13 March 2017

Lenten studies in Saint John’s
Gospel (2), John 4: 5-42:
the Samaritan woman at the well

The Samaritan Woman at the Well ... an icon in the Church of Aghios Nikolaos in Vathy on the Greek island of Samos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Introduction:

The Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, the Right Revd Dr Kenneth Kearon, has issued a Lent Challenge to this diocese. The challenge is to use a form of Daily Prayer every day during Lent this year [2017]. In the diocesan magazine, Newslink, he has provided an order for Daily Prayer, together with Daily Readings and Collects.

We are invited to find a quiet time each day in a comfortable chair, to pray and to read a Bible reading, either alone or with someone else.

The challenge began on Ash Wednesday [1 March 2017], with the lectionary reading for that day (Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21), and has continued each day since, with readings from Saint John’s Gospel.

I have invited parishioners to the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick, each Monday evening in Lent, to look at the bishop’s suggested Bible reading for that day, and to pray using his suggested form of prayer.

Last Monday [6 March 2017], we looked at the story of the Wedding at Cana in John 2: 1-12. This evening [13 March 2017], we are looking at the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4: 5-42).

John 4: 5-42

5 ἔρχεται οὖν εἰς πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας λεγομένην Συχὰρ, πλησίον τοῦ χωρίου ὃ ἔδωκεν Ἰακὼβ Ἰωσὴφ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ. 6 ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ πηγὴ τοῦ Ἰακώβ. ὁ οὖν Ἰησοῦς κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ἐκαθέζετο οὕτως ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ· ὥρα ἦν ὡσεὶ ἕκτη.

7 ἔρχεται γυνὴ ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρείας ἀντλῆσαι ὕδωρ. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Δός μοι πιεῖν. 8 οἱ γὰρ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπεληλύθεισαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ἵνα τροφὰς ἀγοράσωσι. 9 λέγει οὖν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις· Πῶς σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ὢν παρ' ἐμοῦ πιεῖν αἰτεῖς, οὔσης γυναικὸς Σαμαρείτιδος ; οὐ γὰρ συγχρῶνται Ἰουδαῖοι Σαμαρείταις. 10 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι, δός μοι πιεῖν, σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας αὐτὸν, καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν. 11 λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή· Κύριε, οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις, καὶ τὸ φρέαρ ἐστὶ βαθύ· πόθεν οὖν ἔχεις τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ζῶν; 12 μὴ σὺ μείζων εἶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰακώβ, ὃς ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὸ φρέαρ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιε καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ; 13 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν· 14 ὃς δ' ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ δώσω αὐτῷ, γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. 15 λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ γυνή· Κύριε, δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, ἵνα μὴ διψῶ μηδὲ ἔρχομαι ἐνθάδε ἀντλεῖν.

16 λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ὕπαγε φώνησον τὸν ἄνδρα σου καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐνθάδε. 17 ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ καὶ εἶπεν· Οὐκ ἔχω ἄνδρα. λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω· 18 πέντε γὰρ ἄνδρας ἔσχες, καὶ νῦν ὃν ἔχεις οὐκ ἔστι σου ἀνήρ· τοῦτο ἀληθὲς εἴρηκας. 19 λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή· Κύριε, θεωρῶ ὅτι προφήτης εἶ σύ. 20 οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν· καὶ ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐστὶν ὁ τόπος ὅπου δεῖ προσκυνεῖν. 21 λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Γύναι, πίστευσόν μοι ὅτι ἔρχεται ὥρα ὅτε οὔτε ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ οὔτε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις προσκυνήσετε τῷ πατρί. 22 ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε, ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν· ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν. 23 ἀλλ' ἔρχεται ὥρα, καὶ νῦν ἐστιν, ὅτε οἱ ἀληθινοὶ προσκυνηταὶ προσκυνήσουσι τῷ πατρὶ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ τοιούτους ζητεῖ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν. 24 πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν. 25 λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή· Οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας ἔρχεται ὁ λεγόμενος Χριστός· ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐκεῖνος, ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν πάντα. 26 λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι, ὁ λαλῶν σοι.

