THE city's former Archdeacon was presented with a "breathtaking" pectoral cross made by a Worcester jeweller as he was consecrated as the next Bishop of Colchester.

Bishop Roger Morris was presented with the cross made by jeweller Mark Linley, of Friar Street, as well as his pastoral staff and Episcopal ring following the service at St Paul's Cathedral in London in Friday.

He will be moving to Colchester to take up his Ministry in the Diocese of Chelmsford and the announcement regarding the new Archdeacon of Worcester will be made shortly.

The pastoral staff and pectoral cross were gifts from the Diocese of Worcester.

The staff is based on a traditional rural wrought iron shepherd's crook and the pectoral cross is based upon a 7th Century cross which was found on the body of a teenage girl.

Secular grave goods were also found that are more indicative of the pagan tradition and would suggest that the young girl was willing to declare openly her Christian faith in a pagan context.

Bishop Roger said: “The pectoral cross is a breathtakingly beautiful object.

"Mark has created something quite extraordinary – and the inscription on the back will mean that the people of the Diocese of Worcester will all remain quite literally close to my heart in the days, months and years to come.

"Quite coincidentally, the cross was cast in Leominster where I was baptised and the inscription was engraved by the person who engraves the Cheltenham Gold Cup in Cheltenham and is based near where I spent the first 10 years of my ordained ministry.

"I cannot tell you how moved I have been by this exquisitely beautiful gift.

"The pastoral staff is also an object of real beauty – and simplicity.

"It is a humble shepherd's crook to serve as a reminder that I'm called, in the words of Pope Francis, to let my "style of service to the flock be that of humility – being a shepherd living with the odour of the sheep".”