CE Kempe’s window in the south choir aisle in Lichfield commemorates Archdeacon Melville Horne Scott (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907) was best known in the late Victorian period for his stained-glass windows, many of which can be seen in Lichfield Cathedral.
The Cambridge Church Historian Owen Chadwick 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. Kempe is a generation later than Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who was engaged in restoring Lichfield Cathedral from 1855 to 1877.
Scott’s restoration of the cathedral is hard to imagine today without the additional contributions of Kempe to Lichfield Cathedral, which include the Lady Chapel altar and carved wooden reredos (1895). Kempe designed half the windows in the cathedral, including: the Bishop Hacket Window (1901) in the South Choir Aisle, celebrating the completion of the Victorian restoration; the Barnabas Window (1898); Saint Stephen preaching to the Sanhedrin (1895); Saint Peter and Saint John healing (1894/1895); King David training the musicians (1890); ‘Self-Sacrifice’ in Saint Michael’s Chapel (1904); the imposing South Transept window, ‘The Spread of the Christian Church’ (1895); other windows depicting saints; the windows in the Chapel of Saint Chad’s Head; and some of the windows in the Chapter House.
It was not until one of my visits to Lichfield Cathedral shortly before Christmas that I realised the Saint Barnabas Window is Kempe’s tribute to a brother of the architect Scott, Archdeacon Melville Horne Scott (1827-1898), who was involved in the life of the cathedral for more 20 years.
The Saint Barnabas window in the south choir aisle in Lichfield Cathedral is part of a sequence of very finely detailed windows Kempe produced for the cathedral. The window is dated 1898 and was probably made by Kempe in 1899.
The three light window depicts Saint Barnabas and others, endowed by the Holy Spirit with the gifts of mutual love and charity bringing money to lay it at the feet of the Apostles (see Acts 4: 32-37).
An inscription in the bottom left corner explains: ‘Here St Barnabas, the Son of Consolation, and many others, endued by the Holy Spirit with mutual love and charity, having sold lands brings the money and lays it at the Apostles feet.’
The main inscription reads: ‘Giving thanks to God for the honoured memory of Melville Horne Scott, Archdeacon of Stafford and Canon Residentiary of this Cathedral who entered into rest June 2 1898; friends who loved and honoured him have dedicated this window.’
Kempe’s detailed scene from the life of Saint Barnabas in the Scott window in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
The Ven Melville Horne Scott (1827-1898) was Archdeacon of Stafford from 1888 until he died in 1898. Archdeacon Scott came from a prominent church family: his grandfather was the preacher and publisher of Biblical commentaries, the Revd Thomas Scott (1747-1821); his father, also the Revd Thomas Scott (1780-1835), was also a prominent priest in the Church of England; and his eldest brother was the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Archdeacon Scott was one of 13 children: his father, the Revd Thomas Scott (1780-1835), who had been the curate of Emberton, Buckinghamshire (1805-1806), minister of Gawcott Chapel, Buckinghamshire (1806-1833) and Rector of of Wappenham, Northamptonshire (1833-1835). An older brother was the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878).
Melville Horne Scott was born on 4 February 1827 in Gawcott, Buckinghamshire, where his father was in ministry in 1806-1833. He went to school in Wappenham, Northamptonshire, where his father served briefly as rector, and Christ’s Hospital, London, before entering Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
He graduated with a BA from Cambridge in 1850 (MA 1878), and was ordained deacon (1950) and priest (1851) by John Lonsdale, Bishop of Lichfield. He spent 22 years in Ockbrook, Derbyshire, first as a curate (1850-1852) and then as vicar, before becoming Vicar of Saint Andrew’s, Litchurch, Derby (1872-1878). Saint Andrew’s, which has since been demolished, was designed by Scott’s brother, Sir George Gilbert Scott, and was built in 1864-1866.
Sir Gilbert Scott completed his extensive restoration of the ornate West Front of Lichfield Cathedral in 1878 and died on 27 March 1878. That year, his brother Melville Scott was appointed a prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral, and he moved to Lichfield in 1878, when he became Vicar of Saint Mary’s in the Market Square in succession to Canon John Gylby Lonsdale (1818-1907), who was vicar in 1866-1878.
