Loyola College, Watsonia, Melbourne.

He was back in Saint Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, for a year in 1939-1940, and then studied theology in Canisius College in 1941-1944. His ordination group in 1944 was the first group of Jesuits to be ordained in Sydney, and he was ordained priest on 8 January 1944, alongside the Revd Donald Comerford Lawler from Bunclody. Richard was back in Loyola College, Watsonia, in 1944-1945, and took his final vows on 15 August 1946.

He returned to teaching in the junior school at Saint Aloysius, and also taught science in the middle school (1946-1961). His greatest work was the annual production of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera in co-operation with William Caspers. It was said later that these operas were one of the great highlights of the college each year, ‘and were most professionally produced. They were his crowning glory.’

However, Richard Comerford became one of the casualties of the visitor’s changes within the Jesuit Province in Australia in 1961. He was sent that year to Saint Ignatius College, Norwood, Adelaide, where he taught Religion, English, Physics, Chemistry and elementary Science for some years. Ill-health, however, finally reduced him to working in the tuck shop.

The Rector of Saint Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, Father Vincent Conlon, finally succeeded in gaining Richard’s return to the college in 1967. On his return, he taught Religion, Geography and elementary Science. But his health did now allow him to resume his production of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He looked after the bookshop in 1968.

Richard Comerford has been described as ‘one of nature’s real gentlemen, a man of great courtesy who respected the dignity of each individual. He was also a most genuinely humble and self-effacing person. He was easily upset by student immaturity, but was much appreciated by those whom he taught and those who worked with him in opera productions. He had great creative talent, was a good teacher of English, spoke polished English and had a fine singing voice.’

It was said ‘his practice of personal poverty was obvious to all, and he was most faithful to his ministerial duties as priest.’

He died on 14 September 1970, at Saint Aloysius College, Milson’s Point, after a stroke and heart complications. He was 59. His funeral mass in the college chapel was attended by his widowed mother and his three surviving sisters, Maureen Patton, Patricia Reidy and Carmel Ryan, Archbishop Eris O’Brien of Canberra, four former rectors, and many former parents. The Mass was sung by the college students, who also formed a guard of honour outside.

His mother, Mary Elizabeth Comerford, died on 21 April 1978 in Kew, Boroondara City, Victoria.

It is said that all who knew Father Richard Comerford held him in high esteem.

This posting is now available on the Comerford Genealogy site as part of the series of Comerford Profiles HERE

For a posting on Comerford missionaries, visit HERE

The north side of Rathfarnham Castle … Richard Comerford was a Jesuit student in 1929-1932 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (63) 30 July 2023

Christ Enthroned in the World War I memorial window in Saint Editha’s Collegiate and Parish Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and today is the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (30 July 2023). Later this morning I hope to attend the Parish Eucharist in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton.

But, before this day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reading and reflection.

This morning I continue my reflections which for the past week have included:

1, Looking at stained glass windows in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church, Tamworth;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The World War I Memorial Window(1920) by Henry George Alexander Holiday in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A World War I memorial window, Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth:

Saint Editha’s Church in Tamworth has three interesting war memorials side-by-side in the North Aisle, and the windows have interesting connections with the Pre-Raphaelite windows in Saint George’s Chapel.

The first of these windows, at the west end of the north aisle, is the World War I Memorial Window, dating from 1920, and by Henry George Alexander Holiday (1839-1927).

The dedication reads: ‘To the Glory of God and in reverent memory of the men of this Parish who nobly gave their lives for freedom and humanity in the Great War 1914-1918.’

The artist Henry Holiday entered the Royal Academy Schools at the age of 15 and was soon drawn to the ideas and the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

He succeeded Sir Edward Burne-Jones as the chief designer for the stained glass firm James Powell & Sons in 1863 and his style had a long-lasting effect on their production into the 1920s. Some of his windows were made by Lavers & Barraud and by Heaton, Butler & Bayne.

After Holiday ended his association with Powells, he established his own workshop in 1890, and from about 1900 he made his own glass at the workshop. His later work was made at the Glass House, Fulham.

Holiday also worked as a painter, illustrator and sculptor, and his broad range of interests led to his involvement in the campaign for Irish Home Rule, women’s suffrage and dress reform.

