COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive’ (Matthew 13: 14) … street art in the Bishopgate area off Carpenter Street in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and this week began with the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII, 19 July 2026). Yesterday was the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, and today the Church Calendar in the Church of England in Common Worship remembers Saint Bridget of Sweden (1373), Abbess of Vadstena.
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.
‘Seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand’ (Matthew 13: 8) … street art in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Matthew 13: 10-17 (NRSVA):
10 Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ 11 He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn –
and I would heal them.”
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’
Looking with eyes and listening with ears … street art in Rathmines, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflections:
In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 13: 10-17), Jesus speaks about those who seeing but do not perceive, who hearing but do not listen or understand.
Today’s reading continues from the Parables of the Kingdom and forms an interlude between the parable of the sower and its interpretation. Jesus is asked by the disciples why he speaks to the people in parables.
There seems to be an implication that Jesus is speaking clearly to his disciples, who are insiders, but in riddles to the people because they are outsiders. But this also seem to contradict the purpose of speaking in parables, which is to use helpful and familiar images to lead people to a better understanding of a deeper message. Indeed, the parable of the sower is a good example.
Perhaps once again we are dealing with the difference between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. The ‘insiders’ are those who give Jesus a ready hearing. Naturally, they are more open to hearing about the ‘mysteries’ of the Kingdom and to assimilating what they hear. The ‘outsiders’, on the other hand, are precisely so because they have closed minds and are not ready to listen.
Speaking of the ‘insiders’, Jesus says: ‘For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away’ (verse 12). Those who have opened themselves to the Word of God will find themselves evermore enriched.
But those who have not even begun to accept the Word will end up in an even worse predicament than the one they are in now, for they look but do not see, they listen but do not hear or understand (verse 13).
This happens, not because the parables are difficult, but because the hearers are not prepared to listen.
Jesus then quotes from the Prophet Isaiah (9: 13), who might better understood as speaking in an audibly sarcastic tone:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn –
and I would heal them.”
I find it disturbing when I realise someone is talking at me rather than to me, and certainly not talking with me. In a similar way it is disturbing to realise someone hears me, but is not actually listening to me.
At one stage during tense trade union negotiations many years ago, the employer’s representative responded to my presentation, saying: ‘I hear what you are saying.’
I retorted: ‘Yes, but does it just go in one ear and out the other?’
I asked for an adjournment, and from the union side we said we would return to the talks when he indicated he would not only listen to us, but engage with us and commit his side to meaningful discussions. We waited outside for 10 or 15 minutes, and felt we truly were outsiders. We were about to leave the building when we were called back inside. He had heard, and he had listened, and instead of talking to and at us, he began to talk with us. Confidence was restored, and we soon reached a settlement.
If we are prepared to see and to listen actively and to be fully engaged, both actions, seeing and listening, can make radical changes in our lives, in our attitudes, in our values and priorities, in our relationships. But too many people remain effectively blind and deaf to others.
‘They … listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn’ (Matthew 13: 15) … ‘Reflections of Bedford’, a sculpture by Rick Kirby on Silver Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 23 July 2026):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 19 to 25 July 2026 (pp 20-21), is ‘Flood Relief in Mozambique’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from the Revd Mauricio S Mugunhe, Executive Director Anglican Social Action, Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola (the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola).
The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 23 July 2026) invites us to pray:
Lord, bring hope to the people of Iene in Mozambique, renewing homes, roads, and lives after the floods. Protect those displaced and isolated, and raise up healing, strength, and swift restoration.
The Collect of the Day:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
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 God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves
the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Additional Collect
Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow:
though our faith is small as mustard seed,
make it grow to your glory
and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
‘Their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their’ (Matthew 13: 15) … street art near De Montfort University in Leicester (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Who hears the voice of those who cannot speak out for themselves? … street art in Leighton Buzzard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. This week began with the Fourth Sunday before Lent (8 February 2026), and Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are only five days away (18 February 2025).
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, 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.
Who hears the voice of the oppressed? Whose cries are we deaf to?
Mark 7: 31-37 (NRSVA):
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’
Martin Niemöller’s cell in Sachsenhausen … if we do not speak out today, who is going to speak out for us? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflections:
Jesus returns from region of Tyre and Sidon, where he has healed the daughter of a Greek-speaking Syrophoenician woman in Tyre, which we read about yesterday (Mark 7: 24-30). In this morning’s reading, he is still in a culturally Hellenised region, the Decapolis. But, from a very dramatic healing, that I have compared with the best of Greek classical drama, we move to what is intended to be a very private, one-to-one healing, that was not even meant to be a sideshow.
There are two languages at play in these two readings: Greek and Aramaic. The single word Jesus uses in verse 34, Ephphatha (Εφφαθα) is not so much an Aramaic word as the Greek form of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word, meaning ‘Be opened’. It is as though Mark has to regularly translate the Aramaic words he hears so that they can be heard by his Greek-speaking readers (see Mark 3: 17; 5: 41; 7: 11; 14: 36; 15: 34).
But this word is so guttural that even in polite parishes it can sound vulgar as people try to read it out. No matter how polite they try to be, the double F (Φ) sound can sometimes cause blushes and giggles, or even embarrass the reader.
English is such a polite language, and the translators add their own polite priorities and good manners to how they translate what Jesus says in the original and very direct Greek into palatable, modern English.
During this week, we have heard a Gospel reading on Tuesday in which Jesus is being rude to some very religious people, who come with real doubts and with polite questions and end up being called hypocrites (Mark 7: 1-13). The blunt conversations continued on Wednesday (Mark 7: 14-23), with Jesus speaking about human waste, and then about fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride and folly … hardly safe topics for most Sunday services.
To add to that, in the Gospel reading yesterday (Mark 7: 24-30), Jesus later goes on to compare a woman who comes to him in distress with dogs, and he seems to call her daughter what amounts to – in the original Greek – a ‘little bitch’ (Mark 7: 24-30, 13 February 2025).
Then in the reading today, he meets a man who is deaf and dumb – and he sticks his fingers in his ears and spits on him. (Mark 7: 31-37).
It is interesting how Jesus calls this man aside for a private one-to-one. How did he do this? If the man is deaf, how could he hear what Jesus is saying to him, both in public and in private? In this area, as a deaf mute, how had he learned to speak both Greek and Aramaic?
Yes, with one, single, perhaps even coarse word, the man can hear and speak.
