Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 28, Saturday 2 May 2026

‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14) … sunset in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday. Tomorrow is the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V, 3 May 2026). Today, the Calendar of the Church remembers Saint Athanasius (296-373), Bishop of Alexandria and Teacher of the Faith.

This is a bank holiday weekend here. Later this morning, I hope to drop in to Το Στεκι Μας, Our Place, the pop-up Greek café that opens every first Saturday of the month at the Swinfen Harris Church Hall beside the Greek Orthodox Church on London Road, Stony Stratford, between 10:30 am and 3 pm. Before today begins, though, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘If you know me, you will know my Father also’ (John 14: 7) … an icon of the Holy Trinity in Saint Nektarios Church, Tsesmes, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 14: 7-14 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 7 ‘If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father’ (John 14: 8) … the Ancient of Days depicted in a fresco in the church in Piskopiano near Hersonissos in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Today’s short Gospel reading provided in the Lectionary at the Eucharist continues readings from the ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel.

This chapter (John 14) includes questions from three of the disciple and three answers from Jesus, provided over the course of three days, yesterday, today and on Monday:

• ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ (Thomas, John 14: 5)

• ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (Philip, John 14: 8)

• ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ (Judas Thaddeus, John 14: 22)

These are also the questions and problems faced by the communities and churches gathered around Saint John in Ephesus and in Asia Minor. The answers Jesus gives to these three questions are like a mirror in which those communities find a response to their doubts and difficulties.

Jesus is preparing his friends to separate themselves and reveals to them his friendship, communicating to them security and support.

Today’s reading begins with Jesus reminding the disciples: ‘If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (verse 17).

This continuing use of encouraging words in the face of troubles and differences reflects the many disagreements within those communities, each claiming to have the right approach to living out the faith and believing the others are living in error.

Jesus’ words in this morning’s reading are reminders that the unity of the church should reflect the unity found in the Trinity.

Jesus then makes a statement that at first seems strange: ‘Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father’ (verse 12).

How can we possibly do far greater things than Jesus did? Yet, in a way, it is very true. Because of his human nature, Jesus’ accomplishments were limited during his short time on earth. He lived in one small place, he reached relatively few people and he was intimate with only a small number.

Christians today, with the means of easier travel and modern communications, can bring his message to far greater numbers and more efficiently.

Jesus, now in his risen Body, the Church, can indeed ‘do greater works than these’, and this is made possible by his going back to the Father and passing on his work into our hands.

Given the instruments at our disposal today, we have a great responsibility to do those ‘greater works’. But to do that work we need, of course, to rely on his help and guidance of Jesus through his Spirit. As he says in conclusion today: ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (verse 14).

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father’ (John 14: 8) … an icon of Saint Philip the Apostle in the chapel at Saint Columba’s House, Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 2 May 2026):

‘Prayer and Action in Pakistan’ provides the theme this week (26 April to 2 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 50-51. This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 2 May 2026) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for USPG’s partnership with the Church of Pakistan. May our collaboration be strengthened so that all may know of your love.

The Collect:

Ever–living God,
whose servant Athanasius testified
to the mystery of the Word made flesh for our salvation:
help us, with all your saints,
to contend for the truth
and to grow into the likeness of 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.

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 Athanasius to the eternal feast of heaven; =
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Easter V:

Almighty God,
who through your only–begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father’ (John 14: 8) … Saint Philip (left) in a window in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Adent 2025: 2, Monday 1 December 2025, Saint Andrew the Apostle

Saint Andrew the Apostle … a sculpture on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Season of Advent began yesterday, the First Sunday of Advent (30 November 2025), and the celebration of Saint Andrew the Apostle, normally on 30 November, has been transferred to today.

I am at Luton Airport to catch an early morning flight, which means I am going to miss the USPG carol service this evening (1 December) in at Saint John’s Church, Waterloo, with an evening of gospel harmonies, candlelight and festive joy, led by the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir. The evening is also raising funds for the work of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV programme in Tanzania. I am taking some quiet time in a quiet space in the airport early 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.

Saint Andrew the First-Called … an icon in the chapel in Saint Columba’s House, Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 4: 18-22 (NRSVA):

18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake – for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe in London is the last of Christopher Wren’s city churches (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

Because yesterday was the First Sunday of Advent, the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle has been transferred from its normal celebration on 30 November to today (1 December).

Saint Andrew the Apostle is often known as the first-called of the disciples. But, before he was called, he was a fisherman, an every-day ordinary-day commercial occupation, working on the Lake of Galilee in partnership with his brother Simon Peter. It is said that when Saint John the Baptist began to preach, Saint Andrew became one of his closest disciples.