In the centre of this window, the crowned Christ is enthroned and holds a cross in his left hand, his right hand raised in blessing. Above him are the words: ‘Come unto me & ye shall find rest to your souls.’ On either side are the words ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.’

The rainbow above the throne not only helps to define the composition but is also a sign of the Covenant of God and of hope. Above Christ the King and the rainbow, two cherubs are symbols of Divine Love.

The four angels in two pairs on each side of him bear a scroll with the words: ‘Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.’

The words at the bottom read: ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to bind up the broken hearted, to comfort all that mourn, to give unto them the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.’

Below the figure of Christ, groups of bereaved people are bringing their sorrows to him.

In the first group, the man on the left, wearing a helmet with his sword at his side, represents one of the many cases where a soldier had returned from the war unhurt but mourning a brother who had lost his life. Next to him is seated an elderly working man, with a leather apron, whose son, we may suppose, has fallen in battle. Above them is a young girl, perhaps a sister of one of the victims.

In the second group in the centre light beneath Christ, a young mother is with her two children, having lost her husband and their father.

In the third group, a young woman is seated, her hand on her heart, having lost her fiancé who has been slain. In her hand she holds her wedding wreath and is going to lay it on his grave. Above her, an elderly couple are mourning a lost son. Above these three, a crying and desolate orphan has lost his only parent.

In the tracery lights, King, Country and Church are represented with the crowned initials GR and the date 1921, the royal monogram of King George V (centre); a fleur-de-lys from the former coat-of-arms of Tamworth (left); and the coat-of-arms of the Diocese of Lichfield (right).

The second war memorial window in Saint Editha’s Church is in memory of the Revd Maurice Berkeley Peel, Vicar of Tamworth in 1915-1917, and I plan to look at this window in detail tomorrow.

The third window, at the east end of the north aisle of Saint Editha’s, is a World War II Memorial Window from 1949. It is inspired by the themes in the canticle Te Deum, and I hope to look at this window in detail in this prayer diary on Tuesday.

Christ enthroned, with a young mother and her two children, having lost her husband and their father (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 (NRSVA):

31 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

The inscription on the World War I Memorial Window (1920) by Henry Holiday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Reflections from the International Consultation.’ This theme is introduced today by the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones of the Church in Wales:

‘It felt poignantly appropriate that a conference on modern slavery and human trafficking should take place near what was the centre of the East African slave trade 200 years ago. Open slave markets might have gone but sadly slavery still exists and indeed is increasing in the form of sex trafficking, forced labour, and exploitation of those vulnerable through poverty or displacement, including refugees and asylum seekers.

‘Over the course of the week at the consultation, we listened to those who work to address the issues involved with human trafficking and modern slavery, often in extremely complex and dangerous situations.

‘It was clear from our discussions that collaboration is an essential dimension to tackling the evil of human trafficking. Churches have an important part to play, both in partnering with others locally and regionally and in working together across the Communion.

‘At the conclusion, we agreed on a communiqué committing us to work together across the world to address human trafficking by speaking out, working with governments and other agencies, developing networks to share best practices and producing resources to support the work.’

Her original reflection can be found here: https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/ en/news-and-events/its-time-to-break-the-shackles-of-modern-slavery.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (30 July 2023, Trinity VIII, World Day Against Trafficking in Persons) invites us to reflect on these words:

‘Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy’ (Proverbs 31: 8-9).

Collect:

Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

King, Country and Church represented by the crowned monogram of King George V, a fleur-de-lys from the former coat-of-arms of Tamworth, and the coat-of-arms of the Diocese of Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

James Comerford (1885-1963), an Irish Jesuit missionary who spent his life in India

Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare … James Comerford’s time at school there overlapped with James Joyce

Patrick Comerford

The Revd James Comerford (1885-1963), from Ballinakill, Co Laois, was an Irish Jesuit priest who worked for most of his life as missionary in India. He had once been at school with James Joyce, and two of his sisters were nuns.

Balinakill in Co Laois is between Abbeyleix, Ballyragget and Castlecomer, and close to the border of Co Laois and Co Kilkenny. Comerford family connections with Ballinakill date back to the mid-16th century, when the Revd Peter Comerford, probably a member of the Comerford family of Waterford and Castleinch, Co Kilkenny, was the Rector of Dysert Galen (Ballinakill), in the Diocese of Leighlin, from 1550.

