Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 17, Tuesday 21 April 2026

‘I am the Bread of Life’ (John 6: 35) … preparing bread for the Eucharist on a Sunday morning (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost, and this week began with the Third Sunday of Easter (Easter III, 19 April 2026). The calendar of the Church of England today remembers Saint Anselm (1109), Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith.

The meeting of parishioners to elect churchwardens takes place in the parish hall in Stony Stratford this evening (7 pm), followed by the Annual Parish Church Meeting (7:30 pm). I have yet to decide about making a quick visit to London earlier in the day. Meanwhile, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘My Father … gives you the true bread from heaven’ (John 6: 32) … a mosaic in Saint Matthew’s Church, Great Peter Street, Westminster (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 30-35 (NRSVA):

30 So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”.’ 32 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34 They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (John : 35) … an icon of the Last Supper or Mystical Supper in a shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

We have read in recent days about Jesus feeding of the 5,000 and walking on the water, and we are now introduced to reading the long Bread of Life discourse (verses 22-59), spoken in the synagogue in Capernaum (John 6: 59).

The day following the feeding of the 5,000, the people go in search of Jesus, but when they go to the site of the feeding, they find he is not there either. Eventually they find Jesus and his disciples near Capernaum, Jesus’ principal base in Galilee. They ask him: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (verse 25).

Many years ago (2010), I took part in the popular television series, Who Do You Think You Are? I did some of the research for Dervla Kirwan, famous for her roles from Ballykissangel to Smother. The show is still popular, and I still get messages from America and England from friends and family who have just seen repeats.

But that question, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, goes much deeper than the details that programmes in the series unearth about Victorian great-grandparents.

‘Who are you?’

When most of us are asked this question in normal chit-chat, we probably first answer by our name, the name we like to be known by.

Given a second chance, even when we ask ourselves that question, we usually reply in ways that show our most important, our deepest, relationships: Mother/Daughter, Father/Son, Wife/Husband, Sister/Brother, Uncle/Aunt, Niece/Nephew, Grandparent/Grandchild …

Relationships define us, relationships shape us, relationships place us in family and society … and relationships can sometimes even destroy us, yet they still continue to define us.

That is how we see ourselves, usually, when we are asked casually, ‘Who are you?’ But there is also a third way of asking and answering that question.

In my previous roles, in media and academic life, I noticed quite often when people asked one another these questions, and exchanged cards, they spent little time looking at each other’s names on the cards, and more time figuring out their roles and the meaning of each other’s job titles.

The questions that are being really asked at these receptions and conferences are not ‘Are you Patrick?’ or ‘Are you a parent/partner?’ The questions being asked, deep down, often are ‘What do you do?’ and ‘Are you useful in my network?’ Can you get me more business, more sales, more votes, more media attention?

And then, there is another, perhaps fourth question, when it comes to identity: ‘Where are you from?’

‘Where am I from?’ The answer connects me with so many shared connections, friends, family members, schoolfriends, memories … why, we might even find we are related!

These are the sort of questions the crowd are asking Jesus in our Gospel readings yesterday and today:

Where are you from? (verse 24)

When did you come here? (verse 25)

What do you work at? (verse 30)

What can you do for me? (verse 30)

Why, like scriptwriters for that television series, they even recall their ancestors and what they did in the past (verse 31).

But, like those people exchanging business cards at a reception, there are few questions about relationship or relationships. They try to define him (‘rabbi’, verse 25), so they can box him in.

Instead, Jesus tries to answer them in term of relationships.

Set aside all those wonders and miracles, he tells them (verse 26). Stop playing the status-seeking game (verse 29). What is more important than all these is what is in your heart (verse 29).

He insists on speaking of himself in relationship to God the Father, who has sent him.

And then Jesus uses the first of his seven ‘I AM’ sayings in Saint John’s Gospel, ‘I am the bread of life’ (John 6: 35).

These seven ‘I AM’ sayings are traditionally listed as:

1, I am the Bread of Life (John 6: 35, 48)
2, I am the Light of the World (John 8: 12)
3, I am the gate (or the door) (John 10: 7)
4, I am the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11 and 14)
5, I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11: 25)
6, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6)
7, I am the true vine (John 15: 1, 5)

These ‘I AM’ sayings echo the divine name revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, ‘I AM’ (Exodus 3: 14).

If I am made in the image and likeness of God, how could I possibly say who I am in the ways Jesus says who he is?

Bread: when did I last help to feed the hungry … those who are physically and spiritually hungry?

The Light of the World … when did I last speak out against prejudice, bigotry, hatred and scaremongering, and shine a light into these dark shadows of the world?

The gate or the door … am I welcoming, hospitable, open, an advocate of pluralism, diversity and tolerance in our society?

The Good Shepherd … do I look after people, care for them, especially those people no-one else seems to think is worth bothering about? Pastoral responsibilities are not reserved exclusively for those of us in ordained ministry.

I could go down through all seven ‘I AM’ sayings and find they are a very good checklist not just for me as a priest but for any Christian, indeed for any person.

Christ is the bread of life and the light of the world. We must also offer that light and life that Christ offers us to the world.

Would it make any difference if the Church not only preached what it believes, but worked actively to see these beliefs put into practice?

