Monday, December 1, 2008

December 1: Nicholas Ferrar, deacon

I know we have transferred the feast of St. Andrew to December 1 this year, but December 1 to me means Nicholas Ferrar, and I don't want him forgotten, especially since I am teaching deacon candidates (and one deacon postulant) this fall and I love T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets.


I also have a beautiful sermon (not by me) on Ferrer and the community at Little Gidding somewhere, and when I dig it out I will copy it here. Till then , have a look at James Kiefer's bio of Nicholas Ferrar and at the links at the site.

2 comments:

Shannon said...

You do remember that Francis of Assisi was a deacon, don't you? A bit of the wild man might be good for those candidates.

Jane R said...

Oh, yes, they got a dose of him earlier in the fall, around the time of his feast.

Still, a reminder wouldn't hurt.

I also had them reading Desmond Tutu's sermons from the apartheid era, the Nicene Creed, bits of Dorothee Soelle, and other interesting things. Next week they will do presentations and of course I have one reading Julian of Norwich.

Thanks for the deacon reminder about Francis! I believe Ormonde has posted on him at his blog. By the way, he always posts about Nicholas Ferrar on December 4, which he says should be his feast since Ferrar died on December 4, not December 1.

Blessings to you and the guys for this Advent.