Author: CCW

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (source):

O merciful Lord,
who didst turn Augustine from his sins to be a faithful bishop and teacher:
grant that we may follow him in penitence and godly discipline,
till our restless hearts find their rest in thee;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
The Gospel: St. Matthew 5:13-20

Artwork: Claudio Coello, The Triumph of St. Augustine, 1664. Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

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The collect for today, the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Galatians 5:16-24
The Gospel: St. Luke 10:25-37

Artwork: Antonio de Bellis, The Good Samaritan, 17th century, oil on canvas, private collection.

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The collect for today, the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who didst give to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word; Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church, to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 1:10-14
The Gospel: St. Luke 22:24-30

The apostle Bartholomew, named in all three synoptic gospels, is generally identified with Nathanael, who is named only in the Gospel of St John. (For more details, see here.) If this identification is accepted, we have a great deal of information on Bartholomew’s calling (St. John 1:45-51). Jesus described him as “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit”.

Nothing is known for certain of his post-New Testament ministry. There are conflicting accounts of his missionary activity in Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Egypt. Of these Armenia has the strongest support, where he is said to have been skinned alive before being beheaded. The traditionally accepted place of his martyrdom in Albanopolis (present-day Derbent) near the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

Artwork: Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1685-1741), Saint Bartholomew, Oil on canvas, Private collection.

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The collect for today, the Feast of St. Bernard (1090-1153), Abbot of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church, Poet (source):

O merciful redeemer,
who, by the life and preaching of thy servant Bernard,
didst rekindle the radiant light of thy Church:
grant that we in our generation
may be inflamed with the same spirit of discipline and love
and ever walk before thee as children of light;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
The Gospel: St. John 15:7-11

Artwork: Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668), Saint Bernard of Clairvaux with an Angel, oil on canvas, private collection.

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The collect for today, the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 3:4-9
The Gospel: St. Mark 7:31-37

Artwork: Jesus Christ Cures the Man Who Was Deaf and Mute, c. 15th century. Illuminated Manuscript, Codex Vindobonensis Palatinus, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Austria.

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The collect for today, the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD Most High, who didst endue with wonderful virtue and grace the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we, who now call her blessed, may be made very members of the heavenly family of him who was pleased to be called the first-born among many brethren; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 1:12-14
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:39-49

Artwork: Caravaggio, The Death of the Virgin, 1602-06. Oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

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The collect for today, the commemoration of Hippolytus (d. c. 235), Doctor, Bishop in Rome, Martyr (source):

O God, who hast enlightened thy Church by the teaching of thy servant Hippolytus: Enrich us evermore, we beseech thee, with thy heavenly grace, and raise up faithful witnesses who by their life and doctrine will set forth the truth of thy salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

With the Epistle and Gospel for a Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:24-27

Artwork: Unknown Flemish Artist, Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus, late 15th century. Tempera and oil on panel, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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The collect for today, the commemoration of Jeremy Taylor (1613-67), Bishop of Down and Connor, Teacher of the Faith (source):

O holy and loving God,
who dwellest in the human heart
and makest us partakers of the divine nature
in Christ our great high priest:
grant that we,
having in remembrance thy servant Jeremy Taylor,
may put our trust in thy heavenly promises,
and follow a holy life in virtue and true godliness;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Romans 14:7-9,10b-12
The Gospel: St. Matthew 24:42-47

Born and educated at Cambridge, Jeremy Taylor was ordained to the Anglican priesthood at the age of 20. His eloquent preaching brought him to the attention of Archbishop William Laud, who enabled him to be elected fellow of All Souls’ College, Oxford. Taylor also became chaplain to the archbishop and to King Charles I.

A chaplain to royalist troops during the Civil War, Taylor was captured and imprisoned three times by Cromwell’s men. After the Restoration in 1660, Charles II appointed him Bishop of Down and Connor, Northern Ireland.

Taylor was a prolific writer of theological and devotional works. Among his many books are The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living (1650) and The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (1651), generally known as Holy Living and Holy Dying.