Our response to the love we receive from God – a risky outpouring that is beyond all human understanding of generosity – can only be to love. That call to love is not just to love those who are easy to love. It is a call to love those who are difficult to love too, to love all in the world … and to love beyond words. And that should be a good enough definition of who I am.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness’ (John 6: 31) … in the mountain passes above Preveli on the south coast of Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 21 April 2026):

‘Turning Waste into Wonder’ provides the theme this week (19-25 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 48-49. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from Linet Musasa, team member of the Partners in the Gospel Comprehensive Climate Change initiative of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 21 April 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, give courage and creativity to all taking part in climate initiatives. Bless Angela Manomana and her young advocates and inspire communities to turn challenges into hope and opportunity.

The Collect:

Eternal God, who gave great gifts to your servant Anselm
as a pastor and teacher:
grant that we, like him, may desire you with our whole heart
and, so desiring, may seek you
and, seeking, may find you;
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 of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Anselm to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Anselm depicted in the window above the High Altar in Saint Dunstan-in-the-West Church, Fleet Street, London (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

Saint Michael’s Church, Brereton: one of the last churches with work by Sir George Gilbert Scott

Saint Michael’s Church, Brereton, was designed by James Trubshaw in 1837 and redesigned by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1878 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

In recent days, I have been visiting a number of churches in the Rugeley area that I first got to know when I was about 19 or 20. They include Saint Michael’s Church in Brereton; the old and new Saint Augustine’s Church, the ruins of the early mediaeval parish church, now known as the ‘Old Chancel’, and the early 19th century church across the street that replaced it in the 1820s; Saint Joseph and Saint Etheldreda Church, Rugeley; and Hawkesyard Hall and Spode House in Armitage, where the Dominicans once had a priory.

Brereton in the Cannock Chase district in Staffordshire, is 1½ miles south-east of Rugeley, half way between Lichfield and Stafford, and with a population of about 6,000.

Brereton was known in 1279 known as Breredon, the ‘hill where the briars grow’. It was once part of a wider mining community, with several mines, and in the 19th century the extensive collieries belonged to two local magnates, Earl Talbot and the Marquis of Anglesey. Today, all the mines are closed.

Until the mid-19th century, Brereton and Rugeley formed one parish, with Brereton as a chapelry in the parish of Rugeley. Later, Brereton formed a civil parish in its own right from 1894 until 1934, when the parish was abolished and merged with Rugeley. A new civil parish was formed in 1988 and was renamed Brereton and Ravenhill.

Saint Michael’s Church stands on an elevated site above the Main Road in Brereton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

I first visited Saint Michael’s Church, the Church of England parish church in Brereton in the early 1970s. It is a listed building and stands on an elevated site above the Main Road, surrounded by a 2.5 acre landscaped churchyard. Brereton Methodist Church, built in 1809, was the first church building in Brereton, and Saint Michael’s Church followed in 1837.

Saint Michael’s Church was built on land and using stone given by Charles Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot (1777-1849), 2nd Earl Talbot from 1793, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1817-1821, and father of Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot (1803-1868), later 3rd Earl Talbot and 18th Earl of Shrewsbury.

Elizabeth and Harriet Sneyd of Brereton Hall were among the principal contributors to building Saint Michael’s Church. They also built Brereton’s first school, Saint Michael’s School.

Saint Michael’s was designed in the Early English Gothic style by a local Staffordshire architect, the prolific Staffordshire architect James Trubshaw (1777-1853) of Little Haywood, father-in-law of the Lichfield architect Thomas Johnson (1794-1865). Saint Michael’s Church was opened in 1837, and Brereton became a district chapelry in 1843.

As the population of Brereton expanded, major extensions and alterations to the church were carried out later in the 19th century under the Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), the most prolific Gothic Revival architect of the 19th century. The church enlargement by Scott in 1878 was one of his last works carried out in the year he died.

These alterations were initiated by the Revd Edward Samson (1845-1921) when he was the Vicar of Brereton (1874-1894), often at his own expense. Samson, who had an artificial leg, came from a family of wealthy London barristers. He had been the curate of Rugeley (1870-1873) before becoming the Vicar of Brereton. Samson retired due to ill health and moved to Armitage Lodge, and became a church warden of Saint John’s, Armitage. When his health recovered, Sansom returned to ministry, and in 1903 he was appointed Rector of Armitage and Vicar of Pipe Ridware.

The west end of Saint Michael’s Church, seen from the churchyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Michael’s Church is built in grey sandstone with tile roofs, and consists of a nave with a west porch, north and south transepts towards the west end, aisles to the east of them, a chancel with a south-west vestry and a north-west steeple. The steeple has a tower that becomes octagonal towards the top and it is surmounted by a spire. The windows are lancets.

Scott extended the transepts eastwards, giving the church, in effect, north and south aisles each of three bays. He also formed the chancel by raising the floor level at the east end of the former nave and surrounding it with low stone screens. The sedilia and the treatment of the chancel window internally are part of this scheme.

The font, which has an arcaded bowl on a base of coloured marble on a marble stem with detached corner shafts, is in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878), Bishop of Lichfield (1868-1878).

The painted wooden reredos depicting the crucifixion and angels is by Burlison & Grylls and dates from 1883. The stained glass in the church is by Ward & Hughes and Burlison & Grylls.

The upper part of the tower and spire of Saint Michael’s was remodelled in 1887 by Scott’s son, John Oldrid Scott (1841-1913), with the octagonal tower raised to accommodate a clock and four extra bells. The clock was added to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.