When he heard Christ’s call by the sea to follow him, Saint Andrew hesitated for a moment, not because he had any doubts about that call, but because he wanted to bring his brother with him. He left his nets behind and went to Peter and, as Saint John’s Gospel recalls, he told him: ‘We have found the Messiah … [and] he brought Simon to Jesus’ (John 1: 41, 42).

The call in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 4: 18-2) – to Peter and Andrew, to James and John, the sons of Zebedee – comes to us as individuals and in groups. It is not a story of an either/or choice between proclaiming the Gospel to individuals or groups, but a both/and choice.

And this is a two-way call, as Saint Paul reminds us in the Epistle reading today (Romans 10: 12-18): God calls us, and we call to God. Saint Paul’s inclusive language – ‘Lord of all’ … ‘generous to all’ … ‘Everyone who calls’ … ‘all the earth’ – is unambiguous in ruling out all discrimination: ‘For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.’

But that particular form of discrimination is already, inherently, rejected in the Gospel reading. There are two brothers, one with a very Jewish name, Simon from the Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן, meaning ‘listen’ and ‘best’; and one with a very Greek name, Andrew, Ἀνδρέας, meaning ‘manly,’ even ‘brave’ … ‘strong’ … ‘courageous.’

From the very beginning, the call of Christ rejects the most obvious discrimination between Jew and Greek. Standing against discrimination is inherently built into the mission of the Church.

Some years ago, on my way to or from a meeting of USPG trustees, I visited one of the surviving London churches by Sir Christopher Wren in London, Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe on Queen Victoria Street. It is two blocks south of Saint Paul’s Cathedral and close to Blackfriars station, and it is the last of Wren’s city churches.

The church was destroyed by German bombs during the Blitz in World War II, but was rebuilt and rededicated in 1961.

As the bitter weather of winter takes hold, I am reminded of a prayer, appropriate for Advent and this winter weather, I found at Saint Andrew’s and which the church offers for people who have no shelter on the streets:

God of compassion,
your love for humanity was revealed in Jesus,
whose earthly life began in the poverty of a stable
and ended in the pain and isolation of the cross:
we hold before you those who are homeless and cold
especially in this bitter weather.
Draw near and comfort them in spirit
and bless those who work to provide them
with shelter, food and friendship.
We ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Saint Andrew’s Cross (centre) on a hassock in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 1 December 2025, Saint Andrew the Apostle, transferred):

The theme this week (30 to 6 December 2025) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Kingdom is for All’ (pp 6-7). This theme was introduced yesterday with a programme update from the Revd Magela, Vicar of Cristo Redentor Parish in Tocantins, Brazil and coordinator of Casa A+, a place of hope and healing for people living with HIV.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 1 December 2025, Saint Andrew the Apostle and World AIDS Day) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for all those living with HIV/AIDS. May they receive compassionate care, access to treatment, and protection from stigma.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who gave such grace to your apostle Saint Andrew
that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ
and brought his brother with him:
call us by your holy word,
and give us grace to follow you without delay
and to tell the good news of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore, at night … a church has stood on the site for almost 200 years (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

Kensington Lodge on Grove Park, Rathmines, and the introduction of terracotta to Irish architecture

Kensington Lodge on Grove Park, Rathmines, with its highly decorative façade, seen from the street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Kensington Lodge on Grove Park in Rathmines is a beautiful example of Queen Anne style architecture in the late Victorian period, and one of the fine examples of the use of terracotta in architecture in Dublin at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Unlike many of the other terracotta buildings from that period, such as the former Harding Home on Lord Edward Street and D’Olier Chambers on D’Olier Street, Kensington Lodge was built as a private family home.

It stands at 107 Grove Park, almost at the corner of Lower Rathmines Road and facing the south side of the former YMCA building, built 30 years later, close to Portobello Bridge on the Grand Canal.

Kensington Lodge was built in 1882 and designed by the architect William Isaac Chambers (1847-1924) as his own home. It is particularly remarkable for its early use of terracotta mouldings in Dublin, and for many of the idiosyncratic details and embellishments that were designed by Chambers for his own entertainment.

Chambers built his house on the Grove Park estate at a time when it was being developed into building sites, and his design showcases a period of architectural innovation and experimentation in Dublin. He had a penchant for architectural flamboyance, and is best known for his mosque in Woking, built in what was described as a ‘Persian-Saracenic Revival’ style.

