Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 88, Monday 3 August 2026

‘He made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side’ (Matthew 14: 22) … a fishing boat on the Sarawak River in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity IX, 2 August 2026).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Punters on the Backs and the River Cam behind King’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 14: 22-36 (NRSVA):

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

28 Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ 29 He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’

34 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 After the people of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the region and brought all who were sick to him, 36 and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

Boats at Salter’s by Folly Bridge in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Reflections

In last year or two, I have enjoyed being on boats in Sarawak and Singapore, barge trips on the Grand Union Canal, and watching rowers and boats in York, on the Backs in Cambridge, on the river in Oxford and in York. I even had the pleasure many years ago of one college boat club in Cambridge asking to use one of my photographs in a fundraising drive.

It is almost 60 years since I first went rowing as a teenager on Lough Ramor in Virginia. But I had long thought that I would be left regretting that I had taken up courses in Cambridge when I was too late in life to learn, or to re-learn, how to row.

I had come to enjoy rowing as a sport and an activity, but in a very passive way.

Then, shortly after I arrived in Askeaton in 2017, one evening, as I was standing at a slipway by the banks of the Rover Deel, I was invited suddenly and unexpectedly to get into a boat and to row.

I was fearless. It was a pleasure I had often hoped for and wished for. And for almost an hour, we rowed upstream, under the bridge at Askeaton, and as far as the castle, and then downstream past the factory, although not as far as the estuary. When I suggested that I might be too old to learn, or re-learn, how to row, I was told brusquely and with humour that once I stopped learning I had stopped living.

Later that same week, I watched children and teenagers hop in and out of boats, freely and fearlessly, confident of their own ability and the ability of those who were training them.

Fearlessly. But as I was messing about on boats in Crete some weeks earlier, hopping on and off them in the sun as I visited smaller islands and lagoons, I thought of how this was a pleasure that I was paying for and wondered but how many refugees were full of fear as they boarded boats in the dark trying to arrive on Greek islands, having paid exorbitantly for the risk and the dangers.

Fearlessly. What are your worst fears?

I know, at present, many of us have fears arising out of the wars between Russia and Ukraine, the wars involving the US in Iran and the Gulf, Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, and the global insecurity created by the mercurial decision-making by the Trump regime.

As we grow up and mature, we tend to have fewer fears of the outside world, and as adults we begin to cope with the fears we once had as children, by turning threats into opportunities.

The fears I had as a child – of snakes, of the wind, of storms at sea, of lightning – are no longer the stuff of recurring nightmares they were as a child. I have learned to be cautious, to be sensible and to keep my distance, and to be in awe of God’s creation.

But most of us have recurring dreams that are vivid and that have themes that keep repeating themselves. They fall into a number of genres, and most psychotherapists identify a number of these types of dreams that most of us deal with in our sleep at various stages in adult life.

They include dreams about:

• Drowning.

• Finding myself unprepared for a major function or event, whether it is social or work-related.

• Flying or floating in the air, but then falling suddenly.

• Being caught naked in public.

• Missing a train, a bus or a plane.

• Caught in loos or lifts that do not work, or that overwork themselves.

• Calling out in a crowd but failing to vocalise my scream or not being heard in the crowd or recognised.

• Falling, falling into an abyss.

There are others. But in sleep the brain can act as a filter or filing cabinet, helping us to process, deal with and put aside what we have found difficult to understand in our waking hours, or to try to find ways of dealing with our lack of confidence, feelings of inadequacy, with the ways we confuse gaining attention with receiving love, or with our needs to be accepted, affirmed and loved.

There are two choices in the lectionary for Gospel readings at the Eucharist today: Matthew 14: 13-21, or Matthew 14: 22-36. The first choice was also the Gospel reading yesterday.

In this second, alternative Gospel reading (Matthew 14: 22-36), Saint Peter’s plight seems to be a working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type that many of us experience at some stage: 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.

Peter sees Christ walking on the lake or floating effortlessly above the water. At first, he thinks he is seeing a ghost. But then Christ calls to him, and Saint Peter responds.

Once he recognises Christ, Saint Peter gets out of the boat, starts walking on the water, and comes towards Christ. But he loses his confidence when he notices the strong wind, he is frightened, and he begins to sink.

He cries out: ‘Lord, save me.’ Christ immediately reaches out his hand and catches him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’

They get back into the boat, the wind ceases. And those in the boat worship him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’

Was the sight of Christ walking on the water an illusion?

Was Peter’s idea that he could walk on the water the product of an over-worked mind while he was sleeping?

Did he realise he was unprepared for the great encounter?

Did the wind cease when he woke from the dream?

All of these questions are over-analytical and fail to deal with the real encounter that takes place.

Even before the Resurrection, in his frailty, in his weakness, in his humble humanity, Saint Peter calls out to Christ: ‘Lord, save me’ (verse 30).

Do the others in the boat fall down at Christ’s feet and worship him because he can walk on water? Because he can lift a drowning man out of the depths? Or because they recognise that in Christ they can find the end to all their worst dreams and nightmares?

Despite the heatwaves we have been experiencing this summer, we know too, as they say, to expect the unexpected when we are on water, whether it is a river or a canal, a lake or at sea. Everyone needs to know that the weather can turn, the waters can become choppy, and this can be a frightening experience, even on rivers, close to the river bank and close to firm land.

As seasoned boat-handlers, the Disciples know not to try walking on water. They know the risk of sudden storms and swells, and they know the safety of a good boat, as long as it has a good crew.