The carved oak porch outside the west door was added in 1891 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The nave west doorway is dated 1837 in the tympanum, and the south-west vestry is dated 1894.

The richly detailed Gothic oak pulpit was given in 1895 by the Revd Edward Samson. The north and south walls of the chancel have sgraffito work from 1897 by Heywood Sumner, and originally continued across the east wall.

The east end of the north aisle was rearranged as the Lady Chapel in 1927-1928.

The churchyard was extended in 1876 and 1894 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The churchyard was extended in 1876 and 1894, and the roadside lychgate was added to 1884. The stone and brick walls on Main Road and the lychgate were moved back from their original positions during road widening in 1971. The church hall was built by Wood, Goldstraw & Yorath in 1977, and it is linked to the vestry by covered walkway.

Saint Michael’s churchyard remains the one significant area of landscaped green open space in Brereton.

Across the road from the church, the Revd Edward Samson built and endowed four almshouses the Edward Samson Cottage Homes, in 1902. They form a single-storey range, each house having a projecting gabled bay window.

The separate church parishes of Rugeley and Brereton officially became the Parish of Brereton and Rugeley on 1 June 2006, and the union was marked by a day of celebrations on 19 November 2006.

• The Revd Cath Leighton is the Team Rector of the Benefice of Brereton and Rugeley and Armitage with Handsacre, with six churches. Sunday services are held in Saint Michael’s Church, Brereton, at 9:45 am on the second, fourth and fifth Sundays. On the first Sunday of the month, a benefice service is held in one of the churches around the benefice.

The Revd Edward Samson built and endowed the Edward Samson Cottage Homes across the road from Saint Michael’s Church in 1902 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 16, Monday 20 April 2026

‘The … crowd … saw that Jesus had not got into the boat … but that his disciples had gone away alone’ (John 6: 22) … a canal boat on the Trent and Mersey Canal between Rugeley and Armitage in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost, and this week began with the Third Sunday of Easter (Easter III, 19 April 2026).

I have an early start today, but before the day begins I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘The … crowd that had stayed … saw that Jesus had not got into the boat … but that his disciples had gone away alone’ (John 6: 22) … a lone boat against the harbour walls in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 22-29 (NRSVA):

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ 26 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ 28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’

‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me … because you ate your fill of the loaves’ (John 6: 26) … bread in a shop window in Melcombe Street, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Reflections:

We have read in recent days about Jesus feeding of the 5,000 and walking on the water, and we are now introduced to reading the long Bread of Life discourse (verses 22-59), spoken in the synagogue in Capernaum (John 6: 59).

This ‘Bread’ is compared the manna with which God fed his people during their long wanderings in the desert in the wilderness. Today’s reading is an introduction, and the discourse itself begins tomorrow (20 April 2026). The last part of the discourse is about the mixed reaction of Jesus’ disciples and about Peter’s profession.

The day following the feeding of the 5,000, the people go in search of Jesus. There had been only one boat tied up at the shore, and the disciples had taken it to cross the lake. However, Jesus had not accompanied them, he had stayed behind. The people realise he did not cross the lake with his disciples, but when they go to the site of the feeding, they find he is not there either.

Eventually they find Jesus and his disciples near Capernaum, Jesus’ principal base in Galilee. They ask him: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (verse 25). In typically Johannine fashion, the question is loaded with deeper meanings, of which those asking it are quite unaware. Jesus’ origin (where he comes from) is a constant source of misunderstanding both on the part of the crowds and of the religious leadership of the day.

Jesus begins by telling the crowds that they are coming in search of him not because of the ‘signs’ that he is doing, but because of the bread that they had been given to eat. They have missed the point of what Jesus is doing. They have seen the things that Jesus has been doing, but have missed the ‘sign’, the deeper meaning behind them.

There are two kinds of food: food for the body, and food for the inner person, the spirit or the soul. The food the people are looking for is not the food that counts. The real food brings a life that never ends, and that is the food that Jesus is offering. It parallels the ‘spring of water gushing up to eternal life’ that Jesus promised the Samaritan woman (John 4: 14).

The source of this ‘bread’ is the Son on whom the Father has set his seal. This ‘seal’ was given at his baptism. It is the Spirit of the Father, who is the power of God working in and through Jesus.

The people ask him: ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ (verse 28). Jesus tells them: ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’ (verse 29).

‘Work’ in this context refers to the fulfilment of the requirements of the religious law of the day. But Jesus substitutes this with faith in himself as the delegate of the Father. He challenges us not just to ‘believe’, but to ‘believe in’. This is not merely a question of accepting certain statements about Jesus and who he really is. ‘Believing in’ involves a total and unconditional self-commitment to Christ, to the Gospel and the vision of life that Jesus proposes, and making it part of myself. This is where the real bread is to be found.

Jesus is not just speaking of the Eucharistic bread, but the deep-down nourishment of which the Eucharist is the sign and sacrament – nourishment that also comes from the Word of God in Scripture and the experience of the whole Christian community.