27 καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἦλθαν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐθαύμασαν ὅτι μετὰ γυναικὸς ἐλάλει· οὐδεὶς μέντοι εἶπε, τί ζητεῖς ἤ τί λαλεῖς μετ' αὐτῆς; 28 Ἀφῆκεν οὖν τὴν ὑδρίαν αὐτῆς ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ λέγει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· 29 Δεῦτε ἴδετε ἄνθρωπον ὃς εἶπέ μοι πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησα· μήτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός; 30 ἐξῆλθον οὖν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτόν.

31 Ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταξὺ ἠρώτων αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· Ραββί, φάγε. 32 ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐγὼ βρῶσιν ἔχω φαγεῖν, ἣν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε. 33 ἔλεγον οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους· Μή τις ἤνεγκεν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν; 34 λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐμὸν βρῶμά ἐστιν ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με καὶ τελειώσω αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔργον. 35 οὐχ ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἔτι τετράμηνός ἐστι καὶ ὁ θερισμὸς ἔρχεται; ἰδοὺ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐπάρατε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν καὶ θεάσασθε τὰς χώρας, ὅτι λευκαί εἰσι πρὸς θερισμόν. ἤδη. 36 καὶ ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει καὶ συνάγει καρπὸν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἵνα καὶ ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων. 37 ἐν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀληθινὸς, ὅτι ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων. 38 ἐγὼ ἀπέστειλα ὑμᾶς θερίζειν ὃ οὐχ ὑμεῖς κεκοπιάκατε· ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασι, καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθατε.

39 Ἐκ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης πολλοὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν Σαμαρειτῶν διὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς γυναικὸς, μαρτυρούσης ὅτι εἶπέ μοι πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησα. 40 ὡς οὖν ἦλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ Σαμαρεῖται, ἠρώτων αὐτὸν μεῖναι παρ' αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἔμεινεν ἐκεῖ δύο ἡμέρας. 41 καὶ πολλῷ πλείους ἐπίστευσαν διὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ, 42 τῇ τε γυναικὶ ἔλεγον ὅτι οὐκέτι διὰ τὴν σὴν λαλιὰν πιστεύομεν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκηκόαμεν, καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου.

Translation:

5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ 11 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ 13 Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ 15 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 17 The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ 19 The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 21 Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ 25 The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ 26 Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ 28 Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ 33 So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’

A traditional Greek Orthodox icon of Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well

Introduction:

This Gospel passage is one of the readings in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) for next Sunday, the Third Sunday in Lent (19 March 2017), are: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5: 1-11; John 4: 5-42.

The Gospel story is a story that should be familiar to each of us – the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.

The Samaritans are religious and cultural outsiders for the Jewish people in the New Testament period. Although these two people share the same land, the Samaritans are strangers and outsiders. Although they share faith in the same God and share the same Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the Samaritans are seen as having a different religion. But Jesus tries to break down those barriers.

For example, the Good Samaritan is not a stranger but is the very best example of a good neighbour (Luke 10: 29-37). Among the Ten Lepers who are healed, only the Samaritan returns to give thanks, and this “foreigner” is praised for his faith (Luke 17: 11-19).

The Samaritan woman at the well:

In this story in Saint John’s Gospel, the Disciples are already doing something unusual: they have gone into the city to buy food; but this is no ordinary city – this is a Samaritan city, and any food they might buy from Samaritans is going to be unclean according to Jewish ritual standards.

While the Disciples are in Sychar, Jesus sits down by Jacob’s Well, and begins talking with a Samaritan woman who comes to the well for water. And their conversation becomes a model for how we respond to the stranger in our midst, whether they are foreigners or people of a different religion or culture.

