19 January 2024

Daily prayers during
Christmas and Epiphany:
26, 19 January 2024

Saint John with the poisoned chalice, above the main gate of Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The celebrations of Epiphany-tide continue today (19 January 2023), and this week began with the Second Sunday of Epiphany (14 January 2024). Christmas is a season that lasts for 40 days that continues from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls Wulfstan (1095), Bishop of Worcester. Today is also the second day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Before today begins, I am taking some time for reflection, reading and prayer. My reflections each morning during the seven days of this week include:

1, A reflection on one of the seven people who give their names to epistles in the New Testament;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The symbol of the serpent and the chalice, a carving by Eric Gill in the capstone at Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

6, Saint John:

Saint Paul does not give his own name to any of his letters, but seven people give their names to a total of seven of the letters or epistles in the New Testament: Timothy (I and II Timohty), Titus, Philemon, James, Peter (I and II Peter), John (I, II and III John), and Jude.

Saint John the Evangelist, the author of the Fourth Gospel, the three Johannine Letters and the Book of Revelation, is also known as Saint John the Divine and Saint John of Patmos, and as the Beloved Disciple. Yet, while the Fourth Gospel refers to an unnamed ‘Beloved Disciple,’ the author of the Gospel seems interested in maintaining his internal anonymity.

He is celebrated in the Calendar of the Church two days after Christmas Day, on 27 December, and the Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel is one of the traditional readings on Christmas Day. So, many may be familiar with his writings during the season of Christmas, although they may not be not familiar with his life story.

Saint John the Evangelist (Hebrew, יוֹחָנָן‎, Yoḥanan, ‘God is gracious,’ Greek, Ἰωάννης) is identified with the ‘Beloved Disciple’ who is unnamed in the Fourth Gospel. He is also identified traditionally as the author of the Fourth Gospel, the three Johannine Letters (I John, II John and II John) and the Book of Revelation.

Christian tradition says Saint John the Evangelist was one of the original Twelve apostles and the only one to live into old age and not killed for his faith. If this identification and tradition is correct, then, as well as being a Biblical author, this Saint John has a prominent place throughout the Gospels, for he is:

● one of the three disciples at the Transfiguration,
● one of the disciples sent to prepare a place for the Last Supper,
● one of the three disciples present in the Garden of Gethsemane when Christ is arrested,
● the only disciple present at the Crucifixion,
● the disciple to whom Christ entrusts his mother from the Cross,
● the first disciple to arrive at Christ’s tomb after the Resurrection,
● the disciple who first recognises Christ standing on the lake shore following the Resurrection.

So, Saint John the Evangelist is identified with John who was a Galilean, the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. In the Gospels, the two brothers are often called ‘the sons of Zebedee’ after their father, and Christ calls them the ‘sons of thunder’ (ἐπέθηκεν αὐτοῖς ὀνόμα[τα] Βοανηργές, ὅ ἐστιν Υἱοὶ Βροντῆς, ‘he gave to them the names Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder’; see Mark 3: 17).

Originally they were fishermen who fished with their father in the Lake of Genesareth. However, for a time they became time disciples of Saint John the Baptist, and were called by Christ from the circle of John's followers, together with along with Saint Andrew and Saint Peter (see John 1: 35-42).

In the Gospel lists of the Twelve, Saint John is listed second (Acts 1: 13), third (Mark 3: 17 in today’s Gospel reading in the lectionary) or fourth (Matthew 10: 3; Luke 6: 14), yet always after Saint James, apart from a few passages (Luke 8: 51; 9: 28; Acts 1: 13).

Peter, James and John are the only witnesses of the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5: 37), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17: 1), and Christ’s Agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 37). John and Peter alone are sent into the city to prepare for the Last Supper (Luke 22: 8).

At the Last Supper, John sits beside Christ, reclining next to him (John 13: 23, 25). According to the general interpretation, John is ‘another disciple’ who, with Peter, follows Christ after the arrest into the courtyard of the high priest (John 18: 15).

The Beloved Disciple, alone among the Twelve, remains with Christ at the foot of the Cross with the Mother of Christ and the women and he is asked by the dying Christ to take Mary into his care (John 19: 25-27). After Mary Magdalene’s report of the Resurrection, Peter and the ‘other disciple’ are the first to go to the grave, and the ‘other disciple’ is the first to believe that Christ is truly risen (John 20: 2-10).

