Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (151) 26 October 2023

The Duomo or Cathedral of Taormina in Sicily is dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Bari and dates from the 13th and 14th centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XX, 22 October 2023). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (26 October 2023) remembers Alfred the Great (899), King of the West Saxons, Scholar, and Saint Cedd (644), Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons.

Before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

My reflections on the Week of Prayer for World Peace concluded on Sunday, and my reflections each morning for the rest of this week are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a church or cathedral in Sicily;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside the Duomo or Cathedral of Taormina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Taormina, Sicily:

Taormina is a small hill-top city on the east coast of Sicily. It predates the time when ancient Greeks established their first colony in Magna Graecia in Sicily in 734 BCE. The ancient theatre of Taormina may have been rebuilt by the Romans on the foundations of an older theatre of the Greek period.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Taormina continued to be one of the more important towns of the island and, like the rest of Sicily, it was ruled by successive foreign monarchs. After Italian unification, Taormina began to attract well-off tourists from northern Europe, and the coastal resort of Giardini Naxos is nearby. The beaches on the Ionian sea, including Isola Bella, are accessible by an aerial tramway built in 1992. Taormina hosted the G7 summit in 2017.

The Duomo or Cathedral of Taormina is dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Bari and dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. It stands on the site of an earlier church also dedicated to Saint Nicholas and was rebuilt in the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries.

The cathedral is one of the mediaeval buildings of Taormina and is built in the Sicilian Romanesque-Gothic style with large stone blocks. It looks more like a fortress than a church, with its austere stone façade, its crowning battlements and its massive bell tower.

The façade has a large rose window made of Syracuse stone with excellent workmanship. There are two other rose windows on the sides of the church.

The main door, between two 15th-century windows, was rebuilt in 1636. At each side of the main door are two fluted columns in Corinthian style rising from high bases. There is a broken pediment over the lintel, and above the capitals of the columns are the faces of two angels.

Each doorjamb bears 11 carved figures of saints with their symbols. These 22 characters include Saint Peter (keys), Saint Paul (sword) King David (harp), Saint Mark (winged lion), Saint John (eagle), Saint Luke (winged ox) and Saint Matthew (angel). Identifying the other saints and apostles is not always simple or obvious.

At the top of each side of the marble frame are two bishops with mitre and pastoral staff: Saint Nicholas, the titular saint of the cathedral, and Saint Pancras, the patron of Taormina.

The side doors belong to different periods: the left door dates from the 15th century and presents an image of Saint Peter and Saint Paul with Christ in blessing in the architrave; the right door has images from 1500.

Inside, the duomo is in the shape of a Latin cross, with three naves and three apses. The nave is supported by six columns of pink Taormina marble, with capitals with leaf motifs and fish scales. Four of these marble columns are made from single blocks of marble or monoliths and it is thought the columns came from the Greek-Roman theatre of Taormina.

The ceiling has large wooden beams with carved shelves and Arab motifs in a Gothic style.

There are side chapels at each side of the main altar: the Baroque chapel of the Holy Sacrament on the left dates from the late 17th century; the Chapel of Our Lady of Graces on the right was rebuilt in 1747 reusing materials of a demolished Gothic chapel of Saint Peter fuori le mura in Taormina.

In the right nave, a depiction of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary with Saint Joseph and Saint Zechariah was painted by Antonino Giuffré in 1463.

A polyptych in the same nave is by Antonello de Saliba (1504). The first panel depicts the Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint Sebastian; the second panel depicts the Pietà with Saint Lucy of Syracuse and Saint Agatha; and the panel below depicts the Last Supper. The Polyptych is from the former Church of San Sebastiano, used by the Augustinian friars, in Piazza IX Aprile.

One of the most precious and oldest treasures in the cathedral is a Byzantine icon of Madonna, covered with a layer of silver encrusted with semi-precious stones.
In the left nave is an image of the Enthroned Virgin and Child between Saint John the Baptist and the Prophet Elia. The lunette depicts the Eternal Father and the Crucifixion, painted on wood by Alfonso Franco (16th century).

In the right nave, close to the entrance, is a statue of Saint Agatha, by Martino Montanini (16th century). The statue was originally in Church of Sant’Agata in the Dominican convent, destroyed by bombing on 9 July 1943.

The cathedral was fully restored in 1945-1948 by the Neapolitan architect Armando Dillon, who strengthened the whole building and brought to light the early structures of the arches of the apses, hidden under Baroque stucco work. He also entirely rebuilt the original roof terraces on the aisles.