Archdeacon Scott was appointed chaplain to William Maclagan, Bishop of Lichfield, in 1885, and became Archdeacon of Stafford in 1888. When Scott retired as Vicar of Saint Mary’s, Lichfield, and as a prebendary in 1894, he remained Archdeacon of Stafford and was appointed a residentiary canon of Lichfield Cathedral.
He remained at the cathedral until he died on 3 June 1898, at the Close, Lichfield. In all he had spent 20 years in ministry in Lichfield Cathedral; he is buried in the Cathedral Close.
Archdeacon Scott married Mary Hey in Saint Olave’s Church, York, on 19 October 1852. Their children included Canon Melville Scott (1860-1929), who had been his curate at Saint Mary’s, Lichfield, in 1888-1894. Canon Scott was also educated at Cambridge (BA 1884, MA 1888, BD 1910), and had a DD from Trinity College Dublin.
Canon Scott spent most of his ministry as Vicar of Castlechurch, Stafford (1894-1929), and was also Rural Dean of Stafford and a Prebendary of Lichfield (1917). His work on the Hebrew text of the Old Testament earned him a doctorate in theology at Strasburg University. He edited his father memoirs, The Force of Love and also published liturgical and Biblical translations in Chinese and Japanese.
Angels in the top parts of the Archdeacon Scott window in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
10 January 2024
Daily prayers during
Christmas and Epiphany:
17, 10 January 2024
The ruins of the Byzantine basilica in Thyatira … the church in Thyatira is addressed in the fourth of seven letters in the Book of Revelation (Photograph: Klaus-Peter Simon/Wikipedia )
Patrick Comerford
The celebrations of Epiphany-tide continue today (10 January 2023). The week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (7 January 2024).
Christmas is a season that lasts for 40 days that continues from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship also remembers William Laud (1645), Archbishop of Canterbury.
Now that I have recovered from last week’s bout of Covid-19, I hope to attend a meeting in Saint Mary’s Church, Shenley Church End, at lunchtime, and to take part in a choir rehearsal in Stony Stratford this evening. But, before the day begins, I am taking some time this morning for reading, reflection and prayer.
My reflections each morning during the seven days of this week include:
1, A reflection on one of the seven churches named in Revelation 2-3 as one of the recipients of letters from Saint John on Patmos;
2, the Gospel reading of the day;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
A mound with the ruins of Thyatira, the least-known and least-important of the seven Churches of Asia
The Churches of the Book of Revelation: 4, Thyatira:
Thyatira is one of the seven churches in Asia Minor to receive a letter from Saint John as he describes his revelation on Patmos: Ephesus (Revelation 2: 1-7), Smyrna (Revelation 2: 8-11), Pergamum (Revelation 2: 12-17), Thyatira (Revelation 2: 18-29), Sardis (Revelation 3: 1-6), Philadelphia (Revelation 3: 7-13) and Laodicea (Revelation 3: 14-22).
The fourth letter in these chapters is addressed to the Church in Thyatira (Revelation 2: 18-29), which is known for its love, faith, service, and patient endurance, but which also tolerates the teachings of a beguiling and prophet who refuses to repent (2: 20).
The letter to the Church in Thyateira or Thyatira (Θυάτειρα) is the longest of the seven letters, although the city was the least-known and least-important of the seven cities. But Thyatira was materially the most insignificant city among the seven churches addressed in Chapters 2 and 3.
Thyatira, a Lydian city dating back to the seventh century BCE, was a stronghold for Hellenistic Pergamum. The ancient Greek names for the city were Pelopia (Πελόπεια) and Semiramis (Σεμίραμις).
Thyatria was known for its trade guilds, including bakers, potters, slave-dealers, bronze-smiths, wool workers, linen weavers and tanners. These guilds sponsored periodic feasts in honour of their own adopted idols, and these rituals excluded Christians from the guilds and trades.
During the Roman era (first century CE), Thyatira was known for its dyeing facilities and was a centre of the purple cloth trade. Lydia, one of Saint Paul’s converts, was a rich woman who traded in purple cloth from Thyatira (see Acts 16: 11-16).
The city fell to the Goths and later to the Arab invaders, but enjoyed a brief revival under the Byzantine rule of the Laskaris dyasty.