When the Risen Christ appears at the Lake of Genesareth, ‘that disciple whom Jesus loved’ is the first of the seven disciples present who recognises Christ standing on the shore (John 21: 7).

After the Ascension and the Day of Pentecost, John and Peter take prominent roles in guiding the new Church. He is with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts 3: 1-11), and is thrown into prison with Peter (Acts 4: 3). Again, we find him with Peter visiting the newly converted people of Samaria (Acts 8: 14).

After the Ascension, Saint John travels to Samaria and is thrown into prison with Saint Peter (Acts 4: 3).

Saint Paul names John, alongside James and Peter (Cephas), as pillars of the Church in Jerusalem (see Galatians 2: 9). When Paul returns to Jerusalem after his second and third journeys (Acts 18: 22; 21:17 ff), he does not seem to meet John there. Perhaps John remained there for 12 years until the persecution of Herod Agrippa I led to the scattering of the Apostles throughout the Roman Empire (cf. Acts 12: 1-17).

A Christian community is already living in Ephesus before Saint Paul’s first labours there (see Acts 18: 24-27, where the leading Christians included Priscilla and Aquila), and tradition associates Saint John the Evangelist with Ephesus, where he is said to have lived and been buried.

According to a tradition mentioned by Saint Jerome, in the second general persecution, in the year 95, Saint John was apprehended by the Proconsul of Asia and sent to Rome, where he was miraculously preserved from death when he was thrown into a vat or cauldron of boiling oil. The Church of Saint John Lateran (San Giovanni a Porta Latina), which is dedicated to him, was built near the Latin Gate (Porta Latina), the traditional scene of this event. Because of this trial, the Early Fathers of the Church give him the title of martyr.

According to ancient tradition, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, Saint John was once given a cup of poisoned wine, but he blessed the cup and the poison rose out of the cup in the form of a serpent. Saint John then drank the wine with no ill effect.

A chalice with a serpent signifying the powerless poison is one of his symbols, so that the image of Saint John with the poisoned chalice is still seen above the main gate of Saint John’s College, Cambridge.

Domitian banished Saint John into the isle of Patmos. It was during this period that John experienced those heavenly visions which he recorded in the Book of Revelation in the year 96. The Book of Revelation tells us that its author was on the island of Patmos ‘for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus’ when he was received this revelation in a cave (see Revelation 1: 9).

After the death of Domitian, it is said, Saint John returned to Ephesus in the year 97, and there tradition says he wrote his gospel about the year 98. He is also identified with the author of the three Johannine Epistles in the New Testament. By the late second century, the tradition of the Church was saying that Saint John lived to old age in Ephesus.

Jerome, in his commentary on Chapter 6 of the Letter to the Galatians (Jerome, Comm. in ep. ad. Gal., 6, 10), tells the well-loved story that Saint John the Evangelist continued preaching in Ephesus even when he was in his 90s.

He was so enfeebled with old age that the people carried him into the Church in Ephesus on a stretcher. When he was no longer able to preach or deliver a long discourse, his custom was to lean up on one elbow on each occasion and to say simply: ‘Little children, love one another.’ This continued on, even when the ageing John was on his death-bed.

Then he would lie back down and his friends would carry him back out. Every week in Ephesus, the same thing happened, again and again. And every week it was the same short sermon, exactly the same message: ‘Little children, love one another.’

One day, the story goes, someone asked him about it: ‘John, why is it that every week you say exactly the same thing, ‘little children, love one another’?’ And John replied: ‘Because it is enough.’ If you want to know the basics of living as a Christian, there it is in a nutshell. All you need to know is. ‘Little children, love one another.’

According to Eusebius, Saint John died in peace at Ephesus, in the third year of Trajan, that is, the year 100, when he was about 94 years old. According to Saint Epiphanius, he was buried on a mountain outside the town.

The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Aysoluk to the hill above the town of Selçuk, beside Ephesus.

The three Johannine letters and the Book of Revelation presuppose that their one author John belonged to the multitude of personal eyewitnesses of the life and work of Christ (see especially I John 1: 1-5; 4: 14), that he lived for a long time in Asia Minor, that he was thoroughly acquainted with the conditions in a variety of Christian communities there, and that he was recognised by all Christian communities as the leader of this part of the Church.

