Saint Peter's Church, Devizes
Welcome to the website for the St. Peter's Church in Devizes, Wiltshire.
We are a
Forward in Faith
Church in the
Anglican Diocese of Salisbury. Episcopal oversight is given by the Bishop of Ebbsfleet.
We are active members of the
Devizes Partnership of Churches.
Firmly established in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England,
St Peter's Church
has witnessed to the Christian faith and served the people of the Devizes area since 1866. The church is in the town's western outskirts on the Bath Road, near the famous Caen Hill Locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
The Church is proud of its associated School - St Peter's Primary. To see
the School's own web pages click here.
Use the navigation panel on the left to :
- find out About our Church and its mission,
- read the History of our church,
- see the normal schedule of Services,
- read this month's Letter from Father Peter,
- * view or print this month's Parish Paper (pdf)
- * view or print the Diary of This Week's events and special services (pdf),
- read about our Events and Activities,
- get our Contact details,
- get directions to Find Us
- look at our Gallery of Photographs
- look at Stations of the Cross and Icons to be seen in St Peter's
- Read the article about St Peter's on Wikipedia
Please Note: *Adobe Reader is required to view some files on this site. Click here to download the free Adobe Reader if you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed already.
Latest News
Services and Events This Week
|
When |
Where |
Service / Event |
Sunday,
29
January
+
Epiphany 4 |
| 10:00 am |
St Peter's |
Sung Mass, Sunday School & Sermon |
Thursday
2
February
Presentation of the Lord |
| 7.30 pm |
St Peter's |
Sung Mass & Procession with Candles |
|
Saturday
4
February |
| 6.00 pm |
St Peter's |
Evening Prayer & Preparation for Communion |
Sunday,
5 February
+ 3
Before Lent/Septuagesima |
| 8:00 am |
St Peter's |
Low Mass |
| 9:15 am |
St Peter's |
Morning Prayer |
| 10:00 am |
St Peter's |
Sung Mass, Sunday School & Sermon |
|
Morning Prayer will be said daily at
8.00am & Evening Prayer at 6.00pm most days this week.
Confessions after Evening Prayer on Saturday, or by appointment.
To make arrangements for Baptisms or Marriages, please contact the
Parish Priest on (01380) 724785 |
[To download full Diary and Saints for this
week, also the Collect, Readings & Gospel for The Epiphany 4 & Septuagesima - see the Diary page]
Wishing
All Our Visitors a Happy and Blessed Christmas
After our Advent wait we can now visit the
Crib at St Peter's
The banner proclaims Emmanuel - 'God With Us'
We are now in
Epiphany - the Magi may now be seen in the Crypt
O new order!
God, compelled by love for His own
image,
becomes an
infant and suffers Himself to be bound
in swaddling
bands,
having come to
pay the debts of all the world..
In a manger in a
stable is He laid,
witnessing that
he is both the Shepherd
and the Food of
the nations.
An Epiphany Quiz
The Epiphany story is told in
Matthew Mt. 2:1-12. This is the Gospel appointed for Epiphany 1 and may be
found in the Readings for Epiphany 1.
QUESTION : How many Kings
are mentioned in this story?
ANSWER:
(a) None ?
(b) One ?
(c) Two ?
(d) Three?
The correct answer may be
found at the bottom of this page. To go directly to the answer
click here.
Fr Peter's January Message
The secular Xmas largely
finished on Boxing Day, but in the Church calendar Christmas is a liturgical
season of great joy that lasts 40 days from 25th December to Candlemas on
2nd February.
The Church Christmas spans January 1st but the secular New Year has no
significance within the Church calendar. Perhaps the most spectacular
New Year Celebration in 2012 took place in Sydney, Australia with a
12-minute firework display under the theme ‘A Time To Dream’, a display that
took 15 months of planning and cost millions.
Fr Peter’s January message is now available on our
Letter page and was printed in the January
Parish Paper. New Year is a time of reflection on the events of the
previous 12 month and of looking ahead to the next. Fr Peter’s January
message does actually review our current situation and asks what we have to
rejoice about in the Christmas season. However, those looking for
optimistic dreams are advised NOT to read the Letter: it is a very sombre
reflection on a time when:
“Things seem to be falling apart around us, with little but signs of
break up wherever you look.”
In this situation -
“We may have to accept limitations on our freedom to please ourselves
(‘live our dreams’)”
But might there be something to gain from all this?
