Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 134, Saturday 21 September 2024, Saint Matthew the Evangelist

Saint Matthew depicted in a spandrel beneath the dome of the Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII, 22 September 2024). Today, the Church Calendar celebrates Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

A statue of Saint Matthew on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 9: 9-13 (NRSVA):

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

The Triptych of Saint Matthew by Andrea di Cione (1343-1368), also known as Orcagna, in the Uffizi, Florence … Saint Matthew is also identified with Levi

Today’s Reflection:

Saint Matthew the Evangelist (מתי/מתתיהו, Gift of Yahweh; Ματθαίος) is one of the Twelve and is identified with both the author of the first of the four gospels and with Levi the publican or tax collector in the Gospels according to Saint Mark and Saint Luke.

According to tradition, Saint Matthew was the son of Alpheus, a publican or a tax collector by profession. He was the Levi in the Gospels according to Saint Mark and Saint Luke, and was called to be a disciple while he was sitting in the tax collectors’ place at Capernaum.

We know little about Saint Matthew’s subsequent career – what we do know is little more than speculation and legend. Saint Irenaeus says Matthew preached the Gospel among the Hebrews, Saint Clement of Alexandria claimed that he did this for 15 years, and Eusebius maintains that, before going into other countries, he gave them his Gospel in his mother tongue.

Some ancient writers say Matthew later worked in Ethiopia to the south of the Caspian Sea – not Ethiopia in Africa; others say he worked in Persia, Parthia, Macedonia or Syria. According to Heracleon, who is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Matthew did not die a martyr, but other accounts, including the Roman Martyrology, say he died a martyr’s death in Ethiopia.

Like the other evangelists, Matthew is often depicted in Christian art as one of the four living creatures of Revelation (4: 7) – in Matthew’s case the winged man, carrying a lance in his hand. There are three paintings of Matthew by Carravagio in the church of San Luigi del Francesci in Rome. Those three paintings, which are among the landmarks of Western art, depict Saint Matthew and the Angel, Matthew being called by Christ, and the Martyrdom of Matthew.

Caravaggio, in depicting the calling of Matthew, shows Levi the tax collector sitting at a table with four assistants, counting the day’s proceeds. This group is lighted from a source at the upper right of the painting. Christ, his eyes veiled, with his halo the only indication of his divinity, enters with Saint Peter. A gesture of Christ’s right hand – all the more powerful and compelling because of its languor – summons Levi.

Surprised by the intrusion and perhaps dazzled by the sudden light from the just-opened door, Levi draws back and gestures toward himself with his left hand as if to say: ‘Who, me?’ His right hand is still on the coin he had been counting before Christ’s entrance.

Today, Saint Matthew is regarded as the patron saint of accountants and bankers. Given the unsaintly performance of many bankers in recent years, I do not know that I would be particularly happy with the prospect of being the patron saint of bankers being put to me as a good career move in heaven. But then Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to salvation.

Perhaps Matthew should be the patron saint of those who answer the call to ministry. I hope none of us will be worried about how we are remembered, whether people get it right about where we worked in ministry and mission, or whether they even get my name right. As long as I answered that call when it came, and abandoned everything else, including career prospects and the possibility of wealth, to answer that call faithfully and fully.

Saint Matthew depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Badby, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 21 September 2024, Saint Matthew):

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), has been ‘The 5-finger prayer from the Diocese of Kuching, Malaysia.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday in reflections as told to Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 21 September 2024, Saint Matthew) invites us to pray:

Let us give thanks for the life and works of Matthew the Apostle. May we be a faithful witness to Christ just as he was.

The Collect:

O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity XVII:

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
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.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint Matthew the Evangelist represented in a carving on the choir stalls in the Church of Saint Michael and All Angels, Penkridge, Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers during the 12 Days of Christmas: 4, 28 December 2023

‘Four colly birds on the Fourth Day of Christmas … the four evangelists depicted in the the East Window in Roscarberrry Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Fourth Day of Christmas and the Church Calendar today remembers the Holy Innocents (28 December 2023).

