COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue (Jésus dans la synagogue déroule le livre), James Tissot (1831-1902), Brooklyn Museum (see Matthew 13: 54)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church, and the week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII, 26 July 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1556), founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
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.
Jesus in the Synagogue, as imagined by the Northern Ireland-born artist Greg Olsen
Matthew 13: 54-58 (NRSVA):
54 He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ 57 And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house.’ 58 And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.
Stained glass windows in my old school chapel at Gormanston College, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflections:
Where do you call home, and where do feel most at home?
I have been living for more than four years now in Stony Stratford, on the north-west fringes of Milton Keynes and by the River Ouse, which separates Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
But I was born on Rathfarnham Road in Dublin, spent parts of my childhood near Cappoquin in West Waterford and in Dublin, went to school in Dublin and in Co Meath, began working as a journalist in Lichfield, lived in my early adult years in Wexford, I have lived in different houses in south Dublin from late 1974 until 2017, and I spent five years in parish ministry in west Limerick and north Kerry before moving here.
I have studied in Reading, Dublin, Maynooth, Tokyo, Cambridge and London.
If you were to ask me where I am from, I may look puzzled and sound incoherent as I try to reply. Yet, in my sleep and in my mind’s eye, I still wander easily through the many houses where I have lived and through the classrooms and lecture rooms of the many schools and colleges where I have studied.
I wonder how Jesus would have answered a question like that? He was born in Bethlehem, he spent his early days as a refugee in Egypt, Joseph and Mary seem to have grown up in the small town of Nazareth, they returned there after Jesus’ birth and their exile in Egypt, and he spent his childhood there.
Eventually, though, Jesus moved to the more populated town of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (see Matthew 9: 1; John 2: 12). He would go on to spend the last period of his ministry in Jerusalem, and was executed outside the city walls.
In this morning’s reading, Jesus returns to visit his ‘home town’, which may have been Nazareth or Capernaum.
In Saint Luke’s Gospel, when he returns to Nazareth, the people try to kill him (see Luke 4: 16-29). This morning’s reading appears to describe a separate occasion.
Both Nazareth and Capernaum, like most towns in that region at that time, had a synagogue. It was common for visiting rabbis to be invited to speak in the synagogue when in town. Jesus did so in Nazareth and Capernaum, and did some miracles there, perhaps of healing, though did not do many (Matthew 13: 58).
The reaction to Jesus’ teaching and his miracles was one of astonishment and rejection, and his own people asked where he got this wisdom and the ability to do these mighty works.
I was back in Dubin briefly earlier this week for a family visit, though in such a short few hours it was not possible to meet all the people I wanted to.
If, as an adult, you live far away from home, what do you do when you return home? Do you return home for Christmas, or for family events such as weddings and funerals?
Do you visit family members … ageing parents, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins? Have they changed much since you left? Do they think you have changed much?
Do you walk past the old family home? Do you wonder how the families who now live there have changed the rooms inside? Do you want to see inside your own former bedroom, or regret the front garden has been changed to make way for car parking spaces?
Do you visit your old school? Do you contact old school friends or old teachers? Have they changed much since you left? Do they accept who you have become?
Do you visit the church you knew as a child or teenager, where you were baptised, confirmed or married, or your old school chapel? Has it changed much – not just in the clergy who are there, but in its layout and design, in its style of worship and in the ways in which it emphasises its teachings?
My school year from Gormanston in 1969 meet up every now and then, and met again for lunch in Dublin in September 2024. We shared memories of members of our year who have died since we left, including Tom Lappin and John McCarthy who died that year. It was not only yet another opportunity to meet each other but also to find out how we had been getting on over the previous 55 years, and to affirm one another and renew friendships.
But so often, sadly, we want to tie people to the memories we have of them in the past, memories that may have been distorted over the years, and that can no longer be placed back in their original contexts.
And, too often, we know from our life experiences, assumptions and prejudices can blind us to truth. When we think we know something, or someone, we tend to favour those expectations over new information.
Many, many people in the world think they already know all about Jesus. Many, however – including those who claim to be closest to often – often know very little about him, continue in their assumptions and prejudices, and are offended when they are presented with the truth (Matthew 13: 57).
My old school at Gormanston College, Co Meath … has your old school changed since you left? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 31 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 26 July to 1 August 2026 (pp 22-23), is ‘Lives in Transit’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG prayer diary today (Friday 31 July 2026) invites us to pray:
Lord God, we pray for USPG and all church partners engaged in eradicating human trafficking and abolishing modern slavery. Guide their advocacy, deepen their compassion, and strengthen their efforts to bring justice, protection, and freedom.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you for ever.
Additional Collect:
Lord God,
your Son left the riches of heaven
and became poor for our sake:
when we prosper save us from pride,
when we are needy save us from despair,
that we may trust in you alone;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
At No 18 High Street, Wexford, I had the whole top floor of the house – all two rooms – to myself … in my sleep, I still wander easily through the many houses I have lived in (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Stephen Edward Comerford, born on 22 August 1946, died 50 years ago on 18 December 1970
Patrick Comerford
Tomorrow (18 December) marks the fifty-fifth anniversary of the death of my eldest brother, Stephen Edward Comerford, who died in Durham, North Carolina, at the age of 24 on 18 December 1970.
Now that I am in my mid-70s, five or six years is hardly an age gap between people of my generation. But they mark a major chasm when you are a child, and that gap was compounded by the fact that he was the eldest child in the family and I was the fourth of six.
