With the Saints through Christmas (37): 31 January 2022, Bishop Charles Mackenzie

Bishop Charles Mackenzie, a key missionary figure in what has become the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG)

Patrick Comerford

Today looks like being another busy day, with a school assembly talk later this morning, and then travelling to Dublin later in the day for a dental appointment tomorrow. But, before this day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation, on Wednesday (2 February);

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This day in the Calendar of the Church of England and many other member churches of the Anglican Communion recalls Bishop Charles Mackenzie, a key missionary figure in what has become the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG).

Charles Frederick Frazier Mackenzie (1825-1862) was a Scottish-born Anglican bishop, and the first bishop in the British colonial territory of Central Africa.

He was born on 10 April 1825, at Portmore, Peeblesshire,in Scotland, the ninth son of Colin Mackenzie and Elizabeth Forbes. He was a brother of Anne Mackenzie, editor of The Net Cast in Many Waters: Sketches from the Life of Missionaries, London, 1866-1896.

He was educated at Bishop Wearmouth school and Edinburgh Academy, and entered Saint John’s College, Cambridge in 1844. He moved to Gonville and Caius College, where he graduated BA in 1848, and became a Fellow of Caius.

He was ordained priest in 1852 and was a curate in Haslingfield, near Cambridge (1851-1854). He went to Natal in South Africa with Bishop John Colenso in 1855, and there he served as Archdeacon of Natal. Mackenzie aroused opposition among the English settlers by agreeing with the bishop to wear a surplice and sharing Colenso’s demand that African Christians share full equality with white Christians in all Church affairs.

Illness forced Mackenzie to return to England briefly in 1859, and he used his time there to raise support for mission work.

Mackenzie became head of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa in 1860. UMCA was founded as a missionary society three years earlier by Anglicans in the universities of Cambridge, Dublin and Oxford. It was firmly in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, and the first to devolve authority to a bishop in the field rather than to a home committee. It was founded in response to a plea by David Livingstone, and the society established mission stations that became the bishoprics of Zanzibar and Nyasaland (now Malawi), and pioneered the training of black African priests.

Mackenzie was consecrated bishop in Saint George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, on New Year’s Day, 1 January 1861. Following David Livingstone’s request to Cambridge, Mackenzie took on the position of being the first missionary bishop in Nyasaland, now Malawi. At the time, he was known as the time (Missionary) Bishop in Central Africa.

Mackenzie moved from Cape Town, and sailed with Livingstone up the Zambezi and Shire rivers with a small group, including Horace Waller, to start work. He arrived at Chibisa’s village in June 1861 with the aim of setting up a mission station at Magomero, near Zomba, while Livingstone continued with his expedition.

Mackenzie worked for a year in the Manganja tribal territory, despite constant illness, breakdowns in communications and supply lines, and local tribal warfare. His direct opposition to the slave trade incurred the enmity of the Yao.

He worked among the people of the Manganja country until January 1862, when he went on a supplies trip with a few members of his party. The boat they were travelling on sank in the Shire River and their medical supplies were lost. Mackenzie’s malaria could not be treated, and he died of Blackwater fever on this day 160 years ago, 31 January 1862, on Malo Island in Portuguese East Africa.

He was buried at Chiromo. Livingstone erected a cross over his grave a year later.

UMCA marked its centenary in 1957 within the context of decolonisation. By then, UMCA was collaborating increasingly with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG). The two society’s merged in 1965, becoming USPG. USPG celebrated UMCA’s 150th anniversary in 2007, emphasising the continuing importance of global fellowship and mission.

Mark 5: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 7 and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ 8 For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ 9 Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ 10 He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; 12 and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake.

14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. 17 Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 But Jesus refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (31 January 2022, Charles Mackenzie) invites us to pray:

Today we give thanks for the life of Charles Mackenzie, and his work as leader of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa and Missionary Bishop of Central Africa.

Yesterday: Charles King and Martyr

Tomorrow: Saint Brigid

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

Bishop Charles Mackenziedied on 31 January 1862 he is a key figure in the history of USPG

Sunday intercessions, 30 January 2022, Epiphany IV, the Presentation

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Let us pray:

In peace let us pray to the Lord.

By the mystery of the Word made flesh
Good Lord, deliver us.

By the birth in time of the timeless Son of God
Good Lord, deliver us.

By the baptism of the Son of God in the river Jordan
Good Lord, deliver us.

For the kingdoms of this world,
that they may become the Kingdom of our Lord and Christ
We pray to you, O Lord.

For your holy, catholic and apostolic Church,
that it may be one
We pray to you, O Lord.

For the witness of your faithful people,
that they may be lights in the world
We pray to you, O Lord.

For the poor, the persecuted, the sick and all who suffer;
that they may be relieved and protected
We pray to you, O Lord.

For the aged, for refugees and all in danger,
that they may be strengthened and defended
We pray to you, O Lord.

For those who walk in darkness and in the shadow of death,
that they may come to your eternal light
We pray to you, O Lord.

Father, source of light and life,
Grant the prayers of your faithful people,
and fill the world with your glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace’ … a window in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Linking the joys of Christmas with the pain of Good Friday and the hopes of Easter

A detail of Harry Clarke’s ‘Presentation Window’ in Saint Flannan’s Church, Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 30 January (Epiphany 4, the Presentation):

11 a.m.: United Parish Eucharist, Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale.

Readings: Malachi 3: 1-5; Psalm 24: 1-10; Hebrews 2: 14-18; Luke 2: 22-40

‘The dawn from on high will break upon us , to give light to those who sit in darkness’ (Luke 2: 78-79) … a winter sunrise at the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen

This morning, we are using the readings and prayers for the Feast of the Presentation of Christ, which actually falls on Wednesday next (2 February 2022).

This celebration is known by several names over time, including the Presentation of Christ in the Temple; the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and Candlemas, as it is celebrated in many Anglican cathedrals and churches with the Candlemas Procession.

This feast, 40 days after Christmas, recalls how the Virgin Mary presents the Christ-Child to the priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. Because of the family’s poverty, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph bring two cheap doves or pigeons as their offering.