As we read this full chapter, we should not limit the truth of Jesus as the Bread or Food of our life simply to the Eucharist, which is the sacramental sign of something much larger – all that we receive through Christ and the whole Christian way of life.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘They … got into the boats and went … looking for Jesus’ (John 6: 24) … boats in the harbour in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 20 April 2026):

‘Turning Waste into Wonder’ provides the theme this week (19-25 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 48-49. This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update from Linet Musasa, team member of the Partners in the Gospel Comprehensive Climate Change initiative of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 20 April 2026) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the ‘Waste Smart, We Care’ campaign. Bless churches and communities as they learn about climate issues, adopt sustainable practices, and care for your creation.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
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:

Living God,
your Son made himself known to his disciples
in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in all his redeeming work;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life’ (John 6: 27) … food on the table at restaurants in Crete (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

War threatens 32 million, 32 million metres by bus, Trump’s $32 million deportees, and 32 million blog readers

La Sagrada Família in Barcelona, the capital of Catalunya (Catalonia), which has a land area of 32,000 sq km or 32 million sq metres (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The viewing and reading figures for this blog continue to surprise me. These figures have passed the million mark twice this month, reaching the 32 million mark very early today (19 April 2026), soon after midnight, having passed the 31 million mark earlier in the month (8 April 2026).

This blog passed the million figure in readership numbers no less than five times last month, reaching the 30 million mark by 29 March, 29 million four days earlier (25 March), 28 million on 20 March, 27 million on 12 March, and 26 million at the beginning of that month (1 March). The number of hits on two days last month were the highest daily figures I have ever recorded: 323,156 on 27 March 2026 and 318,307 on 1 March.

This year so far has seen a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog, reaching a volume of readers that I never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (16 million) have been within little more than seven months, since 6 September 2025. The total hits last month were the highest monthly total ever (4,523,648), following on the heels of the previous month’s record total of 3,386,504 in February 2026.

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 11 million hits or visitors in 2026, with more than 1.7 million hits so far in April.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog, six were last month alone, three were in February, one was in January, and two were in January 2025:

• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)

• 280,802 (26 February 2026)
• 273,022 (27 February 2026)
• 270,983 (25 March 2026)
• 261,422 (13 January 2026)
• 256,384 (18 April 2026)
• 234,737 (26 March 2026)

The number of readers continues to be overpowering and the daily averages are running at more than 91,000 or more hits a day so far this month. Ten years ago, the daily average was around 1,000.

To put today’s figure of 32 million in context:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned last week that a potential ‘triple shock’ of energy, food, and economic issues stemming from an Iran war could push 32 million people into poverty, with developing nations most affected.

The Salvation Army is the largest non-government provider of social services in the US and one of the largest in the world, spending more than $3.6 billion a year and assisting more than 32 million people in the US alone.

The Trump administration has spent more than $1 million per person to deport some migrants to countries they have no connection to, only to see many sent back to their home nations at further taxpayer expense, according to a new congressional investigation. A 30-page report from Senate foreign relations committee Democrats released in February revealed the US government paid more than $32 million to five foreign governments – including some of the world’s most corrupt regimes – to accept about 300 third-country nationals deported from the US.

The report also detailed how the administration had struck a deal with Iran to deport 400 Iranian nationals, including Christian converts, ethnic minorities and political dissidents. According to a detailed report in the Guardian, at least eight people on the first flight begged not to be sent because they feared for their lives.

About 32 million people live in both Saudi Arabia and Mozambique. Compare this figure with Chongqing in China, widely cited as the world’s largest city proper with over 32 million residents. However, this figure represents the entire administrative municipality – an area as large as Austria containing substantial rural, mountainous, and agricultural regions, and not just the dense urban core.

Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in terms of population with about 32 million Sikhs around the globe.

32 million square metres is 32,000 sq km and 32 million metres is 32,000 km. 32,000 sq km is the land area of the State of Maryland in the US and the autonomous region of Catalunya (Catalonia) in Spain.

Asteroid (99942) Apophis will pass within 32,000 km of the Earth’s surface on 13 April 2029, and should be visible to the naked eye without telescope or binoculars. NASA says the ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ will come closer than many orbiting satellites. It is named Apophis after an Egyptian deity known as the god of chaos and eternal darkness. However, there is no risk of it hitting Planet Earth for the next 100 years.

The London to Calcutta bus service was a long-distance international bus route that operated between London and Calcutta from 1957 to 1976. It was the longest bus route in the world in its day, covering about 16,000 km (10,000 miles) one way, and over 32,700 km on the round trip, taking about 50 days to complete each leg. The route passed through several countries and became associated with the overland ‘Hippie Trail’ of the 1960s and 1970s.

32 million minutes is about 60 years, 10 months and 2 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take almost 61 years, from June 1965, to reach today’s latest figure of 32 million.

It is now more than four years since I retired from active parish ministry on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120-140 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A similar number are reading my current series of postings on churches in the Rugeley and Stafford areas, and were reading my recent series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 800-1,000 or more people each week.

This afternoon, I am very grateful to the real readers among those 32 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I remain thankful to the faithful core group of about 100-120 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each day.

The Gurdwara Sahib in Kuching … there are an estimated 32 million Sikhs globally (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Augustine’s Church, built by Underwood in Rugeley in the 1820s, is ‘remarkable for its date’

Inside Saint Augustine’s Church, Rugeley, facing east … the church was built in 1822-1823 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

In recent days, I have been visiting a number of churches in the Rugeley area that I first got to know when I was about 19 or 20, including the old and new Saint Augustine’s Church, the ruins of the early mediaeval parish church, now known as the ‘Old Chancel’, and the early 19th century church across the street that replaced it in the 1820s; Saint Joseph and Saint Etheldreda Church; Saint Michael’s Church in Brereton; and Hawkesyard Hall and Spode House in Armitage, where the Dominicans once had a priory.

