Holy Cross Chapel near the bus station in Iraklion recalls the lengthy story of the Catholic presence in Crete

A cross on the wall of the Chapel of the Holy Cross, near the KTEL bus station in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Over the past week or so, I have been going through old photographs of and postings about churches, chapels and monasteries in Crete and throughout Greece, trying to put together a guide to those churches and church sites I have visited, similar to those I have compiled for churches in Milton Keynes and Buckingham, Lichfield and Staffordshire, Oxford, Wexford, Limerick and Dublin.

I have been a frequent visitor to Greece for almost 40 years, since the late 1980s, when I first stayed in Rethymnon.

As my list of Greek churches, cathedral, chapels and monasteries grows, I am surprised how many churches and church sites I have visited, and as I compile the guide the number has already grown to more than 130, of which almost 80 are in Crete alone. But I am also taken aback by the number of churches I have visited in Greece but never blogged about or have lost photographs of.

Although I wrote a now-lost feature as a guide to the cathedrals and churches of Athens to mark the Athens Olympics in 2004, all those notes and photographs seem to have been lost on old laptops or on memory sticks that no longer seem to remember anything. Gone too are my photographs from my journeys throughout the Peloponnese and past visits to many islands on working trips and family holidays, including Halki, Ikaria, Kalymnos, Kephallonia, Kos, Patmos, Pserimos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini and Zakynthos.

But, as I was going through those photographs and blog postings over the past week or so, I also came across photographs of a church in Iraklion that I have noticed during recent stopovers when I have spent Easter weeks in Rethymnon and visited friends in Piskopiano or had dinner with old friends in Iraklion, and two other chapels that I had visited during treks across the mountains from Rethymnon to the Monastery of Preveli on the south coast of Crete.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross in Iraklion was built in 1893, five years ago before Ottoman Turkish rule in Crete came to an end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I have known Iraklion throughout all those 40 years since the 1980s. The old KTEL bus station was moved a few years ago from beneath the old Megaron Hotel about 200 metres east and a bit inland. The main bus station in Iraklion now stands on Ikarou Avenue, where it serves the long-distance intercity buses on routes along the north coast of Crete, including buses to Chania and Rethymnon to the west and Hersonissos and Agios Nikolaos to the east.

Without that move, Ikarou Avenue may have remained a back street in Iraklion and I might never have noticed the small 130-year-old Catholic chapel on Ikarou Avenue. The Chapel of the Holy Cross is at the old Catholic cemetery, close to the KTEL bus station and on a side road off Efesou Road.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross (Παρεκκλήσιο Τίμιος Σταυρός) was a built in 1893, five years before the expulsion of the Ottoman Turks in 1898 and the formation of an autonomous Cretan State headed by Prince George of Greece and Denmark. Crete was not fully incorporated into the modern Greek state until 1906, and this was not recognised internationally until 1913.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross (Παρεκκλήσιο Τίμιος Σταυρός) was a built in 1893 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In the past, during Venetian rule, Iraklion had many Catholic churches, including Saint Mark’s Cathedral in the heart of the city or prominent monastic churches such as the Dominican Church of Saint Peter.

Pope Alexander V is the only Pope to have been born a Catholic in Crete. He was born Peter Phillarges (Πέτρος Φιλάργης) near modern Neapoli in 1339, under Venetian rule, and became a Franciscan. He was pope from 1409 to 1410, but is now regarded as an antipope.

The Catholic Diocese of Crete was re-established as a bishopric in 1874, initially as a suffragan of the Archbishop of İzmir. Today, the Bishop of Crete is a suffragan of the Archbishop of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos, the Catholic cathedral is in Chania, and there are Catholic churches in Crete in Iraklion, Chania and Rethymnon.

Plaques on the wall of the Chapel of the Holy Cross recall the work of Father George Roussos and Father Petros Roussos in restoring the building (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The small, pre-independence Chapel of the Holy Cross near the new KTEL bus station was built at the entrance to old Catholic cemetery in Iraklion in 1893 by Italian priests serving the small remaining Catholic community in Iraklion.

Today, the main Catholic church in Iraklion is the Church of Saint John the Baptist at Antoniou Patros, near the old port. The church was first built in 1888. The church was severely damaged in the earthquake in 1959 and had to be demolished and rebuilt.There has been a long presence of Capuchin Franciscans in Crete and the pastor at that time, Father George Roussos, built the present church in 1961-1962. Father Petros Roussos, who was the pastor from 1980 to 2008, also refurbished the Capuchin monastery next to the church.

Despite its small size, the church has mass in six different languages and welcomes everyone to coffee afterwards. Daily Mass is usually in the evening, while the Sunday morning Masses are often multilingual to meet the needs of both tourists and expats.

Plaques on the wall of the Chapel of the Holy Cross recall the work of Father George Roussos and Father Petros Roussos in restoring the building. Today, the chapel is primarily a resting place for funerals in the old Catholic cemetery and it is seldom used for the celebration of public Masses. But I may never have noticed this chapel if the main KTEL station in Iraklion had not been moved a few hundred metres a few years ago.

As for that catalogue or index of the churches I have visited in Crete and throughout Greece over the past 40 years, I hope to have that ready within the next few days, as well as some of those other churches, chapels and monasteries that I have found in photographs that I thought I had lost.

The chapel is primarily a resting place for funerals and is seldom used for public Masses (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The churches and chapels of Walsingham: 9, the ruins of the Franciscan Friary

The Franciscan Friary at the entrance to Little Walsingham was founded in 1347 by Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Pilgrims have been visiting Little Walsingham in Norfolk since the 11th century to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Richeldis de Faverches had a series of visions in 1061, in which the Virgin Mary asked her to build a replica of the house in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation that she could conceive the Christ Child.