This feast is rich in meaning, with several related themes: the contrast between the poverty of this family and the richly-endowed Temple; the young Joseph and Mary with their first-born child and the old Simeon and Anna who are probably childless; the provincial home in Nazareth and the urbane sophistication of Jerusalem; the glory of one nation, Israel, and light for all nations, the Gentiles; the birth of a child and the expectation of death; darkness and light; new birth and impending death.

Candlemas is a ‘bitter-sweet’ feast. It calls for rejoicing with all in the Temple celebrating the hope and promise this new child brings. Yet Simeon speaks in prophetic words of the falling and rising of many and the sword that will pierce the Virgin Mary’s heart. His words remind us that Christmas is meaningless without the Passion and Easter.

This last festival of the Christmas cycle is pivotal as we shift from the cradle to the cross, from Christmas to Passiontide – Ash Wednesday and Lent are just four or five weeks away.

In this shift of mood, we take with us the light of Christ, a sure promise that Christ is the eternal light and the salvation of all humanity, throughout all ages.

Traditionally, Candlemas is the final day of the Christmas season. The liturgical colour changes from the White of rejoicing to the Green of ordinary, everyday life. This is the day that bridges the gap between Christmas and Lent, that bridges the gap between a time of celebration and a time of reflection, a time of joy and a time for taking stock once again.

This is an opportunity to take stock of where we are. After periods of recession and austerity, the economists tell us we have found light at the at the end of the tunnel.

Now, however, the debates about ‘post-Brexit’ relations with Britain and the long-term consequences of isolation during the Covid pandemic leave the majority of people with a new set of anxieties and uncertainties.

The lights of Christmas are dim and distant, and by this Candlemas most people in Ireland are living our very ordinary days with uncertainty, grasping for signs of hope, wondering how long we must remain in the dark.

How the Virgin Mary must have wept in her heart as in today’s Gospel story the old man Simeon hands back her child and warns her that a sword would pierce her heart (Luke 2: 35).

How many mothers are weeping in their hearts and clinging onto the rock of faith just by the end of their fingertips as their hearts, their souls, are pierced by a sword?

Mothers whose lives were held in slavery by fear (see Hebrews 2: 15).

Mothers who see their special needs children denied special needs assistants in our schools.

Mothers who see their children waiting, waiting too long, for care in our hospitals or to move from the uncertainty of hotel rooms or hostels to a house and a home.

Mothers who saw their graduate daughters and sons unable to find employment and have still not returned home.

Mothers whose silent weeping is not going to bring home their adult emigrant children and the grandchildren born in Australia or the US.

Mothers whose gay sons and lesbian daughters are beaten up on the streets just for the fun of it and are afraid if they come out that our Church can only offer tea and sympathy, at best, but moralising prejudice most of the time.

Mothers whose husbands are on low pay or dismissed as mere statistics in the figures for poverty.

Mothers whose adult children are caught up in substance abuse and have lost all hope for the future – for a future.

They know what TS Eliot calls ‘the certain hour of maternal sorrow.’ Like the Prophet in his poem A Song for Simeon, they ‘Wait for the wind that chills towards the dead land.’ And they know too how true Simeon’s words are for them this morning: ‘and a sword will pierce your soul too.’

If the Virgin Mary had known what grief would pierce her soul, would she have said ‘Yes’ to the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation?

Yet, in the midst of all this heartbreak, these mothers still cling on to the edge of the rock of faith by the edges of their fingernails. Wondering who hears their sobbing hearts and souls.

If they had known what grief would pierce their souls they would still have said yes, because they love their children, and no sword can kill that. They know too their children are immaculate conceptions, for their children too are conceived in a love for their world, our world, that is self-giving and sinless, and they continue to see the reflection and image of Christ in their children as they look into their eyes lovingly. Is that too not a truth and a hope at the heart of the Incarnation?

So often it is difficult to hold on to hope when our hearts are breaking and are pierced. So often it is difficult to keep the lights of our hearts burning brightly when everything is gloomy and dark. But Simeon points out that the Christ Child does not hold out any selfish hope for any one individual or one family … he is to be a light to the nations, to all of humanity.

And as our leaders – political, social, economic and financial leaders – search in the dark for the hope that will bring light back into our lives, we can remind ourselves that this search will have no purpose and it will offer no glimmer of hope unless it seeks more than selfish profit. This search must seek the good of all, it must seek to bring hope and light to all, not just here, but to all people and to all nations.

Who will speak out like the Prophet Malachi in our first reading ‘against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien,’ and do not fear the Lord God (Malachi 3: 5)?

This feast of Candlemas bridges the gap between Christmas and Lent; links the joy of the Christmas candles with the hope of the Pascal candle at Easter; invites us to move from celebration to reflection and preparation, and to think about the source of our hope, our inspiration, our enlightenment.

To paraphrase the words of Timothy Dudley-Smith’s hymn that draw on Simeon’s prophetic words, as we watch and wait in our faithful vigil for Christ’s glory in that Easter hope, may our doubting cease, may God’s silent, suffering people find deliverance and freedom from oppression, may his servants find peace, may he complete in us his perfect will.

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Presentation in the Temple, carved on a panel on a triptych in the Lady Chapel, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford/Lichfield Gazette)

Luke 2: 22-40 (NRSVA):

22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’

33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

‘The Presentation in the Temple’ … a window by James Watson in the Church of the Holy Rosary, Murroe, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Colour: White.

Bidding Prayer:

The traditional Bidding Prayer for Candlemas:

Dear friends, forty days ago we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we recall the day on which he was presented in the Temple, when he was offered to the Father and shown to his people.

As a sign of his coming among us, his mother was purified according to the custom of the time, and we now come to him for cleansing. In their old age Simeon and Anna recognised him as their Lord, as we today sing of his glory.

In this Eucharist, we celebrate both the joy of his coming and his searching judgement, looking back to the day of his birth and forward to the coming days of his passion.

So let us pray that we may know and share the light of Christ.

