Following the Stations of the Cross in Lent 16: Longford 14: Jesus is placed in the tomb

Station 14 in Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford … Jesus is placed in the tomb (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Each morning in Lent, as part of my meditations and reflections for Lent this year, I am being guided by the Stations of the Cross from three locations.

The idea for this series of morning Lenten meditations came from reading about Peter Walker’s new exhibition, ‘Imagining the Crucifixion,’ inspired by the Stations of the Cross, which opened in Lichfield Cathedral last month and continues throughout Lent.

Throughout Lent, my meditations each morning are inspired by three sets of Stations of the Cross that I have found either inspiring or unusual. They are the stations in Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, at Saint John’s Well on a mountainside near Millstreet, Co Cork, and in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield.

In my meditations, I am drawing on portions of the Stabat Mater, the 12th century hymn of the Crucifixion (‘At the cross her station keeping’) attributed to the Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi. Some prayers are traditional, some are from the Book of Common Prayer, and other meditations and prayers are by Canon Frank Logue and the Revd Victoria Logue of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.

For two weeks, I am looking at the 14 Stations of the Cross in Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, sculpted by Ken Thompson in Bath stone with chisel and mallet, with lettering inspired by the work of Eric Gill and haloes picked out in gold leaf.

He uses blue to give a background dimension that works almost like a shadow in itself, providing the foreground figures with greater relief. The bright gold leaf haloes establish the central image of Christ as well as his mother and disciples or saints.

Rather than using the traditional title for each station, the text at the foot of each panel is allusive. He has chosen two lines of scripture for each panel, cut them in lettering inspired by Eric Gill, and highlighted them in terracotta.

Station 14: Jesus is placed in the tomb

When Christ is laid in the tomb in Station XIV, the panel is luminous, the lidded grave is finished like a tablecloth. The Virgin Mary, hands crossed as if she were about to approach the Altar at the Eucharist to receive the Body of Christ, watches as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus gently lay Christ’s body in the grave.

Through the door of the tomb, we can see the empty Cross, on the hill of Calvary. On the hill, seven Spring daffodils are blooming once again as signs of hope springing up. Seven is the number of completeness and perfection, both physical and spiritual: there are seven days of creation. God’s work is complete and God rests on the seventh day; now Christ is to rest in the grave on the seventh day, his work is complete.

On the lintel are inscribed the initials NIKA. A common Greek acronym or Christogram is ICXC NIKA, meaning ‘Jesus Christ is Victorious.’

An angel descends from the Heavens with a scroll bearing the word ‘Gloria.’ During the Liturgies throughout Lent, it is traditional to omit the doxology or Gloria at the end of Psalms and Canticles. But we resume this use at Easter, joining the angels in their joy at the Resurrection.

The inscription in terracotta capital letters at the base of this station are the words: ‘Why Seek You the Living Among the Dead,’ a phrase that moves us from the death of the Cross on Good Friday to the life of the Resurrection on Easter morning.

Early on Sunday morning, before dawn on the first day of the week, the women come to the tomb with spices they have prepared. But they find the stone has been rolled away from the tomb, there is no body, and two men in dazzling clothes ask them ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen’ (Luke 24: 5). There is a similar greeting in the other two Synoptic Gospels: ‘He is not here; for he has been raised’ (Matthew 28: 6); ‘He has been raised; he is not here’ (Mark 16: 6).

From Stabat Mater:

Jesus Christ, crucified, have mercy on us!
By the cross with thee to stay,
There with thee to weep and pray,
Is all I ask of thee to give.

Meditation:

Cold stone. A shroud. Darkness.
Sabbath rest at last.
The disciples gather in fear.
A grain of wheat waits for spring.

Prayers:

Alpha and Omega, you are beginning and end. In death you conquered death so that even at the grave we praise your name. Help us to find you as the way, the truth and the life and to lead others out of darkness and into your light. This we pray in the name of Jesus, our crucified Lord, the King of Glory, the King of Peace. Amen.

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, your body is prepared for burial. Joseph gave you his own tomb. He laid your body there and rolled a large stone in front of it, then went home. What a sad day it has been for so many people.

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honour of your Name. Amen.

A prayer before walking to the next station:

Holy God,
Holy and mighty Holy immortal one,
Have mercy on us.

Tomorrow: Introducing the Millstreet Stations of the Cross.

Yesterday’s reflection

The Burial of Christ … a 15th century painting in the Chiesa di San Francesco, the Franciscan church in San Marino (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The legacy of old garages and old names in Rathkeale

O’Grady’s Garage in Rathkeale, Co Limerick … a surviving example of the functional architecture from the last century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

I spent the last two working days in Rathkeale, visiting the school, at committee and board meetings and visiting parishioners.

Last night’s sunset, looking west along the River Deel from the bridge that links Main Street and Church Street, seemed so calm and peaceful that it gave no warning of the snows and storms that were about to come today, cancelling my plans to go to Dublin this afternoon and cancelling a conference I was to co-chair in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute on Friday .

Those two days gave me some time to walk through the town and to appreciate more of the domestic and commercial architecture of the town.

Earlier this month, I was quoted in the Guardian for my reminiscences and childhood memories of Lehane’s Garage in Cappoquin, Co Waterford, in a feature on ‘Ireland’s vanishing 'quirky’ shopfronts – in pictures.’ So, it was difficult not to be reminded of that garage once again as I stood outside O’Grady’s former garage in Thomas Street, Rathkeale.

This is an attached, three-bay two-storey garage, built around 1940. It has a stepped concrete parapet with raised lettering in relief on the front (west elevation). There is a rendered wall at the front, square-headed openings with fixed timber windows, square-headed openings on the ground floor with timber battened double-doors, and one with an over-light. The building also has a corrugated-iron barrel roof.

This building, like the former cinema on the Main Street, are surviving examples of the functional architecture that was prevalent in Irish towns in the last century. The stepped gable, with its lettering and horizontal emphasis, are all characteristic features of the architecture of this era.

Welcome to Wolfe’s Burgess in Rathkeale, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Meanwhile, some of the placenames in this part of west Limerick continue to intrigue me. The east end of the bridge on the River Deel and the west end of the Main Street are in a townland with the name of English Tenements, while there are two townlands in Rathkeale named Wolfe’s Burgess or Wolfeburgess: Wolfeburgess West and Wolfeburgess East.

There is a reference to Wolfeburgess during the Elizabethan plantation, when the land belonging to Sir Patrick Woulfe who died in a rebellion.

After the military and political defeat of Desmond power in this part of Munster, Henry Billingsley was granted much of the land in the Rathkeale area. But in 1588, Edmund Wolfe of Ballywilliam claimed these lands as his ancient property, including ‘ten gardens and ten tenements in Rachkelly,’ perhaps including parts of Wolfe’s Burgess. Shane Mac Patrick Voulfe of Co Limerick, who was pardoned in 1590, was pardoned again ten years later as ‘John Woolf of Ballywilliam, Gentleman.’

Patrick Woolf held 50 acres from the Earl of Cork at Moneregan near Rathkeale in 1630. The family probably continued to live in the area into the 18th century, for Francis Woulfe of Askeaton, a merchant, died in 1730. The family is still remembered in the names of the two townlands known as Wolfeburgess.

Sunset in the English Tenements … the River Deel in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)