Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 45, Tuesday 19 May 2026

‘Father … glorify your Son’ (John 17: 1) … a modern icon in the Monastery of Varlaam in Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing through Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday next Sunday (24 May 2026). This week began with the Seventh Sunday of Easter (Easter VII, 17 May 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, Restorer of Monastic Life, 988.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘For the words that you gave to me I have given to them’ (John 17: 7) … Christ as the Great High Priest with an open Bible … an icon in the Church of Saint Spyridon in Palaiokastritsa, Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 17: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 ‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.’

‘For the words that you gave to me I have given to them’ (John 17: 7) … Christ as the Great High Priest with an open Bible in an icon in the Church of the Metamorphosis in Piskopiano, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

As I was saying in my reflections on Sunday, we are, in some ways, caught in the church calendar in an in-between time, between Ascension Day, last Thursday [14 May 2026], and the Day of Pentecost next Sunday [24 May 2026].

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (John 17: 1-11) follows Christ’s ‘Farewell Discourse’ at the Last Supper (John 14: 1 to 16: 33), and Christ has just ended his instructions to his disciples, which conclude with the advice, ‘In the world you face persecution But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33).

We now read from his prayer to the Father (John 17: 1-26), in which he summarises the significance of his life as the time for his glory – his Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension – has arrived.

This prayer is often referred to as the High Priestly Prayer, as it includes many of the elements of prayer a priest offers when a sacrifice is about to be made: glorification (verses 3-5, 25), remembrance of God’s work (verses 2, 6-8, 22, 23), intercession on behalf of others (verses 9, 11, 15, 20, 21, 24), and a declaration of the offering itself (verses 1, 5).

In the Orthodox Church, this passage is also read on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, a day remembering the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in the year 325. We were celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of that council last year and its formulation of the Nicene Creed. That council condemned the heresy of Arianism that taught that the Son of God was created by the Father and that there was a time when the Son of God did not exist. Christ’s words in today’s Gospel reading bear witness to his divinity and to his filial relationship with the Father.

Verses 1-2: the Father gives this glory to the Son, and this adds to the Father’s glory because of the authority the Father has given to the Son over all people, with the promise of eternal life.

Verse 3: this eternal life is knowing the Father and Christ, who has been sent by the Father.

Verses 4-5: Christ glorifies the Father by finishing the work he has been given, and he is being restored to glory in the Father’s presence, a glory Christ had in God’s presence before the world existed.

Verse 6: Christ has made God’s name known in the world, and those who have heard him and have been obedient to the word of God.

Verses 7-8: the disciples now know that the Father is the source of all that the Christ has been given, they know that he has been sent from the Father, and that the Father sent him into the world.

Verse 9: Christ’s petitions are on behalf of his followers.

Verse 10: Those who follow Christ are committed to God’s care.

Verse 11: Looking forward to the time after his departure – after his Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension – Christ now asks the Father to protect the disciples in the world, and prays that they may have a unity that reflects the unity of the Father and the Son … ‘that they may be one, as we are one.’

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed’ (John 17: 5) … candles in the narthex of Saint Titus Church in Iraklion, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 19 May 2026):

The theme this week (17-23 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) has been ‘Breaking Barriers: Gender Justice in Malawi’ (pp 56-57). This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from Tamara Khismisi, Projects Coordinator, Anglican Church in Malawi.

The USPG prayer diary invites us to pray today (Tuesday 19 May 2026):

Heavenly Father, bless the Anglican Church in Malawi as it advocates for girls’ education. Strengthen Bishops, parish priests, volunteers, and community leaders to speak out against child marriage and champion safe, supportive learning environments.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who raised up Dunstan to be a true shepherd of the flock,
a restorer of monastic life
and a faithful counsellor to those in authority:
give to all pastors the same gifts of your Holy Spirit
that they may be true servants of Christ and of all his people;
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:

God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Dunstan revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Dunstan depicted in a stained glass window above the High Altar in Saint Dunstan-in-the-West Church, Fleet Street, London (Photograph: 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

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 30, Monday 4 May 2026

‘The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything …’ (John 14: 25) … Pentecost depicted in the Church of the Transfiguration in Piskopianó, in the hills above Hersonissos in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday. This week began with the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V, 3 May 2026).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers prayerfully the English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘The Advocate, the Holy Spirit … will … and remind you of all that I have said to you’ (John 14: 15) … Pentecost (El Greco)

John 14: 21-26 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 21 ‘They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ 23 Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

25 ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.’

‘Come Holy Spirit’ … the holy water stoup in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Today’s short Gospel reading provided in the Lectionary at the Eucharist (John 14: 21-26) continues our readings from the ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel.

This chapter (John 14) includes questions from three of the disciple and three answers from Jesus, which we hear over the course of four days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today:

• ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ (Thomas, John 14: 5)

• ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (Philip, John 14: 8)

• ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ (Judas Thaddeus, John 14: 22)

These are also the questions and problems faced by the communities and churches gathered around Saint John in Ephesus and in Asia Minor. The answers Jesus gives to these three questions are like a mirror in which those communities find a response to their doubts and difficulties.

Jesus is preparing the disciples to separate themselves and reveals to them his friendship, communicating to them security and support.

Today’s reading begins with Jesus reminding the disciples: ‘They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them’ (verse 21).

This continuing use of encouraging words in the face of troubles and differences reflects the many disagreements within those communities, each claiming to have the right approach to living out the faith and believing the others are living in error.

Jesus’ words in this morning’s reading are reminders that the unity of the church should reflect the unity found in the Trinity.

Judas Thaddeus or Jude then asks ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ (verse 12).

Jesus replies, saying that anyone who responds to Jesus with love will certainly experience the love of Jesus. He again reminds the disciples that everything he passes on to them comes ultimately from the Father and not from him alone. He is the mediator, he is the Way, he is the Word of God. And later, after he has gone, this role will be taken over by the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

The word ‘paraclete’ (παράκλητος, paráklētos) has many meanings. It can mean a defence lawyer in a court of law who stands beside the defendant and supports him in making his case. It means any person who stands by you and gives you support and comfort.

