Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (30 July 2023).
Before this day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reading and reflection.
Having looked at the ‘Te Deum’ window in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church, Tamworth, on Monday (1 August) at the end of a series of reflections on the windows in Tamworth, I am continuing my morning reflections for the rest of this week in these ways:
1, Looking at a depiction of the canticle ‘Te Deum’ in a church;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
The ‘Te Deum’ Window, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Buckingham:
The East Window (1877) by Clayton and Bell in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul depicts the canticle Te Deum.
The London stained glass firm of Clayton & Bell was founded in 1855 and continued until 1993. The founders were John Richard Clayton (1827-1913), and Alfred Bell (1832-1895). Bell worked in the studio of George Gilbert Scott before entering into a partnership with Clayton in 1856. The firm was pre-eminent among the stained glass designers and manufacturers by 11859.
Clayton and Bell produced decorative schemes for churches and grand secular buildings. The firm once had 300 employees in its Regent Street workshop. The firm continued under Bell’s son, John Clement Bell (1860-1944), and then Reginald Otto Bell (1884-1950) and finally Michael Farrar-Bell (1911-1993) until he died.
The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, known commonly as Buckingham Parish Church, is prominently located on Castle Hill in the centre of the old town of Buckingham.
There has been a church in Buckingham, since Saxon Times. The old church stood further down the hill, at the bottom of what is now called Church Street, in Prebend End.
Most of Buckingham’s town centre was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1725. Then, in 1776, the spire on the old church, fell down for the second time and caused so much damage that it was decided to build a new church on the vacant site of Castle Hill.
Castle Hill was the site of Edward the Elder’s stronghold against the Danes during the 10th century. Later, a Norman castle was built on the site, giving Castle Hill its name.
The earlier church located in Prebend End and dated from before 1445. However, no records have been found before this date, apart from a reference to it in the Domesday Book of 1086. The old church had a history of the tower and spire collapsing several times and it collapsed for the final time in 1776.
Browne Willis (1682-1760), the MP for Buckingham (1705-1708) and antiquarian who tried to rescue Saint Mary Magdalene Church and its tower in Stony Stratford after it was destroyed by fire, also wanted to restore the church in Buckingham to its former glory following the last repairs in 1698, but the new spire was too ambitious.
A letter to the Bishop of Lincoln explained that after the church tower had fallen and destroyed the church, and the inhabitants of Buckingham were unable to rebuild the parish church.
A new site became available on Castle Hill. It is said that much of the fabric of the earlier church was reused in building the new church and that Church Street was given its name because the old church was carried up it to be rebuilt on Castle Hill.
Richard Grenville-Temple (1711-1779), 2nd Earl Temple and William Pitt’s brother-in-law, undertook to build a new church and the site was donated Ralph Verney (1714-1791), 2nd Earl Verney, an Irish peer previously known as Lord Fermanagh.
The foundation stone was laid by Robert Bartlett, bailiff of Buckingham, on 25 November 1777. The church was completed by Lord Temple’s nephew, George Nugent-Temple-Grenville (1753-1813), 3rd Earl Temple and 1st Marquis of Buckingham, later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1787-1789).
The new church in the ‘Debased Gothic’ style, was consecrated by Thomas Thurlow, Bishop of Lincoln, on 6 December 1780, and was dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul.
The present Victorian Gothic Revival church is the result of many 19th-century alterations by the local-born architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, who added buttresses to prop up the building and redesigned the church in late 13th century geometrical style.
Scott remodelled and extended the church in 1862-1867, with the addition of the south porch, the chancel and chancel aisle, and a decoration scheme in the Gothic style. His alterations left little of the original 18th-century church untouched, although the tower and spire remain unchanged since 1780, and the windows were slightly altered.
The new chancel was funded by a £358 donation from the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. The refurbished and rebuilt church were consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, in 1867.
The doorway of the south porch has cusped heads and there are statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the paired niches above. A convex shield above the west door shows the Swan of Buckingham in relief.
Inside, the chancel has a two-bay arcade with shafted piers at the north aisle, which houses the organ chamber and the vestry. The oak reredos dating from 1904 is by John Oldrid Scott, and has painted panels of the Nativity and angels. The prayer desks in the Lady Chapel incorporate late 15th and early 16th century pew ends from the old church. There is an oak pulpit and an oak lectern.
Much of the stained glass in the church is by Clayton and Bell, including the East Window (1877) depicting the canticle Te Deum.
Matthew 13: 47-53 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’ 53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.
Today’s Prayer:
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Reflections from the International Consultation.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones of the Church in Wales.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 August 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray today for the survivors of human trafficking. For God’s healing of their bodies, their minds and their spirits. Bring joy and care where there was shame and fear. May all around them keep them safe.
Collect:
Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion:
Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you 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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