The Venetian harbour in Iraklion … the old Jewish quarter in Iraklion was beside the seafront and within the Venetian outer walls of Candia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
When I was in Crete a week or two ago, I went searching once again for the possible location of the Jewish community in Rethymnon, when it was a Venetian-rule city, and also recalled the story of the Capsali family, one of the principal, influential Jewish families in the mediaeval Rethymnon and Iraklion.
The records of the Jewish community in Crete, which extend from 1228 to 1583, show a remarkably stable elite of families with names such as Capsali, Casani and Delmedigo, who were dominant in Jewish life in Crete for five or six centuries.
An early Jewish community in Gortyn, on the south coast of Crete, is referred to in I Maccabees 15: 23, dating that community to ca 142 BCE, when Gortyn was the most prosperous city in Crete. Evidence for a Jewish community on Crete at that time is also seen in inscriptions from the third and second centuries BCE from an ancient synagogue on the island of Delos that honour two Jewish citizens of the Iraklion and Knossos areas on Crete.
After Constantinople was sacked in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, Crete became a Venetian colony, with Iraklion, also known as Candia, as the island’s capital. The Jewish population in Venetian-rule Crete grew significantly in the 14th and 15th centuries, boosted by the arrival of Sephardi Jews from the Iberian Peninsula following the expulsions in 1391, then with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and again after the Spanish expulsions in 1492.
These and other families were absorbed into the local Romaniote communities in Crete, with the adoption of the local language, culture and religious customs, along with intermarriage.
On 25 August Street, a pedestrianised street leading down to the harbour in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The old Jewish quarter in Iraklion was right beside the seafront and within the Venetian outer walls of ancient Candia. The perimeter of the area is delimited today by Sofokli Venizelou, Archiepiskopou Makariou, and Giamalki streets. At one time, there were four synagogues in the district. The synagogue on Giamalki street was still active at the start of World War II when it was bombed. The former Hotel Xenia was later built on its ruins.
Several Venetian houses in the area were inhabited by Jewish families, including the building housing the Historical Museum. Two sculptures in its heraldic collection depict two crowned lions with sabres, symbols of the Sephardic Saltiel and Franco families.
The family of Delmedigo (Del Medico) was one of the wealthiest and most learned Jewish families in Candia. The family is said to be of German descent. At the end of the 14th century, it is said, Judah Delmedigo, emigrated to Crete, where many of the Jewish residents were of German rather than Romaniote origin. However, recent research suggests the Delmedigo family was in Crete from the beginning of the 14th century, and some family genealogists say the story of German origins is ‘Ashkenazi myth-making.’
The forms of the surname include Delmedigo, Del Medico, Del Medigo, Del Medego and Della Medega. All are related to the medical profession practised by one of the family’s ancestors, perhaps even by several family members, a popular profession among Jews in mediaeval Europe.
The latest research traces the Delmedigo family back to Elia del Medico da Negroponte, who was living in Crete in the early 14th century. In the late Middle Ages, many members of the family adopted the additional surname Cretensis, indicating the family’s deep roots on the island of the Crete.
The remains of the Venetian bastion on the shoreline in Iráklion … the city was fortified by the Venetians with walls, gates, arsenal, bastion, and fortress (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Elia del Medico da Negroponte was the father of Jecuda or Jehuda Delmedigo de Candia who was living in Candia or Iraklion ca 1340. Other early members of the family included Abba ha-Zaḳen Delmedigo de Candia, Elkanah Delmedigo de Candia, Samuel Delmedigo de Candia and Samuel Menahem Delmedigo de Candia, who lived in Crete and Padua.
Jehuda Delmedigo de Candia was the father of three sons:
1, Abba ha-Zaḳen I Delmedigo.
2, Mejuhas, who had no children.
3, Shemariah Delmedigo Cretensis.
The youngest son, Shemariah Delmedigo Cretensis, wrote a philosophical work, Heber Ish we-Ishto, and many treatises. His descendants included Moses Delmedigo, a philosopher, Judah Delmedigo, a rabbi, and Rachel Delmedigo, who married Joseph Comtino of Constantinople.