Steve was born in Dublin on 22 August 1946. He was named after our father, Stephen Edward Comerford (1918-2004), who in turn was named after our grandfather, also named Stephen Edward Comerford (1867-1921). The name Stephen had come into the Bunclody branch of the family because our grandfather was born on 28 December, three days after Christmas Day and two days after Saint Stephen’s Day.
As small children, we were all separated, going to different members and friends of the extended family: Steve was packed off to our grandmother Maria (Crowley) Murphy (1882-1957) and aunt Margaret (Murphy) Barrett (1920-2014) in Millstreet, Co Cork, while I went to George and Paggy Kerr in Dublin and the extended Hallinan family in Cappoquin, Co Waterford.
The accent Steve acquired in Millstreet brought him the nickname ‘Corky’ in his primary school when he returned to Dublin. By the time I was going to primary school, he was already at boarding school.
The Wexford historian Brendan Culliton, later the President of both the Wexford Historical Society and Wexford Wanderers Rugby Club, has remembered him as his friend throughout their shared years in primary school. ‘We were two of the ‘brainboxes’,’ he recalled some years ago. ‘In those days, we were two to a desk and I had the privilege of sharing a desk with Stephen for the whole of that year.’
He told me, ‘Stephen was very well read and was a pleasure to sit beside. He was one of the quieter members of the class, but I can remember the interesting chats we had on every subject under the sun. Before Christmas that year, we had shared what present we hoped to get. I am sure my interests at the time didn’t move far from Meccano and Just William. Stephen told me he had asked for books on history. That struck me as a bit odd, but if that was what he wanted, then that was him.
‘After Christmas, he brought in two bound copies of Carty’s History of Ireland to show me. I remember the covers were green, and plain. Other classmates would have been dismissive of books like these as a ‘Christmas present’. What, after all, was wrong with Dan Dare or Billy Bunter? But what struck me most was that Stephen was thrilled to show off these treasures. He was genuinely happy and, to me that was the important thing.’
Brendan Culliton was a year younger and stayed back a year. ‘So, when I went to Gormanston, Stephen was a year ahead of me. He was also in a different Clann / House, so our paths didn’t cross that often. However, when we did meet, a short greeting was never enough. I always recall there being real substance to the conversation.’
Stephen and I both went to Gormanston, but the five- or six-year gap was so wide that by the time I arrived, although there were teachers who remembered him, no-one in my year had ever come across him. We are also in different houses or clanns, and so any memories were few and rarely shared.
Yet, he was remembered for his achievements in maths and sciences, his fluency in the Irish language, and for his interests in chess, swimming and, to a lesser degree, golf. He taught himself the harmonica, and I remember his efforts to teach me to play chess – a pleasure that remains. But our academic and sporting interests seldom overlapped.
While I was at Gormanston, he was studying at University College Galway and at University College Dublin. When Brendan Culliton arrived in UCD, he recalled, they ‘encountered each other now and then around Earlsfort Terrace and, when we did, it was always cause for surprisingly lengthy conversations … There is no question that he was very intelligent and hugely talented. He was also genuine and sincere.’
By the time I left Gormanston in 1969, Stephen had completed his BSc and MSc degrees. We spent some time together that summer, sometimes going for meals together in Rathmines. I remember how we sat up together to watch the first moon landing on the night of 20 July 1969.
But by then he was moving to the US and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, where he was a PhD candidate. I cannot recall that we ever met again. I was training to be a chartered surveyor with Jones Lang Wootton and working on a BSc in estate management with the College of Estate Management, then part of the University of Reading.
A colleague from his post-graduate days in Duke spoke of Stephen as ‘unfailingly courteous, and inclined to dress in jacket and tie … He gave the dining room a touch of class … dressed to the nines and carrying a rolled up umbrella.’ Perhaps he had retained a hint of that Cork accent he picked up in Millstreet as a child. ‘ We all had accents, but Stephen’s was a delight.’
He died on 18 December 1970, aged 24, and is buried in Maplewood Cemetery, Durham, North Carolina. The news of his death came in a chilling ’phone call in the middle of the night, seven days before Christmas, just days after my father’s birthday. Steve’s wrapped Christmas presents for his parents and each of his brothers and sisters arrived in the post a few days later, but by then the Christmas tree and the decorations had come down, and the Christmas lights had been switched off. It seems Christmas was cancelled that year.
The depths of a mother’s grief are unfathomable, I never fully understood or appreciated the ways my parents continued to suffer ever after, and at the time I never found ways to explain to friends and colleagues how I felt.
Brendan Culliton told me five years ago that when he heard of Stephen’s death it ‘was sad news then. It’s still sad news today.’
The Annals of Irish Mathematics and Mathematicians includes his name in the Gallery of Irish Mathematicians. He would have been 80 at his next birthday on 22 August 2026.
May his memory be a blessing ז״ל
A Christmas-time photograph of Steve visiting Santa as a child
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.
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.
The icon of the Dormition by Alexandra Kaouki in the old town of Rethymnon in Crete
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship lists today simply and plainly as ‘the Blessed Virgin Mary’, without specifying what aspect of her life or death is being commemorated.
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.
The icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos or the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Luke 1: 46-55 (NRSVA):
46 And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
The Virgin Mary depicted in the Dormition of the Theotokos, an icon in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Reflection:
It was my privilege in Crete some years ago to watch a new icon on this theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki, perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographer in Crete today, as she worked in her studio, then below the Venetian Fortezza in the old town of Rethymnon.
She was creating this new icon for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, or the Little Church of Our Lady (Mikri Panagia), on a small square in the old town. It was a careful, slow, step-by-step work in progress, based on El Greco’s celebrated icon. But, as her work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’
The best-known version of this icon is by El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), created in Crete probably before 1567. Alexandra and I discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using them as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.
