Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 84, Stained Glass in Carmelite Churches

Saint John of the Cross by Phyllis Burke in Saint Teresa’s Church, Clarendon Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

Before the day gets busy, I am taking a little time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. Each morning in the time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

My theme this week has been churches in the Carmelite tradition, and my photographs this morning (21 August 2021) are of eight stained-glass windows in two of the churches and chapels I have been describing this week.

The Carmelites as Educationalists (top) and the the Carmelites as Missionaries (below), two windows by Phyllis Burke in the chapel of Terenure College (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

The eight stained-glass windows I have selected this morning are from the Chapel in Terenure College and Saint Teresa’s Church in Clarendon Street, Dublin.

Phyllis Burke was born in Newbridge, Co Kildare, and was one of the early students of Johnny Murphy, later of Murphy-Devitt Studios, and her work has been compared with Patrick Pye and Patrick Pollen. She was married to the architect Arthur Gibney.

Phyllis Burke developed a particular interest in Carmelite spirituality. She created windows in the Carmelite churches in Clarendon Street and Loughrea, and when Frances Briggs died in 2006, she completed the final two windows in Terenure College Chapel.

Among her 12 windows in Saint Teresa’s Church, Clarendon Street, this morning’s posting include the windows depicting the Prophet Elijah or Elias (1991), Saint John of the Cross (1993) and Edith Stein or Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (2006), a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun.

Her window in Clarendon Street depicting Edith Stein (1891-1942), who was murdered in Auschwitz, sets her within the context of the Holocaust. The images in this window include the ‘Old Testament’ sacrifice; Christ presenting the Cross to Sister Edith, both in the line of Nazi fire; a train going ‘east’ to Auschwitz; the sacrificial Lamb; and a luminous Star of David. Martyr palms and German cornflowers complete her design.

Her windows in Terenure College depict the Carmelites as Missionaries (2007-2008) and the Carmelites as Educationalists (2007-2008), an appropriate theme for a college chapel.

Frances Biggs created a series of windows in the side chapels in Terenure College between 1986 and 2001. This morning’s selection from her windows depict Elijah Prophet of Mount Carmel, Saint John of the Cross and Saint Titus Brandsma (1986).

Frances Biggs was born in Salthill, Galway, and has been described as a ‘musician in glass.’ For 40 years she was a member of the RTÉ Orchestra. Her husband was the sculptor Michael Biggs, and together they created some of the most impressive ecclesiastic art of recent decades – he in stone and she in stained glass or tapestries – in churches such as Saint Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan, Gonzaga College Chapel, Ranelagh, and the chapel in Terenure College.

Her window of Saint John of the Cross took me aback when I first saw it last week. This window was presented by the Stafford family in memory of their mother Sadie Stafford, who died on 19 June 1987. I was last in the chapel in this chapel for her funeral, and her son, the late John Stafford, who died last year, had been one of my closest childhood friends.

This window depicts Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), who ranks among the greatest Spanish poets, and the first of his great poems, ‘Dark Night.’ It shows the lover, in Carmelite garb, leaving his house in darkness, throwing all his cares among the lilies, setting out on the mystical journey. The poem comes to life among vivid colours that describe the light burned in his heart amid the night more lovely than the dawn.

The window of Saint Titus Brandsma (1881-1942) is in the Chapel of the Martyrs, which commemorates Titus Brandsma, Edith Stein, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maximilian Kolbe, Maria Skobtsova, Martin Luther King, Janani Luwum, Oscar Romero, and Jerzy Popieluszko: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones.’

Saint Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite friar, was martyred in Dachau on 26 July 1942. In this window he is shown as a crucified figure, hanging from the bars of his cell window, holding the Eucharistic bread, which he concealed during a severe flogging. Around him is the mantle of Mary and the roses of Carmel. The rectangles at the end of the window suggest newspapers. As chaplain to the Catholic journalists in the Netherlands, he came into conflict with the Nazis when he refused to publish Nazi advertisements. An expert in the Carmelite mystics, he visited Terenure College in the summer of 1935 on his way to lecture in the US.

Saint John of the Cross (top) and the Prophet Elijah (below), two windows by Frances Biggs in the Chapel of Terenure College (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Matthew 23: 1-12 (NRSVA):

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; 3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practise what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. 6 They love to have the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have people call them rabbi. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. 9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father – the one in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Saint Titus Brandsma by Frances Biggs in the Chapel of Terenure College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (21 August 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, comprising 29 dioceses across South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and the island of St Helena.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Saint Edith Stein by Phyllis Burke in Saint Teresa’s Church, Clarendon Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

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

The Prophet Elijah or Elias by Phyllis Burke in Clarendon Street church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Friday reflections on the people of Afghanistan and the last Jew of Kabul

Zabulon Simantov, Afghanistan’s last remaining Jew, was interviewed this week by the Indian television news network WION

Patrick Comerford

As Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban once again this week, I share the fears of many for the future of so many people in Afghanistan – women, young girls, the educated, liberal Muslims, and religious minorities, including the Shia minority among Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, and the last remaining Jew in Kabul.