The ‘holy house’ built by Richelda de Faverches at Walsingham became one of the four principal destinations for pilgrims throughout Europe, after only Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago da Compostella. The popularity of Walsingham was boosted because it was impossible at the time for Christians to visit Nazareth, which was then in the hands of Muslim rulers.

An Augustinian priory was built beside the holy house In 1153, and is known today as Walsingham Abbey. Visitors still flock to the priory, but few pilgrims realise that there is another mediaeval monastic site just a few minutes away.

The spectacular ruins of the 14th century Franciscan friary are a short walk south from the abbey grounds, at the entrance to Little Walsingham. Walsingham Franciscan Friary or Greyfriars was founded by Elizabeth de Burgh (1295-1360), Countess of Clare, in 1347.

Elizabeth de Burgh was a wealthy aristocrat with royal connections, a granddaughter of Edward I, and a powerful magnate who managed vast estates in England, Wales, and Ireland. She was widowed three times by age of 26, and spent her final 38 years as an independent administrator, philanthropist, and patron, most notably founding Clare College, Cambridge, where I stayed in 2016.

In 1308, she married her first husband, John de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who died 1313. She married her second husband, Theobald de Verdun, former Justiciar of Ireland, in 1316, but he died later that year. In 1317, she married her third husband Roger Damory, who died in 1322.

The Augustinian canons of Walsingham Priory objected to the new friary she founded. They fears the Franciscans would divert the pilgrims and so diminish the Priory’s income from Mass stipends, burial fees and pilgrim gifts. In addition, the Augustinians knew the Franciscans had special privileges, including the right to preach outside their friary and to hear confessions.

Their fears were probably well founded, for the site Elizabeth selected for her friary was at the entrance to Walsingham, and would become the first holy site reached by pilgrims making their way from the Slipper Chapel to Walsingham, on the last mile of the pilgrim route.

The Augustinian canons petitioned the countess, King Edward III, Queen Phillipa of Hainault, and even the Pope, asking them to refuse permission for the new friary. They were refused on all sides, and the friary was approved on 1 February 1347. Elizabeth de Burgh received a license to establish a friary with 12 friars under a warden, and over four acres of land. This was later extended by another three acres and still later to just over 13 acres.

The friary ruins in Walsingham form the most complete remains of a Franciscan house in Britain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Franciscan friary was built to the south-west of the priory grounds, with its main entrance on the south-west corner of the market place.

Elizabeth died in Hertfordshire on 4 November 1360, and the rivalry between the two religious houses continues in the centuries that followed. When the Augustinians of the priory held a market outside the priory gates in Common Place, King Edward III granted the Franciscan friars the right to hold their own market on Fridays , with each trying to outdo the other to attract merchants to buy from their stalls.

The friary continued for almost another 200 years, until it was suppressed in 1538 during his Dissolution of the Monastic Houses. The buildings were torn down and the contents sold. There is a record that the Guild of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary at Walsingham bought the Great Bell of the friary church, and it is possible that the bell was recast as the large bell now hanging in Saint Mary and All Saints Church, the Church of England parish church in Little Walsingham.

Friars’ Quire was built in 1890 as the Methodist Sunday School Room (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The memory of the friars’ market continues in the name of the Friday Market in the centre of the village. The Methodist chapel in Little Walsingham was built on part of the original friary site in 1793-1794. That connection continues in the name of Friars’ Quire, originally built in 1890 as the Methodist Sunday School Room but is now a private house.

The friary site was excavated in the 1930s and the ruins stabilised. It is estimated that the friary church was 198 ft in length. Finds included mediaeval pottery sherds, carved stone mouldings, mediaeval tiles, and fragments of painted glass. In addition, a large number of 17th and 18th century clay pipes were discovered.

The friary church is almost gone save for a section of the chancel wall, but the friary’s domestic buildings and guest house still stand to almost full height. Together they form the most complete remains of a Franciscan house in Britain.

Only a small part of the chancel wall survives from the friary church, but the finest domestic ruins in Norfolk remain, including the chapter house, the friars’ cloister, the preaching cloister, the kitchen, and a large guest house that provided accommodation for poor and sick pilgrims.

An excavation of the guest hall shows it began as a ground floor hall with two hearths, and later an upper floor was inserted, reached by a grand staircase from the cloister. One of the windows of the original ground floor hall was then used as a cart entrance.

An early Victorian house was built against the south end of the friary guesthouse in 1840. The boundary wall facing Fakenham Road incorporates blocked gateways built of re-used stone and brick.

The Friary stands on the Walsingham Estate but generally it is not open to the public. However, the ruins can easily be viewed through a gate on Fakenham Road, just south of Church Street.

The Friary ruins on the Walsingham Estate are not open to the public (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A book launch in Prague links the Comerford family with Walter Devereux and the murder of Wallenstein

The Czech artist Josef Ryzec has spent decades seeking to prove a 400-year tradition in his family that they are descended from Walter Devereux

Patrick Comerford

This two-week visit to Kuching means I never even began to consider going to Prague for the launch of a new book that mentions several times for my genealogical research on the Comerford family and that includes several photographs of me.

My Irish-Norman Ancestor is a new book by Josef Ryzec, that has been adapted to English by Sean O’Sullivan from Dublin, edited by Louise Kelleher and published by the Wild Geese Historical Society of Czechia. It is being launched in the Irish Embassy in Prague this evening (25 February 2025) by Alan Gibbons, who has been the Irish ambassador to Prague for the past three years

The Irish embassy in the Wratislaw Palace in Prague is close to Charles Bridge, at the heart of the city’s historic Malá Strana (Lesser Town). This evening’s launch of Josef Ryzec’s book also marks the anniversary of the assassination of Albrecht von Wallenstein on 25 February 1634, a pivotal moment in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).