How many of the Twelve should be depicted?
Should Saint Thomas be shown, or was he too late?
Why did she omit stories from later developments in the tradition, yet introduce women?
Alexandra completed her icon in time for the Feast of the Dormition in Rethymnon on 15 August that year.
The icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos or Virgin Mary usually bears the lettering Η Κοιμησις τησ Θεοτοκου, or ‘the falling asleep of the Theotokos’.
In the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, the Feast of the Dormition (Κοίμησις) or the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary is on 15 August. For Roman Catholics, it is the Feast of the Assumption.
In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb.
Since the end of the 19th century, however, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk, near ancient Ephesus and the coastal resort of Kuşadasi, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of her last earthly home. This tradition is based not on tradition or history, but on the writings of an 18th century German nun and visionary, Sister Catherine Emmerich, who never left her own country, and the interpretation of her visions by some late 19th century French Lazarist priests who were living in Smyrna (Izmir). The pilgrim industry was boosted by a papal visit in 1967.
The Feast of the Dormition is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. However, this belief has never been formally defined as dogma by the Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ when she died; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial and was taken up into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.
The death or Dormition of Mary is not recorded in the New Testament. Hippolytus of Thebes, writing in the seventh or eighth century, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that the Virgin Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus and died in the year 41 CE.
On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says she was ‘assumed’ into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in 1950, Pope Pius XII appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.
In the Orthodox tradition, Mary died as all people die, for she had a mortal human nature like all of us. The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary was subject to being saved from the trials, sufferings, and death of this world by Christ. Having died truly, she was raised by him and she already takes part in the eternal life that is promised to all who ‘hear the word of God and keep it’ (Luke 11: 27-28). But what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.
In the Orthodox tradition, it is said that after the Day of Pentecost, the Theotokos remained in Jerusalem with the infant Church, living in the house of Saint John the Evangelist. That tradition says she was in her 50s at the time of her death. As the early Christians stood around her deathbed, she commended her spirit to God, and tradition says Christ then descended from Heaven, taking up her soul in his arms. The apostles sang funeral hymns in her honour and carried her body to a tomb in Cedron near Gethsemane. When a man tried to interrupt their solemn procession, an angel came and cut off his hands, but he was healed later.
The story says that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the third day and wished to see the Virgin Mary for the last time. The stone was rolled back, and an empty tomb was discovered. Orthodox tradition says that the Theotokos was resurrected bodily and taken to heaven, and teaches that the same reward awaits all the righteous on the Last Day.
Icons of the Dormition date from the 10th century. In traditional icons of the Dormition, the Theotokos is shown on the funeral bier. Christ, who is standing behind her, has come to receive his mother’s soul into heaven. In his left arm, he holds her as an infant in white, symbolising the soul of the Theotokos reborn in her glory in heaven.
Greek icons of the Dormition follow a 1,000-year-old tradition that some say dates back to early texts.
Behind the bier, Christ stands robed in white and – as in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment – he appears surrounded by the aureole, or elongated halo, depicting the Light of his Divinity and signifying his heavenly glory.
Christ receives the soul of the Mother of God, but here the imagery reverses the traditional picture of mother and son, as he holds her soul, like a child, in his arms.
The Twelve Apostles are present; sometimes they are shown twice: grouped around the bier, and transported to the scene on clouds accompanied by angels. The Apostles are usually seen on either side of the bier – the group on the left led by Saint Peter, who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right led by Saint Paul, who stands at the foot of the bier.
Many icons include four early Christian writers, identified by their bishops’ robes decorated with crosses – James, Dionysios the Areopagite, Hierotheos and Timotheos of Ephesus. In the background, mourning women are a reminder of the women who wept when they met Christ carrying his cross to Calvary, or the women who arrived at his tomb early on Easter morning ready to anoint his dead body.
The cherubim in blue, the seraphim in red and the golden stars in these icons refer to the hierarchy of cosmic powers. Archangels are present in the foreground in the lower left and right corners. In the centre foreground, the Archangel Michael threatens the non-believing Jephonias who dared to touch her bier in an attempt to disrupt her funeral. The story is told that his hands were cut off but that later they were miraculously restored when he repented, was converted to Christianity, and was baptised.
In Greece, this celebration is called ‘Little Easter’ or ‘Summer Easter’, indicating the significance of the Dormition in Orthodox faith and in the church calendar. The day is marked with many festivals in villages and towns throughout the country, and this is the name day for many, including Maria, Mario, Panagiotis, Panagiota, Despina, Parthena, Miriam and Mariam. A common greeting today is Καλή Παναγία
In the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship, 15 August is marked simply as ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’, without any indication of any event in her life or any commemoration.
A reflection in the parish leaflet in Stony Stratford and Calverton last year described the Assumption as ‘a powerful reminder that like her we have all been promised a share in the Resurrection of the Lord.’ It added that our celebration ‘is a sign of hope for us as we face death which seems to be the end of everything that is good in our lives.’
Καλή Παναγία
A detail in the icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos or the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 15 August 2025, the Blessed Virgin Mary):
The theme this week (10 to 16 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Serving God in the Gulf’ (pp 26-27). This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections from Joyaline Rajamani, Administrator at the Church of the Epiphany, Doha, Anglican Church in Qatar.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (15 August 2025, the Blessed Virgin Mary) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:
Pray in light of Luke 1: 45 ‘Blessed is she who had faith that the Lord's promises would be fulfilled.’ All generations shall call her blessed.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and chose her to be the mother of your only Son:
grant that we who are redeemed by his blood
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
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 most high,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In my prayers this morning I am also remembering Father Louis Brennan, who died last Tuesday (12 August) at the age of 95, and whose funeral takes place alter this morning in the Franciscan Church, Merchants’ Quay, Dublin, followed by burial at Shanganagh Cemetery. He was my most outstanding and inspiring teacher when I was at school in Gormanston College, Co Meath, in the 1960s.
