Features of the church
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.
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.
The Wooden Calvary in the north aisle gives an important place to
the distraught St Mary 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.
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.
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
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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.
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