| Where: | London at St Lawrence Jewry, Guildhall Yard, Gresham Street |
| When: | February or March |
| Time: | Usually 11.30 for 12 noon but see Helpful Hints |
The church of St Lawrence Jewry is the setting for an annual endowed sermon, a survivor from the fourteenth century when it was originally preached from the old open-air pulpit at St Mary Spital, hence the name. The sermons were originally intended to attract donations and bequests to the almshouse on the site. A visiting bishop is invited to preach by the Lord Mayor and the theme from the Bishop of London in 2019 was The Spread of Truth (historically it was frequently The Resurrection). Nowadays it’s held to coincide with meeting of the Court of Common Council so has shifted from its original date just after Easter and takes place during February or March. Expect the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, Common Councilmen and the governors of Bridewell and Christ’s Hospital and a choir from pupils of either Christ’s Hospital or King Edward’s School Witley (the choristers take it in turns annually).
Helpful Hints
The timing is usually advertised well in advance on the calendar in the church website and it’s currently usually on a weekday in February or March, often a Thursday. It lasts about half-an-hour or just over. The first rows are reserved for the great and good, but visitors are welcome to attend and a steward will guide you to the appropriate pews.
In 2024 it was on Thursday 7th March at 11.45- 2025 details are yet to be announced.
Click here for the church website : http://www.stlawrencejewry.org.uk/
and here for Christ’s Hospital: https://www.christs-hospital.org.uk
and King Edward’s: http://www.kesw.org
Christ’s Hospital was founded as a result of the Spital Sermon in 1552 of Bishop Ridley wherefrom King Edward VI (who attended the sermon and was much moved by this) wrote to Sir Richard Dodds, Lord Mayor of London and a group of thirty good citizens created the charity school for the poor and needy. Christ’s Hospital is facing an existential crisis in 2016. A “Petition 1552” with already some 750 signatories has been submitted to the Council of Almoners to endeavour to ensure that Christ’s Hospital return to its original charitable mission of educating the poor and needy. It seems to me that the 2016 Spital Sermon on March 3 2016 might address this matter. The Very Reverend Dr John Arnold of Canterbury Cathedral one of the petitioners could suitable advise.
Thanks for that – very interesting. Let’s hope the school can forge ahead into the future whilst maintaining its original laudable aims.
Which is the day when farmers used to come and traditionally they used to bless fruit in this church, and more recently (because there aren’t so many local farmers these days) city workers bring instead their Apple iphones and Blackberries to be blessed?
This sounds interesting – but it’s not something I’ve come across. Anyone else know about it?