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Features of the church
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The sanctuary window |
Among the attractive features in the church are the carved capitals in the sanctuary, based on the famous 13th century leaf carvings at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire, and the stained glass windows in the sanctuary and Lady Chapel which date from the 1860s.
The sanctuary window features St. Mary Magdalen. She is the central figure, identified by the jar of precious ointment which she holds. On the right we see her meeting Christ in the garden after Resurrection. The scene on the left shows Christ forgiving the sins of the repentant woman who washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair at the house of Simon the Pharisee. In the past she was often identified with Mary Magdalen.
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The Lady Chapel |
The window in the Lady Chapel emphasises the role and influence of women in the Church. On the left of Our Lady is St. Catherine of Siena, the 14th century mystic and writer who became an adviser to the Pope. Since 1970 she has been recognised as a Doctor (or teacher) of the Church. On the left is Blessed Robert d’Arbrissel who, in 1099, founded the great abbey of Fontevrault in the Loire Valley. It was a mixed community of monks and nuns with the abbess in overall charge.
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The Wooden Calvary |
The Wooden Calvary in the north aisle gives an important place to the distraught StMary Magdalen whose sorrow contrasts with the quieter grief of Our Lady and St John. It was supplied by the firm of Burns Oates, now probably best known as a publishing house, which provided many furnishings for churches and employed its own woodcarvers.
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The Burton memorial window |
Adjacent to the Lady Chapel is the Burton memorial window. It was given by Isabel Arundell in memory of her husband, the explorer Sir Richard Burton, who died in 1890.
The three saints in the window are St. Mary Magdalen, St. Joseph on whose feast-day, 19 March, Richard Burton was born, and St. Agnes. Her feast-day, 21 January, was the eve of Richard and Isabel’s wedding.
In the lower part of the window Richard Burton, incongruously dressed as a Christian knight, is shown praying for his family.
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Plaque
in memory of |
Of modern interest is the plaque on the south wall of the church, near the entrance, in memory of Sir James Marshall who died in 1889 and his wife Alice.
He was Chief Magistrate of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the plaque was unveiled in his honour on the centenary of his death by a Ghanaian lay organisation, the Knights and Ladies of Marshall.
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The Knights and Ladies of Marshall visit the church |
He is credited with having invited two French priests from the Society for African Missions to come to the Gold Coast to found what was to become the Catholic Church in present-day Ghana. Already prayers are being offered by our African friends for his eventual canonisation. His grave in our cemetery is visited by them every year.