Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (9) 6 June 2023

The chapel in Trinity College Dublin was designed in the 1790s by Sir William Chambers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This week began with Trinity Sunday (4 June 2023). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945.

Over these few weeks after Trinity Sunday, I am reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at relevant images or stained glass window in a church, chapel or cathedral I know;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside the chapel in Trinity College Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Chapel, Trinity College, Dublin:

My photographs this morning (6 June 2023) are from the chapel in Trinity College Dublin. Trinity Monday is no longer celebrated on this week in Trinity College Dublin. Instead, Trinity Monday was marked this year in TCD on 24 April, when new honorary fellows, fellows and scholars were announced. The ceremony is one of the oldest and most colourful at TCD and refers back to its foundation in 1592.

I received a post-graduate Diploma in Ecumenics at TCD in 1984, and studied classical Greek there in 1987. Later, I was twice the Select Preacher in the Chapel, and I have chaired and been the secretary of the Dublin University Far Eastern Mission (DUFEM).

Until 2017, while I was on the staff of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, I was an Adjunct Assistant Professor in TCD, sitting on academic and staff committees and Courts of Examiners, supervising research and overseeing examinations. Group photographs of the BTh and MTh graduates were taken each year on the steps of the chapel in TCD. I was also a visiting lecturer on other degree courses.

Overlooking Front Square, at the heart of the TCD campus, the chapel was designed by Sir William Chambers in 1798 to form the north range of Parliament Square. Chambers was George III’s architect, and he also designed the Examination Hall on the south side of Parliament Square. The building work was overseen by Christopher Myers and his son Graham Myers, and it is likely that Myers heavily influenced the end design.

The chapel and the theatre are similar in form, creating a pleasing balance to the square and evoking a sense of Palladian symmetry with the two buildings serving as end pavilions. However, the chapel is both longer and narrower.

The classical elegance of the design is seen throughout the chapel, particularly in the stonework carved by George Darley and Richard Cranfield. Inside, the classical motif continues in the plasterwork by Michael Stapleton, spiral staircases by Robert Mallet, and the organ gallery carved by Richard Cranfield. Henry Hugh, a general carpenter throughout the project, may have worked on the pews.

The 19th century saw significant modifications to the interior, with stained glass by Clayton and Bell depicting scenes of Moses and the Children, the Ransom of the Lord, the Sermon on the Mount, and Christ with the teachers of Law, installed in 1865. Polychrome floor tiles were added to designs of John McCurdy, and, in 1872, stained glass windows were installed in the apse and centre, showing the Transfiguration, to designs by Mayer & Company.

Reflecting the Anglican heritage of the college, there are daily services of Morning Prayer, weekly services of Evensong, and Holy Communion is celebrated on Tuesdays and Sundays.

The chapel has been ecumenical since 1970, and is now also used daily in the celebration of Mass for the college’s Roman Catholic members. In addition to the Anglican chaplain, who is known as the Dean of Residence, there are two Roman Catholic chaplains and one Methodist chaplain.

The chapel is often the venue for ecumenical events, such as the annual carol service and the service of thanksgiving on Trinity Monday.

The Chapel Choir in Trinity College Dublin was established in 1762 and sings twice a week at services in the chapel, Evensong on Thursdays and the Eucharist on Sundays. The choir is made up of students from across the university. There is also a student Conductor, a student Organ Scholar, and a professional Director of Music who oversee the running of the choir, its music, and its day-to-day activities.

The stained glass window in the apse depicting the Transfiguration is by Mayer & Company (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 12: 13-17 (NRSVA):

13 Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. 14 And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? 15 Should we pay them, or should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ 16 And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ 17 Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.

With MTh graduates on the steps of the chapel in Trinity College Dublin

Today’s prayer:

The theme in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) this week is ‘Protecting the Environment in Zambia. This theme was introduced on Sunday by USPG’s Regional Manager for Africa, Fran Mate, with a reflection from Zambia for the United Nations World Environment Day yesterday.

The USPG Prayer invites us to pray this morning (Tuesday 6 June 2023):

Let us pray for the Zambia Anglican Council. May it work in partnership with other Churches and organisations to spearhead environmental protection in Zambia.

Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Almighty and eternal God,
you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:
hold us firm in this faith,
that we may know you in all your ways
and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,
who are three Persons yet one God,
now and for ever.

