Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025: 39, Saturday 1 February 2025

‘Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him’ (Mark 4: 36) … boats at the jetty in Bako National Park, north of Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

These are the last days in the 40-day season of Christmas, which concludes tomorrow with Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (Sunday 2 February 2025). We have reached the end of a week and the beginning of a new month. The Church calendar today celebrates Saint Brigid of Kildare (ca 525), one of the three patrons of Ireland.

Later this morning I am hoping to be at Το Στεκι Μασ (Our Place), the Greek café that takes place every first Saturday of the month at the Swinfen Harris Church Hall beside the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford. In the afternoon, I hope to find somewhere appropriate to watch the two matches in the Six Nations competition, between Scotland and Italy, and then, more importantly, between Ireland and England. 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.

‘Let us go across to the other side’ (Mark 4: 35) … waiting gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 35-41 (NRSVA):

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Punts on the Backs at Magdalene Bridge in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

Chapter 4 in Saint Mark’s Gospel is the ‘parables chapter,’ recalling parables that make this chapter the central teaching section of this Gospel. Christ is in a boat beside the sea teaching a very large crowd who are listening on the shore (see Mark 4: 1-2). Now in this morning’s reading (Mark 4: 35-41), Christ and the disciples are leaving the crowd and crossing to the other side of the lake or sea. But a storm blows up, and the disciples show how weak they truly are, with all their doubts and fears.

As we work our ways through the storms of life, we have many questions to ask about the purpose or meaning of life. Often, we can feel guilty about putting those questions to God. Yet, should we not be able to put our deepest questions and greatest fears before God?

In this Gospel reading, the frightened disciples challenge Christ and ask him whether he cares that they are perishing (verse 38). But he offers them words of peace before doing anything to remedy the plight in which they have been caught, and goes on to ask them his own challenging questions: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verses 40)? They, in turn, end up asking their own challenging question about who Christ is for them.

I enjoy being on boats, whether it is on punts in Cambridge or Oxford, island hopping in Greece, or cruising on rivers from the Shannon to the Seine or Sarawak. But I also recognise the fears of this disciples in this reading, having found myself in unexpected storms on lakes on the Shannon and on the waters of the Mediterranean. In retrospect, they were minor storms each time, but those memories give me some insights into the plight of refugees crossing choppy waters every day in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean.

The plight of the disciples in this reading seems like the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at different stages: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

Christ is asleep in the boat when a great gale rises, the waves beat the side of the boat, and it is soon swamped by the waters.

Christ seems oblivious to the calamity that is unfolding around him and to the fear of the disciples. They have to wake him, and by then they fear they are perishing.

Christ wakes, rebukes the wind, calm descends on the sea, and Christ challenges those on the boat: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verse 40).

Instead of being calmed, they are now filled with awe. Do they recognise Christ for who he truly is? They ask one another: ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ (verse 31).

Even before the Resurrection, Christ tells the disciples not to be afraid, which becomes a constant theme after the Resurrection.

Do those in the boat begin to ask truly who Christ is because he has calmed the storm, or because he has calmed their fears?

Through the storms of life, through the nightmares, fears and memories, despite the failures of the Church, past and present, we must not let those experiences to ruin our trusting relationship with God.

Despite all the storms of life, throughout all our fears and nightmares, we can trust in God as Father and trust in the soothing words of Christ, ‘Peace! Be still! Be not afraid.’

The calming of the storm depicted in a window in the Chapel in Westminster College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 1 February 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘A Reflection on 2 Timothy’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by the Revd Canon Dr Nicky Chater, Chair of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Friendly Churches and Chaplain for these communities in the Diocese of Durham.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 1 February 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, in these times, when we fear we are losing hope or feel our efforts are futile, let us see in our hearts and minds the image of your resurrection, and let that be our source of courage and strength. With that, and in your company, help us to face challenges and struggles against all that is born of injustice.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
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:

Almighty Father,
whose Son our Saviour Jesus Christ is the light of the world:
may your people,
illumined by your word and sacraments,
shine with the radiance of his glory,
that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed
to the ends of the earth;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of The Presentation:

Almighty and ever-living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him’ (Mark 4: 36) … tourists on the Cherwell at Christ Church Meadow in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)


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

Daily prayers during Christmas and Epiphany: 39, 1 February 2024

Preparing for a banquet in the Boot and Flogger restaurant in Southwark (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

The celebrations of Epiphany-tide continue today, and the week began with the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany IV, 28 January 2024).

The calendars of the Church of Ireland and of the Church of England in Common Worship today remember Saint Brigid, Abbess of Kildare (ca 525). Major celebrations are being planned in Kildare today to mark the 1,500th anniversary of her death. Saint Brigid’s Cathedral is hosting an ecumenical service at 11 am, a Pause for World Peace takes place at 12 noon and a new mural of Saint Brigid is being launched in Market Square at 12:30. At 2 pm, 4,000 schoolchildren gather across the Curragh plains (Saint Brigid's pastures) to form a massive human Saint Brigid’s cross. Altan and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra are performing a concert in Kildare Cathedral at 8:30.

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

Christmas is a season that lasts for 40 days that continues from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation tomorrow (2 February). The Gospel reading on the Sunday before last (21 January, John 2: 1-11) told of the Wedding at Cana, one of the traditional Epiphany stories.

In keeping with the theme of that Gospel reading, I have been continuing with last week’s thoughts in my reflections each morning until the Feast of the Presentation tomorrow:

1, A reflection on one of seven meals Jesus has with family, friends or disciples;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Are all our celebrations of the Eucharist, all our meals, a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

12, The Heavenly Banquet (Luke 14: 15-24):

My final meal with Jesus in this series of reflection on ‘Meals with Jesus’ is the climax to all the meals with Jesus.