In her recollection of the history of her branch of the Comerford family, the late Maire Comerford (1893-1982) recalls: ‘Our Comerford branch came to Rathdrum from Ballinakill in County Offaly [recte County Laois]. Kilkenny, like Galway, had its ‘Tribes’; but the Catholic tribes like the Walshes and the Comerfords, were evicted from the city of Kilkenny and ordered to live in Ballinakill.

‘All this happened a very long time before our story began in Rathdrum. In a quiet way, the Comerfords belonged to a class of Irish person who seemed relatively unaffected by the Penal Laws against Catholics; people engaged in primary industries – brewers, millers, wool merchants – who thrived relative to the many Irish people who depended for their livelihood on the land and nothing else.’

Maire Comerford also had strong family connections through her mother with north Co Wexford. Yet, in conversations with me in the early 1970s, she also recalled the tradition that the Comerford family of Ballinakill and Rathdrum was closely related to the Comerfords of Bunclody (Newtownbarry), Co Wexford.

So, when I came across the biographical details of the Jesuit missionary priest Father James Comerford from Ballinakill, I was interested to see that he too had close family links on his mother’s side of the family with the Bunclody area.

The Comerford family is recalled on the 1798 memorial in Ballinakill, Co Laois (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A Comerford of Ballinakill, who may have been born ca 1742, is said to have been a hero during the 1798 Rising. A monument erected in the Square in the centre of Ballinakill in 1898 bears the inscription:

‘This monument is erected by the Ballinkill ’98 Club to commemorate the memory of the men who gave their lives for Ireland in 1798. Comerford. Grennan. Geoghan. McEvoy. Fagan. Fox. The above mentioned patriots are interred at Castle Lane. Beannacht Dé le h-anam na marbh.’

Members of the Comerford family in Ballinakill in the decades after the 1798 Rising included William Comerford, who moved from Ballinakill, Co Laois, to Laragh, Co Wicklow, Edmund Comerford, a juror in Ballinakill in 1823, and Edward Comerford, brewer, living in Ballinakill in the 1820s.

Charles and Elizabeth Comerford of Ballinakill … parents of Father James Comerford (Photographs: Comerford family collection)

William Comerford, a shopkeeper in Ballinakill, Queen’s County, in the mid-19th century, was the father of Charles Comerford (1847-1891), a hotelier in Ballinakill. He married Eliza (Lizzie or Elizabeth) Finn (1845-1931) in Clonegal, Co Carlow, on 3 June 1876. She was the daughter of John Finn (1815-1890), a shopkeeper, and Elizabeth (McDonnell) Finn (1810-1891), of Clonegal, which is about 5 km outside Bunclody, on the border of Co Carlow and Co Wexford.

Charles and Eliza Comerford were the parents of eight children, six daughters and two sons:

1, Mary Elizabeth (1878-1939), born 13 April 1878, shopkeeper, of Ballinakil. She died in hospital in Portlaoise, 10 April 1939.
2, Sarah Anne (1880-1901), born 5 February 1880, died 22 August 1901.
3, (Sister) Katherine (Kate) Ellen (1881-1921), born 12 December 1881, died Limerick 13 December 1921.
4, John Joseph Comerford (1883-1884), born 5 August 1883, died aged 7 months, 6 March 1884.
5, (Revd) James Comerford (1885-1963), born on 27 January 1885.
6, Margaret Agnes (1886-1889), born 30 July 1886, died 11 December 1889, aged three.
7, (Sister) Bridget (‘Bridie’) (1888- ), born 26 November 1888.
8, Margaret May (1890-1917), born 26 May 1890, died in Clonegal, Co Carlow, on 13 May 1917.

Elizabeth Comerford of Clonegal with her daughter Bridget Comerford, Sister Mary of the Angels, in Waterford (Photograph: Comerford family collection)

Charles Comerford died in Ballinakill on 28 November 1891 at the age of 44. His widow Lizzie was living in Ballinakill, running the family hotel and farm, and living with her daughters Sarah (21) and Margaret (10) at the time of 1901 census.

In the decade that followed, Lizzie Comerford returned to live in Clonegal, near Bunclody. She was 65, a widow and a ‘retired grocer’, living with her sister, Mary Finn, shopkeeper and farmer, in Clonegal, and her daughter, Margaret Comerford (20), ‘shop assistant’, at the time of the 1911 census.