It has become very difficult for people in the US in the past year to speak out about events at the moment, with one disastrous and catastrophic edict following another. Children have been detained cruelly, family lives are being destroyed, protesters have been shot dead in their cars and on the streets. Many are now afraid to speak out in case they become be the victims of the next diktat signed in the Oval Office by that capricious and vengeful President. Who sees and hears what he does, but is afraid to speak out?
But if people do not speak out now, who is going to be left to speak out three years from now?
Perhaps one, simple, blunt and direct word from Jesus may empower some people to speak out before it is too late. That word may be εφφαθα. But perhaps, on the eve of Saint Valentine’s Day, we might also need to be reminded that that word may simply be ‘Love!’
I am reminded again of the words of the German theologian and Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), whose cell I once visited in Sachsenhausen:
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
The two healing stories of the mother and her daughter and the deaf mute find their context in – are sandwiched between – the two stories about feeding the crowds. The two feeding stories and the healing store in Tyre involve feeding with bread. Christ’s invitation to the Eucharist needs to be opened out, from being a rite of the Church to being a banquet for the world.
Only when we break down our limitations or prejudices, and when we are bold enough to speak out, can Christ’s healing message be brought to a world that cries out for God’s healing, God’s mercy, God’s justice … that cries out to be called into God’s Kingdom.
The Collect today prays that God who has ‘created the heavens and the earth ‘and made us in’ God’s own image my teach us ‘to discern your hand in all your works and your likeness in all your children.’
‘Christ’s invitation to the Eucharist needs to be opened out, from being a rite of the Church to being a banquet for the world’ … one of three monochrome round paintings of Christ the Pantocrator by Hanna-Leena Ward in her current exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 13 February 2026):
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: ‘Safe Routes’ (pp 26-27). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Bradon Muilenburg, Anglican Refugee Support Lead.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 13 February 2026) invites us to pray:
Inspire local leaders, the EU and UK authorities to choose hospitality over harmful policies. May decisions protect all who are stranded and in danger.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God our creator,
by your gift
the tree of life was set at the heart of the earthly paradise,
and the bread of life at the heart of your Church:
may we who have been nourished at your table on earth
be transformed by the glory of the Saviour’s cross
and enjoy the delights of eternity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Almighty God,
give us reverence for all creation
and respect for every person,
that we may mirror your likeness
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren … 25 January is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Today is the Third Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany III, 25 January 2026), and is also the Festival of the Conversion of Saint Paul, which also marks the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Because this feast falls on a Sunday this year, the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship recommends transferring its celebration to the tomorrow (Monday 26 January). But I still thought it would be worth marking this day in the Church Calendar this afternoon with a ‘virtual tour’ of a dozen churches dedicated to Saint Paul.
Many churches with Saint Paul’s name have double dedications to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, from Athlone and Ennis in Ireland, to Buckingham, Newport Pagnell and Olney in this part of England, to Aston in Birmingham and to churches I know in Iraklion in Crete and in Singapore. The little chapel of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Vlatádon Monastery stands on the very spot where the Apostle Paul preached when he visited Thessaloniki in the year 50.
I know too of one peculiar double dedication, to Saint Catherine and Saint Paul, in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, originally built as Saint Paul’s and close to the High Leigh Conference Centre.
Churches with Saint Paul’s name alone are still many in number, though. In Ireland, for example, I have visited churches named after Saint Paul in Ardmore, Co Waterford, Glin, Co Limerick, Cahir, Co Tipperary, Emo, Co Laois, and Glenageary, Co Dublin, although Saint Paul’s at Mount Argus in Dublin is probably named after the Passionist monk and preacher Saint Paul of the Cross.
The chapel at the former Saint Paul’s School in Stony Stratford is now an Indian restaurant.
The churches I am looking at this afternoon are in England, Scotland, France, Greece, Malta and Scotland, and are a small selection of many churches I know, so this is a very limited selection indeed.
1, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London:
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London … rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
For many years, I strolled through London, from Liverpool Street Station to the USPG offices on my way to meetings of trustees. These walks offered opportunities for early morning or late afternoon visits to Wren churches, the sites of former Wren churches, churches designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, or guild and city churches. They gave me views of buildings such as Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, the Mansion House, the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern, and allowed me to enjoy the cafés, buskers and bookshops, with new opportunities on each walk to discover parts of London I had not known before.
After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) restored 51 churches in the city, concluding with Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, which he rebuilt in 1695.
The vista from the south side of the Millennium Bridge across to Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of London, sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City. Its dedication to Saint Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on the site, founded in the year 604.
The present cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Wren; it was built in 1669-1711 and was completed in Wren’s own lifetime.
The earlier Gothic cathedral, Old Saint Paul’s Cathedral, largely destroyed in the Great Fire, was a central focus for mediaeval and early modern London, including Paul’s Walk and Saint Paul’s Churchyard being the site of Saint Paul’s Cross.
The dome of Saint Paul’s, framed by the spires of Wren’s City churches, has dominated London’s skyline for over 300 years. At a height of 111 metres (365 ft), it was the tallest building in London from 1710 until 1963. The dome remains among the highest in the world, and Saint Paul’s is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral.
2, Saint Paul’s Church, Bedford:
Saint Paul’s Church on Saint Paul’s Square is the largest Church of England parish church in Bedford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul’s Church on Saint Paul’s Square, Bedford, is the largest Church of England parish church in Bedfordshire. The former mediaeval collegiate church is a grade I listed building of cathedral proportions. With its size and tall spire, Saint Paul’s dominates Bedford.
During World War II, Saint Paul’s was the home for the BBC’s daily worship and hosted the Service for the National Day of Prayer in 1941.
Today, it is the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and of the County of Bedfordshire. It works closely with three other churches in Bedford – Saint Peter de Merton, Saint Martin’s and Saint Andrew’s – and welcomes thousands of visitors and pilgrims throughout the year.
Saint Paul’s is in the Diocese of St Albans. It has a cathedral-style choral tradition with a modern catholic liturgy, and it is a member of the Major Churches Network and of the Cathedrals Plus network.
Inside Saint Paul’s Church, Bedford, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Evidence suggests that Saint Paul’s Church was founded as a new minster by King Offa, who died in 796 CE, to serve the inhabitants of his new fortified urban burgh. Offa is said to have been buried in Bedford, and his minster church of Saint Paul has been identified as a probable site of his grave.