He became the Rector of Gormanston, and was later Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Province of Ireland, Definitor General of the Order, and Secretary General of the Order, and later he was the Provincial Definitor, then Vicar Provincial and Secretary of the Province. He moved to Collegio San Isidoro in Rome in 2005. Louis returned to Ireland in 2020, and later lived in Cork and in Dalkey.
He encouraged me to write, stimulated my interest in poetry and literature, and got me involved in drama, choirs and charity work. His parting advice to our year included to value respect over popularity, and to read Strumpet City. His Franciscan values were one of the greatest gifts he could give me, yet he let me know later in life how he was proud of my achievements as a journalist. I am sure the year of 1969 will be well represented at his Funeral Mass later this morning.
Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion in Rethymnon
Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue (Jésus dans la synagogue déroule le livre), James Tissot (1831-1902), Brooklyn Museum (see Matthew 13: 54)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church, and the week began with the Sixth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VI, 27 July 2025). We have reached the beginning of a new month today.
In many places, in the past, 1 August was known as Lammas, from an Old English word hlāfmæsse, meaning loaf-mass, or as Loaf Mass Day. The name originates from the word ‘loaf’ in reference to bread and ‘Mass’ in reference to the Eucharist. It is a festival to mark the blessing of the First Fruits of harvest, with a loaf of bread being brought to the church for this purpose. Lammastide falls at the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox.
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.
Jesus in the Synagogue, as imagined by the Northern Ireland-born artist Greg Olsen
Matthew 13: 54-58 (NRSVA):
54 He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ 57 And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house.’ 58 And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.
Stained glass windows in my old school chapel at Gormanston College, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
This morning’s reflection:
Where do you call home, and where do feel most at home?
I have been living for more than three years now in Stony Stratford, on the north-west fringes of Milton Keynes and by the River Ouse, which separates Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
But I was born on Rathfarnham Road in Dublin, spent parts of my childhood in West Waterford and in Dublin, went to school in Dublin and in Co Meath, began working as a journalist in Lichfield, lived in my early adult years in Wexford, I have lived in different houses in south Dublin from late 1974 until 2017, and I spent five years in parish ministry in west Limerick and north Kerry before moving here.
I have studied in Reading, Dublin, Maynooth, Tokyo, Cambridge and London.
If you were to ask me where I am from, I may look puzzled and sound incoherent as I try to reply. Yet, in my sleep and in my mind’s eye, I still wander easily through the many houses where I have lived and through the classrooms and lecture rooms of the many schools and colleges where I have studied.
I wonder how Jesus would have answered a question like that? He was born in Bethlehem, he spent his early days as a refugee in Egypt, Joseph and Mary seem to have grown up in the small town of Nazareth, they returned there after Jesus’ birth and their exile in Egypt, and he spent his childhood there.
Eventually, though, Jesus moved to the more populated town of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (see Matthew 9: 1; John 2: 12). He would go on to spend the last period of his ministry in Jerusalem, and was executed outside the city walls.
In this morning’s reading, Jesus returns to visit his ‘home town’, which may have been Nazareth or Capernaum.
In Saint Luke’s Gospel, when he returns to Nazareth, the people try to kill him (see Luke 4: 16-29). This morning’s reading appears to describe a separate occasions.
Both Nazareth and Capernaum, like most towns in that region at that time, had a synagogue. It was common for visiting rabbis to be invited to speak in the synagogue when in town. Jesus did so in Nazareth and Capernaum, and did some miracles there, perhaps of healing, though not do many (Matthew 13: 58).
The reaction to Jesus’ teaching and his miracles was one of astonishment and rejection, and his own people asked where he got this wisdom and the ability to do these mighty works.
If, as an adult, you live far away from home, what do you do when you return home? Do you return home for Christmas, or family events such as weddings and funerals?
Do you visit family members … ageing parents, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins? Have they changed much since you left? Do they think you have changed much?
Do you walk past the old family home? Do you wonder how the families who now live there have changed the rooms inside? Do you want to see inside your own former bedroom, or regret the front garden has been changed to make way for car parking spaces?
Do you visit your old school? Do you contact old school friends or old teachers? Have they changed much since you left? Do they accept who you have become?
Do you visit the church you knew as a child or teenager, or your old school chapel? Has it changed much – not just in the clergy who are there, but in its layout and design, in its style of worship and the ways in which it emphasises its teachings?
My school year from Gormanston in 1969 meet up every now and then, and met again for lunch in Dublin last September. We shared memories of members of our year who have died since we left, including Tom Lappin and John McCarthy who died last year. It was not only yet another opportunity to meet each other but also to find out how we had been getting on over the previous 55 years, and to affirm one another and renew friendships.
But so often, sadly, we want to tie people to the memories we have of them in the past, memories that may have been distorted over the years, and that can no longer be placed back in their original contexts.
And too often, we know from our life experiences, that assumptions and prejudices can blind us to truth. When we think we know something, or someone, we tend to favour those expectations over new information.
Many, many people in the world think they already know all about Jesus. Many, however – including those who claim to be closest to often – often know very little about him, continue in their assumptions and prejudices, and are offended when they are presented with the truth (Matthew 13: 57).