But since the early history of the Church, the boat has symbolised the Church.

The bark (barque or barchetta) symbolises the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbour. Part of the imagery comes from the ark saving Noah’s family during the Flood (I Peter 3: 20-21). Christ protects Peter’s boat and the Disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee (see also Mark 6: 45-52; John 6 16-21). The mast forms the shape of the Cross.

It is an image that appears in Apostolic Constitutions and the writings of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. We still retain the word nave for the main part of the church, which, architecturally often looks like an up-turned boat.

So, I do would not want any of us to risk walking on water, or to play stupidly in boats on the river or on a lake, and certainly not off the coast or out to see.

But if we are to dream dreams for our parishes, for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we need to be aware that it comes at the risk of feeling our dreams may be the nightmares of others.

If we are going to dream dreams for our parishes, for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we may need to step out of our safety zones, our comfort zones, and know that this comes with a risk warning.

And if we are going to dream dreams for our parishes, for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we need to keep our eyes focussed on Christ, and to know that the Church is there to bring us on that journey.

Let us dream dreams, take risks for the Kingdom of God, step outside the box. But let us keep our eyes on Christ and remember that the boat, the Church, is essential for our journey, and let us continue to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

An icon of the Church as a boat, including Christ, the Apostles and the Church Fathers (Icon: Deacon Matthew Garrett, www.holy-icons.com)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 August 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 (2-8 August 2026, pp 24-25), is ‘Faith Under Pressure in Nicaragua’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a Reflection by the Most Revd Juan David Alvarado, Bishop of El Salvador and Primate of the Province of the Anglican Church in Central America.

The USPG prayer diary today (Monday 3 August 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, strengthen your Church in Nicaragua as it faces fear and persecution. Grant courage and protection to all who continue to witness to your truth.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
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:

Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Gracious Father,
revive your Church in our day,
and make her holy, strong and faithful,
for your glory’s sake
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Learning, or re-learning, how to row on the River Deel at Askeaton, Co Limerick

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

A morning in the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, one of the most beautiful buildings in England

The Chapel of King’s College is probably the most recognisable building in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to Cambridge this week, when I was introducing a visiting friend from Ireland to the Cambridge I have known for almost 20 years, we spent much of the morning in the chapel of King’s College, which is one of the most beautiful buildings in England.

The Chapel of King’s College is probably the most recognisable building in Cambridge and one of the finest examples of late medieval English architecture, with the world’s largest fan vault. It is a landmark that is often used as a symbol of the city of Cambridge, including the logo of Cambridge City Council.

All the guidebooks run out of superlatives to describe the richness of the interior decoration and the sumptuous flowing lines of its structure. With its soaring pinnacles, breathtaking fan vaulting, superb windows, woodwork and stonework, the chapel is the most magnificent building in Cambridge, dominating the city by its size and its beauty.

Yet tourists may too easily forget the chapel is an active place of daily worship.

King’s College, the Chapel and the Back Lawn, overlooking the River Cam, with punters on the Backs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The young Henry VI founded King’s College in 1441 as the ‘King’s College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas’. It was part of his grand scheme for a college to take graduates of Eton, founded the previous year. The chapel was intended to form one side of a grand court but the residential ranges planned for the other three sides of the court were never complete.

Henry VI compelled landowners in the town to sell him plots along the river, and he proceeded to pull down residences, shops, and even a parish church to make room for his creation. Henry intended his chapel to be without equal. He employed his royal architect, Reginald of Ely, to draw up plans for a church along the lines of a cathedral choir, and Henry laid the foundation stone of the new chapel 580 years ago, on the Feast of Saint James the Apostle, 25 July 1446.

Henry VI soon expanded his scheme, demolishing a large swathe of the town to begin a large court and chapel, and he specified the dimensions of the chapel in his will dated 12 March 1448. The chapel was built in phases by a succession of kings of England from 1448 to 1515, a period that spanned the Wars of the Roses and three subsequent decades. The chapel’s large stained glass windows were completed by 1531, and its early Renaissance pulpitum, dividing the choir from the nave, was erected in 1532-1536.

Inside the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge … the foundation stone of the new chapel 580 years ago, on the Feast of Saint James the Apostle, 25 July 1446 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Reginald of Ely continued to work there until he died in 1471, having designed the general form of the chapel and completed the eastern parts up to the transoms of the windows. The original plans called for lierne vaulting, and the piers of the choir were built to conform with them. Ely probably designed the window tracery at the far east of the chapel’s north side: the east window of the easternmost side chapel, which unlike the Perpendicular style of the others is in curvilinear Gothic style.

The pace of building was greatly reduced after the fall of Henry VI in 1461. The new king, Edward IV, starved the Lancastrian projects at King’s and Eton of funds. As a consequence, the expensive stone vault was abandoned, with a timber roof being substituted, and the grand scheme for the whole college was shelved, not to be taken up again until the 18th century.

After Reginal of Ely died, he was followed as master mason by John Wolryche, who raised the eastern parts to the heads of the windows, and Simon Clerk, who completed and roofed the five eastern bays.

Henry VII visited in 1506, paying for the work to resume and leaving money so that the work could continue after he died. Under Henry VIII, the shell of the building was completed in 1515.

In the ante-chapel in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, facing the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The chapel is 88 metres long, 12 metres in span between the piers and the vault is 24 metres high. The interior, with 12 bays, is the largest in the world covered with fan vaulting.