Most of the present church – the fifth on the site – was built or rebuilt in the 15th century in the Perpendicular style. The roofs were raised, clerestories added, windows enlarged, a second storey was added to south porch, as were the north and south windows, the oak roofs, the parclose screen, the priest’s two-storey vestry, misericords in the quire or chancel and the Trinity Chapel.
John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, preached in Saint Paul’s on 23 May 1656. In the 19th century Saint Paul’s became part of the Anglo-Catholic tradition, in which it remains. The architectural work in the church in the 19th century includes the tower and spire, transepts, choir stalls, quire and quire roof.
Late 19th and early 20th century work in the church includes the rood screen designed by the Gothic Revival architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), who also reordered the chancel and restored the choir stalls. The Trinity Chapel was restored by the Bedford-based architect Charles Edward Mallows (1864-1915), who was part of the Arts and Craft movement. The English Altar and altar rails were designed by the Bromsgrove Guild, a company of artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement and founded by Walter Gilbert (1871-1946).
Later in the 20th century, from the mid-1970s to 1982, the church was restored and improved. Further work was completed on a narthex at the west end of the church in 2014.
3, Saint Paul’s Church, Lisson Street, Marylebone:
Saint Paul’s Church on Lisson Street and Rossmore Road replaced the former Bentinck Chapel on Lisson Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul’s Church, on Lisson Street and Rossmore Road in North Marylebone, was designed by JW Higgins and was built by voluntary contributions as Saint Paul’s Chapel in 1837-1838, soon after the closure of the Bentinck Chapel on Lisson Street. It was consecrated in 1838 and was assigned a district.
After World War II, Saint Paul’s parish was united with Emmanuel, Maida Hill, and Saint Matthew, Maida Hill, to form the parish of Saint Paul with Saint Matthew and Emmanuel. The parish was united with Christ Church, Cosway Street, in 1971. Saint Paul’s Church became one of the parish churches of the parish of Christ Church and Saint Paul, St Marylebone, until Christ Church was closed in September 1977.
The interior of Saint Paul’s has been subdivided and refurbished, but the reredos remains in place (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
In recent years, the interior of Saint Paul’s has been subdivided and refurbished, the galleries have been removed, and the worship space is in part of the nave and the sanctuary area. The reredos and the windows remain in place.
Canon Clare Dowding is the Rector of Saint Paul’s, Priest in Charge of Saint Cyprian’s and Area Dean of Marylebone; the Revd Rachel Sheppard is the Assistant Curate; and the Revd Michele Lee is the Associate Priest.
The Parish Eucharist is celebrated in Saint Paul’s on Sunday sat 10 am, Morning Prayer is said on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:15, Evening Prayer is said on Mondays at 4:30, and Holy Communion is celebrated on Friday at 8:30 am. Through a partnership with West London Synagogue and Foodcycle, Saint Paul’s offers a free community meal every Wednesday night to over 70 people at the church.
4, (former) Saint Paul’s Church, Walton Street, Oxford:
The former Saint Paul’s Church on Walton Street, Oxford, looks like a Greek temple (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The former Saint Paul’s Church is a distinctive building that looks like a Greek temple on Walton Street, Oxford, facing onto Great Clarendon Street. It stands opposite the Oxford University Press and beside the Blavatnik School of Government. It is surrounded by the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter of the University of Oxford, formerly the Radcliffe Infirmary site, and in recent years it has been a café and arts venue.
Saint Paul’s was the first new parish to be created in Oxford and the first new church to be built in Oxford since the Reformation. The church and the parish came as responses to the first outbreak of cholera in this part of Oxford in 1831, and to serve both the growing new suburb of Jericho and the new industrial area growing up round the University Press.
Saint Paul’s Parish was carved out of the parishes of Saint Thomas and Saint Giles. It covered an area from Saint Giles Road West (now the south end of Woodstock Road) to the canal, and from Workhouse Lane (now Little Clarendon Street) to the end of Walton Street, which then turned west to end outside Carter’s Ironworks.
Saint Paul’s was the first new church built in Oxford since the Reformation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
When it was formed, the parish included the University Press the Radcliffe Infirmary and the Radcliffe Observatory with Observatory Street. The Radcliffe Trustees made a gift of part of the old burial ground of the Radcliffe Infirmary as a site for the new church. The church was built in 1834 at a cost of about £3,500, and the money was raised by public subscription.
Saint Paul’s is a rectangular stone building in the Greek Classic style with a west portico of the Ionic order and a bell turret. The church was designed by the Oxford-based architect Henry Jones Underwood (1804-1852), best known for his Gothic Revival architecture, and his church at Littlemore for John Henry Newman became a model for other churches. The church was enlarged in 1853 with the addition of an apsidal chancel at the east end designed by the Oxford architect Edward George Bruton (1826-1899).
The parish was committed to the liturgical and social values and ideals of the Oxford Movement, emphasising the importance of personal responsibility in promoting education, health reform and social justice, and raising awareness of the living conditions of many people.
The Pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows in were installed in 1888-1889. Six of the windows are by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), three depicting the Nativity, two the Resurrection and one the Ascension. As more people moved out of Jericho in the post-war decades, the congregation dwindled to a handful. The decline was hastened in the 1950s by the rise of the neighbouring church of Saint Mary Magdalen as the centre of Anglo-Catholicism in Oxford.
The parishes of Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas were united in 1963, and Saint Paul’s was closed in 1969. The building was acquired in 1988 by Secession Ltd to prevent its demolition, and it opened that year as Freud’s Arts Café, a café bar created by David Freud that offered live music, including jazz, punk, post-punk and blues. The name is written in Roman-style capital letters as ‘FREVD’ above the main entrance door.
5, Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, Marais, Paris:
The Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis on rue Saint-Antoine is the parish church in the Marais in Paris (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
the Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis on rue Saint-Antoine, the Catholic parish church in the Marais. The church gives its name to Rue Saint-Paul Place Saint-Paul and the nearest Metro station, Saint-Paul.
A shrine dedicated to Saint Paul in the Fields, Saint-Paul-des-Champs, was built on this site in 632-642, and served as a chapel for the cemetery of a convent founded by Saint Eloi and Saint Aure on Ile de la Cité during the reign of King Dagobert. Prominent figures buried in the old cemetery included François Rabelais and the architect François Mansart. The monastic cemetery disappeared and the old church was demolished in 1799.