My old school at Gormanston College, Co Meath … has your old school changed since you left? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Friday 1 August 2025):
The theme this week (27 to 2 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Reunited at Last’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a programme update from Raja Moses, Programme Coordinator, Diocese of Durgapur, Church of North India.
The USPG prayer diary today (Friday 1 August 2025) invites us to pray:
Lord, just like the landlord and AHT team, please bless those who step forward to help. Grant courage to act against injustice.
The Collect:
Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
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.
Post Communion Prayer:
God of our pilgrimage,
you have led us to the living water:
refresh and sustain us
as we go forward on our journey,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Creator God,
you made us all in your image:
may we discern you in all that we see,
and serve you in all that we do;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
At No 18 High Street, Wexford, I had the whole top floor of the house – all two rooms – to myself … in my sleep, I still wander easily through the many houses I have lived in (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The sun sets on 2024 … sunset at the harbour in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Patrick Comerford
As the sun sets on 2024, and as I look forward to the New Year and the promises of 2025, I find it helpful this evening to look back on the past year, with all its blessings, and at both the new and the missed opportunities.
The year began on a very low note, with two of us feeling sorry for ourselves and isolated with another round of Covid-19, with no opportunity and no inclination to ring in the New Year. Of course, we recovered, and it is good to reflect on what an interesting year this has been.
As well as visiting places throughout Ireland, north and south, and England, my travels this year brought me to France, Greece, the Netherlands, Singapore and Kuching in East Malaysia.
Presenting a church bell to Father Jeffry Renos Nawie, Saint Matthias Chapel and the people of Sinar Baru
We spent almost five weeks in Kuching (15 October to 18 November), staying for the first week in the Marian, a boutique hotel that had once been the diocesan guesthouse, and before that a school boarding house for a girls’ school and the home of the Ong family.
For the rest of our visit, we stayed for four weeks in Charlotte’s flat in Chinatown, in the heart of the old town of Kuching.
In the past, I have had many working visits to Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong in East Asia, but this was my first time to visit south-east Asia.
We crossed the river on sampans at night, took a river cruise at sunset, ate out with family members and friends, went swimming in the pool at the Marian, and learned about the work in Kuching of the Irish architect Denis Santry from Cork. We also visited many cathedrals, churches, mosques, a Sikh temple and Chinese or Taoist and Buddhist temples, a theological college and graveyards. I even went in search of the Jewish community of Kuching that never existed.
Father Jeffry Renos Nawie of Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, brought us on whistle-stop tours of up to 20 churches in the Diocese of Kuching, including the seven churches and chapels in his own mission district.
In a thank-offering to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, Charlotte and I presented a new church bell to Father Jeffry, Saint Matthias Chapel and the people of Sinar Baru.
There were two stopovers in Singapore in October and November. Because of flight cancellations and rerouting, we missed the first opportunity to stay over in Singapore. But on the return journey we stayed in the Chinatown district of Singapore, visited many of the major sites, and, of course, sought out the street art, took a boat trip on the river and sipped a Singapore Sling in Raffles Hotel.
Once again, I went in search of churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques and Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese temples. It was particularly interesting to see the influence of five key Irish figures on the layout, streets and architecture of Singapore: Sir Orfeur Cavenagh from Wexford, George Drumgoole Coleman from Drogheda, and Denis Santry and Denis Lane McSwiney, both from Cork, and William Cuppage from Dublin.
Early morning on Rue Saint Séverin, in the Latin Quarter of Paris, off the Boulevard Saint-Michel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
My optimum definition of visiting somewhere is staying overnight. Using that yardstick, I have slept in 15 different beds in the past 12 months – not counting the sleeps I tried to catch on two overnight flights between Paris and Singapore, but including an unexpected stay in an hotel at Schiphol Airport in October when our flight from Birmingham to Amsterdam was delayed, and we were rerouted through Paris.
My minimum definition of visiting somewhere is if my feet are on the ground and I stop over long enough to have coffee and something to eat. This means we were in Paris three times this year: a delayed honeymoon in Paris in February, and two very brief stop-overs at Charles de Gaulle Airport in October and November on the way to and from Singapore and Kuching.
Our visit to Paris earlier in the year was what in reality was a delayed honeymoon, just two months after our wedding at the end of last year.
It was my first time to travel on the Eurostar, and we stayed in the Hotel Europe-Saint-Séverin on Rue St Séverin. We were in the heart of the Latin Quarter, a few steps away from the Boulevard Saint-Michel and across the river from Notre Dame Cathedral, where the restoration work was still under way but near completion.
The olive groves on the hillsides between Piskopianó and Koutouloufári above Hersonissos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
I returned to Greece in April, spending almost a week between Western Easter and Orthodox Easter in Rethymnon, where I stayed in the Brascos Hotel, overlooking the Municipal Gardens and close to the old town and the Venetian harbour. Since the mid-1980s, Rethymnon has been the nearest I have to any home town in Greece.
There was time for coffee, drinks, and even a long lingering lunch or two with old friends in Rethymnon, Platanias, Koutouloufari, Piskopiano, Iraklion and Panormos.
I had walks on the beaches and harbours in Rethymnon, Platanias, Hersonissos and Panrmos, it was exhilarating to stroll again in the hills and by the olive groves in Koutouloufari and Piskopiano. And I visited some favourite old churches and monasteries, browsed in the bookshops in the narrow streets of the old town, and watched the sunset behind the harbour and the Fortezza.
