The Archbishop of Canterbury leads Chapel Service to Bless new Statue
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams was present in College on Wednesday 14th September for a short ceremony to bless the Chapel’s new statue of St Hugh, a recent gift to the College by the artist Professor Anthony (Todd) Smith of Virginia, USA.
Professor Smith designed and crafted the statue in 2010 specifically for the College Chapel, in time for the occasion of the College's 125th Anniversary celebrated this year.
The College takes its name from St Hugh, who was Bishop of Lincoln from 1186 -1200 AD. Foundress Elizabeth Wordsworth’s Father, Dr Christopher Wordsworth, had also been a Bishop of Lincoln.
The Archbishop and College Chaplain, Dr Shaun Henson, shared parts from a short liturgy written especially for the occasion. The Archbishop gave a brief address before blessing the statue, telling the audience present that St Hugh is one of his favourite saints in all of history, and how pleased he was to have been asked to bless the new statue fashioned in Hugh's likeness. Dr Williams quoted St Hugh, who had been a devoted Carthusian monk, later catapulted by the request of King Henry II into the busy Bishop’s role. The Diocese of Lincoln during Hugh’s lifetime was large by today’s standards, stretching far south and including Oxford and the University. Hugh remained a monk at heart throughout his life, retiring each year to live briefly as a monk at the Carthusian monastery at Witham, Somerset, which he had once led.
A plaque will be affixed to the wall near the Chapel’s statue commemorating the special occasion of the Archbishop’s blessing.