The fan vaulting was completed in just three years, between 1512 and 1515 by master mason John Wastell, who created the world’s largest fan vault. The vaulting is decorated with intricately carved bosses of wood and stone, featuring heraldic beasts, coats of arms and Tudor motifs.

Many religious sites suffered damage during the English Civil War as Puritans sought to remove or deface iconography they considered inappropriate. Although Parliamentarian troops stationed in Cambridge used the chapel as a training ground, the building was largely untouched. Some sources suggest that Oliver Cromwell, who had studied at Cambridge, ordered its protection. Graffiti left by soldiers can still be seen near the altar, on the north and south walls.

The Adoration of the Magi by Peter Paul Rubens was installed above the High Altar in 1968 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Above the altar is The Adoration of the Magi by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), painted in 1634 for the Convent of the White Nuns at Louvain in Belgium. The painting was installed in 1968 amid controversy over lowering the sanctuary floor leading up to the High Altar. The Tudor steps were built at the founder’s specific request that the high altar should be 3 ft above the choir floor. When the Rubens was installed beneath the east window, many critics felt there was a conflict between the colours and shape of the picture and those of the stained glass.

The windows of King’s College Chapel are some of the finest of their era. There are 12 large windows on each side of the chapel, and larger windows at the east and west ends. With the exception of the west window, they are by Flemish hands and date from 1515 to 1531.

Barnard Flower, the first non-English person appointed as the King’s Glazier, completed four windows. Galyon Hone and three partners – two English and one Flemish – are responsible for the east window and 16 others between 1526 and 1531. The final four were made by Francis Williamson and Symon Symondes. The one modern window is that in the west wall, which was donated by King’s alumnus Francis Stacey and is by Clayton and Bell and dates from 1879.

During World War II, most of this glass was placed in storage as a precautionary measure, but the chapel again avoided damage.

The pulpitum or wooden screen separating the ante-chapel from the choir and supporting the organ was erected by Henry VIII to celebrate his marriage to Anne Boleyn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The large wooden screen separating the ante-chapel from the choir and supporting the organ was erected in 1532-1536 by Henry VIII to celebrate his marriage to Anne Boleyn. The screen is an example of early Renaissance architecture and a striking contrast to the Perpendicular Gothic Chapel. The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner said it is ‘the most exquisite piece of Italian decoration surviving in England’.

The brass lectern, surmounted with a small figure of Henry VI, was a gift of Robert Hacumblen, Provost in 1509-1528.

The Tudor choir stalls were made by Peter the Carver, who was also responsible for the screen. The canopies were added in the 17th century.

The poet Rupert Brooke is among the names of the war dead inscribed on the wall of the chapel of All Souls (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The chapel of All Souls on the south side was converted in the 1920s into a chapel that remembers the dead of World War I and World War II. The names inscribed on the wall include the poet Rupert Brooke.

Saint Edward’s Chapel on the north side is available for private prayer and contemplation. It includes a Madonna in the Rosary by the Westphalian painter Gert van Lon (ca 1512-1520). Other side chapels house exhibition on the history of the chapel.

The chapel has splendid acoustics and is also the venue for some concerts and college events. Services are sung by King's College Choir from Tuesdays to Sundays, and on Mondays by the college’s mixed-voice choir, King’s Voices. Evensong is at 5:30 except on Sundays, when Evensong is at 3:30. The Sung Eucharist on Sundays is at 10:30. Sir Stephen Cleobury was the director of music for the choir from 1982 until shortly before he died in 2019.

The Madonna in the Rosary in Saint Edward’s Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Eric Milner Milner-White (1884-1963), who was the Dean of King’s College, Cambridge from 1918 to 1941, introduced the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols to the chapel. It was first broadcast in 1928 and has become a major part of the BBC’s Christmas schedule.

The Christmas Eve Carol Service or the Festival of the Nine Lessons and Carol Service has been an annual event in the chapel since in 1918. It is broadcast live around the world, and people queue from 11 am for the service at 3 pm service. The BBC has broadcast this service from the chapel each year, and it opens with a solo treble singing the first verse of Cecil Alexander’s ‘Once in Royal David’s City’.

Milner-White was also instrumental in inspiring the composer Herbert Howells to write his Collegium Regale service settings in 1941.

The Revd Canon Dr Hueston Finlay has been the Dean of King’s College since 26 January 2026. He was born in Portlaoise, went to school at Wesley College Dublin and has degrees in engineering and theology from Trinity College, Dublin and a PhD from King’s College, London. He has been the Dean of Magdalene College Cambridge (1995-2004), Vice-Dean of Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle (2004-2025), and Treasurer of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin (2011). The Revd Mary Kells has been the chaplain since 2021.

A small figure of Henry VI, the founder of King's College, surmounts the lectern in the Choir (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A walking tour of the Cambridge I know for 20 years, with its cafés, colleges, chapels, and the Cam

Walking along the backs in Cambridge this week, with views of the chapel of King’s College and the buildings of Clare College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I spent a day in Cambridge earlier this week, meeting a friend from Ireland who has been staying in Saint John’s College and taking a short top-up course in theology organised by the Diocese of Ely.

Cambridge is always beautiful in the sunshine, even if it is suffering under the crush of over-tourism. The weight of tourism means many colleges have signs saying they are closed to visitors, even though this is the height of the tourist season and the pressures of exams and graduations have passed.

Still, it was good to introduce my friend to the Cambridge that I have known so well for almost 20 years and still feel a part of.

