St Alphege millennium celebrations

St Elphege at Greenwich

Saint Alphage (also spelt Elphege) was one of the most popular saints of medieval England, and is closely associated with the diocese of Southwark. The 1000th anniversary of his martyrdom in Greenwich is on Thursday, 19 April. Services have been planned throughout the dioceses of Southwark and Clifton to commemorate him.

Elphege was born in 954, at Little Weston, two miles from Bath in Wiltshire. He entered the Benedictine monastery of Deerhurst in Gloucestershire and became a hermit at Glastonbury. In 976 he was appointed Abbot of Bath by St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.

He was made Bishop of Winchester in 984 around the time that the Danes and Norwegians invaded Britain. Elphege was sent to meet with the Norwegian leader King Olaf. After they spoke together the King asked to be confirmed and then promised not to invade again, and returned with his men to Norway. The introduction of Christianity to Norway is largely due to him.

In 1006 Elphege became Archbishop of Canterbury. Five years later the Danes returned and sacked and burned Canterbury. St Elphege was taken captive to Greenwich. His captors demanded a ransom of £3000, but Elphege refused to allow his ravaged people to raise the money. When his captors demanded gold he is reported to have said to them: "The gold I give you is the Word of God."

His captors, drunk with wine and enraged at the ransom being refused, pelted Elphege with bones of oxen and stones, until one of them dispatched him with an axe. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral and 11 years later, on the orders of King Canute, his body was taken for reburial at Canterbury. He was canonised by Pope Gregory Vll in 1078.

Celebrating the Millennium

On Thursday, 19 April 2012, Bishop Patrick Lynch attended a service at Southwark Anglican Cathedral opening the Millennium celebrations. A later service was held at St Alfege Anglican Church in Greenwich, at the site of the martyrdom, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury was due to preach.

On Sunday, 22 April 2012, Bishop Paul Hendricks will preside at Mass at St Elphege, Wallington, the only church in the diocese dedicated to the saint. Mass will be offered in the local Anglican church of St Mary's, Beddington, on the actual feast, 19 April.

The Bishops of Winchester owned land and premises at Beddington and it is probable that by the late 9th century a wooden Saxon church existed on the site of St Mary's, so St Elphege will have known the area and offered Mass there. His predecessor as Bishop of Winchester, St Ethelwold, died at Beddington.

Masses to mark the Millennium will also be offered at St Thomas of Canterbury, Canterbury, and in the Greenwich parishes of Our Ladye Star of the Sea and St Joseph.

A solemn sung Mass was celebrated this evening, 19 April, by the Bishop of Clifton, the Rt Rev Declan Lang, at the parish of Our Lady and St Alphege, Bath, to commemorate the solemnity of the martyrdom of St Alphege on this the millennium of Alphege's martyrdom at the hands of the Danes at Greenwich.

Along with many ecumenical guests and in the presence of the Mayor of Bath, the Abbot of Downside, Dom Aiden Bellenger, OSB, preached about the life of Alphege and his laying down his life at the hands of his captors to enjoy the heavenly banquet. The Abbot told the congregation that Alphege was one of six Archbishops of Canterbury who were martyred for their faith and reminded all that it was Alphege to whom Thomas of Canterbury dedicated himself before he too was killed for living the gospel life.

The parish of Our Lady and St Alphege was founded by the Benedictine Community at Downside in 1927 in southern Bath and the Grade II* building, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (he of Battersea Power station and the red telephone box fame), is an exceptional example of Romanesque architecture based on the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and Sir Giles referred to St Alphege's as one of his favourite works.