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 Nicholas Ferrar,
born in 1592, was the founder of a religious community that lasted from 1626
to 1646.
After Nicholas had been ordained as a deacon, he and his family and a few
friends retired to Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, England, to devote
themselves to a life of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (Matthew 6:2,5,16).
They restored the abandoned church building, and became responsible for
regular services there. They taught the neighborhood children, and looked
after the health and well-being of the people of the district. They read the
regular daily offices of the Book of Common Prayer, including the recital
every day of the complete Psalter. (Day and night, there was always at least
one member of the community kneeling in prayer before the altar, that they
might keep the word, "Pray without ceasing.") They wrote books and stories
dealing with various aspects of Christian faith and practice. They fasted
with great rigor, and in other ways embraced voluntary poverty, so that they
might have as much money as possible for the relief of the poor.
The community was founded in 1626 (when Nicholas was 34). He died in 1637
(aged 45), and in 1646 the community was forcibly broken up by the Puritans
of Cromwell's army. The memory of the community survived to inspire and
influence later undertakings in Christian communal living, and one of T.S.
Eliot's Four Quartets is called "Little Gidding."
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