Afghanistan’s last known remaining Jew has refused attempts to evacuate him from Kabul in the last day or two following the Taliban takeover earlier this week. Zabulon Simantov (62) initially agreed to be evacuated, but then changed his mind, according to reports that spoke of an aborted rescue mission.

Legends claim that Balkh was the burial place of the prophet Ezekiel and the home of the prophet Jeremiah. There is a tradition among the Pashtuns of Afghanistan that they are descended from the exiled lost tribes of Israel. Interest in the topic was revived recently by a Jerusalem anthropologist, Professor Shalva Weil, who was quoted in the popular press to the effect that the ‘Taliban may be descended from Jews.’

Legends aside, a Jewish presence flourished in eastern Afghanistan from about the 7th century. Afghanistan was once home to an estimated 40,000 Jews, centred in Herat, an oasis city along the ancient Silk Road. That number dwindled to fewer than 5,000 by the middle of the 20th century, as the community faced persecution from successive regimes that, influenced partly by Nazi propaganda and beliefs that Jews were ‘Bolshevik agents,’ restricted where they could live and work.

The Jewish presence in Afghanistan virtually disappeared from the 1950s, with its emigration to Israel, India, Britain and the US. When the Taliban first came to power in 1996, the Jewish population had dwindled to single digit numbers.

In an interview with the Indian news network WION three days ago, Zabulon Simantov said that while he had the opportunity to flee to the US, he had decided to remain behind to look after Afghanistan’s last standing synagogue.

Earlier this year, he told Arab News he would leave Afghanistan after the High Holy Days, which begin on Rosh Hashanah next month (6 September).

His wife, a Jew from Tajikistan, and their two daughters have lived in Israel since 1998. But Simantov stayed on in Afghanistan to look after its last remaining synagogue in Kabul, through decades of violence and political turmoil.

Zabulon Simantov, a carpet and jewellery merchant, was born in Herat, once home to hundreds of Jews. He eventually moved to Kabul but fled to Tajikistan in 1992 before returning to Kabul. Since then, he has lived the synagogue – which he has renovated– in the heart of Kabul’s flower district.

Should he leave Kabul, the synagogue will close, bringing to an end Jewish life in Afghanistan after 1,500 to 2,000 years … or more.

He became the country’s last Jew when Yitzhak Levi died in 2005. The pair famously did not get along and in 1998 Levi wrote to the Taliban interior minister to accuse Simantov of theft of Jewish relics. Simantov retorted by telling the Taliban that Levi ran a secret brothel where he sold alcohol. The Taliban jailed both men, but eventually released them when they continued to fight in prison.

Their story inspired Michael J Flexer’s play My Brother’s Keeper, staged by the Apikoros Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006. The play tells the tale of the last two remaining Jews in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. They harbour a bitter hatred for one another, born out of their enforced co-habitation in a small, dilapidated synagogue, and spend the duration of the play feuding in fiery fashion.

Michael J Flexer told interviewers at the time that he had ‘tried to infuse the play with that feisty yet phlegmatic Jewish gallows humour,’ and that he wanted the play to get across the idiocy of religious intolerance: ‘The comedy comes from the fact that, in this case, there was only one religion involved!’

However, in the past week, comedy has given way to disturbing reality, and fears grow for everyone with the return of Taliban rule.



In the Hebrew calendar, this is the Jewish month of Elul (אֱלוּל‎), which comes before the month of Tishrei, when Jewish communities celebrate the High Holy Days, including Rosh Hashanah, which begins on Monday evening 7 September 2021, and Yom Kippur (Wednesday 15 September 2021).

As Elul is the last month in the Jewish yearly cycle, it is seen as a month of reflection on the previous year and as time to look forward to the coming new year.

As part of the preparation in Elul for the High Holy Days, it is also customary to recite Psalm 27 every day from Rosh Hodesh Elul until Hoshanah Rabbah (21 Tishrei, 27 September 2021).

In my reflections this Friday evening, I am reading Psalm 27, the psalm said by many during the month of Elul, and an appropriate Psalm to read as we contemplate the fears of many people in Afghanistan this week:

Psalm 27:

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
they shall stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.

4 One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.

5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.

6 Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 ‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
10 If my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me up.

11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.

13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

Shabbat Shalom

A Shofar in the Beth-El Synagogue near Bunclody, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)