Pope John Paul II gave the cathedral the status of a minor basilica in 1980.

The central, paired position of the Duomo and the Palazzo dei Giurati in the square symbolises the relationship between the religious and civil power in mediaeval Sicily.

The 17th-century Baroque fountain in the square in front of the Duomo is built on circular steps surrounded by four pretty side fountains. In the centre of the fountain, the crowned centaur, the symbol of the city of Taormina, holds the world in his left hand and the sceptre of command in the right hand.

The six columns in the nave of the duomo are thought to come from the Greek-Roman theatre of Taormina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 12: 49-53 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

The baptismal font in the duomo in Taormina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers: USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Praying for Peace.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a prayer written by the Revd Tuomas Mäkipää, Chaplain of Saint Nicholas.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (26 October 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for churches that are in and surround conflict areas. May they be beacons of God’s love and peace, providing hope for all.

The Collect:

God, our maker and redeemer,
we pray you of your great mercy
and by the power of your holy cross
to guide us by your will and to shield us from our foes:
that, after the example of your servant Alfred,
we may inwardly love you above all things;
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 our redeemer,
who inspired Alfred to witness to your love
and to work for the coming of your kingdom:
may we, who in this sacrament share the bread of heaven,
be fired by your Spirit to proclaim the gospel in our daily living
and never to rest content until your kingdom come,
on earth as it is in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The 17th-century Baroque fountain in the square in front of the Duomo, with a crowned centaur, the symbol of the city of Taormina (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

The cathedral can look more like a fortress than a church, with its austere stone façade, its crowning battlements and its massive bell tower (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (150) 25 October 2023

Santa Lucia alla Badia, a baroque-style church near the Cathedral of Syracuse, is said to stand on the site where Saint Lucy was martyred (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XX, 22 October 2023). The Church Calendar today (25 October 2023) remembers Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian (ca 287), Martyrs at Rome.

Before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

My reflections on the Week of Prayer for World Peace concluded on Sunday, and my reflections each morning for the rest of this week are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a church or cathedral in Sicily;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Santa Lucia alla Badia and the Cathedral of Syracuse (left) on the Piazza Duomo on the island of Ortigia in the historic centre of Syracuse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Santa Lucia alla Badia, Syracuse:

Santa Lucia alla Badia is a baroque-style church on the south corner of the Piazza Duomo, close the Cathedral of Syracuse, on the island of Ortigia in the historic centre of the city in Sicily. The church and former convent next door are now the venue for exhibitions and functions.

Saint Lucy was a third century martyr from Syracuse whose feast day is celebrated on 13 December. She is known as the protector of eyes. The church is said to stand on the site where Saint Lucy was martyred.

The church and the Benedictine convent have been on the site since at least by the mid-15th century, under the patronage or Queen Isabella of Spain. There is no documentation on the church and convent before her reign, and she may have only refurbished them.

From the mid-15th century the church and convent played an important place in the life of the city, because of its position in Ortigia and because of its connection with Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Syracuse.

Caravaggio’s painting the ‘Burial of Saint Lucy’ was originally painted for the Church of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro. It was moved to this church for a time, and is one of the last works by Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), known as Caravaggio.

Caravaggio spent the last three tragic years of his life in Sicily, having fled Malta. During this brief period, he was commissioned to paint the ‘Burial of Santa Lucy,’ and he completed the work in just over a month. It is possible to interpret the work as autobiographical, with the artist trying to bury his tormented pain with the saint’s body.

The church is also associated with a miracle in 1646 attributed to Saint Lucy. During a time of famine, a large crowd gathered to pray to Saint Lucy, when a dove alighted on the bishop’s throne, announcing the arrival of ships with a cargo of food, which the crew exchanged for hospitality.

For centuries, on the first Sunday of every May, the nuns in the convent celebrated the festival of the ‘Quails of Santa Lucia’ (Santa Lucia delle Quaglie), when the nuns released doves and quails from the balcony of the church. A modified ceremony is still re-enacted in the Piazza del Duomo during the Festa di Santa Lucia in December.

The convent and church were destroyed by the earthquake that devastated Sicily in 1693. The original façade may have been part of an east-west orientation of the church, overlooking the narrow Via Picherali. The church was rebuilt between 1695 and 1703 to designs by the architect Luciano Caracciolo. The façade was then moved to face the Piazza Duomo, the venue for many religious celebrations.