The Thirty Years War, ostensibly beginning as a religious one, engaged nearly every European country in one way or another. The major forces involved were Sweden, supported by France, and the Hapsburg Empire, and the brunt was borne mainly by the German provinces and the Czech lands.

Wallenstein wasthe successful commander of the Austrian army, with several significant military victories. By December 1633, however, he was hoping to link up with the Swedes under Prince Bernhard. Colonel Walter Butler (1600-1634) of Ballinakill Castle, Roscrea, a direct descendant of James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, was the commander of a regiment of Irish dragoons, remained loyal to the Habsburg Emperor. At the imperial command, Butler and two Scots colonels, Walter Leslie and John Gordon, plotted to get rid of Wallenstein.

Wallenstein’s trusted inner circle were invited to a feast at Eger Castle, where Butler’s kinsman, Captain Walter Devereux (1615) from Co Wexford, killed the traitorous general. The room were Devereux disposed of Wallenstein remains in the castle, now the Cheb Museum.

Butler died the following year and Devereux succeeded him as colonel of the regiment. He was rewarded for his deed with a confiscated estate and remained in the Czech lands. His brother had inherited the Devereux family castle at Balmagyr in Co Wexford and there was nothing to return to in Ireland.

The murder is described in a contemporary account by an Irish priest, FatherThomas Carew, who was a chaplain to both Butler and Devereux in the imperial army. It is also the subject of Schiller’s The Death of Wallenstein, one of a trilogy of plays about the general that holds a place in German culture akin to that of Shakespeare’s history plays.

Many historians of central Europe is regard Walter Devereux as a murderous mercenary, a drunk and a gambler. His son, or grandson, changed his family name to Ryzec, which is the name of a red-coloured Czech mushroom, suggesting that Walter was red-haired. He was reputedly buried in the Irish Franciscan church in Prague, to which he had contributed generously. The church is Malá Strana in Prague, beside the Charles Bridge and close to the Irish Embassy in the Wratislaw Palace.

The Thirty Years’ War had devastated Europe, killing millions through violence, famine or disease. It came to an end with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 which united Europe for the first time in a treaty of peace – perhaps a foretaste of the European Union, as some suggest.

The religious differences, however, remained for much longer, and influenced markedly historians of the period. The end of the war left in the Austrian Empire to dominate the Czechs for hundreds of years, whereas Wallenstein’s reward, had he succeeded in his treachery, would have been to become king of the Czech lands.

Walter Butler is said to have been buried in the Irish Franciscan church beside the Charles Bridge in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Czech artist Josef Ryzec has endeavoured for decades to prove a 400-year tradition in his family that they are descended from Walter Devereux. In the course of his research, he says, a DNA test proved that his family tradition is correct. The book being launched in Prague this evening tells of his driving obsession to establish his family’s tradition and the many obstacles he faced and overcame.

He is confident he has now traced his ancestry back to the assassin Walter Devereux from Co Wexford. Walter’s parents were Philip Devereux (1583-1635) of Ballymagir Castle, Co Wexford, and Joan Walsh (1587-1660); Joan’s sister, Ellinor Walsh, married the Revd Thomas Comerford (1596-1635), Vicar of The Rower from 1630 until his death. They were daughters of Walter Walsh of The Mountains, Co Kilkenny, and Courthoyle, near Carrigbyrne, Co Wexford, and his wife, Ellinor Butler of New Ross, Co Wexford, daughter of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret.

This connection with the Conerford family led artist Josef Ryzec to contact me, and eventually three photographs of me, and references to my genealogical research are part of his book being launched this evening.

He believes there is no verifiable evidence that Walter Butler was buried in the Irish Franciscan church beside the Charles Bridge in Prague. It has been presumed by many that Walter Devereux died in December 1639, but Josef suggests that at the age of 55 he fathered a son Matej Ryzec who was born in 1670, and that he may have lived on for many more years after.

Sean O’Sullivan, who has been a generous publisher and supporter of this research, is originally from Dublin, and first came to Prague as a Pre-Accession Adviser to the Czech Ministry of Finance in 2002, advising the Czech government on meeting the requirements for EU membership. He loved Prague so much and felt so at home there that he decided to stay on after retirement, and devotes much his time to the Wild Geese Society of Bohemia.

A former Ambassador, Alison Kelly, introduced him to Josef Ryzec and he helped Josef research his family legend that he is descended from Walter Devereux who was only 19 at the time of the assassination.

As for Ballymagyr Castle it is now part of Richfield House and Cottages in Duncormick, near Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford.

The Charles Bridge in Prague at dawn … close to the Irish Embassy and the Irish Franciscan Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 20, Tuesday 13 January 2026

‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words,’ Saint Francis of Assisi … ‘The Vision of Saint Francis’ (ca 1590-1595) by El Greco in the National Gallery of Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). This week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany I, 11 January 2025), with readings that focus on the Baptism of Christ.

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Hilary (367), Bishop of Poitiers and Teacher of the Faith; Kentigern or Mungo (603), Missionary Bishop in Strathclyde and Cumbria; and George Fox (1624-1691), founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers).

The commemoration of Saint Hilary today (13 January) explains Hilary Term, the second academic term at the University of Oxford and Trinity College Dublin. The other terms are Michaelmas term and Trinity term. These terms originated in the mediaeval legal system when courts in England, Wales and Ireland divided the legal year into four terms: Hilary, Easter, Trinity and Michaelmas. Lent term is the equivalent of Hilary term in Cambridge.