So, the word can signify:

1, Someone who consoles or comforts.
2, Someone who encourages or uplifts.
3, Someone who refreshes.
4, Someone summoned or called to one’s side, especially called to one’s aid.
5, Someone who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, the counsel for the defence, a legal assistant, an advocate.
6, Someone who intercedes to plead another person’s cause before another person, an intercessor.
7, In the widest sense, a helper, one who provides succour or aid, an assistant.

So, in its use, παράκλητος appears to belong primarily to legal imagery. The word is passive in form, and etymologically it originally signified being ‘called to one’s side.’ The active form of the word, παρακλήτωρ (parakletor), is not found in the New Testament but is found in the Septuagint in the plural, and means ‘comforters’, in the saying of Job regarding the ‘miserable comforters’ who failed to rekindle his spirit in his time of distress: ‘I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all’ (Job 16: 2).

However, the word παράκλητος in its passive form is not found in the Septuagint, where other words are used to translate the Hebrew word מְנַחֵם‎ (mənaḥḥēm ‘comforter) and מליץ יושר‎ (Melitz Yosher).

In Classical Greek, the term is not common in non-Jewish texts. But the best known use is by Demosthenes:

‘Citizens of Athens, I do not doubt that you are all pretty well aware that this trial has been the centre of keen partisanship and active canvassing, for you saw the people who were accosting and annoying you just now at the casting of lots. But I have to make a request which ought to be granted without asking, that you will all give less weight to private entreaty or personal influence than to the spirit of justice and to the oath which you severally swore when you entered that box. You will reflect that justice and the oath concern yourselves and the commonwealth, whereas the importunity and party spirit of advocates serve the end of those private ambitions which you are convened by the laws to thwart, not to encourage for the advantage of evil-doers.’ (Demosthenes, On the False Embassy, 19: 1).

In Jewish writings, Philo of Alexandria speaks at several times of ‘paraclete’ advocates, primarily in the sense of human intercessors. The word later passed from Hellenistic Jewish writing into rabbinical Hebrew writing.

In the Greek New Testament, the word is most prominent in the Johannine writings, but is also used elsewhere:

1, In Saint Matthew’s Gospel (see Matthew 5: 4), Christ uses the verb παρακληθήσονται (paraclethesontai), traditionally interpreted to signify ‘to be refreshed, encouraged, or comforted.’ The text may also be translated as vocative as well as the traditional nominative. Then the meaning of παρακληθήσονται, also informative of the meaning of the name, or noun Paraclete, implicates ‘are going to summon’ or ‘will be breaking off.’ The Paraclete may thus mean ‘the one who summons’ or ‘the one who, or that which, makes free.’

2, In Saint John’s Gospel, it is used four times (14: 16, 14: 26, 15: 26, and 16: 7), where it may be translated into English as counsellor, helper, encourager, advocate, or comforter. In the first instance (John 14: 16), however, when Christ says ‘another Paraclete’ will come to help his disciples, is he implying that he is the first and primary Paraclete?

3, In one brief paragraph in II Corinthians 1: 3-7, the word παράκλητος, is used in various forms seven or eight times in the sense of comfort and support. The word has a wide range of meanings that include advocate, encourager or comforter.

4, In I John 2: 1, παράκλητος is used to describe the intercessory role of Christ, who advocates for us or pleads on our behalf to the Father.

The Early Church identified the Paraclete with the Holy Spirit (Το Άγιο Πνεύμα) received in the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles (see Acts 1: 5, 1: 8, 2: 4, and 2: 38; see also Matthew 3: 10-12 and Luke 3: 9-17).

The word Paraclete may also have been used in the Early Church as a way of describing the Spirit’s help when Christians were hauled before courts. Christ has already promised ‘When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit’ (Mark 13: 11; see Luke 12: 11-12).

In the next chapter of this Gospel (John 15: 26-27), much of the legal imagery remains intact. Here the Spirit is the advocate employed by the Father to advocate on behalf of the Son. Even the language of ‘sending’ is legal, since one of the major avenues of communication in the ancient world was through one’s legal agent or ἀπόστολος (apostolos), ‘sent one.’

So the role of the Spirit is to make a case for Christ in the court of the world and to help us to do so. That is our task in mission as the Church.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

The Holy Spirit shapes the top panel in the Triptych (1999) of the Baptism of Christ in the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 4 May 2026):

‘Following God’s Lead’ provides the theme this week (3-9 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 52-53. This theme was introduced yesterday with a programme update from Father Thanduxolo Noketshe, Vicar of Saint Mary’s and Christ Church in Cayon, St Kitts & Nevis.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 4 May 2026) invites us to pray:

‘To see the fulfilment of my call is the greatest gift and a blessing’.

Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the gift of calling and the blessing of seeing it come to life. May Father Thanduxolo’s service be guided by your wisdom, and may every act of love, every word of peace.

The Collect of the Day:

Merciful God,
who, when your Church on earth was torn apart
by the ravages of sin,
raised up men and women in this land
who witnessed to their faith with courage and constancy:
give to your Church that peace which is your will,
and grant that those who have been divided on earth
may be reconciled in heaven
and share together in the vision of your glory;
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:

God, the source of all holiness and giver of all good things:
may we who have shared at this table
as strangers and pilgrims here on earth
be welcomed with all your saints
to the heavenly feast on the day of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Memorial to the Martyrs of the Reformation in the University Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Oxford … the English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era are commemorated on 4 May (Photograph: 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

Saint Bertelin’s Chapel is part of the story of early Stafford, but archaeologists disagree about interpreting the site

The site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel, in front of Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church, Stafford, is said to date from the year 700 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing yesterday about my visit to Stafford last week and to Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church in the centre of the town. At the west end of the church is the site of a chapel associated with Saint Bertelin or Saint Beorhthelm, who is said to have established a hermitage ca 700 CE that is said to mark the beginnings of Stafford.

Saint Bertelin was an obscure Anglo Saxon saint. He is said to have established his hermitage ca 700 CE on the Isle of Bethnei in the marshes around the River Sow. Bertelin – whose name gradually took the form Bertram in some areas – later moved his hermitage to Ilam in Derbyshire, where his shrine and well made Ilam a popular place of pilgrimage.