The eldest son of Jehuda Delmedigo de Candia, Abba ha-Zaḳen I Delmedigo, built a synagogue at his own expense and was the father of three sons: Elijah, Moses and Elkanah. They were all Talmudists, and with other rabbis they defended ‘with flaming swords’ Moses Capsali, also from Crete, against the charges of Joseph Colon.
Elijah Delmedigo (1458-1493) was born in Iraklion … he is known mainly for his treatise ‘Beḥinat ha-Dat’
Elijah Delmedigo (1458-1493) was born in Iraklion and is one of the most representative Jewish philosophers of the Italian Renaissance. He is also known as Elia del Medigo or Elias ben Moise del Medigo and was sometimes known among his contemporaries as Helias Hebreus Cretensis or in Hebrew Elijah Mi-Qandia, indicating his birth in Candia. Delmedigo is known mainly for his short treatise Beḥinat ha-Dat (‘The Examination of Religion’), a philosophical-religious work that influenced Spinoza and others. In it he reinterpreted some of the key issues in Averroes’ Decisive Treatise in the light of Jewish context.
Delmedigo had a traditional Jewish religious upbringing in Candia. He studied rabbinic learning, philosophy, Italian, Greek, Latin and Hebrew.
He probably went to Padua with the original intention to study medicine. The university in Padua was also the most important centre for traditional Aristotelian philosophy in Italy.
The entrance to the Italian Synagogue on Via San Martino e Solferino in Padua … Elijah Delmedigo studied in Padua (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
By 1480, Delmedigo was in Venice, where he wrote Quaestio utrum mundus sit effectus. There he supported himself by teaching Aristotelian philosophy to the sons of wealthy and influential families. He moved to Perugia, where he taught classes ‘radical Aristotelianism’, heavily interpreted with the ideas of Averroes and Islamic commentators.
In Perugia, Delmedigo met Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. For five years, from 1481 to 1486, Delmedigo was one of Pico’s Jewish associates and was involved in Pico’s work in Aristotelian and Averroistic philosophy. He also translated manuscripts from Hebrew into Latin for Pico in Florence.
Delmedigo saw himself as a follower of Maimonides. But, according to many scholars, he was a follower of Averroes, even in his more radical ideas such as the unity of intellect, eternity of the world, autonomy of reason from the boundaries of revealed religion, and he is remembered for a number of translations and commentaries on Averroes.
Delmedigo influenced many Italian Platonists of the early Renaissance. His students included the Venetian theologian Cardinal Domenico Grimani (1461-1523), who encouraged Delmedigo to write several manuscripts that were read widely among Italian philosophers.
Delmedigo was no Kabbalist, and he became increasingly disenchanted with the syncretic direction Pico and his colleagues were taking, and their tendency to combine concepts of magic, hermeticism and Kabbalah with Plato and Neoplatonism. Delmedigo was discredited himself by the backlash following Pico’s imprisonment and the Vatican interdict on his ‘900 Theses’.
There were further tensions between Delmedigo and the Italian Jewish community over his secular intellectual interests and his associations with gentile scholars. He suffered financial difficulties when Pico lost favour.
Delmedigo decided to leave Italy and return to Crete, and he spent the rest of his life in Iraklion. Back in Crete, he returned to Jewish thought, writing the Sefer Bechinat Ha-dath, in which he clarified his disagreement with the magical and Kabbalistic theories that inspired Pico. He expounded his belief that a human being cannot aspire to become a god, and that Judaism requires that a man must ‘fight for rationality, sobriety and the realization of [his] human limitations.’
Delmedigo argued against the antiquity of the Kabbalah, noting that it was not known to the sages of the Talmud, to the geonim, or to Rashi. He also denies that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the author of the Zohar, and attacks esoteric allegorists among Jewish philosophers. Delmedigo also discusses the intellectual reasoning underlying the commandments of Torah (ta’amei ha-mitzvot).
Elijah Delmedigo died in Iraklion in 1493. His treatise on Jewish philosophy, Sefer Beḥinat ha-Dat (‘The Examination of Religion’), was published many years after his death, in 1629.