Later this evening, I have a meeting of a town council committee in Stony Stratford that is involved with public art and sculpture on the streets of Stony Stratford. But, 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.

‘When the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught’ (Mark 1: 21) … the Old Synagogue in Krakow, built in 1407, is the oldest Jewish house of prayer in Poland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 21-28 (NRSVA):

21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

‘When the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught’ (Mark 1: 21) … on Synagogue Street in Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Mark 1: 21-28) is the story of Christ’s visit to Capernaum, where he preaches and teaches in the synagogue. When he speaks, all are astounded at his teaching. But when he actually puts what he says it into practice, they are all amazed.

Christ not only teaches, but he puts it into practice, he teaches not just with knowledge, but with authority; not only can he say, but he can do.

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist yesterday, we heard how Christ called his first disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. Now, this morning’s Gospel reading tells us how Christ’s authority, in both word and deed, are first recognised.

Christ and his new disciples go to Capernaum, a prosperous town on the Sea of Galilee. It was the practice in the synagogue on Saturdays for the scribes, who specialised in the interpretation and application of Mosaic law to daily life, to quote scripture and tradition.

On this Saturday, however, Christ does not follow this practice. Instead, he speaks directly, confident of his authority and of his very essence. The Greek word here, ἐξουσία (exousía), has the same roots as the word in the Nicene Creed that is translated as ‘being’ or ‘substance’: ‘of one substance with the Father’ (ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, homoúsion to Patrí).

The ‘man with an unclean spirit’ (verse 23) was, we might say, possessed, or under the influence of evil forces. In the understanding of the time, he was under Satan’s direction, separated from God.

The devil is heard speaking through this man (verse 24), asking what Christ is doing meddling in the domain of evil. He recognises who Christ is and that his coming spells the end of the power of the devil. He understands the significance of the coming Kingdom. Wonder-workers of the day healed using ritual or magic, but Christ exorcises simply through verbal command (verse 25), so clearly he is divine.

The crowd now acknowledges Christ’s ‘authority’ in word and deed (verse 27).

The parallel reading of this story in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Luke 4: 31-37) follows the story of Christ preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4: 16-30), when he proclaims the foundational text for his ministry, almost like a manifesto:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

These are high ideals and, if put into practice, threaten social stability and the ordering of society. This threat is realised by those who hear him, and they drive him out of the synagogue in Capernaum.

Driven out of that synagogue, Christ has three options:

1, To allow himself to be silenced.

2, To keep on preaching in other synagogues, but to never put into practice what he says, so that those who are worried have their fears allayed and realise he is no threat;

3, To preach and to put his teachings into practice, to show that he means what he says, that his faith is reflected in his priorities, to point to what the Kingdom of God is truly like.

Christ takes the third option. He brings good news to the poor, he releases this poor captive, he can now see things as they are and as they ought to be, the oppressed may go free, and all are amazed.

There is a saying attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.’

Christ preaches with authority. But in this Gospel reading we are not told what he said. We are only told what he did.

In his actions he demonstrates the love of God and the love of others that are at the heart of the Gospel, that should be at the heart of every sermon I preach. For the love of God and the love of others are the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets.

‘At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region’ (Mark 1: 28) … spreading fame and news, newspapers at a kiosk near the marina in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 13 January 2026):

The theme this week (11-17 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Gaza Crisis Response’ (pp 18-19). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from the Diocese of Jerusalem.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 13 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, grant the Diocese of Jerusalem courage and resources to bring life-saving support and hope to those most in need through its healthcare facilities.

The Collect:

Everlasting God,
whose servant Hilary
steadfastly confessed your Son Jesus Christ
to be both human and divine:
grant us his gentle courtesy
to bring to all the message of redemption
in the incarnate 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:

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 Hilary to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region’ (Mark 1: 28) … the good and the famous in a line of sculptures on the campus of the University of Limerick (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 prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 14, Wednesday 7 January 2026

‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light’ (Matthew 4: 16) … candles lit in prayer in the cathedral in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are still in the season of Christmas, which is a 40-day season and it did not end yesterday, on the Feast of the Epiphany (6 January), but continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

On Mount Athos, the monks continue to celebrate the great feast of Christmas today according to the old calendar, although the calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Saint John the Baptist today, following yesterday's celebration of the Theophany and the Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist. The Choir at Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford returns to rehearsals later this evening, following a short break after Christmas and during New Year. Before today begins, though, 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.

‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light’ (Matthew 4: 16) … darkness and light in the commercial heart of Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 4: 12-17, 23-25 (NRSVA):

12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 ‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles –
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.’

17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light’ (Matthew 4: 16) … darkness and light between Stony Stratford and Galley Hill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today, we move immediately from yesterday’s account of the visit of the Magi (Matthew 2: 1-12) to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and mission (Matthew 4: 12-17, 23-25), when he moves from Nazareth to Capernaum.

Throughout Galilee and Syria, the priorities at the beginning of his ministry and mission are teaching as a rabbi in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, curing disease, sickness and pain among the people, as well as the demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics.

There is a well-known prayer, often titled ‘A Franciscan blessing’, that has been described by someone else as a good counter-balance to the cosy ‘Francis of the birdbath’ spirituality, but that is also an interesting reminder of the priorities of any Christ-like ministry or discipleship:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly
and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger
at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for
justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe
that you really can make a difference in this world,
so that you are able, with God’s grace,
to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore. Amen.

