Anglican Parish of Derby and Blackville
297 Main St E9B 1T1 Blackville, NB, Canada

Public worship has resumed in our parish, but with some changes. Masks are required for entering and throughout the church services. You need to reserve a seat. Call 843-6022 (leave a message if no answer) or email [email protected]. We will need to know your name and how many in your "bubble" will be attending with their names, and your phone number. Deadline: Friday at Noon - but you can contact us anytime between Monday and Friday Noon... If you need to cancel a reservation - please contact us as soon as possible. When you arrive you will be asked screening questions and use hand sanitizer. We need to keep the 2 metre (6 feet) distancing. For more information, go to our website www.Crosspurposes.ca or call 843 6022. If you are not well or have been out of the province within the last 14 days, please do not attend. Online worship is available with St. George's, Moncton for those who cannot attend in person. See our website under "Worship" for more details.

Etheldreda was the third of four daughters of the Christian King Anna and his wife Saewara. She was probably born at Exning in Suffolk in 636. Although she had ambitions to be a nun, in 652 she was married, against her will, to King Tondbert of South Gyrwe. He apparently recognized her desire for a monastic vocation and allowed Etheldreda to live as a nun during the three years of their marriage. Also, as part of their marriage agreement, Tondbert gave his wife an estate that... became known as the Isle of Ely. After the death of King Tondbert in 655, Etheldreda retired to Ely with a few friends to devote herself to religious meditation. After some five years, in 660, she was forced into a political marriage with the very young Egfrith, the second son of King Oswy of Northumbria. As she had, with Tonbert's consent, retained her virginity during the three years of their marriage, she also insisted upon doing so during the twelve years of her marriage to Egfrith. When, after he succeeded his father to the throne of Northumbria in 670, Egfrith became insistent on his rights as her husband Etheldreda fled to the monastery of Coldingham where she took the veil as a nun. In 673, she returned to Ely with a few followers to found a monastic community for both men and women of which she was installed as abbess by Bishop Wilfrid of York. Etheldreda, living a strict ascetic life, led the community until her death on June 23, 679, apparently of bubonic plague during an epidemic. She was succeeded as abbess by her elder sister Sexburga, the widow of King Ercenbert of Kent, who had moved earlier from her monastery at Sheppey to Ely. (Orthodox wiki)

Two leaders of the English Reformation were burned at the stake in Oxford on this day in 1555. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, were removed from their positions and imprisoned after Queen Mary ascended the throne in 1553. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533, was deposed and taken to Oxford with Latimer and Ridley. The three were tried for heresy, convicted, and condemned to death. Cranmer was forced to watch the burning... of Latimer and Ridley and was burned at the stake five months later on 21 March 1556. The burnings were carried out just outside the walls of Oxford. The location is marked by a cobble-stone cross set in the middle of Broad Street. Around the corner, at the south end of St. Giles, the Martyrs’ Memorial was placed in their honour in 1841. As Ridley was being tied to the stake, he prayed: Oh, heavenly Father, I give unto thee most hearty thanks, for that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, have mercy on this realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies. As the flames rose, Latimer encouraged Ridley with these famous words: Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out. (Christ Church, Windsor, NS)

PLEASE REMEMBER that you do not have to wait until Friday to let us know if you plan to attend Church on Sunday - just that the deadline is Friday at noon. Call 843 6022 (if necessary, leave a message with name and number) or email [email protected] Masks must be worn when entering the church and throughout the service - Thank you.

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Edward, called the Confessor, was born at Islip in Oxfordshire between 1002 and 1005, the son of King Ethelred 'the Unready' and Emma. Driven from England by the Danes, and spending his exile in Normandy, the story goes that Edward vowed that if he should return safely to his kingdom, he would make a pilgrimage to St Peter's, Rome. But once on the throne he found it impossible to leave his subjects, and the Pope released him from his vow on condition that he should found or r...estore a monastery to St Peter. This led to the building of a new church in the Norman style to replace the Saxon church at Westminster. The Abbey at Westminster was consecrated on Holy Innocents' Day, 28th December 1065, but the king was ill and unable to be present at the service. This church was mostly demolished by Henry III to build the present Gothic structure, in honour of Edward. He had not been a particularly successful king, but his personal character and piety endeared him to his people. In appearance he is represented as tall, dignified and kindly with rosy cheeks and a long white beard. He was regarded as a saint long before he was officially canonized as Saint and Confessor by Pope Alexander III in February 1161. A Confessor is a particular type of saint. The term applies to those who suffered for their faith and demonstrated their sanctity in the face of worldly temptations, but who were not martyrs. (From, website of Westminster Abby)

All clergy have very limited access to patients in hospitals. They have no access to view the list of Anglicans admitted to hospitals. Please remember to keep Fr. Gerry informed of anyone who is ill at home or admitted to hospital or a long-term care facility (nursing or special care home). It is almost impossible for him to get that information from the hospitals during normal times and he needs you to let him know. Please do not assume someone has told him you should not hesitate to be in contact with him. Also, if you, or someone you support, is admitted to hospital, please make sure you are asked the question of religious denomination. If you are not asked, please draw it to their attention that you are Anglican and welcome visits from your priest. Thank you.

Bulletin for Harvest Thanksgiving, Sunday, October 11, 2020

One of the second group of monks sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in 601, Paulinus became the first bishop of York through a favorable political opening. Edwin, the king of Northumbria, of which kingdom York (Roman Eboracum, then British Ebrauc) was the chief city, sent a request to Eadbald the king of Kent, to marry his sister Ethelburga. Eadbald’s first answer was that a Christian woman could not be given in marriage to a pagan husband. But when Edwin answered that...Continue reading

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Robert Grosseteste (ca. 11681253), Bishop of Lincoln from 1235 to 1253, was one of the most prominent and remarkable figures in thirteenth-century English intellectual life. He was a man of many talents: commentator and translator of Aristotle and Greek patristic thinkers, philosopher, theologian, and student of nature. He was heavily influenced by Augustine, whose thought permeates his writings and from whom he drew a Neoplatonic outlook, but he was also one of the first to... make extensive use of the thought of Aristotle, Avicenna and Averroes. He developed a highly original and imaginative account of the generation and fundamental nature of the physical world in terms of the action of light, and composed a number of short works regarding optics and other natural phenomena, as well as works of philosophy and theology. As bishop, he was an important figure in English ecclesiastical life, focusing his energies on rooting out abuses of the pastoral care. He made a powerful impression on his contemporaries and subsequent thinkers at Oxford, and has been hailed as an inspiration to scientific developments in fourteenth-century Oxford. See more