The first building on the site in Stafford seems to have been a Late Saxon timber chapel, commemorating Saint Bertelin, although The first historical reference to Saint Bertelin at Stafford appears in a list of tombs of saints for pilgrims by Hugh Candidus of Peterbrough, who died ca 1175, in a reference ‘in Stefford sanctus Berthelmus martyr’.

Saint Mary’s Church was rebuilt in the late 12th and early 13th century, and was joined to Saint Bertelin’s chapel through a doorway in the west wall. The chapel became a shrine to Saint Bertelin, and was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages.

The chapel was later used as a council chamber and a school, before it was pulled down in 1801 to allow more room for burials in the churchyard. Following the demolition, the site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel was destroyed largely by burials in the 19th century and only patches of wall and floor and several early graves definable.

The blocked former west entrance into Saint Mary's was the only surviving evidence for the existence of the chapel until the local authority decided to clear the gravestones and create a garden of remembrance.

Saint Bertelin’s Chapel was pulled down in 1801 to provide more space for burials in Saint Mary’s churchyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Before the clearance work began, an archaeological investigation was carried out in 1954 at the site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel by Adrian Oswald (1908-2001), curator of archaeology at Birmingham City Museum.

Oswald found a set of stone foundations interpreted as belonging to Saint Bertelin's mediaeval chapel. Beneath the stone was a set of post-holes with a central grave-shaped pit in the centre of the structure containing a large lump of oak with a cylindrical base that had been placed in a pit.

The archaeologist and historian CA Ralegh Radford (1900-1998) initially interpreted this as a 1,000-year-old a wooden cross of the Mercian period and a later reconstruction was put on the site.

In the popular retelling of these interpretations, it was said that the remains of a timber cross buried 5 ft below the surface, and from this it was deduced that ‘it is entirely possible that this cross was the one used by Saint Bertelin himself. Beneath the cross were the remains of a timber building, which it seems reasonable to assume was the one built by Bertelin.’

The site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel at the west front of Saint Mary’s Church, Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

However, a re-assessment of the site was made in in 1984 by Professor Martin Carver, who considered the finds in the context of other archaeological investigations at Stafford. Carver is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York and director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project. He founded the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit (BUFAU), later called Birmingham Archaeology, at the University of Birmingham, and is the author of The Birth of a Borough. Archaeological studies of Anglo-Saxon Stafford (2010).

Carver argues that the shape of the wood lump, with a cylindrical base, and the leather attached inside to the top, all suggest that this was a coffin, not a cross, resembling the tree-trunk coffins known from the seventh century onwards in East Anglia.

The general sequence reported by Oswald was largely endorsed, seeing the site as one of a timber structure succeeded by a later stone chapel. However, the earliest part of the sequence associated with the timber structure and coffin was found to be inverted in respect of the dates. A layer of ninth century charcoal (830-845 CE) lay above the layer containing a Saxon farthing of Athelred II (971-1016) lost before 1000 CE, which in turn lay above the 12th century log coffin.

From this evidence, it could be argued that the coffin was buried in a late 12th century stone chapel, and the coffin was simply part of a late 12th century foundation process.

Carver suggests the log coffin was buried within a timber structure dated to the period 800-1000, and so too late to be used to support legends of an eighth century foundation associated with an ‘Isle of Bethnei’.

The timber chapel, or possible mortuary house, may have burnt down in the ninth century, which would account for the charcoal layer. Carver rejected the date 1180 for the log coffin. The timber chapel was superseded by a stone chapel with a truer east-west alignment. The floor of this stone chapel would have sealed the log coffin and the layers above it.

This stone chapel appears to have fallen into disuse and was probably demolished around the time of the Conquest and then rebuilt in stone on an improved alignment. A layer of brown soil, interpreted as a layer of ‘disuse’ appears to separate the floor of the first stone chapel from the second, later stone chapel rebuilt on the same site, slightly offset to the south, laid out in dressed stone indicating a small nave and a narrower chancel, with a tiled floor laid in the 14th century.

The muddled evidence may suggest the first chapel was built of timber between 800 and 1000. A tree-trunk burial was placed centrally in this structure, and presumed to be an object of veneration. The date range of other finds allows the construction of the timber chapel to belong to the foundation of the burh by Æthelflæd in 913 CE, and it seems likely the chapel was built during the reconquest of English Mercia.

The plaque marking the site of Saint Bertelin’s Chapel at Saint Mary’s Church, Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Still, local publications continue to maintain this was Saint Bertelin’s preaching cross and this is echoed on the plaque at the site:

‘Site of St. Bertelin’s Chapel

‘This site was excavated in 1954 AD. The foundation stones have been restored upon the exact plan of the chapel built about 1000 AD.

‘The wooden cross is a replica of the cross lying five feet below with indications of a wooden building of much earlier date. The position of the cross indicates that it was regarded with great sanctity and may be the preaching cross of St. Bertelin the founder of the town of Stafford circa 700 AD.’

Meanwhile, the name of the early hermit and saint is continued in Saint Bertelin’s Church, the parish church for the north end of Stafford, on the corner of Holmcroft Road and Eccleshall Road.

Saint Chad’s Church is the oldest surviving building in Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

After visiting Saint Mary’s Church and Saint Bertelin’s Chapel, I went to see Saint Chad’s Church opposite the Ancient High House on Greengate Street. Saint Chad’s is the oldest surviving building in Stafford, with a story stretching back to the 12th century, and perhaps even back to the time of Saint Chad, the first Bishop of Lichfield (669-672).

Saint Chad’s was built ca 1150-1190 and an inscription names the founder as Orm: Orm vocatur qui me condidit (‘He who made me is called Orm’). Orm was a major landowner of Danish origin and the dragons in the carvings are a pun on his name ‘Orm’ or ‘Worm’.

Saint Chad’s was restored from a forgotten and ruinous state in the mid-19th century. The restoration was carried out by Henry Griffiths, Robert Ward and George Gilbert Scott, who also built the Norman-Romanesque front and donated the statue of Saint Chad in the central niche. At the same time, Scott was carrying out extensive restorations of Lichfield Cathedral.