Although it is popularly known as ‘A Franciscan blessing’, it is sometimes known as a ‘Four-Fold Benedictine Blessing’, but it was originally called ‘A Non-traditional Blessing’, and was first written 40 years ago in 1985 for a student group by a Benedictine nun, Sister Ruth (Marlene) Fox (1936-2023) of the Sacred Heart Convent, Richardton, North Dakota.

Sister Ruth was born on 24 January 1936 in Stanley, North Dakota, and grew up on the family farm with her older sister and three brothers, and entered the novitiate and made her monastic profession at the Sacred Heart Convent.

She was the prioress for two four-year terms before studying scripture and theology in Israel, Rome, and Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. After several years as a campus minister at Dickinson State University, in 1990 she was elected president of the Federation of Saint Gertrude, linking 18 monasteries of Benedictine women in the US and Canada.

She conducted retreats in several Benedictine monasteries, published numerous papers on spirituality, and wrote a book on monastic leadership, Wisdom Leadership. She guided the ecumenical Benedictine Spirituality Centre at her monastery from 2000 until 2005, when she was again elected prioress of her monastery for six years.

Sister Ruth compiled the history of her community, played the organ for daily monastic liturgies, oversaw the monastery archives, and assisted with housekeeping chores.

She was very involved in Benedictine life beyond the US. She was a member of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue Board and spent three months in India on a monastic exchange programme. She was a member of the American Benedictine Academy and its president from 1986 to 1999. Due to failing health, Sister Ruth moved to Saint Vincent’s in Bismarck in late 2022, and died on 13 September 2023.

It appears that Sister Ruth wrote her four-fold ‘blessing’, now known as ‘A Franciscan Benediction’, at Sacred Heart Monastery. Her original blessing prays seems to have prayed:

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand
to comfort and to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done,
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light’ (Matthew 4: 16) … light in the darkness in Padungan in Kuching at night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 7 January 2026):

The theme this week (4-10 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Hidden Histories’ (pp 16-17). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Matthew Anns, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager at USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 7 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Father, convict us to give, act, and pray in response to reparative justice. Lead us to seek your kingdom where every person has an equal place and voice at your table.

The Collect:

O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory 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.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
the bright splendour whom the nations seek:
may we who with the wise men have been drawn by your light
discern the glory of your presence in your Son,
the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star
to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light’ (Matthew 4: 16) … inside the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Saint Bernardine’s Church, Buckingham, includes some of the best examples of post-Vatican II church architecture and art

Saint Bernardine’s Church on Chandos Road … an excellent example of the collaboration of George Mathers, Angela Godfrey and Dom Charles Norris (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

During my visits to Buckingham this week, I visited Saint Bernardine’s Church, the Roman Catholic Parish Church on Chandos Road, almost opposite the Royal Latin School and close to the Chandos Road campus and the Medical School of the University of Buckingham, which is spread across three sites.

At first sight, the church looks like a large 1970s suburban house, squeezed between the other, older buildings on Chandos Road. I almost passed the church by, as there is little about its outside appearance to indicate that this is a church, apart from the entrance doors. To the left of the entrance is a garage door, the wall to the right is faced in stone, and above is a prominent mansard-type slate roof with four dormer windows, lighting ancillary rooms over the entrance lobby.

But the church is a treasure trove of post-Vatican II ecclesiastical architecture, designed by George Mathers and includes some of the finest of 1970s church art and fittings, including doors and an altar by Angela Godfrey, dalle de verre windows by Dom Charles Norris, striking Stations of the Cross by Martin Hughes, and a crucifix by Stephen Foster.

The story of Saint Bernardine’s Church goes back almost a century and a half to 1892 when a Belgian Franciscan friar, Father Thaddeus Hermans, arrived in Buckingham on the Feast of the Ascension to open a college for men wishing to become Franciscans.
He rented a cottage in Elm Street, where he said the first Mass, before moving to 9 Chandos Road, which as laid out in 1853 to link Buckingham railway station with the town centre, and there he set up his first chapel. He later obtained a permanent site on London Road and by the end of 1895 he had built a Franciscan school and college.

The college was placed under the patronage of Saint Bernardine, a Franciscan saint, and so the parish of Saint Bernardine grew up around the college. Few Catholics were living near Buckingham at the time, but in 1900 the registers record 12 Baptisms. The college chapel was blessed and opened for public worship in 1912.

Inside Saint Bernardine’s Church, Buckingham, looking towards the liturgical east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444) was born at Massa Maritima near Siena in Tuscany into the noble degli Albizzeschi family. While studying in Siena in 1400 he offered to help in the hospital to deal with many plague victims. He joined the Franciscans on his 22nd birthday in September 1402, and was ordained a priest in 1404. For 12 years he led a deeply spiritual life.

A sermon he preached during a visit to Milan marked the beginning of his missionary life throughout Italy, sometimes preaching many times a day. His success was said to be remarkable, and ‘Bonfires of the Vanities’ were held at places where he preached, with people throwing mirrors, high-heeled shoes, perfumes, locks of false hair, cards, dice, chess pieces and other frivolities to be burned.

However, he was also of a strict, moral temper, preached fiery sermons against many classes of people, characterised some women as ‘witches’, and called for ‘sodomites’ to be ostracised or removed from the human community.

Bernardino is regarded today as being a major protagonist of Christian antisemitism. In Orvieto in 1472, he blamed the poverty of local Christians on Jewish usury, and his calls for Jews to be banished and isolated from their wider communities led to segregation. His listeners often used his words to reinforce actions against Jews, and his preaching left a legacy of resentment on the part of Jews.