Saint Augustine’s Church, the parish church of Rugeley, is dedicated to Saint Augustine of Canterbury, first Archbishop of Canterbury, and is a Grade II* listed building. It was built in 1822-1823 to replace the mediaeval parish church and what remains of the former church – the tower and chancel – is now a Grade II listed building known as the Old Chancel.

The parish decided about 1818 that a new parish church was needed because the population of Rugeley was growing rapidly and because the chancel of the old parish church seemed to be beyond repair. A site across the street from the old church, large enough for a new burial ground, was given in 1819 by Thomas William Anson (1795-1854), 2nd Viscount Anson, later 1st Earl of Lichfield (1831).

Saint Augustine’s Church, Rugeley, was built in 1822-1823 to replace the mediaeval parish church, now known as the ‘Old Chancel’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The architectural historian Sir Niklaus Pevsner describes the church as ‘remarkable for its date’. The church was built in stone in 1822-1823 and is an early example of the simplified perpendicular Gothic Revival style of the builder and architect Charles Underwood (1791-1883).

Underwood designed the church in Rugeley early in his career after he had moved to Oxford, where ‘Survivalist Gothic’ had lingered on in the grounds of some of the colleges and institutions.

The church originally consisted of a rectangular nave of five bays with aisles and clerestory, a shallow chancel, and a tall west tower. It was consecrated on 21 January 1823.

The building cost £6,501 17s 2d, which was partly met through the sale of materials from the original church. The new church was consecrated on 1 January 1823 by George Henry Law (1761–1845), Bishop of Chester (1812-1824).

The high altar and reredos in Saint Augustine’s Church, Rugeley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Internally the nave arcades have lofty shafted piers and four-centred arches, and the aisles are occupied by the north and south galleries. The base of the tower forms an entrance lobby, and there is a large gallery across the west end of the church. Below this gallery are tables of parish charities.

The fittings were altered In 1867-1868 and the box pews were cut down to form open seats. The marble font dates from 1874.

By 1894, great dissatisfaction was being expressed with the building. It was said to be in bad structural repair and to be ‘inconveniently arranged and unsuited for purposes of public worship’. Some parishioners complained that it was impossible to preserve due order in the galleries and ‘to prevent the young people who crowd into them at an evening service from behaving in an irreverent and unseemly manner’.

Sarah Hopkins had left a bequest in her will in 1844 for the improvement of the church and over half a century this had accumulated to about £3,000.

The reredos was carved in an Alpine village in Northern Italy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

After various schemes were discussed, it was agreed to enlarge the existing church and a new chancel with north and south aisles, including a Lady Chapel, were built in 1905-1906 and dedicated on 29 June 1906. The stone was given by Thomas Francis Anson (1856-1918), 3rd Earl of Lichfield.

The design is a scholarly example of Perpendicular architecture by Frank Loughborough Pearson (1864-1947), son of the Gothic Revival architect John Loughborough Pearson (1817-1897), renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals.

The reredos was carved in an Alpine village in Northern Italy, with the gilding and colour added in London.in North Italy. The reredos and the panelling in the sanctuary were presented in 1930 by WJ Stanton in memory of his wife.The central panel depicts the the Risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. On either side of this panel are three angels who recall the Preface and the Sanctus at the Eucharist. On either side are figures of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Ann, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, together with smaller figures on either side of Saint Stephen, Saint Matthew, Saint George and Saint Mark; these saints all represent stages in the life of Mrs Stanton who was, for example, baptised in Saint Stephen’s Church, South Kensington.

The reredos is incribed with the words, ‘In thy presence is fullness of joy’.

The East Window above the high altar and reredos is by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907). It depicts the crucifixion and as well as the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Divine, the saints depicted include Saint Augustine of Canterbury and Saint Chad of Lichfield.

The East Window in the chancel (above) and the window in the Lady Chapel (below) by CE Kempe (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The north aisle forms a Lady Chapel, where the East Window is also by Kempe. The south aisle has a vestry and organ loft. The west end of the church remains as it was built in 1822, but the start of a proposed new nave arcade is visible near the chancel arch. The east window of the Lady Chapel was given in 1906 in memory of Fanny Louise Slade by her sister.

Other stained glass windows in the chapel date from 1907 and commemorate Gilbert Woolland and Thomas and Mary Ann James. The carved organ screen was given in memory of Emma O Litler (d 1908).

The pulpit was made in 1907 in memory ofthe parish benefactor Sarah Hopkins who died in 1844 and has a simple but expressive oak carving of Saint Augustine. The font at the west end of the church is made of the finest alabaster and was given in 1874 by Ralph Armishaw.

The pulpit, made in 1907, has an oak carving of Saint Augustine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The wall tablets in the church commemorate Rebecca Simpson (1849), Mary and William Landor (1860), Robert W Nuttall (1904), John AB Burrough (1918), and Robert Landor and members of his family (1914-1951).

The church plate includes a silver chalice and paten, a copper cross, two pewter candlesticks, a silver viaticum and a latten censer dating from 16th century, a silver cup and flagon given by Mary Chetwynd in 1704, and two silver-gilt chalices, two silver-gilt patens and a silver-gilt flagon given by William Bamford in 1855.

