St Wilfrid and John Smeaton

Opening Letter in Landmark (Parish Magazine for St Mary's Whitkirk)

October 2009

We have two commemorations this month, separated by 1,050 years!  Both had far reaching effects and have left a lasting legacy.

This year we have been marking the 1300^th anniversary of the death of St Wilfrid, who built the first stone church at Ripon – now the Cathedral.  There is some dispute about whether this actually is the right year.  We commemorate Wilfrid on 12^th October, but according to Dr Catherine Cubitt from York University, he died on 24^th April.  His biographer Eddius Stephanus tells us he died on a Thursday aged 76 and 24^th April was a Thursday in 710, so the official Church of England calendar is awry!  The October date is the date his bones were translated to Canterbury some years later and because 24^th can get caught up with Easter it is the October date that has taken precedence, though he still died in 710!.  There is a tradition that they were brought back to Ripon in 1224 but the shine was destroyed.

Wilfrid is to blame, or thank – depending on how you look at it – for the mind bending way we calculate Easter: the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, 21^st March!  Actually he didn’t invent this method but argued very strongly at the Synod of Whitby in the 7^th century for the standardisation across Britain of this method of working out the date.  There were two methods in use at the time, giving different dates and this caused problems.  That’s the simple explanation, but behind this was a 7^th century decision of whether Britain should stand alone or align with the rest of Europe.  There were clear political advantages in aligning and Wilfrid was shrewd enough to spot these.  The balancing of these questions remains a live issue today!  How much can Britain stand alone and how much does it have to align with global matters.  Sovereignty is never completely separate if it is to trade, form alliances for mutual benefit and preserve peace.

There was also a spiritual argument behind the choice of dating and that was to get the date right.  Actions were not just seen as being symbolic in some vague sense, but linked to truth and therefore celebrating Easter on the right date was a spiritual matter of importance.  Today we don’t seem so fussed, but may be that is because we don’t care as much as our forebears did to our impoverishment?

Wilfrid was uncompromising and direct.  He was also a missionary bishop and found ways to connect with pagan communities.  We face a similar challenge in speaking of Christ to ears that have never heard his story before, and have to find out what the prevailing story is so that we can build bridges to engage with it.  The missionary bishops of the 6^th and 7^th centuries were men of great imagination and proclaiming the gospel today requires fresh thinking.

The second anniversary this month is the completion of John Smeaton’s lighthouse on Eddystone Reef off Plymouth Sound on 16^th October 1759.  John Smeaton was a remarkable man and he is our local boy.  He was born and died in the family home near Austhorpe Primary School.  He is buried in the church.  The lighthouse was the first to be built of stone and this was a radical proposal at the time – he had to overcome great scepticism.  The lighthouse was so celebrated that it was depicted behind Britannia on the reverse side of the old penny.

John Smeaton was also a man of vision and imagination and had to be uncompromising for the success of his project.  He gave his workers contracts setting out what was expected of them and what they could expect in return.  This was a pragmatic tool to foster loyalty, but also displayed that they would be treated honourably and justly.  These were important principles for him.  His faith was displayed when the lintel over the door into the octagonal lantern was set in place.  It was suggested that his name should be carved there as the architect.  Smeaton decided that instead it should simply say ‘Laus Deo’ (‘Praise be to God’ or ‘God be praised’).  In so doing he conveyed thanks for a task completed in God’s grace and service.

This month we praise God for two men of faith and imagination.  It took great faith to build a lighthouse in the sea – the rocks of Eddystone Reef are covered at high tide, hence their treacherous nature to shipping.  It took great faith to be a missionary in a pagan land and it takes great faith to be a missionary people today.  As a lighthouse shines in the darkness giving hope and warning, so we too seek to reflect the light of Christ in the darkness, to be instruments of hope among the despairing and those looking for direction.

© Ian Black 2009