Penitential Kyries:

Lord God, mighty God,
you are the creator of the world.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary,
you are the Prince of Peace.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit,
by your power the Word was made flesh
and came to dwell among us.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect:

Almighty and everliving God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the temple
in the substance of our mortal nature:
May we be presented to you with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Introduction to the Peace:

In the tender mercy of our God
the dayspring from on high has broken upon us,
to give light to those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (cf Luke 1: 78, 79)
(Common Worship, p 306)

Preface:

You chose the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son
and so exalted the humble and meek;
your angel hailed her as most high and highly favoured,
and with all generations we call her blessed:
(The Book of Common Prayer, the Church of Ireland, p. 234)

Post-Communion Prayer:

God, for whom we wait,
you fulfilled the hopes of Simeon and Anna,
who lived to welcome the Messiah.
Complete in us your perfect will,
that in Christ we may see your salvation,
for he is Lord for ever and ever.

Blessing:

Christ the Son of God, born of Mary,
fill you with his grace
to trust his promises and obey his will:

The Presentation or Candlemas … a stained glass window in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Hymns:

52, Christ, whose glory fills the skies (CD 4)
119, Come, thou long-expected Jesus (CD 8)
691, Faithful vigil ended (CD 39)



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

Material from The Book of Common Prayer (the Church of Ireland, 2004) is copyright © Representative Body of the Church of Ireland 2004.

Material from Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.

With the Saints through Christmas (36): 30 January 2022, Charles, King and Martyr

Charles I was executed on 30 January 1649 and remembered in London today as king, martyr … a copy of the triptych by Sir Anthony van Dyck in the High House, Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Epiphany), although I have transferred the provisions for the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) from Wednesday next to this morning’s celebration of the Eucharist in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick.

Before a busy day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation, on Wednesday (2 February);

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This day in the Calendar of the Church of England marks ‘Charles, King and Martyr’ … a commemoration that is rarely found in the Church of Ireland. However, the former Chapel in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, bore his name as its dedication and he is celebrated as the ‘preserver’ of Trinity College Dublin in the college graces:

We praise thee, most gracious Father,
for the most serene ones,
Queen Elizabeth the founder of this college,
James its most munificent builder,
Charles its preserver,
and our other benefactors.

The variations in the calendars of the Church of England and the Church of Ireland can sometimes catch me by surprise, and I recall how I was caught off-guard during a residential meeting of USPG trustees in 2018 when the commemoration at the Eucharist was of ‘Charles King and Martyr, 1649.’

I was invited three years ago to take part in the commemorations in Tamworth marking the 400th anniversary of the visit to the town of James I and his son, the future Charles I. My talk in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, on the Comberford Family and the Moat House in Tamworth [9 May 2019], was organised by Tamworth and District Civic Society.

During that visit in 1619, the King stayed with the Ferrers family at Tamworth Castle while the Prince of Wales was a guest of the Comberford family at their town house, the Moat House on Lichfield Street.

On that occasion, the Comberford family had the long hall or gallery in the Moat House redecorated with heraldic illustrations of the family tree, showing how the family and the future king shared a common ancestry, albeit a very distant one.

Perhaps, in some ways, Charles I personalised the new unity that was being embodied in a new kingdom: he was seen in England as the next king, yet he had been born in Dumferline in Scotland. In another way, he also embodied the new, outward-looking vision of a new country claiming its place in Europe: his mother was from Denmark, he would marry a French princess, his sons would marry Portuguese and Italian princesses, his daughters would marry French and Dutch princes, his sister became Queen of Bohemia, a miniscule European Union brought together in one family.

Charles, King and Martyr, or Charles I, was king from 1625 until his execution on 30 January 1649, and his feast day in Anglican calendars falls on 30 January, the anniversary of his execution.

This observance was one of several ‘state services’ removed from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England and the Church of Ireland in 1859. But there are churches and parishes dedicated to Charles the Martyr in England, and the former chapel in the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, Dublin, was dedicated to him too.

King Charles is still named in the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship and is commemorated at the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall, Pusey House in Oxford, and by some Anglo-Catholic societies, including the Society of King Charles the Martyr founded in 1894.

King Charles is regarded by many as a martyr because, it is said, he was offered his life if he would abandon the historic episcopacy in the Church of England. It is said he refused, however, believing that the Church of England was truly Catholic and should maintain the Catholic episcopate.

Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London, wrote, ‘Had Charles been willing to abandon the Church and give up episcopacy, he might have saved his throne and his life. But on this point Charles stood firm: for this he died, and by dying saved it for the future.’

The political reality, though, is that Charles had already made an Engagement with the Scots to introduce Presbyterianism in England for three years in return for the aid of Scots forces in the Second English Civil War.

However, High Church Anglicans and royalists fashioned an image of martyrdom, and after the Restoration he was added to the Church of England’s liturgical calendar by a decision at the Convocations of Canterbury and York in 1660.

The red letter days or state commemorations in the calendar of the Book of Common Prayer included the Gunpowder Plot, the birth and restoration of Charles II, and the execution of Charles I. These were marked with special services and special sermons.

The State Services were omitted from the Book of Common Prayer by royal and parliamentary authority in 1859, but without the consent of Convocation. Later, Vernon Staley would describe the deletion as ultra vires and ‘a distinct violation of the compact between Church and Realm, as set forth in the Act of Uniformity which imposed the Book of Common Prayer in 1662.’

Of the three commemorations, only that of King Charles I was restored in the calendar in the Alternative Service Book in 1980, although not as a Red Letter Day. A new collect was composed for Common Worship in 2000.

Collect:

King of kings and Lord of lords,
whose faithful servant Charles
prayed for those who persecuted him
and died in the living hope of your eternal kingdom:
grant us by your grace so to follow his example
that we may love and bless our enemies,
through the intercession of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

‘All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord’ (Psalm 138: 4) … a depiction of King Charles I in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 4: 21-30 (NRSVA):

[Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah.] 21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ 23 He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum”.’ 24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The Moat House on Lichfield Street, Tamworth … the future Charles I was the guest of the Comberford family there on the night of 18 August 1619 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (30 January 2022) invites us to pray:

Loving God,
let us renew our love for all of humanity,
may we focus on spreading
the faith, hope and love
you give to us.

