CE Kempe’s window in the north nave aisle in Lichfield Cathedral with Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Edmund the Martyr and Saint Maurice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
I have been writing enthusiastically in recent days about my visit to Lichfield Cathedral and the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital in Lichfield last week, and how these two places have been spiritual homes to me for more than 50 years, since I was in my late teens.
I wrote yesterday that I never cease to wonder at how I can see things with fresh eyes each time I visit either place, and how I had a fresh look last Wednesday at three windows in Lichfield Cathedral with Advent and Christmas themes that are appropriate at this time of the year: the west window and the Jesse Window in the north transept window, both by Clayton and Bell, and the ‘Faith, Hope and Charity window’ in the south aisle by Ward and Hughes.
But, undoubtedly, the one artist and designer who has made an enduring and lasting contribution to Lichfield Cathedral is Charles Eamer Kemp (1837-1907), best-known in the late Victorian period for his stained-glass windows.
Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Edmund the Martyr and Saint Maurice in Lichfield Cathedral by CE Kempe … ‘the Victorian zenith’ of stained glass windows (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
The Cambridge Church Historian Owen Chadwick (1916-2015) has said Kempe’s work represents ‘the Victorian zenith’ of church decoration and stained glass windows. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichgates and memorials that helped to define a later 19th century Anglican style.
Kempe studied architecture under George Frederick Bodley and then at the Clayton & Bell studio, where his first work was produced in 1865. He worked independently from 1866 into the 20th century, with his own workshop from 1869. English cathedrals that display his work include Lichfield, along with Chester, Gloucester, Hereford, Wells, Winchester and York.
His imposing South Transept window (1895) in Lichfield Cathedral, which I was writing about last Wednesday (29 November 2023), is in memory of the Revd Henry Gylby Lonsdale (1791-1851), Vicar of Saint Mary’s, Lichfield (1830-1851), who lived at Lyncroft House, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn, Lichfield, and his brother John Lonsdale (1788-1867), Bishop of Lichfield (1843-1867).
The South Transept window shows Christ the King surrounded by angels, saints and bishops of the Early Church, including Saint Columba, Saint Wulstan, Saint Chad, Saint Augustine, Saint Aidan, Saint Hugh, Saint Basil, Saint Cyril, Saint Patrick, Saint Ignatius, Saint Polycarp, Saint Boniface, Saint Martin, Saint David of Wales, Saint Gregory, Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Athanasius, Saint Cyprian, Saint Isidore, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Ambrose of Milan and Saint Vigilius.
Kempe’s work in Lichfield Cathedral includes installing and restoring the 16th century Flemish glass from the Abbey of Herkenrode in the Lady Chapel (1889) and designing the Lady Chapel altar, the carved wooden reredos and the altar rails (1895). At the east end of the south aisle, he restored the 16th century Flemish window acquired in 1802 by Sir Brooke Boothby (1744-1824) of Ashbourne, who had close family connections with the Moat House, the Comberford family’s former Jacobean mansion on Lichfield Street, Tamworth.
In all, Kempe designed half the windows in the cathedral. His other windows include: ‘King David Instructing the Musicians’ (1890), in the north quire aisle in memory of the Revd William St George Patterson (1817-1890), in which King David instructs the musicians in the music of the sanctuary (1890, see I Chronicles 16, 4-7); Saint Peter in chains preaching, a memorial to the Very Revd Herbert Mortimer Luckock (1833-1909), who was instrumental in building All Saints’ Church on Jesus Lane, Cambridge, and later was Dean of Lichfield (1892-1909); Saint Peter and Saint John healing a lame man in the Temple (1894, see Acts 3), in memory of Dr Halford Wotton Hewitt, who died in 1891; and some windows in the Chapter House; Saint Stephen preaching to the Sanhedrin (1895); the Barnabas Window (1898); and ‘Self-Sacrifice’ in Saint Michael’s Chapel (1904).
In the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield, Kempe’s window on the south side depicts Saint John the Baptist and Saint George the Martyr. He may also have designed the window opposite this on the north side of the chapel depicting Saint Philip the Apostle and William Smyth, the 15th century Bishop of Lichfield who re-founded Saint John’s Hospital in 1495 as an almshouse. Nearby, in Christ Church, Leomansley, Kempe designed the glass for the north transept west window (1894).
