Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 83, Wednesday 29 July 2026

Mary anoints the feet of Jesus in Bethany … a window in the north aisle of Saint Mary’s Church in St Neots, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and this 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 Mary, Martha and Lazarus with a Lesser Festival. I got back to Stony Stratford late last night after a short, one-day family visit to Dublin.

Later today, Stony Stratford Cricket Club is organising a special charity day at Ostler’s Lane, starting at 11:30, with what promises to be a day of high-quality cricket as a Stony representative side takes on an MCC representative side. This is also a fundraising day for Breast Cancer Now. Ro Whitehead is giving all food for the day in return for a donation to Breast Cancer Now. After the players’ tea break, supporters are invited to enjoy Ro’s teas, with special treats, in return for a donation. The bar is open from midday and all are welcome.

This morning, as this new day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Hardman window in Saint Mary’s Church, St Neots, with the Anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary of Bethany (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 12: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

‘There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him’ (John 12: 2) … dinner in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Today’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist in the lectionary (John 12: 1-11) is for the Lesser Festival in Common Worship for Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, the then Rector of Killanne and Killegney, Co Wexford, Canon Norman Ruddock, invited me to speak at one of his Lenten reflections in Clonroche, Co Wexford.

I was then living on High Street in Wexford, working as a journalist with the Wexford People, and I was probably invited as a Lenten speaker because I also had a weekly column in the local newspapers in Co Wexford and Co Wicklow.

I remember how Philip Corish kindly drove me to and from Wexford that evening. Later that year, he was elected an Alderman on Wexford Corporation, and he would go on to become a Mayor of Wexford, while Norman Ruddock later became the Rector of Wexford, and he was a constant encouragement to me throughout my 20s, 30s and 40s to go forward for ordination.

I remember that evening as a balmy spring evening, and Norman Ruddock remarked on how my talk was challenging politically and socially. There was only one written follow-up: an anonymous parishioner sent me an unsigned letter, telling me I had abused the Gospel for political purposes. She (or he) chose to remind me of a saying in today’s Gospel reading: ‘You always have the poor with you’ (John 12: 8), or perhaps? ‘The poor will always be among us!’ (Matthew 26: 11).

That was more than half a century ago. I never kept that letter, but I still think about it when I hear far-right activists criticising people like me, accusing us of being ‘Woke’ or showing ‘empathy’.

These verses continue to be misinterpreted and weaponised as a justification of wealth accumulation and ignoring the plight of the poor and the causes of their poverty.

As today’s Gospel reading makes very clear, it is Judas Iscariot who elicits this response from Jesus. The setting in John 12 is a destitute village, Bethany, whose name means ‘house of the poor’, ‘house of affliction’ or ‘house of misery’. In Matthew 26, Bethany is the house of Simon the Leper, one of the poorest of the poor in a village full of poor people.

In the parallel story in Mark 14: 7, Jesus says: ‘For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish’. If anyone thinks ‘the poor will always be among you’ is a universal statement that somehow allows them to avoid responsibility from seeking to eliminate poverty, Mark 14: 7 turns that interpretation on its head.

In addition, we should remember that when Jesus cites Scripture he expects those who are listening to be familiar with the passage, and that they should be able to finish the quotation as they take it to heart. Jesus here is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, but the full passage (Deuteronomy 15: 1-11) he cites provides the context:

15 Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 From a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. 4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. 6 When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’

I suppose all I was doing that Lenten evening over 50 years ago was sharing my interpretation of Biblical economics – an interpretation that is even more relevant today.

‘Christ the Beggar’, a sculpture by Timothy Schmalz in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 29 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 (Wednesday 29 July 2026) invites us to pray:

God of justice, we pray for systems that bind workers into vulnerability and fear. Stir the conscience of governments and employers to act with fairness and integrity.

The Collect of the Day:

God our Father,
whose Son enjoyed the love of his friends,
Mary, Martha and Lazarus,
in learning, argument and hospitality:
may we so rejoice in your love
that the world may come to know
the depths of your wisdom, the wonder of your compassion,
and your power to bring life out of death;
through the merits of Jesus Christ,
our friend and brother,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name,
your servants Mary, Martha and Lazarus revealed your goodness
in a life of tranquillity and service:
grant that we who have gathered in faith around this table
may like them know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
and be filled with all your fullness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The ‘Homeless Christ’ by the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz in the grounds of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Lent 2025: 41, Monday 14 April 2025, Monday of Holy Week

Mary anoints the feet of Jesus in Bethany … a window in the north aisle of Saint Mary’s Church in St Neots, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Holy Week, the last week in Lent, as we prepare for Good Friday and Easter, and today is the Monday of Holy Week (14 April 2025). Passover also continues until next Sunday evening (20 April 2025), which is also Easter Day.

