Mass of Ages The quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society
Issue 200 – Summer 2019 – FREE
Celebrating the 200th edition of Mass of Ages HOLY WEEK WITH THE LMS Plus: news, views, Mass listings and nationwide reports
CLASSIFIED
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Contents
CONTENTS
4 Chairman’s Message Joseph Shaw on the mission of the LMS and this magazine 6 LMS Year Planner – Notable events 7 Liturgical calendar 8 Art and Devotion Caroline Shaw on St Mary Magdalene preaching in Marseilles by a follower of Antoine de Ronzen 10 A stitch in time… On the tenth anniversary of the Guild of St Clare, Joseph Shaw looks at a new scheme to sponsor training in hand embroidery 13 Kenelm Digby and the Catholic Revival By Charles A. Coulombe
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14 Reports from around the country What’s happening where you are 21 Mass of Ages celebrates its 200th edition 29 Murder mystery Lone Veiler reviews An Oxford Scandal by Norman Russell 30 Architecture Paul Waddington looks at the history of Shrewsbury’s cathedral 33 Mass listings 39 Fads and fashions Lone Veiler on over-familiarity
40 Roman report Alberto Carosa on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land 42 Little Nellie of Holy God Mary O’Regan remembers a special child 43 The Buckfast Abbey Chapel Window and the Shroud of Turin By Mackenzie Robinson 45 The Role of the Family in Building a Culture of Life A report from the Catholic Medical Association 46 Crossword and classified advertisements 47 Macklin Street The Latin Mass Society 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH Tel: 020 7404 7284 editor@lms.org.uk Mass of Ages No. 200 Cover image: Mass of Ages down the ages
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Due to the considerable volume of emails and letters received at Mass of Ages it is regrettably not always possible to reply to all correspondents.
30 PATRONS: Sir Adrian Fitzgerald Bt, Lord (Brian) Gill, Sir James MacMillan CBE, Colin Mawby KSG, Charles Moore COMMITTEE: Dr Joseph Shaw – Chairman; Kevin Jones – Secretary; David Forster – Treasurer; Paul Beardsmore – Vice President; Paul Waddington – Vice President; Eric Friar; Alisa Kunitz-Dick; Antonia Robinson; Alastair Tocher; Roger Wemyss Brooks. Registered UK Charity No. 248388 MASS OF AGES: Editor: Tom Quinn Design: GADS Ltd Printers: Cambrian DISCLAIMER: Please note that the views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Latin Mass Society or the Editorial Board. Great care is taken to credit photographs and seek permission before publishing, though this is not always possible. If you have a query regarding copyright, please contact the Editor. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission.
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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
The Faith has been riven Joseph Shaw on the mission of the LMS and this magazine
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elcome to the 200th issue of Mass of Ages! Long-term readers will remember the LMS Newsletter which preceded it, as I do myself, which served the Society from its foundation until twenty-five years ago. We owe a debt of gratitude to our former General Manager and Editor, John Medlin, for establishing a periodical with the aspiration to showcase the work of the Society to members and non-members alike, and also to Mike Lord, a later General Manager, for master-minding its transition to full colour. Some people might imagine that the Latin Mass Society’s supporters would have a narrow range of interests, but in fact we are interested in pretty well everything: the liturgy, of course, but art, music, philosophy, literature, history, and more. It is the breadth, rather than the narrowness, of our readers’ interests which, presents a problem—a good problem, for a change—of which to focus on in the magazine. In the same way, we are sometimes accused of having a simplistic and shortterm view of the crisis of the Church: that it was entirely caused by the liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council. On the contrary, in my experience it is liberal Catholics and conservative Catholics who are most inclined to trace the problems of today to the Council. Both groups admit that there were problems before then, but both appear to think those problems would have been solved by the Council, if only it had been implemented correctly. One might call this thesis ‘the magic bullet which misfired’. Many Catholics today find the history of the Church, before 1960, and the lives of the saints, difficult, because they are all about a Church which they don’t recognise, or like. The Church of the past was populated by people who actually believed in heaven, hell, and