Behinat ha-Dat by Elijah Ben Moses Abba Delmedigo (Vienna, 1833)
Elijah Delmedigo’s brother Elkanah Delmedigo, was the father of Samuel Delmedigo, also a rabbi. He in turn was the father of a posthumous son Samuel Menahem, who was a physician, the teacher of philosophy, and the head of a yeshivah in Padua. When he was captured as a prisoner of war, he was ransomed by his fellow Jews in Crete and was recalled to Iraklion (Candia) as rabbi.
His son, Abba (II) Delmedigo, was the father of Eliezer Delmedigo, who presided over a Talmudic school for many years, and was a zealous opponent of the Kabbalah.
He, in turn, was the father of Elijah Delmedigo was also a Talmudist and was his father’s successor as rabbi in Iraklion. He married his distant cousin Casta, a daughter of Joseph Comtino of Constantinople, and they were the parents of Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (1591-1655), the most illustrious member of the family. He was a famous rabbi, philosopher, author, physician, mathematician and music theorist – and also a staunch defender of the Kabbalah.
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo was the author of the important Hebrew scientific book, the Sepher Elim, published in Amsterdam in 1628-1629
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (or Del Medigo), or Yosef Shlomo Rofe Delmedigo, could be called a true ‘Renaissance rabbi.’ He was also known as Yashar Mi-Qandia (יש"ר מקנדיא), and was born in Candia or Iraklion on 16 June 1591. He moved to Padua, where he studied medicine and attended lectures by Galileo Galilei in the academic year 1609-1610, when he had the rare privilege of using Galileo’s own telescope.
He later refers to Galilei as ‘rabbi Galileo,’ an ambiguous phrase that may simply mean ‘my master, Galileo’, as he never calls him ‘our teacher and master, Rabbi Galileo,’ then the typical way of referring to an actual rabbi. Elijah Montalto, physician of Maria de Medici, is also mentioned as one of his teachers.
After graduating in 1613, he moved to Venice and spent a year working with Leon de Modena and Simone Luzzatto.
From Venice, Delmedigo returned to Iraklion, and from there he started travelling in the Middle East, visiting Alexandria, Cairo and Istanbul, where he observed the comet of 1619. From Istanbul, he wandered among the Karaite communities in Eastern Europe, before arriving at Amsterdam in 1623.
Wherever he lived, he earned his living as a physician or as a teacher. His only known works are Elim (Palms), dealing with mathematics, astronomy, the natural sciences, and metaphysics, as well as some letters and essays.
Elim, published by Menasseh ben Israel in Amsterdam in 1629, is written in Hebrew in response to 12 general and 70 specific religious and scientific questions sent to Delmedigo by a Karaite Jew, Zerach ben Natan from Troki in Lithuania. The format of the book is taken from the number of fountains and palm trees at Elim in the Sinai Peninsula (see Numbers 33: 9), There were 12 fountains and 70 palm trees at Elim, so Delmedigo divided his book into 12 major problems and 70 minor problems. The subjects discussed include astronomy, physics, mathematics, medicine, and music theory.
Delmedigo argued that Jews did not take part in the Scientific Revolution because of Ashkenazi exclusive intellectual interest in the Talmud, and called on Jews to reclaim their prominence in philosophy and to incorporate into the non-Jewish surrounding through the exploration of natural sciences.
He also wrote a defence of the Kabbalah, Matzreif LaChachma (מצרף לחכמה), countering the attack on Kabbalah by his great-grandfather Eliyahu Delmedigo.
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo finally settled in Prague, where he died on 16 October 1655. His two daughters were born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and his surviving daughter Sarah married the physician Solomon Bing, and after his death (1680) Isai Oppenheim, who died in 1691. Some of Delmedigo’s descendants settled in Belarus, and assumed the surname Gorodinsky, after the town of Gorodin.
Looking across Iraklion towards the sea … at one time, there were four synagogues in the Jewish district (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Shabbat Shalom
03 May 2024
Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024:
26, 3 June 2024
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was once the most important and controversial Anglo-Catholic church in Birmingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
The week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (2 June 2024) yesterday, the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated was celebrated in many parishes, including Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
StonyLive, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began on Saturday and continues until next Sunday (9 June). A variety of cultural activities continues in venues around Stony Stratford this week, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a lunchtime organ recital in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church today (3 June 2024).
