We are a Church of England parish with a strong tradition of music in worship, where all are very welcome. As an ancient Church in the centre of Durham, St Oswald's is a reservoir of peace for all who enter it.

The Sunday Eucharist is at 11:00am, and we have a play and books corner by the font for any younger worshipper who feels a parent or carer would enjoy it there. Evensong is at 6:00pm on Sundays, either in the chancel, or roughly every other week during term time when the usual hymns expand to a full choral setting, in the body of the church. Midweek Holy Communion is at 10:00am on Wednesdays, and the church is usually open from 9:30am till round about 5:00pm (or dusk, if earlier) on weekdays.

Thursday, 27th August 2026 - Ordinary Time: The Feast of St Monica, Mother of St Augustine of Hippo, 387 [Lesser Festival]

The Collect of the Day:

O faithful God, who didst strengthen Monica, the mother of Augustine, with wisdom, and by her steadfast endurance didst draw him to seek after thee: grant us to be constant in prayer that those who stray from thee may be brought to faith in thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Common Worship

The Gospel Reading:

Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

(Luke 7:11-17, New Revised Standard Version - Anglicized Edition) 

Readings appointed for the Feast of St Monica in Exciting Holiness - Collects & Readings for the Festivals & Lesser Festivals of the Calendar of the Church of England authorised for use from Advent Sunday, 1997, Canterbury Press Norwich

A Poem for the Feast of St Monica:

St Monica

At the Cross thy station keeping
With the mournful mother weeping,
Thou, unto the sinless Son,
Weepest for thy sinful one.
Blood and water from His side
Gush; in thee the streams divide:
From thine eyes the one doth start,
But the other from thy heart.

Mary, for thy sinner, see,
To her Sinless mourns with thee:
Could that Son the son not heed,
For whom two such mothers plead?
So thy child had baptism twice,
And the whitest from thine eyes.

The floods lift up, lift up their voice,
With a many-watered noise!
Down the centuries fall those sweet
Sobbing waters to our feet,
And our laden air still keeps
Murmur of a Saint that weeps.

Teach us but, to grace our prayers,
Such divinity of tears,—
Earth should be lustrate again
With contrition of that rain:
Till celestial floods o’er rise
The high tops of Paradise.

Frances Thompson 

A Prayer for All Emergency Service Workers:

Dear Heavenly Father,

We pray for those who serve in the emergency services. We pray that you protect those whose service is our protection. May they receive your strength in the performance of their duty. We uphold those who have served in past years and we remember those who have paid the ultimate price in their task of preserving life and upholding law and order.

May all who serve or have served within the emergency services be sheltered by your wings of your love both now and forever. May we always show our gratitude towards those who serve within our emergency services and not take for granted the precious work they do.

We ask you, Lord, graciously to hear our prayer.

Amen.

Warrington Salvation Army

We pray especially at this time for the repose of the souls of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, officers of Cleveland Police who died in the recent road collision on the A66 near Middlesbrough, and for comfort and strength for their families, friends, loved ones and colleagues.

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace and rise in glory.

Amen.

Durham Diocesan Prayer Cycle Deanery Intention for the Month:

August 2026 - Auckland Deanery

A Prayer of St Oswald:

Let us all kneel, and together beseech the true and living God Almighty in his mercy to defend us from the proud and cruel enemy; for he knows that we have undertaken a just war for the safety of our nation.

Amen. 

The Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People 

(Prayed by King Oswald of Northumbria and his army on the battlefield on the eve of the Battle of Heavenfield)

The Post Communion:

O God our Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, whose servant Monica revealed thy goodness in a life of tranquillity and service: grant that we who have gathered in faith around this table may like her know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all thy fullness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. 

Common Worship