Collectively, the Gospel, the three letters, and Revelation are known as Johannine literature. Christian tradition identified Saint John the Apostle as the author of the Gospel, the three letters and the Book of Revelation that bear his name. However, within Johannine literature, Revelation bears the least grammatical similarity to the Gospel, and modern scholarship is divided about the Johannine authorship of these texts.

The most widely accepted view is that – whether or not the same man wrote all the Johannine works – it all came out of the same community in Asia Minor, which had some connections with Saint John the Evangelist, Saint John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter.

The author of Saint John’s Gospel never identifies himself by name, but the text identifies him as the ‘Beloved Disciple’ repeatedly referred to in the Gospel.

An icon of Saint John the Divine in the cave on Patmos listening to the voice that tells him to write

Why am I so drawn to the Johannine literature, and why has this influenced my choice of Saint John to introduce this series of studies?

First, I find the Prologue to the Gospel (John 1: 1-14) one of the greatest pieces of literature and poetry in the New Testament.

For Saint John, there is no annunciation, no nativity, no crib in Bethlehem, no shepherds or wise men, no little stories to allow us to be sentimental and to muse. He is sharp, direct and gets to the point: ‘In the beginning …’ But traditionally, the prologue to Saint John’s Gospel is one of the Gospel readings on Christmas Day.

1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος,
καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν,
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
2 οὗτος ἦνἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
3 πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο,
καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν.
ὃ γέγονεν 4 ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν,
καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων:
5 καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇσκοτίᾳ φαίνει,
καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

6 Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωποςἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης: 7 οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵναμαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι' αὐτοῦ. 8 οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸφῶς, ἀλλ' ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός. 9 ην τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζειπάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

10 ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν,
καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι'αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο,
καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω.
11 εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν,
καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸνοὐ παρέλαβον.

12 ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα θεοῦγενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, 13 οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκθελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλ' ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν.

14 Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν,
καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ,
δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός,
πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας.

1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being 4 in him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world,
and the world came into being through him;
yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to what was his own,
and his own people did not accept him.

12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh
and lived among us,
and we have seen his glory,
the glory as of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.

In art, Saint John the Evangelist is frequently represented as an Eagle, symbolising the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his Gospel.

Secondly, I am constantly overwhelmed and in awe of the emphasis on love and light throughout the Johannine letters, whether or not you argue that the author of the Fourth Gospel is also the author of I John, or even of II John and II John.

That emphasis on love, which informs the story of Saint John’s last days I told earlier, is brought through in the first of the Johannine letters (I John 5: 1-5, 13-21):

1 Πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται, καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν γεννήσαντα ἀγαπᾷ [καὶ] τὸν γεγεννημένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ. 2 ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅταν τὸν θεὸν ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ ποιῶμεν. 3 αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν: καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν, 4 ὅτι πᾶν τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον: καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ νίκη ἡ νικήσασα τὸν κόσμον, ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν. 5 τίς [δέ] ἐστιν ὁ νικῶν τὸν κόσμον εἰ μὴ ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ;

13 Ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ.

14 καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ παρρησία ἣν ἔχομεν πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅτι ἐάν τι αἰτώμεθα κατὰ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ἀκούει ἡμῶν. 15 καὶ ἐὰν οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀκούει ἡμῶν ὃ ἐὰν αἰτώμεθα, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἔχομεν τὰ αἰτήματα ἃ ᾐτήκαμεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ. 16 Ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, αἰτήσει, καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν, τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον. ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον: οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἵνα ἐρωτήσῃ. 17 πᾶσα ἀδικία ἁμαρτία ἐστίν, καὶ ἔστιν ἁμαρτία οὐ πρὸς θάνατον.

18 Οἴδαμεν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει, ἀλλ' ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τηρεῖ αὐτόν, καὶ ὁ πονηρὸς οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ. 19 οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται. 20 οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἥκει, καὶ δέδωκεν ἡμῖν διάνοιαν ἵνα γινώσκωμεν τὸν ἀληθινόν: καὶ ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ, ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος.

21 Τεκνία, φυλάξατε ἑαυτὰ ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων.