We met at the train station, walked along Station Road and Hills Road back into the centre of Cambridge and stopped for a long coffee and the opportunity to catch up on old times before beginning our walk around Cambridge in earnest.

First Court and the chapel in Christ’s College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

We had dropped into Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church, and had glimpses of Downing and Emmanuel, of Parker’s Piece and of Saint Andrew’s Baptist Church. But our first real stopping point was Christ’s College, where the castle-like gatehouse on Saint Andrew’s Street has had its vibrant colours and paintwork repainted in a project that was completed in 2018.

The statue of the college founder, Lady Margaret Beaufort, has been spruced up too, although the tourists peering into First Court were more image in the plaque with an image of Charles Darwin, a former undergraduate. I tried to explain how I once, in vain, searched for the supposed links between Darwin and the Comberford family, but recalled how it is said that even before the chapel was consecrated Lady Margaret heard Mass from a gallery now represented by a window in the south wall of the chapel, although the chapel was not formally consecrated until a year after her death.

I preached in the chapel and was a visiting lecturer in Christ’s College in 2009, and I stayed there again the following year before taking part in the summer school at Sidney Sussex College organised by the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies.

From Christ’s College, we strolled along Petty Curry into Market Square, then along Peas Hill and into Saint Edward’s Passage to see David’s Bookshop, the most charming bookshop in England, and Saint Edward’s Church where they recently marked the 500th anniversary of the sermon by Robert Barnes at midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1525 that is said to have sparked the Reformation in England.

Inside the chapel at King’s College, Cambride (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

On King’s Parade we gave the tourist shops a healthy miss and instead looked at the Senate House, Great Saint Mary’s, the University Church, and Gonville and Gaius College, turning into Senate House Passage, and passing Trinity Hall and Clare College, where I have also stayed, to visit King’s College.

There we spent some time admiring King’s Chapel, and, although it thronged with tourists there were quiet places to sit and reflect, think and pray, and to talk quietly.

We strolled through Back Lawn, filled with wild flowers and still without its summer mowing, and walked along the Backs and the banks of the Cam, crossing King’s College Bridge to enjoy views of the punters on the river – some with copious supplies of Pimm’s – and to catch a glimpse of Clare Bridge, where one of the 14 decorative stone balls is missing a neatly sliced wedge or segment.

Cambridge lore says the builder cut out the wedge in a pay dispute or to avoid taxes, but the true explanation is probably that it is a weathered repair.

The Corpus Clock, where the Grasshopper is eating up time (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

We walked back through Front Court onto King’s Parade, where we watched the Corpus Clock, unveiled by Stephen Hawking, where the Chronophage or the Grasshopper clock is eating up time.

We had to step into the Eagle, where Crick and Watson announced in 1953 announced they had discovered the ‘Secret of Life’ or the double helix structure of DNA, and then visited Saint Bene’t’s Church which, for the years I was following courses with IOCS at Sidney Sussex College, was almost like a parish church for me.

We were soon back on Margaret Street, and we skipped through Market Passage with its associations with Oliver Cromwell, to see Sidney Sussex College, where lingering wisteria is still trailing over the wall onto Sidney Street. Walking through Sussex Street and the commercial developments owned by Sidney Sussex, we ended up the corner of King Street and Hobson Street, and shared stories of the ways in life we have often been confronted a ‘Hobson’s Choice’ – take it or leave it.

Bikes and cyclists at on Sidney Street at Sidney Sussex College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A long and lengthy late lunch in King Street Brewhouse provided more opportunities to catch up on life in Ireland, England and further life, to talk about church life, teaching, theology, journalism and families, and compared notes about working visits to and time in different parts of Europe and Africa.

With Sidney Sussex to our left, we cut along Malcolm Street to Westcott House, where we compared theological education in Ireland and England, had a glimpse of All Saints’ Church, and crossed Jesus Lane to a warm welcome in Jesus College.

On Jesus Lane, we looked at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies and Wesley House, both now within the ambit of Jesus College, and walked on past Little Trinity, the ADC Theatre, home of the the Cambridge Footlights, whose members came to dominate British comedy in the 1970s, the 1980s, and beyond, and we peered into the former Pitt Club, now a Japanese restaurant.

Punters on the Cam below Magdalene Bridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

We squeezed our way along Bridge Street, with the Round Church, the side of Saint John’s College and Saint Clement’s, where we turned in to picturesque Portugal Place, where returning Jews first settled in Cambridge in the 17th century. We ended up back at the Cam and Magdalene Bridge, by Magdalene College. Our time had run out, and we never even considered the offers of taking a short journey on a punt on the Cam.

Cambridge had been beautiful in this July sunshine. In the throngs of tourists, I did not see myself as a tourist or visitor, even for a moment, but felt I was back in the Cambridge I have known and that has been part of me for almost 20 years.

I had shown my friend my Cambridge and the Cambridge that John Betjeman describes as ‘The white of windy Cambridge courts, the cobbles brown and dry’, where choirs and organs join to ‘praise Eternity contained in Time and coloured glass.’ Walking back to catch a train home at the end of my Odyssey in Cambridge and feeling wistful, I could not but have another look at Sidney Sussex College and its glorious wisteria.

I should get back more often. And I should write more about those colleges, chapels and the Cam in the days to come.

A wistful look at the wisteria at Sidney Sussex before leaving Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

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

Praying in Ordinary Time with USPG and TS Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’: Thursday 10 November 2022

‘Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell’ (TS Eliot, ‘The Waste Land’) … a gull by the sea in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher of the Faith, 461 (10 November 2022).

