Prayerful Churches in Passing

Glen McCullogh

St Martins within Ludgate

For some two months touring in Europe recently, churches  became either havens of rest, buildings to inspire, surprises, or buildings to forget. We had very little free time, but did get to Mass in both St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral and the Chapel at St Saviour’s Monastery in Dublin, in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Budapest, and attended Evensong in St Paul’s, London. In these cases it was the service that was memorable, rather than the church. 

The ones to forget are the over-baroque churches we were taken to see in central and eastern Europe. The wealth poured into some of those churches was horrifying to a simple Kiwi like myself. In previous months, I have described some of the churches to inspire - Buckfast, Wells, and Salisbury. This month I want to touch on churches that were havens of rest or surprises.

We were walking in London and had just by-passed St Paul’s, because it is “pay-to-view” during the week, when we stumbled across the Guild Church of St Martins within Ludgate. Easy to miss because it merges into the streetscape unless you are on the other side of the road. The great architect Sir Christopher Wren designed this church, mostly completed in 1684. The splendid 168ft spire was created as a counterpoint to the great dome of his St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is said that Wren liked to stand on the spire’s balcony in order to oversee the work on St. Paul’s.

There was a welcome board inside the entrance, and inside it was a truly peaceful haven from the scurry outside. The pews were very dark wood, the rest of the church was off-white, and there was plenty of light from the three huge part-stained glass windows featuring Peter & Paul.  We were welcomed by the custodian who then  left us alone to be enclosed in the peace that comes from centuries of prayer, to commune with God.  It was hard to leave.

Neidermeister Abbey

Surprising interior of the Abbey

Regensburg is on the Danube, and we had been on a guided tour and were making our own way back to our ship.  It is another picturesque Bavarian town dating back to Roman times. It has a huge gothic cathedral, St Peter’s, which was very dark with many interesting stained glass windows that were too dark to photograph. We had seen inside an evangelical church that was soaring and bright but didn’t have a sense of prayer. We almost missed the surprise church, Neidermaster Abbey, almost hidden away in a corner of a square, but after seeing it we were drawn inside.  The surprise was the inside, very big, soaring to God, with an attractive ceiling.  We seemed to have no option but to light candles for our children and pray.

Durnstein, Austria is a small town on the banks of the Danube not far from Vienna. Durnstein had been there for a very long time. The ship docked there for a while, and we were free to wander around the town.  My wife wanted to look in the shops with friends, so I roamed by myself, more curious than anything else, I went up a set of steps to find myself entering a graveyard (see p.55), and next to the graveyard was a tiny medieval church, open but with a locked grille.  I looked into the almost empty room and imagined the centuries of prayer that had been going on there.
Then I found myself praying, too, mainly for my loved ones living but also for those who had gone before.  I stood there for quite a while before it occurred to me that my wife was probably waiting for me!

The Graveyard church

What would you imagine?

The village church

Velke Bilovice is a village just over the border between Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the highway between Budapest and Prague.  It was a lunch stop on our tour, and after lunch I had a few minutes to spare to go and look at the parish church.  From the outside it was no different to the many village churches we had seen in passing, and there was a locked grille in the lobby, so I couldn’t go in. But the interior  was special.  The sanctuary was recessed, and the altarpiece was the usual baroque, but the rest of the church was painted off-white so it was very bright inside.  What set it apart was the way the side statues of the Virgin &  Child on the left and the Sacred Heart on the right had been so lovingly draped.

Velke Bilovice Church interior

The Messenger featured them on the cover and inside cover of the August issue. To me it showed a parish that cared deeply for their faith, and made me reflect on how much we take the symbols of our faith for granted in New Zealand.

Potsdam is a short train ride out of Berlin, and is famous for it’s San Souci Palace. The palace is a good walk from the station and back in the heat of the day, and at the station end of the main street lies Saints Peter & Paul church in all it’s  impressive majesty.

Inside it proved to be a haven. However, there was a stunning window of the Holy Spirit in the shape of the dove, similar to the centerpiece of the window at the east end of St Peter’s in Rome.
In the peace and tranquility of the church I gazed at the Holy Spirit and was called to prayer -  until my wife reminded me we had a train to catch and we left, reluctantly on my part.

ss Peter & Paul church

I thank God for all the many and varied opportunities God gave us on our journey.

The Holy Spirit window