Yesterday: Saint Dominic

Tomorrow: Charles Mackenzie

The chapel in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, was dedicated to Charles I, King and Martyr (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

The memorial to Charles I at the Banqueting House, recalling his execution in Whitehall in 1649 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

It looks like a Roman Theatre, but the Royal Opera House in Valletta has a curious story

The ruins of the Royal Opera House look like the ruins of a classical theatre or temple (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

At first, I thought had come face-to-face with ancient Roman ruins in Valletta, the capital of Malta. The pillars and columns, and the classical looking structure, had me asking whether this was the site of a Roman theatre or temple.

It turns out that site on Valletta’s man street, close to the Maltese Parliament and close to the Osborne Hotel on South Street, where I was staying last week, is the ruins of the Royal Opera House, or the Royal Theatre, a relatively modern, English-style concert hall.

It looks like something from the classical world and seems older than it is. But it serves Valletta as an open-air theatre.

The Royal Opera House, also known as the Royal Theatre (It-Teatru Rjal), was designed by the English architect Edward Middleton Barry (1830-1880), son of Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

Edward Middleton Barry was the architect of Covent Garden Theatre. His classic design plan for the theatre in Valletta was completed by 1861. His original plans had to be altered because he had not taken account of the sloping streets on the sides of the theatre. This resulted in a terrace being added on the side of Strada Reale, now Republic Street, designed by Maltese architects.

Building started in 1862, after the Casa della Giornata was demolished. After four years, the Opera House, with a seating capacity of 1,095 and 200 standing, was ready for the official opening on 9 October 1866.

The theatre was not to last long. On 25 May 1873, a mere six years after its opening, it was struck by fire, and the interior was extensively damaged. The exterior of the theatre was undamaged but the interior stonework was calcified by the intense heat.

The theatre was eventually restored by 1877 and after nearly 4½ years, the theatre reopened on 11 October 1877, with a performance of Verdi’s Aida. In time, it became one of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in Valletta.

During World War II, the theatre received a direct hit from Luftwaffe bombers on the night of Tuesday 7 April 1942. The portico and the auditorium were a heap of stones, the roof a gaping hole of twisted girders. However, the rear end starting half way from the colonnade was left intact.

The remaining structures were levelled down in the late 1950s as a safety precaution. It is German prisoners-of-war in Malta offered to rebuild the theatre in 1946, but the government declined their offer due to trade union pressure. All that remained of the Opera House were the terrace and parts of the columns.

The Royal Opera House was destroyed by German bomns in 1942 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Although the bombed site was cleared of much of the rubble and all of the remaining decorative sculpture, rebuilding was repeatedly postponed by successive post-war governments in favour of reconstruction projects that were deemed to be more pressing.

Six renowned architects submitted designs for the new theatre in 1953. The plans of Zavellani-Rossi were recommended to the Government, but the project ground to a halt on Labour’s re-election. Although a provision of £280,000 for rebuilding the theatre was made in the 1955-1956 budget, this never happened. By 1957, the project had been shelved and after 1961 all references to the theatre were omitted from development plans.

In the 1980s contact was made with the architect Renzo Piano to design a building on the site and to rehabilitate the entrance to the city. Piano’s plans received government approval in 1990, but work never started.

Then, in 1996, a new Labour Government announced the site would be developed as a commercial and cultural complex, including an underground car park, as Malta's millennium project. In the late 1990s, the Maltese architect Richard England was also commissioned to design a cultural centre. Each time, however, controversies killed off all initiatives.

In 2006, the government announced a proposal to redevelop the site for a dedicated House of Parliament, which by then was located in the former Armoury of the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta.

Renzo Piano was then approached and started to work on new designs. His proposal was shelved until after the general elections of 2008. The Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi revived the proposal on 1 December 2008 with a budget of €80 million. Piano dissuaded the Government from building a Parliament on site of the Opera House, instead planning a House of Parliament on present-day Freedom Square and re-modelling the city gate. At the same time, Piano proposed an open-air theatre for the site.

Piano’s development of the theatre was controversial at the time. But the government went ahead with the plans and the open-air theatre was officially opened on 8 August 2013. The theatre was named Pjazza Teatru Rjal after the original structure, meaning Royal Theatre Square.

Remains of the original theatre have been conserved in the 2013 development (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

With the Saints through Christmas (35): 29 January 2022, Saint Dominic

The Basilica of Saint Dominic, also known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Fair Havens and Saint Dominic, is one of the three parish churches in Valletta (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Malta last week, and in Valletta it seems as though every street – or every second street – inside the walls of the capital of Malta, is named after a saint.

Before a busy day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation, next Wednesday (2 February);

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This week, I am continuing to reflect on saints and their association with prominent churches or notable street names in Malta, which I visited last week. This morning I am reflecting on the Basilica of Saint Dominic, also known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Fair Havens and Saint Dominic.

Saint Dominic (1170-1221), was a Castilian priest and founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers, and his feast day is 8 August. Another great Dominican saint, Saint Thomas Aquinas, was commemorated in the Church Calendar yesterday (28 January 2022).

The Basilica of Saint Dominic in Valletta, also known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Fair Havens and Saint Dominic, is one of the three parish churches in the Maltese capital. It is administered by the Dominican Order whose convent is behind the church.

The land the church and convent are built on weas given to the Dominicans by the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John or the Knights of Malta, Pierre de Monte. The architect Girolamo Cassar was commissioned to draw up the plans. The first stone was laid on 19 April 1571.

The parish was formed on 2 July 1571 by a decree from Pope Pius V, considered as the benefactor of the construction of Valletta. It was dedicated to Our Lady of Fair Havens because of the large number of sailors who went to the small chapel built by the Dominicans before building the large church to thank the Virgin Mary for their safe return to harbour after long and dangerous sea voyages.