The peal of bells includes six from the old church dating from 1706-1708. They were renovated for the millennium. A special peal was rung out over the town in 2007 to mark the bells’ 300th anniversary.

The octagonal chuurch hall was added in 1972.

The organ loft in the south aisle of Saint Augustine’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Augustine’s initiated a number of missions and chapels in the Rugeley and Brereton area, including Saint John the Baptist, Slitting Mill), which closed in 2025; Saint Michael’s Church, Brereton; the Church of the Holy Spirit, Etching Hill (1881); the Church of the Good Shepherd, Pear Street Estate; and missions in Horse Fair (ca 1875-1881), Saint Mary’s mission in Rugeley (ca 1880-1916), and a misson chapel at Fairoak (ca 1882-1894).

Saint Augustine’s churchyard has been reconfigured due to the risk of subsidence and many of the grave stones now lie around the edge.

The graves and monuments in the churchyard include the headstone to Christina Collins who was murdered on a canal boat in 1839 and the grave of John Parsons Cook, the final victim of Dr William Palmer, the ‘Rugeley Poisoner’, who was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and hanged at Stafford in 1856. But more about these stories in the days to come, perhaps, when I recall some grisly murders in Rugeley.

The marble font in Saint Augustine’s dates from 1874 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

• The Revd Cath Leighton is the Team Rector of the Benefice of Brereton and Rugeley and Armitage with Handsacre, with five churches serving 25,000 people. The Sunday services at 10:30 am in Saint Augustine’s Church alternate between Sung Worship (first and third Sundays) and Holy Communion (second and fourth Sundays), and there is Holy Communion on Thursdays at 10 am. Saint Augustine’s Day is celebrated on 26 May.

The west end of Saint Augustine’s Church, Rugeley, seen from the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 15, Sunday 19 April 2026, Third Sunday of Easter

The Supper at Emmaus … a window by Daniel Bell of Bell and Almond in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and today is Third Sunday of Easter. Later this morning, I hope to take part in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

Meanwhile, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘The Road to Emmaus’, an icon by Sister Marie Paul Farran OSB (1930-2019) of the Mount of Olives Monastery, Jerusalem (1990)

Luke 24: 13-35 (NRSVA):

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ 19 He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ 25 Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Supper at Emmaus … a mosaic in the Church of the Holy Name, Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Luke 24: 13-35) is the reading we had 11 days ago (8 April 2026), the Wednesday in Easter week.

This is the much-loved Easter story of the Risen Christ travelling on the road to Emmaus with two disciples, who return to Jerusalem and proclaim ‘how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (verse 35). This is a story that is a rich one and one that offers a model for Christian life and mission.

After seeing all their hopes shattered on Good Friday, two disciples – Cleopas and another unnamed disciple – head out of Jerusalem, and are walking and talking on the road as their make their way together.

Emmaus was about 11 km (seven miles) from Jerusalem, so it would have taken them two hours, perhaps, to get there, maybe more if they were my age.

Somewhere along the way, they are joined by a third person, ‘but their eyes were kept from recognising him’ (verse 16, NRSV), or to be more precise, as the Greek text says, ‘but their eyes were being held so that they did not recognise him.’

They cannot make sense of what has happened over the last few days, and they cannot make sense of the questions their new companion puts to them. When Jesus asks them a straight question, they look sad and downcast.

I get the feeling that Cleopas is a bit cynical, treating Jesus as one of the visitors to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, and asking him if he really does not know what has happened in the city. In his cynicism, Cleopas almost sounds like Simon the Pharisee asking his visitor Jesus whether he really knows who the woman with the alabaster jar is.

Like Simon, Cleopas and his friend – perhaps one of the many unnamed women in the Gospels – thought that Jesus was a Prophet. But now they doubt it. And the sort of Messiah they hoped for was not the sort of Messiah Jesus had been preparing them for, was he?

And they have heard the report of the women visiting the tomb, and finding it empty. Hearing is not believing. Seeing is not believing. And believing is not the same as faith.

When I find myself disagreeing fundamentally with people, I wonder do I listen to them even half as patiently as Jesus did with these two.

There are no interruptions, no corrections, no upbraiding. Jesus listens passively and patiently, like all good counsellors should, and only speaks when they have finished speaking.

And then, despite their cynicism, despite their failure to understand, despite their lack of faith, these two disciples do something extraordinary. They press the stranger in their company not to continue on his journey. It is late in the evening, and they invite him to join them.

On re-reading this story I found myself comparing their action and their hospitality with the Good Samaritan who comes across the bruised and battered stranger on the side of the road, and offers him healing hospitality, offering to pay for his meals and his accommodation in the inn.

These two have also come across a bruised and battered stranger on the road, which provides some parallels with the story of the Good Samaritan. They see the marks and wounds inflicted on his body and like the Good Samaritan they offer him healing hospitality, offering him a meal and accommodation in the inn.

Jesus had once imposed himself on Zacchaeus and presumes on his hospitality. Now Cleopas and his friend insist on imposing their hospitality on Jesus. The guest becomes the host and the host becomes the guest, once again.

He goes in to stay with them. And it is not just a matter of finding him a room for the night. They dine together. And so, in a manner that is typical of the way Saint Luke tells his stories, the story of the road to Emmaus ends with a meal with Jesus.

And at the meal – as he did with the multitude on the hillside, and with the disciples in the Upper Room – Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to those at the table with him (verse 30).