The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers The Martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887 and 1977). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, between Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Mark 12: 1-12 (NRSVUE):
1 Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. 2 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5 Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”
12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was designed by Francis Goodwin and modelled on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, Birmingham:
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is a Grade II listed former Church of England parish church, about 2 km south-east of Birmingham city centre. But the church is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, isolated in a virtual traffic island between two roundabouts, Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus, on the Middleway ring road.
Holy Trinity Church was consecrated and opened in 1823, and it was once at the centre of the most important Anglo-Catholic controversies in Birmingham that led to its Irish-born vicar, the Revd Richard Enraght, being jailed and dismissed.
Historically, Bordesley was part of the parish and union of Aston, on the edges of Birmingham. The hamlet was originally small, with only a few scattered dwelling-houses, such as Stratford Place, still standing at Camp Hill, and the Old Crown in Digbeth, which claims to be the oldest pub in Birmingham.
Holy Trinity Church is an example of a Commissioners’ church. It was built between 1820 and 1822 by the architect Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) in the decorated perpendicular gothic style. Goodwin’s later works include Lissadell House, Co Sligo, designed for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, and the gatehouse at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo.
Goodwin is said to have modelled Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The church was consecrated on 23 January 1823 by the Bishop of Lichfield, James Cornwallis. A parish was assigned out of the parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Aston. At first, the living was in the gift of the Vicar of Aston, and was called a vicarage from 1872. The patronage was transferred to the Aston Trustees in 1884.
The church was built on a conventional rectangular plan with shallow canted apse, faced in Bath stone that is enlivened by spirelet pinnacled buttresses diving the windows and with octagonal pinnacled turrets holding the corners. A larger pair flank the effectively recessed full height entrance bay under the parapeted gable.
The soffit has a pattern of ribs over the large decorated west window, and the tracery is of cast iron. The porch proper is shallow and contained within the recess, a tripartite composition with an ogee arch to the central doorway with an ornate finial.
The east end above the apse has a cast iron tracery rose. It is said the coved ceiling still partially remains, but the interior decoration, which was of a high standard for its time, has been stripped and a floor inserted.
Holy Trinity Church played an important in the history of the High Church or Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England in the 19th century.
The Revd Samuel Crane, who was the first vicar in 1823-1841, was succeeded by the Revd Dr Joseph Oldknow, who is often regarded as Birmingham’s first Anglo-Catholic or ‘ritualist’ priest.
Oldknow was succeeded in 1874 by the Revd Richard William Enraght, whose trials and tribulations came to a head in the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ were first brought to my attention in 2016 by a friend at Lichfield Cathedral, Stephen Wright.
The Revd Richard William Enraght (1837-1898) was an Irish-born Anglican priest and one of the Anglo-Catholic priests who were prosecuted and jailed in the 19th century for their ritualism. He was born on 23 February 1837 at Moneymore, Co Derry, where his father, the Revd Matthew Enraght (1805-1882), was the Curate of Saint John’s, Desertlynn.
Matthew Enraght was born in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, where I was the priest-in-charge for five years (2017-2022). When Matthew later moved to England, Richard remained in Ireland and in 1860, at the age of 23, he graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin. He then moved to England, and in 1861 he was ordained deacon in Gloucester Cathedral by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.
Richard Enraght became Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, in 1874. He introduced weekday celebrations of the Eucharist. His practices at Holy Trinity included the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, candles on the altar, wearing a chasuble and alb, using wafers at the Eucharist, mixing water with the wine, making the sign of the Cross, bowing during the Gloria, and allowing the choir to sing the Agnus Dei.
The ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ resulted in Enraght’s conviction on 9 August 1879 on 16 counts. He spent that Christmas in prison and was released after 49 days. Bishop Philpott revoked Enraght’s licence in March 1883 and appointed the Revd Alan H Watts to the parish, against the wishes of the congregation.
The church was closed in 1968. There were plans to demolish the church in the 1970s and proposals to convert the building into an arts centre, but these never came to fruition. Instead, the church was used for some years as a shelter for homeless people until about 1999.
