An abbreviated worship schedule for July is on the right sidebar of the HOME page. A three-month May-June-July 2026 worship schedule is available for download from the right sidebar of the RESOURCES page.

Commemorations and feast days are part of the Book of Common Prayer calendar throughout the year. On Monday, July 20th, the calendar commemorates [Margaret, Virgin and Martyr, Antioch of Pisidia.]  The brackets tell us this is an ancient memorial “whose historical character is obscure.” It is possible that Margaret never in fact existed and the source of her legend remains a mystery. Yet such is the nature of the human mind and the power of faith that many medieval Christians believed she could answer their prayers. Thus she was one of the most popular saints in Western Christendom in the later Middle Ages.”

On Wednesday, July 22nd, many Anglicans celebrate

The Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

 Relief sculpture of Mary Magdalene with angels raising her. Unknown author Pko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Mary Magdalene is considered by some to be the only woman Apostle and she is frequently mentioned in the Gospels. Mary Magdalene’s loyalty and bravery during the time of the Crucifixion contrasts with the acts of the men who followed Jesus throughout his ministry and then abandoned him during his final hours. An addition to the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark says she was the first person to see her Lord following his resurrection. In the image shown above, from Toruń Cathedral in Poland, she is shown wearing a full-body hair shirt, which was traditional garb for Jewish penitents. Gregory the Great wrote of Mary:

“We should stop and reflect upon the ardent love in the heart of this woman who would not leave the Lord’s grave even after his own disciples had gone away. She continued seeking him whom she could not find; in tears she kept searching; and, afire with love, she yearned for him who, she believed, had been removed. Thus it happened that she alone saw him, she who had remained behind to seek him, simply because a truly good act involves the virtue of perseverance…she persevered, and therefore found the object of her love.”

On Saturday, July 25th, we celebrate

The Feast of St. James the Apostle, Martyr 44

 El Greco – St. James; Hakjosef, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Along with his brother John and the Apostle Peter, James “had a certain precedence among the twelve” apostles. With them he was present at the Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to the arrest of Jesus. He is also known as James “the Greater” to set him apart from other men of the same name in the New Testament. Despite evidence that neither James nor his relics were ever present in Spain, the shrine at Santiago de Compostela, where his body is said to rest, was one of the great centres of pilgrimage in the later Middle Ages. The tradition is so strong that it remains so today. James is the patron saint of Spain and the namesake of the Camino de Santiago.

On July 26th the calendar includes a line in brackets for St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, this  year the date for this commemoration falls on a Sunday and is not observed.