Kensington Lodge is remarkable for its early use of terracotta mouldings in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

William Chambers was born in Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire, in 1847. He trained as an architect in Darlington and Sunderland, and at early stage in his career he worked with John Ross of Darlington.

He had moved to Dublin by the end of 1879 and in 1882 he initiated and offered prizes in the competitions held by the Irish Builder for a design for a gate lodge and for a design for a shop front. During this period he was engaged in various projects in Dundalk, where he had an office in the Market House.

He designed houses and shops in Dundalk and Blackrock, Co Louth, and his other works include a glebe house and a groom’s cottage at Monasterevan, Co Kildare, where he used brick supplied by Messrs Thompson of Kingscourt, Co Cavan.

He had offices at 44 Westland Row (1880) and 4-5 Westmoreland Street (1881-1884) in Dublin. He lived at 2 Brighton Vale, Monkstown (1880), Auburn Villa, Rathgar (1880) and 3 Leinster Road, Rathmines (1881-1882), before designing and building Kensington Lodge on Grove Park, where he lived from 1883 to 1885.

The details include two baroque female herms, each wearing a diadem and a rosette, panels with heraldic details and a a wheel window (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Chambers designed Kensington Lodge as his own home, so it is something of an ambitious showcase for his work. As he designed Kensington Lodge for himself, it offers reliable insights into his personal tastes.

Susan Keating, who has studied architectural terracotta in Ireland, notes how his terracotta details dominate the house and that he impressed the trade with the crispness and colour of his material and his designs.

Chambers was influenced by the then-fashionable Queen Anne style and his house was built over three storeys with highly decorative interior and exterior flourishes from the heavy swag over the front door and the baroque female herms on either side of the main upstairs window to the elaborate stucco work in the gracious living room.

The terracotta for the house was modelled to Chambers’ own designs, and manufactured by Wilcock and Co (Burmantofts) in Leeds.

A heavy, fruit-laden swag above the front door of Kensington Lodge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The remarkable details include two baroque female herms, each wearing a diadem and with a rosette set in the middle of her bust that has the illusion of being quite ample as her torso disappears into a bracket below. Two panels seem to be set with heraldic detail in the centre and a foliate pattern in the background.

A heavy, fruit-laden swag above the front door is accompanied by recessed, vertical foliate panels that flank the ground floor windows. Running above the string-course is a horizontal panel of dogtooth pattern, set into the wall surface. These features are flanked by a minor reiteration of the foliate panels.

Other original features include several elaborate coloured glass windows. Crowning the whole, the shaped gable is pierced by a wheel window at attic level, contributing to the lively character of the house.

Susan Keating notices how some changes can be noticed by comparing the building with the architect’s published elevation of 1882. In the drawing, the gable features an idiosyncratic swan’s neck pediment, flanked by heavy scrolls enriched with garlands. This ornate feature was, however, simplified in execution.

The carved stone elements on the wall outside, including angels with a heraldic plaque, however, have not survived so well.

The carved stone elements on the wall outside have not survived so well (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Chambers continued to live in Ireland for only a few short years after it was built, and he seems to have left Ireland around 1885. He has the distinction of designing the first mosque in Britain.

The Shah Jahan Mosque on Oriental Road, Woking, was built in 1889, and is now one of Woking’s great architectural treasures. Chambers designed the mosque in what has been described as a ‘Persian-Saracenic Revival’ style, with a dome, minarets, and a courtyard. It is described by the Pevsner Architectural Guides as ‘extraordinarily dignified.’

A prominent early member of the mosque in Woking was the Irish peer Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn (1855-1935), 5th Baron Headley, who was an early convert to Islam.

Chambers was living in Albany Courtyard, Piccadilly, London, by 1891. In the decade that followed, he married and was widowed, and in 1900 he had offices in in Savoy House, London.

Kensington Lodge is a private family home once again (Photograph: Finnegan Menton)

Kensington Lodge has changed hands many times in recent decades, and at one stage the house was divided into flats. It is now a private residence. At hall level there are two rooms, one grand living room to the front, with high ceilings, a period fireplace and elaborate cornice work, and a smaller room at the back. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, two doubles and a single, and a family shower room.

The attic has a wood panelled ceiling and is reached by a spiral staircase. In the basement, three rooms were put together to create a large eat-in kitchen. Off this is a family room, with custom-made doors to the garden at the side of the house.

The house is decorated in a restrained period style, including William Morris wallpaper and dark paintwork.

Across the street, Kensington Lodge has given its name to the former chapel of the YMCA building, which has been renamed Kensington Hall, and became the home of the Leeson Park School of Music.