The Greek-speaking Orthodox population of Thyatira was expelled in 1922 during the ‘Asia Minor catastrophe’ with its bloody massacres and ‘population exchanges.’ Today, the Turkish city of Akhisar occupies the site of Thyatira.
The Church of Thyatira survives today in so far as the title of Archbishop of Thyateira was revived in 1922 by the Patriarch of Constantinople for the Exarch for Western and Central Europe. Archbishop Nkitas (Loulias) of Thyateira lives in London and has pastoral responsibility for the Greek Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland.
Verse 18:
Christ is introduced to the Church of Thyatira as the Son of God, the only occasion on which this title is used in the Book of Revelation. He has eyes like a flame of fire (see 1: 14) and feet like burnished bronze (see 1: 15), the second image particularly appropriate in a city where the bronze-makers were a powerful economic force.
Verse 19:
The Christians of Thyatira are commended for their love, faith, service and patient endurance. Love is the crowning virtue at the head of this list; faith is also alive; service is the diakonia of servant ministry.
Verse 20:
However, there is one major problem in the Church there. Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab, worshipped Balaam, ate food offered to idols, and indulged in sexual immorality (see I Kings 16: 31, 19-19; II Kings 9). This links the problems in Thyatira with those in Pergamum.
The woman singled out for condemnation may have been a priestess of the sibylline oracle, one of the female seers of the cult of Apollo, who claimed to prophesy in states of ecstasy. They were consulted not only by pagans but by some Jews too, and some Christians may have been consulting this woman too, or she may have been allowed to attend the Church in Thyatira.
The warning to the Church in Thyatira is direct and to the point.
Verse 26:
If the Christians of Thyatira can put all this behind them, then those who conquer will be given power to rule over the nations, which is symbolic of being in the Kingdom of God, which is possible to attain in this world.
Verse 28:
The image of the morning star or the planet Venus may refer to Christ. The rabbis interpreted the text in Numbers 24: 17, ‘a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel,’ as applying to the Messiah. Christ is the messianic herald of the new world that is dawning.
As with all seven churches, the church in Thyatira is called on to hear the message: ‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches’ (Revelation 2: 29).
The ruins of ancient Thyatira (Photograph: Akkinvet/Wikipedia)
Mark 1: 29-39 (NRSVA):
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ 38 He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
‘That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons’ (Mark 1: 32) … a winter sunset on Minister Pool, below Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 10 January 2024):
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: ‘Whom Shall I Send’ – Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Davidson Solanki, USPG Regional Manager, Asia and the Middle East.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (10 January 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray for the people of the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East as they face uncertainty and unrest in their country. Lord, bring peace and stability.
The Collect:
Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father
in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son:
by the power of your Spirit
complete the heavenly work of our rebirth
through the waters of the new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Yesterday’s reflection (Pergamum)
Continued tomorrow (Sardis)
With the Revd Dr Alan McCormack (then Dean of Residence, Trinity College Dublin), and Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira (then Archbishop of Hong Kong) at a conference in Rome in 2005
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 celebrations of Epiphany-tide continue today (10 January 2023). The week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (7 January 2024).
Christmas is a season that lasts for 40 days that continues from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship also remembers William Laud (1645), Archbishop of Canterbury.
Now that I have recovered from last week’s bout of Covid-19, I hope to attend a meeting in Saint Mary’s Church, Shenley Church End, at lunchtime, and to take part in a choir rehearsal in Stony Stratford this evening. But, before the day begins, I am taking some time this morning for reading, reflection and prayer.
My reflections each morning during the seven days of this week include:
1, A reflection on one of the seven churches named in Revelation 2-3 as one of the recipients of letters from Saint John on Patmos;
2, the Gospel reading of the day;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
A mound with the ruins of Thyatira, the least-known and least-important of the seven Churches of Asia
The Churches of the Book of Revelation: 4, Thyatira:
Thyatira is one of the seven churches in Asia Minor to receive a letter from Saint John as he describes his revelation on Patmos: Ephesus (Revelation 2: 1-7), Smyrna (Revelation 2: 8-11), Pergamum (Revelation 2: 12-17), Thyatira (Revelation 2: 18-29), Sardis (Revelation 3: 1-6), Philadelphia (Revelation 3: 7-13) and Laodicea (Revelation 3: 14-22).