Yet Pope Pius II called him a second Paul. At different times, he turned the offer to become bishop of Siena, of Ferrara, and of Urbino He led the revival of discipline among the Franciscans and from 1438 to 1442 he was Vicar-General of the order. He was canonised in 1450 and his feast day is 20 May.

Inside Saint Bernardine’s Church, Buckingham, looking towards the liturgical west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

As the Catholic parish in Buckingham expanded after World War II, the friars opened Mass centres in many neighbouring towns and villages, including Brackley. But circumstances changed, the college closed in 1968, and the buildings were sold to Buckingham County Council. The friars continued to use the chapel until the parish could build its own church, and eventually the decision was taken to build onto the new friary on Chandos Road where the friars had set up their first chapel.

The new church was designed by the architect George AJ Mathers (1919-2015) of Williams and Mathers, Cheltenham, and was built by Pollard and Sons, Buckingham. Mathers is best-known for his Grade II listed Marychurch in Old Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

George Mathers was born in 1919 in London. His father was a postal worker. He studied architecture at the Northern Polytechnic, now the University of North London, and during his student years he became a Roman Catholic and a pacifist. As a conscientious objector he was expelled from the polytechnic and jailed in Wormwood Scrubs. There he met Paul Mauger, a Quaker architect, a prison visitor who had been a conscientious objector in World War I. Mauger offered him a job, but Mathers was jailed for a second time for his pacifism before joining Mauger on a permanent basis, eventually becoming a partner.

Maters began working for Paul Mauger designing council housing and other public buildings. His career as a church architect began when he was asked to design a convent chapel in 1957. He set up his own practice in mid-Hertfordshire with Barrie Thomas in 1960, and was commissioned to design Saint Bartholomew’s Church, St Albans (1963), and the circular Marychurch, Old Hatfield (1970).

Saint Bartholomew’s Church, St Albans, was the first church in the Diocese of Westminster built in the round, shortly before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II. There, Mathers brought in the sculptor Angela Godfrey, who had recently graduated from King’s College, Newcastle upon Tyne, to design the altar.

Perhaps the most notable church by Mathers is the round Marychurch in Old Hatfield, which was grade II listed in 2013 – a rare achievement for a living architect. Here again Mathers worked with several notable artists, including Dom Charles Norris and Dom Paulinus Angold, who contributed the dalle de verre glass, and Angela Godfrey, who designed the welded steel screen and font.

Mathers lived for much of his life in Ware, Hertfordshire, before moving to Cheltenham. He retired when he was 94 and died aged 96 in 2015.

The front door by Angela Godfrey with the ‘IHS’ logo associated with Saint Bernardine’s preaching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Mathers worked closely on Saint Bernardine’s Church, Buckingham, once again with Angela Godfrey and Dom Charles Norris, and with the Cheltenham artist Martin Hughes.

The front door is made from resin and filled with sand to give it a more solid feel. The altar front is of a similar design. Both were designed by Mathers and were made by Angela Godfrey.

Angela Godfrey, whose first commission after graduating had been from Mathers for the altar in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, St Albans, also worked with Richard Hurley (1932–2011), one of the leading church architects in Ireland interpreting the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms, reordering churches in Hoddesdon, Harrow Weald, Maidstone, and Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary. She designed the bishop’s throne and Paschal candle for Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, when it was rebuilt by Hurley. Her prize-winning ‘Gilpin’s Bell’ (1994) is a large street sculpture in Edmonton.

Her entrance doors at Saint Bernardine’s include a high-relief grip representation of the IHS monogram with rays, traditionally associated with images of Saint Bernardine.

Angela Godfrey also made the altar in Saint Bernardine’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

From the low entrance lobby of the church, the levels drop down into the main space, consisting of a single space, with a raised clerestory on the south side lighting the south wall and a long monopitch roof down to the north side. The boarded roof is supported by thick laminated raking trusses, which in turn is carried on laminated posts towards the low north side.

The north and east walls are plastered and painted, and the north wall is faced in painted concrete blocks. At the west end, a door leads into the sacristy and presbytery and some of the former external exposed stonework of the presbytery is retained as a feature.

The furnishings of the church include a reredos or crucifix and tabernacle surround on the east wall by Stephen Foster. The reredos replaced a painted Crucifixion, possibly by Martin Hughes, who painted the dramatic mural Stations of the Cross on the north wall.

On the south wall under the eaves are panels of coloured dalle de verre glass, from the workshop of Dom Charles Norris at Buckfast Abbey, Devon.

The Stations of the Cross on the north wall were painted by Martin Hughes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Martin Hughes, then a young artist, painted the Stations of the Cross on the north wall. He first painted miniatures and from these he took photographic slides that he then projected onto the wall. This allowed him to quickly and accurately reproduce the Stations of the Cross.

Hughes lived in Cheltenham for most of his life, and in the 1970s and 1980s, he combined commissions producing a series of murals for churches throughout England with creating the album cover for Traffic’s ‘When the Eagle flies’. He worked in a variety of mediums, including acrylic, pastel, charcoal, pen and ink, and emulsion. His commissions included shops, restaurants, hair salons and night clubs, as well as fresco and paint effects in people’s homes. The characters in his work included fictional fantasy figures, mystic and ethereal, from Greek mythology to Shakespeare’s plays.

Hughes may also have painted a Crucifixion above the High Altar that was influenced by Salvador Dali’s ‘Christ of Saint John of the Cross’ and that has since been replaced.

Around the same time as he was working in Buckingham, Hughes also worked in 1974 in the new Sacred Heart Church in Northampton, also designed by Mathers. There Hughes completed the Stations of the Cross there in only four weeks, sometimes working through the night and even sleeping in the church.