The sisters Kate and Bridie Comerford, both born in Ballinakill, later became known as Sister Catherine and Sister Mary of the Angels as nuns in the Good Shepherd Convent, Clare Street, Limerick. They were living there in 1901 and 1911. When Sister Catherine died at the age of 40 on 13 November 1921, it was noted that she was originally from Clonegal, Co Carlow. Sister Mary later became a nun in the Good Shepherd Convent in Waterford.

The Good Shepherd Convents became known as one of the ‘Mother and Baby’ homes or ‘Magdalene Laundries.’ Ironically, one of the women buried in the convent cemetery in Limerick is one of the residents, Bridget Comerford, who died there in 1958 at the age of 56. The difference is that Bridget was one of the 243 inmates of the Good Shepherd Laundry who was buried in an unmarked grave.

The former Good Shepherd Convent in Limerick is now home to Limerick School of Art and Design (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

James Comerford, the second and only son of Charles and Eliza Comerford, was born on 27 January 1885 in Ballinakill, Co Laois. He was only five when his father died on 28 November 1891.

James Comerford’s early education was at the Jesuit-run school, Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, where James Joyce (1882-1941) also spent his formative years from 1888 to 1892.

When James Comerford was 17, he entered the Society of Jesus at Saint Stanislaus College, the Jesuit novitiate at Tullabeg, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, on 6 September 1902. Tullabeg was a formation house for Jesuit novices, and was known affectionately as ‘the Bog’. He was ordained priest on 1 July 1919, and took his final vows as a Jesuit on 2 February 1922.

Father James Comerford spent most of his life as one ‘a handful’ of Irish priests with the Jesuit Calcutta Province in the Darjeeling Region in West Bengal. The mission took in half or more of north-east India, included Patna, Ranchi and south of it, Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim – an area four or five times that of Ireland.

Many of the letters he wrote back to Ireland are kept in the Jesuit archives in Dublin. One letter written in 1928 describes his life in India as a missionary:

‘Here I am in a mud hut, where books and manuscripts are exposed to destructive insects. The Church is neat as far as a thing of mud can be. Malaria and cholera are the two chief diseases. The water is salty, the effects of the seawater not being wholly removed. I shall have to build a cottage, but I am not afraid of the cost, as I never yet heard of missioners being obliged to withdraw from outposts on account of expense.

‘People from Calcutta come out here in quest of game – tigers – that abound in a part of the district. I have to look after. in all my district there are 800 Catholics and about as many Protestants. The latter are visited occasionally by Fr W, a high Anglican clergyman. It is now nearly two years since his last visit. He walks like the Indians in his bare feet across the rough rice fields. I don’t know how he does it. With shoes I get blisters on my feet after 5 or 6 miles, His people tell me that they will become Catholic, if I open a school. This I have done for our own Catholics, but one has to move slowly when dealing with Bengalese, as they easily change.’

He went on to say: ‘The great trouble down there is the mud that covers part of the district. It is sticky and slimy, and you must sometimes submit to being carried through it by a couple of men. Once my carriers sank deep into it, and it was only with difficulty they were able to bring me to a place of safety. Efforts are being made in the Madura Mission to erect a Church that will he dedicated to St Patrick …’

Later that year, in another letter back to Ireland, James reported:

‘The mud walls of my hut crack, and in these recesses cockroaches retire during the day, and appear at night. Lizards abound, Bats find a snug shelter on the inside of my thatched roof. As soon as I light my lamp I am visited by all the grasshoppers in creation. Ants and mosquitos are numerous. Yesterday I caught a rat. Are there such rats anywhere else in the world? They have a most abominable smell. If I got rid of the rat the smell remained. The application of one of the senses in the meditation on hell would be easy and profitable in my present environment.’

He recalled: ‘My worst experience so far was on the eve of the Ascension. At midnight a terrific storm burst, and my roof, in parts, gave way. Then came the rain and poured over my bed. I opened my umbrella and enjoyed whatever partial help it gave. Tomorrow, Feast of the Ascension, I shall reserve the Blessed Sacrament. It has not been reserved here for the last 50 years. The rains have begun and I shall soon be submerged. My hut and the Church will be the only dry spots. When I want to go out I proceed in my bare feet, if the distance is short, otherwise by canoe. Such is life in the wilds.’

