Welcome to “The Friends” Newsletter No. 6 New Year 2017 EVENTS SPONSORED BY THE FRIENDS OF ST MARTINS Following a very popular summer of organ recitals and well-attended guided tours of the church, together with the Heritage Open Days that we participated in throughout the second weekend in September, the Christmas Tree Festival successfully rounded off a busy year. The programme of events for2017 remains to be finalised. Keep your eye on the website for updates. In This edition: What’s In A Window? No 5: The Martyr’s Window by Burne-Jones Page 2 Our Footballing Hero (Charles Coleridge Mackarness ) by Mike Baines page 12 George Frederick Bodley – Early Commission page 14 What’s in a Window? No 5 The Martyrs’ Window by Burne-Jones Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833 - 1898 (See the window on our website at: http://www.friendsofstmartins.co.uk/Window14.html) This is one of two windows along the South Aisle that were commissioned by Miss Mary Craven to thank God for the recovery of Queen Victoria's eldest son and heir to the throne, Edward, the Prince of Wales. (See Newsletter 5 for the full story). There’s a lot more than meets the eye to this window, especially in its somewhat controversial catholic symbolism which is reflected throughout the church. The three martyrs are from left to right: St. Peter, St. Stephen and St Paul. Burne-Jones may have chosen these three specifically because of their interrelationship. St. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, and his death by stoning was witnessed by St. Paul who later, with St. Peter, established the see of Rome, of which Peter became the first Pope. 2 Simon Peter, or Cephas, was the first pope, Prince of the Apostles, and founder, with St. Paul, of the see of Rome. Peter was a native of Bethsaida, near Lake Tiberias, the son of John, and worked, like his brother St. Andrew, as a fisherman on Lake Genesareth. (Sea of Galilee so called from the province of Galilee, which bordered on the western side. Mt 4:18 It was also called the "Sea of Tiberias," from the celebrated city of that name. Joh 6:1 At its northwestern angle was a beautiful and fertile plain called "Gennesaret," and from that it derived the name of "Lake of Gennesaret.") Most of Jesus’ public life was spent in the environs of this sea. The surrounding region was then the most densely peopled in all Israel. no less than nine very populous cities stood on the very shores of the lake. Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus, and Christ called Peter to become a disciple. In Luke is recounted the story that Peter caught so large an amount of fish that he fell before the feet of Jesus and was told by the Lord, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men” Jesus also gave Simon a new name: Cephas, or the rock. Becoming a disciple of Jesus, Peter acknowledged him as "... the Messiah, the son of the living God”. Christ responded by saying: "... you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.... He added: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. Peter died in Rome and that his martyrdom came during the reign of Emperor Nero, probably in 64 AD. Testimony of his martyrdom is extensive, including Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Clement I of Rome, St. Ignatius, and St. Irenaeus. According to tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. He was then buried on Vatican Hill, and excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica have unearthed his probable tomb, and his relics are now enshrined under the high altar of St. Peter’s. From the earliest days of the Church, Peter was recognized as the Prince of the Apostles and the first Supreme Pontiff; his see, Rome, has thus enjoyed the position of primacy over the entire Catholic Church. In liturgical art, he is depicted as an elderly man holding a key and a book. His symbols also include an inverted cross, a boat, and the cockerel 3 A Hellenistic Jew, St Paul is known worldwide as one of the earliest Christian missionaries, along with Saint Peter and James the Just. Paul was born in Tarsus, in 10 AD, and was originally named Saul. Raised as a pharisaic Jew, in his initial years he persecuted Christians, taking part in the stoning of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Being momentarily blinded by the vision of the image of resurrected Jesus, on the road to Damascus, led Saul to convert. He was baptized as Paul and went to Arabia for three years, indulging in prayers and reflection. Around 49-50 AD, an important meeting took place between Paul and the Jerusalem church. The focus of this meeting was to decide whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. It was at this meeting that Peter, James, and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles. Though both Paul and Peter had made an agreement at the Council of Jerusalem Peter was reluctant to share a meal with Gentile Christians in Antioch and was publicly confronted by Paul. This is referred to as the 'Incident at Antioch'. About A.D. 59, having visited Jerusalem for the fifth time since his conversion, the people there assailed him, and would have killed him, but an officer took him into custody and sent him to the Roman Governor Felix, at Caesarea, where he was detained a prisoner for two years. Having finally appealed to the Roman Emperor, according to the privilege of a Roman citizen, he was sent to Rome. On the voyage he was shipwrecked at Melita (probably Malta), in the spring of 61 AD. At Rome, he was treated with respect, and allowed to dwell "for two whole years in his own hired house." Whether he ever left the city or not cannot be positively demonstrated, but it is possible that he gained his liberty about A.D. 64, and that he made journeys both to the East and to the West, revisiting Asia Minor, and carrying out his long-cherished wish of preaching the gospel in Spain, then thought to be the western limit of the world. Meanwhile, the great and mysterious burning of Rome occurred, generally attributed to Nero. The latter threw the blame on the Christians who were, in consequence, subjected to a severe persecution. Among the victims may have been Paul who, according to tradition, suffered death in A.D. 67. The symbols for St. Paul include the sword with which he was beheaded, a book or scroll to represent his letters, a horse; long, pointed beard, and balding backwards from forehead. 4 Burne-Jones used William Michael Rossetti as the model for both Peter and Paul: The centre portrait above is of William Michael Rossetti by Ford Madox Brown, and he was indeed a balding man reflecting the symbol description as “balding backwards from forehead.” William Michael Rossetti, (born September 25, 1829, London, England—died February 5, 1919, London) was an English art critic, literary editor, and man of letters, brother of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Even as a child, William Michael was in many ways a contrast to his more flamboyant brother—in his calm and rational outlook, financial prudence, and lack of egotism, for example. At 16 he became a clerk in the Excise (later Inland Revenue) Office at £80 a year and became a mainstay of the entire Rossetti family. His appointment as art critic to The Spectator magazine in 1850 and subsequent modest advancement in the civil service enabled him, in 1854, to establish his father, mother, and two sisters in a more comfortable home. In 1874 he married Emma Lucy, the daughter of the painter Ford Madox Brown. William Michael retired from the Inland Revenue Office in 1894. William Michael had literary interests almost as varied as those of his brother. He was a member of the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and served as their diarist as well as the editor of their journal The Germ. He edited Christina’s (1904) and Dante Gabriel’s (1911) collected works and wrote D.G. Rossetti: A Memoir with Family Letters (1895). He dealt conscientiously with a vast amount of family correspondence and material relating to Pre- Raphaelitism and his brother’s place in the movement, proving himself an indispensable chronicler in such publications as Pre-Raphaelite Letters and Diaries (1900) and Ruskin, Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelitism: Papers 1854– 62 (1899). William Michael was also an astute and independent-minded critic; he hailed Walt Whitman’s controversial Leaves of Grass (1855) as a work of genius and introduced that poet to British readers with a selection of his poems in 1868. He was also an early admirer of William Blake, producing an edition of his Poetical Works in 1874, and he published studies of Dante and other medieval poets, both Italian and English. 5 St. Stephen is recognized as a saint, one of the first deacons of the Christian Church and the first Christian martyr. He was condemned for committing blasphemy against the Jewish Temple, and was stoned to death circa the year 36. Stephen is believed to have been a Greek Jew who converted to Christianity. When the number of disciples increased, there was much confusion over the distribution of alms and the serving of the poor.