Jesus presents the classical Jewish perception of what Samaritans believe and how they worship. The Samaritans accepted only the first five books of the Bible – the Pentateuch or Torah – as revealed scripture. For their part, Jews of the day pilloried this Samaritan refusal to accept more than the first five books of the Bible by claiming the Samaritans worshipped not one the one God revealed in the five books but five gods. Jesus alludes to this – with a sense of humour – when he says the woman had five husbands.

In other circumstances, a Jewish man would have refused to talk to a Samaritan woman or to accept a drink form her hands; any self-respecting Samaritan woman would have felt she had been slighted by these comments and walked away immediately. Instead, the two continue in their dialogue: they talk openly and humorously with one another, and listen to one another.

Jesus gets to know the woman and she gets to know Jesus.

All dialogue involves both speaking and listening – speaking with the expectation that we will be heard, and listening honestly to what the other person is saying rather than listening to what our prejudices tell us they ought to say.

When the Disciples arrive back, they are filled with a number of questions but are so shocked by what is happening before them that they remain silent. Their silence reflects their inability to reach out to the stranger.

But there are other hints at their failure and their prejudices: the woman gives and receives water as she and Christ talk, but they fail to return with bread for Christ to eat and they fail to feed into the conversation about faith and about life.

They are still questioning and unable to articulate their faith, but the woman at least recognises Christ as a Prophet. They made no contact with the people in Sychar, but she rushes back to tell the people there about Jesus. No one in the city was brought to Jesus by the disciples, but many Samaritans listened to what the woman had to say.

The Lenten link

‘I am thirsty.’ This is the fifth of the seven last words and is traditionally called ‘The Word of Distress.’ Commentators regularly compare the thirst of Christ on the Cross with the request he makes to the Samaritan woman at the Well of Sychar: ‘Give me a drink’ (John 4: 7), and the promise that follows: ‘those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty’ (John 4: 14).

In expressing his thirst out loud in that cry from the cross, Christ shows his humanity and his humility. In expressing such a basic need, he shows his solidarity with all those in humanity, living or dying, healthy or sick, great or small, who are in need and who in humility are forced to ask for a cup of water (see Matthew 10: 42).

Saint John tells us Christ spoke these words, ‘I am thirsty,’ ‘in order to fulfil the Scripture’ (John 19: 28). Once again, the dying Christ calls out drawing on the words of Psalm 22: ‘My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death’ (Psalm 22: 15). And again, later in the Psalms, we hear the words: ‘and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink’ (Psalm 69: 21).

The Psalmist’s words treat of physical thirst. But on the lips of Christ on the Cross they give a messianic perspective to his suffering.

In his thirst, the dying Christ seeks a drink quite different from water or vinegar, as when he asks the Samaritan woman at the well: ‘Give me a drink’ (John 4: 7). Physical thirst on that occasion was the symbol and the path to another thirst – the thirst that leads to the conversion of the Samaritan woman.

On the cross, Christ thirsts for a new humanity to be formed and shaped through his incarnation, life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension, and that looks for his coming again.

The thirst of the cross, on the lips of the dying Christ, is the ultimate expression of that desire of baptism to be received into the Kingdom of God. Now that desire is about to be fulfilled. With those words, Christ confirms the ardent love with which he desires to receive that supreme ‘baptism’ to open to all of us the fountain of water which really quenches the thirst and saves (see John 4: 13-14).

A note on tradition

Orthodox tradition names the woman at the well in John 4 as Saint Photini (Svetlana in Russian), and honours her as ‘Equal to the Apostles.’ Her name means ‘light,’ because she received the light from the Christ the Light-Giver, and she spread it wherever she went.

It is said that she was baptised after the resurrection.

Her two sons, Victor and Josiah, and her five sisters, Anatolia, Phota, Photida, Paraskeva and Kyriake, all followed her into faith in Christ and her zealous apostolic witness, ministry and mission. They went to Carthage in North Africa, and there they were arrested for sharing the Gospel. They were taken to Rome to suffer before Nero.