The chapel was replaced by the first church on the site, Saint-Paul-des-Champs, built ca 1125, when the neighbourhood became a parish, and the dedication of the church was changed from Saint Paul the Hermit, a monk in Egypt in the third-fourth century, to Saint Paul the Apostle.
Charles V designated the Hôtel Saint-Pol on Rue Saint-Paul as his royal palace in 1358. Charles VI and Charles VII were baptised at Saint-Paul. The church was rebuilt in the Gothic style in 1431, and remained as the king’s parish up to 1559, when Henry II was mortally wounded in a jousting tournament on rue Saint-Antoine.
Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, uncle of Henry IV, bought the Hôtel de La Rochepot in 1580 and donated it to the Jesuits, who established their first house in Paris there and built a chapel dedicated to King Louis IX (Saint Louis) close to the present church.
The first stone of a new building was laid by Louis XIII in 1627. The new church was given the name of the king’s ancestor, Louis IX, and became the église Saint-Louis de la maison professe des Jésuites, a reference to the Maison Professe des Jésuites beside it. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated in 1641 by Cardinal Richelieu in the presence of Louis XIII.
Inside the Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, the first church in Paris built in the Baroque style (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The new church was designed by the Jesuit architects Étienne Martellange, who drew the initial plans, and François Derand, who was responsible for the design of the façade. The plan is inspired by the Chiesa del Gesù in Rome.
The dome which is 55 meters high was an unusual feature for a Jesuit building and was one of the first domes built in Paris. Both the dome and the bell tower are largely hidden from view from the street by the very high façade. The dome served as a model for other domes, including those of Les Invalides and Val-de-Grace.
During the French Revolution, the church was closed and used to store works of art and books plundered from other churches in the area. Five priests were killed in the church during the September Massacres on 2 September 1792. They are commemorated with a plaque.
The church was then used as a temple of the Cult of Reason and the Supreme Being. In 1793, Robespierre preached the cult of the goddess Reason in the church against the atheism promoted by Hébert. The chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was an important patron of the church, was guillotined in 1794. The old Saint Paul’s Church was demolished in 1798, but a section of the wall of the square tower is still visible on rue Saint-Paul.
Under the Concordat of 1801, the church was restored as a Catholic parish church in 1802, with a new dedication to Saint Paul and Saint Louis, recalling the older church that had been demolished in 1798. A bell from old Saint Paul’s was salvaged as well as the great clock on the façade.
The church was restored by the architect Victor Baltard in 1850, and the white marble high altar was moved and rebuilt under Louis-Philippe I with fragments from Napoleon’s tomb at Les Invalides. On the right side of the nave, one pillar has an inscription that is almost erased, République française ou la mort (‘French Republic or death’), scrawled during the Paris Commune in 1871.
The two clam-shell holy water vessels or stoups at the entrance were donated by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables(1862). They mark the baptism of his daughter Adele in 1830 and in memory of his daughter Léopoldine. She was 18 when she secretly married Charles Vacquerie, then 25, in the church on 15 February 1843. Seven months later, Léopoldine was pregnant when she drowned after their boat capsized on the Seine . Her wet, heavy skirts pulled her down, and Charles drowned as he made six attempts to save her. They were buried in the same coffin. The tragedy had a significant and measurable impact on the work and personality of Victor Hugo, and he dedicated numerous poems and a book to the memory of his drowned daughter.
6, Saint Paul’s Monastery, Mount Athos:
Saint Paul’s Monastery on Mount Athos was endowed by the Serbian-born wife of the Sultan Murat II, who brought the gifts of the Three Wise Men (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul or Aghiou Pavlou is one of the working monasteries on Mount Athos in Greece, and has a community of 30 monks. It was founded by Saint Paul of Xeropotamou, who also founded Xeropotamou. The monastery was deserted in the 14th century, but was restored by Serbian nobles, Byzantine emperors, Danubian princes and Romanian and Greek benefactors. Catastrophes in 20th century included a fire in 1902 and a flood in 1911.
The monastery’s oldest building, the chapel of Saint George, has frescoes painted by members of the Cretan School. The monastery treasures are said to include the gifts of the Three Wise Men, donated by the Serbian-born wife of the Sultan Murat II. She is said to be the only woman to have set foot on the shore at the monastery harbour. Other relics include the foot of Saint Gregory the Theologian, and a piece of the True Cross.
One of the spiritual writers associated with Saint Paul’s is Saint Sophrony (1896-1993), was the disciple and biographer of Saint Silouan the Athonite. He was born Sergei Symeonovich Sakharov in Russia in 1896, and it is said that as a child he experienced the Uncreated Light. He was ordained a deacon in 1930 and became a disciple of Saint Silouan.
After Saint Silouan died in 1938, Saint Sophrony left the monastery at Saint Panteleimon and went to live in the wilderness on Mount Athos, first at Karoulia and then at a cave near Saint Paul’s Monastery. He was ordained priest in 1941 and became the spiritual father of many monks on Mount Athos. He was a founding figure in the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights in 1959, and died there in 1993. He was proclaimed a saint in 2019.
7, Saint Paul’s Church (Anglican), Athens:
Saint Paul’s Church on the corner of Philellenon Street and Queen Amalia Avenue in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul’s Church Anglican Church in Athens is an early Victorian Gothic church on the corner of Philellenon Street and Queen Amalia Avenue, opposite the National Gardens. The early story of Saint Paul’s is intimately associated with the life of a Cork-born hero of the Greek War of independence, Sir Richard Church.
For decades, the congregation has included a considerable number of Irish, Americans, Canadians, Australians and South Africans, and in recent years they have been enriched by new arrivals. In recent years, Saint Paul’s has provides 800 meals a day for homeless people on the streets of Athens, and raised huge sums to help victims of the Greek crisis and refugees.
The church was built on land bought from the Turks before the Greek War of independence, and the foundation stone was laid on Easter Monday, 1838, by the British Minister in Athens, Sir Edmund Lyons, later Lord Lyons (1790-1838), whose family had emigrated from Ireland to Antigua in the previous century. Saint Paul’s stands within sight of Hadrian’s Gate, which marked the end of the old Hellenistic and classical city of Athens and the new city built by the Emperor Hadrian.
Philellenon Street was only laid out in 1855, so the church once had an unimpeded view of the Acropolis rising over the old city. Today, Saint Paul’s is within easy walking of many of the main tourist attractions in Athens, including the Plaka and the Acropolis, and is only a block away from the Greek Parliament and Syndagma Square.