But before this 40-day Season of Christmas season comes to an end with the Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas tomorrow (2 February), I want us to step back for a few moments, and to think again about Christmas.

Christmas is a much messier and more humbling story than we allow it to be with all our tinsel and decorations and carolling.

When the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph are refused hospitality in Bethlehem – the name of the town means the ‘House of Bread’ – they are not only refused a bed for the night, but they are also left without anywhere to eat.

One of their earliest experiences as a family for Mary and Joseph is the refusal or denial of hospitality … being denied both bed and board.

To refuse someone a place at your table is, of course, to deny them a place in your family. Yet, it is family duty – being of the House of David – that brings Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem in the first place.

I wonder what all those family meals were like for the growing Jesus. Did Joseph tell him to eat up his vegetables? Did Mary tell him he couldn’t go out to play until he had finished eating?

As a pious religious Jewish family, they would have placed a high priority on the Friday evening meal, the Sabbath eve meal that has its own beautiful domestic liturgy in the home at the blessing of the wine and of the bread.

And then there was the usual, year-by-year round of religious meals, especially the Passover, when the saving events of the past were made real in the present, and there was hope for the future. As the child in the family, Jesus would have asked why this night was different to all other nights. What made it special?

And, of course, there would have been the usual meals associated with the cycle and rhythm of life, for bar mitzvahs, for weddings, and the meals brought to family members, friends and neighbours as they mourned loved ones at shiva.

Just as he is calling his disciples, Jesus joins his family and friends for one of these types of meals, as we know from the story of the wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2: 1-12), the first of the signs in the Fourth Gospel.

At a wedding, new families are formed: there are new fathers-in-law, new mothers-in-law, new brothers and sisters-in-law. Eventually they become new grandparents, new uncles and aunts, when there are new grandchildren, new nieces and nephews.

And when the wedding is over in Cana, Jesus and his mother, and his brothers and his disciples return to Capernaum, where they spend a few days. No doubt, there is some bonding to be done, for there are new relationships, new ties of kinship.

But there are also hints at the wedding in Cana of the promise of the Resurrection and of the Heavenly Banquet. Have you noticed how the wedding takes place on the third day (John 2: 1), and just before the Passover (John 2: 13)?

It was a common in Jewish thinking and imagery at the time to speak of wedding banquets as a foretaste of God’s heavenly promises. The Mishnah says: ‘This world is like a lobby before the World-To-Come. Prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall.’

But then, so often throughout the Gospels, we find that great meals and wedding banquets provide a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet.

We are invited; but are we ready, are we prepared, to be wedding guests? (see Matthew 22: 1-14; Luke 14: 15-24). Think of the Ten Bridesmaids, and how the foolish ones are not ready when the bridegroom arrives (Matthew 25: 1-13).

On the other hand, plush dining can also tell us a lot about what the Kingdom of God is not like. Consider the story of the rich man, who dined sumptuously and alone, and left the starving, sick and dying Lazarus to go hungry at his gate (Luke 16: 19-31). This is not what the Kingdom of God is like, as Dives finds out. But he finds out when it is too late for his own good.

The great Biblical meals celebrate not only what was, as with the Passover, but what is, in the present, and what is to come, as with the wedding banquets – new promises, new covenants, new families, new expectations, new hopes.

At the Resurrection, Christ breaks down all the barriers of time and space. And so every Eucharist we celebrate today, in the present, reaches back in time into the past and makes real today the promises and hopes for liberation from slavery and sin. And the Eucharist of today also reaches out into the future and is a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet, which is the completion of the promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth, the final glory of God’s creation (see Revelation 2: 17; 19: 9-10; 22: 17).

So often, we think first in terms of the Church and then in terms of the Sacraments. We think in terms of my church and its rules about who can be baptised and who can be invited to share in the Eucharist.

But we must ask again: Does the Church make the Sacraments? Or, do the Sacraments make the Church?

The Church does not own the Sacraments. They are Christ’s invitation to us. There can only be one Baptism, for we are baptised into the Body of Christ, and there is only one Body of Christ.

And there can be only one Eucharist, for we being many are one body, and we all share in the one bread. In sharing in the Eucharist we are most visibly the Body of Christ … and Christ has only one body.

And the Eucharist is a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet. And when we find ourselves invited to it, we will find that there is only one Heavenly Banquet. I hope we will not be surprised like Simon to find who Jesus keeps company with at the table.

The Meals with Jesus we have shared in these reflections can never be separated from our hopes for the Heavenly Banquet and for the coming of God’s Kingdom.

The Prophet Isaiah challenges us about which fasts we choose and tells us (Isaiah 58: 6-9):

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Empty tables waiting for a banquet (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 7-13 (NRSVA):

7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

An end-of-term dinner with the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 1 February 2024, Saint Brigid):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is: ‘Welcoming the Stranger – A Candlemas Reflection.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Annie Bolger of the Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Brussels.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (1 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Father God, we pray for all of the chaplaincies throughout the Diocese in Europe and for all the work and programmes that they do to support displaced people.