Leo the Great became pope in the year 440 and twice proved his bravery in saving the citizens of Rome from the invading barbarians. He was an eloquent and wise preacher, using simple gospel texts to proclaim the Christian faith. His administrative skills were unrivalled and he used the resources of the Church for the good of the people. Rather than further confuse Christians by entering into the controversy over the person of Christ, Leo spoke simply of the humility of Christ who was divine and human in his compassion, uniting biblical images in prayer rather than dividing in debate. Leo died on this day in the year 461.

Later this morning, I have a medical appointment and tests for my B12 deficiency. But, before this day gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

Throughout this week, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, A reflection based on TS Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land,’ first published 100 years ago, in 1922;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

‘Forgot … the profit and loss’ (TS Eliot, ‘The Waste Land’) … the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange in the City of London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 17: 20-25 (NRSVA):

20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21 nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’

22 Then he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation.’

‘He passed the stages of his age and youth / Entering the whirlpool’ (TS Eliot, ‘The Waste Land’) … Byron’s Pool by the River Cam in Grantchester, near Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Waste Land 4: ‘Death by Water’

TS Eliot published ‘The Waste Land’ in 1922, the same year as James Joyce published Ulysses. The poem includes well-known phrases such as ‘April is the cruellest month,’ and ‘I will show you fear in a handful of dust.’ Recent studies see in ‘The Waste Land’ a description of Eliot’s pilgrimage from the Unitarianism of his childhood to his life-lasting Anglo-Catholicism.

‘The Waste Land’, which I am reflecting on throughout this week, was first published 100 years ago at the end in 1922. It is a masterpiece of modern literature and one of the greatest poems in the English language. Its opening lines are often quoted, even by people who have never read all five sections and 434 lines of the poem.

‘The Waste Land’ was published in Eliot’s The Criterion in October 1922. It was then published in the US in the November issue of The Dial, and was published in book form in December 1922.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Waste Land in 1922, I am dipping in and out of the five sections of The Waste Land in this prayer diary each day this week. ‘The Waste Land’ is divided into five sections:

1, ‘The Burial of the Dead’, introduces the diverse themes of disillusionment and despair.

2, ‘A Game of Chess’, employs alternating narrations, in which vignettes of several characters address those themes experientially.

3, ‘The Fire Sermon’, offers a philosophical meditation in relation to the imagery of death and views of self-denial in juxtaposition, influenced by Augustine of Hippo and Eastern religions.

4, ‘Death by Water’, includes a brief lyrical petition.

5, ‘What the Thunder Said’, the culminating fifth section, concludes with an image of judgment.

At a mere ten lines, ‘Death by Water’ is the fourth and shortest of the five sections of ‘The Waste Land.’ Compare this with the section before it, ‘The Fire Sermon’, which is 234 lines and accounts for more than half the entire poem.

But ‘Death by Water’ is also the most organised and structured of the five sections of ‘The Waste Land.’ The alliteration and the deliberately archaic language also contribute to the serious, didactic feel of this section.

‘Death by Water’ describes Phlebas the Phoenician who has died, apparently by drowning. In death he has forgotten his worldly cares as the creatures of the sea have picked his body apart. The narrator asks his reader to consider Phlebas and recall his or her own mortality.

The original draft of ‘Death by Water’ was much longer, with Eliot’s draft involving a crew of men at sea and the ensuing shipwreck. It culminates in the description of the dead Phoenician sailor, Phlebas, which is the only surviving part of the original draft.

Trade and finance are part and parcel of ‘The Waste Land,’ with numerous financially significant allusions. When he was writing ‘The Waste Land’, Eliot was a clerk in Lloyd’s Bank in the City of London. Perhaps Phlebas the Phoenician is a trader too: in death, he forgets ‘profit and loss’.

Profit and loss; life and death. ‘Death by Water’ turns on pairings that are joined by ‘and’ or ‘or’, as if to suggest the bobbing of the waves … ‘gulls and sea’ … ‘profit and loss’ … ‘rose and fell’ … ‘age and youth’ … ‘Gentile or Jew’ … ‘handsome and tall’ … death renders immaterial all pairs of opposites or differences.

All opposites or differences are abolished for Christians too, for as the Apostle Paul says: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatian 3: 28).

Perhaps too in this passage Eliot is also contemplating his future conversion, when he turns from the Unitarianism of his childhood to Anglo-Catholicism, and his future Baptism, for Saint Paul describes the waters of Baptism and as death and rising to new life in Christ: ‘Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life’ (Romans 6: 4).

Death by Water, TS Eliot, ‘The Waste Land’

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

‘Gentile or Jew’ (TS Eliot, ‘The Waste Land’) … East End Jews portrayed in a painting by Dan Jones in the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine, Limehouse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer (Thursday 10 November 2022):

The Collect:

God our Father,
who made your servant Leo strong in the defence of the faith:
fill your Church with the spirit of truth
that, guided by humility and governed by love,
she may prevail against the powers of evil;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Leo to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘A New Commandment.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Sue Claydon, chair of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship.

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

Strengthen us to stand for all that is just and true and right. We pray for the Anglican Peace and Justice Network.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

A feature on TS Eliot in ‘Koinonia’ magazine

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

From Cambridge to Cappoquin, an Irish enthusiasm for rowing

Jesus College Boat Club, Cambridge … a photograph used in a fundraising brochure (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The performance of Irish rowers at the European championships in Varese this April has been a sporting triumph that has been overshadowed in sports coverage by Rachel Blackmore’s string of racing successes.

