Unlike many of our Sisters, Sr Eliza came from a local family. Originally from Bungay, her parents were living in Ditchingham by the time she was born in 1856, and it is here she was brought up. In 1851 Abraham Bull (born Bungay) and his wife Harriet (born Beccles), were living at Factory Cottages, Ditchingham, with their six children: Abraham (age 14), Sarah Ann (age 12?) and Eliza (age 10), all of whom were born in Bungay, and Mary Ann (age 3), Edward (age 2) and Charles (a

Anna was the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She had been married for seven years, although we do not know who her husband was. Now, in old age, she spent her time in the temple, in fasting and prayer, and was a prophetess. Like Simeon, she sees Jesus in the temple with his parents; unlike Simeon, she does not say anything directly, but Luke reports her as giving thanks to God, and speaking of Jesus. (Luke 2: 25-40). We know so little about her, and she takes up no

I sometimes wonder whether we are so used to common interpretations of some parables that we no longer read them properly. We think we know what this means, therefore we miss other, possibly deeper, meanings. Take the Parable of the Talents, for example. It is easy to see this as about our talents, and how we do (or don’t) use them, and I’m not saying it’s not there. But I think there is more to it than that.   Found in Matthew 25:14 -30 and, slightly differently, in Luke 19:

When I joined the Community, I was told that most Sisters were either teachers or nurses; I’m not sure that was entirely true, but we have had a number of Sisters from both occupations. One of the latter was Sr Augusta, Sister-in-Charge at All Hallows Hospital for many years. Our Hospital was built in 1873, although the work started earlier in a cottage in the village of Ditchingham. The Hospital is based in the village itself, unlike the Convent which is slightly outside. Sr