The Collect (Church of Ireland):

Father,
by the leadership of your blessed servant Brigid
you strengthened the Church in this land:
As we give you thanks for her life of devoted service,
inspire us with new life and light,
and give us perseverance to serve you all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post Communion Prayer (Church of Ireland):

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 in fellowship with all your saints
we may come to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection: the meal that never was: the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4: 5-42)

Continued tomorrow (Candelmas)

Waiting for dinner at sunset on the beach Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare … today marks the 1,500th aniversary of the death of Saint Brigid of Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying with the Psalms in Easter: 8 May 2022 (Psalm 74)

‘Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?’ (Psalm 74: 1) … sheep grazing on the Curragh of Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am back in Stony Stratford after visiting London yesterday for a church service and a dinner. Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Before this day begins, I am continuing my morning reflections in this season of Easter continues, including my morning reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 74:

Psalm 74 is the second psalm in Book 3 in the Book of Psalms, which includes Psalms 73 to 89. In the slightly different numbering scheme in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this is psalm is numbered as Psalm 73.

This is the third of the ‘Psalms of Asaph.’ These are the 12 psalms numbered 50 and 73 to 83 in the Masoretic text and 49 and 72-82 in the Septuagint. Each psalm has a separate meaning, and these psalms cannot be summarised easily as a whole.

But throughout these 12 psalms is the shared theme of the judgment of God and how the people must follow God’s law.

The attribution of a psalm to Asaph could mean that it was part of a collection from the Asaphites, identified as Temple singers, or that the psalm was performed in a style associated with Asaph, who was said to be the author or transcriber of these psalms.

Asaph who is identified with these psalms was a Levite, the son of Berechiah and descendant of Gershon, and he was the ancestor of the Asaphites, one the guilds of musicians in the first Temple in Jerusalem.

Asaph served both David and Solomon, and performed at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple (see II Chronicles 5: 12). His complaint against corruption among the rich and influential, recorded in Psalm 73, might have been directed against some of court officials. The words used to describe the wicked come from words used by officials of the cult or sacrificial system.

Several of the Psalms of Asaph are categorised as communal laments because they are concerned for the well-being of the whole community. Many of these psalms forecast destruction or devastation in the future, but are balanced with God’s mercy and saving power for the people.

Psalm 74 is a Maskil of Asaph or contemplation, and a community lament, voicing the pleas of the people in their exile and captivity in Babylon.

The theme of Psalm 74 revolves around the opening verse, which asks: ‘O God, why do you cast us off forever?’ The psalm, which forecasts destruction, comes across as a cry out to God, asking when salvation will come and when God will save the people from the depths of their despair.

Amid the cries of despair, a voice of praise to God comes through.

Psalm 74 had echoes for the community of the people during their captivity in Babylon. The enemy had damaged everything in the sanctuary and destroyed all the places of worship.

Asaph, one of the three temple singers assigned by King David to the Temple, wonders why God’s anger has allowed this invasion or this destruction to happen.

This psalm may divided into four sections:

1, The opening verses of this psalm (verses 1-3) implore God to remember God’s people ‘who you acquired long ago’, ‘your heritage,’ and to remember Mount Zion, ‘where you came to dwell.

Verse 1 portrays the image of the people as God’s flock, ‘the sheep of your pasture.’

2, The psalm continues (verses 3b to 11) by describing the destruction of the Temple by the enemies of God.

3, Then, in verses 12-17, the psalm recalls and praises the might of God.

4, The psalm ends (verses 18-23) by imploring God to remember Israel and to come to the aid of the people.

The enemy is not named, but may refer to King Nebuchadnezzar. According to the Targum, the reference is to Antiochus Epiphanes.

With Bishop David Hamid at a USPG conference in High Leigh … he introduces this week’s theme in the USPG Prayer Diary

Psalm 74 (NRSVA):

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 O God, why do you cast us off for ever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

4 Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.
5 At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;
they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land.

9 We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name for ever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor for ever.

20 Have regard for your covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
23 Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Celebration in Casablanca.’ It is introduced this morning by the Right Revd Dr David Hamid, Suffragan Bishop in Europe:

‘It is not very often in the Church of England that we have to expand a church building in order to accommodate a growing worshipping congregation. That is precisely what has happened in Saint John the Evangelist Church in Casablanca.

‘Saint John’s has been home to Anglicans and other English-speaking Christians since 1906. In recent years the numbers of Christian migrants from all over the world has increased. In response, a plan was developed to build a community centre and extend the church building to almost double the capacity for attendance at services.

‘Among the growing sector of the congregation of Saint John’s are Filipino migrants. This year, Father Virgilio Fernandez, a priest from the Iglesia Filipina Independiente who is serving here with the support of USPG, has been appointed as the locum priest in Saint John’s to assist with the care for this community.

‘The dedication of the church extension was celebrated in September 2021. A civic ceremony welcomed political, diplomatic and ecumenical dignitaries and gave thanks to the collaboration from the Moroccan authorities. Celebrations continued with a Christian liturgy for the re-hallowing of the Church, the blessing of new stained-glass windows, baptisms and confirmations.’

The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (8 May 2022, Easter IV) invites us to pray:

Miraculous God,
you make the impossible possible.
May we continue to have hope in
you and in each other.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

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

With the Saints through Christmas (38): 1 February 2022, Saint Brigid of Kildare

Saint Brigid of Kildare … a modern icon

Patrick Comerford

Today looks like being a busy day. I have travelled to Dublin for a dental appointment later in the day. But, before this busy day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation tomorrow (2 February);

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Today (1 February 2022) is the Feast Day of Saint Brigid, one of the three patrons of Ireland – alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba – and the patron of the Diocese of Kildare.

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral in Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Traditionally, Irish people regard 1 February, the feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare, as the first day of Spring. There is a saying that Irish people start using at this time of the year: ‘There’s a grand stretch in the evening.’

Saint Brigid is a much-neglected saint in the Church of Ireland, although she is one of the three patrons of Ireland, alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, and she gives her name to Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.