Their time in the wilderness is over, the Lenten preparation has been completed, the one who has received their hospitality now invites them to receive the hospitality of God, and to join him at the Heavenly Banquet.

Their journey continues. Our journey continues. Christ is not physically present with us on the road. But we recognise him in the breaking of the bread. And we, being many, become one body, for we all share in the one bread.

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!

He was made ‘known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (Luke 24: 35) … bread baked for the Easter Eucharist at Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 19 April 2026, Third Sunday of Easter, Easter III):

‘Turning Waste into Wonder’ provides the theme this week (19-25 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 48-49. This theme is introduced today with a Programme Update from Linet Musasa, team member of the Partners in the Gospel Comprehensive Climate Change initiative of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe:

In a time when climate change poses an increasingly significant threat to our planet, innovative solutions are emerging from the unexpected places.

One remarkable story of creativity and possibility comes from Angela Manomana, a 62-year-old widow in the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe, Gweru. Angela has turned what most see as waste into treasure.

With vision and determination, she transforms discarded plastic waste into handbags, mats, hats, and household containers. What begins as discarded bottles and packaging becomes beautiful, functional products which are especially popular at church fairs.

For the past 15 years, Angela has been breathing new life into waste while simultaneously cleaning the environment. But she isn’t stopping there – she’s mentoring five young advocates in Gweru, to pass on her skills and show them how to see potential in what others throw away. Her innovative work does not only address environmental concerns but also empowers communities, particularly women to take charge of issues they face.

USPG supports the Waste Smart, We Care campaign, uniting churches across 47 dioceses in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Tanzania. It empowers communities to tackle climate change through practical action and sustainable living. Find out more at uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 19 April 2026, the Third Sunday of Easter, Easter III, Earth Day) invites us to pray:

Merciful God, we lament the harm caused to your creation, especially through our actions. Forgive our neglect and greed, and help us take responsibility. Guide us to care for the earth, act justly, and protect your creation for all people and creatures.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
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:

Living God,
your Son made himself known to his disciples
in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in all his redeeming work;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Emmaus window by Catherine O’Brien in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, Dublin, commemorates a former vicar, Bishop Harry Vere White (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

How the late 12th century Saint Augustine’s Church in Rugeley has survived as ‘The Old Chancel’

The remains of the original Saint Augustine’s Church in Rugeley, now known as the Old Chancel, date from the 12th century and include the chancel and tower (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

When I was in Rugeley this week and last week, I visited a number of churches in the area that I first got to know when I was about 19 or 20, including the old and new Saint Augustine’s Church, the ruins of the early mediaeval parish church, now known as the ‘Old Chancel’, and the early 19th century church across the street that replaced it in the 1820s; Saint Joseph and Saint Etheldreda Church; Saint Michael’s Church in Brereton; and Hawkesyard Hall and Spode House in Armitage, where the Dominicans once had a priory.

The remains of the original Saint Augustine’s Church in Rugeley, now known as the Old Chancel, date from the 12th century, when the church had just a nave and a chancel. A lady chapel was added in the 13th century, and a tower in the 14th century. A north aisle was also.

There was a church in Rugeley by 1189, when Richard I granted it with the manor to the Bishop of Lichfield but the church may have may have been built earlier ca 1150, possibly under the direction of the De Puys family who were then local landowners.

By 1192, the Bishop of Lichfield had given the church to the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield Cathedral, although the bishop reserved his episcopal rights. In 1255, the bishop exempted the church from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, and so the dean and chapter acquired a peculiar jurisdiction.

A vicar was appointed from 1276, but the dean and chapter retained their rights. The vicarage was endowed that year with a house, lands and some of the tithes. Richard de Rugeley later granted the vicar adjoining lands and further lands were given on behalf of the Precentor of Lichfield.

An assistant priest was appointed in 1325 because the first vicar, Henry de Barton alias de Passelewe, was helpless and blind.

By 1338, the dean and chapter delegated many of their rights in the parish to the Vicar of Rugeley. In 1356 and 1357, the dean and chapter rebuked the vicar for being non-resident despite the stipulation that he must fulfil his duties personally.

The church had a number of private oratories, chantry chapels and side chapels, with their own chaplains, trustees and keepers of lights, including those endowed by William de Thomenhorn, Henry Puys, and the Chantry of Our Lady. Many of the parish endowments were provided by the Weston and Chetwynd families.

The parish registers date from 1569. From 1639 to 1646 the vicar, the Revd Richard Chapman, was non-resident and the church was served by a curate.

A floor plan of the original church, depicted on a noticeboard in the old churchyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

After a new parish church was built in 1822-1823, the old building was partly demolished. The chancel and the adjacent north chapel were left standing and walled up, and the west tower was left in position, but the nave and aisle were demolished apart from the arches of the arcade.

The oldest remaining part of the old church is the chancel, dating from the late 12th century. The south wall, which has a contemporary string course and a single-light window dates from this time. The window’s pointed head may be a later replacement.

The 12th century nave was probably without aisles; the eastern respond and the most easterly pier of the arcade are circular on plan and represent an early13th-century reconstruction of the nave.

The north chapel or Lady Chapel is the same length as the chancel but slightly narrower and was added in the late 13th century. The east window has three graded lancets under a single head, and there is a flat contemporary buttress at the north-east angle. The chapel is divided from the chancel by an arcade which originally consisted of two bays.