Much of the original crispness of Kensington Lodge has been lost through atmospheric erosion, over time. But it remains a remarkable building and its exterior and its charm mean it remains a striking architectural feature in Rathmines.

The Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, designed by William Chambers, is the first purpose-built mosque on these islands (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Additional reading:

Susan Keating, ‘Dublin’s terracotta buildings in the later nineteenth century’, Irish architectural and decorative studies Vol 4, 2001, pp 142-169.

Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 28, Saturday 17 May 2025

‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14) … sunset in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (8 June 2025), or Whit Sunday. Tomorrow is the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V, 18 May 2025).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘If you know me, you will know my Father also’ (John 14: 7) … an icon of the Holy Trinity in Saint Nektarios Church, Tsesmes, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 14: 7-14 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 7 ‘If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father’ (John 14: 8) … the Ancient of Days depicted in a fresco in the church in Piskopiano near Hersonissos in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

Today’s short Gospel reading provided in the Lectionary at the Eucharist continues our readings from the ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel.

This chapter (John 14) includes questions from three of the disciple and three answers from Jesus, which we hear over the course of three days, yesterday, today and on Monday:

• ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ (Thomas, John 14: 5)

• ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (Philip, John 14: 8)

• ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ (Judas Thaddeus, John 14: 22)

These are also the questions and problems faced by the communities and churches gathered around Saint John in Ephesus and in Asia Minor. The answers Jesus gives to these three questions are like a mirror in which those communities find a response to their doubts and difficulties.

Jesus is preparing his friends to separate themselves and reveals to them his friendship, communicating to them security and support.

Today’s reading begins with Jesus reminding the disciples: ‘If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (verse 17).

This continuing use of encouraging words in the face of troubles and differences reflects the many disagreements within those communities, each claiming to have the right approach to living out the faith and believing the others are living in error.

Jesus’ words in this morning’s reading are reminders that the unity of the church should reflect the unity found in the Trinity.

Jesus then makes a statement that at first seems strange: ‘Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father’ (verse 12).

How can we possibly do far greater things than Jesus did? Yet, in a way, it is very true. Because of his human nature, Jesus’ accomplishments were limited during his short time on earth. He lived in one small place, he reached relatively few people and he was intimate with only a small number.

Christians today, with the means of easier travel and modern communications, can bring his message to far greater numbers and more efficiently.

Jesus, now in his risen Body, the Church, can indeed ‘do greater works than these’, and this is made possible by his going back to the Father and passing on his work into our hands.

Given the instruments at our disposal today, we have a great responsibility to do those ‘greater works’. But to do that work we need, of course, to rely on his help and guidance of Jesus through his Spirit. As he says in conclusion today: ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (verse 14).

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father’ (John 14: 8) … an icon of Saint Philip the Apostle in the chapel at Saint Columba’s House, Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 17 May 2025):

‘Health and Hope in the Manyoni District’ provided the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a programme update from Dr Frank Mathew Haji of the Integrated Child Health and End Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Programme in Tanzania.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 17 May 2025) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for Dr Frank Mathew Haji and other medical staff like him. May they be strengthened in their service and inspired to continue making a difference in the lives they touch.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again:
keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep:
teach us to hear your voice
and to follow your command,
that all your people may be gathered into one flock,
to the glory of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of Easter V:

Almighty God,
who through your only–begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father’ (John 14: 8) … Saint Philip (left) in a window in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in the Kingdom Season: 30, Saturday 30 November 2024, Saint Andrew the Apostle

Saint Andrew the Apostle … a sculpture on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Kingdom Season, the time between All Saints’ Day and Advent, comes to end today and the Season of Advent begins tomorrow, the First Sunday of Advent (1 December 2024). Today, the Church Calendar celebrates Saint Andrew the Apostle (30 November).

Later today, I am in Cambridge for the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, where I was student for some years. The programme for ‘25 Years of Generous Orthodoxy’ involves a day of prayer and celebrations at Westminster College, Cambridge. It includes a seminar in the Woolf Institute, a concert by the Mosaic Choir and Vespers in Westminster College Chapel, and lunch and a festive dinner in the college dining hall in Westminster College.

It means, of course, that I am going to miss the Christmas Fayre in Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford, today, the Lantern Parade, and the Christmas lights being switched on in the Market Square later this afternoon. But, before the day begins, before I head off to begin the long train journey, I am taking some quiet time early 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.

Saint Andrew the First-Called … an icon in the chapel in Saint Columba’s House, Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 4: 18-22 (NRSVA):

18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake – for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe in London is the last of Christopher Wren’s city churches (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

Today (30 November 2024) is the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle, who is often known as the first-called of the disciples.