There were plans to retore the building for church and community use as the Birmingham Trinity Centre, a conference and wedding venue and the meeting place of All Nations’ Church, Birmingham. The church was marketed for a residential conversion in 2014, but it remains empty today.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was at the centre of the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ in 1879 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 June 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 ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 June 2024) invites us to pray:
Lord, bring inspiration to those who take time to share your peace and mercy to others around them. Help them to use words of welcome and grace as they serve others through evangelism.
The Collect:
O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was closed in 1968 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The world map in new edition of the USPG Prayer Diary ‘Pray With the World Church’ from 2 June 2024 to 30 November 2024
Patrick Comerford
The week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (2 June 2024) yesterday, the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated was celebrated in many parishes, including Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
StonyLive, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began on Saturday and continues until next Sunday (9 June). A variety of cultural activities continues in venues around Stony Stratford this week, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a lunchtime organ recital in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church today (3 June 2024).
The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers The Martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887 and 1977). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, between Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Mark 12: 1-12 (NRSVUE):
1 Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. 2 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5 Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”
12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was designed by Francis Goodwin and modelled on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, Birmingham:
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is a Grade II listed former Church of England parish church, about 2 km south-east of Birmingham city centre. But the church is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, isolated in a virtual traffic island between two roundabouts, Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus, on the Middleway ring road.
Holy Trinity Church was consecrated and opened in 1823, and it was once at the centre of the most important Anglo-Catholic controversies in Birmingham that led to its Irish-born vicar, the Revd Richard Enraght, being jailed and dismissed.
Historically, Bordesley was part of the parish and union of Aston, on the edges of Birmingham. The hamlet was originally small, with only a few scattered dwelling-houses, such as Stratford Place, still standing at Camp Hill, and the Old Crown in Digbeth, which claims to be the oldest pub in Birmingham.
Holy Trinity Church is an example of a Commissioners’ church. It was built between 1820 and 1822 by the architect Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) in the decorated perpendicular gothic style. Goodwin’s later works include Lissadell House, Co Sligo, designed for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, and the gatehouse at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo.
Goodwin is said to have modelled Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The church was consecrated on 23 January 1823 by the Bishop of Lichfield, James Cornwallis. A parish was assigned out of the parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Aston. At first, the living was in the gift of the Vicar of Aston, and was called a vicarage from 1872. The patronage was transferred to the Aston Trustees in 1884.
The church was built on a conventional rectangular plan with shallow canted apse, faced in Bath stone that is enlivened by spirelet pinnacled buttresses diving the windows and with octagonal pinnacled turrets holding the corners. A larger pair flank the effectively recessed full height entrance bay under the parapeted gable.
The soffit has a pattern of ribs over the large decorated west window, and the tracery is of cast iron. The porch proper is shallow and contained within the recess, a tripartite composition with an ogee arch to the central doorway with an ornate finial.
The east end above the apse has a cast iron tracery rose. It is said the coved ceiling still partially remains, but the interior decoration, which was of a high standard for its time, has been stripped and a floor inserted.
Holy Trinity Church played an important in the history of the High Church or Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England in the 19th century.
The Revd Samuel Crane, who was the first vicar in 1823-1841, was succeeded by the Revd Dr Joseph Oldknow, who is often regarded as Birmingham’s first Anglo-Catholic or ‘ritualist’ priest.
Oldknow was succeeded in 1874 by the Revd Richard William Enraght, whose trials and tribulations came to a head in the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ were first brought to my attention in 2016 by a friend at Lichfield Cathedral, Stephen Wright.
The Revd Richard William Enraght (1837-1898) was an Irish-born Anglican priest and one of the Anglo-Catholic priests who were prosecuted and jailed in the 19th century for their ritualism. He was born on 23 February 1837 at Moneymore, Co Derry, where his father, the Revd Matthew Enraght (1805-1882), was the Curate of Saint John’s, Desertlynn.
Matthew Enraght was born in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, where I was the priest-in-charge for five years (2017-2022). When Matthew later moved to England, Richard remained in Ireland and in 1860, at the age of 23, he graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin. He then moved to England, and in 1861 he was ordained deacon in Gloucester Cathedral by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.