If that neglect of Saint Brigid in the Church of Ireland is a response to some of the ‘new age’ myths and fantasies that have been created around her life and story, then the Post-Communion prayer for today invites us ‘to lay aside all foolishness and to live and walk in the way of insight.’

Three relevant points about Saint Brigid are worth considering on Saint Brigid’s Day:

1, Firstly, there is a lot of legend, a lot of myth, and a lot of ‘New Age’ style writing about Saint Brigid. But, in fact, we know very little about her. Some stories say she was baptised by Saint Patrick. She may have taken her vows as a nun from Saint Mel of Ardagh, who also gave her the authority of an abbot. Some legends say he made her a bishop – the only female bishop in the early church. But whether she was a bishop or not, what we know of her makes her a good model for those who would be shepherds and pastors in the church.

Saint Brigid was buried in Kildare Cathedral, but then, about the year 878, because of the Viking raids, her relics were taken to Downpatrick, where she was buried alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, and they were reinterred in Downpatrick Cathedral in 1186.

The Book of Armagh claims that ‘between Patrick and Brigid, the columns of the Irish, there was so great a friendship of charity that they had but one heart and one mind. Through him and through her Christ performed many miracles.’

But the legendary nature of most of the accounts of her life means there is little we can say with certainty about her life. The earliest Latin ‘life’ of Saint Brigid was written around the year 800, so we can hardly regard it as a primary source.

However, if we confine Brigid to the shelves of ‘New Age’ books in airport shops and supermarkets, alongside crystal healing and Bigfoot, we take from Irish spirituality an interesting role model for women’s ministry.

2, Secondly, Brigid is not marginal: her legacy is part of our shared Irish cultural heritage. Hundreds of placenames in Ireland and Scotland honour her memory – places such as Kilbride, Brideswell, Tubberbride, Templebride, and so on. Several places in Wales are named Llansantaffraid, which means ‘Saint Bride’s Church.’ And in England, there are 19 ancient church dedications to her, including Saint Bride’s, the journalists’ church in Fleet Street, and Bridewell or Saint Bride’s Well, the parish in which Saint Thomas à Becket was born.

Her small foundation in Kildare became a centre of religion and learning that developed into a cathedral city. According to Giraldus Cambrensis, nothing he had seen ever compared with the Book of Kildare, every page of it was so beautifully illuminated. He says the interlaced work and the harmony of the colours left the impression that ‘all this is the work of angelic, and not human skill.’ Various Continental pre-Reformation breviaries commemorate Saint Brigid, and her name is included in a litany in the Stowe Missal.

But the rich insights of the monasteries are not only for men, nor for one tradition on this island; they are part of our shared, common Christian heritage, from long before the Reformation.

3, Thirdly, Saint Brigid is an interesting role model for the full place of women in the ministry and mission of the Church. From the sources for her life, we can see that – despite the legends and the myths – Brigid was celebrated for many reasons:

● She converted to Christianity at great personal cost, giving away her personal and inherited wealth.
● At a young age, she gave her life to God, choosing to serve God and to serve the poor.
● She balanced wisdom and common sense – something most of us find lacking in equal measure, most of the time.
● She was a spiritual guide to both men and women.
● She is known for her humility.
● She served the wider church as the main pastoral figure in a large geographical area.
● She built the church, laying both the physical and mission foundations.
● She was one of those Celtic saints who insisted that a vital component of the spiritual life is having a soul friend (anam cara).

More than anything else, though, Saint Brigid is known for her hospitality. When the poor and the infirm came to her in their multitudes, she provided for them, tending to the poor, the lowly and the forgotten, living out the Beatitudes in her daily life. She saw that the needs of the body and the needs of the spirit are inter-twined. And that to me is good enough reason to remember Saint Brigid this morning.

Saint Brigid depicted in a window in Saint John the Baptist Church, Kilcornan, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 10: 7-16 (NRSVA):

7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away – and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’

The west window in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, is dedicated to the three patrons of Ireland – Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Columba – and is a memorial to Archbishop Edward Benson of Canterbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (1 February 2022) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the Anglican Council in Malawi and their newly launched Church and Community programme.

Yesterday: Bishop Charles Mackenzie

Tomorrow: Simeon and Anna

Saint Brigid’s Well, off the road between Kilcornan and Stonehall, Co 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

‘Inspire us with new light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days

Saint Brigid depicted in a window in Saint John the Baptist Church in Kilcornan, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)


Patrick Comerford

Traditionally, Irish people regard today, 1 February, the feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare as the first day of Spring. There is a snap of bitter cold weather across the country, with snow in some places and low temperatures that have occasionally dropped below zero at night time in the past week or two.

But weather like this also has its beauties and its benefits. Some nights over the past week, the sky has been clear with few clouds, a beautiful full moon on Thursday lingered for a night or two, and I noticed at the weekend how the first daffodils pushed through in the Rectory gardens in Askeaton.

Over the past four years, I have rediscovered the joys of living in an area where low light pollution opens up a night sky full of stars, and I am reminded of the saying that Irish people start using at this time of the year: ‘There’s a grand stretch in the evening.’

Saint Brigid is a much-neglected saint in the Church of Ireland, although she is one of the three patrons of Ireland, alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, and she gives her name to Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.

If that neglect of Saint Brigid in the Church of Ireland is a response to some of the ‘new age’ myths and fantasies that have been created around her life and story, then the Post-Communion prayer for today invites us ‘to lay aside all foolishness and to live and walk in the way of insight.’