Before he was called, Saint Andrew was a fisherman, an every-day ordinary-day commercial occupation, working on the Lake of Galilee in partnership with his brother Simon Peter. It is said that when Saint John the Baptist began to preach, Saint Andrew became one of his closest disciples.

When he heard Christ’s call by the sea to follow him, Saint Andrew hesitated for a moment, not because he had any doubts about that call, but because he wanted to bring his brother with him. He left his nets behind and went to Peter and, as Saint John’s Gospel recalls, he told him: ‘We have found the Messiah … [and] he brought Simon to Jesus’ (John 1: 41, 42).

The call in today’s Gospel reading – to Peter and Andrew, to James and John, the sons of Zebedee – comes to us as individuals and in groups. It is not a story of an either/or choice between proclaiming the Gospel to individuals or groups, but a both/and choice.

And this is a two-way call, as Saint Paul reminds us in the Epistle reading today (Romans 10: 12-18): God calls us, and we call to God. Saint Paul’s inclusive language – ‘Lord of all’ … ‘generous to all’ … ‘Everyone who calls’ … ‘all the earth’ – is unambiguous in ruling out all discrimination: ‘For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.’

But that particular form of discrimination is already, inherently, rejected in the Gospel reading. There are two brothers, one with a very Jewish name, Simon from the Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן, meaning ‘listen’ and ‘best’; and one with a very Greek name, Andrew, Ἀνδρέας, meaning ‘manly,’ even ‘brave’ … ‘strong’ … ‘courageous.’

From the very beginning, the call of Christ rejects the most obvious discrimination between Jew and Greek. Standing against discrimination is inherently built into the mission of the Church.

Some years ago, on my way to or from a meeting of USPG trustees, I visited one of the surviving London churches by Sir Christopher Wren, Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe on Queen Victoria Street. It is two blocks south of Saint Paul’s Cathedral and close to Blackfriars station, and it is the last of Wren’s city churches.

The church was destroyed by German bombs during the Blitz in World War II, but was rebuilt and rededicated in 1961.

As the bitter weather of winter takes hold, I am reminded of a prayer, appropriate for Advent and this winter weather, I found at Saint Andrew’s and which the church offers for people who have no shelter on the streets:

God of compassion,
your love for humanity was revealed in Jesus,
whose earthly life began in the poverty of a stable
and ended in the pain and isolation of the cross:
we hold before you those who are homeless and cold
especially in this bitter weather.
Draw near and comfort them in spirit
and bless those who work to provide them
with shelter, food and friendship.
We ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Saint Andrew’s Cross (centre) on a hassock in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 30 November 2024, Saint Andrew the Apostle):

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 ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 30 November 2024, Saint Andrew the Apostle) invites us to pray:

May we be inspired by the apostle obedience of Saint Andrew, that we may hear the call of the Lord and fulfil his holy commandments.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who gave such grace to your apostle Saint Andrew
that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ
and brought his brother with him:
call us by your holy word,
and give us grace to follow you without delay
and to tell the good news of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Advent I:

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him 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

The programme for ‘25 Years of Generous Orthodoxy’ at Westminster College, Cambridge, today celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies

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

Daily prayer in Easter 2024:8, 7 April 2024

‘The Incredulity of Saint Thomas’ (1601-1602), Caravaggio, in the Sanssouci Picture Gallery, Potsdam

Patrick Comerford

This is the Second Sunday of Easter (Easter II), traditionally known as Low Sunday – perhaps because the liturgical observanceson this Sunday have a much lower pitch than those on Easter Day last Sunday. In the past, this Sunday has also been known as Saint Thomas Sunday, because the Gospel reading recalls the story of ‘Doubting Thomas, and as ‘Quasimodo Sunday’ or Quasimodogeniti.

The name Quasimodo comes from the Latin, quasi modo (‘as if in [this] manner’) and the text of the traditional Introit for this day, which begins: Quasi modo geniti infantes, rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite, ut in eo crescatis in salutem si gustastis quoniam dulcis Dominus, ‘As newborn babes desire the rational milk without guile, Rejoice to God our helper. Sing aloud to the God of Jacob’ (see I Peter 2: 2).

Quasimodo, the poor hunchback who gives his name to the English title of Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) was found abandoned on the doorsteps of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on this Sunday in 1467.

Later this morning, I hope to attend the Parish Eucharist in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford.

Throughout this Season of Easter, my morning reflections each day include the daily Gospel reading, the prayer in the USPG prayer diary, and the prayers in the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the day.