21st December - Feast of St.
Thomas, Apostle & Martyr
.... and a Special Day for Fr Derek
21st December, as well as being
the shortest day of the year, is celebrated in the Book of Common Prayer as the
Feast Day of the apostle St Thomas. St Thomas’s Day in 2011 had a special
significance for our Assistant Priest, Fr Derek Frost, for it was on this day 40
years ago that he was ordained Deacon. Since then he has served as Vicar in a
number of parishes close to St Peter’s, including the adjoining parish of Seend
with Bulkington and Poulshot.
At 10 am at St Peter’s a
congregation assembled for a special Mass at which Fr Derek was the Celebrant
and Preacher. Fr Derek told us that he had always had a special affection for St
Thomas: there had in the 40 years of his priesthood been moments of doubt and
difficulty, rather like those of ‘Doubting Thomas’ as recorded in the Gospel for
the day in the BCP:
THOMAS, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them,
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not
believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas
with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst,
and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy
finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into
my side; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord, and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou
hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of
his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing ye might have life through his name. [ John 20:24-end]
Thomas was kept within the company
of the Apostles in spite of his doubts. Jesus met him and said, ‘Peace be unto
you’. Having seen and touched Jesus, Thomas said, ‘My Lord, and my God’. It is
believed that he subsequently travelled far in the service of his Lord and his
God, and suffered a similar martyrdom. Fr Derek has pursued the theme of the
‘Living Hope’ that is shown in the story and its meaning for today in a longer
sermon he preached on May 1st this year; the text of this
sermon may be read by clicking here.
After the sermon Margaret Parkinson and Jan Gaylard had laid on a buffet with
drinks and cakes that was enjoyed by all. Fr Peter made a short speech,
expressing our appreciation for the work that Fr Derek, assisted by his wife
Ann, continues to do for us at St Peter's.
.
FUTURE OF THE CHURCH - Under the
banner of the Saints ...
is the headline to an article in
our January Parish Paper.
Writing in his Diary for
17 October 2010,
not long after The Society of St. Wilfrid & St. Hilda had been formed, Fr
Peter said,
"The
Society will seek to create ‘elbow room’ for Anglican Catholic parishes like
ours to continue in the ‘new’ Church of England with integrity"
and concluded that, "It deserves
our support."
In 2011 the Society has gained
momentum and the January Parish Paper tells us that the Forward in
Faith National Assembly in London in November "overwhelmingly threw their weight
in support of the Society and agreed to support it during the present formative
period".
Also in November the
inaugural meeting of the South-Western Branch
of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda took place in Exeter Cathedral. Since
that meeting, The Rt Rev’d John Ford,
Bishop of Plymouth has sent an email to all those from the Dioceses adjoining his own
- which includes those of us at St Peter's - who have registered an interest with the
Society. The Bishop tells us:
Within the not too
distant future, the Bishops of The Society will develop a regional plan
which will allocate one of our number to each of the Dioceses in the
country. Until such time as this is concretised please feel free to be part of
the South West region which is easily identifiable because of my Episcopal
role in both the Diocese of Exeter and Truro.
To read a copy of the text of the Bishop's
email click here.
Our Parish Paper article reminds us that
St Peter's has already pledged its
membership of the Society, but it is hoped that individual members of our
congregation will also "sign up" in due course.
For
those individuals in St Peter's who have email access and wish sign up to the
Society they can do so now by visiting the Society's website at
www.sswsh.com. and submitting an application
by clicking on the 'Join Us' tab. You will be asked to fill in a short
application form with basic contact details; it does not cost anything to join.
To
follow what is happening in the Society's South West Region go to the Links Page
of the website and click on 'The
South West'.
The
bishops in the Society will be producing devotional material for Lent; this is
likely to be produced closer to Ash Wednesday this year and will be available on the
website.
Answer to Epiphany Quiz
The correct answer is
(c ) Two - King Herod and Jesus, “the
one who has been born king of the Jews”.
The three Wise Men are never
referred to as "Kings", only as “Magi”.
To return to the top of the
page Click Here.
Job Vacancy - Church Organist
Wanted for St. Peter's Devizes - an organist for the 10.00am
Sung Mass and for evening Masses on major saints' days.
Honorarium to be negotiated. Traditional catholic worship. All
Resolutions passed.
A temporary position for one year in the first instance.
