George Herbert 		February 27
and All Saintly Parish Priests
George Herbert was born into an aristocratic family in 1593 and brought up by his devout, widowed mother. He went up to Cambridge University and in 1614 secured a fellowship at Trinity College. In 1618 he was made reader in rhetoric and in 1620 became public orator of the university. He was noticed by the king and seemed marked out for a career as a courtier or in public affairs.
To the great surprise of his friends, he decided “to lose himself in a humble way” and seek ordination. For Herbert, the “cure of souls” was the greatest work anyone could undertake. It was a time of real inner struggle, as he had become increasingly dissatisfied with his mode of life. When, as Izaak Walton engagingly put it, Herbert “chang’d his sword and silk Cloaths into a Canonical Coat”, all things became new to him; he discovered peace and “the power to change my life”.
Herbert’s friendship with Nicholas Ferrar provided a timely influence, and he drew much inspiration for his own life in Christ from the community at Little Gidding. In 1626 he was ordained deacon. William Laud persuaded him to accept the small country parish of Fugglestone with Bemerton, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. He was presented to the living and ordained priest in 1630 and was married earlier the same year to Jane Danvers.
In his most famous prose work, A Priest to the Temple; or, the Country Parson, his Character, and Rule of Holy Life, Herbert sets out the attributes of the kind of parson he himself hoped to become. Herbert believed that his parishioners should never have to look to him in vain for the help they needed. He set a very high standard, yet, as a humble and devoted priest, he himself fulfilled in so many ways the ideal depicted in his writings. He was well-read, moderate, disciplined, a man of prayer, and devoted to the souls in his care. Kind and hospitable, with a gracious and generous spirit, he had a transparent sincerity. Prayer and preaching had equal place in his services, each bearing upon the other. Unfortunately, his ministry as a parish priest was brief; he died in 1633.
Herbert was one of the earliest devotional poets of the Anglican Church. His poems are steeped in the characteristics of the man himself, full of warmth and a genuine love of godliness. Some are still used as hymns: “Teach me, my God and king”; “The God of love my shepherd is”; “Let all the world in every corner sing”.
For Liturgical Use
George Herbert was a classical scholar and gifted musician who gave up a promising career to study for the priesthood. He was born in 1593 and died in 1633. His collection of poems includes such well-known hymns as “Teach me, my God and King”, “The God of love my shepherd is”, and “Let all the world in every corner sing”. In his other writings, Herbert presented a vision of the clergy which became a model for future generations. Although he had fewer than three years in his own parish, his life was such that his name continues to be remembered as a shining example of faithful ministry.
Sentence
I have stilled and made quiet my soul, like a weaned child nestling to its mother; so like a child, my soul is quieted within me.		Psalm 131:2
Collects
Our God and King,
you called George Herbert
to be a pastor, a poet, and a priest in your temple;
give us grace joyfully to perform
the tasks you give us to do,
and teach us to see you in all things;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Loving God,
we thank you for George the parish priest,
who left us a pattern to follow;
may we see you in everything,
and, whatever we do,
may we do it for your sake.
Psalms	1	23
Readings
Ecclesiasticus 4:11-14	The Lord blesses the wise
1 Peter 5:1-4		An example to the flock
John 10:11-16		A good shepherd
Post Communion Sentence
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.
			Colossians 3:15