may prove steadfast in faith
and share with him the crown of glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory now and for ever.
11 January
David of Scotland
King of Scots
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of any Saint
The fourth son of Queen Margaret of Scotland, David succeeded his brothers as king, and continued their policy of bringing Scotland closer to Norman England in its secular and religious institutions. In place of decaying Culdee foundations such as those in St Andrews, Melrose and Jedburgh, he introduced monastic communities of Roman observance, favouring reforming orders. These exercised a powerful, civilizing influence and became centres of education, care for the sick and relief of the poor. He founded royal burghs and promoted a feudal system in the Norman style. He died in 1153.
11 January
Rhys Prichard, William Williams, Isaac Williams
Rhys Prichard, Priest and Poet, William Williams, Deacon and Poet,
Isaac Williams, Priest and Poet
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Spiritual Writers
Rhys Prichard (known as ‘Yr Hen Ficer’ – ‘The Old Vicar’) was probably born near Llandovery in 1579. He graduated from Jesus College, Oxford, in 1603, a year after his ordination to the priesthood, and was appointed vicar of Llandovery. In 1626 he became chancellor of St Davids Cathedral. Prichard was one of the most effective communicators of the Christian message in Welsh history. His teachings were contained in easily remembered verses in colloquial Carmarthenshire Welsh. After Prichard’s death his poems were collected by Stephen Hughes in Cannwyll y Cymry (The Welshmen’s Candle). The impact of this often-reprinted volume on Welsh Christianity has been compared with that of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. He died in 1644 and was buried in the churchyard of the Cathedral.
William Williams was born at Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Carmarthenshire, in 1717. He underwent a conversion while listening to Howell Harris preach, was ordained deacon and served as curate of Llanwrtyd. His Methodist leanings became clear and the Bishop of St Davids refused to ordain him priest. Between 1744 and 1787 he published collections of hymns which played a major part in guiding and strengthening the development of the Methodist revival. They provided a communal expression of intensely personal spiritual experience, and established him as the greatest Welsh hymn-writer. He also wrote two long religious poems and several prose works, including a guide to Christian marriage. He died in 1791.
Isaac Williams was born at Cwmcynfelyn, near Aberystwyth, in 1802, and educated at Trinity College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1829, and was curate to John Henry Newman. He became a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, contributing to the Tracts for the Times, and helping build the first Tractarian church in Wales, at Llangorwen, In 1841 he left Oxford and became a country curate at Bisley and then Stinchcombe, where he died in 1865. He was the author of a considerable amount of devotional poetry, including The Cathedral, The Baptistery and The Altar, and some of his hymns are still sung. He was a gentle, quiet, reserved man, committed to prayer and to the pastoral care of his parishes.
Collect
O God our light and our redeemer,
our guardian and our guide,
shed your light upon us and hear us when we call:
and as you led Rhys, William and Isaac
like pilgrims through a barren land,
so lead us to that place where, with them,
we may give you songs and praises for ever;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory now and for ever.
11 January
Mary Slessor
Missionary in West Africa
England: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Missionaries
Mary Slessor was born into a working-class, Presbyterian family in Aberdeen in 1848. As a child in Dundee, she was enthralled by stories of missions in Africa. For years, she read diligently as she worked in the mills, and in 1875, she was accepted as a teacher for the mission in Calabar, Nigeria. Her fluency in the local language, physical resilience and lack of pretension endeared her to those to whom she ministered. She adopted unwanted children, particularly twins who would otherwise, according to local superstition, have been put to death. She was influential in organizing trade and in settling disputes, contributing much to the development of the Okoyong people with whom she later settled. She died, still in Africa, on this day in 1915.
12 January
Aelred of Hexham
White
Abbot of Rievaulx
England: Lesser Festival
Aelred was born at Hexham in 1109 and he entered the Cistercian Order at Rievaulx in about 1133, after spending some years in the court of King David of Scotland. He became Abbot of Revesby in 1143 and returned to Rievaulx four years later to become abbot and to spend the remainder of his life. He was profoundly influential through his spiritual writings, which he began at the request of Bernard of Clairvaux, the two having a similar approach to the spiritual life. Because of this, Aelred was often called ‘the Bernard of the North’. He died on this day at Rievaulx in 1167.
Collect
Almighty God,
who endowed Aelred the abbot
with the gift of Christian friendship
and the wisdom to lead others in the way of holiness:
grant to your people that same spirit of mutual affection,
so that, in loving one another,
we may know the love of Christ
and rejoice in the eternal possession
of your supreme goodness;
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.
A reading from the book Ecclesiasticus.
Whoever fears the Lord will do this,
and whoever holds to the law will obtain wisdom.
She will come to meet him like a mother,
and like a young bride she will welcome him.
She will feed him with the bread of learning,
and give him the water of wisdom to drink.
He will lean on her and not fall,
and he will rely on her and not be put to shame.
She will exalt him above his neighbours,
and will open his mouth in the midst of the assembly.
He will find gladness and a crown of rejoicing,
and will inherit an everlasting name.
This is the word of the Lord.
Ecclesiasticus