The remains of a single-light window, part of the earlier north wall of the chancel, can be seen in the spandrel between the arches. The west respond and single pier of the arcade have engaged semicircular shafts with wide fillets.

The bell capitals, undercut abaci, and double-roll bases are probably from 1250-1300. Alterations made to the chancel about this time include a trefoil-headed piscina and a two-light window with original geometrical tracery. To the west of the piscina is a large niche with a trefoil head, presumably a single sedile or seat for the priest.

The walling thar partially blocks the east arch of the arcade appears to date from the 14th century and was probably inserted to form a screen between the two altars.

The side of the chapel has a double piscina and an ogee-headed recess. The floor level of the sanctuary may originally have been higher and that this recess represents another single sedile. An oblique shaft at the back of the recess is cut through the masonry and links with a small ogee-headed opening on the west face of the wall. The wall and openings have been much restored, but if this feature is original it suggests a squint enabling a server at Mass to keep both chancel and chapel altars in view.

The priest’s door in the south wall of the chancel has a shouldered arch and may date from after the Reformation. Near it is a roughly built pyramidal buttress.

The head of a 15th or 16th century two-light window has been built into the 19th century west wall of the chancel. This window was once immediately west of the priest’s door.

There are two post-Reformation windows in the north wall of the chapel, and the east window of the chancel was formerly of the ‘churchwarden Gothic’ type, having simple interlacing tracery.

The nave arcade dates from the late 13th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Except at its east end, the nave arcade dates from the late 13th century and is similar to the arcade dividing chancel and chapel. It has a pointed arch at each end with two wide semicircular arches between them. The central arches are twice the width of the others, suggesting that two piers have been removed and that the arcade originally consisted of six equal bays.

The tower dates from the 14th century with boldly projecting angle buttresses and a later castellated parapet. The west face has a pointed doorway of two orders, and above it is a two-light 14th century window. Above the tower arch are the weather marks of the former nave roof, and other weather marks show that the aisle had a gabled roof.

Drawings of the church before its partial demolition show that the south nave wall continued in the same line as the chancel wall.

A large porch east of the tower had a pointed arch and angle buttresses. There may have been a short projecting aisle on the south side, with a four-bay arcade having four bays, but it was but demolished in the 17th century.

The north chapel, which was almost certainly the site of the altar dedicated to Our Lady before the dissolution of the chantries, was still known as ‘Westons’ Chancel’ in the 18th century.

Under the terms of the lease of the rectory in 1637, Walter Littleton was obliged to repair the chancel. By the 19th century the church was in a poor state of repair, it was in danger of collapse and had become too small for the growing population of Rugeley. A decision was taken in 1818 to build a new parish and a site across the street, large enough for a new burial ground, was given in 1819 by Viscount Anson, later Earl of Lichfield.

The new Saint Augustine’s Church which was built across the street in 1822-1823, and the nave, north aisle, porch and vestry of the original church were demolished in 1823, and the materials were sold to help pay for building the new church.

The east end of the chancel and the Lady Chapel, with the tomb of sisters Elizabeth Cuting and Emma Hollinhurst to the fore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

What was left of the church was restored in 1869-1872, and stained glass was inserted in one of the chancel windows in 1883 in memory of Louisa Frances and Francis Mary Levett. Two more stained glass windows were added in 1891, one in memory of Ralph Armishaw and the other, the east chancel window by Charles Eamer Kempe, in memory of the Revd Robert Litler.

Several monuments were moved to the Lady Chapel before the nave was demolished. The monuments from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries included many to members of the Weston family and the Landor family. They included monuments to John Weston, (1566), Ralph Weston (1605), and Richard Weston (1613), a monument to Thomas Landor (1670), and the original charity boards. Two 17th century tablets to members of the Chetwynd family (1653-1691) were moved to Grendon, Warwickshire.

Other monuments in the north chapel included an incised alabaster floor slab with part of a female figure and an incomplete inscription dated 1400. A second figure had been obliterated by wear.

The carved stone font has a 15th century design but probably dates from the late 19th century. Six bells cast in 1706 by the Rudhall family of Gloucester were later moved to the new church, where they can still be heard.

The chancel and Lady Chapel was used for many years as a Sunday school, and the surviving tower, chancel, lady chapel and four-bay nave arcade were grade II listed in 1972. But it seems they are no longer accessible to visitors.

The original Grammar School (1567-1968) stood in the grounds of what is now the Chancel Primary School.

The graveyard was landscaped in 1974 and the displaced gravestones now pave the area where the nave and north aisle once stood.

Part of a late 14th-century penitential cross in the churchyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Part of a late 14th-century cross is still in place in the churchyard. Before the Reformation, it served as a single memorial to everyone buried here. Much of the stepped base is now below ground level but there is a deep recess at its top where penitents would have knelt in prayer.

One of the remaining graves in the old churchyard, east of the chancel, is the joint table tomb of sisters Elizabeth Cuting and Emma Hollinhurst who died four years apart at the end of the 17th century, Elizabeth in 1695 and Emma in 1696.

Local lore says the sisters were buried alive in sacks by Oliver Cromwell – although Cromwell died 40 years previously. But more about the sisters and their supposed burial alive in the days to come, hopefully, when I recall the tales of some grisly murders in Rugeley.

The 14th century of the original Saint Augustine’s Church, with the 19th century tower of the new Saint Augustine’s Church in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)