People travelled many miles and some came in Regency dress to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.
The special service was held at St Nicholas in Steventon, the village where Jane was born and spent the first 25 years of her life. Her father George was rector and Jane and her family worshipped at the church.
The service included readings from two of Jane’s novels – Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice. The Steventon Singers sang Jane Austen’s poem “Oh! Mr Best you’re very bad” and the benefice choir used the words of one of Jane Austen’s prayers.
A Bible belonging to George Austen, lent by Chawton House, was used for the reading. Bishop Philip gave the sermon about the Christian virtues in Jane Austen’s writing. He said, “It’s a wonderful privilege to be at Steventon on the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and here in Steventon Church where her father George was the rector for many years. Jane lived longer in Steventon than she lived anywhere else and it was very significant I think to have this event in the church. What I was trying to say in my sermon was that I think Jane Austen is a far more deeply and intentional Christian writer than many people give her credit for. I think you could skim the surface of her novels and fail to see the Christian significance and the Christian depth in them, but I think it’s absolutely there and I think it still has a lot a lot to teach us. I love her from a literary perspective, but I think she has an awful lot to teach us from a spiritual perspective too.”
The service was a culmination of a year of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the author’s birth at churches across the diocese and at Winchester Cathedral.
The community in Steventon has come together to mark the special year. A Regency themed country fair was held in the village in the summer along with an art and flower festival and choral evensong. Coach loads of visitors have also visited this historic country church.
Revd Canon Michael Kenning, who led the service, said, “There are still visitors booked in for next year, parties coming from different parts of the world. This year alone, we’ve had people from Iceland, Brazil, Israel, countries you wouldn’t think had any association with Jane Austen, but they clearly do. I would think over the whole year we must have welcomed more than 1000 people here and when you come up to the church during the week there’ll always be somebody wandering around. It’s been quite amazing.”
Among those attending the service of celebration were friends Natalie Fey and Emma Bell who had travelled from London and Bristol. They both studied history at university and share a love of Jane Austen. They added, “It’s magical to be here on her actual birthday and to have that moment of reflection as well and just think about Jane and what she’s achieved and how it has a resonance today and how it’s impacted our lives.”
Heather Thomas, chair of the trustees of the Jane Austen Society in the UK added, “It has been a very memorable evening. I enjoyed the readings and I enjoyed the bishop’s sermon a lot and having the Bible here from Chawton House, I thought was a very nice touch. I’ve been to several events through the year, both our own and other people’s and I think this is probably the most special of them because this is where it all began.”
After the service there were celebratory drinks and birthday cake in a marquee. Happy Birthday was sung and three cheers given for Jane.
Churchwarden Marilyn Wright said, “So much work has gone into the service, but it’s work by the whole community, so we’ve had the community choir here and we’ve had the benefice choir here to provide music. One of Steventon village’s cake makers has made a wonderful cake, so it’s been an amazing culmination of community working together. To finish with a church service is so important because Jane’s faith was so strong. She worshipped here and you can almost feel her presence, so it’s been wonderful.”
Prayers were said to thank God for the life and work of Jane Austen and ‘for all she has given and will go on giving for future generations.’
Bishop Philip added, “I’ve always been a big fan. I first read Persuasion as one of my A-level set texts and I first read it 50 years ago on the bicentenary of her of her birth. She’s been perhaps the one writer to whose work I have consistently returned in the intervening years. So, to come here as Bishop of Winchester, the county in which I was born, where I came to faith as a student and to minister here now as Bishop of Winchester is a great privilege and to be here in Jane Austen’s County is just something I love. It feels very right.”