Please contact the parish priest Fr. Peter Moss SSC on (01380)
724785.
Dates for Your Diary
2012
Thursday
February 2nd Feast
of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple
7:30
pm Sung Mass and Ceremonies.
Thursday
February
9th 7:30
Women's
Guild:
Talk by John Girvan, Devizes writer and historian - Topic to be
confirmed.
Thursday
February 23rd 7:30
Women's
Guild:
'History of Pewsey Carnival' by Richard Giles
Thursday
March 1st 7:30
Women's
Guild:
Skittles Evening
Saturday
March
17th 10:am to 4:00 pm
St Peter’s Parish Quiet Day at St. Denys Retreat Centre, Warminster
An opportunity to leave behind the hustle & bustle of life and spend time
listening to that Still Small Voice with addresses, Devotions and food!
Full use of House facilities, Chapel, meeting rooms and beautiful garden.
Cost £20 per person including coffee and biscuits, 2 course lunch , tea and cake
at the end of the day.
Thursday
March
22nd 7:30 Women's
Guild:
'Murder Most Foul or Was it! by Phil Brown
Thursday
April
12th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
'Nursing at Roundway Hospital' by Rev Liz Bailey
Thursday
April
26th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
'Royal Protection' by Peter Russ
Thursday
May
10th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
Fish and Chip Supper + Bring and Buy
Thursday
May
17th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
Corporate Communion
Thursday
May
24th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
'Wiltshire Radio' by Matthew Smith
Thursday
June
14th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
Summer Meal
Saturday
June
16th Glastonbury Pilgrimage
12 Noon Solemn concelebrated mass. Principal
Celebrant will be the Bishop of Beverley.
Day will conclude with Procession of Witness and Benediction.
Preachers on the day will be the Bishop of Ebbsfleet and the Bishop of Plymouth
[See Gallery page for pictures of the 2009 Pilgrimage at which Fr Peter and the St Peter's Serving Team played a
prominent role]
Thursday
June
28th 7:30 Women's
Guild:
AGM
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Recent updates
(24-January-2012)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(16-January-2012)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(11-January-2012)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(3-January-2012)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(31-December-2011)
New
January
Fr Peter's Letter
(29-December-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(28-November-2011)
New
January
Parish Paper
(20-December-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(12-December-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(7-December-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(1-December-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(27-November-2011)
New
December
Parish Paper
& Fr Peter's Letter
(22-November-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(14-November-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(11-November-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(8-November-2011)
New
November Parish Paper
(4-November-2011)
Slideshow of Bishop Jonathon's Visit added to
Gallery
(1-November-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(30-October-2011)
New Fr Peter's October Letter
(25
-October-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(18-October-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(11-October-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(5-October-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary' and Trinity 15 Sermon
uploaded
(2-October-2011)
New
October Parish Paper
(27-September-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(26-September-2011)
New Fr Peter's October Letter
(21-September-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(16-September-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(6-September-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(5-September-2011)
New September Parish Paper
(28-August-2011)
New September Fr Peter's Letter
(23-August-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(17-August-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(14-August-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(9-August-2011)
Trinity 7 Sermon Uploaded
(7-August-2011)
New August Parish Paper & Fr Peter's Letter
(2-August-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(26-July-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(18-July-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(11-July-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(5-July-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(3-July-2011)
New July Parish Paper & Fr Peter's Letter
(29-June-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(26-June-2011)
Corpus Christi slide show added to Gallery
(21-June-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(15-June-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(11-June-2011)
Amended 'This Week's Diary'
(8-June-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(3-June-2011)
New June Parish Paper
(1-June-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(29-May-2011)
New June Letter
(25-May-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(18-May-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(10-May-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(8-May-2011)
New May Parish Paper
(5-May-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(29-April-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(12-April-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(10-April-2011)
New April Parish Paper & Fr Peter's Letter
(5-April-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(29-March-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(22-March-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(15-March-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(9-March-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(3-March-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(27-February-2011)
New March Parish Paper & Fr Peter's Letter
(22-February-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(16-February-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(13-February-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(3-February-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(30-Janurayr-2011)
New February Parish Paper
(27-January-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(20-January-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(14-January-2011)
'This Week's Diary' amended
(10-January-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(7-Janurayr-2011)
New January Parish Paper
(4-January-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'
(3-January-2011)
About page updated.
(2-January-2011)
New 'This Week's Diary'