Before today begins, I am taking some time for reading, reflection and prayer.

My reflections each morning during the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a verse from the popular Christmas song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

‘Four colly birds’ … symbols of the Four Evangelists in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Badby, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The 12 Days of Christmas: 4, Four Colly Birds:

The Fourth Day of Christmas, 28 December, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents in the Book of Common Prayer, and is known in some places as ‘Childermass.’ The story of the Holy Innocents is one of the most poignant stories in the Bible: ‘Rachel weeping for her children … because they are no more.’

I had lost my innocence by late teens: by 19, I was trying to break out as a freelance journalist in England with the Lichfield Mercury, wondering whether I should give up the ‘day job’ as a trainee chartered surveyor; by the age of 20, I had my own flat in Wexford, where I was working as a staff journalist with the Wexford People. I remember one Christmas in Wexford in those days of the 1970s how the late Maurice Sinnott suggested that this day, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, would be a good day for the Churches to recall the victims of war, particularly the children who had been killed by the Hiroshima bomb.

Holy Innocents’ Day is being marked later today by the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship with an online gathering. Along with links to what is happening in 2023, the gathering will also look at some of the wider issues, including an input from Canada about the victims of residential schools and child refugees around so many conflicts. Malcolm Guite will be reading his sonnet, ‘Refugee’, and there will be a video update from Sudan following attacks on 19 December.

Oscar Schindler famously said: ‘Whoever saves the life of one saves the entire world.’ He was referring to a well-known teaching in the Talmud: ‘Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world’ (Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4: 8, 37a). It is a teaching that has inspired the inscription on medals awarded to the Righteous Gentiles, those brave people who risked their own lives to save the lives of Jews during the Holocaust: ‘Whoever saves a single soul, it is as if he had saved the whole world.’

The obvious deduction from that, of course, is: Whoever destroys the innocence of one child, it is as if he has destroyed the innocence of all children, as if he has destroyed the childhood of everyone. It is for this reason that Jesus reserves his most severe and most frightening warning and rebuke for those sort of people (see Mark 9: 42; Luke 17: 2).

This is an appropriate day to remember those children whose innocence has been destroyed this year by war in Gaza, Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine and Russia, in forgotten wars, by poverty and by the cruelty of governments who think refugees, asylum seekers and their children are mere commodities to be exported to Rwanda or locked away in decrepit and inhumane accommodation.

But this is a good day too to give thanks for the children in our lives, whether in our own families or in the larger family of the Church. And it is a good day to revive the ancient custom of parents blessing their children at the end of the day as part of their nightly prayers.

The fourth verse of the traditional song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is:

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …
four colly birds,
three French hens,
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.

Colly birds were blackbirds, but the Christian interpretation of this song often describes them as ‘calling birds’ so that they come to represent the Four Evangelists or the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

‘The Killing of the Holy Innocents’ by Giotto (ca 1304-1306) in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua … 28 December is marked in the Church Calendar as the feast day of the Holy Innocents (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 2: 13-18 (NRSVA):

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

John Hutton’s ‘Screen of Saints and Angels’ at the entrance to Coventry Cathedral ... the Coventry Carol, dating from the 16th century, recalls the story of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 28 December 2023, the Holy Innocents):

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 ‘Love at Advent and Christmas.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (28 December 2023, The Holy Innocents) invites us to pray in these words:

On this day, may we cherish our young people and provide them with the guidance and knowledge to navigate our complex and challenging world.