Looking across Dublin Bay from Blackrock to Howth Head during a summer visit to Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
There were six visits to Ireland this year, including five return visits to Dublin. They included three family visits in June, August and shortly before Christmas this month. I stayed over on those three visits, in the Harcourt Hotel on Harcourt Street (June), the Martello Hotel in Bray, Co Wicklow (August), and the Travelodge in Rathmines (December).
During the visit in August, we had opportunities too to see the Iveagh Gardens in detail and to visit Newman House and the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) on Saint Stephen’s Green.
We were in Belfast for two nights in September, when we were invited to a family celebration near Templepatrick, Co Antrim.
A school reunion in September involved lunch in Peploe’s restaurant on Saint Stephen’s when about 30 or more of us who left school at Gormanston, Co Meath, after the Leaving Certificate exams in 1969. It was surprising to see so many of us still looking hale and hearty in our early-to-mid 70s. But that lunch in September and a business meeting in October were flying visits, literally, flying into Dublin in the morning, and back to Birmingham late in the evening.
My family visit to Dublin shortly before Christmas was also an opportunity to hear about the current campaign to protect Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, from plans by Saint Mary’s College to develop its rugby and cricket facilities in the square.
Walking by the river and through Christchurch Meadows in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
I have been living in Stony Stratford, on the northern edges of Milton Keynes, for almost three years, and it offers me many opportunities to explore neighbouring cities, towns and countryside, to return to parts of England I have known for most of my life, and to see some new parts of England that I am only beginning to explore on my ‘escapades’.
I was in Norwich for the first time this year, when we stayed there in March while visiting an old friend. This was also an opportunity to visit Norwich Cathedral, the house and church associated with Julian of Norwich, and some of the places associated with Quaker history.
I was in Oxford for hospital tests towards the end of the year, but there were visits to Oxford throughout the year, to meet an old friend from India who is an Orthodox priest and theologian, to visit the exhibition ‘Kafka, Making of an Icon’ in the Weston Library, for the Corpus Christi procession from the Chapel of Pusey House to Saint Barnabas, Jericho, to see Holman Hunt’s ‘Light of the World’ in the Chapel of Keble College and visit other churches and chapels, to follow parts of the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ trail, for long lingering pub lunches in the King’s Arms with friends, and time to browse in bookshops, especially Blackwells.
I was back in Cambridge three times this year – twice on the way to and from the USPG conference in High Leigh, and again in November for the seminar and celebrations in Westminster College marking the 25th anniversary of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies. During those visits I also had the opportunity drop in again to Sidney Sussex College.
There have been days in London amd short ‘escapades’ to Aston, Beachampton, Bedford, Blisworth, Eaton Socon and Eaton Ford, Hampstead, Handsworth, Hoddesdon, Lamport, Leicester, Loughton, Northampton, Roade, St Neots, and Woughton-on-the-Green, there were forays in search of the traditional coffee houses that give their names to streets in Coffee Hall in Milton Keynes, and there was another visit to the museum at Bletchley Park.
Each time I see Comberford and Comberford Hall between Tamworth and Lichfield I recall old family stories (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
I was in Lichfield and Tamworth throughout the year. In Lichfield, I attended the mid-day Eucharist and Choral Evensong in the cathedral, had lunch in the Hedgehog and went for long walks along Cross in Hand Lane, through Beacon Park and by Minster Pool and Stowe Pool.
In Tamworth, there were return visits to the Comberford Chapel in Saint Editha’s Collegiate Church and the Moat House, the former Comberford family home on Lichfield Street, and I was invited by the Tamworth and District Civic Society to deliver a lecture in April on the Wyatt architectural dynasty.
Each time I pass Comberford and Comberford Hall on the train between Tamworth and Lichfield, I continue to be filled with warm feelings and to recall past family stories.
However, one visit to Lichfield and Tamworth almost became a catastrophe when I lost my phone on the train. I never recovered it, and trying to recover contacts and update passwords and accounts remains a Sisyphean task even months later.
My researches on Comberford and Comerford links continued throughout the year. I was in Aston, near Birmingham, not only to visit the home of Aston Villa at Villa Park, but also to visit Aston Hall and to visit Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church to see an unusual Comberford family monument.
There were Comberford connections to explore closer to home too, at Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire and the neighbouring village of Shutlanger, where the house now known as the Monastery in Shutlanger was the main house on the Parles and Comberford estate in that part of Northamptonshire in the 15th and 16th centuries.
‘The Mother and Child’ sculpture by Glynn Williams in a courtyard in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
The year began wrapped up in bed with two of us feeling very sorry for ourselved during yet another attack of Covid-19. But my major health concerns this year included monitoring my continuing recovery from a stroke almost three years ago, and monitoring the symptoms of my pulmonary sarcoidosis and a severe deficiency of Vitamin B-12.
I returned to Milton Keynes University Hospital on 18 March to remember the second anniversary of my stroke in March 2022. There were seven other visits to the hospital in Milton Keynes, in March, June, twice in July, August, October and November, for respiratory and cardiac tests and CT scans, and further tests in the Whitehouse Health Centre near Milton Keynes in October and the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, earlier this month.
I have yet another respiratory or lung test in Milton Keynes Hospital later this week.
I moved from High Street, Wexford, 50 years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
This has been a year of milestone anniversaries in my life story, some of which have been a delight and pleasure, but some of which I have not responded to with the grace and generosity that I ought to expect even of myself:
It is 55 years since I finished school at Gormanston College (1969).
It is 50 years since I left Wexford and the Wexford People and moved to Dublin and The Irish Times in 1974 and got married the first time in Dublin.
It has been 45 years since I was student in Japan, based in Tokyo for a full term in 1979 on a fellowship from Journalistes en Europe and Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, and with the support of Douglas Gageby, editor of The Irish Times.