In recent days, I have been working on a review for the Irish Theological Quarterly of a new book on the history of the parish records of Saint Bride’s Parish in Dublin. Last year, two of us marked Saint Brigid’s Day by seeking out and walking to Saint Brigid’s Well in a remote dale reached by muddy paths and trails across hilly fields near Kilcornan and Stonehall, east of Askeaton.

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral in Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The last of the great wandering bards, Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1779-1835), or Raftery the Poet, wrote about the coming of Spring with the coming of Saint Brigid’s Day in words that most Irish schoolchildren can recite:

Anois teacht an earraigh
beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh,
Is tar éis na féil Bríde
ardóidh mé mo sheol.

Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é
ní chónóidh mé choíche
Go seasfaidh mé síos
i lár Chontae Mhaigh Eo.

I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris
A bheas mé an chéad oíche,
Is i mballa taobh thíos de
A thosóidh mé ag ól.

Go Coillte Mách rachaidh
Go ndéanfadh cuairt mhíosa ann
I bhfogas dhá mhíle
Do Bhéal an Átha Mhóir.

Now at the coming of Spring
the day will be lengthening,
and after Saint Brigid’s Day
I shall raise my sail.

Since I put it into my head
I shall never stay put
until I shall stand down
in the centre of County Mayo.

In Claremorris
I will be the first night,
and in Balla just below it
I will begin to drink.

To Kiltimagh I shall go
until I shall make a month’s visit there
as close as two miles
to Ballinamore.

The Readings: Hosea 6: 1-4; Psalm 134; I John 1: 1-4; John 10: 7-16

The Collect:

Father,
by the leadership of your blessed servant Brigid
you strengthened the Church in this land:
As we give you thanks for her life of devoted service,
inspire us with new life and light,
and give us perseverance to serve you all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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 in fellowship with all your saints
we may come to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Saint Brigid’s Well, off the road between Kilcornan and Stonehall, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Castle Hewson in Askeaton was home to generations of the Hewson family

Castle Hewson in Ballyengland, Askeaton … home to generations of the Hewson family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

Castle Hewson, east of Askeaton, Co Limerick, stands in the townland of Ballyengland. The 18th century house is on a low crag is undergoing restoration, and I visited the house earlier this week for the first time since moving to Askeaton four years ago.

Castle Hewson stands beside an earlier tower house or castle that gives the house its name. It was also known as Ballyengland House, and the England family were originally tenants of the Earls of Desmond. After the Desmond rebellion at the end of the 16th century, Thomas England was pardoned in 1581 and 1590, when his son attainted and hanged.

George Isham received a grant of Englandstown or Ballyengland in 1597, but Thomas and Oliver England were living at Ballyengland in 1601.

The Hewson family was living at Castle Hewson from the end of the 17th century. They continued to live there into the late 20th century, with other branches of the family living at Enniscouch and Hollywood.

By the mid-19th century, the main part of the Hewson family estate was in the parish of Askeaton, but the family also owned other houses and lands in the area: in the 1870s, John Brownrigg Hewson owned Castle Hewson and 1,435 acres; George James Hewson of Hollywood owned 666 acres; and Robert Hewson of Ennishcoush owned 398 acres near Rathkeale, Co Limerick. Other family members owned lands at Castleisland, and Ennismore, near Listowel, Co Kerry.

The East Window in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, was donated by the Hewson family of Castle Hewson (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Castle Hewson is an imposing, detached, five-bay, two-storey country house, built ca 1760, with a central, two-storey canted projecting bay at the front or east elevation, extensions at the rear or west elevation, and an adjoining six-bay, two-storey block at the rear. The three-stage tower house adjoins the house at the north side.

Castle Hewson retains much of its original form and fabric, including a variety of tripartite and timber sliding sash windows. A number of decorative features – including the red brick voussoirs, cast-iron ridge crestings, and limestone finials – add an interesting contrast to the rubble stone and rendered walls. The adjoining tower house adds archaeological significance to the site and is preserved in a relatively good condition. The outbuildings and walled garden behind the house add context to the site.

The architectural features of the main house include a hipped slate roof with terracotta ridge crestings and ridge tiles, rendered chimneystacks, a cut limestone eaves course, a limestone finial on the south gable, square-headed window openings with cut limestone sills, red brick voussoirs, and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows.

The first-floor windows have double-leaf timber louvered shutters. The square-headed opening at the front of the house has a carved limestone doorcase with a limestone pediment supported by pilasters, and a flanking double-leaf timber panelled door. It is approached by cut limestone steps.

The walled garden behind the house has a square-profile, three-stage tower at the north-east corner. There is an eight-bay, two-storey outbuilding beside the north elevation of the tower house, and a four-bay, split-level outbuilding at the north side of this outbuilding. There is also a three-bay, double-height outbuilding to the east of house.

The definitive history of the Hewson family is Memoirs of the House of Hewetson or Hewson in Ireland by John Hewetson (London: Mitchell & Hughes, 1901). He traces the family back to John Hewson or Hewetson (1498-1567), a glover, who was born in Settrington, Yorkshire, and became a Freeman of York and a member of the Merchant Adventurers’ Company.

His eldest son, Thomas Hewson, was also a Freeman of York. He moved to Ireland in the 1570s with his family, including his younger brother, Canon Christopher Hewetson, who became Prebendary of Howth, Vicar of Swords, and Treasurer of both Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and Ardfert. Since the move to Ireland, the names Hewetson and Hewson seem to have been interchangeable. Other variants of the family name include Hughson, Huetson and Huson.

Dominick Hewetson died in 1640, but, almost two years later, his body was dug up from the nave of Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, by rebels and placed in a ‘garden’ outside the cathedral churchyard.