CA Kempe’s window in the north nave aisle in Lichfield Cathedral depicting philosophers and theologians (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
There are three other windows by Kempe in Lichfield Cathedral that I looked at afresh last week but that I have not written about in detail before.
A window by Kempe in the north nave aisle depicts the Prophet Samuel, the Apostle Paul and the Philosopher Origen in the upper panels (1895). The panels below show: Samuel teaching the Sons of the Prophets, Saint Paul saying farewell to the Elders at Miletus, and Saint Catherine and the Philosophers of Alexandria.
This Kempe window, which emphasises theological discourse and education and the relationship between philosophy and theology, is in memory of Canon George Herbert Curteis (1824-1894) of Lichfield Cathedral, who was Professor of Testament Exegesis at King’s College London and Principal of Lichfield Theological College.
Solomon, Paul and Origen represent philosophers and theologians in Kempe’s window in the north nave aisle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
A second Kempe window in the north nave aisle depicts (1905) Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Edmund the Martyr and Saint Maurice in the upper part. The lower part of the windows shows Saint Martin at the gate of Amiens giving a beggar half his cloak, Saint Edmund choosing to die a martyr for his faith, and Saint Maurice and his companions in the Theban legion laying down their lives for their faith.
This window links self-sacrifice and martyrdom with the love of others and is in memory of members the North Staffordshire Regiment who fought in the Dongola Expedition (1896) and the South African War.
Although Kempe’s great South Window in the South Transept is undoubtedly his tour de force in the cathedral, his best-known window in the cathedral is probably the Hacket Window (1901) in the South Quire Aisle.
This window illustrates John Bishop Hacket’s restoration of Lichfield Cathedral in the 1660s, and it was commissioned in 1901 to celebrate the completion of the Victorian restoration of the cathedral.
The Hacket window is seen as one of Kempe’s most striking contributions to the cathedral. In graphic detail and in period costume it depicts Bishop Hacket and those working on its restoration after the Civil War. The text at the foot of the left-hand panel explains that the cathedral was ‘overthrown by violent and wicked hands’ and was almost in ruins when he was appointed bishop in 1661.
Kempe’s Hacket Window (1901) in the South Quire Aisle in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
03 December 2023
Daily prayers in Advent with
Leonard Cohen and USPG:
(1) 3 December 2023
‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near’ (Mark 13: 28) … figs on a fig tree in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
The countdown to Christmas begins officially in the Church today with Advent Sunday or the First Sunday of Advent (3 December 2023), the first day in a new Church Year.
The Sunday cycle of lectionary readings is divided into three years: A, B and C. Year B begins today, and for this year we are reading from Saint Mark’s Gospel and Chapter 6 of Saint John’s Gospel of John. These letters are read semi-continuously. Each Sunday, we pick up close to where we left off the Sunday before, though some passages are never read.
Later this morning, I hope to be present at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, and this evening I am singing with the choir in the Advent Carol Service at 6 pm.
But, before this day begins, I am taking time early this morning for prayer and reflection.
Throughout Advent this year, my reflections each day include a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. My Advent reflections are following this pattern:
1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
‘When the angels are panting / And scratching at the door to come in’ (Leonard Cohen) … Angel IV by Emily Young (2003), Paternoster Square, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 1, ‘Amen’:
The song ‘Amen’ is a track from Leonard Cohen’s album, Old Ideas (2012). He recorded an earlier version in 2007.
This song is a prayer in which the singer struggles to keep on believing that there is a loving God despite all the horrors on earth. Like so many of his songs and poems, it can also be heard as a lyrical song about a problematic relationship – the singer desperately trying to receive his lover’s attention and love.
In this eight or nine-minute confessional, a weary Leonard Cohen owns up to his sins and searches for redemption. ‘Tell me again when the angels are panting and scratching at the door to get in,’ he intones.
Throughout his life, Leonard Cohen drew on Jewish religious, cultural and historical imagery, most famously on ‘Hallelujah.’ Although he spent five years in seclusion in a Zen Buddhist centre, he remained an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath, refusing to give concerts on Friday nights and giving the priestly blessing of a kohen at the end of every concert.
The phrase ‘Eye of the Camp’ works together Biblical references to the ark in the midst of the camp passing through the ‘eye of a needle’ (Matthew 19: 24; Mark 10: 25), and to being ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ with the horrors and slaughters of the concentration camps and the Holocaust. In Christian terms, it is an Advent plea.