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. 16 If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

18 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 19 We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

The site of Saint John’s tomb is marked by a marble plaque and four Byzantine pillars (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 3: 13-19 (NRSVA):

13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home.

Saint John’s Close … a street sign in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 19 January 2024):

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: ‘Climate Justice from Bangladesh perspective.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Right Revd Shourabh Pholia, Bishop of Barishal Diocese, Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (19 January 2024) invites us to pray with these words in mind:

Please pray for the Barishal Diocese, Church of Bangladesh, so that its initiatives to care for the Creation can be a blessing to the local people.

The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Aysoluk to the hill above the town of Selçuk, beside Ephesus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Lord God,
who raised up Wulfstan to be a bishop among your people
and a leader of your Church:
help us, after his example,
to live simply,
to work diligently
and to make your kingdom known;
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.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Wulfstan revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection (Saint Peter)

Continued tomorrow (Saint Jude)

A relief sculpture of Saint John … one of a series in Pugin’s font in Saint Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham with the symbols of the four evangelists (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

An afternoon in
St Albans Cathedral
during my first
visit to the abbey

St Albans Cathedral … a cathedral since 1877, and the oldest place of continuous Christian worship and pilgrimage in Britain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

I have been in St Albans, the cathedral city in Hertfordshire, twice in the past week. It is about 30 km (20 miles) north-west of London, and an hour by train from Milton Keynes. I spent one afternoon this week visiting the Roman Theatre and Verulam Park, the site of the Roman city of Verulamium. I spent much of the other afternoon last week on my first-ever visit to St Albans Cathedral or Abbey, where I also saw the installation ‘Peace Doves’ by the sculptor Peter Walker, in which thousands of paper doves hang from the tower.

The cathedral claims to be the oldest place of continuous Christian worship and pilgrimage in Britain. It was once the leading Benedictine monastery in England and the nave, 85 metres long, is the longest nave in any cathedral in England.

Although the cathedral is one of the newer cathedrals in the Church of England, its name recalls England’s first martyr and saint, Saint Alban, and today’s city of Saint Albans stands on the site of Verulamium, the first major town on the Roman Watling Street for travellers heading north. Saint Alban was martyred in Verulamium in the third or fourth century. Later, this was the home of the only English-born Pope, Nicholas Breakspear, who became Pope Adrian IV.

The Diocese of St Albans was formed in 1877, and today includes Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and parts of the London Borough of Barnet. St Albans Cathedral become a cathedral in 1877, but dates back to the eight century.

Saint Alban, England’s first martyr and saint, lived in Verulamium in the third or fourth centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

As St Albans Abbey, this was an abbey church until its dissolution in 1539, and then a parish church until it became a diocesan cathedral in 1877. The abbey was probably founded in the eighth century, but much of its architecture is Norman or Romanesque from the 11th century, with Gothic and 19th-century additions.

According to Bede, Saint Alban lived in Verulamium in the third or fourth centuries at a time when Christians were suffering ‘cruel persecution.’ The legend says Alban sheltered Amphibalus, a priest fleeing persecutors. Alban hid Amphibalus in his house for a number of days, and was so impressed by his faith that he too became a Christian.

When soldiers came to seize Amphibalus, Alban donned his guest’s cloak, was arrested and was sentenced to death. He was executed on a hill overlooking the River Ver. When he was beheaded, according to the legend, was struck off head rolled downhill and that a well gushed up where it stopped. As for the executioner, it is said his eyes fell out and dropped to the ground alongside Alban’s head.

The date of his execution is not known. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives the year 283, Bede places it in 305, while other sources indicate the period of 251-259. St Albans Cathedral stands near the supposed site of Saint Alban’s martyrdom, and the road up to Holmhurst Hill where the abbey stands is called Holywell Hill, with the offices of the Diocese of St Albans in Holywell Lodge, a Grade II building that is probably much older than its 19th century appearance.

The shrine of Saint Alban dates from the mid-4th century and was restored in 1992-1993 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

A shrine with the remains of Saint Alban existed from the mid-4th century or earlier, and Bishop Germanus of Auxerre visited it in 429. The 13th century chronicler Matthew Paris said the Saxons destroyed the building in 586.