Before this day 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 prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Saint Thomas and the Risen Christ depicted in a fresco in a church in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 20: 19-31 (NRSVA):

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ 28 Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Saint Thomas … an icon in the chapel of Saint Columba House retreat centre in Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 7 April 2024):

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 the ‘Certificate in Youth Leadership Programme in the West Indies.’ This theme is introduced today by the Right Revd Michael B St J Maxwell, Bishop of the Diocese of Barbados, who writes:

‘The Certificate in Youth Leadership Programme is geared towards equipping youth leaders, and those exploring the call to work with and among youth, with the competencies for youth leadership within the Church in the Province of the West Indies.

‘The course offers modules in the fundamentals of faith and spiritual development; personal and interpersonal development; introduction and approaches to youth ministry; liturgy and creative arts in worship; introduction to Christian Education; and introduction to counselling. The participants in this course will benefit by having their knowledge and skills upgraded, and their confidence and capacity enriched to enable them to function more effectively in their roles as youth leaders.

‘They will also be able to assist the dioceses in the Province to improve the programming for young people and assist local parishes with their youth ministry. The lecturers for the modules will be Caribbean-based academics and experts in the various fields, and will share their knowledge and invite participants to deeply reflect on their known culture and context within their West Indian islands. Arising out of this course, the Province as a whole will benefit from having a bigger pool of high-quality youth leaders for engagement by parochial, diocesan, and provincial structures in shaping and articulating the Province’s priorities, and subsequently developing targeted initiatives in pursuit of these agreed objectives.’

The USPG Prayer Diary today (7 April 2024) invites us to pray:

Almighty Lord,
as Jesus laid down his life for us,
may we devote our lives to you.
Let us rejoice in the promise of a new life.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
you have given your only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again for our justification:
grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness
that we may always serve you
in pureness of living and truth;
through the merits of 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.

Post Communion Prayer:

Lord God our Father,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ
you have assured your children of eternal life
and in baptism have made us one with him:
deliver us from the death of sin
and raise us to new life in your love,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of the Annunciation:

We beseech you, O Lord,
pour your grace into our hearts,
that as we have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ
by the message of an angel,
so by his cross and passion
we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘The doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear’ (John 20: 19) … locked doors at Easter in the side streets of Panormos, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayers during Christmas and Epiphany: 27, 20 January 2024

Saint Jude … a statue on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The celebrations of Epiphany-tide continue today (20 January 2023), and tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Epiphany (21 January 2024). Christmas is a season that lasts for 40 days that continues from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today Richard Rolle of Hampole (1349), Spiritual Writer. Today is also the third day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Before today begins, I am taking some time for reflection, reading and prayer. My reflections each morning throughout the seven days of this week have included:

1, A reflection on one of the seven people who give their names to epistles in the New Testament;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Saint Jude … an icon in the chapel of Saint Columba’s House, Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

7, Saint Jude:

Saint Paul does not give his own name to any of his letters, but seven people give their names to a total of seven of the letters or epistles in the New Testament: Timothy (I and II Timohty), Titus, Philemon, James, Peter (I and II Peter), John (I, II and III John), and Jude.

The Epistle of Jude is the second last book in the New Testament and in the Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Jude, brother of James the Just, and so a kinsman of Jesus too.br />
This letter consists of just one chapter with 25 verses, making it one of the shortest books in the Bible. The Letter to Philemon also has 25 verses, while three books are shorter: the Book of Obadiah with 21 verses, III John with 14 verses, and II John with 13 verses.

Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles, are celebrated in the Church Calendar together on the same day, 28 October.

Many people may associate Saint Simon with the homeless and housing crisis and think of him as someone who cares for the homeless people on our streets. However, the Simon Community takes its name from Simon of Cyrene who helps Christ carry his cross on the way to Calvary and his Crucifixion. If you asked who Jude is, you might be told he is ‘Obscure’ – or that he is the Patron of Lost Causes.

These two are little known as apostles, without fame, and that obscurity is almost affirmed by the fact that they have to share one feast day and do not have their own separate, stand-alone celebrations in the Calendar of the Church.

In an age obsessed with reality television, the X-Factor, the Apprentice or celebrities who are celebrities – just because they are – Simon and Jude appear like a pair of misfits: we know little about their lives or how they lived them, they are hardly famous among the disciples, and they certainly are not celebrity apostles.

Simon and Jude are far down on the list of the Twelve Apostles, and their names are often confused or forgotten. In the New Testament lists of the Twelve (Matthew 10: 2-4; Mark 3: 16-19; Luke 6: 14-16; Acts 1: 13), they come in near the end, in tenth and eleventh places. Well, with Judas in twelfth place, they just about make it onto the ‘first eleven.’