The papal decree also declared that the parish of Saint Dominic would be the principal parish church of the city.

The church was closed and declared unsafe on 24 July 1780 after it was damaged by earthquakes and severe storms. A new church was built on the same site of the original church 25 years after it was closed.

The new church was opened and blessed on 15 May 1815. The church was given the status of a minor basilica on 25 March 1816. The church was finally consecrated on 15 October 1889 by Archbishop Pietro Pace.

The wooden altar candle holders were stolen from the church, but were found online when their new owner tried to sell them.

The church is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

Saint Dominic (1170-1221) … a statue outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Fair Havens and Saint Dominic in Valletta (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Mark 4: 35-41 (NRSVA):

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

The new church opened in 1815, became a minor basilica in 1816, and was consecrated in 1889 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (29 January 2022) invites us to pray:

We pray for peace and reconciliation worldwide, and an end to religious conflict.

Yesterday: Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, Valletta

Tomorrow: Charles King and Martyr

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

An Elizabethan play and finding the Jews’ Gate and the Jewish legacy of Valletta

The Jews’ Gate in Valletta … a reminder of the restrictions placed on Jews in Malta in the 16th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

This week, Holocaust Memorial Day was marked yesterday (27 January 2022). While I was in Malta last week, I went in search of the stories of the Jews of Malta, visiting the site of the mediaeval synagogue in the ancient capital of Mdina, and asking questions about the treatment of Jews in Valletta in the years immediately after the Inquisition.

The Jew of Malta is a play by the Elizabethan dramatist Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), written in 1589 or 1590. The full title of the play is The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta and the plot primarily revolves around Barabas, a Maltese Jewish merchant.

The original story is set on the island of Malta and combines religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean.

Of course, The Jew of Malta is often referred to in discussions about antisemitism and there is much debate about the play’s portrayal of Jews and how Elizabethan audiences viewed it. Did Marlowe intended to promote antisemitism in The Jew of Malta?

Some critics suggest Marlowe was falling back on antisemitic feelings of the day and made the Jews incidental to the social critique he offered. In other words, they say, he used antisemitism as a rhetorical tool rather than advocating it. But Marlowe fails to stand back from antisemitism and so becomes its advocate.

Barabas is characterised in expressions of antisemitism found throughout history, including many references to his large nose.

Marlowe could never have known Malta, still less could he have known whether it had a Jewish community. So, after searching last week for the remains of the mediaeval synagogue in Mdina, the ancient capital of Malta, I went in search of evidence of the presence of a Jewish community in the Valletta, where I was staying.

Valletta was founded in 1566 and was established as the capital of Malta in 1571, less than two decades before Marlowe wrote The Jew of Malta. By the late 16th century – at the time Marlow was writing his play – many Jewish merchants were living in Valletta, and there is evidence of this in the special gate for Jews in the city wall, called the Jews’ Sally Port.

But the Jewish presence in Malta predates the arrival of the Order of Saint John or the Knights of Malta. An important writer in Jewish culture, Rabbi Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (1240-1291), the founder of the school of Prophetic Kabbalah, lived on the island of Comino, between Gozo and Malta, as an exile or prisoner about 750 years ago. He was the author of over 50 books, including, Imrey Shefer and Gan Na’ul, both written while he was a prisoner on the island.

Rabbi Abulafia was born in Zaragoza in Spain, and in his early life he lived in Sicily, where he developed and refined a trend of Kabbalah, giving it the name ‘prophetic stream.’ The Rabbi Rashba, who was the leaders of another trend of Kabbalah, imposed a boycott on Rabbi Abulafia and his followers.

Rabbi Abulafia moved from Sicily to Acre, where he had a vision to convert Pope Nicholas III (1225-1280) to Judaism. The Pope was in Suriano when he heard of the plan, and he issued orders to ‘burn the fanatic’ as soon as he arrived. A special platform was prepared for burning him to death publicly.

The stake was erected in preparation close to the inner gate. But Rabbi Abulafia continued his journey to Suriano and reached there on 22 August, the evening of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year in 1280. But, as he passed through the outer gate, Rabbi Abulafia learned that Pope Nicholas had died from an apoplectic stroke the night before.

The cardinals were stunned. Could this be a sign of God? They did not dare to kill him, yet they hesitated to release him. Rabbi Abulafia returned to Rome, where he was thrown into prison by Franciscan friars.

He was freed after four weeks in detention, and was next heard of in Sicily. He remained active in Messina for a decade (1281-1291), presenting himself as a prophet and messiah. He had several students there as well as some in Palermo. The local Jewish congregation in Palermo energetically condemned Abulafia’s conduct, and around 1285 they addressed the issue to Shlomo ben Aderet of Barcelona, who devoted much of his career to calming the various messianic hysteriae of the day.

Shlomo ben Aderet later wrote a letter condemning Abulafia. This controversy was one of the principal reasons for the exclusion of Abulafia’s Kabbalah from the Spanish schools.

Abulafia had to take up the pilgrim’s staff anew, and under distressing conditions he compiled his Sefer haOt (‘Book of the Sign’) on the island of Comino, near Malta, between 1285 and 1288. Comino served as a kind of open prison, and there in 1291, he wrote his last, and perhaps his most intelligible work, the meditation manual Imrei Shefer (‘Words of Beauty’).

All trace of him is lost after this. He probably died on Comino in 1291, but his burial place is unknown.

Free Jews who wished to visit Malta had to enter Valletta through one small port known to this day as the Jews’ Sally Port (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Later, as Malta was ceded to the Order of Saint John or Knights of Malta by the Spanish kings of Sicily, Sicilian conversos or secret Jews moved to Malta, attracted perhaps by the liberal policy of the Knights towards the Jews of Rhodes. However, they had to continue practicing Judaism in secret.

Malta is frequently referred to in Jewish literature of the period for its large enslaved Jewish population. The Knights would capture Jews and Muslims during pirating raids against Ottoman merchant ships and coastal towns, and keep them hostage in the bagnos or prisons of Birgu, Valletta or Senglea, to extort ransom.