It is also said that Saint Photini brought Nero’s daughter, Domnina, to faith in Christ. All of them were martyred after being cast into prison and being tortured at the hands of Nero’s officers.

Because of her testimony, it is said, Saint Photini was thrown into a well, and buried alive in Smyrna (Izmir) in Anatolia, the location of one of the Seven Churches of the Book of Revelation. And so she entered into the Kingdom of the never-ending Day of the Lord.

Points for discussion:

The Samaritan Woman at the Well is known in Orthodox tradition as Saint Photini

The conversation between Christ and the Samaritan woman is a model for all our encounters with people we see as different or as strangers.

Am I like the Disciples, and too hesitant to go over and engage in conversation with the stranger who is at the same well, in the same shop, at the same bus stop?

If I am going to enter into conversation with the stranger, am I open to listening to them, to talking openly and honestly with them about where they come from and what they believe?

When the conversation is over, will they remain strangers?

How open am I to new friendships?

Next week (Monday, 20 March 2017): John 7: 13-46.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Priest-in Charge, the Rathkeale and Askeaton Group of Parishes. This essay is based on notes prepared for a Lenten Bible study in Askeaton Rectory on Monday 13 March 2017.

A sunny afternoon by the Shannon
and the ruins of Beagh Castle

The ruined coastguard cottages with the tower of Beagh Castle in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday was a busy morning, presiding at the Eucharist in Castletown Church, leading Morning Prayer, and preaching in both churches. A large stretch of the estuary of the River Shannon flows through the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes, and after lunch, two of us decided to go for a walk along the banks of the Shannon estuary in Ballysteen, about six or seven km north of Askeaton.

The Ballysteen area was once known as Iverus, taking it is name from the Celtic tribe of Uibh Rossa who once lived in this area. As we headed north on Sunday afternoon [12 March 2017], we found ourselves at an old pier and quay on the river bank, looking out across the river towards Shannon Airport, and below the ruins of an ancient castle that has a chequered and colourful history dating back to the Vikings, and that is rich with stories about the mediaeval Knights of Glin and the Waller family who built Castletown Church.

Beagh Castle near Ballysteen stands on about 17 acres and on a promontory on the south side of the Shannon, with long views stretching up and down river, and north across the river estuary to Shannon Airport.

Looking across to Shannon Airport through ruined remains at Beagh Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Local people believe Beagh (‘bay’) Castle stands on the site of a Viking settlement. According to the legend, a Viking prince returned to this point on the shore following his conversion to Christianity and built a chapel here in the 820s.

Beagh Castle is said to have been built by the FitzGeralds of Desmond as an outpost fortification in the 13th century on the site of the earlier Viking fortification.

Later Beagh Castle passed to the Knights of Glin, perhaps as early as 1260. John FitzGerald, 1st Lord Desmond, was the father of Sir John FitzJohn FutzGerald, the first Knight of Glin, who received the castles of Glincarbery and Beagh, Co Limerick, and Beagh Castle remained in the hands of the Knights of Glin for three centuries.

In 1569, Thomas FitzGerald, the 15th Knight of Glin, was executed in Limerick. His mother, who was present at his execution, seized his head when he was beheaded and drank his blood. She then collected the parts of his dismembered body and put them in a linen sheet. When she set out for home with his body she was followed by a large funeral cortege, including 100 keening women.

At some point east of Foynes, perhaps near Beagh Castle and Askeaton, some soldiers tried to seize the dead knight, and in the battle that ensued, many people were slain. The funeral continued, and his body buried in Lislaughtin Abbey, west of Tarbert.

The ruined arch at the entrance to Beagh Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The castle was still held by Edmond FitzThomas FitzGerald, the 14th Knight of Glin, in 1573. But Beagh Castle was confiscated soon after, and in 1578 the castle was handed over to William Drury.

In 1657, the castle was awarded to Sir Hardress Waller (1604-1666), a prominent Cromwellian who was condemned to death three years later for his part in the regicide of Charles I.