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purgatory, sin and grace, in indulgences, sacramentals, crusades, and the temporal power of the Pope. History and its lessons can be neglected by those who find the whole thing distasteful, just as can, for the same reason, the liturgy, music, and art of the past. It is left to Traditional Catholics to see the importance of the heresies of Jansenism, Josephism, Modernism, and Americanism, the errors they propagated, the limitations of those who opposed them, and the scars the resulting battles left on the Church. Considering these phenomena of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, along with Protestantism lying behind them, we can see what they have in common, and in what ways their errors evolved over time. The contempt for popular piety, the fear and loathing of the mysterious, the shrinking away from the supernatural, the embarrassed shuffle out of the public square: these things, so familiar today, have deep roots. They are what John Henry Newman referred to when he said he had devoted his life to the opposition of liberalism in religion. They were opposed with equal vigour by all the intellectuals, saints, and holy Popes of those centuries. We can learn much from their analyses of the problem, their methods, their successes, and their failures, as well as from their liturgical and artistic responses to these challenges. Those Catholics today who, if pressed, might easily conclude that the Americanists were basically correct, and that Pius X’s opposition to Modernism was thoroughly misguided, don’t just suffer from a myopic view of history. It is impossible for them to understand what is going on today except in an absurdly superficial way: as being about power, personalities, or some kind of tribalism. Why is the Church in crisis? Why has the number of worshipping Catholics collapsed in the West? Why are priest numbers about to fall off a cliff? Why are we witnessing the opposition of bishop against bishop, Cardinal against
Cardinal, and even Pope against Pope, in a way we have not since the Arian crisis fifteen centuries ago? The answer is complex, but it comes down to this: the Faith has been riven, from top to bottom, from the highest in the Curia to the old ladies sweeping church floors. The unity of belief among practising Catholics has gone. The ancient Mass we value—not just the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but the venerable texts and ceremonies—is not just a nice thing. It is the ultimate expression of this Faith: the unchangeable teaching of the Church. The aesthetic aspects of the liturgy, the poetry, the music, the vestments and architecture, in which we take such consolation, are not merely decorative. They are artistic meditations on the Faith, elaborations and expressions and applications of it. For those opposed to the Faith, all of this must be destroyed. For those who wish to uphold the Faith, all of this must be, in the words of Vatican II, preserved and fostered in every way (‘summa cura servetur et foveatur’). That is the mission of the Latin Mass Society, and of this magazine. Here’s to another 200 editions!
Some time after the Second Vatican Council they went over from the Book of Hours to the Book of Minutes. From Dom Hubert van Zeller OSB (aka Br Choleric) Cracks in the Clouds 1976
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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
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EVENTS
LMS Year Planner – Notable Events St Tarcisius server training day, Saturday, 11 May
Another opportunity for men and boys to learn to serve the Traditional Mass. To be held in Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street, London from 10.30am. Booking is required, so the organisers have an accurate idea of numbers attending and what they wish to learn; there is no fee. To book, email tarcisius@lms.org.uk The Guild of St Clare will also be meeting to hold a vestment mending day in the basement hall.
celebrate Mass in Latin, and for all who may be interested in the language from devotional, cultural, or scholarly motives. Whether you are new to Latin or know the basic conjugations and declensions and want to go on from there, this course is tailored to your needs. See our website for details.
LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, Thursday, 22 to Sunday, 25 August
There will be a polyphonic Requiem for Prince Rupert Loewenstein in St Mary Moorfields Church, London 12 noon. Prince Rupert was a former Patron of the Latin Mass Society. Further details are on our website.
Our annual Walking Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The pilgrimage starts with registration in Ely on the evening of Thursday 22 August; and concludes with devotions in Walsingham on Sunday 25 August. There is an additional Mass for those staying Sunday night in the Slipper Chapel on Monday 26 August. Sign up today!
Iota Unum talk in London, Friday, 31 May
LOOKING AHEAD
Requiem for Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Saturday, 25 May
The series of talks, which focus on topics connected with the everyday life of traditionally-minded Catholics: the domestic church, homeschooling, traditional catechesis, moral instruction, culture (high, common, and religious), religious history etc., continue in the basement of Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street, London 7pm (doors open 6pm, please use Golden Square entrance). The speaker will be Fr Lawrence Lew OP on ‘The Traditional Liturgy and Lay Men in the Church.’ There will be a charge of £5 on the door to cover refreshments and other expenses.
LMS Pilgrimage in honour of St Margaret Clitherow and the York Martyrs, St Wilfrid’s, York on Saturday 7 September. HE Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke will celebrate Mass in Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, London on Monday, 16 September at 6.30pm. Annual Missa Cantata in St Augustine’s, Snave, Kent on Saturday, 28 September. LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford on, Saturday, 5 October.