At an international level, the Irish performance at soccer is greatly overshadowed by the performance of Irish teams in other disciplines, including rugby, cricket and rowing. Yet soccer seems to dominate weekend sports coverage in Irish newspapers and on television.

Perhaps this reflects the childhood obsessions of many sports journalists and commissioning editors, and boyhood fascinations with English soccer. I have been an Aston Villa fan since my childhood, but I would prefer to spend a lazy weekend afternoon watching rugby, cricket or rowing.

My clerical colleagues know what it is to crash out on the sofa on the afternoon of Easter Day. This year, that afternoon was all the more enjoyable for me because it coincided with the Boat Race, which was a double success for Cambridge, with the men winning the race for the third consecutive year and the women winning earlier in the afternoon.

The Cambridge teams had to learn to adapt to an unfamiliar training programme, continuing to make physiological and technical improvements despite being unable to train on the water or in the Goldie Boathouse gym. For the majority of the team, lockdowns meant carrying out the programme alone, often in their bedrooms.

Sidney Sussex shares a boathouse in Cambridge with Girton, Corpus Christi and Wolfson (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

***

The Boat Race is one of the major events in the English sporting calendar, alongside the Aintree Grand National and the FA Cup Final, test matches at Lords and rugby internationals at Twickenham. Yet, it was difficult to find any substantial coverage in Irish newspapers the following day.

One Irish journalist based her report on television coverage and said the venue ‘looked a little bit like a weedy canal in the middle of nowhere. The Great Ouse in Ely, Cambridgeshire, to be exact, but that’s sort of the same thing.’

Ely Cathedral is one of the seven wonders of the mediaeval world and is referred to with affection as ‘the Ship of the Fens.’ But cultural prejudice and historical ignorance trumped any appropriate sporting journalism that morning.

I sometimes think anti-English racism is the only permissible form of openly expressed prejudice in Ireland. Those thoughts were confirmed as the writer amused herself by observing how ‘the organisers didn’t want a heap of Barnabys, Marmadukes, Montagues and Hugos tumbling into the river as the race passed underneath.’

Had she written in the same tones about working class supporters of Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium, it would have been easy to name and shame the prejudice.

Present and recent Cambridge alumni include: Archbishop John Neill, Archbishop Michael Jackson and Bishop Kenneth Kearon; President Erskine Childers (Trinity), the late Brian Lenihan (Sidney Sussex) and Jim O’Callaghan (Sidney Sussex). Martin Mansergh’s father, Professor Nicholas Mansergh, was the Master of Saint John’s College, Cambridge. Famously, Charles Stuart Parnell became involved in brawls with fellow undergraduates when he refused to pay his membership fees for Magdalene Boat Club.

Ely Cathedral is known affectionately as ‘the Ship of the Fens’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

From the Backs to
the ‘Old Dark Blues’

When I first arrived at Sidney Sussex College in my mid-50s in 2008 to study through the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, I thought, perhaps, I was too old to inquire about the facilities at the boat clubs. But I have enjoyed walking along the Backs and was honoured some years ago when one of my photographs was used in a brochure to find sponsors for Jesus College Boat Club.

This enthusiasm for rowing was first nurtured in my childhood in West Waterford, when I enjoyed the attractions of Cappoquin Rowing Club, ‘the Old Dark Blues,’ on the bend on the River Blackwater.

Cappoquin Rowing Club was founded in 1862, making it one of Ireland’s oldest clubs and Cappoquin’s oldest sporting and social organisation. Sir John Henry Keane of Cappoquin House was the club’s first president – and there lies another Cambridge link. He had captained the Trinity Boat at Cambridge three decades earlier and had rowed for Cambridge in 1836. Oxford were the favourites that year, but Cambridge won by four lengths.

Sir John Keane laid the foundations of the Cappoquin Rowing Club, and the first clubhouse was built in 1875. Cappoquin joined other clubs in the 1880s in establishing the Irish Amateur Rowing Association, and the Irish Amateur Rowing Union was founded in 1899.

A later clubhouse in 1910 was financed substantially by the Villiers-Stuart family of Dromana House. The present boathouse is the third on the site, but incorporates parts of the previous buildings, including the overhanging wooden balcony.

Later in the 20th century, Sir Richard Keane brought over Hugo Pitman, one of Oxford’s best-known oarsmen and twice captain of an Oxford boat that beat Cambridge, to help coach the successful McGrath eight.

Cappoquin Rowing Club, ‘the Old Dark Blues’ … founded in 1862 and one of Ireland’s oldest clubs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

***

A plaque at the steps above the clubhouse celebrates Charles Orr Stanley (1899-1969), a patron of Cappoquin rowing and a son of one of the founders of the club. Stanley was a successful businessman who lived in Cambridge, where he farmed and was a director of the Pye multinational.

In the 1960s, Pye also took over Banhams on a site next to Elizabeth Way Bridge on the River Cam. Banhams had been boat builders for over 100 years.

At the time, Cambridge had 28 college clubs and 22 clubs had their boats built by Banhams, who also built the boats for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Stanley brought the finances of the Cambridge University Boat Club from a state of disaster to the one of keen health it has enjoyed ever since.

Those childhood days in Cappoquin have a natural continuity with my walks along the banks of the Cam in recent years, and along the River Liffey between Islandbridge and Chapelizod.

Since moving to Askeaton, I have been happy to be part of the Desmond Rowing Club on the banks of the River Deel. Limerick is richly endowed with boat clubs, and Limerick rowing, like Limerick rugby, is a sport that breaks down all social barriers.