The Collect:

Heavenly Father,
whose children suffered at the hands of Herod,
though they had done no wrong:
by the suffering of your Son
and by the innocence of our lives
frustrate all evil designs
and establish your reign of justice and peace;
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:

Lord Jesus Christ,
in your humility you have stooped to share our human life
with the most defenceless of your children:
may we who have received these gifts of your passion
rejoice in celebrating the witness of the Holy Innocents
to the purity of your sacrifice
made once for all upon the cross;
for you are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Images of the Four Evangelists on the carved altar in Church of the Assumption, Moyvane, Co Kerry (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

Daily prayers in Advent with Leonard Cohen and USPG: (16) 18 December 2023

‘You let me sing, you lifted me up, you gave my soul a beam to travel on … let me dare the boldness of joy’ (Leonard Cohen) … street art near Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the countdown to Christmas in the Church, with just a week to go to Christmas Day. Yesterday was the Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday (17 December 2023), bringing us two-thirds of the way through what is a very short Advent this year.

I have some long journeys ahead of me today. But, before the day begins, I am taking some time for prayer, reflection and reading this morning.

Throughout Advent this year, my reading and reflection each day includes a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. These Advent reflections are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;

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

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Leonard Cohen’s ‘Book of Mercy’ is a collection of psalms or short poems

The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 16, ‘You let me sing, you lifted me up’:

In my reflections this morning, I am reading one of the poems in Leonard Cohen’s Book of Mercy. This book of psalms by Leonard Cohen is a personal and powerful collection. It was first published in 1984, and was republished 35 years later in 2019 by Canongate of Edinburgh. It is a slim volume of Cohen’s contemporary psalms, and it has been elegantly repackaged.

Like the psalms, the themes in the short poems in Book of Mercy include praise, despair, anger, doubt, trust and the search for the presence of God.

Constantly, Cohen speaks of God as ‘the Name’ – Hashem (השם‎). This is a title used in Judaism to refer to God without using God’s name. Rabbinic Judaism considers seven names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased, and restricts the use of the names of God to a liturgical context.

When Leonard Cohen says ‘Blessed be the Name,’ he is saying ‘Blessed be God.’

Speaking from the heart of the modern world, yet in tones that resonate with an older Jewish tradition, these verses give voice to the deepest and most powerful intuitions.

This morning, I am reading one of these short poems in 4Book of Mercy (p 28):

You let me sing, you lifted me up, you gave my soul a beam to travel on. You folded your distance back into my heart. You drew the tears back to my eyes. You hid me in the mountain of your word. You gave the injury a tongue to heal itself. You covered my head with my teacher’s care, you bound my arm with my grandfather’s strength. O beloved speaking, O comfort whispering in the terror, unspeakable explanation of the smoke and cruelty, undo the self-conspiracy, let me dare the boldness of joy.

‘Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way’ (Matthew 1: 18) … Nativity scenes in a stained-glass window in Saint John the Baptist Church, Coventry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Matthew 1: 18-24 (NRSVA):

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’ 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.

The Nativity depicted in the reredos in Saint Catherine’s Chapel in Saint Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 18 December 2023):

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 ‘The Joy of Advent.’ This theme was introduced yesterday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (18 December 2023, International Migrants Day) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us remember the plight of migrants around the world. May we offer them hospitality, hope and joy.

Nativity scenes in the East Window in Saint Mary’s Church, Badby, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Reading Leonard Cohen’s short poem ‘You let me sing’ (Book of Mercy)

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

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (116) 21 September 2023

‘We ache at the sight of an economy of death, war and violence that we have inflicted on ourselves and on the Earth’ (Season of Creation Prayer, 2023) … street art in Mikrasiaton Square, Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XV, 17 September 2023). We are also in the Season of Creation.

The Church Calendar today (21 September) commemorates Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. But, before the day gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I am reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Reflecting on a theme in this Season of Creation, the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation;

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

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The theme of the Season of Creation this year is ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow’

The Season of Creation Prayer, 2023:

The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to listen and care for our common home, the Oikos of God.

The Season of Creation began on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and it ends on 4 October, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

Each year, the Season of Creation Ecumenical Steering Committee proposes a theme for the Season of Creation. This year, the theme is ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow,’ and the symbol is ‘A Mighty River’.

The Season of Creation Prayer 2023 invites us to pray in these words:

Creator of All,

From your communion of love life sprung forth like a mighty river and the whole cosmos came into being.