A parish retreat on the theme of ‘I will you rest’ takes place this week in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, with three days of prayers and reflection today, tomorrow and Wednesday, including Readings and Morning Prayer at 8:15, Angelus and Mid-Day Prayer at 12, Confessions at 5 pm, Daily Prayers at 6 pm, a talk at 6:30, Stations of the Cross at 7 pm, and Mass at 7:30 pm.

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, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Hardman window in Saint Mary’s Church, St Neots, with the Anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary of Bethany (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

John 12: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

‘There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him’ (John 12: 2) … dinner in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Today’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist in the lectionary (John 12: 1-11) is an extended version of the Gospel reading eight days ago on the Fifth Sunday in Lent or Passion Sunday (Lent V, John 12: 1-8).

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, the then Rector of Killanne and Killegney, Canon Norman Ruddock, invited me to speak at one of his Lenten reflections in Clonroche, Co Wexford.

I was then living on High Street in Wexford, working as a journalist with the Wexford People, and I was probably invited as a Lenten speaker because I also had a weekly column in the local newspapers in Co Wexford and Co Wicklow.

I remember how Philip Corish kindly drove me to and from Wexford that evening. Later that year, he was elected an Alderman on Wexford Corporation, and he would go on to become a Mayor of Wexford, while Norman Ruddock later became the Rector of Wexford, and he was a constant encouragement to me to go forward for ordination.

I remember that evening as a balmy spring evening, and Norman Ruddock remarked on how my talk was challenging politically and socially. There was only one written follow-up: an anonymous parishioner sent me an unsigned letter, telling me I had abused the Gospel for political purposes. She (or he) chose to remind me of a saying in today’s Gospel reading: ‘You always have the poor with you’ (John 12: 8), or perhaps? ‘The poor will always be among us!’ (Matthew 26: 11).

That was more than half a century ago. I never kept that letter, but I still think about it when I hear far-right activists criticising people like me, accusing us of being ‘Woke’ or showing ‘empathy’.

These verses continue to be misinterpreted and weaponised as a justification of wealth accumulation and ignoring the plight of the poor and the causes of their poverty.

As today’s Gospel reading makes very clear, it is Judas Iscariot who elicits this response from Jesus. The setting in John 12 is a destitute village, Bethany, whose name means ‘house of the poor’, ‘house of affliction’ or ‘house of misery’; in Matthew 26, it is the house of Simon the Leper, one of the poorest of the poor in a village full of poor people.

In the parallel story in Mark 14: 7, Jesus says: ‘For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish’. If anyone thinks ‘the poor will always be among you’ is a universal statement that somehow allows them to avoid responsibility from seeking to eliminate poverty, Mark 14: 7 turns that interpretation on its head.

In addition, we should remember that when Jesus cites Scripture he expects those who are listening to be familiar with the passage, and that they should be able to finish the quotation as they take it to heart. Jesus here is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, but the full passage (Deuteronomy 15: 1-11) he cites provides the context:

15 Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 From a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. 4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. 6 When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’

I suppose all I was doing that Lenten evening over 50 years ago was sharing my interpretation of Biblical economics – an interpretation that is even more relevant today.

‘Christ the Beggar’, a sculpture by Timothy Schmalz in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 14 April 2025, Monday of Holy Week):

A ‘Holy Week Reflection’ provides 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).’ This theme was introduced yesterday with reflections by Bishop David Walker of Manchester, who is the chair of USPG trustees.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 14 April 2025, Monday of Holy Week) invites us to pray:

Lord, during this Holy Week, we pray that each of us may deeply experience the love that Jesus has for us. May this profound love transform our hearts and guide our actions as we reflect on His sacrifice and grace.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant,
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation:
give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father.

Additional Collect:

True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The ‘Homeless Christ’ by the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz in the grounds of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (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 Anne and Saint Esther, fact, fiction or secret role models for a secret people

The former Chapel of Saint Anne (right) and the Sexton Chapel (left) were amalgamated to form the consistorial court in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of yesterday [10 September 2019] in Limerick, at a meeting of the chapter in Saint Mary’s Cathedral in the morning, and at a diocesan working group in the afternoon.

It was interesting to hear in the cathedral later in the day about proposals for the former Chapel of Saint Anne and the Sexton Chapel on the south side of the cathedral.