A year later, in 1929, he wrote in a letter home:

‘I went on a visit lately to a distant village at the mouth of the River Hoogli. I had to make the journey in a country canoe, and, starting at 6 am reached the end of my water passage at 8 pm. It was dark, and I had to do the remaining mile on foot. I did that mile often, yet, we lost our way. At 10.30 the men, carrying my Massbox, were so fatigued that they asked me to stop, saying that we were getting further and further into the jungle. I yielded, and we sat down on the mud embankment to await dawn, i.e. to wait from 10.30 pm to 4.30 am.

‘After the trudge I had through quagmires of mud, I was not opposed to rest. At midnight however the rain began to come down in a flood. At 2 am there was another short but copious downpour, and when it was over, in spite of everything, I began to nod. I also began to slip down the mud embankment towards the deep water that now lay around. What troubled me most was that I would be compelled to deprive my poor people of their Sunday Mass.

‘But when everything seemed hopeless, a kindly Providence came to our aid. At 4.30 I heard a man singing. We called him and with his help we were able to make our exit. I managed to get through my two Masses by 10.30. Then, after breakfast (I had taken nothing since breakfast on the previous day at 4.30, except some bread and jam with a flask of coffee) through six baptisms, and when all was over had a real, sound sleep on a plank bed. You get used to a plank bed.

‘At the beginning of my career as an outpost missioner, a plank bed was a genuine mortification. Now I can sleep as comfortably on one as on the most up-to-date article in Calcutta or Dublin.’

Meanwhile, James Comerford’s widowed mother, Lizzie Comerford, died at the age of 84 on 14 March 1931 in Clonegal, near Bunclody. She is buried in Clonegal with her daughter Margaret May Comerford, her sister Mary Finn, who died in 1934, her parents, John and Elizabeth Finn, and her maternal grandparents, Austin and Elizabeth McDonnell of Clonegal.

Father James Comerford died in Dishergarh, Asansol, West Bengal, on 10 October 1963. He was the last surviving member of his family.

Margaret May Comerford (1890-1917), the youngrest child in her family, died in Clonegal, Co Carlow, on 13 May 1917 (Photograph: Comerford family collection)

This posting is now available on the Comerford Genealogy site as part of the series of Comerford Profiles HERE

For a posting on Comerford missionaries, visit HERE

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (62) 29 July 2023

The Great East Window in Saint Editha’s Collegiate and Parish Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (30 July 2023). Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers Mary, Martha and Lazarus, Companions of our Lord (29 July).

Before this day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reading and reflection.

This week, my reflections each morning include:

1, Looking at stained glass windows in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church, Tamworth;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The top row of six apostles in the Great East Window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Great East Window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth:

The Great East Window in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church, Tamworth, is a huge window filled with coloured glass, the figures representing the Twelve Apostles, each holding a symbol associated with him in tradition and related to their life or martyrdom.

This window is a testimonial to the late Revd Dr James Ogilvy Millar, Vicar of Tamworth from 1865 to 1869. The window is by William Wailes (1808-1881) of Newcastle and is dated 1870. The lettering is a quotation from the canticle Te Deum: ‘Ye Glorious Company of the Apostles Praise Thee.’

The six apostles in the top row are: Saint James the Great (pilgrim staff), Saint Peter (keys), Saint John (poison chalice and Gospel), Saint James the Less (club), Saint Thomas (spear) and Saint Thaddeus (axe); the six apostles in the lower row are: Saint Philip (staff), Saint Andrew (inverted cross), Saint Bartholomew (flaying knife), Saint Simon (saw), Saint Matthew (sword and Gospel) and Saint Matthias (axe).

The dedication on the window reads: ‘This window was reconstructed, and filled with painted glass by subscription, in 1870, in testimony of the esteem entertained by the parishioners of James Ogilvy Millar, LL.D., lately Vicar, and of their grateful sense of zeal in promoting the restoration of the Church.’

The Revd James Ogilvy Millar (1828-1890) was instrumental in restoring Saint Editha’s Church while he was the Vicar of Tamworth (1865-1869), and the East Window was erected while he was still living. He married Jane Mullings (1830-1920), and their four children included Admiral Herbert James Ogilvy Millar (1866-1934), who was born in Tamworth.