Offa II of Mercia founded a double monastery at St Albans in 793, and in time it became the leading Benedictine abbey in England, rebuilt in the early 11th century with building material from Verulamium.

The first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen, a nephew of Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, rebuilt the church in the Norman or Romanesque style between 1077 and 1115. To make maximum use of the hilltop site, the abbey was oriented to the south-east. It was the largest abbey built in England at that time, and the tower at 144 ft high is the only 11th century great crossing tower still standing in England.

The abbey was consecrated on Holy Innocents’ Day, 28 December 1115, by the Archbishop of Rouen, with King Henry I and many bishops and nobles attending.

Inside Saint Albans Cathedral … the nave is 85 metres long and the longest nave in any cathedral in England (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Internally, the abbey church was bare of sculpture, almost stark. The plaster walls were coloured and patterned in parts, with extensive tapestries adding colour. Sculptural decoration was added in time.

The original Norman arches survive in the present building principally under the central tower and on the north side of the nave. The arches in the rest of the building are Gothic, following mediaeval rebuilding and extensions, and Victorian era restoration.

The number of monks grew from 50 to over 100 in the 1190s, and the abbey church was extended westwards with three bays added to the nave in the early 1200s, and a more prominent shrine and altar to Saint Amphibalus were added.

Nicholas Breakspear, who was born near St Albans, was turned down when he asked to enter the abbey. Eventually, he was accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope ever. The head of the abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England that same year.

The wall paintings on the west side of the pillars date from the early 1200s and were rediscovered in 1862 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

There are outstanding wall paintings throughout the cathedral. Those on the west side of the pillars date from the early 1200s and depict the Crucifixion and the life of the Virgin Mary. A mediaeval wall painting of the Doubting Thomas with the Risen Christ can be seen on the east wall of the north transept.

These wall paintings were hidden under whitewash after the Reformation, and they were not rediscovered until 1862.

St Albans Psalter (ca 1130-1145) is the best-known Romanesque illuminated manuscript produced at the abbey. Later, Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans from 1217 until he died in 1259, was an important chronicler and artist: 18 of his manuscripts survive.

An earthquake damaged the east end of the abbey church in 1250 and damaged the eastern end of the church, and the south side of the nave collapsed in 1323, damaging the shrine of Saint Amphibalus.

The Abbey Gateway was built in 1365 and is now part of St Albans School (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Abbey Gateway, built in 1365, is the only part of the monastery buildings – apart from the church – to survive the dissolution during the Tudor reformations and is now part of St Albans School.

When Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the fourth son of King Henry IV, died in 1447, he was buried in St Albans.

The High Altar Screen and reredos was first built in 1484 by the 47th abbot, William Wallingford. The statues on the screen were destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries at the Tudor Reformation, but were replaced in Victorian times.

The High Altar Screen and reredos were first built in 1484 by Abbot William Wallingford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

After Abbot Thomas Ramryge died in 1521, the abbey fell into debt and decay under three weak abbots. The abbey was surrendered at the Dissolution in 1539, and the abbot and the remaining 40 monks were pensioned off. The buildings were looted, all gold, silver and gilt objects were carted away, stonework was broken and defaced and graves were opened to search for riches.

The abbey became part of the Diocese of Lincoln in 1542 and was moved to the Diocese of London in 1550. Richard Lee bought up all the buildings, except the church and chapel and some other crown premises in 1550 and began the systematic demolition for building material. When he had removed the stone removed, Lee returned the land to the abbot in 1551.

The Lady Chapel was turned into a school, the Great Gatehouse became the town jail, other buildings passed to the Crown, and Edward VI sold the abbey church was sold to the town for £400 in 1553 to use as the parish church.

The Lady Chapel was restored in the 19th century, and is now used regularly for Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Free Church services (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

During the English Civil War in the mid-17th century, the abbey church was used to hold prisoners of war and was vandalised. Grant from William III and Mary II in 1689 and 1698 was used to repairs the building and to conceal many Gothic features.

But the church was dilapidated, and the abbey lost many of its windows in a storm in 1703. As the 18th century continued, great cracks appeared in the walls, walls were leaning, subsiding and falling, roof timbers decayed, the roof was rotten, and many windows were cracked or shattered. The abbey came close to demolition in the 1770s, when a proposal to build a smaller church almost succeeded, and again in 1797 when a storm caused further subsidence and the church was flooded.