His son, Captain George Hewetson or Hewson, was one of the 49 Irish officers who remained loyal to King Charles I during the Civil War in the 1640s. He was supposedly related to the regicide and hard-line radical preacher, Colonel John Hewson of London, a self-proclaimed ‘Child of Wrath’ and the Cromwellian butcher of Drogheda.

George Hewson’s grandson, George Hewson (1662-1735), acquired land near Askeaton, Co Limerick, including Castle Hewson in Ballyengland, which he held under a lease from Brooke Brydges of High Holborn, Limerick.

Members of the family included the Ven Francis Hewson, Archdeacon of Aghadoe, Rector of Listowel and Sovereign (Mayor) of Dingle; Margaret Anne Hewson, who married the Revd George Maxwell, Rector of Askeaton; Admiral George Francis Hewson, who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar; and Thomas Hewson, President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

The memorial in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, to Maurice Hewson, who died at 14 at school in Repton in 1892 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Castle Hewson passed through generations of the Hewson family down to John Brownrigg Hewson (1826-1909), who was the father of three sons: William Everard Gardiner Hewson (1874-1957), John Gilbert Brownrigg Hewson (1875-1951), and Maurice Francis Hewson (1887-1892).

The youngest son, Maurice, caught pneumonia while he was at school in Repton and died when he was only 14. He is remembered in a plaque in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.

The eldest son, William Everard Gardiner Hewson, became a Justice of the Peace or magistrate for Co Limerick in 1909. He was a keen campanologist and rang the changes in many Irish and English cathedrals. Everard Hewson murdered a woman for no apparent reason in 1914. Elizabeth Costello (née Lynch) was a widow working as a maid in Castle Hewson.

A year later, William Everard Gardiner Hewson was found ‘Insane and Incapable of Pleading.’ He was detained at Dundrum Lunatic Asylum for the Clinically Insane, at ‘his majesty’s pleasure.’ He was released five years later, and was sent to a dower house near Rathkeale. He died in Barrington’s Hospital in 1957 and is buried in the grounds of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.

The memorial in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, to Maurice and Pamela Hewson (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Meanwhile, Castle Hewson was inherited by John Hewson’s second son, John Gilbert Brownrigg Hewson, known as Gilbert Hewson. Gilbert Hewson married his distant cousin, Kathleen Violet Hewson, daughter of George Hewson of Ennismore, Co Kerry. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as an independent TD for Limerick in June 1927, but lost his seat at the September 1927 election and was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1932 election. A barrister, he was a member of Limerick County Council for many years. When he died in hospital in 1951, he was living at Lough House, Ballyengland.

His son, Maurice Hewson (1913-1998), was educated at Repton and Trinity College Dublin, where he was an outstanding cross-country runner, tennis player and boxer. He was a district commissioner and member of the British colonial administration of the Gold Coast (Ghana).

He became one of the District Commissioners charged with planning the Gold Coast Volta River Dam project. But the project collapsed when the Gold Coast gained independence as Ghana. Maurice Hewson returned to Ireland in 1957 and moved back to Castle Hewson and Lough House. He was a leading parishioner in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.

Maurice Hewson and his wife Pamela died in a tragic fire at Lough House on 23 February 1998. Their detached, two-storey home, fronting a lake, was destroyed in the blaze. When fire brigade units from Rathkeale, Foynes and Newcastle West arrived at Lough House, they found the doors of the house and the gate to the driveway were locked, and the fire rapidly engulfed the house.

At the time, friends described them as a ‘wonderful and endearing’ couple who were very popular. Many media outlets reported the tragedy with headlines such as ‘relative of U2’s Bono killed in house fire.’

The memorials to the Hewson family in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, include the East Window depicting the Good Shepherd.

Castle Hewson is an imposing, detached, five-bay, two-storey country house, built ca 1760 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

When the Precentors of Limerick looked after their own kith and kin

The carved wyvern biting his tail under the seat in the precentor’s stall in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

After a project looking at my predecessors as Precentors of Limerick was postponed last month due to the pandemic limits on public events, I thought it might still be interesting to look at past precentors in a number of blog postings.

In recent postings, I recalled some previous precentors who had been accused of ‘dissolute living’ or being a ‘notorious fornicator’ (Awly O Lonysigh), or who were killed in battle (Thomas Purcell). There were those who became bishops or archbishops: Denis O’Dea (Ossory), Richard Purcell (Ferns) and John Long (Armagh).

There was the tragic story too of Robert Grave, who became Bishop of Ferns while remaining Precentor of Limerick, but – only weeks after his consecration – drowned with all his family in Dublin Bay as they made their way by sea to their new home in Wexford (read more HERE).

In the 17th century, two members of the Gough family were also appointed Precentors of Limerick. In all, three brothers in this family were priests in the Church of Ireland and two were priests in the Church of England, and the Rathkeale branch of the family was the ancestral line of one of Ireland’s most famous generals (read more HERE).

In the mid to late 18th century, two members of the Maunsell family were Precentors of Limerick: Richard Maunsell (1745-1747) and William Thomas Maunsell (1786-1781).

Canon Richard Maunsell (1713-1791), who was the Precentor of Limerick in 1745-1747, was born in Cork, educated at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1735; MA 1738), and was ordained deacon in 1738 and priest in 1740. Almost immediately he found a senior position in the Diocese of Limerick when he was appointed Prebendary and Vicar of Killeedy in 1741.