Jewish Societies for the Redemption of Captives (Pidion Shevuim) raised the ransom demands among Jewish communities across Europe, including those in Livorno, London and Amsterdam. The practice was so widespread that the Jewish community of Livorno in Italy had a full-time representative in Malta who dealt only with the redemption of prisoners. The negotiations often lasted several months. Some Jewish prisoners died in captivity and were buried in a special section in the cemetery in Kallkara.

Jews who were not rescued were often sold as indentured servants and given a Christian name, to be freed by their masters only on their deathbed. Those Jews – particularly women – who practised as healers and diviners often faced the Inquisition.

Free Jews who wished to visit Malta needed a special permit from the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John and had to enter Valletta’s walls through one small port near the Auberge de Baviere, known to this day as the Jews’ Sally Port.

South-east of Valletta, the small city of Birgu once had a Jewish ghetto and a Jewish community of about 400 people. One of the three gates in the city walls there is also known as the Jews’ Sally Port, and Jews could enter and leave Birgu only through this gate. The steps from the Jewish Sally Port lead up to the area where the Jewish ghetto once was, and a sign on one house reads Triq tal-Lhud, ‘Jewish Street.’

The Jewish community in Malta today has about 250 members, but the president of the community, Reuven Ohayon, thinks there may twice that many Jews who prefer to hide their Jewish identity. Two synagogues are active in Malta and there are three Jewish cemeteries, including the cemetery in the town of Kallkara.

The Chabad House in San Julian was opened by Rabbi Haim Segal, and includes L’Chaim, a kosher restaurant, although it seemed to be closed last week when I was passing through San Julian.

Meanwhile, about 500 years after his death, the boycott of Rabbi Abulafia and his works was cancelled by Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (1724-1806), commonly known as the Hida, a Jerusalem-born rabbinical scholar and a pioneer in the publication of Jewish religious writings.

Shabbat Shalom

A sign at the Jews’ Gate in Valletta points to the small harbour known as the Jews’ Sally Port (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

With the Saints through Christmas (34): 28 January 2022, Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, Valletta

The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck is one of the oldest churches in Valletta (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Malta last week, and in Valletta it seems as though every street – or every second street – inside the walls of the capital of Malta, is named after a saint.

I am back from Birmingham and returning to Askeaton today. But, before a busy day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February);

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This week, I am continuing to reflect on saints and their association with prominent churches or notable street names in Malta, which I visited last week. Tuesday was the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and during this week I I have already reflected on Saint Paul’s Church at Saint Paul’s Bay (25 January 2022), Saint Paul’s Pro-Cathedral (Anglican), Valletta (26 January), and Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina (27 January).

This morning I am reflecting on the Collegiate Parish Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, Valletta, also known as simply the Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck. This is a parish church in Valletta and one of the oldest churches in the Maltese capital.

Saint Paul the Apostle is patron of Malta, and his shipwreck on Malta is described in the Acts of the Apostles, where Saint Luke writes: ‘After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta’ (see Acts 28: 1).

The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck traces its origins to 1570s. It was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, and completed in December 1582. The church was handed over to the Jesuits and a new church was started in 1639.

The church hosts fine artistic works, including a magnificent altarpiece by Matteo Perez d’Aleccio and paintings by Attilio Palombi, and Giuseppe Calì.

A wooden statue of Saint Paul was carved in 1659 by Melchiorre Cafà, a brother of Lorenzo Gafà, who designed the dome. The statue is paraded through the streets of Valletta on the feast day of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, 10 February, sometimes during heavy rain.

The church also claims to hold the relic of the right wrist-bone of Saint Paul, and part of the column from San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, on which the saint was beheaded in Rome.

The façade of the church was rebuilt in 1885 to a design by Nicholas Zammit.

The church building is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck (left) in Valletta traces its origins to 1570s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Mark 4: 26-34 (NRSVA):

26 He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

30 He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

The statue of Saint Paul above the door into the Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (28 January 2022) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, as they spread the Good News in the land of the Holy One.

The façade of the church was rebuilt in 1885 to a design by Nicholas Zammit (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Yesterday: Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina

Tomorrow: Saint Dominic

The noticeboard outside the Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

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 Objects of Love’: intimate story of love, loss, and survival in the Holocaust

Forged identity papers from Warsaw 1941 in the name of Krystyna Szczepanska, a pseudonym for Edyta Rozenfeld, the grandmother of Oliver Sears … one of the exhibits in ‘The Objects of Love’ an exhibition in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022

Patrick Comerford

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 and the beginning of the liberation of the concentration camps in Europe. Earlier this week I attended ‘The Objects of Love’ an exhibition in Dublin Castle organised by the Office of Public Works in association with Holocaust Awareness Ireland.

‘The Objects of Love’ is an exhibition of powerful mementoes that tell the story of one Jewish family before, during and after World War II. The exhibition in the Bedford Hall opened on 12 January, a fortnight before Holocaust Memorial Day, and this is a poignant exhibition telling the fate of individual lives torn asunder in Nazi-occupied Poland and beyond.

Their story is told through a curated collection of precious family objects, photographs and documents. The Dublin-based art dealer Oliver Sears vividly brings to life this extreme edge of European history where his mother Monika and grandmother Kryszia are the beating hearts of an epic and intimate story of love, loss, and survival.

Oliver Sears, who grew up in London and owns an art gallery in Dublin, is the founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland. His family came from the Polish city of Lodz, which had a population of 200,000 Jews before the war.

He has painstakingly chronicled how their lives were torn apart following the Nazi invasion in 1939. He said: ‘They were ordinary people. It's just that fate intervened and ensured that they had extraordinary lives. This is my family story, told through my eyes, the only way I know how, using fragments of memory I have recorded, together with the collection of objects and documents, the emotional debris of dislocation and disaster.’

The items in the exhibition include forged identity papers belonging to his grandmother. ‘They show a passport sized photograph of my grandmother with freshly dyed blonde hair staring straight ahead. A new and necessary look to heighten her Aryan credentials, along with her acquired, nondescript Polish name and unlikely declared profession of ‘typist’.’