Hughes was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015 and died in June 2015. His daughter Naomi Hughes described him as ‘a free spirit’, saying: ‘Murals were his thing and walls were his canvas.’

Martin Hughes who painted the Stations of the Cross died in 2015 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Dom Charles Norris (1909-2004), then a 75-year-old Benedictine monk, made the dalle de verre stained glass windows on the south wall. Dom Charles was born Louis Charles Norris and studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1920s. He entered Buckfast Abbey in 1930 and began to work as a stained glass artist in 1933. He worked with a team of monks to rebuild the abbey, including the east window in dalle de verre.

Pierre Fourmaintraux is said to have brought the dalle de verre technique to Britain before joining James Powell and Sons, later Whitefriars Glass Studio, in 1956. He trained Dom Charles Norris in this technique, and Norris became one of its most prolific British proponents.

In addition to his work at Buckfast Abbey, Dom Charles also had an association with the workshop at Prinknash Abbey and with Aylesford Priory in Kent. From 1949, Aylesford Priory was a creative hub, attracting artists such as Adam Kossowski, Philip Lindsey Clark, Michael Clark, and Dom Charles Norris.

Many of the internal features and furnishings in Saint Bernardine’s Church came from the earlier college chapel in Buckingham (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Father Christopher Ulyatt OFM, the then Parish Priest in Buckingham, and Colonel Bill Sharpe, an active parishioner, oversaw building the new church designed by Mathers. Bishop Charles Grant of Northampton blessed the new church on 26 October 1974. Father Christopher had died two weeks earlier and never got to enjoy the end results of his labours.

The building project created a substantial debt. However, a later parish priest, Father Phelan Daniel O’Leary OFM, worked to clear the debt and the church was consecrated in August 1982. The parish formally became part of the Diocese of Northampton in 1989.

Many of the internal features and furnishings in Saint Bernardine’s Church came from the earlier college chapel in Buckingham, including statues of Saint Anthony, Saint Francis and Saint Bernardine, the font, the church bell, the organ and the organ pipes, the pews and the octagonal stone font (1946). The statue of Our Lady was donated by a later parish priest, Monsignor John Ryan, in 1993 in memory of Ernie Taylor in recognition of his work in the church.

Stephen Foster designed the Calvary, based on the cross at San Damiano, and the tabernacle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

To celebrate the Millennium, Stephen Foster, a sculptor specialising in wooden carvings, was commissioned to design the Calvary or reredos and the tabernacle. The Calvary depicts Christ ascending from the Cross, closely resembles the original Crucifix of Saint Damiano that inspired life and ministry of Saint Francis of Assisi. The Calvary is made from 10 panels and its design is similar to the triptych in Northampton Cathedral. The Tabernacle surround also reflects features of the Calvary design and is made of wood and decorated in gold leaf.

The wall behind the statue of Our Lady has painted vertical features, suggested by Stephen Foster and similar to those in the design of the Calvary.

The Royal Latin School, facing Saint Bernardine’s Church, moved to Chandos Road in 1907 from the mediaeval Chantry Chapel in Buckingham, which I was discussing last night (5 November 2025). Meanwhile, Buckingham University acquired the former friary and school in 1977. The Franciscan Building on the Verney Park site was converted into residences, a library, language laboratories and tutorial and lecture rooms.

• Father Bosco Gunturu is the Priest-in-Charge of Saint Bernardine’s Church. Sundays Masses are: 5:30 pm (Saturdays, Vigil Mass) and 11 am (Sunday mornings). Weekday Masses are 9:20 (Tuesday to Thursday, and Saturday), 10 am (Fridays) and 7 pm (Wednesdays and Fridays).

The Royal Latin School moved to Chandos Road in 1907 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 145, Saturday 4 October 2025, Saint Francis of Assisi

A sculpture at Gormanston College, Co Meath, marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis of Assisi in 1982 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI, 5 October). Today, the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers (1182-1226), Friar, Deacon and founder of the Friars Minor (4 October).

Today is also the last day of Creationtide or the Season of Creation in the Church Calendar, which began on 1 September, the beginning of the Church Year in the Orthodox Church, and ends today on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Later today, I plan to drop in to Το Στεκι Μας (‘Our Place’), the ‘pop-up’ Greek Café at the Swinfen Harris Church Hall, beside the Greek Orthodox Church on London Road, Stony Stratford. This café opens every first Saturday of the month, between 10:30 am and 5 pm. Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and 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 mediaeval carved statue of Saint Francis of Assisi in the ruins of the Franciscan Friary in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 12: 22-34 (NRSVA):

22 He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you – you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

32 ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

The former Saint Francis Church … once the most important church in the Venetian town and now the Archaeological Museum of Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflection:

A year ago, I was with former schoolfriends, celebrating 55 years since we left school at Gormanston College in Co Meath. Over 30 or more 70-somethings gathered together for a long and lingering lunch in Peploe’s restaurant at Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin, at a lunch organised mainly by Frank Hunt and Russell Shannon.

We had last gathered for a previous lunch like that five years earlier, in 2019, when we marked 50 years since leaving Gormanston. There were sad but grateful memories last year of those who could not join us for lunch, and we remembered those we know who died in the previous year, including John McCarthy and Tom Lappin.

Since then, Father Louis Brennan, a former Rector of Gormanston and the most inspirational and encouraging teacher I had in my schooldays, has also died.

That afternoon was also filled with memories of what were largely happy school days, and how well we were prepared to go out into the world. Some of us also remembered, with gratitude, the Franciscan values that were shared with us by the friars at Gormanston in the 1960s.

Today is the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. This day is popular for blessing the animals and also marks the end of ‘Creation Time’ in many parts of the Church.

