Today is the feast of St Pancras. We don’t know much about him, but he is thought to have been martyred at the beginning of the fourth century in Rome during the last great persecution of the Church at the hands of the Emperor Diocletian, and was killed when he was only 14 years old. The statue here is in Barcelona. Historically he is important in England because when Augustine brought his mission from Rome to England at the end of the sixth century one of the first new churches he built was dedicated to him, and the name of the area in London where the station is goes back a long way.
So today we should pray for young people, especially in our parish, who face particular challenges at this time owing to the disruption of schooling. We should pray also for young people who have been abused within the Church and those now responsible for maintaining good child protection policies in the Church.
As I am now no longer in strict lockdown (six months having expired since the end of Iris’ treatment) I will this morning be taking my first funeral service for some months, of Pat Gibney RIP. Please pray for him and his family today.
God bless and take care
Fr Ashley
From our Facebook page…