‘When I think about the Holocaust and what happened to my family, strangely I don't feel anger. It's humiliation. What could be more humiliating than having to pretend that you are something you are not, because your life depends on it.’

Oliver Sears hopes the exhibition raises awareness and understanding of a subject that ‘is still not widely known in Ireland.’ He says the exhibition is important to illustrate the generational impact the Holocaust had on families, and in the context of antisemitism that still persists today.

He explains how he felt he was honouring his family by bringing their story to Dublin Castle. ‘I think the fact that we were invited by the OPW to produce this exhibition at Dublin Castle gives us, in a nutshell, the imprimatur of the State. I do have a very keen sense of needing to honour my family. At an almost biblical level, they were humiliated.

‘Not only were they murdered, every trace that they ever existed was wiped out. So, there is a sense of triumph that I, somehow, at State-level can give them a voice, bring them back to life briefly, and give them a value that was stripped from them.’

In November 2020, he had found a cache of photographs and documents relating to his family in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

By organising this exhibition, he says he can honour his family, he told The Irish Times. ‘You can have massive gaps in your family, there are all these ghosts. There are people who you never knew, who you should have known. Then there are the living ghosts, who are badly traumatised, who weave in and out of your childhood, some of whom you are related to.’
The forged identity papers of Oliver Sears’s grandmother Kryszia Wandstein (Edyta Rosenfeld). In spring 1943, Edyta bought forged identity papers that allowed her and her daughter Monika to live outside a ghetto.

When his grandmother and mother came to England in 1947, his grandmother married a Polish Jewish dentist who was stranded in London during the war. He had lost every single member of his family, including his pregnant wife. ‘He married my grandmother. He was the only grandfather I knew. I didn’t know he wasn’t my real grandfather until the day he died.’

The photographs from before the war are the most moving to Oliver Sears, as they show ordinary people, with hopes, dreams and aspirations, and that was all destroyed. However, he feels the exhibition is an act of resistance in itself, as the Nazis’ goal was to eradicate Jewish people completely. ‘It says: ‘No. Where are you, with your thousand-year reich? We are still here’.’

The exhibition was opened by Lenny Abrahamson and is accompanied by an audio narration and an illustrated booklet.

Speaking before the exhibition, the Minister at the OPW, Patrick O’Donovan, said: ‘The Holocaust represents an event at the limits, a core event in which a shared European memory is rooted that we in Ireland are part of. But it is only through our own personal engagement with the past that we can understand its legacy and continued relevance to our present and future. This exhibition particularises the experience of one family and offers us a unique opportunity to both relate to and bear witness to the fate of those persecuted by the Nazis.’

The exhibition continues until 13 February 2022. Opening times daily are 10 am to 5 pm (closed 1 to 2), and admission is free.

Nazis humiliating Jews publicly in the Kraków ghetto in 1941

With the Saints through Christmas (33): 27 January 2022, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina

Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina, in central Malta, facing onto Saint Paul’s Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Malta last week, and in Valletta it seems as though every street – or every second street – inside the walls of the capital of Malta, is named after a saint.

I am in Birmingham today, attending to some family matters. But, before a busy day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February);

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This week, I am continuing to reflect on saints and their association with prominent churches or notable street names in Malta, which I visited last week. Tuesday was the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and during this week I I have already reflected on Saint Paul’s Church at Saint Paul’s Bay (25 January) and Saint Paul’s Pro-Cathedral (Anglican), Valletta (26 January). This morning I am reflecting on Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul (Il-Katidral Metropolitan ta’ San Pawl), commonly known as Saint Paul’s Cathedral or the Mdina Cathedral, is the Roman Catholic cathedral in Mdina, in central Malta.

The cathedral was founded in the 12th century. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta, although since the 19th century it has shared this function with Saint John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

According to tradition, the site of Mdina cathedral was originally occupied by a palace belonging to Saint Publius, the Roman governor of Melite who greeted the Apostle Paul after he was shipwrecked in Malta. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul cured Publius’ father and many other sick people on the island (see Acts 28: 1-10).

The first cathedral on the site is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. But it fell into disrepair during the Arab period, when the churches in Melite were looted after the Aghlabid invasion in 870. In Arab times, the site was used as a mosque.

After the Norman invasion in 1091, Christianity was re-established on the Maltese Islands, and a cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. The cathedral was built in the Gothic and Romanesque styles, and was enlarged and modified a number of times.

Bishop Miguel Jerónimo de Molina and the cathedral chapter decided in 1679 to replace the mediaeval choir with one built in the Baroque style. The architect Lorenzo Gafà was designed and oversaw the new building.

The cathedral was severely damaged a few years later in the 1693 Sicily earthquake. Although parts of the building were not damaged, it was decided to dismantle the old cathedral and rebuild it in the Baroque style to a design of Lorenzo Gafà, incorporating the choir and sacristy, which had survived the earthquake, into the new cathedral.

Work began in 1696, and the building was almost complete by 1702. It was consecrated by Bishop Davide Cocco Palmieri on 8 October 1702. The cathedral was fully completed on 24 October 1705, when work on the dome was finished. The building is regarded as Gafà's masterpiece.

Saint Paul’s Cathedral is built in the Baroque style, with some influences from native Maltese architecture. The main façade faces Saint Paul’s Square and it is set on a low parvis approached by three steps.

The façade is cleanly divided into three bays by pilasters of Corinthian and Composite orders. The central bay is set forward, and it contains the main doorway, surmounted by the coats of arms of the city of Mdina, Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful and Bishop Davide Cocco Palmieri, all sculpted by Giuseppe Darmanin.

The coloured coat of arms of the incumbent archbishop (Archbishop Charles Scicluna) is placed just below the arms of Mdina. A round-headed window is set in the upper story above the doorway, and the façade is topped by a triangular pediment. Bell towers originally containing six bells are located at both corners of the façade. It has an octagonal dome, with eight stone scrolls above a high drum leading up to a lantern.