Philelleon Street is an appropriate location for an English-speaking church – the street was named after those English-speaking lovers of Hellenic civilisation and culture, including Palmerston, Codrington and the poet Byron, who actively supported the Greek struggle for independence.
Sir Richard Church’s image on his grave in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Two windows in Saint Paul’s commemorate one of those Philhellenes, the Irish adventurer, Richard Church (1784-1875). Sir Richard Church was born in Cork, the second son of Massey Church, a prosperous Quaker butter merchant and exporter.
Church ran away from his Quaker school to join the army, and served under Abercrombie in Egypt in 1801. Later that year, he accompanied the expedition to the Ionian Islands, where he raised a Greek regiment that included Theodoros Kolokotronis and other future Greek leaders.
In vain, Church pleaded the Greek cause in London and at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815. He lived in Naples and Sicily until his expulsion in 1820, and in 1822 he was knighted by King George IV. But he soon returned to Greece, to join the War of Independence, and in April 1827 he was appointed commander in chief of the Greek forces.
Church insisted on Greek unity before accepting his command, and his pressure resulted in the election of Kapodistrias as president in 1827 and the adoption of a new, liberal constitution. Church played a conspicuous part in the revolt of 1843 and lived on in Greece becoming a Greek citizen, a senator and member of the council of state, inspector general of the Greek Army, and a pillar of the Anglican church in Athens. When he died in Athens on 20 March 1873, he was buried in the First Cemetery, alongside great Greek heroes and leaders.
Two windows in Saint Paul’s Church, the north window and the south window, are dedicated to his memory.
The two-light north window, presented by the British Government in 1875, depicts the figures of Caleb and Joshua. It is said that the inscription on the brass tablet beneath was written in honour of Church by the British Prime Minister, Gladstone, a personal friend of his nephew, the Very Rev Richard William Church, Dean of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, from 1871 to 1890.
Dean Church (1815-1890) and other members of Sir Richard’s family presented the south window in 1875. The window depicts Gideon and David, the story of the dew and the fleece, and David slaying Goliath.
Dean Church, who became the leader of the High Church party in the Church of England after Pusey’s death, was a reforming force in Saint Paul’s Cathedral along with Liddon and Lightfoot, who were two of his canons.
A previous treasurer of Saint Paul’s has been Dr David Green, an Irishman working in Athens for the University of Glamorgan and married to a Greek woman. Recent Irish members of the congregation included John O’Carroll, general manager of the Inter-Continental Hotel, and his Esther, and Geoffrey Mayes, who was a lay assistant in Saint Paul’s. When I first visited the church, the organist, Dr Richard Witt, a classicist working with the Open University, greeted me with the news that he was a great fan of Myles na Gopaleen and The Irish Times.
8, The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, Valletta, Malta:
The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck is one of the oldest churches in Valletta (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul the Apostle is the patron saint of Malta, the country with the most holidays in the European Union, and 10 February is the Feast of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck in Malta (‘Nawfraġju ta' San Pawl’).
The Collegiate Parish Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, Valletta, also known as simply the Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, is a parish church in Valletta and one of the oldest churches in the Maltese capital. Saint Paul’s shipwreck on Malta is described in the Acts of the Apostles, where Saint Luke writes: ‘After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta’ (see Acts 28: 1).
The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck traces its origins to 1570s. It was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, and completed in December 1582. The church was handed over to the Jesuits and a new church was started in 1639.
The statue of Saint Paul above the door into the Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The church hosts fine artistic works, including a magnificent altarpiece by Matteo Perez d’Aleccio and paintings by Attilio Palombi, and Giuseppe Calì. A wooden statue of Saint Paul was carved in 1659 by Melchiorre Cafà, a brother of Lorenzo Gafà, who designed the dome. The statue is paraded through the streets of Valletta on the feast day of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck (10 February), sometimes during heavy rain.
The church also claims to hold the relic of the right wrist-bone of Saint Paul, and part of the column from San Paolo alle Tre Fontane, on which the saint was beheaded in Rome. The façade of the church was rebuilt in 1885 to a design by Nicholas Zammit. The church building is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
9, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina:
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina, in central Malta, facing onto Saint Paul’s Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul (Il-Katidral Metropolitan ta’ San Pawl), commonly known as Saint Paul’s Cathedral or the Mdina Cathedral, is the Roman Catholic cathedral in Mdina, in central Malta. The cathedral was founded in the 12th century. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta, although since the 19th century it has shared this function with Saint John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.
According to tradition, the site of Mdina cathedral was originally occupied by a palace belonging to Saint Publius, the Roman governor of Melite who greeted the Apostle Paul after he was shipwrecked in Malta. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul cured Publius’ father and many other sick people on the island (see Acts 28: 1-10).
The first cathedral on the site is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. But it fell into disrepair during the Arab period, when the churches in Melite were looted after the Aghlabid invasion in 870. In Arab times, the site was used as a mosque.
After the Norman invasion in 1091, Christianity was re-established on the Maltese Islands, and a cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. The cathedral was built in the Gothic and Romanesque styles, and was enlarged and modified a number of times.
Inside Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Bishop Miguel Jerónimo de Molina and the cathedral chapter decided in 1679 to replace the mediaeval choir with one built in the Baroque style. The architect Lorenzo Gafà was designed and oversaw the new building.
The cathedral was severely damaged a few years later in the 1693 Sicily earthquake. Although parts of the building were not damaged, it was decided to dismantle the old cathedral and rebuild it in the Baroque style to a design of Lorenzo Gafà, incorporating the choir and sacristy, which had survived the earthquake, into the new cathedral. Work began in 1696, and it was consecrated on 8 October 1702. The cathedral was fully completed on 24 October 1705, when work on the dome was finished. The building is regarded as Gafà's masterpiece.
Saint Paul’s Cathedral is built in the Baroque style, with some influences from native Maltese architecture. The main façade faces Saint Paul’s Square and it is set on a low parvis approached by three steps.
The frescoes in the ceiling depict the life of Saint Paul and were painted by the Sicilian painters Vincenzo, Antonio and Francesco Manno in 1794. The altarpiece by Mattia Preti depicts the Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus.
10, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Valletta, Malta:
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Valletta … a landmark building above the harbour in Malta’s capital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul's Pro-Cathedral (Il-Pro-Katridral ta’ San Pawl) in Independence Square, Valletta, is officially the Pro-Cathedral and Collegiate Church of Saint Paul. It is an Anglican pro-cathedral of the Diocese in Europe situated in Independence Square, Valletta.
