St. Olave, Swansea held a special Lenten series this year in which members combined prayerful meditation with hands-on medieval calligraphy.
“Grace in Every Stroke: Lenten Prayer Through Calligraphy” was the brainchild of gifted artist and parishioner Elizabeth Jackson-Hall, whose studio is in the neighbourhood. She has a degree in fine arts from the University of Toronto and a diploma from the Ontario College of Art and Design, plus specialization in religious painting.
Ms. Jackson-Hall was inspired by the diocese’s Season of Spiritual Renewal. Many people have stopped going to church, but she feels there is still a great need for the divine, a “hole in the soul to fill.” She believes that doing something practical with our hands, even sewing, knitting or carpentry, is a form of spiritual expression – especially with online, virtual and AI experiences dominating the media today. In particular, writing in calligraphy is a “form of making prayer,” as you have to form each letter so slowly. It helps us remember.
Her words obviously touched a hidden chord, for 22 men and women of all ages signed up for the series. We met every Tuesday evening for the first five weeks of Lent in a cozy, well-used room with the scent of must and old bibles, the walls lined with portraits of past ministers of St. Olave’s and snapshots of current parishioners. Three rows of folding tables and chairs had been set up. The session began with Evening Prayer in the church, and then we trooped downstairs for a light supper, buffet-style, prepared by the ACW, which we ate at our tables, not unlike rows of monks in a monastery refectory.
An opening prayer written by our incumbent, the Rev. Canon Robert Mitchell, set the sacred tone for the evening: “Grant, we beseech Thee, that as we undertake the sacred act of calligraphy, we may be led to worship Thee in the beauty of holiness.”
A quiet mood was encouraged. Of course we chatted to each other, but it was not a time for gossip.
Ms. Jackson-Hall had assembled a whole packet of art materials for each person – sheets of parchment and tracing paper, rough practice paper, bottles of India ink, straight-nibbed pens, tape, rulers, pencils, erasers, and blotters for the inevitable blots and blotches.
The idea was to take a sacred text or passage of scripture of our own choosing, trace it out in beautiful, curved chancery cursive lower-case letters and uncial Gothic capitals if desired, and then transfer it to parchment paper and illuminate. Ms. Jackson-Hall had provided samples of medieval scripts, such as the Lindisfarne Gospel, to inspire us. But it was hard work. The straight-nibbed pens took many back to their school days. There is a definite art to using the straight-nibbed pen dipped in black India ink, as we soon discovered from all the blots and blotches on the page. It’s no easy task being a monk! I had a new respect for the assiduous, meticulous labour of the old medieval monks who illuminated the entire bible by hand before the era of the printing press. We owe them much.
After we had traced our texts onto parchment paper and inked them over, we had the pleasurable task of illuminating the words with coloured inks, water colours, even gilding, adding illustrations of our own if we chose – and just letting the spirit flow! The results were imaginative and delightful – and spiritual. This was no art course but a transformative experience of “co-creation with God” and meditation. Pray, eat, work, pray. Then go home.
The experience seemed to take some of us back to our childhoods. Janice chose for her text a prayer she remembers saying as a child: “I thank Thee, O Father, for all Thou hast given me, and ask for all things, Father, lest I forget. Amen.”
It reminded her of saying her bedtime prayers. She added a delightful tiny drawing of herself as a little girl with glasses, to fill in a spare space. Monks used to fill in such leftover spaces with whimsical little drawings of birds or animals, self-portraits or scenes from monastic life.
Jean also went back in time to her school days in Huyton, England, where she’d attended a Church of England school north of Liverpool.
“There was a chapel where we met at 8:40 each morning. Sometimes I was asked to read these lines: ‘Be thou strong and of good courage, for the Lord thy God is with thee whither thou goest.’ It seemed good advice at the time. Our teachers were mainly women who had been missionaries abroad. My sister and I were confirmed in 1945.” Long-lasting memories.
William, our religious education coordinator, also fondly recalled his school days. His chosen text was, “Lighten our darkness, we beseech Thee, O Lord” from an Evening Prayer collect the boys recited in full at the end of afternoon classes each day.
“It has been a significant part of my life and memory since my earliest days,” he says. He found the calligraphy series “fascinating and informative.”
A number of people turned to psalms and the gospel for inspiration. Jane was reflective. Her text from Psalm 46 reverberates with calm: “Be still and know that I am God.” She drew a quiet park bench with bumblebees buzzing around and butterflies.
In contrast, 96-year-old Jack drew whimsical figures of people around the edge of his page. He claims they are not actual parishioners but based subconsciously on them. His text reads humbly, “God be merciful unto us and bless us.”
Caro, who leads Compline every Wednesday night on Zoom for anyone who wishes to participate, chose “From all ill dreams defend our eyes” from the second verse of the hymn in Compline. She had watched a TV episode about bedrooms from Lucy Worsley’s history of the home. It seems that medieval people were very afraid of spirits in the night.
Catharine also focused on home and the protective love of God with “Visit, O Lord, this place. Let thy Holy Angels dwell herein.” Home and family are of prime importance to her.
The power of love was also stressed by Michelle, who chose the famous passage from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Michelle drew beautiful script and coloured a red heart. She believes that “love fuels life.” And so it does.
Susan turned to the gospel for her text, quoting the opening lines of John 3:16: “God so loved the world.”
“This verse encapsulates my Christianity,” she says. “It tells me that because I have faith I am justified.”
Agatha had been through a hard time in her life. The text “Jesus said: Come unto me all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30) gave her great solace and strength. She illustrated praying hands in the background of her page.
Cathy chose two texts, the first from Psalm 139: “for darkness is as light to you.” She had also been grappling with words in Psalm 36, “in Thy light shall we see light.”
“I love the way the psalmist uses words here, in the fumbling way. That words can express the inexpressible, but beyond my ability to convey in calligraphy.” She added thoughtfully, “I found it took a measure of courage to follow Elizabeth’s guiding and instructions as I turned my blotches and smears into something nearer to what I was better pleased with. I appreciated Elizabeth’s patience.”
Last, but not least, Canon Mitchell showed his artistic streak in his lovely rendering of the text from Psalm 91: “He shall give his angels charge over thee and keep thee in all thy ways.”
The evening concluded with him leading us in Compline, a quiet spiritual closure to the session: “The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. Amen.”
Let there be light