As we resume walking along the altar rail towards the South, we pass the statue of St Joseph, foster-father of Christ, and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose statue is similarly adorned with a tall wooden canopy. He carries a hammer in his hand to remind us that he was a workman, indeed a craftsman, and that Jesus was known in His ministry as ‘the son of the carpenter’. Immediately ahead below the transept window, can be seen the original life-size crucifix which hung above the original High Altar in the church from 1855 to 1880, since when it has hung here. Beside it stand two ancient Flemish figures of our patrons, St Mary and St John, which were previously in St Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham until the original screen separating the nave from the chancel was removed in the 1960’s. They have been in this church for the last fifteen years. Once again the confessionals are adorned with heads of the same saints as on the other side.
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