Royal Garrison Church, Portsmouth

Portsmouth’s Royal Garrison Church has had a long and chequered history. This is reflected in its current name as well as its previous one, Domus Dei, when it was attached to an alms-house and hospital.

While celebrating here Mass on 9th January, 1450, Adam Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, was dragged outside and lynched. As Lord Privy Seal, he was blamed for the failures of royal government and unpaid soldiers and sailors expressed their frustration by violently killing him. The city of Portsmouth was place under interdict for the next 58 years, meaning that religious ceremonies and worship were restricted or banned.

I have low regard for popish clergy, especially powerful and wealthy medieval ones who lived in panelled houses while unpaid sailors starved in the streets. Nevertheless, his death was illegal and immoral, and his blood surely cried out to God from the ground. Notwithstanding the indefensible nature of his killing, it still serves as a stark warning to pastors and church leaders who involve themselves in politics and secular affairs. The gospel has practical implications for national and local life, but there are serious dangers when the boundaries between the eternal and the temporal are smudged and blurred.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4, AV

No man holding knighthood to God, enwrappeth himself with worldly needs, that he please to him, to whom he hath proved himself. 2 Timothy 2:4, Wycliffe’s Bible

A D