In the summer of 2011 I visited St Hedda’s Church at Egton Bridge and was very moved by the relics and story of Nicholas Postgate, a Roman Catholic Priest executed in 1679 for practising his calling at a time when Roman Catholic forms of worship were illegal. The fragile nature of the relics, a small cross, a lock of his hair and a worn wooden rosary, seemed to speak of the fragility of human endeavour. It brought to mind our Lord’s promise to St Paul’s in 2 Corinthians 12: 9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In the weeks that followed I wrote a piece of music for solo violin that reflected my thoughts and feelings of that experience. It is surely only a poor shadow of what I thought and felt in those moments, and only a very distant echo through time of the man himself, but it is sincerely meant. The words of this Common Worship Prayer for the English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era are words I recall when contemplating the violence of the Reformation, Merciful God, who, when your Church on earth was torn apart by the ravages of sin, raised up men and women in this land who witnessed to their faith with courage and constancy: give to your Church that peace which is your will, and grant that those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven and share together in the vision of your glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. The picture is of the North York Moors were Postgate lived and worked.
The violin is electronically generated.
The score may be found in 'Music for Solo Violin Volume II: North Yorkshire, and a Scottish Excursion' at Lulu.com
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