William Wailes started his own company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1838 and became one of the largest provincial stained glass producers. The company was making its own glass by 1841, and Wailes made glass for AWN Pugin from 1842 to 1845, and continued to produce glass for Pugin until Pugin died in 1852.

Wailes was later joined by his son-in-law, Thomas Rankine Strang (1835-1899), and the business became known as Wailes & Strang. Wailes died at his home in Saltwell Towers, Gateshead, and is buried in Saint Peter’s churchyard, Bywell, Northumberland.

The lower row of six apostles in the Great East Window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

John 12: 1-8 (NRSVA):

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

The East Window, High Altar and choir in Saint Editha’s Collegiate and Parish Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Reflections from the International Consultation.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Michael Clarke of the West Indies.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (29 July 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Give us grace Lord to truly listen with open hearts and minds, even when conversations are difficult.

Collect:

God our Father,
whose Son enjoyed the love of his friends,
Mary, Martha and Lazarus,
in learning, argument and hospitality:
may we so rejoice in your love
that the world may come to know
the depths of your wisdom, the wonder of your compassion,
and your power to bring life out of death;
through the merits of Jesus Christ,
our friend and brother,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name,
your servants Mary, Martha and Lazarus revealed your goodness
in a life of tranquillity and service:
grant that we who have gathered in faith around this table
may like them know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
and be filled with all your fullness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The East Window in Saint Editha’s Church is a tribute to an 19th century Vicar of Tamworth, the Revd James Ogilvy Millar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

‘The law of humanity, which is anterior to all positive laws, obliges us to afford them relief, to save them from starving’

Lord Justice Brown … upheld ‘the statutory right of asylum seekers to claim refugee status’

Patrick Comerford

The UK asylum system is about to change for the worse. The Home Secretary Suella Braverman is taking a wrecking ball to the right to claim asylum in the United Kingdom. The new ‘Illegal Migration’ Act will put in place even tougher measures for men, women and children seeking safety in the UK.

Many campaigns and organisations are calling on the government to treat refugees as people, not as numbers.

Earlier this week, a judge ruled that the Home Secretary acted unlawfully by failing to provide basic support to asylum seekers, including young children and pregnant women.

This ruling means Suella Braverman must introduce changes that will benefit thousands of asylum seekers. The ruling came after five asylum seekers successfully challenged her in the high court. Three of the claimants brought proceedings over delays in providing financial support, while two challenged over failures to provide cash payments to pregnant women and to children under three years old.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Swift found that the Home Secretary broke the law in withholding payments of £3 a week to provide healthy food for children aged one to three and to pregnant women.

On this Friday evening, I am thinking of the impact of earlier rulings by Simon Denis Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, who died earlier this month (7 July 2023), and how he paved the way for the type of ruling handed down earlier this week.

Simon Brown was a Law Lord and then a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2009-2012. He was born on 19 April 1937 into a middle class Jewish family in Sheffield: his father Denis Baer Brown fought in Burma during World War II; his mother was Edna Elizabeth (Abrahams) Brown; together they ran their own jewellery business.

His family moved to Nottinghamshire when Simon Brown was an infant, and he went to Stowe School (1950-1955) in Buckinghamshire, where he acquired a passion for history.

Brown spent his National Service (1955-1957) in Cyprus during the Suez crisis and during the conflict with Greek Cypriot guerrillas in EOKA fighting for the unification of Cyprus and Greece.

He began studying history at Worcester College Oxford, but changed to law. During holidays he variously hitchhiked to Naples, worked as a tour guide for wealthy Americans and swam the Bosphorus.

He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1961. From 1979 to 1984, he was a Recorder and First Junior Treasury Counsel (Common Law). From 1980, he was a Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple.

Brown was appointed a High Court Judge in 1984, then became a Lord Justice of Appeal and a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. He was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and a life peer in 2004 as Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, of Eaton-under-Heywood. He and nine other Lords of Appeal in Ordinary became Justices of the Supreme Court when it was set up in 2009. He retired from the House of Lords only last month (19 June 2023). Lord Brown died earlier this month (7 July 2023), at the age of 86.