Saint Paul’s is a pro-cathedral in the Anglican Diocese in Europe, and one of three cathedrals of the Anglican Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. The main cathedral of the diocese is Holy Trinity Cathedral, Gibraltar, and there is a second pro-cathedral, Holy Trinity Cathedral, in Brussels.
The cathedral was commissioned by the Dowager Queen Adelaide during a visit to Malta in the 19th century, when she learned there was no place of Anglican worship on the island. Before her visit, Anglican services were held in a room in the Grand Master’s Palace.
Saint Paul’s was built on the site of the Auberge d’Allemagne, or the conventual home of the German Knights Hospitaller. The cathedral was designed by William Scamp and was built in 1839-1844.
Queen Adelaide laid the foundation stone on 20 March 1839 and her banner hangs above the choir stalls. The original plans were designed by Richard Lankasheer. However, when the building proved unstable, work had to resume on plans by William Scamp in 1841. Scamp's designs located the altar on the west side of the church, but the Bishop of Gibraltar had a more conservative view. The designs were altered, and Scamp designed an apse inside the great doors to hold the sanctuary on the east side.
The cathedral is built with Maltese limestone in a neo-classical style. The cathedral has columns with capitals of the Corinthian order while the capitals of the six columns of the portico are of the Ionic order. The internal dimensions of the building are 33.5 metres x 20.4 metres.
The cathedral is a landmark in Valletta, thanks to its spire rising to a height of over 60 metres, and is clearly visible in the Marsamxett Harbour.
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Valletta … Queen Adelaide laid the foundation stone on 20 March 1839 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
During World War II, the cathedral suffered minor damage and the roof collapsed, but most of the structure remained intact. During restoration works, the original designs by Scump started to take shape. A quire and rood screen were built on the west side of the cathedral. A pulpit was also incorporated with the screen dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill.
The organ came from Chester Cathedral, where there is a long-held tradition that it was played by George Frederick Handel when he was on his way to Dublin for the first public performance of his Messiah.
The painting behind the High Altar, Ecce Homo, is the work of AE Chalon and was donated in 2014. The oak panels around the High Altar are a memorial to the Allied units that took part in the defence of Malta in 1940-1943. Twelve flags in the aisles represent, among others, the Royal Air Force, the British Merchant Navy, and the Royal Navy.
The new chancery was dedicated by Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher of Canterbury on 2 December 1949 in the presence of Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II.
The undercroft was built from the remains of the basement of the Auberge d’Allemagne, and was used as a gas-proof air raid shelter during days War II.
11, Saint Paul’s Church, Saint Paul’s Bay, Malta:
Saint Paul’s Church, Saint Paul’s Bay, Malta (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The town of Saint Paul’s Bay (San Pawl il-Baħar) is about 16 km north-west of Valletta. This is the largest town in the Northern Region and the seat of the Northern Regional Committee, along with being the most populous town in Malta.
The name of the town refers to the shipwreck of Saint Paul as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles on Saint Paul’s Islands near St Paul's Bay, on his voyage from Caesarea to Rome. Saint Paul’s stay is said to have laid the foundations of Christianity on the island.
Saint Luke recounts in Acts 27 to 28 how Saint Paul’s ship was lost at sea for two weeks during winter storms. Eventually, the ship ran aground on the island of Malta and was dashed to pieces by the surf, but all of the occupants survived and made it to shore.
Saint Paul’s Island, an uninhabited, rocky islet at the entrance to Saint Paul’s Bay, is thought to be the site where the ship wrecked. Acts 27: 41 states the ship ran aground on a piece of land ‘with sea on both sides.’
Saint Paul’s Church above the Menqa or boat shelter at the harbour in Saint Paul’s Bay (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul’s Church stands on the water’s edge in the town of Saint Paul’s Bay. The church is also known as St. Paul’s Bonfire Church and commemorates the traditional site where the shipwreck survivors, including Saint Paul, swam ashore and a bonfire was built for them.
The church was first built in the 14th century, but was rebuilt after a bomb destroyed the original building during World War II. The parish is run by the Franciscan Conventuals.
12, Old Saint Paul’s Church, Edinburgh
Old Saint Paul’s Church traces its story back to 1689, when Bishop Alexander Rose left Saint Giles’ Cathedral with much of the congregation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Diocese of Edinburgh is one of seven in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC),, although Edinburgh was originally part of the Archdiocese of St Andrews. When Charles I formed the Diocese of Edinburgh in 1633, William Forbes became the first bishop and Knox’s former church, Saint Giles’, became the cathedral.
When episcopacy was abolished yet again in 1637, Saint Giles’ lost its status as a cathedral, but it was restored as a cathedral when episcopacy was reintroduced in 1661. When the Church of Scotland reverted to Presbyterianism in 1688, Saint Giles’ became the ‘High Kirk’ once again.
The last bishop at Saint Giles’, Bishop Alexander Rose of Edinburgh, left the cathedral in 1689 accompanied by much of his congregation, finding a new place of worship in an old wool store in Carrubber’s Close, close to the present site of Old Saint Paul’s Church.
Later Bishops of Edinburgh included Daniel Sandford (1806-1830), who was born in Dublin in 1766, and John Dowden (1886-1910), who was born in Cork in 1840.
For centuries, the SEC had no cathedrals and many churches, including Old Saint Paul’s and Saint Paul’s in York Place, served as the ‘pro-cathedral’ in Edinburgh until Saint Mary’s Cathedral was built in Palmerston Place in the 1870s.
The sisters Barbara and Mary Walker left all their property for building a new cathedral, and Sir George Gilbert Scott was chosen as the architect. Scott’s design was inspired by the early Gothic churches and abbeys of Scotland. The foundation stone was laid in 1874 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1879. The Chapter House was added in 1890 and the west spires in 1913-1917.
With the Revd Dr Alan McCormack (then Dean of Residence, Trinity College Dublin), and Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain (then Archbishop of Hong Kong) at Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome in 2005
There were so many other churches named after Saint Paul that I could have looked at this afternoon. I have often passed by Saint Paul’s Church in Cambridge on my way from the railway station to Sidney Sussex, and its story includes an interesting Irish connection that I must write about at some stage. I have memories of visiting Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome in 2005 when I was chair of the Dublin University Far Eastern Mission (DUFEM) and took part in a conference on the Church in China.