As an MP, Waller was knighted by Charles I in 1629. That year, he married Elizabeth Dowdall, the daughter of a landowner in Ireland and he acquired a large estate in Castletown in Kilcornan, Co Limerick.

Waller fought against the against Irish rebels in the 1640s, and he was with Charles I at Oxford in 1643 to present a petition before returning to Ireland to continue his military role under Lord Inchiquin. In 1644, he became the Governor of Cork. But back in Ireland he changed sides and returned to England to take up a command in the Parliamentarian army.

From 1645 until the end of the English Civil War, he commanded a regiment in the New Model Army in England. He was Colonel Pride’s chief assistant when Pride purged the House of Commons in 1648.

Waller as one of the king’s judges and one of those who signed the death warrant. After Charles I was executed in 1649, Waller returned to Ireland, and in 1650 he was a major-general in Cromwell’s force.

When Cromwell returned to England in May 1650, Waller stayed behind in Ireland and joined Henry Ireton and Edmund Ludlow in their campaigns of subjugation. He captured Carlow Castle in July 1650, played a major role in the siege of Limerick in 1651, and became Governor of Limerick.

Waller remained loyal to Cromwell throughout the 1650s, and was MP for Co Clare, Co Limerick and Co Kerry in the Protectorate Parliaments of 1654, 1656 and 1659. He persisted as a Cromwellian republican even in the late 1650s, and he led the officers who seized Dublin Castle in Parliament’s name in December 1659.

Waller seized Dublin Castle once again on 15 February 1660, but with little support he was forced to surrender three days later. He was jailed in Athlone, and then sent to England as a prisoner. After the Restoration of Charles II, he fled to France, but was returned to stand trial as a regicide.

Waller was sentenced to death, but his life was spared through the intervention of his friends. He remained a prisoner and died in jail in Jersey in 1666.

A year later, his widowed daughter Elizabeth married her second husband, Sir William Petty, and she later became Baroness Shelburne in her own right. Her descendants included William FitzMaurice, later William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne and 2nd Earl of Shelburne, who was Prime Minister in 1782-1783.

John Waller (1763-1836) of Castetown Manor provided the site and endowed the building of Castletown Church in 1831 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Sir Hardress Waller’s grandson, John Waller, was the grandfather of John Waller (1763-1836) of Castetown Manor who was an MP for Co Limerick then for Kilmallock, when he voted against the Act of Union. In 1831, he provided the site and endowed the building of Castletown Church, where I began my day yesterday.

When John Waller died in 1836, he was buried in the Waller Vault in Castletown cemetery, and was succeeded by his brother, Bolton Waller (1769-1854) of Castletown. Bolton Waller’s son and heir, the Revd William Waller, held a large estate Castletown and Kilcornan. He in turn was the father of the Revd Thomas John Waller of Castletown and Rector of Kilcornan, who owned 6,636 acres in Co Limerick in the 1870s. John Thomas Waller, the grandson of the Revd Thomas Waller, sold Castletown in 1936, and the house was levelled to the ground in the 1940s.

The quay and pier below Beagh Castle, on the south bank of the estuary of the River Shannon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Meanwhile, Beagh castle served as a defensive outpost on the Shannon during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century.

On 23 May 1827, 25 people took a boat from Beagh Castle to collect seaweed for manure on the islands in the river. But the weather changed, and 12 of them decided to remain on one of the islands while other 13, 11 men and two women, set sail in a violent gale of wind and a heavy sea. The boat was overloaded, and all 13 drowned, their bodies washed ashore in the course of 15 minutes.

In one family alone, nine children were orphaned. On the same day, a sailboat foundered near the mouth of the Deel River, but the crew were rescued and brought to safety at Askeaton.

Later, from 1835 to 1860, the castle served as a coastguard station and five cottages were built beside it for the coastguard officers. There was a quay at Beagh from around 1840, and during this period, the castle was painted by Samuel Brocas in the 1840s, while Commander James Wolfe mentioned the castle ruins in his Sailing Directions for the Shannon Estuary around 1848.