It has been 45 since years since I became involved in re-founding the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and as chair of Irish CND.
It has been 40 years since Mercier Press published my first book, Do You Want to Do for NATO? (1984).
It has been 40 years aince completing a Post-Graduate Diploma in Ecumenical Theology at the Irish School of Ecumenics and Trinity College Dublin in 1984, and beginning the BD course at the Kimmage Manor and the Pontifical University Maynooth.
It is 35 years since my elder son was born in 1989.
It has been 30 years since I was appointed Foreign Desk Editor of The Irish Times in 1994, and 30 years since I was commissioned in Christ Church Cathedral as a diocesan reader in the Church of Ireland.
It has been 25 years since I began training for ordination at the Church of Ireland Theological College (now CITI) in 1999.
The former Bea House on Pembroke Park … memories of student days at the Irish School of Ecumenics 40 years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
I am still waiting for Permission to Officiate (PTO) in the Diocese of Oxford. It is a difficult and at times heart-breaking process, and more difficult in the major Church seasons such as Easter and Christmas, and as I look forward to the 25th anniversary of my ordination as deacon in 2000.
But the local clergy in the Milton Keynes deanery have gone out of their way to welcome me to chapter meetings in the past year in local churches and parishes, including Bletchley, Shenley, Shenley Church End, Wavenden and Wolverton.
I continue to sing with the bass line in the parish choir in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford. We rehearse each Wednesday, sing at the Parish Eucharist most Sundays, and we have also sung in All Saints’ Church, Calverton.
I attended the Cathedral Eucharist in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral each Sunday while we were staying in Kuching. During those five weeks, I visited the two cathedrals in Kuching and countless churches throughout the Diocese of Kuching.
There have been visits to Christ Church, Oxford, Lichfield Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, St Alban’s Cathedral, Leicester Cathedral, the two cathedrals in Norwich, the cathedrals in Rethymnon and Iraklion in Crete, the two cathedrals in Dublin, Christ Church and Saint Patrick’s, the two cathedrals in Kuching, Saint Thomas’s and Saint Joseph’s, and the two cathedrals in Singapore, Saint Andrew’s and the Good Shepherd.
Although I am no longer a trustee of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), I continue to be involved in its work, and deaw on the USPG prayer diary in my own online prayer diary each morning. I took part in the annual conference of USPG in High Leigh, near Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, in July, when I was invited to lead the intercessions at the Eucharist on the closing day, and attended the annual founders’ day celebrations for USPG and SPCK in Saint Alban’s Church, Holborn, earlier in the year.
I watched the new iconostasis being put in place in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford, where I have been warmly welcomed at the Good Friday and Easter liturgies and other celebrations, as well as numerous coffee mornings.
As well as churches, cathedrals and synagogues, there have been visits to mosques in England, Kuching and Singapore, and to Buddhist, Chinese or Taoist, Hindu, Jain and Sikh temples.
I took part in the Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration at the MK Rose in Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, and the Hiroshima Day commemorations at the Japanese Peace Pagoda by Willen Lake, and attended the Kol Nidre Service at Yom Kippur and the Chanukah party last weekend in our local synagogue.
Sunday afternoon by the beach at Bako in Sarawak looking out at the South China Sea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
During the summer months, Charlotte organised a street party, so we all got to know each other better as neighbours in Church Mews and White Horse Lane.
Living off the High Street in Stony Stratford for almost three years now, I miss being close to the sea, and opportunities to walk on a beach or by the sea. But during one visit to Dublin there were opportunities for walks by the shore in both Blackrock and Bray; there were walks on the beaches in Rethymnon, Platanias and Panormos and by the harbours in Rethymnon and Iraklion in Crete; and walks on the beaches in Sarawak in Bako National Park and by the South China Sea at Damai Beach Resort.
There were walks by the Ouse in Stony Stratford, Bedford and St Neots, the Cam in Cambridge, the Cherwell and the Isis or Thames and the boat clubs in Oxford, the Thames in London, the Liffey in Dublin, the Seine in Paris and by the rivers in Kuching and Singapore; there were strolls by Willen Lake in Milton Keynes and the Balancing Lakes near Wolverton; I had canal-side walks in Great Linford, Stoke Bruerne and Wolverton; there were boat trips on the canal in Stoke Bruerne, on the rivers in Kuching and Singapore and in Bako National Park in Sarawak; and there was time to enjoy the regatta and Dragon Boat races in Kuching.
Although I walk 3-5 km a day, I remain a couch potato when it comes to sports. But I was an enthusiastic television fan of the Irish rugby team, of the Irish and English rowers in the Olympics and the Cambridge crew in the boat race, enjoyed the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies at the Paris Olympics, enjoyed the Euros 2024, and kept up-to-date with results for Aston Villa, the Leinster rugby team and the Wexford hurlers.
A walk by the canal near Great Linford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
I continue to contribute to books, write papers and reviews for journals and magazines, and some of my photographs have been published too in books, magazines – and even in one calendar for next year.
My publications in 2024 included the Προλογος (‘Foreword’) in Ελληνικα Δημοτικα Τραγουδια, Greek Folk Songs by Panos Karagiorgos, (Thessaloniki, Εκδοτικος Οικος Κ & Μ Σταμουλη); a paper on ‘The Lamport Crucifix’ and photographs in 50 Years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, edited by Catriona Finlayson (Lamport, 2024); a short description of ‘Bourke’s House’ in Denis O’Shaughnessy’s The Story of Athlunkard Street, 1824-2024 (Limerick, 2024), which has run to three printings and has sold out each time; the ‘Foreword’ and a photograph in Rod Smith’s Clancarty – the high times and humble of a noble Irish family (Tauranga, New Zealand: Eyeglass Press); and a small, six-page pamphlet with Sarah Friedman, Milton Keynes & District Reform Synagogue: an introduction, with six of my photographs.