There are memories too of visiting Saint Paul’s, Cordoba, and of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Nicosia, where they named me in the intercessions on the mornings of my ordination as deacon in 2000 and priest in 2001.
The small Church of Saint Paul (Agios Pavlos) in the Rethymnon region in Crete is near a secluded bay and beach associated with the Apostle Paul’s journey to Rome. But my closing image this afternoon is of sunset at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, east of Rethymnon, on the north coast of Crete.
30 seconds at sunset at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, east of Rethymnon on the north coast of Crete (Patrick Comerford)
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt … a new study at Oxford University suggests that kissing began more than 21 million years ago
Patrick Comerford
Once again, this blog continues to reach more and more readers, reaching yet another overwhelming landmark at the end of 2025, with 21 million hits shortly after 1 pm yesterday afternoon (31 December 2025), more than 615,000 readers in the last week in December and almost 2.5 million visitors to this blog throughout last month (2,423,018), an average of 75,000 to 80,000 hits each day in December.
This was the fifth time in one month alone that this site passed the half million mark, having hit the 20.5 million mark on Christmas Day (25 December 2025), the 20 million mark a week earlier (18 December 2025), 19.5 million the previous Sunday (14 December 2025), and the 19 million mark less than a week before that (9 December).
I began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. It was more than another year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. This blog reached the 10 million mark early in 2025 (12 January), almost 15 years later.
Throughout last year, the daily figures have been overwhelming on many occasions. Eight of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog were in December alone and four were in January:
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 166,155 (15 December 2025)
• 146,944 (14 December 2025)
• 140,417 (16 December 2025)
• 122,398 (17 December 2025)
• 116,911 (30 December 2025)
• 112,221 (13 December 2025)
• 106,475 (27 December 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 94,824 (12 December 2025)
The latest figure of 21 million is all the more staggering as more than half of those hits (10.5 million) have been within this year, since 12 January 2025. The rise in the number of readers has continued to be phenomenal throughout this year, and the daily figures have been overwhelming at times. With this latest landmark figure of 21 million readers, I once again find myself asking questions such as:
• What do 21 million people look like?
• Where do we find 21 million people?
• What does £21 million, €21 million or $21 million mean?
• What would it buy, how far would it stretch, how much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?
Royal Mail has been fined £21 million for missed delivery targets over the course of the 2024/2025 year … a post box in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Researchers looking at the evolutionary origins of kissing have concluded that the mouth-on-mouth kiss evolved more than 21 million years ago. Their findings, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, suggest the common ancestor of humans and other great apes probably indulged in kissing. ‘Humans, chimps, and bonobos all kiss,’ according to the lead researcher, Dr Matilda Brindle, of the University of Oxford. From that, she concludes, ‘it’s likely that their most recent common ancestor kissed.’
Chad, Kazakhstan, Malawi and Zambia each has a population of 21 million – depending on who does the counting, and how.
The UK is committing a further £21 million package of urgent support to communities on the brink in Sudan, providing food, clean water, health care, and protection for women and children in areas hardest hit by violence.
Over 21 million people in England are aged 50 or over in England – this is 38% of the population.
A recent study by Cancer Research UK estimates that more than 21 million adults in the UK will be obese by the year 2040.
AllergyUK estimates suggest allergies affect the lives of up to 21 million people in the UK, and the World Health Organisation describes allergic disease as a ‘modern epidemic’. Between 5 and 8 per cent of children in the UK live with a food allergy.
Around 21 million people are struggling to keep up with bills and credit commitments – that’s two in five people.
21 million km is a vast distance, equivalent to about 13 million miles, roughly the distance from Earth to the Moon and back more than 26 times, or about 518 trips around the Earth’s equator. That says something about the massive scales in astronomy or long-haul travel.
The Earth’s circumference is about 40,007 km, so 21,000,000 km / 40,007 km ≈ 525 times around the Earth. The average distance to the Moon is about 384,400 km, meaning 21 million km is roughly 55 one-way trips to the Moon. The Earth-Sun distance is ~149 million km, so 21 million km is about one-seventh the distance to the Sun.
Tom Stuker became the world’s most frequent flyer in 2019 when it was revealed he who had flown 21 million miles – the last million took him only six months. He paid out of his own pocket for every one of his trips, saving his miles to give to family members, charities and others.
Ripley Castle in North Yorkshire has been the family home of the Ingilbys since the early 1300s. It was put for sale recently with an asking price of £21 million.
The world’s largest shopping centre is in Tehran and has 21 million sq ft in total leasable area across seven floors. The huge centre features a traditional bazaar, lush gardens, a grand library, an 18-storey hotel, a theme park, a massive cinema complex, a musical water fountain, and an ice rink.
The Iran Mall also has landscaped Persian-style gardens, several grand mosques, and architectural elements inspired by historic Iranian design with ornate domes, mosaic tilework, intricate tapestries, and vaulted ceilings that reflect centuries of craftsmanship and artistry.
Royal Mail has been fined £21 million by regulator Ofcom over missed delivery targets over the course of the 2024/2025 year. The fine represents the third-largest fine ever imposed by the communications watchdog. Royal Mail only delivered 77% of First Class mail and 92.5% of Second Class mail on time – a figure that fell short of 93% and 98.5% target.
The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Europe in November over €21 million for major breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist-financing (AML/CTF) rules, marking the first enforcement action of its kind against a crypto-asset service provider in Ireland.
During the 2024 presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed 21 million immigrants are flooding into the US each month. But this fiction was challenged in a report two weeks ago (18 December 2025) by Tom Edgington, Jake Horton and Lucy Gilder of BBC Verify.
The investigation came after Trump installed new plaques appeared under the portraits of former US presidents on his so-called ‘Walk of Fame’ at the West Wing in the White House.
The plaques represent Trump’s attempt to shape any long-term views of past presidents. Each former president has a portrait or photo except for Biden, who is instead represented by a photo of an autopen – a reference to Trump’s claim that Biden’s staff used an automated signature machine to sign off decisions without his knowledge.
The plaque beneath claims Biden took office in January 2021 ‘as a result of the most corrupt election ever seen in the US’ and that Biden ‘let 21 million people from all over the World pour into the US.’