The tall façade is entirely made of clear limestone, with a wrought-iron balcony that divides it into two levels. The Baroque doorway is flanked by two spiralling Solomonic columns, and topped by an arched pediment with carved symbols of the martyrdom of Santa Lucy, the patron of Syracuse, including a column, a sword, a palm and a crown. The frieze reads In Honorem Sanctae Luciae Vir. & Mar. Siracusana.

To the sides, above two flanking niches, are the coat of arms of the Spanish monarchy during the rule of Phillip V in 1705, including the symbols of the kingdoms of Leon (lion), Castilla (castle), Aragon (vertical stripes) and Sicily (eagles and stripes).

The cloistered nuns used the elaborate metal balcony on the second floor to watch religious processions and celebrations in the piazza without mingling with the people below.

Inside the church, a single nave leads to an apse with the dome. On the side walls of the nave stand 12 projecting columns with four Baroque altars. The apse is an octagonal space as large as the nave, with the altar settled in the middle.

The decorative stucco work is by Biagio Bianco of Licodia in 1705, and some of it was gilded in the late 18th century. The church was embellished and enriched in work carried out in 1783, including the decoration of the vault with the ‘Triumph of Santa Lucia,’ a fresco by Deodato Guinaccia depicting the miracle of Saint Lucy in 1646.

A reliquary made of silver was completed by Francesco Tuccio in 1726. On the right is an altarpiece by Giuseppe Reati, depicting the ‘Miracle of Saint Francis of Paola’ (1641). Other treasures in the church include two 14th century wooden crucifixes.

The church was damaged structurally during World War II, the original metal balcony was dismantled for military uses, and the metal cross once at the top was removed because of its instability. After the war, the church was rebuilt to replicate the earlier interiors in the late Baroque style. The tile flooring of the nave was damaged by dampness and was replaced in 1970 with quadrangular majolica-painted tiles in the style of the original 18th century flooring.

The convent to the east and south of the church extended down to Piazzetta San Rocco. The cloistered nuns used an oval parlour beside the church to meet family members.

Caravaggio’s painting was moved from the church and was long exhibited in the museum of Palazzo Bellomo and then in the Church of Saint Lucy al Sepolcro before being returned to Santa Lucia alla Badia in 2009. Its subsequent moves have been controversial, and the place it once had behind the altar is now filled by a painting of Saint Lucy by Deodato Guinaccia.

As for the body of Saint Lucy, it was stolen from Syracuse in 1039 and again from Constantinople in 1204, when it was taken to Venice. At first, her body was kept in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, opposite Saint Mark’s Square. Boats carrying pilgrims from Syracuse in 1279 capsized in rough seas, and some pilgrims were drowned. Her relics were then transferred her relics to a church in Cannaregio. This church was named Santa Lucia and was rebuilt by Andrea Palladio in 1580.

When Palladio’s church was demolished to make way for the new railway station, her body was moved to San Geremia in 1861. The train station is still named Santa Lucia. The façade of San Geremia facing the Grand Canal has a large inscription: ‘Saint Lucia, Virgin of Siracusa, rests in peace in this church. You inspire a bright future and peace for Italy and the entire World.’

The Baroque doorway of the church is flanked by two spiralling Solomonic columns and topped by an arched pediment with carved symbols of the martyrdom of Santa Lucy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 12: 39-48 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 39 ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

41 Peter said, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?’ 42 And the Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that slave says to himself, “My master is delayed in coming”, and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. 47 That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. 48 But one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.’

The cloistered nuns used the elaborate metal balcony on the second floor to watch religious processions and celebrations in the piazza without mingling with the people below (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers: USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Praying for Peace.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a prayer written by the Revd Tuomas Mäkipää, Chaplain of Saint Nicholas.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (25 October 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray for peace throughout the world. For an end to all conflicts including the Ukraine.

The Collect:

God, the giver of life,
whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church:
by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ
and make us eager to do your will,
that we may share with the whole creation
the joys of eternal life;
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 our Father,
whose Son, the light unfailing,
has come from heaven to deliver the world
from the darkness of ignorance:
let these holy mysteries open the eyes of our understanding
that we may know the way of life,
and walk in it without stumbling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The body of Saint Lucy in a shrine in the Chiesa di Santi Geremia a Lucia in Venice (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 Lucy is depicted on the entrance to the Chiesa di Santi Geremia a Lucia facing Campo San Geremia in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A curious Comerford link with colonial administration on the island of St Lucia

The island of St Lucia in the Caribbean … Henry Hegart Breen, who was Governor, was uncle of Isaac Breen Daly who married Henrietta Comerford

Patrick Comerford

My recent search for the Comerford mausoleum near Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, and houses associated with the Comerford family in Galway, unearthed an interesting, if not curious, family connection with British colonial administration in the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

Henrietta Emily Comerford (1837-1881) was the ninth and youngest Henry Comerford (1796-1861), JP, of Merchant’s Road, Galway, and Ballykeel House, Kilfenora, Co Clare, and his wife, who are buried in the Comerford mausoleum. Henrietta was named after her father when she was born in Galway on 8 May 1837 and baptised that day in Saint Nicholas Church, Galway.

