Patrick Comerford
We are more half-way through the season of Easter, and this is the Fifth Week of Easter. Two of us are staying for a few days in York, having arrived late on Monday evening. After yesterday’s visit to Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall, we are setting off early this morning to visit Whitby.
Before this day gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection. Following my recent visit to Lichfield Cathedral, I am reflecting each morning this week in these ways:
1, Short reflections on the windows in the Chapter House in Lichfield Cathedral;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
King Oswy of Northumbria, and Diuma window:
The Chapter House in Lichfield Cathedral is currently the venue for the exhibition ‘Library and Legacy,’ showcasing the collections in the cathedral library.
The chapter house was decorated with frescoes and stained glass in the late 15th century by Thomas Heywood, Dean of Lichfield in 1457-1492. The glass in the Chapter House once contained figures of the apostles, with other depictions above. These all predated the Cromwellian era, and were destroyed by the Puritans during the Civil War in the mid-17th century.
In the 19th century, the glazing of the chapter house displayed armorial bearings, more or less correct, in imitation of glass known to have ornamented the cathedral in the past. This armorial glass gradually gave way to glass representing scenes in the history of the cathedral. Six of the windows were glazed with these images in the late 19th and early 20th century, and the original but unfilled plan was to fill all the windows in the Chapter House.
The fourth window I am looking at this morning is by Charles Eamer Kempe and is in memory of Canon Willian Gresley, a prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral. The figures in the window are King Oswy of Northumbria, and Diuma, the first Bishop of Mercia.
All that is known of Bishop Diuma’s life is found in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Diuma was an Irishman, and was one of four priests – Cedd, Atta, Betti and Diuma – from the Kingdom of Northumbria, who accompanied the newly-baptised Peada, son of King Penda of Mercia, back to Mercia in 653. Peada became a Christian when he married Alhflaed, daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria.
After Penda’s death, Diuma was consecrated a bishop by Saint Finan of Lindisfarne, although the date of his death is unknown. The seat of the diocese was moved by Saint Chad to Lichfield in 669.
Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig (612-670), was King of Bernicia from 642 and of Northumbria from 654 until his death. He is notable for his role at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which brought the church in Northumbria into conformity with the wider Church.
Oswiu was a devoted Christian, establishing a number of monasteries, including Gilling Abbey and Whitby Abbey, which we plan to visit later today. At the request of King Oswiu of Northumbria, Saint Chad was consecrated bishop of the Northumbrians, with his see at York, where we are staying this week.
Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury was impressed with Chad’s humility and asked King Oswiu to appoint Chad as the Bishop of Mercia in 669. Chad chose Lichfield as the new seat of his diocese and there he built a church and monastery.
The scenes in the lower parts of the window depict Bishop Jaruman promising to build a church at Lichfield, and the institution by Bishop Æthelwald of prebendaries.
Jaruman, who died in 669, was the fourth Bishop of Mercia, during the reign of King Wulfhere. He probably originated in Ireland but was educated at Lindisfarne, and he undertook several missions to Saxon tribes. Bishop Æthelwold or Æthelweald was Bishop of Lichfield from 818 to 830. The Book of Cerne may have been made in his honour in the early ninth century.
Canon William Gresley (1801-1876), who is commemorated in this window, was a key figure in the Tractarian movement from 1833.
Gresley was born on 16 March 1801, the eldest son of Richard Gresley of Stowe House, Lichfield. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church Oxford (BA 1823, MA 1825), and was ordained deacon in 1825 and priest in 1826. He was a curate at Drayton Bassett, near Tamworth, and then the curate of Saint Chad’s, Lichfield, and the morning lecturer at Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (1830-1837). He was an earnest High Church priest and from 1833 he was involved in the Tractarian movement. He became a prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral in 1840.
Gresley later moved to Saint Paul’s, Brighton, and in 1857 became the perpetual curate (vicar) of All Saints’ Boyne Hill, near Maidenhead, Berkshire, serving there for the rest of his working life. He married Anne Wright, daughter of John Barker Scott, a Lichfield banker. He died at Boyne Hill on 19 November 1876.
His works included The Siege of Lichfield, a Tale illustrative of the Great Rebellion (1843) and a biography of Charles Lever. To describe the influence on his thinking of the Oxford Movement , he wrote Bernard Leslie, or a Tale of the Last Ten Years (1842, 1859). His Ordinance of Confession (1851) caused a stir at the time. His other works include Anglo-Catholicism. A short Treatise on the Theory of the English Church (1844), and The Use of Confirmation (1848).
The window at the east end of the south aisle in Saint Chad’s Church, Lichfield, is in memory of Anne Wright Gresley. It was installed in 1864 and provides the background to the Lady Chapel altar. The window in Lichfield Cathedral in memory of Canon William Gresley was dedicated on 31 July 1895. The list of subscribers includes 20 people with the name Gresley.
John 15: 1-8 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 1 ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.’
Today’s prayer:
The theme this week in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘The Work and Mission of the Laity.’ USPG’s Regional Manager for Africa, Fran Mate, reflected on Sunday on the work and mission of the laity.
The USPG Prayer invites us to pray this morning (Wednesday 10 May 2023):
Let us pray for lay women. May their ministry be encouraged within the worldwide Church and may those whose vocation to ordained ministry is denied find grace to build and plant.
Collect:
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion:
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
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
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