A Treasure of The Benefice – St. John The Evangelist Church, Colemere.
The single stained-glass window in Colemere Church is on the South side of the Nave. It was dedicated on Holy Innocent’s Day (Dec.28th) 1877 in memory of Louis Belson the fourteen-year-old son of the Vicar, the Rev. Eveleigh Belson. The Belson family, the first occupants of the newly built vicarage, moved to Colemere in the summer of 1874. Previously Belson had been a significant missionary in South Africa where he served as Vicar of Malmesbury, a church he founded along with eleven others. When he left after seventeen years he had conducted over two thousand baptisms and the church membership was over two thousand five hundred.
Perhaps it was the change of climate that caused young Louis to become increasingly ill and “fall asleep on Holy Innocent’s Day 1874.” His grave is marked with a small cross just outside the East end of the church, as near to the altar as possible, a spot chosen by his parents because he had served the altar. The memorial window has two lights depicting the Holy Eucharist on earth and in Heaven. The left side shows the Rev. Belon wearing red vestments (the colour of martyrs) standing at the altar saying the prayer of consecration. The altar boy kneeling behind him is Louis “who by his innocent life and love for his Lord which led him to serve in His sanctuary, and by his reverent behaviour when thus engaged is commemorated by his figure in the window.”
The right side shows the heavenly eucharist as described by Saint John and depicted in the centre panel of the Ghent Altarpiece. The figures kneeling before the heavenly altar are Saint Stephen wearing a deacon’s dalmatic and Saint John the Evangelist, the Patron Saint of this Church.
Christopher Jobson
Feature Image: St. John The Evangelist Church, Colemere, 26th December, 2017. © Meres & Meadows Messenger.