Dublin University Boat Club … Caoimhe Dempsey came to rowing at Trinity College Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A shared experience
on the River Cam

Irish women rowers have been as successful as their male colleagues. Caoimhe Dempsey from Wicklow was in the Cambridge women’s blue boat this year that won the fourth consecutive victory for Cambridge.

Caoimhe Dempsey is from a sporting background: her mother was a hill runner who represented Ireland, and her grandmother played hockey for Ireland. She tried many sports, including GAA, hurling, hockey and tennis, and came to rowing at Trinity College Dublin where she was part of the senior team.

As well as rowing for Trinity and for Cambridge, Caoimhe Dempsey has also represented Ireland, winning a gold medal in the under-23 European Championships. This is the second consecutive year she was selected for the Blue Boat: she was selected for the Blue Boat last year before the race was cancelled because of the pandemic.

Dempsey told Cambridge 105 Radio that she was encouraged to come to Cambridge after seeing previous Trinity alumni she had raced with also make it there. Among them were her first novice coach, Susannah Cass, who had previously competed in the Boat Race for Cambridge, and Sally O’Brien, former captain of DULBC.

Caoimhe is now a post-graduate student at Newnham College, Cambridge, working on a PhD in developmental psychology, having arrived in Cambridge to work on an MPhil in developmental and child psychology.

Eimear Lambe, who was one of the Irish four who won silver in the women’s four A final at Varese this April, is a younger sister of the Irish Olympian Claire Lambe from Cabra, Dublin, who was a member of the Cambridge crew in the Women’s Boat Race in 2017.

Claire Lambe partnered Sinéad Lynch in the Ireland lightweight double that took sixth in the Rio Olympics and was the No 3 seat for Cambridge in the Boat Races in 2017. Claire Lambe rowed with Commercial in Dublin and UCD, and raced in the Corcoran Cup.

Claire Lambe was studying for an MPhil degree in engineering and sustainable development at Cambridge when she became the first Ireland international to win the women’s Boat Race. That year, the Cambridge women’s crew set a new record (18 minutes 34 seconds).

Neptune and Commercial on the banks of the Liffey … Claire Lambe of Cambridge rowed with Commercial (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

***

The Cambridge coach Rob Baker was a former Ireland under-23 coach. Since 2018, he has been the chief coach of the Cambridge University Boat Club.

The Cambridge University Boat Club was founded in 1828. It issued a challenge in early 1829 to Oxford University to row a boat race and the first Boat Race took place that year.

Last year, the three historic university boat clubs – the Boat Club, the Women’s Boat Club and the Lightweight Rowing Club – merged in the Cambridge University Boat Club. The clubs had already been working together, sharing facilities and other resources, and in some cases training together. This now one club, bringing all the best of the three previous clubs together, sharing resources, knowledge and experience.

Enjoying rowing on the River Deel with Desmond Rowing Club in Askeaton

This two-page feature was first published in the May 2021 edition of the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough), pp 10-11.

Lady Margaret Beaufort, a patron of colleges and theology and one-time resident of Woking

A portrait of Lady Margaret Beaufort from the Master’s Lodge in Saint John’s College, Cambridge

Patrick Comerford

I spent two working days in Woking this week, taking part in the annual residential meeting of the the trustees of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). Despite my plans, I never managed to get to see the ruins of Woking Palace, the residence of many royal favourites until it fell into ruins in the mid-17th century. But perhaps its most interesting resident, and the one with any theological interest, was Lady Margaret Beaufort who acquired it with the third of her four husbands, Sir Henry Stafford, by royal grant in 1466.

Lady Margaret Beaufort (1441/1443-1509) was the mother of Henry VII and grandmother of Henry VIII. Although she was never a queen or a princess, the historical novelist Philippa Gregory has labelled her the ‘Red Queen.’ She rose to prominence through astute marriages and careful manoeuvring through courts and politics during the War of the Roses, and could be described as the matriarch of the House of Tudor.

But she also founded many educational and religious institutions. She established the Lady Margaret’s Professorship of Divinity at the University of Cambridge in 1502. That year, she also endowed a lectureship in divinity at the University of Oxford, first held by John Roper. It became the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity, held with a canonship at Christ Church, Oxford.

She was also responsible for establishing two Cambridge colleges. In 1505 she refounded and enlarged God’s House as Christ’s College, Cambridge, with a royal charter from the king, and has been honoured ever since as the Foundress of the College. Saint John’s College, Cambridge, was founded by her estate in 1511, either at her direct behest or at the suggestion of her chaplain, John Fisher. Land that she owned around Great Bradley in Suffolk was bequeathed to Saint John’s.

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, the first Oxford college to admit women, was founded in 1878 and is named after her. There is a statue of her in the college chapel.

The Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology (MBIT) in Cambridge is a Roman Catholic offering transformative experiences for its students. It is based at Lady Margaret Beaufort Convent, Grange Road, Cambridge. Its primary mission is to educate and theologically empower women in the Church. It also provides a space for theological reflection and spiritual formation. It is a member of the Cambridge Theological Federation (CTF).

She founded a school in Wimborne that later to became Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wimborne Minster. Margaret Beaufort Middle School in Riseley, Bedfordshire, near her birthplace, is also named after her.