The fourth letter in these chapters is addressed to the Church in Thyatira (Revelation 2: 18-29), which is known for its love, faith, service, and patient endurance, but which also tolerates the teachings of a beguiling and prophet who refuses to repent (2: 20).
The letter to the Church in Thyateira or Thyatira (Θυάτειρα) is the longest of the seven letters, although the city was the least-known and least-important of the seven cities. But Thyatira was materially the most insignificant city among the seven churches addressed in Chapters 2 and 3.
Thyatira, a Lydian city dating back to the seventh century BCE, was a stronghold for Hellenistic Pergamum. The ancient Greek names for the city were Pelopia (Πελόπεια) and Semiramis (Σεμίραμις).
Thyatria was known for its trade guilds, including bakers, potters, slave-dealers, bronze-smiths, wool workers, linen weavers and tanners. These guilds sponsored periodic feasts in honour of their own adopted idols, and these rituals excluded Christians from the guilds and trades.
During the Roman era (first century CE), Thyatira was known for its dyeing facilities and was a centre of the purple cloth trade. Lydia, one of Saint Paul’s converts, was a rich woman who traded in purple cloth from Thyatira (see Acts 16: 11-16).
The city fell to the Goths and later to the Arab invaders, but enjoyed a brief revival under the Byzantine rule of the Laskaris dyasty.
The Greek-speaking Orthodox population of Thyatira was expelled in 1922 during the ‘Asia Minor catastrophe’ with its bloody massacres and ‘population exchanges.’ Today, the Turkish city of Akhisar occupies the site of Thyatira.
The Church of Thyatira survives today in so far as the title of Archbishop of Thyateira was revived in 1922 by the Patriarch of Constantinople for the Exarch for Western and Central Europe. Archbishop Nkitas (Loulias) of Thyateira lives in London and has pastoral responsibility for the Greek Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland.
Verse 18:
Christ is introduced to the Church of Thyatira as the Son of God, the only occasion on which this title is used in the Book of Revelation. He has eyes like a flame of fire (see 1: 14) and feet like burnished bronze (see 1: 15), the second image particularly appropriate in a city where the bronze-makers were a powerful economic force.
Verse 19:
The Christians of Thyatira are commended for their love, faith, service and patient endurance. Love is the crowning virtue at the head of this list; faith is also alive; service is the diakonia of servant ministry.
Verse 20:
However, there is one major problem in the Church there. Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab, worshipped Balaam, ate food offered to idols, and indulged in sexual immorality (see I Kings 16: 31, 19-19; II Kings 9). This links the problems in Thyatira with those in Pergamum.
The woman singled out for condemnation may have been a priestess of the sibylline oracle, one of the female seers of the cult of Apollo, who claimed to prophesy in states of ecstasy. They were consulted not only by pagans but by some Jews too, and some Christians may have been consulting this woman too, or she may have been allowed to attend the Church in Thyatira.
The warning to the Church in Thyatira is direct and to the point.
Verse 26:
If the Christians of Thyatira can put all this behind them, then those who conquer will be given power to rule over the nations, which is symbolic of being in the Kingdom of God, which is possible to attain in this world.
Verse 28:
The image of the morning star or the planet Venus may refer to Christ. The rabbis interpreted the text in Numbers 24: 17, ‘a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel,’ as applying to the Messiah. Christ is the messianic herald of the new world that is dawning.
As with all seven churches, the church in Thyatira is called on to hear the message: ‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches’ (Revelation 2: 29).
The ruins of ancient Thyatira (Photograph: Akkinvet/Wikipedia)
Mark 1: 29-39 (NRSVA):
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ 38 He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
‘That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons’ (Mark 1: 32) … a winter sunset on Minister Pool, below Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 10 January 2024):
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: ‘Whom Shall I Send’ – Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Davidson Solanki, USPG Regional Manager, Asia and the Middle East.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (10 January 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray for the people of the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East as they face uncertainty and unrest in their country. Lord, bring peace and stability.
The Collect:
Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father
in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son:
by the power of your Spirit
complete the heavenly work of our rebirth
through the waters of the new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Yesterday’s reflection (Pergamum)
Continued tomorrow (Sardis)
With the Revd Dr Alan McCormack (then Dean of Residence, Trinity College Dublin), and Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira (then Archbishop of Hong Kong) at a conference in Rome in 2005
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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