The plaque does not say how these people allegedly entered the US under Biden, but Trump has used variations of the 21 million figure several times when talking about the Biden administration’s record, and earlier this year he claimed Biden allowed 21 million ‘illegal aliens to invade our country.’ Needless to say, Trump has never provided a source for any of these claims.
‘The Meeting Place’ by Paul Day at St Pancras Station … a new study at Oxford suggests kissing began more than 21 million years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
And 21 million minutes is approximately 40 years or 14,583.33 days. If this blog was getting one hit a minute, it would have taken about 40 years to reach this 21 million mark.
So, yet again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.
Once again, a continuing and warming figure in the midst of all these statistics is the one that shows my morning prayer diary continues to reach up to 90-100 people each day, with similar figures for my daily Advent Calendar postings and Christmas Card postings.
It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry, but I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 600 to 700 people twice a week.
Today, I am very grateful to all the 21 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.
‘Reflections of Bedford’, a sculpture by Rick Kirby on Silver Street, Bedford … a new study at Oxford suggests that kissing began more than 21 million years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
‘Loadsamoney’ was a catchphrase of comedian Harry Enfield … but is a load of money worth stashing away? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XI, 31 August 2025). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (30 August) remembers John Bunyan (1628-1688), Spiritual Writer.
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.
Talents and drachmai … old coins outside an antique shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Matthew 25: 14-30 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 14 ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents,[a] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” 21 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” 23 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” 24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” 26 But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.’
Is the parable less about talents and money and more about those who are exploited in the world by others and who are left destitute? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflection:
The catchphrase ‘Loadsamoney’ and the character to go with it were part of the comedy sketches created by the English comedian Harry Enfield on Channel 4 in the 1980s.
‘Loadsamoney’ was an obnoxious Cockney plasterer who constantly boasted about how much money he had to throw away. The character took on a life of his own and adapted the song ‘Money, Money,’ from the musical Cabaret, for a hit single in 1988 and a sell-out live tour.
That year, the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, used the catchphrase to criticise the policies of the Conservative government of the day and journalists began to refer to the ‘loadsamoney mentality’ and the ‘loadsamoney economy.’
On the other hand, we all know people who are reluctant to flash their cash and who would prefer to stash their cash. We have all heard of people who kept their savings in a mattress, thinking it was safer there than in the bank.
They may never have realised how right they might have been about the banks. But leaving your money under the mattress is not going to put it to work. And, these days, putting my money on deposit in the bank may cost me money rather than earning it. With low deposit rates and taxation at source, you may end up collecting less than you had when you first opened that savings account.
But piling up your money has its risks too. At a time of rapid inflation in war-time Greece and Germany, people who saved their money as banknotes found it quickly depreciated in value. I have enough 5 million drachmai notes to make my two sons multi-millionaires. Sad to say, those notes date from the 1940s and the only value they have today is mere curiosity value.
Saving them in the bank, or piling them up under the mattress would have earned nothing for their original owners.
And yet, I am aware of how many people in this parish are feeling the financial pinch created by the fiscal policies over the past 14 years by the previous government. Yet the cost of living seems to continue to rise.
This morning’s parable is set in the realm of finance. Before leaving on a journey, a master entrusts his servants (that word deacon again) with his money, each according to his ability.
A talent (τάλαντον, tálanton) was a lot of money – enough to make any one of those slaves a millionaire, and enough to make them fret and worry about the enormity with which he had been entrusted.
One source says a talent was the equivalent of more than 15 years’ wages for a labourer. Another suggests a talent was worth the equivalent of 7,300 denarii. With one denarius equal to a day’s pay, a talent would work out at more than 26 years’ wages. So a talent was extremely valuable, and the slave who was given five talents was given 85 to 130 years’ wages, vastly more than he could ever imagine earning in lifetime.
Earlier in this Gospel, we have come across another parable of talents, when a servant who is forgiven a debt of 10,000 talents refuses to forgive another servant who owes him only 100 denarii (Matthew 18: 23-35).
Two servants invest the money they have been entrusted with and earn more, but the third simply buries it.
When the master returns, he praises the investors. He says they will be made responsible for many things, and will enter into the joy of their master.
But the third slave, admitting that he was afraid of his master’s wrath, simply returns the original sum. The master chastises him for his wickedness and laziness. He loses not only what he has been given but is also condemned to outer darkness.
What would have happened to the two investors who took risks with vast sums of money had they lost everything?
There was an old maxim that you ‘must speculate to accumulate.’ But every investor knows there are risks, and the greater the risk the higher the interest rates that are promised.
What if they had overstepped their master’s expectations in the risks they had taken?
What if this bondholder had been burned because of the folly of two of his risk-takers, and only one had been a careful steward? After all, there is a rabbinical maxim that commends burying money to protect it.
If this parable is about the kingdom of heaven, if the master stands for God and the servants for different kinds of people, what lesson does it teach us?
Does God reward us for our works but behave like a stern judge when we keep faith without taking risks?
Will we be judged by our work?
Will our failure to use what God gives us result in punishment and our separation from God?
Of course, we cannot imagine that the two slaves who traded with their talents and produced a profit were engaged in reckless trading and speculation, still less in reckless gambling.
What was the third slave doing with his time after he buried his talent? Was he doing any other work on behalf of the master? Is he chided for his refusal to invest or speculate, or for his refusal to work, his laziness?
In this, did he show disdain for his master?
Is my relationship with God one of trust and gratitude? Or do I fear God to the point of thinking of God as the source of injustice?
What talents and gifts has God entrusted me with?
Are they mine? Or are they God’s?
Am I using or investing them to my fullest ability?
‘To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability’ (Matthew 25: 15) … old Brooke-era coins sold in the Bazaar in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 30 August 2025):
The theme this week (24 to 30 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘From Strangers to Neighbours’ (pp 32-33) This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from the Right Revd Antonio Ablon, Chaplain of Saint Catherine’s Anglican Church, Stuttgart, Germany.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 30 August 2025) invites us to pray:
Lord, we pray for Saint Catherine’s in Stuttgart, that volunteers from within the community may be encouraged and refreshed by your gentle and kind heart.
The Collect:
God of peace,
who called your servant John Bunyan
to be valiant for truth:
grant that as strangers and pilgrims
we may at the last rejoice with all Christian people
in your heavenly city;
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 John Bunyan to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Trinity XI:
O God, you declare your almighty power
most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,
that we, running the way of your commandments,
may receive your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
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.
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm’s statue of John Bunyan in Bedford, erected in 1874 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