These chapels together onceserved as the Consistorial Court, and the dividing walls between the two chapels had been removed by the 19th century. Today, they form one space and the area that was once Saint Anne’s Chapel accommodates the welcome desk and the cathedral shop.

An icon of Saint Anne with her child, the Virgin Mary, with her child, the Christ Child, in the Church of Saint Eleftherios and Saint Anna in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

In my sermon at the Mothers’ Union service in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, on Monday evening, I shared the old joke beloved by theology students about Saint Anne as ‘Holy Annie, God’s Grannie,’ alongside more serious reflections of the good modelling of parenting Saint Anne could have provided the Virgin Mary.

I illustrated this with an icon of Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child that I saw a week earlier in Corfu in the Church of Saint Eleftherios and Saint Anna.

In his book, Dedicated to Saint Anne (2008), Duncan Scarlett counted 29 churches and chapels within the Church of Ireland that are dedicated to Saint Anne, including Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, Saint Anne’s Church on Dawson Street, Dublin, and Saint Anne’s Church, Killanne, Co Wexford.

A shrine of Saint Anne in the former Jewish quarter of Porto (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

In Porto earlier this year, I heard how Saint Anne was one of two saints, alongside Saint Esther, who was popular among the conversos or anusim, the crypto-Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity in Portugal and Spain during the Inquisition.

Saint Anne was a popular figure among the conversos because, it was said, she had died before the birth of Christ so had never converted to Christianity yet was revered as a saint. When conversos were forced to place a shrine outside their homes as a sign of their commitment to Christianity, Saint Anne was often the saint of choice.

Of course, as Duncan Scarlett pointed out, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim are totally fictitious saints, constructed by the early Church to fill a perceived gap in the Biblical narrative of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Their names come only from New Testament apocrypha, and writings such as the Gospel of James, written sometime between 150 and 200. The story bears a similarity to that of the birth of Samuel, whose mother Hannah – etymologically the same name as Anne – had also been childless.

The Scroll of Esther in a synagogue in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Saint Esterica, who became popular in converso families from Portugal and Spain, was modelled on Queen Esther of Persia. She hid her Judaism when she married King Ahasuerus, and is said to have been a vegetarian to avoid eating non-kosher meat. She seemed to be fully assimilated, yet she never forgot who she really was.

When Ferdinand and Isabella established the Spanish Inquisition in 1478, many Jews converted to Catholicism outwardly. Inwardly, they kept practicing Judaism in secret, becoming anusim, conversos, or crypto-Jews.

Queen Esther was an inspiration for the anusim because she remembered her true but hidden Jewish identity while integrating into wider society.

Although Queen Esther was never canonised, the anusim transformed her into Saint Esther or Santa Esterica, and they continued to celebrated Purim by reinventing it as ‘the Festival of Saint Esther.’

When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many Jews and conversos escaped to Portugal, taking their traditions with them. But a similar expulsion order was issued in Portugal in 1497. Many Spanish and Portuguese anusim then brought the traditions of Saint Esther to Mexico and other parts of the New World.

The Festival of Saint Esther included the three-day Fast of Queen Esther and the Feast of Saint Esther, when women fasted and then lit devotional candles in honour of Saint Esther, and when mothers and daughters cooked a banquet together, passing on family recipes that transmitted the traditions of kashrut or kosher food.

In crypto-Jewish homes, Queen Esther was represented in icons, statues and devotional paintings of Saint Esther, depicted wearing a crown adorned with myrtle and holding a sceptre decorated with a pomegranate, a tradition that continues to this day among some families in New Mexico.

Saint Anne’s feastday is celebrated in many parts of the Church on 26 July.

Saint Anne’s Church on Dawson Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Tholsel in New Ross is at the heart of the history of an 800-year-old town

The Tholsel and the 1798 monument in the centre of New Ross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to New Ross last week, I was looking at a number of churches in the town, including the former Saint Michael’s, now a theatre, the Gothic revival Church of Saint Mary and Michael. New Ross traces its story back to Saint Abban, who built a monastery on the banks of the River Barrow in the sixth century. But the town is said to have been founded in 1207 by Strongbow’s daughter Isabella, wife of William le Mareschal, later Earl of Pembroke.

Like many mediaeval towns in Ireland, New Ross had a number of monastic foundations, but perhaps the one with the most unusual story is the Priory of the Crutched Friars, who arrived in New Ross around 1210.

The Crutched Friars had the right to levy taxes on ships entering the port. But tradition tells of the Friars demanding increased taxes from the town. This led to disputes and in one fight on the quay and on the river, three friars and a townsman were killed or drowned. The enraged people of New Ross then broke into the friary, and the remainder of the friars were run out of town.