Richard Enraght became Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, in 1874. He introduced weekday celebrations of the Eucharist. His practices at Holy Trinity included the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, candles on the altar, wearing a chasuble and alb, using wafers at the Eucharist, mixing water with the wine, making the sign of the Cross, bowing during the Gloria, and allowing the choir to sing the Agnus Dei.
The ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ resulted in Enraght’s conviction on 9 August 1879 on 16 counts. He spent that Christmas in prison and was released after 49 days. Bishop Philpott revoked Enraght’s licence in March 1883 and appointed the Revd Alan H Watts to the parish, against the wishes of the congregation.
The church was closed in 1968. There were plans to demolish the church in the 1970s and proposals to convert the building into an arts centre, but these never came to fruition. Instead, the church was used for some years as a shelter for homeless people until about 1999.
There were plans to retore the building for church and community use as the Birmingham Trinity Centre, a conference and wedding venue and the meeting place of All Nations’ Church, Birmingham. The church was marketed for a residential conversion in 2014, but it remains empty today.
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was at the centre of the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ in 1879 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 June 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 ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 June 2024) invites us to pray:
Lord, bring inspiration to those who take time to share your peace and mercy to others around them. Help them to use words of welcome and grace as they serve others through evangelism.
The Collect:
O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was closed in 1968 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The world map in new edition of the USPG Prayer Diary ‘Pray With the World Church’ from 2 June 2024 to 30 November 2024
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Daily prayer in Easter 2024:
34, 3 May 2024
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (John 15: 12) … graffiti or street art in a laneway off Radcliffe Street in Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost (19 May 2024). The week began with the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V). This remains the Season of Great Lent in Greece, where this is Holy Week in the calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church, where today is Great and Good Friday.
Throughout this Season of Easter, my morning reflections each day include the daily Gospel reading, the prayer in the USPG prayer diary, and the prayers in the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the day.
I was at the Service of the Holy Passion (the Twelve Gospels) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford last night, where I received a very warm wlecoome, and then stayed awake for much of the night, watching the local election results on BBC. I have a medical appointment early this morning, and then plan to return for some of the Great and Good Friday services (the Royak Hours) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford.
But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
‘God is Love, God is Light, God is With Us’ … thoughts in Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 15: 12-17 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’
Today is World Press Freedom Day (USPG Prayer Diary) … newspapers at a kiosk in Rethymnon last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 3 May 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 ‘The Sacred Circle.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update adapted from the Autumn edition of Revive magazine.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 May 2024, World Press Freedom Day) invites us to pray:
We pray for journalists and all who work in the media. May we work to protect press freedom across the world.
Tolling the bell at the Church of Panagia Chalkeon in Thessaloniki on Great and Good Friday … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
The procession of the Epitaphios at the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
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
Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost (19 May 2024). The week began with the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V). This remains the Season of Great Lent in Greece, where this is Holy Week in the calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church, where today is Great and Good Friday.
Throughout this Season of Easter, my morning reflections each day include the daily Gospel reading, the prayer in the USPG prayer diary, and the prayers in the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the day.
I was at the Service of the Holy Passion (the Twelve Gospels) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford last night, where I received a very warm wlecoome, and then stayed awake for much of the night, watching the local election results on BBC. I have a medical appointment early this morning, and then plan to return for some of the Great and Good Friday services (the Royak Hours) in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford.
But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
‘God is Love, God is Light, God is With Us’ … thoughts in Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 15: 12-17 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’
Today is World Press Freedom Day (USPG Prayer Diary) … newspapers at a kiosk in Rethymnon last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 3 May 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 ‘The Sacred Circle.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update adapted from the Autumn edition of Revive magazine.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 May 2024, World Press Freedom Day) invites us to pray:
We pray for journalists and all who work in the media. May we work to protect press freedom across the world.
Tolling the bell at the Church of Panagia Chalkeon in Thessaloniki on Great and Good Friday … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
The procession of the Epitaphios at the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon … today is Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Calendar (Patrick Comerford)
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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