The ninth name on the lists is James, the James who is remembered on 23 October. Judas or Jude is often referred to as ‘the brother of James,’ and this in turn leads to him being identified with the ‘brothers of the Lord.‘ So, Simon the Zealot, one of the original Twelve, and Jude or Judas of James, also one of the Twelve and author of the Letter of Jude, are celebrated together on the same day.

Simon is not mentioned by name in the New Testament except on these lists – after all, there is a better-known Simon than this Simon: there is Simon Peter. As for Jude, his name is so close to Judas – in fact, their names are the same (Ιούδας) – is it any wonder that he became known as the patron saint of lost causes? Trying to remember him might have been a lost cause.

After the Last Supper, Jude asked Christ why he chose to reveal himself only to the disciples, and received the reply: ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to them and make our home with them’ (John 14: 22-23).

In his brief letter, Jude says he planned to write a different letter, but then heard of the misleading views of some false teachers. He makes a passionate plea to his readers to preserve the purity of the Christian faith and their good reputation.

His letter includes a memorable exhortation to ‘contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 3), and ends with wonderful closing words: ‘Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen’ (Jude 24-25).

But after that, surprisingly, we know very little about the later apostolic missions of Simon and Jude, where they were missionaries or whether they were martyred.

In truth, we know very little about these two saints, bundled together at the end of a list, like two hopeless causes. There was no danger of them being servants who might want to be greater than their master (John 15: 20). All we can presume is that they laboured on, perhaps anonymously, in building up the Church.

But then the Church does not celebrate celebrities who are famous and public; we honour the saints who labour and whose labours are often hidden.

In the Gospel reading on the day Simon and Jude are celebrated (John 15: 17-27), the Apostles are warned about suffering the hatred of ‘the world.’ Later, as the Gospel was spread around the Mediterranean, isolated Christians may not have realised how quickly the Church was growing. In their persecutions and martyrdom, they may have felt forlorn and that Christianity was in danger of being a lost cause.

But in that Gospel reading, Christ encourages a beleaguered Church to see its afflictions and wounds as his own.

No matter how much we suffer, no matter how others may forget us, no matter how obscure we become, no matter how many people forget our names, no matter how often our faith and discipleship may appear to others to be lost causes, no matter how small our congregations may be, not matter how often we feel our parishes are isolated or even forgotten, we can be assured that we are no longer strangers and aliens, that we are citizens with the saints.

Saint Jude and Saint Simon in a stained glass window in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Mark 3: 20-21 (NRSVA):

[Then Jesus went home,] 20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’

Jude Walk … a street sign in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 20 January 2024):

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: ‘Climate Justice from Bangladesh perspective.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday by the Right Revd Shourabh Pholia, Bishop of Barishal Diocese, Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (20 January 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Help us O Lord to always uphold the principles of love, compassion, care and justice.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
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 glory,
you nourish us with your Word
who is the bread of life:
fill us with your Holy Spirit
that through us the light of your glory
may shine in all the world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal Lord,
our beginning and our end:
bring us with the whole creation
to your glory, hidden through past ages
and made known
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Epiphany III:

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.

Yesterday’s reflection (Saint John)

Continued tomorrow (the Wedding at Cana)

Inside Saint Barnabas Church, Jericho, Oxford … the setting for scenes in Thomas Hardy’s ‘Jude the Obscure’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

Mother Mary Clare Whitty: Sign of the Cross in Korea

Lectern by Sophia Angel St John Whitty in Christchurch, Bray. Image courtesy of Christchurch, Bray

Patrick Comerford

Mother Mary Clare Whitty (1883-1950) was a tewntieth-century Anglican nun and martyr who spent her childhood in Limerick. The daughter a doctor who practised in the Crescent, she was a cousin of Catherine O’Brien, the stained-glass artist. She died during a so-called ‘Death March’ in the closing days of the Korean War, and was buried in a lonely, shallow grave by French Catholic nuns, but her story is often untold, even within Church of Ireland and Anglican circles.