Saint Paul’s Church, which I passed on the way to Rugeley and Lichfield, is a Grade II building on Lichfield Road. It was designed by Henry Ward and built in 1844. The steeple was added in 1887 by Robert Griffiths. The stained glass includes late 19th and early 20th century work by Hardman and Co, AJ Davies of Bromsgrove, and Smith of St John’s Wood, including a particularly good 19th century east window.

I had visited four churches and chapels in Stafford – Saint Mary’s, Saint Bertelin’s Chapel’s Chapel, Saint Chad’s Church and Saint Paul’s Church. But before leaving Stafford last week I also visited Sir Martin Noel’s Almshouses on Earl Street, which still has its chapel.

As for Saint Bertelin, his feast day is celebrated on 10 August.

Saint Paul’s Church on Lichfield Road, Stafford, was designed by Henry Ward and built in 1844 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Etheldreda’s Church, a hidden church close to Hatton Garden, was once the chapel of the Bishops of Ely

Saint Etheldreda’s Church on Ely Place, once the chapel of the Bishops of Ely, is one of the oldest churches in England in use by the Catholic Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

On previous visits to the Holborn area in London, I have visited Hatton Garden and Ye Olde Mitre, which is one of the oldest, most hidden and discrete pubs in London. I found it down a narrow alleyway off Hatton Garden that is easy to walk by without noticing, yet it has a fascinating history.

Ye Olde Mitre was originally built in 1546 for the servants of nearby Ely Palace, although it was rebuilt in 1773. It is known for a cherry tree that Elizabeth I and Sir Christopher Hatton – who gave his name to Hatton Garden – are said to have danced around. A stone bishop’s mitre on one wall may be from either the old palace or the gatehouse.

But each time I visited Hatton Garden and Ye Olde Mitre in the past, I had neglected to continue on down the narrow alley to Ely Place. When I did so on my most recent visit to Holborn, I was rewarded not only with finding myself on Ely Place but also with a visit to Saint Etheldreda’s Church, once the chapel of the Bishops of Ely, who had their London residence at Ely Palace or Ely House. Today, it is one of the oldest churches in England in use by the Catholic Church.

Ye Olde Mitre in a hidden alley between Hatton Garden and Ely Place, is a reminder of the presence of the Bishops of Ely (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Ely Place is a gated cul-de-sac of terraced houses near Holborn Circus in the London Borough of Camden. The street is just a minute’s walk from the bustle of Holborn and the busy diamond and jewellery shops of Hatton Garden. The street is a quiet enclave and is privately managed by its own body of commissioners and beadles.

Ely Place sits on the site of Ely Palace or Ely House, the London residence of the Bishops of Ely from 1290 and 1772. The bishop’s palace and surrounding land was later sold and redeveloped into Ely Place, and only the bishop’s mediaeval chapel was preserved, which today is Saint Etheldreda’s Church.

John de Kirkby bought the land in this part of Holborn in 1280. He became Bishop of Ely in 1286 and he left the estate to the Diocese of Ely when he died in 1290. The mediaeval Bishops of Ely often held high offices of state requiring them to live in London and Ely Palace was their official residence.

The cloister steps leading to the upper chapel in Saint Etheldreda’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Shakespeare refers to Ely Palace or its grounds in two plays, Richard II and Richard III. John of Gaunt moved to the palace in 1381 after the Savoy Palace was destroyed during the Peasants’ Revolt. In King Richard II, this where he delivers the speech in which he refers to England as ‘this royal throne of Kings, this sceptre’d isle’.

Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon attended a feast given in 1531 by the Bishop of Ely, Nicholas West, which is said to have lasted for five days. The sumptuous feast is rumoured to have been one of the first public signs of trouble in their marriage as Henry VIII and Queen Catherine dined in separate rooms.

James Butler (1496-1546), 9th Earl of Ormond, was visiting London with his household on 17 October 1546, when they were invited to dine at Ely Palace as guests of the Bishop of Ely. Butler, who had served in the household of Cardinal Wolsey in his youth, had crossed Sir Anthony St Leger, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, and was poisoned along with his steward, James Whyte, and 16 of his household, probably on St Leger’s instructions.

John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, was acting on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots when he was held at Ely House under house arrest from 14 May until 17 August 1571.

The crypt or lower chapel in Saint Etheldreda’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The estate was granted to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1577 and a new lease gave Hatton control of the freehold. He gave his name to Hatton Garden which now occupies part of the site.

The estate was sold to the Crown in 1772, and the cul-de-sac that is now Ely Place was built by Robert Taylor. Edmund Keene, Bishop of Ely, commissioned a new Ely House, built by Taylor on Dover Street, Mayfair.

Ely Place retained its anomalous status into 1920s, supposedly remaining under the jurisdiction of Ely in Cambridgeshire and not part of London. Beadles guarded the entrance and closed the gates to all strangers. Even the police had to ask permission to enter, and beadles’ voices could be heard calling out throughout the night.

Saint Etheldreda’s Church is dedicated to Æthelthryth or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Etheldreda’s Church was the chapel of Ely Palace or Ely House, the London residence of the Bishops of Ely. It is dedicated to Æthelthryth or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673. The building dates from between 1250 and 1290 and is one of only two surviving in London from the reign of Edward I.

After the Tudor Reformations, the Bishops of Ely continued to oversee the chapel. Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, leased part of the house and lands surrounding the chapel to Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourite of Elizabeth I, in 1576. Hatton borrowed extensively from the crown to pay for the refurbishment and upkeep of the property, and while he was the tenant the crypt was used as a tavern.

In the early 17th century, the chapel briefly became a haven for English Catholics when the upper church was granted to the Spanish ambassador, Diego Sarmiento de Acuña (1567-1626), Count of Gondomar, in 1620 to use as his private chapel. It was regarded as Spanish soil and so Catholics were allowed to use the church. But in the midst a diplomatic dispute between England and Spain, Gondomar was recalled to Spain two years later and his successor was not given use of the chapel.

Inside Saint Etheldreda’s Church, restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) to its 13th century designs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

In an incident known as the ‘Fatal Vespers’, 95 people were killed on 26 October 1623 when the upper floor of Hunsdon House, the residence of the French ambassador in Blackfriars, collapsed when 300 people were gathered to hear a clandestine Catholic sermon; 19 of the victims were buried in the crypt of Saint Etheldreda’s.