The Kabbalah of Rav Yitzhak Luria had a notably strong effect on Cohen. Jewish mysticism as found in Kabbalah teaches that God needs human beings, and that the very purpose of human existence is to fulfil this divine need. Everything we do has an effect, and every person and every human action has the potential to improve or damage God and the fabric of creation. The most concrete physical actions can have the most profound metaphysical effect. God and humanity are interdependent co-creators.
‘Amen’ has been described as his the most harrowing song he ever wrote. It is a deep moan to God, without sentimentality, laying out the worst of this world, begging maybe just to be able to believe that God will put all things to right, and to be aware of God’s love once again. It is a prayer for this age, and in the end it is a prayer for any age. As the album title says, these are ‘Old Ideas.’
Leonard Cohen, Amen:
Tell me again
When I’ve been to the river
And I’ve taken the edge off my thirst
Tell me again
We’re alone and I’m listening
I’m listening so hard that it hurts
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you want me then
Amen …
Tell me again
When the victims are singing
And the Laws of Remorse are restored
Tell me again
That you know what I’m thinking
But vengeance belongs to the Lord
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you love me then
Amen …
Tell me again
When the day has been ransomed
And the night has no right to begin
Try me again
When the angels are panting
And scratching at the door to come in
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you need me then
Amen …
Tell me again
When the filth of the butcher
Is washed in the blood of the lamb
Tell me again
When the rest of the culture
Has passed through the Eye of the Camp
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you love me then
Amen …
‘Then he will send out the angels’ (Mark 13: 26) … Angel I by Emily Young (2003), Paternoster Square, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Mark 13: 24-37 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 24 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 ‘Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’
‘When the day has been ransomed / And the night has no right to begin’ (Leonard Cohen) … ‘Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” …’ (Mark 13: 26) … evening lights on Minster Pool in Lichfield last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 3 December 2023, Adent I, Advent Sunday):
The theme this week in the new edition of ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Hope of Advent.’ This theme is introduced today:
This week we centre our thoughts on hope. It’s an opportunity to remember the hope God offers, through His Son Jesus, to our flawed and fractured world.
Read Galatians 4: 4-8.
Paul, the writer of Galatians, articulates so perfectly the great hope we celebrate at Christmas. Without God’s intervention, we were all bound and condemned by our sinful nature. However, through God’s great love for us, He came down and rescued humanity by sending His Son as a sacrifice for our sins – so we could be free from the chains that bind us and to have life eternal.
We have seen so many atrocities in 2023 – wars, terrorism, natural disasters, hunger, loss. It is far too easy to look around the world in which we live and see only despair and pain. This week we have an opportunity to remember the hope God has given us through his only son Jesus Christ.
On this first Sunday of Advent, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ arrival as a gift to all humanity, let’s stir up in our hearts and homes a sense of anticipation.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 December 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
O Come, thou dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine Advent here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death’s dark shadows put to flight.
(Based on the ancient Advent Antiphons).
The Collect:
Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
O Lord our God,
make us watchful and keep us faithful
as we await the coming of your Son our Lord;
that, when he shall appear,
he may not find us sleeping in sin
but active in his service
and joyful in his praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Almighty God,
as your kingdom dawns,
turn us from the darkness of sin
to the light of holiness,
that we may be ready to meet you
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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
Patrick Comerford
The countdown to Christmas begins officially in the Church today with Advent Sunday or the First Sunday of Advent (3 December 2023), the first day in a new Church Year.
The Sunday cycle of lectionary readings is divided into three years: A, B and C. Year B begins today, and for this year we are reading from Saint Mark’s Gospel and Chapter 6 of Saint John’s Gospel of John. These letters are read semi-continuously. Each Sunday, we pick up close to where we left off the Sunday before, though some passages are never read.
Later this morning, I hope to be present at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, and this evening I am singing with the choir in the Advent Carol Service at 6 pm.
But, before this day begins, I am taking time early this morning for prayer and reflection.
Throughout Advent this year, my reflections each day include a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. My Advent reflections are following this pattern:
1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
‘When the angels are panting / And scratching at the door to come in’ (Leonard Cohen) … Angel IV by Emily Young (2003), Paternoster Square, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 1, ‘Amen’:
The song ‘Amen’ is a track from Leonard Cohen’s album, Old Ideas (2012). He recorded an earlier version in 2007.