As the Crutched Friars left New Ross by boat in 1262, the abbot is said to have stood on deck, raised his arms and cursed the town, commanding the Barrow to take three lives each year as a penalty for the deaths of his three friars. He prayed that the town would decay and fall into ruins and that his curse would remain forever.

In response to the treatment of the friars, the Pope placed New Ross under interdict, the churches were closed, the sacraments were not administered, and Christian burial was prohibited.

This situation did not last long, the site of the Priory of the Crutched Friars was confiscated in 1270, and a new Franciscan friary Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Lord of the Manor in 1276.

New Ross received its first charter from Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England, in the reign of Edward I (1272-1307), providing for the election of a provost of Rossponte or Rosspontum. The town’s privileges were confirmed in successive charters, and the town first elected MPs to the Irish Parliament in 1374. New Ross continued to elect two MPs until the Act of Union, when the number of MPs was reduced to one.

On the dissolution of the monastic houses in 1540, the former friary became the first Town Hall in New Ross.

A charter granted by James I became the ruling charter of New Ross. The style of the corporation was ‘the Sovereign and Free Burgesses of New Ross.’ The sovereign or mayor was chosen from among the burgesses. The sovereign and the burgesses elected the new burgesses, who held office for life. The town also had a recorder (judge), two bailiffs, the senior bailiff was known as the Bailiff Receiver, and presided in his own court.

During the Confederate and Civil Wars, the Duke of Ormonde laid siege to the town in 1641, but he was driven back with considerable loss and forced to raise the siege. Later, Ormonde defended the town against Cromwell. During these wars, the old bridge was destroyed in 1643, and the river was crossed by a ferry until the end of the 18th century, when a new bridge was built.

After the restoration of Charles II, the civic offices in New Ross were monopolised by local lading families, particularly the Tottenham family. Legislation in his reign of Charles II stipulated that elections of the chief magistrate, recorder and town clerk should be approved of by the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council.

The former friary continued to function as the town hall until 1749, when the Tholsel was built. A plaque on the Tholsel noted that the first stone of the building was laid on the anniversary of the ‘glorious Battle of the Boyne’ in 1690.

The market house or Tholsel was erected by Charles Tottenham, then Sovereign or mayor of New Ross. The Tholsel was designed by William Kent of London and built on the site of the mediaeval market cross.

In the late 18th century, the tidal waters of the Barrow caused the foundations of the Tholsel to subside. The building was taken down stone-by-stone and rebuilt. A date stone records the near-total reconstruction of the market house or Tholsel in 1806 by John Robinson, carpenter and architect.

The architectural features of the Tholsel include its compact rectilinear shape, the workmanship on the honey-coloured granite, the windows that diminish in scale on each floor, and the polygonal cupola on the roof which has a parapet topped with urns. The granite ashlar cupola is on an octagonal plan with a rusticated granite ashlar base.

The Tholsel has had a variety of uses over almost three centuries. When he ground floor was enclosed in the 1860s, reading rooms were opened, and the upper storey became the town-hall.

Opposite the Tholsel, the 1798 monument stands on the corner of North Street and Quay Street. This monument, unveiled in 1907, recalls the rebels ‘who fought and fell in the Battle of Ross’ on 5 June 1798.

The bronze figure of a Pikeman unfurling a flag was designed by the Revd Edward A Foran OSA (1866-1938) is said to be either Captain John Kelly (1776-1798) of Killanne, or Matthew Furlong of Raheen, who was shot while carrying a flag of truce. The monument stands on the spot where the Main Guard’s cannon stood and prevented 20,000 rebels from dislodging the defending garrison from the Tholsel in one of the bloodiest battles of 1798.

The mace of Edward III (1374), the mace of Charles II (1699), the Charter of James II (1688), and the minutes of New Ross Corporation from the mid-17th century are held in the Tholsel. Today, the Tholsel houses the chambers of the local authorities.

Looking across the River Barrow towards Rosbercon from the Quays of New Ross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Visiting Killanne churchyard and the grave of John Kelly

The grave of John Kelly, ‘the Boy from Killanne,’ in Saint Anne’s Churchyard, Killanne, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford

On my way from Bunclody to Taghmon while I was back in Co Wexford last weekend, I stopped off in Killanne to see the grave of John Kelly, remembered in song and folklore as “Kelly, the Boy from Killanne.”

When the late Canon Norman Ruddock was the Rector of Killanne and Killegney in the 1970s, he invited me to speak in his parish during his programme for Lent 1974. I spoke on my faith, Christianity, politics and social action and Christianity. I was just 22, and it was one of the first times I spoke publicly in a Church setting.