Matthew Wren (1585-1667), Bishop of Ely (1638-1646, 1660-1667) and uncle of the architect Sir Christopher Wren, worshipped at Saint Etheldreda’s before he was imprisoned in 1641. The palace and the church were requisitioned by Parliament in 1642 for use as a prison and hospital during the English Civil War. During the Cromwellian era (1649-1660), most of the palace was demolished and the gardens were destroyed.

Legislation in 1772 allowed the Bishops of Ely to sell the property to the Crown. The site, including the chapel, was sold on to Charles Cole, a surveyor and architect. He demolished all the buildings on the site apart from the chapel and built Ely Place. The chapel was extensively refurbished in the Georgian style and was reopened in 1786. It was taken over in 1836 by the National Society for the Education of the Poor, which hoped to convert the Irish Catholic immigrants then moving into the area, but the church closed again a short time later.

The East Window by JE ‘Eddie’ Nuttgens is generally regarded as his finest work (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Revd Alexander D’Arblay of Camden Town Chapel, a son of the novelist and diarist Fanny Burney, reopened Ely Chapel as a place of Anglican worship in 1836, but died within a year on 19 January 1837. The church was leased in 1843 to Welsh Anglicans, who held services there in the Welsh language.

When the chapel was put up for sale by auction in 1874, it was bought by Father William Lockhart, a former Anglican and a priest in the Rosminian order. The Institute of Charity or Rosminians had worked in Nottingham and Leicester and later in North London, and Cardinal Henry Manning wanted them to work in the slum areas of Holborn.

Lockhart, who was the Rector of the North London Mission, was chosen for the task. He had been a friend in Oxford of Cardinal John Henry Newman, and it is said that Lockhart’s decision had finally convinced Newman that he too should become a Roman Catholic.

Lockhart learned in December 1873 that Saint Etheldreda’s was about to be sold at auction. He faced competition from the Welsh Episcopalians, who had the backing of a Welsh steel magnate. But at the sale, the Welsh made a mistake: they thought Lockhart’s agent was theirs, they stopped bidding, and Saint Etheldreda’s was sold to the Rosminians for £5,400.

John Francis Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral, designed the choir screen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Under Lockhart’s direction, the crypt and upper church were restored by the prolific Gothic Revival architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) to their original 13th century designs. John Francis Bentley (1839-1902), the architect of Westminster Cathedral, designed a choir screen incorporating a confessional, an organ and a choir gallery; his other works include Holy Rood Church, Watford. The royal coat of arms, added during the reign of Charles I, was moved to the cloister. A relic donated by the Duke of Norfolk was said to be a piece of Saint Etheldreda’s hand, and is kept in a jewel cask to the right of the high altar.

The restoration was completed in 1878, the year Scott died, and a Catholic Mass was celebrated in Saint Ethelreda’s for the first time in over 200 years. The upper church was reopened on the Feast of Saint Etheldreda, 23 June 1879.

Saint Etheldreda’s includes a chapel or upper church, and a crypt or undercroft, and is used for Masses, Baptisms, weddings and funerals. Because Saint Etheldreda was traditionally invoked for help with throat infections, the Blessing of the Throats is held annually in the chapel.

The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments scheduled the chapel as an ancient monument in 1925. But during the Blitz, the church was hit in May 1941 by a bomb that tore a hole in the roof and destroyed the Victorian stained glass windows. It took seven years to repair the structural damage.

The West Window by Charles Blakeman (1964) depicts Catholic martyrs during the Reformation era (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The interior of Saint Etheldreda’s is said to have the largest expanse of stained glass in London. The east window by JE ‘Eddie’ Nuttgens, generally regarded as his finest work, one of the few in which he ‘let his imagination take command and soar’, was installed in 1952. It depicts the Trinity (centre), the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (top row), as well as the Virgin Mary (left) and Saint Joseph (right), with Saint Etheldreda of Ely (far left) and Saint Bridget of Kildare (far right). At the base, Nuttgens has placed a sturdy version of the Last Supper mostly in bright golds and reds whose clearly articulated composition surely reveals the influence of his friend and neighbour Eric Gill.

Later, his pupil and friend Charles Blakeman created stained glass for the nave, west window and crypt. The West Window by Blakeman was added in 1964, depicting Catholic suffering during the Reformation. Three Carthusian monks and two other priests were put to death for refusing to acknowledge Henry Vlll as head of the Church are shown in the centre of the window, while Christ triumphant hangs on the Cross above the Tyburn Gallows.

The windows in the south wall depict scenes from the Old Testament, and the windows in the north wall show scenes from the New Testament.

Two groups of four statues of English Catholic martyrs from the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were installed along the north and south walls In the 1960s. They include Saint Edmund Gennings, Saint Swithun Wells, Saint Margaret Ward, Blessed John Forest, Blessed Edward Jones, Blessed John Roche, Saint Anne Line and Saint John Houghton.

For many years, Saint Etheldreda’s was the oldest Catholic church building in England, but since 1971 that place has been taken by the 12th-century church of Saint Leonard and Saint Mary in Malton, North Yorkshire. Saint Etheldreda’s has been fully restored and is an active church today. The crypt, also used as a chapel, is a popular, atmospheric venue for baptisms.

The steps leading down to the crypt in Saint Etheldreda’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Pilgrims visit the church as a stopping point on the London Martyrs’ Way, a pilgrimage route developed by the British Pilgrimage Trust and to venerate the hand relic of Saint Etheldreda.

Saint Etheldreda’s Church is open Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 5 pm, and Sunday 8 am to 12:30 pm. The nearest tube stations are Chancery Lane (Central Line) and Farringdon (Circle, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan Lines). Ye Old Mitre is only open Monday to Friday.

Sunday Masses in Saint Etheldreda’s Church are at 9 am (English) and 11 am (Sung Latin); Weekday Masses are at 1 pm, Monday to Friday; Masses on holy days are at 1 pm and 6 pm.

Ely Court, a narrow alley running between Ely Place and Hatton Garden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Celebrating Saint Chad in Kuching today, although I am far away from Lichfield

Peter Walker’s statue of Saint Chad at the south-east side of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The Diocese of Lichfield is celebrating the patron saint of the diocese, Saint Chad, on his feast day today, 2 March. For the past 55 years, Lichfield, Lichfield Cathedral and the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital in Lichfield have been like a spiritual home to me after what I have described in an interview with David Moore as ‘a self-defining moment.’

