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A WINDOW ON S. ALBAN and S. ALBAN'S “AMONG THE ROSES” English rose, Tudor rose, Tea roses, Rose windows, rose badge of the Labour party and “Red roses for a blue lady” – (you have to have been around a while to understand this allusion to a popular song from 70 years ago! So if you are interested ask some ‘golden oldie’ you know), and roses are of course associated with S. Alban our patron whose festival happily coincides with the season of roses. When his blood seeped into the ground at the place of his execution in Verulamium (The town of St. Alban’s in Hertfordshire, re-named for the saint.) red roses sprang up in abundance giving rise to the lovely phrase “So among the roses of the martyrs brightly shines Saint Alban”. He was the first ‘British’ martyr, dying for his faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ in the 3rd Century (c. 200 –300) AD. More important than the ‘Alban roses’ is what made them grow, the blood that was shed from his severed body, blood that also became the seed of the Christian Faith, firmly planted in the soil of Britain so that ever since, millions of the inhabitants of these islands across eighteen hundred years have come to owe him a very great deal. So why do we have as patron saint of England a martyr saint probably of Palestine but who wherever in the Middle East he actually hailed from was certainly not from Britain? The Scots similarly selected a foreign saint, admittedly an apostle, only the Welsh and the Irish adopted respectively one of their own countrymen by birth or immigration. Of course there is also a case to be made for Christian saintly patronage of England of S. Edward the Confessor as The Dean of Westminster on our recent memorable S. Alban’s Holborn visit to Westminster Abbey reminded us. Pace – one assumes that Holborn ‘Albanites’ know which side their bread is buttered! More importantly for the sake of the present day inhabitants of these islands is the consideration of Alban’s contribution to the society we live in today. That society wasn’t invented yesterday. Centuries of formation have gone into its making and historians and sociologists can and could forever argue about what in their individual views were the good and bad factors that went into its making. Shades of opinion are of course multitudinous. More important than any other assessment is an appreciation of our society’s roots. Of this there can be no doubt since the survival of the examples of the Christian saints through all the changes and chances of the centuries stubbornly remains. These saints remain not just as ‘folk memories’, not just as interesting historical figures but actual real, living people who remind us of goals not measurable in physical categories but only within the category of the metaphysical realm of the soul, the soul of each individual and the soul of society. Every local saint should be celebrated. Pope John Paul II knew just how important for the life of communities where Christians had imitated the Passion of Our Lord in living and dying for, in and with him, such celebration is. (Though the late Holy Father did complicate the Church’s Calendar more than just a little in the process!). Pope Benedict re-iterated the same thoughts on his recent visit to South America. The Saints are a great corrective too when the witness of institutional and established churches gets compromised by influences coming from the secular, cultural and political worlds around them. In spite of the presence of a missionary church with some bishops as well as priests, Alban lived in a Britain still far from Christian. On the whole Christians were a persecuted minority though the degree of persecution varied from place to place and from time to time. The times themselves too were uncertain. Subjugation by a foreign power now failing in security, government and administration as its empire waned; corruption in high places; economy unwinding and just around the corner incursions from wild foreigners accompanied by pillage and rape. These were just some of the problems with which ordinary men and women had to try to deal. Perhaps the times have come ‘full circle’. Once again in Britain the Church begins to seem fragile, once again Christians are beginning to experience discrimination and once again we live in a social and political world that has so lost its bearings that it keeps asking the question what makes us a nation. That world then going on to concoct ridiculous solutions usually dreamed up by some political smart Alec. Solutions like trying to enforce some sense of ‘Britishness’ with no framework other than pretending you can ‘pot pourri’ any and every culture and call that ‘British identity’. There are also icons or should we say ‘logos’ to go with this – remember those tail fins on British Airways planes – now have you seen the new (doubtlessly expensively produced from Londoners’ pockets) replacement logo for the 2012 Olympics? Clearly however, Union Jack waving to the words of ‘Land of hope and glory’ very moving though that can be when applied to historical context, will not appeal to generations brought up in times more complex. We live in a world that technology has made both more mobile and more instantly accessible. Ideas good and bad, cultures beneficent and cultures dangerous pour upon us daily via the media whilst at the same time the living individual exponents of both these good and bad things also now move freely in all the world’s societies. These realities today’s generation have no choice but to live with and to find ways to assess and deal with. Faith-filled Christians among this generation ultimately need not fear such changes as come our way since we know that in the God who is ever-disclosing and unfolding Himself within His creation His purpose is what is actually being worked out. Through the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ we know that it is impossible to finally thwart the Father’s Will. “Yet will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes again?” The answer lies with those who like Alban worship and serve the true and living God. The answer lies with the continual engagement and struggle within the culture we inhabit for those things that are good and true on behalf of all the people whose space and time we share within it. Above the complexities in our society today then I wonder what logo/ icon could speak for both young and old (and all in between)? What icon /logo could encapsulate the beauty of what has grown in the historical soil of this land and what caused those flowers of a relatively free, relatively just and relatively caring society to take root and be nurtured in the first place? What logo/icon could give hope for a future where the soul of individual human persons and the soul of human society could once again be restored to their God-given rightful place independently if need be from technological measurement? For Christians the answer is of course entirely obvious, the Cross, sign of every society’s God-filled Saviour and Redeemer. Since however it is only at the end of time when ‘every knee shall bow’ that this answer will be known by the whole world, in the interim God has given us among many other signs of His presence and love, roses! “And among the roses………..” ALBAN, Patron of this parish, its church, its school, its centre! At his festival let’s all raise him high – rejoice in him, rejoice with him, rejoice in his Lord and ours and like Saint Alban worship and serve the true and living God. For S. Alban’s Day get yourself a red rose! – Wear it with pride not just in church but all day long, let your neighbours know why! And if you buy a small bunch you would have a fresh one to sport at each and every one of the Albantide events. Your vicar and friend,
Fr. Howard Levett.
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Copyright © 2007
S. Alban the Martyr, Holborn
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