Henrietta Comerford was twice married. She married her first husband, Isaac Breen Daly (1835-1871), in Dublin on 25 January 1858.

Isaac Breen Daly was a son of Michael Daly (1810-1901) and his wife Mary (née Breen). His father, Michael Daly, was living at Ballykeel House with the Comerford family in 1861. His mother, Mary Daly (née Breen) was a sister of Henry Hegart Breen (1805-1882), Governor of St Lucia.

Henry Hegart Breen, who was born in Kerry on 26 June 1805, claimed direct descent from the ancient Irish chiefs of Tyrone. Following the Battle of Kinsale and during the Plantation of Ulster, the Breen family were adherents of Hugh O’Neil, Earl of Tyrone, the Breens were dispossessed of their lands in Ulster during the reign of James I in 1607, and they were banished from there to Co Kerry.

On his mother’s side, Henry Hegart Breen was also related to the poet Thomas Moore, whose father, the son of a Kerry farmer, settled in Dublin in 1775.

Henry Hegart Breen was educated at grammar schools in Co Kerry, and at the age of 18 he was sent to the College of St Esprit, in Paris. During his five years there, he studied philosophy, theology and French literature.

Breen moved to the West Indies in 1829, and in 1833 he was appointed Secretary of the Courts of Justice in the island of St Lucia. Britain had taken control of St Lucia as a colony from the French in 1814, but the French language continued to be used for many years as the language of the courts. Slavery was abolished on St Lucia in 1836, and slaves were granted full freedom in 1838.

Breen was appointed Administrator of the Government of St Lucia in April 1857, in succession to Maurice Power from Skibbereen, Co Cork, who had been Lieutenant Governor since 1852.

Breen continued as the de factio Governor of St Lucia until October 1861. As administrator, he was present in Martinique in August 1859, at the inauguration of a statue to the Empress Josephine. Breen’s speech in French received special thanks from the Emperor Napoleon III.

Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, visited St Lucia officially in March 1861. Breen retired later that year and he died in the West Indies on 2 November 1882.

Meanwhile, Henry Breen’s nephew, Isaac Breen Daly, died in Salthill, Galway, 16 December 1871. Isaac and his wife Henrietta (Comerford) were the parents of eight children: Henry Joseph Daly (1858-1903), of Corrib Castle, Galway; Michael Joseph Daly (1860-1894), of Castleblakeney, Co Galway; Hyacinth John Daly (1861-1930), who died in South Africa; George William Daly (1861-1935); Charles Nicholas Daly (1862-1917); Mary ‘Minnie’ (1864-1956); Henrietta (1865-1948), who died in Los Angeles; and Margaret (born 1869).

Henrietta (Comerford) was still a young widow when she married her second husband, John Joseph Ireland, in Galway on 28 November 1872. At their wedding, he gave his age as 23 and he was living in Dominick Street; she gave her age as 30, she was living at Montpelier Terrace, and was described as ‘Lady.’

They were living at Bushy Park, Galway in 1875. He was 27 when he died the following at Forster House, the Blake-Forester family home in Forster Street, Galway, on 16 October 1876. She died at Forster House within five years on 20 April 1881, aged 43.

Henrietta and John were the parents of two daughters and a son: Henrietta (Henryeta) Josephine (1873-1960); and Elizabeth (1875-1934), known in the family as Ida (1875-1934), and John Francis Ireland (1876-1878), who was an infant when he died in Forster House, Galway, on 14 December 1878.

As for Henry Breen, he was Breen was the author of St Lucia, Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive (1844); The Diamond Rock and other Poems (1849); Modern English Literature: its Blemishes and Defects (1857); Warrawarra, the Carib Chief, a Tale of 1770 (2 vols, 1876); and some other works that appeared anonymously. He also contributed to many periodicals.

Forster House, on Forster Street, Galway … home to Henrietta Comerford who married Isaac Breen Daly and John Joseph Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)