He was interviewing me for A Self Defining Moment, the first of four films that went up on YouTube over 11 years ago (21 January 2015) and in which I talked about my own self-defining moment, and the scenic route I took to ordination and priesthood.

Ever since, I return to Lichfield a few times each year for prayer, reflection, and to follow the daily cycle of prayer and liturgy in the cathedral in my own personal, self-guided retreat or pilgrimage. I was there last month just a few days before we left for this visit to Kuching.

So there are many reasons for me to remember Saint Chad’s Day today, although I am in Kuching, over 11,000 km or 7,000 miles from Lichfield. Indeed, the Diocese of Kuching has been twinned with the Diocese of Lichfield in the past.

A statue of Saint Chad on one of the walls of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Chad was born in Northumbria, the youngest of four sons, all of whom became both priests and monks. They entered the monastery on the isle of Lindisfarne, where they were taught by Saint Aidan.

Saint Chad’s brother, Saint Cedd, founded the abbey at Lastingham and, on when Cedd died, Chad was elected abbot as his successor.

During the confusion in ecclesiastical discipline between the Celtic-oriented, Anglo-Saxon hierarchy and the pressure from Rome for conformity, Chad became Bishop of York for a time.

He graciously stepped back with the arrival in Britain of Theodore, who doubted the validity of indigenous consecrations. This was eventually rectified and Chad became Bishop of Mercia, a huge diocese the centre of which he moved from Repton to Lichfield.

Saint Chad travelled extensively and became much loved for his wisdom and gentleness in otherwise difficult situations. The plague was widespread at this time and Saint Chad died on this day, 2 March, in the year 672. His bones were moved to the new Lichfield Cathedral in the year 700.

The new Shrine of Saint Chad was consecrated and reinstated at two moving services in Lichfield Cathedral in November 2022. The new shrine in the Lady Chapel celebrates Lichfield’s own saint as Bishop, Evangelist and Disciple, and an inscription reads: ‘Christ is the morning star who, when the night of this world is past, brings to his saints the promise of the light of life and opens everlasting day.’

The Shrine of Saint Chad in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Chad’s day is being celebrated in Lichfield Cathedral today at Morning Prayer (8 am), the Mid-Day Eucharist (12:30) and the Festal Evensong (5:30).

The Collect:

Almighty God,
from the first fruits of the English nation who turned to Christ,
you called your servant Chad
to be an evangelist and bishop of his own people:
give us grace so to follow his peaceable nature,
humble spirit and prayerful life,
that we may truly commend to others
the faith which we ourselves profess;
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:

Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal
the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share with Chad and all your saints
in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The spires of Lichfield Cathedral seen from the gardens of Erasmus Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

‘I have realised that patriotism is not enough’: returning to Norwich Cathedral to see the grave of Edith Cavell

The grave of Nurse Edith Cavell at at the east end of Norwich Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

When we were in Norwich last week for the funeral of a priest friend in Saint Peter’s Church in Lingwood, Norfolk, we stayed within view of Norwich Cathedral and a short two-minute walk to the Cathedral Close.

Three of the great women saints in the calendar of the Church of England have close associations with Norwich: the writer and mystic Julian of Norwich (1342-1413); the Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845); and Edith Cavell (1865-1915), who was a lonely voice condemning the evils of war and narrow nationalism during World War I.

During an earlier visit to Norwich about two years ago (25 March 2024), I had seen Edith Cavell’s memorial by Henry Alfred Pegram (1862-1937) outside the Erpingham Gate at Norwich Cathedral, but I had missed her grave at the east end of Norwich Cathedral, on Life’s Green.

So, last week, I went back to Norwich Cathedral, both before and after the funeral in Lingwood, to see her final resting place, chosen by her family in her home city after her execution in 1915.

The moemorial to Edith Cavell by Henry Alfred Pegram (1862–1937) outside the Erpingham Gate at Norwich Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Edith Louisa Cavell was born on 4 December 1865 in the village of Swardeston, near Norwich, where her father, the Revd Frederick Cavell (1824-1910), was the vicar for 45 years; her maternal grandmother Anne Archer (1808-1881) was Irish born. She was educated at Norwich High School for Girls, and at boarding schools at Clevedon, Somerset, and Laurel Court, Peterborough.

In 1888, when she was 23, Edith was governess in Keswick Hall, near Norwich, for the children in the Gurney family, the family of Elizabeth Fry. She later spent five years with a family in Brussels, and began nursing training in London at the age of 30.

At the invitation of Dr Antoine Depage, she became the matron of a new nursing school in Brussels in 1907. She was visiting her widowed mother in Norfolk when World War I broke out and returned to Brussels, where her clinic and nursing school were taken over by the Red Cross.

After the German occupation of Brussels in November 1914, Edith began sheltering British soldiers, helping them to escape to the neutral Netherlands, and hiding wounded British and French soldiers and Belgian and French civilians of military age. She was arrested on 3 August 1915, charged with harbouring allied soldiers and war treason, despite not being a German national, and was sentenced to death. The First Geneva Convention guaranteed the protection of medical personnel, but this was forfeit if used as cover for belligerent action. At her trial, she made no attempt to defend herself.

The British government said it could do nothing to help her. The US had not yet entered the war, but Hugh S Gibson of the US legation at Brussels warned the German government that executing her would further harm Germany’s already damaged reputation. He reminded the Germans of the burning of Louvain and the sinking of the Lusitania.

The sentence of death by firing squad was confirmed at 4:30 pm on 11 October 1915, to be carried out before dawn the next day. Her final words to the German Lutheran prison chaplain, the Revd Paul Le Seur, were, ‘Ask Father Gahan to tell my loved ones later on that my soul, as I believe, is safe, and that I am glad to die for my country.’

Pastor Le Soeur realised that Edith could not receive spiritual help from someone in a German uniform. He hurriedly called for the Revd Horace Sterling Townsend Gahan (1870-1958), the Irish-born Anglican chaplain in Brussels, who shared Holy Communion with her on the night before her execution. Gahan who was not at home, but eventually the message reached him to meet the German chaplain at his lodgings. Learning of Edith’s fate was a very shocking moment for him.