On this Earth of overflowing love, the Word was made flesh and went forth with the life-giving waters proclaiming peace and justice for all creation.

You called human beings to till and keep your garden.

You placed us into right relationship with each creature, but we failed to listen to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the most vulnerable.

We broke with the flowing communion of love and sinned against you by not safeguarding the conditions for life.

We lament the loss of our fellow species and their habitats, we grieve the loss of human cultures, along with the lives and livelihoods that have been displaced or perished, and we ache at the sight of an economy of death, war and violence that we have inflicted on ourselves and on the Earth.

Open our ears to your creative, reconciling and sustaining Word that calls to us through the book of Scripture and the book of creation.

Bless us once again with your life-giving waters so that the Creator Spirit may let justice and peace flow in our hearts and overflow into all creation.

Open our hearts to receive the living waters of God’s justice and peace, and to share it with our suffering brothers and sisters, all creatures around us, and all creation.

Bless us to walk together with all people of good will so that the many streams of the living waters of God’s justice and peace may become a mighty river all over the Earth.

In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Find out more about the Season of Creation HERE.

Saint Matthew depicted in a carving in the churchyard at All Saints’ Church, Calverton, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Matthew 9: 9-13 (NRSVA):

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Saint Matthew depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Badby, Northamtptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (21 September 2023, Saint Matthew, International Day of Peace) invites us to reflect in these words:

Let us lift to the Prince of Peace everyone involved in peace-making work around the world.

The Collect:

O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint Mary’s Church in Badby, a 14th century village church in rural west Northamptonshire

Saint Mary’s Church in Badby, west Northamptonshire, in the fading evening lights of autumn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Badby in west Northamptonshire in the middle of last week to speak in Saint Mary’s Church on mission on behalf of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) at a meeting of the Daventry Area Deanery Synod in the Diocese of Peterborough.

Badby is a village and a rural parish of about 650 people and extending to 820 ha (2,020 acres). It is about 3 km (2 miles) south of Daventry, on the A361 road from Daventry to Banbury.

In the ninth century, the parish was in the Diocese of Dorchester (Oxfordshire), a safer location adopted by an earlier Bishop of Leicester to avoid the invading Danes. The seat of the diocese was moved to Lincoln in 1073 by Remigius de Fécamp.

But the Diocese of Lincoln was split in 1541 and Badby became part of the new Diocese of Peterborough, in which it remains. But, surprisingly, as I found out last week, Badby is closer to six other cathedrals than Peterborough: Coventry, Leicester, Oxford, Birmingham, Lichfield and Worcester.

The wide chancel arch at the east end of Saint Mary’s Church in Badby, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The main structure of Saint Mary’s Church dates from the early 14th century with a very fine continuous clerestory added in the 15th century.

The south porch was added in the 16th century laying slabs directly on to skeletons and breaching the south wall. The north aisle chapel and the rood screen were dismantle at the Reformation.

The tower was rebuilt in 1707-1709. In the late 18th century, the pews were changed and a west gallery installed. The building was restored in 1880-1881 by the architect Edmund Francis Law and is a Grade II* listed building. Four of the chest tombs in the churchyard were separately listed as Grade II in 1987.

However, the church has no large memorials because no major families lived in the parish. The manor has been in the hands only of Evesham Abbey and the Knightley family, who used Fawsley church for most of their family memorials.

The chancel and altar in Saint Mary’s Church, Badby (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Features to note in Saint Mary’s Church include the wide chancel arch, the unusual step down to the chancel – which I managed to trip over on Wednesday evening; the World War I memorial window at the west of the south side; the double sedilia of two stone seats and piscina wash basin on the south side of the altar; the 17th century altar rails; the metal text panels each side of the window; and the 1995 aumbry and perpetual light.

The north vestry and organ chamber were built in 1880-1881, and a small organ was housed there from 1894 until 1996.