Centuries of common law precedents were overturned by Simon Brown in 1990 when, as a high court judge, he ruled that a husband could be found guilty of raping his wife. His decision that ‘there is no marital exemption to the law of rape’ was upheld by the higher courts and confirmed in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
< />Brown later told the House of Lords: ‘I have few boasts to my name by way of legal achievement, few jewels in my judicial crown, but I can … boast of being the first judge in this jurisdiction … to rule that a husband is not permitted in law to have intercourse with his wife quite simply whenever he chooses.’

Renowned for his finely written judgments and entertaining memoirs, Brown was liberal in his sympathies and also made a lasting impact on immigration law. In a 1996 judgment he struck down secondary government legislation that deprived asylum seekers of support if they failed to claim asylum on arrival.

Brown concluded that: ‘Parliament cannot have intended a significant number of genuine asylum seekers to be impaled on the horns of so intolerable a dilemma: the need either to abandon their claims to refugee status or alternatively to maintain them as best they can but in a state of utter destitution.’

He commented that the state has a duty, anterior to all positive laws, to provide relief to non-nationals to save them from starving. Brown wrote the leading judgment of the majority, saying:

‘I would hold it unlawful to alter the benefit regime so drastically as must inevitably not merely prejudice, but on occasion defeat, the statutory right of asylum seekers to claim refugee status. So basic are the human rights here at issue that it cannot be necessary to resort to the European Convention on Human Rights to take note of their violation.

‘Nearly 200 years ago Lord Ellenborough CJ in R v Inhabitants of Eastbourne (1803) 4 East 103, 107 said: “As to there being no obligation for maintaining poor foreigners before the statutes ascertaining the different methods of acquiring settlements, the law of humanity, which is anterior to all positive laws, obliges us to afford them relief, to save them from starving; …”.’

In this ruling, Lord Ellenborough ruled that destitute French refugees in England have a fundamental human right to be given sufficient means to enable them to live, has been much praised and frequently followed.

Three years later, in another landmark ruling, Brown held that refugees do not have to claim asylum in the countries through which they pass to reach safety in order to be protected from prosecution, saying that ‘some element of choice’ should be open to them.

Brown also heard Robert Maxwell’s libel action against Private Eye and reversed the jury’s verdict over alleged match-fixing involving the goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. In 1995, in what became known as the ‘gays in the military case,’ he opened his judgment: ‘Lawrence of Arabia would not be welcome in today’s armed forces; homosexual men and women are not permitted to serve.’ Although legally obliged to uphold the ban, he made it clear that he believed its days were numbered.

In the House of Lords, he called for an end to the imprisonment for public protection regime that left inmates stranded on indefinite sentences, labelling it ‘the greatest single stain on our criminal justice system.’

Last year, Lord Brown opposed the nationality and borders bill, the cornerstone of the government’s new plan for immigration, over non-compliance with international law, declaring: ‘There are not many issues that it is worth going to the stake for, but surely the rule of law is one. I have spent 60 years of my life on it and do not propose to stop here.’

The Fast of Tisha BeAb was marked in the Jewish calendar yesterday (27 July 2023). In the Sephardic tradition, on the Shabbat before the fast of Tisha BeAb, communities begin to read the Book of Debarim (Deuteronomy 1: 1 to 3: 22). In the beginning of Parashat Debarim, Moses recounts the call to appoint judges for the people, so that the burden of leading the people does not fall on his shoulders alone.

In his call to appoint judges, Moses emphasises the need for them to be wise and knowledgeable, and whose true characters are known to the people. He values the personality, characteristics and morality of those chosen to serve as judges.

This is intimately connected to Tisha BeAb, as the destruction of the Temple is attributed to a lack of justice in society. In the Haftara which is read on this Shabbat, Joshua laments the lack of justice in Jerusalem, and prophesises that the redemption will ultimately be achieved through the restoration of the judicial system.

Lord Ellenborough (Edward Law), who strongly influenced Lord Brown’s landmark ruling on refugees, was an uncle of Chancellor James Thomas Law, whose monumental grave in Lichfield I described in a blog posting ten days ago (18 July 2023).

Lord Ellenborough’s words over 200 years ago are worth being reminded of today: ‘As to there being no obligation for maintaining poor foreigners … the law of humanity, which is anterior to all positive laws, obliges us to afford them relief, to save them from starving.’

Shabbat Shalom

Sheffield Central Synagogue and the heart of Jewish Sheffield were destroyed by German bombing in 1940 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)