I was reminded of Saint Francis and his values when I lived close to the Friary in Wexford, and during my time at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, which was founded on the site of a Franciscan friary.

Throughout my five years when I lived in Askeaton, Co Limerick, as priest-in-charge of the Rathkeale Group of Parishes, I regularly visited the ruins of the Franciscan friary and its beautiful cloisters, with a mediaeval carved image of Saint Francis of Assisi. Earlier this year, during my Easter retreat or holiday in Crete, I visited again – as I have done so many times since the 1980s – the former Saint Francis Church, once the most important church in the Venetian town and now the Archaeological Museum of Rethymnon.

Apart from figures in the Biblical figures, Saint Francis may be the most popular saint in the Church, and he is loved in the all the churches. He inspired Pope Francis, who took the saint’s name when he was elected Pope in 2013. Like Saint Francis, Pope Francis washed the feet of women prisoners each year on Maundy Thursday and he visited a soup kitchen in Assisi.

Saint Francis was born in Assisi in Italy ca 1181-1182, and he was baptised with the name Giovanni (for Saint John the Baptist). But his father changed the boy’s name to Francesco because he liked France.

As a young boy and a teenager, Francesco di Bernardone was a rebel. He dressed oddly, spent much of his time alone and quarrelled with his father.

His father expected him to take over the family business. But young Francis was too much of a rebel. All that began to change when he was taken prisoner in 1202 during a war. When he was freed, he was seriously ill, and while he was recovering he had a dream in which he was told ‘to follow the Master, not the man.’

He turned to prayer, penance and almsgiving. One day while praying, he said, God called him to ‘repair my house.’ In 1206, he sold some valuable cloth from his father’s shops to rebuild a run-down church of San Damiano.

His father dragged the young man before the religious authorities, and that was that, finally, for Francis and his father.

Francis turned his back on all that wealth, became a friar, put his complete trust in God, and made his home in an abandoned church. He wore simple clothes, looked after the lepers, made friends with social outcasts and embraced a life of no possessions.

Others joined him, and so began the story of the Franciscans.

Saint Francis is said to have once told his followers, ‘Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.’ In other words, people are more likely to see what we believe in what we do rather than believe us because of what we say.

The widely known ‘Prayer of Saint Francis’ has also been attributed to Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Saint Francis celebrated God’s creation, and his most famous poem is his ‘Canticle of the Sun.’ He also organised the first Crib to celebrate Christmas.

Two years before his death, the Franciscan friars first arrived in England in 1224, and they soon spread to Ireland.

Saint Francis was 44 when he died on the evening of 3 October 1226. By then, his order had spread throughout western Christendom. Next year marks the 800th anniversary of his death.

I recall 83 names from my school year in Gormanston in 1969, and since then 21 have died – almost 1 in 4 or 25 per cent. That class year, remembered fondly by all of us, are:

William Barrett, + Hillary Barry, Michael Bolger, Brian Brady, Aidan Brosnan, + Derek Browne, + Henry Browne, Peter Burke, + Patrick Cassidy, Seamus Claffey,

Patrick Comerford, Justin Connolly, Breen Coyne, Thomas Delaney, David Dennehy, Michael Dervan, Gerald Dick, Frank Domoney, Paul Egan, Sean Finn,

+ Donal Geaney, Michael Geraghty, John Grogan, Richard Hayes, Michael Hickey, Liam Holmes, John Horgan, Frank Hunt, Stephen Kane, + Paul Keatings,

Noel Keaveney, Thomas Keenan, Bernard Kelly, John Kelly, David Kerrigan, + Tom Lappin, Malachy Larkin, + Cyril Lynch, David Lynch, Liam Lynch,

Domhnall Mac a Bháird, + John McCarthy, Alfred McCrann, Brian McCutcheon, + Harold McGahern, Pat McGowan, + Donal McGrath, + Joe McGuinness, + Niall McMahon, Kieran McNamee,

James Madden, Seamus Moloney, Francis Moran, + James Moran, Peter Morgan, + Raymond Murphy, Paul Nolan, Kevin O’Brien, Dermot O’Callaghan, Einde O’Callaghan,

Derry O’Connor, Des O’Connor, William O’Connor, James O’Dea, Dermot O’Donoghue, + Tim O’Driscoll, Dermott O’Flanagan, Joseph O’Keeffe, Donal O’Mahony, + Michéal O Morain,

+ Sean O’Meara, + Joe O’Neill, John O’Reilly, + Cian O'Shea, George Pratt, Dermot Rainey, Sean Regan, Noel Reilly, Russell Shannon, Paul Smith,

+ Maurice Sweeney, Donagh Tierney, Michael Walsh.

Gormanston College, Co Meath … in among the 6C year on 27 June 1969, 56 years ago

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 4 October 2025):

The theme this week (28 September to 4 October) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘One Faith: Many Voices’ (pp 42-43). This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections from Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 4 October 2025) invites us to pray:

Father, thank you that you are unbound by language and all people can come to know you.

The Collect:

O God, you ever delight to reveal yourself
to the childlike and lowly of heart:
grant that, following the example of the blessed Francis,
we may count the wisdom of this world as foolishness
and know only Jesus Christ and him crucified,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Merciful God,
who gave such grace to your servant Francis
that he served you with singleness of heart
and loved you above all things:
help us, whose communion with you
has been renewed in this sacrament,
to forsake all that holds us back from following Christ
and to grow into his likeness from glory to glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity XVI:

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
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 Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Francis at the gates into Gormanston College, Co Meath (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

Updated 4 and 5 October 2025, with the addition of five names