In the north aisle are: a tall scooped recess for a statue of Saint Catherine, destroyed some time between 1547 and 1553; a small piscina built into the half pillar; a disused aumbry in the north wall; ball flower decorations around the top of the eastern and western half pillars; and the east end side window glass, reformed in 1982 to show the coats of arms of Evesham Abbey and of the king in 15th century stained glass – the initials TN are of Thomas Newbold, Abbot of Evesham in 1491-1514.

Facing the west end in Saint Mary’s Church, Badby (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

In the nave, I noticed the west arch, built in 1880; the glazed screen, installed in 1933; the magnificent clerestory windows, added in the 15th century; the line of an earlier roof on east wall; and the octagonal pulpit, dating from the 17th century.

In the south aisle, I saw the east-side window that replaced a smaller one in the mid-19th century; the font that was moved there in 2018 and that has a 15th century pedestal and a stone bowl from 1880; and the charity trust boards on the wall.

The tower was rebuilt in 1705. The height from its base to the top of the pinnacles is 72 ft, and its solid floor is above the nave floor. The 1888 west window has tracery in two planes and is a memorial to Major John Francis Green.

The sedilia and piscina in the south side of the chancel in iSaint Mary’s Church, Badby (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A religious relic was found in the garden of Ashworth Cottage in 1880, 95 ft from the church tower. Sir Henry Dryden said it comprised human ribs on which were a lead seal of Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) and a barbed iron arrow head, buried above two horse bones. The relics are believed to have been buried to prevent their destruction by Protestant during the reign of Edward VI in 1547-1553.

Five bells were hung in an oak frame in 1709. A new metal frame and an extra bell were provided by I Taylor of Loughborough in 1932, producing a fine ring of six bells. The fourth bell cracked and was recast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 2000. The bells are rung full-circle, with practices on Wednesdays, including the evening of my talk in the church.

The treble weighs 297 kg and was cast in 1931; bell 2, weighing 389 kg, is from 1623; bell 3 weighs 440 kg and is dated 1623; bell 4 at 535 kg, is from 2000; bell 5 at 679 kg is also from 1623; and the Tenor, 716 kg, is from 1822.

The electrically-wound mechanical clock was made in the 1780s and drives the clock face which was regilded in 2022. Since July 2007, the Westminster quarter chimes are radio-controlled – and are always right.

The nave gable cross was fitted in 2001 to mark the Millennium. A large chest tomb of the Watkins family, who funded some Victorian restorations, is south-east of the chancel. Three older nearby tombs and one across the path are listed as Grade 2. A large floor slab and the former porch threshold stone, complete with boot scraper, were relocated alongside the south aisle wall, when the access was sloped in 2018.

A window re-formed in 1982 show the coats of arms of Evesham Abbey and of the king in 15th century stained glass (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The churchyard was closed for burials in 1886. The present cemetery is on the hill facing the east of the church and is reached from Brookside Lane.

The first Rector of Badby, Henry de Cokenato, was appointed in the mid-13th century. From 1285, appointments were made by Evesham Abbey. The first vicar was Reginald Musard in 1343.

After the dissolution of the monastic houses in the 16th century, including Evesham Abbey, appointments to Badby were made by Christ Church Oxford from 1597. Since 1919, appointments have been made by the Bishop of Peterborough.

Symbols of the Four Evangelists in a window in the south aisle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Revd Roy Wilfred Dooley became Vicar of Badby in 1971, and was additionally priest-in-charge of Fawsley from 1982 until he died in 1989.

The United Benefice of Badby with Newnham and Charwelton with Fawsley and Preston Capes was then formed. The vicars since then have included the Revd Stephen Paul Adams (1991-1997); the Revd Michael David Petitt (1998-2008); and the Revd Susan Ann Faulkner (2010-2019).

Today, Badby is one of five parishes in the united benefice of the Knightley Parishes, and the Vicar is the Revd Malcolm Ingham, who welcomed me to Saint Mary’s last week

The parish has a varying schedule of services.

The baptismal font has a 15th century pedestal and a stone bowl from 1880 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)