Lady Margaret Beaufort’s coat of arms on the gatehouse at Christ’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Lady Margaret was born at Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire, on 31 May in either 1441 or 1443. She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (1404-1444), a legitimised grandson of John of Gaunt – 1st Duke of Lancaster and third surviving son of King Edward III – and his mistress Katherine Swynford.

Margaret was married four times. She was first married to John de la Pole in 1444, when she was perhaps a year old but certainly no more than three. But she never recognised this marriage, it was dissolved and King Henry VI granted her wardship to his own half-brothers, Jasper and Edmund Tudor. In her will 1472, she refers to Edmund Tudor as her first husband. Under canon law, Margaret was not bound by the marriage contract as she was entered into the marriage before reaching the age of 12.

Even before the annulment of her first marriage, Henry VI chose Margaret as a bride for his half-brother, Edmund Tudor. Edmund was the eldest son Owen Tudor and the king’s mother, Catherine of Valois.

Margaret was 12 when she married the 24-year-old Edmund Tudor on 1 November 1455. The Wars of the Roses had just broken out and Edmund, a Lancastrian, was taken prisoner by Yorkist forces within a year. He died of the plague in captivity at Carmarthen on 3 November 1456, leaving a 13-year-old widow who was seven months pregnant with their child.

Margaret was taken into the care of her brother-in-law, Jasper Tudor, at Pembroke Castle, and there she gave birth on 28 January 1457 to her only child, Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII. The birth was particularly difficult, because of her age and her size, and she never gave birth to another child.

From the age of two, Henry lived with his father’s family in Wales, and from 14 he lived in exile in France.

On 3 January 1458, still a teenager, the widowed Margaret married her third husband, Sir Henry Stafford (1425-1471), son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. They were second cousins, and they moved into Woking Palace which she restored.

Stafford died in 1471 of wounds at the Battle of Barnet, fighting for the Yorkists. At 28, Margaret was a widow once again.

The gatehouse at Saint John’s College is similar in many ways to its counterpart at Christ’s College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Her fourth marriage was with Thomas Stanley, the Lord High Constable and King of Mann in 1472. At first, this was a marriage of convenience, and Margaret may have never seen herself as a member of the Stanley family. But this marriage allowed her to return to the court of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, and she was chosen by Queen Elizabeth as the godmother to one of her daughters.

With Edward IV’s death and the seizure of the throne by Richard III, Margaret was soon back at court, working with the new queen, Anne Neville. But Richard III then stripped her of all her titles and estates, stopping short of a full attainder by transferring her property to her husband.

Meanwhile, Margaret was secretly plotting with the dowager queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and was probably involved in Buckingham’s rebellion. It was presumed that Queen Elizabeth’s sons, the Princes in the Tower, had been murdered, it was agreed that Margaret’s son, Henry, would be betrothed to Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Elizabeth and Edward IV. This created a marriage alliance with potential to attract support from both Yorkists and Lancastrians.

Margaret’s husband Thomas Stanley had fought for Richard III in the Buckingham rebellion. But he did not respond to the call to fight at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and remained aloof from the battle, even though his eldest son, George Stanley, was held hostage by Richard III.

After Bosworth, Stanley placed the crown on the head of his stepson, Henry VII, who later made him Earl of Derby. Margaret was then styled Countess of Richmond and Derby and assumed the title of the King’s Mother.

Lady Margaret Beaufort’s statue on the gatehouse at Christ’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Later in her marriage, Margaret preferred living alone, and she took a vow of chastity in 1499 in the presence of Richard FitzJames, Bishop of London. She moved away from her husband and lived alone at Collyweston, Northamptonshire, near Stamford. She renewed those vows in 1504.

Margaret translated and published one of the most widely read devotional texts of all time, the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. She was a sponsor of the printer Caxton and was, therefore, a major supporter of the new media of her day.

She died in the Deanery at Westminster Abbey on 29 June 1509. This was the day after her grandson’s 18th birthday, and just over two months after the death of her son. John Fisher preached the sermon at her funeral. She is buried in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey. Her tomb is now located between the later graves of William III and Mary II and the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots.

Erasmus wrote the Latin inscription on her tomb: ‘Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, grandmother of Henry VIII, who donated funds for three monks of this abbey, a grammar school in Wimborne, a preacher in the whole of England, two lecturers in Scripture, one at Oxford, the other at Cambridge, where she also founded two colleges, one dedicated to Christ, and the other to St John, the Evangelist.’

Lady Margaret Beuafort’s coat of arms at the gatehouse at Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Chapel of Christ’s College was consecrated on or around 1 June 1510 by the then Bishop of Ely, James Stanley, a stepson of Lady Margaret Beaufort. A pious woman, it is said that even before the chapel was consecrated she heard Mass from a gallery now represented by a window in the south wall of the chapel, although the chapel was not formally consecrated until a year after her death.

Her portraits hang in the Great Halls and other college rooms at both Christ’s College and Saint John’s College, Cambridge. Both colleges use her heraldic arms and motto as their own. The Lady Margaret Society and the Beaufort Club at Christ’s, and the Lady Margaret Boat Club at Saint John’s are named after her.

According to Cambridge myth, the name Lady Margaret was adopted after the Saint John’s Boat Club was banned from using that name. However, the club was probably named after its boat, as was custom in the formative years of college rowing. The alumni race as Lady Somerset Boat Club.

Her son was Henry VII of England. His first parliament recognised her right to hold property independently from her husband, as if she were unmarried. Henry VIII often visited Woking Palace and throughout his reign it underwent regular maintenance as well as some alterations. But i never got to see its ruins this week.

Lady Margaret Boat Club in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)