Despite repair schemes in the 19th century, part of the clerestory wall fell through the roof of the south aisle in 1832, leaving a gap almost 30 ft long. A survey showed mortar was in a wretched condition throughout the building and wooden beams were rotten and twisted. The clerestory wall was rebuilt, the nave roof was repaired, and 40 blocked windows were reopened and glazed.

The ‘Doubting Thomas’ mediaeval wall painting in the north transept (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

As the abbey became the cathedral of a new diocese, Sir George Gilbert Scott oversaw a number of works from 1860 until he died in 1878. Around £20,000 was spent on the abbey in 1870-1875, and Scott became the ‘saviour of the Abbey.’

St Albans was transferred from the Diocese of Lincoln to the Diocese of Rochester in 1845, and the new Diocese of St Albans was formed in 1877. Thomas Legh Claughton, then Bishop of Rochester, became the first Bishop of St Albans, and remained until 1890. He died in 1892 and is buried in the churchyard.

Sir George Gilbert Scott was working on the nave roof, vaulting and west bay when he died in 1878. His plans were partially completed by his son, John Oldrid Scott, but the remaining work fell into the hands of Edmund Beckett (1816-1905), Lord Grimthorpe, whose work was controversial. The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner describes him as a ‘pompous, righteous bully.’

The rose window in the north transept (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Scott’s work was in sympathy with the existing building, but Grimthorpe’s plans reflected Victorian ideals, and he spent considerable time dismissing and criticising the work of the Scotts, father and son.

Grimthorpe designed a new west front, and it was completed in 1883 at a cost of £20,000. He often mixed architectural styles carelessly, remade the nave, rebuilt the south wall cloisters, completely remade the south face, demolished the Perpendicular window in the north transept and replaced it with a rose window of his own design, adapted the antechapel for consistory courts and redesigned the Lady Chapel. His use of cement led to cracking, while his use of ironwork in windows caused corrosion and damage to the surrounding stone.

Scott’s son John Oldrid Scott, had continued working at the cathedral. He designed Bishop Claughton’s tomb and built a new bishop’s throne, and designed new choir stalls.

The main west window was reglazed and dedicated as a war memorial in 1925.

St Albans Cathedral was rearranged liturgically in the 1970s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

With the liturgical movement of the 1970s, the need was seen to encourage a closer link between the celebrant and congregation in the nave. The nine-tonne pulpit and the choir stalls and permanent pews were dismantled and removed in 1972. The altar space was enlarged and improved, new choir stalls were put in place, the pews were replaced with seats, and a new pulpit was installed.

The nave and clerestory roofs were repaired in the 1970 and 1980s, the clerestory windows were repaired, other work by Grimthorpe was replaced, and his west front was repaired. A new visitor centre was built on the south side of the cathedral, close to the site of the original abbey chapter house and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982.

The shrine of Saint Alban was restored in 1992-1993, and it is the focus for pilgrims each year on Saint Alban’s Day, 22 June.

The shrine of Saint Amphibalus was restored in 2020 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Other work in the late 20th century included inserting stained glass by Alan Younger in Grimthorpe’s north transept rose window, unveiled by Princess Diana in 1989. Seven new painted stone statues by Rory Young were inserted in 2015 in the the nave screen, which dates from ca 1360.

The shrine of Saint Amphibalus was restored in 2020.

Robert Runcie, later Archbishop of Canterbury, was Bishop of St Albans in 1970-1980 and returned to live there when he retired in 1991. He is buried in the churchyard and commemorated with a gargoyle on the roof.

The Very Revd Jo Kelly-Moore has been the Dean of St Albans since 2021. Sunday services are: Sunday Services: 8 am Eucharist; 9:30 am, Parish Eucharist; 11:15 am, Choral Eucharist; 6 pm, Choral Evensong. The cathedral is open daily from 8:30 to 5:30.

The chapter and choir stalls in the Quire … one stall bears the name of Nicholas Breakspear, Pope Adrian IV (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

• Peace Doves is an art installation by the sculptor Peter Walker, in which thousands of paper doves hang from the cathedral tower. It continues in St Albans Cathedral until Tuesday 13 February.

‘Peace Doves’ is an art installation by the sculptor Peter Walker (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)