Crumbs from the Table

The earliest settlement of what is now Brussels goes back to the year 580 and the island (Saint-Géry island) between two branches of the river Senne which ran through Brussels, on which Gaugericus (Géry), Christian bishop of Cambrai, built a chapel (Saint-Géry Chapel), which remained the oldest place of worship in the city until the building was demolished in the 1790s. (See also  History of Brussels - part 2 ) Brussels is mentioned in the historical record again in 695.  In the year 979, Lambert the Duke of Louvain, fortified the settlement on Saint-Géry Island - this is the traditional date of the founding of Brussels. What is now the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula dates back to a parish church in 1047. In the 1100s, the Dukes of Brabant transformed the fortress on Saint-Géry Island into a inhabitable castle. The city was enclosed by the first city walls ( première enceinte - see shaded region on map to the right) in the 1200s. Brussels had developed into a subs...

It is a fact that in most societies of the global north, such as the United Kingdom and France, church attendance has dropped significantly since the 1800s and in places now represents a tiny minority of something like 1-2%.  The term "secularisation" refers to the process by which religious faith is increasingly marginalised from society, and limited to the private lives of a small number of individual believers. A major contemporary expert on secularisation is Professor Hugh McLeod  of the University of Birmingham, who is himself a Quaker.   Hugh McLeod's work offers lots of statistical data and insights into the phenomenon of secularisation.  The process of secularisation goes back at least as far as the 1600s, and a major contributing factor was co-existence and belligerence between rival forms of Christianity during that century. There appears to be a certain typical chronological sequence for secularisation in "Christian" countries, beginning with the co-e...

I am due to make a trip to Poland soon, and I have been reading up about Polish history.  The original homeland of the Slavic peoples is considered to be the region of Pripyat' in Belarus.  The Polish people descended from the West Slavic tribes, known collectively as the Lechtitic tribes,   who settled in the Vistula and Oder river basins between the 300s and 700s AD. These included the Polans, Vistulans, Pomeranians, Goplans, Lendians, Mazovians, and Silesians, with the Polans playing a central role in unifying them.  The history of Poland begins with the conversion of Duke Mieszko to the Christian faith in 966. The main Christian influence was Great Moravia, the homeland of Mieszka's bride, Dobrawa, a devout Christian - her country having been Christianised by Cyril and Methodius about a century earlier. The map below shows the geographical extent of Poland under the rule of Mieszko. His capital city was at Gniezno. The light blue is the extent of Mieszko's Duchy ...

Mosely Street Independent Chapel was a place of worship in Manchester which stood diagonally opposite Pimlico library on Mosely Street on the present site of the Sainsbury's supermarket.  (It should not be confused with Mosely Street Unitarian church which closed in 1835, having stood on the future site of the Manchester and Salford Bank which is now occupied by the "Betfred" betting shop.) Mosely Street Independent Chapel was a breakaway in 1788 from Cannon Street Congregational Church which had only started in 1762 (with Caleb Warhurst as minister).   Ministers of Mosely Street Independent Chapel Joseph Smith  Samuel Bradley  Dr Robert Halley The building stood from 1788, was enlarged in 1817, and then vacated in 1848 when the church moved to Cavendish Road. Here is a picture of the building: Manchester City Council holds the historic records of this church . In 1847/8, a new chapel was completed on Cavendish Road near the University of Manchester with seating...

 New York Street Baptist Chapel was a place of worship in the centre of Manchester which stood from 1808 to 1869.  The church was a breakaway from the Baptist church pastored by William Gadsby shortly after his arrival in 1805. For a time, the church met at Cold House chapel in the Shudehill area of Manchester (a longstanding place of non-Anglican worship), before moving into the premises on New York Street in 1808. The well-known pastor John Fawcett (1739-1817) of Wainsgate Chapel in Hebden Bridge preached at the opening service.  The location of the church was on New York Street which at the time of writing is on the other side of the City Tower from Piccadilly Gardens. The chapel stood in the block between Pine Street and Faulkner Street on the site of what is now the carpark.  The chapel is clearly marked on various historic maps of Manchester, such as this one (Pigot 1813):  According to Baptist church historian Whitley (Baptists of the North West, 1913), ...

Moss Lane Baptist Chapel was a place of worship in the Moss Side area of Manchester. It was constructed in 1872. Marriage records for the church 1900-1971 are held here . The origins of Moss Lane Baptist Chapel go back to a Baptist chapel which stood on New York Street in Manchester City Centre from 1808-1869. This was a breakaway from Rochdale Road Strict Baptist Chapel, and it stood between Faulkner Street and Pine Street, approximately where the Arnii cafe now stands.  The old chapel was sold in 1869, and the funds used to build the new church building in Moss Side with seating for 850 which was completed in 1872. At the time, this was reported in  several publications including the Manchester Guardian . It stood on Moss Lane East on the south side between what was then Stockton street and Sewerby Street. Its precise location appears on many maps, including the following:  It is not to be confused with the former Welsh Calvinist Methodist Chapel (now Polish Roman Cat...

Today, I visited Ludlow in Shropshire and the Parish Church of Saint Laurence that dates back to the 1100s. I thought it would be good to share the story of this Christian who lived in the 200s, who gave his life for the Lord.  Laurence (also spelt Lawrence) was a Christian believer who lived from 225 until 258. He died a "martyr" - this means that he died for his Christian faith and way of life.   Laurence was originally from the Roman province of Hispania (Spain), where he was born in 225 in the town of either Heusca or Valencia. It was in Spain that he met the future bishop Sixtus II of Rome (also known as "Pope"), at Zaragoza, and together they travelled to Rome.  By the mid-200s, the Christian community at Rome was already 200 years old. Arguably, it was in the 40s of the Christian era that it began - just 10-15 years after Christ rose from the dead. Shortly after it began, this church would have been impacted by the decree by the Emperor Claudius, expelling al...