How well do you know your
church?
Chris
Price
Over three issues of our
magazine, your quizmaster set thirty questions,
ranging from the obvious to the obscure, about the
fixtures and fittings
of St Faith’s. They are printed below, together with
the answers.
1. Where and why is the archiepiscopal porker?
Quite an
easy starter. Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury,
kept a herd of pigs, and a representation of the porker is
on the bottom right hand corner of his window
just inside the south porch door.
2. Where is there one toe short?
Even easier. The Christ child in the Mother Maribel Madonna statue has only four toes on one foot.
3. Where is there a ’typo’ in a window?
Getting
tougher now.The window is in the south aisle, depicting
the Venerable Bede. The September 2014 magazine explains
the mistake (an ‘o’ instead of an ‘&’ in
the inscription).
4. Where is a saint anticipating an upside-down crucifixion?
Carved in stone on the pulpit, St Peter is shown with an inverted cross, the supposed means of his death.
5. Where can you find a Gay doctor?
Dr Gay (his name, not his orientation!) is honoured on a brass plaque in the south aisle.
St
Catherine is traditionally seen carrying a ‘Catherine
Wheel’ representing the manner of her death. She is doing
so on the chancel screen carving and in one of the
windows in the south aisle.
7. Where do two angels look the wrong way?
On both wings of the reredos above the High Altar, painted angels are shown facing inwards – but one on each side faces outwards.
8. Where is there one ‘S’ missing on a repeated monogram?
The same location: there are hand-painted ‘ihs’ monograms on the folding wings of the reredos, but the third letter is missing on one of them in the right hand panel.
9. Where uniquely is there an ‘S.’ instead of a ‘St.’?
The statue of our patron is labelled as ‘S.Faith’ – the only time this occurs in the church.
10. Where can you find the name of a bishop’s father?
Kenneth McCulloch, father of Bishop Nigel McCulloch, is one of the war dead listed on the framed record in the Chapel of the Cross.
11. Where can you find ‘Elcum’ – and why?
Carved in stone on the chancel screen. Our founder, Douglas Horsfall, commissioned the screen as a memorial to his son, Robert Elcum Horsfall, killed in the 2nd World War.
12. Where can you see the work of Salviati of Venice?
Salviati,
or at least his famous firm, was responsible for the great
reredos behind the High Altar.
13. Where is a young man’s name recorded twice, once
incorrectly spelt?
An
impossibly obscure question! The young man is Niel Brooks,
and that’s the correct spelling, as on the plaque below
the ‘Boy Jesus’ statue, given in his memory by
his mother. However, on the list of our war dead in the
Chapel of the Cross, he is wrongly called Neil.
14. Where can you find something designed by the architect of Liverpool Cathedral?
The chancel screen, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
15. Where is there a running dog, and what does it signify?
It’s in the St Faith’s window (our oldest piece of stained glass, near the pulpit). The dog is the trademark of the window’s designer, Herbert Bryans.
16. Where and what is the product of Ferdinand Stuflesser’s company?
This is the
Great Crucifix, the almost life-size statue of Christ on
the cross, situated in the Chapel of the Cross. The
Austrian firm of Stuflesser was responsible
for its construction
17. Where would you find Veronica and what is she doing?
She is depicted on the 6th of the woven Stations of the Cross, where she is shown wiping the face of Jesus.
18. Where is our national saint currently to be found?
The statue of St George is currently in place in a window alcove at the west end of the north aisle
19. Where is there quite a lot of Zirbel wood?
See the first question above. We discovered that Zirbel wood was used for the cross on which Jesus is nailed.
20. Where is another Crosby church to be seen in St Faith’s?
The Lord
Runcie window, by the south porch door, pictures St
Luke’s, Crosby, which Robert Runcie attended as a boy
before becoming part of St Faith’s congregation
en route to becoming Archbishop of Canterbury.
21. Where are the three lambs to be seen in St Faith’s?
One, the
Lamb of God, is at the bottom of the central panel of the
reredos. The second, carved in wood, the symbol of St
Agnes, is at the feet of the saint on the
screen separating the chancel from the nave. The third is
depicted n the ‘Son of God’ memorial window in the south
aisle near the porch.
22. Where and how often can you find the name of Horsfall inscribed at St Faith’s?
The name of
Douglas Horsfall, our founder, is not to be found anywhere
in the church. His son, Robert Elcum Horsfall, is listed
among the war dead on the framed
manuscript in the Chapel of the Cross, and carved in stone
at the foot of the chancel screen, which his father gave
in his memory.
23. Where is Fr William Hassall remembered by name in our church?
A plaque above the choir stalls (vestry side) records the restoration of the organ done as a memorial to him
24. Where can you find several small white monks – and how many are there of them?
They are the trademark symbols of Whitefriars glass, and are in the bottom corners of xx of the north aisle stained glass windows
25. Where is the work of Sister Anthony to be seen?
Sister Anthony and the Metropolitan Cathedral team designed and wove the fourteen Stations of the Cross; also the banner of St Faith kept in the chancel
26. Where would you go to see a pair of pandas?
They are in the representation of the ark on the Junior Church banner, kept in the Chapel of the Cross; it was made by Diana Waters
27. Where is there a Bell in St Faith’s?
A Bell, not a bell! Joseph Bell, heroic Chief Engineer of the Titanic, is remembered with honour on the brass plaque in the north aisle
28. Where is Queen Victoria cited, and why might she not have been amused?
She is mentioned on the dedication stone inscription above the choi8rstalls on the north wall of the chancel. She was no fan of Anglo-Catholicism, by all accounts!
29. Where is one with black, and not just red and gold, to be seen?
13 of the 14 Stations of the Cross are woven in gold on a red background: One of them, the 12th, also has a black motif
30. Where does your quizmaster’s name have him in stitches?
Audrey Dawson’s Centenary banners record the names of past and (then) present clergy and wardens, including this writer’s name, which is in green.
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Uploaded
July 2015; tweaked September 2018