I wrote a paper on Saint Patrick for Conversations, a new journal edited by Bernard Treacy and published by Dominican Publications in Dublin; and wrote a book review for The Journal of Malankara Orthodox Theological Studies, published by the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kerala, India.
There were features and photographs about Bishop Richard Rawle, a 19th century Vicar of Tamworth and SPG-supported Bishop in Trinidad, and about the stained glass artist William Wailes in Tamworth Heritage Magazine; a photograph of Bryce House illustrating February 2025, in ‘Garnish Island Calendar 2025’ produced for a school, Glengarriff, Co Cork; and a photograph in The Liberty, a local newspaper in Dublin. I also continue to write occasionally for The Irish Times.
We visited Lamport Hall in rural Northamptonshire for the launch of Catriona Finlayson’s lavishly illustrated 50 Years of the Lamport Hall Preservation Trust, and met many of the other contributors to the publication.
I was supposed to launch Rod Smith’s book, Clancarty – the high times and humble of a noble Irish family, on the history of the Trench family in London in October. But, in my haste to get to London on time, I boarded the wrong train at Milton Keynes, and ended up instead in Crewe. A return train was never going to get me back to London on time. My embarrassment was redeemed in part, I hope, by recording what I had planned to say first on the train and later when I got back to Stony Stratford, and posting both recordings on YouTube.
I felt so sorry for Rod Smith, who had travelled all the way from New Zealand for the book launch, and we had met in Hampstead a few days earlier to plan what I was going to say. I could only hope the other book launch in Ballinasloe was less of a disaster.
I continue to blog about twice a day, with a prayer diary each morning and a second posting later in the day.
Thoughts shared for the launch of Rod Smith’s book ‘Clancarty – the high times and humble of a noble Irish family’ in London (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
I continue to serve as a trustee of the Retreat, a local almshouse off the High Street in Stony Stratford, and took part in a training day for almshouse trustees in Birmingham.
Throughout the year I have been involved in the Town Centre Working Group, a committee of Stony Stratford Town Council and successfully completing a commission for a public sculpture for Stony Stratford. In the course of that project, I have visited and photographed public sculptures already in situ in Stony Stratford, Wolverton, the campus of the Open University in Milton Keynes and in the grounds of Tamworth Castle.
It was a duty and a privilege to vote in this year’s local and general elections in May and July. I canvassed on the day of the general election and while I am pleased with the election results, including the results in Milton Keynes and Lichfield, I am concerned about the rise of Farage and Reform as part of the rise of the far-right across Europe and North America.
I was in Dublin to vote in the European elections, but this year’s general election in Ireland is probably the first I have not been able to vote in. From a distance, I was sorry to see my old friend Brendan Howlin retire from politics, I was delighted to see George Lawlor, former Mayor of Wexford, elected to the Dail, and I could breathe a sigh of relief that the expected upsurge in support for Sinn Fein was never realised.
A morning with the orangutans in Semenggoh Wildlife Centre (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
On the overnight flight from Paris to Singapore in October, I found it difficult to sleep and kept my eye on the flight path. It was interesting how many conflict zones had to be avoided: Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Israel, the West Bank, Yemen, many parts of the Gulf, Afghanistan … It made the map more interesting, but may have added up to an extra hour to the flight time, and made me more acutely aware of how fragile the world is.
Of course, I am deeply concerned about the continuing aggressive war Russia is waging in Ukraine and the conflicts being fought on so many fronts in the Middle East – in Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Of course, I am deeply concerned about the plight of refugees the world seems to have forgotten trying to cross the Mediterranean and the Channel and living in hellish conditions in northern France, on Greek islands, and in so many places across the world.
Of course, I am worried about the real threat Nigel Farage and his party could still pose to democracy in Britain, and about the rise of the far throughout Europe.
Of course, I am worried about the rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and misogyny, remembering that January 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, and that the coming year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
And, of course, I am worried about the damage that is going to be wreaked not only in the US but across the globe during another four years of a Trump presidency, with Elon Musk pulling the strings as the puppet master, and what this could mean for the world economy, for democracy, for human rights, the climate change, for fundamental justice, decency and honesty in the public sphere.
There is no Planet B, as one campaign slogan reminds us. There is Nowehere else to go.
During our visit to Norwich earlier this year, we had dinner one evening in the small town of Acle on the Norfolk Broads. But it was too late in the evening to think of going to Great Yarmouth 8 or 9 miles to the east for a walk by the sea.
There is a marshy area by the River Bure about three miles from Acle that was once known as Nowhere or No-Where. The villagers of Acle had salt-pans there to produce salt and in 1861 there were four inhabited houses in Nowehere and 16 residents. Originally, Nowhere was an extra-parochial liberty, until it was formally incorporated into Acle parish in 1862.
The name Nowhere no longer appears in maps and gazetteers, so I cannot say that this year I actually visited Nowehere. But then, there’s nowhere in Nowhere to have a coffee, and certainly nowhere there to stay overnight.
Happy New Year
Taking leave of 2024 and looking forward to 2025 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue (Jésus dans la synagogue déroule le livre), James Tissot (1831-1902), Brooklyn Museum (see Matthew 13: 54)
Jesus in the Synagogue, as imagined by the Northern Ireland-born artist Greg Olsen
