St Magnus the Martyr

St Magnus the Martyr
St Magnus the Martyr
Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Magnus the Martyr
	St Magnus the Martyr
Location	London, EC3
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Catholic Church
Churchmanship	Traditional Catholic
Website	stmagnusmartyr.org.uk
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed building
Architect(s)	Christopher Wren
Style	Baroque
Administration
Diocese	London
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Rt Revd Jonathan Baker (PEV)
Rector	Philip Warner

St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge, is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London,^[1] is part of the Diocese of London and under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Fulham.^[2] It is a Grade I listed building.^[3] The rector uses the title "Cardinal Rector" and, since the abolition of the College of Minor Canons of St Paul's Cathedral in 2016, is the only cleric in the Church of England to use the title cardinal.^[4]

St Magnus lies on the original alignment of London Bridge between the City and Southwark. The ancient parish was united with that of St Margaret, New Fish Street, in 1670 and with that of St Michael, Crooked Lane, in 1831.^[5] The three united parishes retained separate vestries and churchwardens.^[6] Parish clerks continue to be appointed for each of the three parishes.^[7]

St Magnus is the guild church of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and the ward church of the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. It is also twinned with the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.^[8]

Its prominent location and beauty have prompted many mentions in literature.^[9] In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens notes how, as Nancy heads for her secret meeting with Mr Brownlow and Rose Maylie on London Bridge, "the tower of old Saint Saviour's Church, and the spire of Saint Magnus, so long the giant-warders of the ancient bridge, were visible in the gloom". The church's spiritual and architectural importance is celebrated in the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who wrote, "the walls of Magnus Martyr hold/Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold". He added in a footnote that "the interior of St. Magnus Martyr is to my mind one of the finest among Wren's interiors".^[10] One biographer of Eliot notes that at first he enjoyed St Magnus aesthetically for its "splendour"; later he appreciated its "utility" when he came there as a sinner.^[11]

^ See The Monument Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ Bishop of Fulham
^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1064601)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
^ See http://www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk/
^ Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England I: Southern England, Youngs, F.A.: London, 1979 ISBN 0-901050-67-9
^ For example, in 1824 St Magnus the Martyr had a Select Vestry of 32 persons, whilst St Margaret New Fish Street had a General Vestry. London Parishes: Containing the Situation, Antiquity, and Re-building of the Churches Within the Bills of Mortality, Printed by Weed, B. for Jeffery, W.: London, 1824
^ The ancient office of Parish Clerk and the Parish Clerks Company of London, Clark, O.: London, Journal of the Ecclesiastical Law Society Vol. 8, January 2006 ISSN 0956-618X
^ See Church of the Resurrection Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Before the erection of Adelaide House, to approach the City from Southwark was to enjoy as fine a sight as any in London. In the foreground were the ships in the Pool ... while the morning light glinted upon the glorious tower of Wren's church of St Magnus the Martyr, the Customs House and the golden flames of the Monument." 'The Times', 8 November 1927
^ Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.
The Waste Land and other poems, lines 263 to 265, Eliot, T.S.: Faber & Faber, London, 1940. For commentaries, see chapter 2 of Anglo-Catholic in Religion – T.S. Eliot and Christianity by Barry Spurr, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7188-3073-1 and Liturgical Influences of Anglo-Catholicism on The Waste Land and Other Works by T. S. Eliot by A. Lee Fjordbotten, 1999 at Liturgical Influences. Spurr notes that St Magnus "was one of the leading shrines of the Anglo-Catholic movement and it is very notable that Eliot should not only refer to it, but, in the midst of a poem of almost unrelieved negativity, present it so positively (if somewhat uncomprehendingly) in terms of the exquisite beauty of its interior: its ‘Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold’ (the liturgical colours, we should note, of Eastertide and resurrection, a concept otherwise denied repeatedly throughout The Waste Land)".
^ Eliot's Early Years, Gordon, L.: Oxford, 1978 ISBN 978-0-19-281252-0

[1] See The Monument Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine

[2] Bishop of Fulham

[3] Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1064601)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 July 2015.

[4] See http://www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk/

[5] Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England I: Southern England, Youngs, F.A.: London, 1979 ISBN 0-901050-67-9

[6] For example, in 1824 St Magnus the Martyr had a Select Vestry of 32 persons, whilst St Margaret New Fish Street had a General Vestry. London Parishes: Containing the Situation, Antiquity, and Re-building of the Churches Within the Bills of Mortality, Printed by Weed, B. for Jeffery, W.: London, 1824

[7] The ancient office of Parish Clerk and the Parish Clerks Company of London, Clark, O.: London, Journal of the Ecclesiastical Law Society Vol. 8, January 2006 ISSN 0956-618X

[8] See Church of the Resurrection Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine

[9] "Before the erection of Adelaide House, to approach the City from Southwark was to enjoy as fine a sight as any in London. In the foreground were the ships in the Pool ... while the morning light glinted upon the glorious tower of Wren's church of St Magnus the Martyr, the Customs House and the golden flames of the Monument." 'The Times', 8 November 1927

[10] Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.
The Waste Land and other poems, lines 263 to 265, Eliot, T.S.: Faber & Faber, London, 1940. For commentaries, see chapter 2 of Anglo-Catholic in Religion – T.S. Eliot and Christianity by Barry Spurr, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7188-3073-1 and Liturgical Influences of Anglo-Catholicism on The Waste Land and Other Works by T. S. Eliot by A. Lee Fjordbotten, 1999 at Liturgical Influences. Spurr notes that St Magnus "was one of the leading shrines of the Anglo-Catholic movement and it is very notable that Eliot should not only refer to it, but, in the midst of a poem of almost unrelieved negativity, present it so positively (if somewhat uncomprehendingly) in terms of the exquisite beauty of its interior: its ‘Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold’ (the liturgical colours, we should note, of Eastertide and resurrection, a concept otherwise denied repeatedly throughout The Waste Land)".

[11] Eliot's Early Years, Gordon, L.: Oxford, 1978 ISBN 978-0-19-281252-0

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