Mother Mary Clare was born Clare Emma Whitty in Fenloe, near Newmarket-on-Fergus, on 30 May 1883, during one of many family holidays in Co Clare. Her sister, Sophia Angel St John Whitty (1877-1924), was born in Dublin and was a celebrated artist and woodcarver. The family claimed descent from an old Co Wexford family that once lived in Ballyteigue Castle, near Kilmore. Their father, Dr Richard Whitty (1844-1897), was from Rathvilly, Co Carlow, where at least three members of the Whitty family were Church of Ireland priests. Another branch of the family included three Rectors of Kilrush, Co Clare. Through their mother, Jane Alicia (Hickman), the Whitty sisters were cousins of Catherine O’Brien (1881-1963), the stained-glass artist of An Túr Gloine studios; the Irish nationalist historian Alice Stopford-Green (1847-1929); and the controversial hymn-writer Stopford Brooke (1832-1916), who translated Still the Night, a version of Silent Night that has lost popularity. The Whitty sisters spent their early childhood in Whitechurch, near Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, but family holidays were spent in Co Clare. When they were still children, Dr Whitty qualified as a medical doctor, the family moved to Limerick, and for many years they lived at No 11 The Crescent, on the corner of Barrington Street. Clare Emma Whitty later studied art in Paris, where she became fluent in French, and then became a teacher in Birmingham, and worked as a church worker at Saint Alban’s in Birmingham, whose vicar, the Revd Alfred (Cecil) Cooper, later became the fourth Bishop of Korea. In 1912, she joined the Anglican Community of Saint Peter, then based in Kilburn, London, taking her vows in 1915 as Sr Mary Clare. Before the outbreak of World War I, her friend Mark Trollope (1862-1930) was appointed the third Anglican Bishop of Korea. As the Vicar of Saint Augustine’s in Kilburn, Trollope had known Sr Mary Clare, and he invited her to start a society of Korean sisters.

The First World War disrupted those plans, and when she eventually reached Korea in 1923 she began Korean language studies. With the help of Bishop Trollope, she founded the Society of the Holy Cross in Seoul in 1925, and was appointed novice mistress. Back in England for a time in 1928-29, she lived at the mother house of the Community of Saint Peter in Kilburn. She then returned to Seoul to take up her role as the first Mother Superior of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1929. In Korea, she earned a reputation as a botanist and she contributed papers to the journal of the Korean branch of the Royal Asiatic Socety.

During World War II, Mother Mary Clare was repatriated in 1941. She left England in 1946, and returned through Kure in Japan to Korea, arriving back in January 1947, describing herself as a teacheron the ship’s passenger list. On the outbreak of the Korean War, she turned down an offer from the British embassy to evacuate from Seoul, deciding to stay with her congregation. When the North Koreans captured Seoul in June 1950. she took refuge with other foreign civilians in the British Embassy. But, when the North Korean forces consolidated their occupation of Seoul, she was interned.

Following the success of the United Nations forces landing at Inchon, the North Korean forces retreated from Seoul. Mother Mary Clare and other foreign civilian prisoners, including many Christian missionaries, were marched into the northern part of North Korea. The last part of their ‘death march’ began on 30 October and involved a forced march of over 150 kilometres in early winter with little food or warm clothing. Mother Mary Clare died on 6 November 1950 near Chunggangjinon. The sixty-seven-year-old nun was buried in a shallow grave near the Chosin Reservoir in the north-west part of North Korea by five French-speaking Roman Catholic sisters. They used an improvised bier to bring her to the top of a neighbouring hill, close to the camp, where they dug her grave.

Ten months after the end of the Korean War, the Church Times published a short obituary notice in April 1954 that described Mother Mary Clare as a ‘devoted and courageous English Sister.’ But she was very much an Irish nun, with strong links in Limerick and Clare, one of at least eight Irish or Irish-American missionaries – the others were members of the Columban Fathers – to have died during the conflict. Sophia Angel St John Whitty (1877-1924), Mother Mary Clare’s sister, was an artist and woodcarver and an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. She designed carved walnut figures for Christ Church, Bray, including two angels and St Patrick. She died in 1924 and was buried in Powerscourt. Their mother, Jane Whitty, was living at Wayside, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, when she died on 17 June 1931. Mother Mary Clare’s former community now runs Saint Columba’s House, a retreat house and conference centre in Woking, near London. There, one of the guest rooms remembers her with the name ‘Mary Clare.’

Biographical Note (p. 261):

Patrick Comerford, former adjunct assistant professor in Trinity College Dublin, is former priest-in-charge of the Rathkeale group of parishes (Church of Ireland),and former Precentor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.

• ‘Mother Mary Whitty: Sign of the Cross in Korea’, is published in David Bracken, ed, Of Limerick Saints and Sinners (Dublin: Veritas, 2022, ISBN: 9781800970311, 266 pp), pp 213-215. The book was launched by Dr Liam Chambers in the Limerick Diocesan Centre on Tuesday night, 22 November 2022.