Gahan arrived with a pass at Saint Gilles Prison after 8:30 that evening, 11 October 1915, and went to Edith’s cell. There he found her calm and resigned. He recalled her words, ‘I have no fear or shrinking; I have seen death so often it is not strange, or fearful to me!’

They shared Holy Communion together and he stayed for an hour. She spoke kindly of her treatment in prison and said, ‘But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.’ The meeting ended after they softly recited together the hymn Abide with Me. On leaving, he said ‘God Bless’; she smiled and replied tenderly, ‘We shall meet again.’

Two firing squads formed of 16 men carried out the death sentence on her and four Belgian men in Schaerbeek at 7 am before dawn on 12 October 1915. News reports after her execution were found to be only true in part. Even the American Journal of Nursing repeated the fictional account that she fainted and fell because of her refusal to wear a blindfold in front of the firing squad. Allegedly, while she lay unconscious, the German commanding officer shot her dead with a revolver. She was 49.

In the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Pastor Le Seur, the German army chaplain, recalled at the time of her execution, ‘I do not believe that Miss Cavell wanted to be a martyr … but she was ready to die for her country … Miss Cavell was a very brave woman and a faithful Christian.’

Immediately after her execution, Gahan wrote a moving account of their last meeting. It was sent through the US Legation to the Foreign Office in London, where it was released. Her story was used in war-time propaganda as an example of German barbarism and moral depravity.

As for Sterling Gahan, he continued to live in Brussels until 1923, and he was sometimes known affectionately as ‘Father Pat’ because of his Irish origins. He was born in Lurganboy, Co Donegal, on 11 November 1870, a son of Frederick Beresford Gahan, an engineer, and his wife, Katherine Jane (Townsend). He was ordained deacon (1894) and priest (1895), and worked in parishes in England until 1905, when he returned to Ireland. He moved to Brussels as the Anglican chaplain of Christ Church, just as World War I was about to break out. He returned to England and a parish in Leicester in 1923, and died in 1959.

Edith Cavell’s body was exhumed after World War I and brought back to England in May 1919. She was given a state funeral in Westminster Abbey and then taken to Norwich for burial. She was buried in the Cathedral Close at Life’s Green, beside Saint Saviour’s Chapel, built in Norwich Cathedral as a memorial to Norfolk’s dead in World War I.

Edith Cavell became the most prominent British female casualty of World War I, and many memorials were created around the world to remember her. The sculptor Sir George James Frampton (1860-1928) accepted the commission for her monument near Saint Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, but declined any fee.

The memorial was unveiled by Queen Alexandra on 17 March 1920. The inscription on the pedestal reads: ‘Edith Cavell / Brussels / Dawn / October 12th 1915 / Patriotism is not enough / I must have no hatred or / bitterness for anyone’. The last three lines quote her words to the Sterling Gahan, the Irish-born Anglican chaplain who shared Holy Communion with her on the night before her execution.

The reredos in Holy Trinity Church, Essex Street, Norwich, where Edith worshipped with her mother, was dedicated as a memorial to her. The Edith Cavell Health Care Campus is on the site of the former Edith Cavell Hospital in Peterborough, and there is a memorial to her in Peterborough Cathedral. She is also remembered in the name of the Cavell car park at the Queensgate shopping centre in Peterborough.

Saint Saviour’s Chapel in Norwich Cathedral is a memorial to Norfolk’s dead in World War I (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A new grave at Norwich Cathedral was blessed and dedicated on Sunday 15 May 2015. marking the centenary of her death, with a new headstone inspired by the standard design of the Imperial War Graves Commission and featuring the emblem of her nursing school in Brussels. The headstone honours her family’s request that her grave should resemble those of the soldiers she cared for. The work includes new pathways, a memorial garden planted with Edith Cavell roses and a newly-commissioned headstone and ledger stone, created by Wayne Hart, an award-winning letter-carver, typographer and sculptor.

A version of her final saying is carved on the ledger stone, ensuring her prophetic voice is not forgotten: ‘In the light of God and eternity I have realised that patriotism is not enough: I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.’

At the dedication service, Bishop Graham James said: ‘The tremendous thing is almost a century on her grave is visited more than perhaps it ever has been. It shows her story resonates, her service, her bravery and her Christian faith. It will continue to inspire Christians and people of all faiths and none.’

A plaque near her grave quotes her final words and explains, ‘As matron of a hospital in Brussels she tended with great devotion the wounded of enemy and allied forces alike. For helping many of our men to escape she was sentenced to death and was shot on October 12, 1915.’

A memorial to Edith Cavell on the outside wall of Saint Saviour’s Chapel, Norwich Cathedral, near her grave (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Inside Norwich Cathedral, close to her grave, Saint Saviour’s Chapel is a memorial for members the Royal Norfolk and Royal Anglian Regiments. It was built after World War I on the site of the former Lady Chapel, and its features include significant memorials, regimental history on carved seats, and beautiful Arts and Crafts style stained glass windows by AK Nicholson.

Elizabeth Fry, the Prison Reformer, and Edith Cavell, the Fearless Nurse, are among ‘those who hear the word of God and obey it’ and are commemorated in the Church of England calendar in Common Worship on 12 October. Services honouring the story of Edith Cavell’s bravery and faith are held at her grave each year on 12 October to mark the anniversary of her death, and in May to mark the anniversary of her reburial.

The version of her last words carved on her new gravestone seem so poignant today, and so wise in the world today in the face of the frightening rise of ugly nationalism that disguises itself as patriotism: ‘In the light of God and eternity I have realised that patriotism is not enough: I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.’

The last words of Edith Cavell on her grave, inscribed by Wayne Hart (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury, near Buckingham, and its series of wall paintings from the 14th century

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is the only surviving mediaeval building in Padbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Padbury is a small village in north Buckinghamshire, about half way between Buckingham and Winslow, which I have visited a few times in recent weeks. I returned yesterday afternoon with a priest-colleague and friend to show him Saint Mary’s Church, a 13th century church with interesting 14th century wall paintings that were rediscovered during restoration work in the 1880s.