There was a proposal in 1850 to locate the Transatlantic Packet Station off Beagh Castle, but instead the choice went to the then small town of Southampton.

In his Sights and Scenes in our Fatherland (1863), Thomas Lacy of Wexford wrote of a passage down the estuary from Limerick, passing the ‘old ruin’ of Beagh Castle and the coastguard station.

The English architect, Edward William Godwin (1833-1886) visited Beagh Castle in 1869 while he was carrying out research for Dromore Castle, Co Limerick, on behalf of the Earl of Limerick.

The pier adjoining the castle was used as a stopping point for the Shannon packet steamer in the late 19th and early 20th century. To facilitate this, the road was extended to meet the quay and the quay was rebuilt in 1904 with rusticated, snecked limestone retaining walls, a limestone slipway, a parapet wall to the west elevation of the pier, limestone bollards to the east and cast iron bollards along the main quay.

Beagh Castle was recently placed on the market for the first time since 1969 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

In 1969, an Italian count and his American-born wife bought the castle at auction and they gave it as a gift it to their daughter, the latest owner.

In 2009, she got planning permission from Limerick County Council to convert the ruined coastguard cottages on the site into five holiday homes and a management office. The trade-off for the planning permission was that the future of Beagh Castle as a ruin would be safeguarded.

In recent years, Beagh Castle was for offered for sale by private treaty with a guide price of €299,000, later reduced to €275,000. The sale was being carried out through Helen Cassidy, auctioneer and valuer, of Clonbur House, Co Galway.

Along with the castle, the site included 17 acres of grazing land around on which the castle stands as well as the row of ruined coastguard cottages. Shannon Airport, its fuel tanks and the fuel jetty could be seen clearly on the other side of the river.

The ruined castle remains an imposing tower house and is a recorded monument and protected structure, with the row of former coastguard cottages tumbling down the hill beside it to the entrance arch.

Beagh Castle is a popular spot on sunny days, and I believe it is possible to swim in the shallow water at the pier when the tide is in. But on this sunny Sunday afternoon we were content to walk along the pier and the quay and to explore the ruins of the castle and the coastguard cottages.

The Shannon Estuary spreads out below Beagh Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017; click on image for full-screen view)

Praying in Lent 2017 with USPG,
(16) Monday 13 March 2017

Katharine Hamilton of USPG travelled to Lesotho in 2014 when she six months pregnant to discover what the Anglican Church is doing to support expectant mothers at Saint James’ Hospital, Mantsonyane, Lesotho

Patrick Comerford

The Lenten studies, taking up Bishop Kenneth Kearon’s challenge to the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, continue this evening [13 March 2017] in the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick. We are working our way through his challenge to read a Gospel passage and to pray, using the programme he has provided in the diocesan magazine, Newslink.

This evening, we are looking at the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well (see John 4: 1-42).

The Lent 2017 edition of the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) follows the theme of the USPG Lent study course, ‘Living an Authentic Life.’

I using this Prayer Diary for my prayers and reflections each morning throughout Lent. Why not join me in these prayers and reflections, for just a few moments each morning?

In the articles and prayers in the prayer diary, USPG invites us to investigate what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The Lent study course, ‘Living an Authentic Life’ (available online or to order at www.uspg.org.uk/lent), explores the idea that discipleship and authenticity are connected.

This week, from Sunday (12 March) until next Saturday (18 March), the USPG Lent Prayer Diary follows the topic ‘How shall we live.’ The topic was introduced yesterday in an article in the Prayer Diary by Maropeng Moholoa, of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, who oversees a USPG-supported community development programme in Lesotho.

Monday 13 March 2017:

Give thanks for the USPG-supported development programme in Lesotho which is bringing congregations and communities together to tackle local challenges (see article).

Continued tomorrow

Yesterday’s reflection and prayer