Parliament Square, or Front Square, in TCD, with the portico of the chapel on the left (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Looking through the Campanile towards Regent House, with the chapel on the right and the public theatre or exam hall on the left (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Winchester Palace, once one of the largest buildings in mediaeval London

The 14th century rose window in Winchester Palace, once the London palace of the mediaeval Bishops of Winchester (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

During last week’s visit to Southwark and Southwark Cathedral, two of us also visited the ruins of Winchester Palace, once one of the largest and most important buildings in mediaeval London.

The palace was built in the early 13th century as a home for the powerful Bishops of Winchester, but was mostly destroyed by fire in 1814. A few walls are all that remain of the palace, but visitors can see the impressive remaining walls of the Great Hall, including the magnificent rose window in the west gable.

Winchester Palace was first built in the 12th century by Bishop Henry de Blois, a brother of King Stephen, and the great hall was probably built ca 1136. The palace was built to house the bishops comfortably when they were in London on royal or administrative business.

Winchester had once been the capital of the Saxon kings of England. Southwark was once the largest manor in the Diocese of Winchester, and the Bishop of Winchester was a major landowner in the area. Traditionally, the mediaeval Bishops of Winchester were also the king’s royal treasurer, the equivalent of the Chancellor of the Exchequer today.

The Bishop of Winchester attended the king at his court in Westminster and at the Tower of London and also attended Parliament. Winchester Palace served as the London townhouse of the Bishops of Winchester. Many bishops similarly had palaces in London, such as Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and Ely Place, the townhouse of the Bishops of Ely.

Winchester Palace was in the parish of Southwark, then in Surrey, on the south bank of the River Thames, opposite the City of London and on what is now Clink Street, near Saint Saviour’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral.

The remains seen today are part of the Great Hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The hall was enlarged and the rose window built in the 14th century, possibly by Bishop William of Wykeham (1367-1398).

The remains seen today are part of the Great Hall. The gable wall of the hall has doors that once led to the buttery, pantry and kitchen, and it has a magnificent rose window. Below the hall was a vaulted cellar, where goods such as wine could be stored, with a passage to the river wharf.

The rest of the palace was arranged around two courtyards housing many buildings, including a prison, brewhouse and butchery. As the bishop’s private retreat from the stresses of mediaeval governance, the palace also had a tennis court, a bowling alley and pleasure gardens.

Below the hall was a richly decorated vaulted cellar with direct access to a wharf on the River Thames for bringing in supplies. Royal visitors were entertained at the palace, including The Great Hall would have been lavishly decorated in the 15th century, and was often used to entertain royal guests.

James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort held their wedding feast there in 1424 after their wedding in what is now Southwark Cathedral. She was a niece of the then Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, and of King Henry IV.

The palace was associated with the Liberty of the Clink on the south bank of the Thames. This was an area free from the jurisdiction of the City of London, and it became an area where activities suppressed in the City could flourish openly.

Gaming houses, bowling alleys, theatres and brothels abounded. It took its name from the notorious Clink prison which lay within the Liberty and gave rise to the slang expression ‘in the clink,’ or in prison. The Bishops of Winchester received rents from the many brothels, leading to the local prostitutes being known as the ‘Winchester Geese.’

During the English Civil War, Sir Thomas Ogle was imprisoned there. During his time in prison, he tried to draw Thomas Devenish, a member of John Goodwin’s Independent congregation, into a royalist plot to split the Parliamentarian Independents from the Presbyterians in order to boost Charles I’s numbers in Parliament.

From 1682 to 1686, the palace was remodelled, adding Corinthian columns and pilasters, to give a more contemporary Renaissance look. The sculpture and masonry was by Edward Strong the Elder.

The palace remained in use until around 1700, when it was converted and divided into tenement housing and warehouses. These were mostly destroyed by fire in 1814. Part of the great hall and the west gable end with its rose window became more visible after a fire in the 19th century fire and were finally revealed in the 1980s during redevelopment of the area.

The remains of Winchester Palace are a Grade II listed building and as a Scheduled Monument are under the care of English Heritage. Winchester Palace is managed by Bankside Open Spaces Trust, which has planted a mediaeval-style garden in the remains of the Great Hall.

Bankside Open Spaces Trust has planted a mediaeval-style garden in the remains of the Great Hall of Winchester Palace (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)