It was probably no mere coincidence that his father-in-law, William Burscough, was then the Bishop of Limerick (1725-1755). Burscough had come to Ireland in 1712 as chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Carteret – a sure stepping-stone in those days to becoming a bishop in the Church of Ireland. But Burscough was a scholar too: he was Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, in 1699-1719, he delivered the Boyle Lecture in 1723, and helped to found the Incorporated Society in 1733.

Burscough was Bishop of Limerick for 30 years, but when he died in 1755, he was buried in New Ross, Co Wexford.

Meanwhile, Richard Maunsell had been appointed Precentor of Limerick in 1745. But he remained Precentor for only two years, and in 1747, while his father-in-law was still Bishop of Limerick, he became Chancellor of Limerick and Rector of Rathkeale and Kilscannell. So, he was also one of my predecessors in this group of parishes, and he remained here for almost half a century, until he died in 1791.

While Maunsell was in Rathkeale, he added to his clerical income by becoming Rector and Vicar of Kilcornan in 1782. This too is now a parish within the Rathkeale group of parishes, and his appointment to Kilcornan may have come about because his only daughter Elizabeth had married the local landlord, John Thomas Waller of Kilcornan, in 1782. He died in 1791.

Canon William Thomas Maunsell (1729-1818), who was the Precentor of Limerick and Rector and Vicar of Loughill in 1786-1791, was born in Limerick and was educated at TCD (BA 1751; LLB 1774). He came to the Diocese of Limerick as a Vicar Choral of Limerick Cathedral and Prebendary of Donaghmore.

After his time as Precentor of Limerick, this Canon Maunsell became Chancellor of Limerick and Rector of Rathkeale and Kilscannell (1791-1803). At the same time as he was Precentor and then Chancellor of Limerick (1786-1803), he held a number of church appointments, including Precentor of Kildare (1766-1818), Archdeacon of Kildare (1772-1818).

He was a son-in-law of William Twigge, Archdeacon of Limerick, and his son, William Wray Maunsell (1782-1860), was Vicar of Saint Michael’s, Limerick, and Archdeacon of Limerick for almost half a century (1814-1860).

Archdeacon Maunsell was a son-in-law of another Bishop of Limerick, Charles Mongan-Warburton (1754-1826), who was bisop in 1806-1820; his son, Canon Robert Augustus Maunsell (1825-1878), became chaplain at the British Embassy in Paris.

Indeed, over time, no less than 21 members of the Maunsell family are counted among the clergy of the Diocese of Limerick.

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, stands on a site over 1500 years old

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare … Victorian critics said George Edmund Street’s restoration had spoilt ‘a beautiful ruin’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

While I was visiting Co Kildare at the weekend, I spent some time visiting the Cathedral Church of Saint Brigid, one of two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare in the Church of Ireland.

I had been invited by Archbishop Richard Clarke, then Bishop of Meath and Kildare, to preach in the cathedral in 2011 at the ordination to the priesthood of Paul Bogle, now the Dean of Clonmacmoise. But my visit on Friday was my first opportunity to spend some extra time in the cathedral, exploring its history, architecture and heritage.

Saint Brigid is one of the three patrons of Ireland, alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba. She is said to have lived at Faughart, near Dundalk, Co Louth, and that she arrived in Kildare with her followers in the late fifth century, perhaps in the year 480. She was assisted in the rule of her house by an abbot or bishop named Condleth.

Saint Condleth may have died in the year 520 and Saint Brigid in 523. For many centuries, Kildare maintained a unique Irish experiment: the abbess ruled over a double community of women and men, with an abbess, and abbot and a bishop. The original abbey church may have been a simple wooden building in the sixth century.

An effigy in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral said to be Bishop Ralph of Bristol (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The cathedral was devastated perhaps 16 times between the years 835 and 998, and Kildare declined in importance from the 12th century. When the Anglo-Norman Ralph of Bristol was Bishop of Kildare in 1223-1232, he found the cathedral was virtually in ruins, and began rebuilding it.

The cathedral was enlarged and embellished in 1482, but later bishops paid less attention to the building. It may have been semi-ruinous by 1500, and it fell into disrepair in the 16th century after the Reformation. The roof was pulled down and parts of the chancel, tower and north transept collapsed, and Bishop Alexander Craik (1560-1574) sold the cathedral manors and lands for cash.

The bishop’s throne in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Bishop William Pilsworth (1604-1635) found the cathedral was ruined when he arrived in the diocese, and he failed to recover the lands sold off in the previous century by Bishop Craik. During the Irish Confederate Wars in the mid-17th century, the central tower and the north transept were severely damaged in a military attack, the chancel, nave and south transept were left roofless, and the cathedral was derelict by 1649.

After the restoration, Bishop Thomas Price (1661-1667) refused to spend anything on rebuilding the cathedral, although later it was partially rebuilt in 1686 by Bishop William Moreton (1682-1705), who was also Dean of Christ church Cathedral, Dublin, rebuilt the chancel and had it consecrated for use as a cathedral.

But the building continued to deteriorate and decay. The west wall of the nave was still standing in 1738, but it too had fallen by the mid-19th century, when it was replaced by a modern wall.

Inside Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, looking east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The fabric of the cathedral was in such a condition by the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1869 that there were proposals. Instead, however, a complete restoration of the building was carried out by George Edmund Street (1824-1881). He started working there in 1875, and this work continued after his death in 1881 until it was completed by James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924) in 1896.

The late Victorian restoration by Street and Fuller included a new north transept, new chancel, and new west wall as well as rebuilding three sides of the square tower. A new oak roof, supported on stone corbels, was built into the wall buttresses.