This song is a prayer in which the singer struggles to keep on believing that there is a loving God despite all the horrors on earth. Like so many of his songs and poems, it can also be heard as a lyrical song about a problematic relationship – the singer desperately trying to receive his lover’s attention and love.
In this eight or nine-minute confessional, a weary Leonard Cohen owns up to his sins and searches for redemption. ‘Tell me again when the angels are panting and scratching at the door to get in,’ he intones.
Throughout his life, Leonard Cohen drew on Jewish religious, cultural and historical imagery, most famously on ‘Hallelujah.’ Although he spent five years in seclusion in a Zen Buddhist centre, he remained an observant Jew who keeps the Sabbath, refusing to give concerts on Friday nights and giving the priestly blessing of a kohen at the end of every concert.
The phrase ‘Eye of the Camp’ works together Biblical references to the ark in the midst of the camp passing through the ‘eye of a needle’ (Matthew 19: 24; Mark 10: 25), and to being ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ with the horrors and slaughters of the concentration camps and the Holocaust. In Christian terms, it is an Advent plea.
The Kabbalah of Rav Yitzhak Luria had a notably strong effect on Cohen. Jewish mysticism as found in Kabbalah teaches that God needs human beings, and that the very purpose of human existence is to fulfil this divine need. Everything we do has an effect, and every person and every human action has the potential to improve or damage God and the fabric of creation. The most concrete physical actions can have the most profound metaphysical effect. God and humanity are interdependent co-creators.
‘Amen’ has been described as his the most harrowing song he ever wrote. It is a deep moan to God, without sentimentality, laying out the worst of this world, begging maybe just to be able to believe that God will put all things to right, and to be aware of God’s love once again. It is a prayer for this age, and in the end it is a prayer for any age. As the album title says, these are ‘Old Ideas.’
Leonard Cohen, Amen:
Tell me again
When I’ve been to the river
And I’ve taken the edge off my thirst
Tell me again
We’re alone and I’m listening
I’m listening so hard that it hurts
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you want me then
Amen …
Tell me again
When the victims are singing
And the Laws of Remorse are restored
Tell me again
That you know what I’m thinking
But vengeance belongs to the Lord
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you love me then
Amen …
Tell me again
When the day has been ransomed
And the night has no right to begin
Try me again
When the angels are panting
And scratching at the door to come in
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you need me then
Amen …
Tell me again
When the filth of the butcher
Is washed in the blood of the lamb
Tell me again
When the rest of the culture
Has passed through the Eye of the Camp
Tell me again
When I’m clean and I’m sober
Tell me again
When I’ve seen through the horror
Tell me again
Tell me over and over
Tell me that you love me then
Amen …
‘Then he will send out the angels’ (Mark 13: 26) … Angel I by Emily Young (2003), Paternoster Square, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Mark 13: 24-37 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 24 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 ‘Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’
‘When the day has been ransomed / And the night has no right to begin’ (Leonard Cohen) … ‘Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” …’ (Mark 13: 26) … evening lights on Minster Pool in Lichfield last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 3 December 2023, Adent I, Advent Sunday):
The theme this week in the new edition of ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Hope of Advent.’ This theme is introduced today:
This week we centre our thoughts on hope. It’s an opportunity to remember the hope God offers, through His Son Jesus, to our flawed and fractured world.
Read Galatians 4: 4-8.
Paul, the writer of Galatians, articulates so perfectly the great hope we celebrate at Christmas. Without God’s intervention, we were all bound and condemned by our sinful nature. However, through God’s great love for us, He came down and rescued humanity by sending His Son as a sacrifice for our sins – so we could be free from the chains that bind us and to have life eternal.
We have seen so many atrocities in 2023 – wars, terrorism, natural disasters, hunger, loss. It is far too easy to look around the world in which we live and see only despair and pain. This week we have an opportunity to remember the hope God has given us through his only son Jesus Christ.
On this first Sunday of Advent, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ arrival as a gift to all humanity, let’s stir up in our hearts and homes a sense of anticipation.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 December 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
O Come, thou dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine Advent here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death’s dark shadows put to flight.
(Based on the ancient Advent Antiphons).
The Collect:
Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
O Lord our God,
make us watchful and keep us faithful
as we await the coming of your Son our Lord;
that, when he shall appear,
he may not find us sleeping in sin
but active in his service
and joyful in his praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Almighty God,
as your kingdom dawns,
turn us from the darkness of sin
to the light of holiness,
that we may be ready to meet you
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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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