John Kelly of Killanne was one of the rebel leaders in 1798. Like many of the leaders of the United Irishmen in Co Wexford, including Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, the Boxwells, the Colcloughs and the Grogans, he was also an active member of the Church of Ireland.

During the 1798 bicentenary commemorations in 1998, research by the local historian Gloria Binions demonstrated that John Kelly, had been the churchwarden of Saint Anne’s, Killanne, for many years prior to the Rising.

Her research shows that the Kelly family moved from Kilbranish, on the Co Carlow side of Bunclody (then Newtownbarry), to Wheelgower, near Kiltealy, south of Bunclody, around 1770. John Kelly, who was born six years later, was the son of John Kelly, a tenant farmer and shopkeeper, and his wife Mary Redmond, who owned a pub at the crossroads in Killanne, which was bought in 1904 by the Rackard family, known in later generations for their famous Wexford county hurlers.

Kelly was a cousin of Father Mogue Kearns. As a farmer, he had no military background, nor was he a trained soldier. He fought at Enniscorthy and Vinegar Hill and was one of the leaders of the rebel victory at the Battle of Three Rocks that led to the capture of Wexford town.

Later, Kelly’s column of 800 men attacked and broke through Three Bullet Gate in New Ross and started to move into the town. After initial successes, they were beaten back by British troops and Kelly was wounded in the leg.

He was moved to Wexford to recover and hid in his sister’s house. But after the fall of Wexford on 21 June 1798 was taken from his bed, tried and sentenced to death. He was still only 22 when he was hanged on Wexford Bridge on 25 June 1798, along with seven other rebel leaders. After that, his body was decapitated, the trunk thrown into the River Slaney and his head was kicked through the streets before being set on display on a spike.

Later his sister recovered his head and brought it back to be buried in the Church of Ireland section of Saint Anne’s churchyard in Killanne. However, the monument over his grave was not erected until the centenary commemorations in 1898, and the ballad ‘Kelly the Boy from Killanne’ was written around the same time.

The inscription on the cross erected above his grave in 1898 in Saint Anne’s churchyard reads:

Erected in grateful memory
of
Captain JOHN KELLY
Killane,
Born 1776 Executed 1798.
He was wounded whilst leading
the insurgent troops at the
battle of New Ross,
Was taken prisoner, conveyed to
Wexford and most cruelly executed
at or near the old bridge.
We revere his memory as a most
ardent and exemplary patriot who so
honourably gave his young life
for his country’s cause.

The ballad was written by Patrick Joseph McCall (1861–1919), who spent his summer holidays in mother’s home parish of Rathangan, Co Wexford.

McCall wrote the song to mark the centenary of the 1798 Rebellion, but it did not appear into print until it was published in McCall’s Irish Fireside Songs in 1911.

During the 1998 commemorations in Co Wexford, shortly after I unveiled the Scullabogue memorial in Old Ross, I was challenged about John Kelly’s membership of the Church of Ireland.

It was interesting that one of the people listening to this conversation was Sheila Cloney of Fethard-on-Sea. Her family name before she married was Kelly, and I was vindicated.

Saint Anne’s Church seen from the gates of the churchyard in Killanne, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Kelly the Boy from Killanne

What’s the news, what’s the news oh my bold Shelmalier
With your long barrelled guns from the sea
Say what wind from the south brings a messenger here
With the hymn of the dawn for the free
Goodly news, goodly news do I bring youth of Forth
Goodly news shall you hear Bargy man
For the boys march at dawn from the south to the north
Led by Kelly the boy from Killanne.

Tell me who is that giant with the gold curling hair
He who rides at the head of your band
Seven feet is his height with some inches to spare
And he looks like a king in command
Ah my boys that’s the pride of the bold Shelmaliers
’Mongst greatest of hero’s a man
Fling your beavers aloft and give three ringing cheers
For John Kelly the boy from Killanne.

Enniscorthy’s in flames and old Wexford is won
And tomorrow the Barrow we will cross
On a hill o’er the town we have planted a gun
That will batter the gateway to Ross
All the Forth men and Bargy men will march o’er the heath
With brave Harvey to lead in the van
But the foremost of all in that grim gap of death
Will be Kelly the boy from Killanne.

But the gold sun of freedom grew darkened at Ross
And it set by the Slaney’s red waves
And poor Wexford stripped naked, hung high on a cross
With her heart pierced by traitors and slaves
Glory-o, glory-o to her brave sons who died
For the cause of long downtrodden man
Glory-o to Mount Leinster’s own darling and pride
Dauntless Kelly the boy from Killanne.