A prayer of Jeremy Taylor:

O almighty and eternal God, there is no number of thy days or of thy mercies: thou hast sent us into this world to serve thee, and to live according to thy laws; but we by our sins have provoked thee to wrath, and we have planted thorns and sorrows round about our dwellings: and our life is but a span long, and yet very tedious, because of the calamities that enclose us on every side; the days of our pilgrimage are few and evil; we have frail and sickly bodies, violent and distempered passions, long designs and but a short stay, weak understandings and strong enemies, abused fancies, perverse wills, O dear God, look upon us in mercy and pity: let not our weaknesses make us to sin against thee, nor our fear cause us to betray our duty, nor our former follies provoke thy eternal anger, nor the calamities of this world vex us into tediousness of spirit and impatience: but let thy Holy Spirit lead us through this valley of misery with safety and peace, with holiness and religion, with spiritual comforts and joy in the Holy Ghost; that when we have served thee in our generations, we may be gathered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a holy conscience; in the communion of the catholic church; in the confidence of a certain faith; and the comforts of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope; and perfect charity with thee our God, and all the world; that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, may be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: “Prayers at the Visitation of the Sick”, Holy Dying, cited in Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayer, compiled by Christopher L. Webber (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2004), p. 83.

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The collect for a Bishop or Archbishop, in commemoration of The Right Rev. Charles Inglis (1734-1816), first Church of England bishop of Nova Scotia, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Charles Inglis to be a Bishop in thy Church and to feed thy flock: We beseech thee to send down upon all thy Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, the abundant gift of thy Holy Spirit, that they, being endued with power from on high, and ever walking in the footsteps of thy holy Apostles, may minister before thee in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-44

Born in Ireland, Charles Inglis became in 1787 the first Bishop of Nova Scotia—the first bishop consecrated for any English colony.

Charles Inglis travelled to North America in 1759 as a Church of England missionary to Dover, Delaware. In 1765 he went to Trinity Church, New York, as assistant to the rector, and was chosen rector in 1777. His ministry proved extremely controversial when he emerged as an outspoken Loyalist during the American Revolution. His life was threatened because he refused to omit prayers for the King and the Royal Family from the liturgy.

In 1783, Rev. Inglis and his family left the newly independent nation and returned to England, where he was consecrated the first Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, which at that time included Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward’s Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. He immediately sailed to Halifax and began his work of furthering the progress and unity of the Church of England in Canada.

Bishop Inglis undertook an ambitious programme of church construction across Atlantic Canada; in 1789, he himself laid the cornerstone for the original Christ Church in Windsor. He also played a leading role in the establishment in Windsor of King’s Collegiate School (1788, now King’s-Edgehill School) and King’s College (1789, now University of King’s College, Halifax).

He died in 1816 at his country estate in Aylesford, and is buried under the chancel of St. Paul’s Church, Halifax.

Hensley Memorial Chapel at King’s-Edgehill School has a window in the Chancel (photo at right), installed in 2007, that depicts Bishop Inglis, the father-founder of the School and the University.

The window is based upon an actual portrait by Robert Field which also hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. Inglis is shown seated surrounded by books. On the desk or table before him stands a bowl of apples, recalling his interest in agriculture and his cultivation of the ‘Bishop Pippin’ or ‘Bellefleur’ apple, attributed to him (never mind that they are a yellow apple!). A kind of Renaissance, almost “universal man”, having a wide range of interests, Inglis was also an amateur architect. Behind him, through the window in the window, if you will, is a representation of one of his plans for the College and School. In some ways, it recalls the Arts and Administration Building at the University of King’s College, now located in Halifax.

The window also captures Inglis’ vision of education and public service. It contains the motto of the School and the University. “Deo, Legi, Regi, Gregi” conveys the idea of an education that leads us out of ourselves and into the service of God and the service of others in the objective forms of public and institutional life. An education and a life that is lived for God, for the Law, for the King, and for the People.

More biographical information on Bishop Charles Inglis is available online from:

• Dictionary of Canadian Biography
• Canadian Encyclopedia
• The Inglis family

Click here to read Bishop Inglis’s 1776 pamphlet, “The True Interest of America Impartially Stated”. His 1780 sermon, “The Duty of Honouring the King”, delivered on the anniversary of the martyrdom of King Charles I, is posted here.

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