The restored cathedral was consecrated on 22 September 1896 by Archbishop Plunket of Dublin, who was also Bishop of Kildare. The sermon was preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Benson, who died three weeks later.

More recent restorations have included new internal porches, repairs to the internal and external stonework and rebuilding the organ.

Inside Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, looking west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The cathedral is an imposing building but is primarily of late 19th century construction, incorporating the fabric of the 13th century church and later reconstructions. The cathedral is built in the Gothic Revival style and successfully incorporates the earlier fabric to such a degree that it is difficult to distinguish between the various phases of construction.

It has a six-bay, double-height nave with single-bay, double-height north and south transepts, a two-bay double-height chancel at the east end, and a single-bay, three-stage tower at the crossing on a square plan with a battlemented roof and a parapet wall.

The cathedral is built in rubble stone with cut-stone dressings and is a fine example of the high quality of stone masonry traditionally practised in the area. This is seen especially in the carved detailing, including the surrounds to the doors and windows and its decorative motifs such as gargoyles to the parapet walls.

An unusual mediaeval ‘indulgenced’ carving in Kildare Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The exterior retains most of its original features and materials, while replacement fabric has been installed in keeping with the original integrity of the building.

The cathedral is cruciform in plan without aisles in the early Gothic style with a massive square central tower. All the windows are lancet windows, singles or doubles, but triple lancets in the four gables.

The design features include arches that span from buttress to buttress in advance of the side walls. The parapets are of the stepped Irish type. They have been much restored, but probably date from about 1395, when a Papal relaxation was given to those who visited Kildare and gave alms for the conservation of the church.

The chancel and high altar in Saint Brigid’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Inside, the cathedral is plain, the window splays are not moulded, but the rear-arches are moulded and spring from shafts with moulded capitals. These shafts are short and terminate in small curved tails. The construction of the lancet arches at the crossing, which have retained their original shape, together with the exposed timber roof construction, are also worth noting.

The altar tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley in the south transept (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The cathedral has a rich collection of carved cross slabs, grave slabs, effigies, tombs a decorative tiled floor, stained glass windows and an ornate reredos and arcading by Fuller in the chancel.

One of the most striking features is the altar tomb of Walter Wellesley, Bishop of Kildare, who died in 1539. This altar tomb is an example of 16th century sculpture and was originally at Great Connell Priory. It was moved to the cathedral in 1971 for preservation.

The cost of restoring the tomb was largely funded by the Duke of Wellington on behalf of the Wellesley family.

Christ the Man of Sorrows (‘Ecce Homo’) on a panel on the altar tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

An effigy of the bishop lies on the mensa or top piece. At each end are carvings of Christ the Man of Sorrows (Ecce Homo) surrounded by instruments of the passion, and the Crucifixion with images of the Virgin Mary and Saint John; on the sides are some remaining figures of apostles and saints.

The crucifixion depicted on a panel on the tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

On the underside of the mensa is a small but stunning female exhibitionist figure. It is often referred to as a sheela-na-gig.

A hidden image on the tomb of Bishop Walter Wellesley is said to be a ‘sheela-na-gig’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The chapter and choir stalls are of solid oak, with acorn and oak leaf carvings.

Also worth seeing are the Bishop’s throne, the carved Caen Stone pulpit with carvings of the four evangelists and Irish marble columns (1887), the brass eagle lectern (1896) and the organ built by Conacher in 1898.

The chapter stalls and pulpit in Kildare Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A font made of solid granite is said locally to have been the font in which Saint Laurence O’Toole was baptised in 1123.

The font in which Saint Laurence O’Toole is said to have been baptised (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The east window above the high altar is a memorial to Dr Samuel Chaplin (1829-1891), the Kildare county surgeon who played a crucial role in the cathedral restoration.

The west window is dedicated to the three patrons of Ireland and is a memorial to Archbishop Edward Benson of Canterbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The west window is dedicated to the three patrons of Ireland, Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Columba, and is a memorial to Archbishop Edward Benson of Canterbury, who preached at the consecration of the cathedral in 1896.

The stained glass window of Saint Luke (1974) by the Czech artist Gerda Schurmann is a memorial to George Frederick Graham, Dean of Kildare (1938-1952).

Christ in Majesty in the window in the Lady Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The north transept, known as the Lady Chapel, has a modern window depicting (from left) Saint Paul, Christ in Majesty and Saint Peter.

The round tower to the north-east of the cathedral dates from 1150 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

To the north-east the cathedral is one of five round towers in Co Kildare. At 33 metres, it is the second highest in Ireland, and is open to visitors to climb. It is built of Wicklow granite and local limestone. It dates from ca1150, which is comparatively late for an Irish Round Tower, although it may have replaced an earlier tower.

The high cross in the grounds of the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The plain granite high cross in the grounds of the cathedral is 3 metres tall with a damaged ringed head and a tapering shaft mounted on a square base. Because it lacks decoration, this High Cross is difficult to date. The base is massive for such a slender shaft and head and may not be the original.

According to local lore, Saint Brigid’s Fire was kept alight in an ancient oratory known as Saint Brigid’s Fire House. The shape of this oratory and the thickness of the remains of the walls and foundations are evidence of its antiquity.

To the south-east of the cathedral, a disused burial chamber is known locally as ‘Saint Brigid’s Kitchen.’

Some critics 19th century critics said Street’s restoration had spoilt ‘a beautiful ruin.’ But without Street, Kildare might have no cathedral today.

Until 1846, the Deans of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, were also Bishops of Kildare. The Diocese of Kildare was united with Dublin in 1846, and since 1976 Kildare has been united with the Diocese of Meath.

Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare … one of the two cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)