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is the most prominent building in Padbury and the only surviving mediaeval building in the village. The beautiful parish church is at the top of Church Lane, a gradual and straight street that continues on from the Main Street, and it provides a visual, physical and spiritual focus for the village.

The earliest parts of Saint Mary’s Church date from ca 1210, and its wall paintings date from the 1330s.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury … the oldest parts of the church date from ca 1210 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Grade II+ church, built of uncoursed stone rubble, is 29 metres long, 18 metres wide, and includes the 13th century nave and chancel, two 14th century aisles, with 16th century alterations and an embattled west tower that was rebuilt in the 17th century. The church was repaired and restored in 1830 and 1882, the south porch was added in the late 19th century and the vestry on the north side of tower was added in the early 20th century.

The early 13th century chancel arch has been rebuilt on piers with wide segmental pilasters. The solid oak altar is dated 1634, other fittings in the chancel date from the late 19th century, and the chancel has a small aumbry and cusped ogee piscina in the south wall. The chancel also has 18th century wall tablets and the chancel windows have some early 20th century glass.

The chancel in Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury, was restored in the 1880s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The three-light east window has reticulated tracery. The chancel also has small low lancet widows at its the west end and two-light windows to the east – the window on the north side has Y tracery, while the one on the south side is Decorated.

The nave has four bays with a double chamfered arcade on octagonal piers with moulded caps and end arches on corbels, some of them with carved heads. The nave has a rendered clerestory with round cusped 14th century windows on the north side, perpendicular windows on the south side, and a blind circular window above the porch.

The restored 14th century south door with a continuous moulded arch and jambs and an earlier label with nail-head ornament and carved head stops (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The south aisle has paired lancets in the west wall, and perpendicular windows in the south and east walls. The north aisle has Decorated windows.

The south aisle has two trefoiled piscinas, one with dog-tooth ornament. The restored 14th century south door has a continuous moulded arch and jambs and an earlier label with nail-head ornament and carved head stops.

The west tower has three stages with a plinth, parapet, pointed openings in the bell-chamber, and a tall arched west door with modern round headed window above. Inside, the tower has a triple chamfered arch on carved head corbels. The roofs have some original timbers that were restored in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

The Laudian-style Altar in the Chancel dates from 1634 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The patronage of Padbury was in the hands of the Priors of Bradwell until the Tudor Reformations. The advowson passed first to Cardinal Wolsey when he was founding Cardinal College, now Christ Church, Oxford. It was held briefly by the Carthusian Priory in Sheen. It then passed to the Crown, and, although it was briefly held by the Bishops of Lincoln, it has remained a Crown living since the reign of Elizabeth I.

For more than 100 years, between 1764 and 1868, Padbury had only three vicars, all from the one family: James Eyre, William Eyre and William Thomas Eyre. In 1837, Padbury was transferred from the Diocese of Lincoln to the Diocese of Oxford.

The church was restored in 1882-1888 to designs by the architect John Oldrid Scott (1841-1913), although some local sources say the plans were designed by his father who had died four to ten years earlier, Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who was born in the neighbouring village of Gawcott.

In Scott’s work, the chancel was restored, new choir stalls and communion rails were inserted, and black and white marble chancel steps and ornate floor tiles were put in place.

The martyrdom of Saint Edmund and Saint George slaying the dragon, among the 14th century wall paintings rediscovered in 1883 (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

During the restoration work in the 1880s, important 14th century mural paintings were discovered in 1883 on the wall of the north aisle and in the spandrels of the south arcade. They have been dated to ca 1330. The panels on the north wall depict: two scenes from the life of Saint Catharine of Alexandria; the Wheel of the Seven Deadly Sins; Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child; and Saint George slaying the dragon. The panels in the south arcade show scenes from the life and martyrdom of Saint Edmund.

The altar in the chapel in the south aisle and its reredos were made in 1908 from the timber of the late 18th century oak pulpit.

The Crucifixion depicted in the East Window by Burlison and Grylls, in memory of Montagu Vernon Gore-Langton of Padbury Lodge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The three-light East Window by Burlison and Grylls (1916) depicts the Crucifixion, with Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary and Saint John. It was given in memory of Captain Montagu Vernon Gore-Langton (1887-1915), youngest son of William Frederick and Lisa Gore-Langton of Padbury Lodge and an officer in the Irish Guards, who was killed in northern France during World War I.

Christ the Great High Priest with two censing angels in the Carmichael window on the south aide of the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A three-light window on the south side of the chancel by Burlison and Grylls (1937) shows Christ as the Great High Priest between two censing angels. The window is in memory of the Revd Ernest Carmichael, the Vicar of Padbury in 1911-1919.

‘Steadfast in Faith, Rooted in Charity, Joyful through Hope’ … the Neame window at the east end of the south aisle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A three-light window at the east end of the south aisle is by Frank Mann of James Powell & Sons (1904) in the style of William Morris. It shows Faith, Hope and Charity, and was given by a former vicar, the Revd Walter Neame, in memory of his wife Kathleen.

The baptismal font in the south aisle, near the south door (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A four-light window on the south side of the south aisle by an unknown artist shows the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), the Pelican and the Greek monograms IHC and XPC.

Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury, is one of four churches in the Lenborough Benefice, which also includes Holy Trinity Church, Gawcott, Saint Cecilia’s Church, Adstock, and All Saints’ Church, Hillesden.

The interim vicar is the Revd Dr Quentin Chandler, who is also Head of Vocations and Director of Ordinands (DDO) in the Diocese of Oxford. Sunday services rotate between the four churches in the benefice. There is a Carol Service with Lessons and Carols in Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury, at 5 pm this afternoon (14 December 2025), followed by wine and mince pies. The Christmas services include a Chistingle service at 4 pm on Christmas Eve and Midnight Mass at 11 pm.

The church is open during the day and there is a Quiet Prayer Garden in the churchyard.

Details in the window showing the Lamb of God, the Pelican and the Greek monograms IHC and XPC (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

• Padbury also had a Methodist chapel, built as the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in 1876. The Old Chapel on Main Street has been since been converted in recent years into a private family home.

The Old Chapel on Main Street, Padbury, built as the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in 1876 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)