The cathedral has a Latin cross plan with a vaulted nave, two aisles and two side chapels. Most of the cathedral floor has inlaid tombstones or commemorative marble slabs, similar to those in Saint John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta and the Cathedral of the Assumption in Victoria, Gozo. Several bishops and canons, as well as laymen from noble families, are buried in the cathedral.

The frescoes in the ceiling depict the life of Saint Paul and were painted by the Sicilian painters Vincenzo, Antonio and Francesco Manno in 1794. The Manno brothers also painted frescoes on the dome, but these were destroyed during repair works after an earthquake in 1856.

A new fresco was painted on the dome by Giuseppe Gallucci in 1860, and it was later restored by Giuseppe Calì. Gallucci’s and Calì’s paintings were destroyed due to urgent repair works in 1927, and they were later replaced by a fresco depicting The Glory of Saint Peter and Saint Paul by Mario Caffaro Rore. The ceiling was restored by Samuel Bugeja in 1956.

Three late 19th century stained glass windows in the cathedral are the work of Victor Gesta’s workshop.

Many artefacts from the pre-1693 cathedral survived the earthquake and were reused to decorate the new cathedral. These include a late Gothic or early Renaissance baptismal font dating from 1495, the old cathedral’s main door that was made in 1530, some 15th-century choir stalls, and a number of paintings.

The cathedral aisles, chapels and sacristy contain several paintings and frescoes, including works by Mattia Preti and his bottega, Francesco Grandi, Domenico Bruschi, Pietro Gagliardi, Bartolomeo Garagona, Francesco Zahra, Luigi Moglia and Alessio Erardi. The altarpiece by Mattia Preti depicts the Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus.
br /> Some of the marble used to decorate the cathedral was taken from the Roman ruins of Carthage and Melite. Sculptors and other artists whose works decorate the cathedral include Giuseppe Valenti, Claudio Durante, Alessandro Algardi and Vincent Apap.

Some mediaeval houses south of the cathedral were demolished in the late 1720s to make way for a square, the Bishop’s Palace and the Seminary, now the Cathedral Museum. The square in front of the cathedral was enlarged in the early 19th century after the demolition of some more mediaeval buildings.

The cathedral was damaged in another earthquake in 1856, and the 18th-century frescoes on the dome were destroyed.

Today, the cathedral is a Grade 1 national monument and is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

Inside Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, facing the liturgical east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Mark 4: 21-25:

21 He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23 Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ 24 And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25 For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’

Inside Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina, facing the liturgical west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (27 January 2022, Holocaust Remembrance Day) invites us to pray:

Today we remember the atrocities of the Holocaust. May we continue to commemorate these tragic events in the hope that it will never happen again..

Yesterday: Saint Paul’s Pro-Cathedral (Anglican), Valletta

Tomorrow: The Collegiate Parish Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, Valletta

The High Altar in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

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

In the side aisles in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

‘Threescore and ten I can remember well: Within the volume of which time I have seen Hours dreadful and things strange …’

Moving on at 70 … ‘but I am not a rat, and neither am I in any race’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The King James Version of the Bible tells us: ‘The days of our years are threescore years and ten’ (Psalm 90: 10). Other translations can lack the elegant cadences and rhythms of the Authorised Version, so that the NRSV, for example, says: ‘The days of our life are seventy years.’

Thankfully, the Psalter in the 2004 edition of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland retains a poetic approach to translation, and reminds us: ‘The days of our life are three score years and ten.’

Psalm 90 goes on to tell us:

‘and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
yet is their strength labour and sorrow;
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.’

Or, as the Psalter in the Book of Common Prayer puts it, ‘or if our strength endures, even four score, yet the sum of them is but labour and sorrow; for they soon pass away and we are gone.’

Does this mean that living to the age of 80 entails much difficulty and pain?

Many Biblical turns of phrase found in the King James Version were picked up by Shakespeare. In Macbeth in 1605, for example, we have:

Threescore and ten I can remember well:
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.

I have reached that benchmark of ‘threescore years and ten,’ and I have been reminded in recent weeks by some friends of this story that pops up every now and then on social media platforms, including Facebook pages:

I asked a friend who has crossed 70 and is heading towards 80 what sort of changes he is feeling in himself? He sent me the following:

1, After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children and my friends, I have now started loving myself.

2, I have realised that I am not ‘Atlas’. The world does not rest on my shoulders.

3, I have stopped bargaining with vegetable and fruit sellers. A few cent more is not going to break me, but it might help the poor fellow save for his daughter’s school fees.

4, I leave my waitress a big tip. The extra money might bring a smile to her face. She is toiling much harder for a living than I am.

5, I stopped telling the elderly that they’ve already told that story many times. The story makes them walk down memory lane & relive their past.

6, I have learned not to correct people even when I know they are wrong. The onus of making everyone perfect is not on me. Peace is more precious than perfection.

7, I give compliments freely and generously. Compliments are a mood enhancer not only for the recipient, but also for me. And a small tip for the recipient of a compliment, never, NEVER turn it down, just say ‘Thank You.’

8, I have learned not to bother about a crease or a spot on my shirt. Personality speaks louder than appearances.

9, I walk away from people who don’t value me. They might not know my worth, but I do.

10, I remain cool when someone plays dirty to outrun me in the rat race. I am not a rat and neither am I in any race.

11, I am learning not to be embarrassed by my emotions. It’s my emotions that make me human.

12, I have learned that it’s better to drop the ego than to break a relationship. My ego will keep me aloof, whereas with relationships, I will never be alone.

13, I have learned to live each day as if it’s my last. After all, it might be my last.

14, I am doing what makes me happy. I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to myself. Happiness is a choice. You can be happy at any time, just choose to be!

To all these, I would add one more that is, perhaps, the summary of all that has gone before:

15, Take time, as often as you can, to tell those you love that you love them. And listen to those who tell you that they love you, whatever words or deeds they use to say this.

Why do we have to wait to be 70 – or 60, or 80 – to realise things like this?

Why can’t we practice this at any stage and age?

It’s never too early … and it’s never too late.