FACTFILE Details of all our events can be found on our
website, together with booking and payment facilities where applicable. Go to lms.org.uk
Iota Unum talk in London, Tuesday, 25 June
The sixth in our series of talks continue in the basement of Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street, London 7pm (doors open 6pm, please use Golden Square entrance). The speaker will be Sebastian Morello on ‘Catechesis and the recovery of Catholic Tradition’. As usual, there will be a charge of £5 on the door to cover refreshments and other expenses.
Pilgrimage to Holywell, Sunday, 7 July
The Latin Mass Society's annual Pilgrimage to Holywell, in association with the ICKSP. High Mass in the parish church at 2.30pm followed by a rosary procession to St Winefride's Well where the relic of St Winefride is presented for veneration. Music will be provided by the Schola Gregoriana Malverniensis. All welcome!
AGM and High Mass in Westminster Cathedral,Saturday, 20 July
Our Annual General Meeting will take place in Westmnster Cathedral Hall at 11.30am. Our guest speaker will be the Rt Rev. Michael Campbell OSA, Bishop Emeritus of Lancaster, who will celebrate Pontifical High Mass at the High Altar of the Cathedral at 2.30pm. A buffet lunch - which must be booked in advance - will be provided for paid-up members. See our website or call the LMS Office to book.
LMS Residential Latin Course, Monday, 29 July to Friday 2 August
An intensive five day course at The Carmelite Retreat Centre, Boars Hill, Oxfordshire OX1 5HB. The course is both to assist clergy who wish to learn or improve their Latin in order to
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LITURGICAL CALENDAR
Liturgical calendar MAY 2019 Sun 12 III SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W Mon 13 S ROBERT BELLARMINE B C D III Cl W Tue 14 FERIA IV Cl W Wed 15 S JOHN BAPTIST de la SALLE C III CI W Thu 16 S UBALDUS B C III CI W Fri 17 S PASCHAL BAYLON C III CI W Sat 18 S VENANTIUS M III CI R Sun 19 IV SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W Mon 20 S BERNADINE of SIENA C III Cl W Tue 21 FERIA IV Cl W Wed 22 FERIA IV Cl W Thu 23 FERIA IV Cl W Fri 24 FERIA IV Cl W Sat 25 S GREGORY VII P C III Cl W Sun 26 V SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W Mon 27 S BEDE the VENERABLE C D III Cl W Tue 28 S AUGUSTINE of CANTERBURY B C III Cl W Wed 29 VIGIL of the ASCENSION II Cl W Thu 30 ASCENSION of OUR LORD I Cl W Fri 31 BVM QUEEN II Cl W JUNE 2019 Sat 1 S ANGELA MERICI V III Cl W Sun 2 SUNDAY after the ASCENSION of OUR LORD II Cl W Mon 3 FERIA IV Cl W Tue 4 S FRANCIS CARACCIOLO C III Cl W Wed 5 S BONIFACE B M III Cl R Thu 6 S NORBERT B C III Cl W Fri 7 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 8 VIGIL of PENTECOST (Whitsun Eve) I Cl R Sun 9 WHIT SUNDAY (Pentecost) I Cl R Mon 10 WHIT MONDAY I Cl R Tue 11 WHIT TUESDAY I Cl R Wed 12 WHIT WEDNESDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Thu 13 WHIT THURSDAY I Cl R Fri 14 WHIT FRIDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Sat 15 WHIT SATURDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Sun 16 FEAST of the MOST HOLY TRINITY I Cl W Mon 17 S GREGORY BARBARIGO B C III Cl W Tue 18 S EPHREM the SYRIAN Deacon C D III Cl W Wed 19 S JULIANA FALCONIERI V III CI W Thu 20 CORPUS CHRISTI I Cl W Fri 21 S ALOYSIUS GONZAGA C III Cl W Sat 22 S ALBAN M III Cl R Sun 23 II SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 24 NATIVITY of S JOHN the BAPTIST I Cl W Tue 25 S WILLIAM Ab III Cl W Wed 26 SS JOHN & PAUL MM III CI R Thu 27 FERIA IV Cl G
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Fri 28 MOST SACRED HEART of JESUS I Cl W Sat 29 SS PETER & PAUL Aps I Cl R Sun 30 III SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G JULY Mon 1 MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD of OLJC I Cl R Tue 2 VISITATION of the BVM II Cl W Wed 3 S IRENAEUS B M III CI R Thu 4 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 5 S ANTHONY MARY ZACCARIA C III Cl W Sat 6 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 7 IV SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 8 S ELIZABETH Q W III Cl W Tue 9 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 10 SEVEN HOLY BROTHERS MM & SS RUFINA & SECUNDA VV MM III Cl R Thu 11 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 12 S JOHN GUALBERT Ab III Cl W Sat 13 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 14 V SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 15 S HENRY Emperor C III Cl W Tue 16 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 17 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 18 S CAMILLUS de LELLIS C III Cl W Fri 19 S VINCENT de PAUL C III Cl W Sat 20 S JEROME EMILIANI C III Cl W Sun 21 VI SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 22 S MARY MAGDALEN Penitent III Cl W Tue 23 S APOLLINARIS B M III Cl R Wed 24 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 25 S JAMES Ap II Cl R Fri 26 S ANNE MOTHER of the BVM II Cl W Sat 27 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 28 VII SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 29 S MARTHA V III Cl W Tue 30 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 31 S IGNATIUS C III Cl W AUGUST 2019 Fri 2 S ALPHONSUS MARY de LIGUORI B C D III Cl W Sat 3 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 4 VIII SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 5 DEDICATION of S MARY of the SNOWS III Cl W Tue 6 TRANSFIGURATION of OLJC II Cl W Wed 7 S CAJETAN C III Cl W Thu 8 S JOHN MARY VIANNEY C III Cl W Fri 9 VIGIL of S LAWRENCE M III Cl V Sat 10 S LAWRENCE M II Cl R
ART AND DEVOTION
St Mary Magdalene pr By a follower of Antoine de Ronzen, By Caroline Shaw
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n this beautifully detailed panel by a Provençal artist, we see an unusual image of St Mary Magdalene, standing on a raised platform, addressing a crowd that is seated near a wide stretch of water with a city on the opposite shore. Her yellow-gold robe might remind us of her former extravagance and wealth, but we soon notice that instead of a voluptuous silken dress and long golden hair, her head is covered by a white veil, and her undergarment is dark and modest. She has a solemn, concentrated look on her face as she speaks, and her hand gestures emphasize each point that she makes. We can imagine her clear beautiful voice ringing out across the bay as her listeners sit, attentively absorbing what she is saying. This is not a scene that most of us are used to seeing. In Western art, we know St Mary Magdalene from the Gospel stories: as the beautiful fallen woman who washes Our Lord’s feet with her tears at the house of Simon the Pharisee; as the mourner weeping at the foot of the Cross, sharing Jesus’ passion with enormous anguish and pain, or soon afterwards, as the first witness to the Resurrection, tentatively reaching out to Our Lord at dawn in the garden. In this image however, we see a different and lesser-known aspect to the life of this great saint, whose feast we commemorate on 22 July. It is one that is not mentioned in the Gospels, but which we know through Tradition. This painting shows us what happened to St Mary Magdalene after the Passion and Resurrection of Our Lord. Officially speaking, she disappears, since she is not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. However, an ancient tradition tells us that fourteen years after the
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Resurrection, she and a large group of disciples – seventy-two in all – were herded onto a boat by the Jewish authorities, who were determined to expel all Christians from Judea. This ship - whose passengers included Mary Magdalene’s brother Lazarus, her sister Martha, and Maximin, a disciple to whom St Peter had entrusted the care of St Mary Magdalene – was deliberately denied a rudder and a pilot, and sent out to sea in the expectation that they should all be drowned. By God’s providence, the disciples did not perish, but landed safely on the shores of southern France, at the port-city of Marseilles. It is this city that we see here: in fact, this is the first known depiction of Marseilles in Western art. In the bottom right-hand corner is the wooden barque in which they had sailed. At first, the disciples had nowhere to go. The pagans of the city would not give them shelter, so they rested beneath the portico of a popular pagan shrine, whose outer wall we see on the left. When St Mary Magdalene saw the people gathering at the shrine to offer sacrifices, she was moved to preach the truth of Christ crucified to them, and exhorted them to give up their cult of idols. ‘All who heard her,’ wrote Jacobus de Voraigne in his 13th century account of her life, ‘were in admiration at her beauty, her eloquence and the sweetness of her message’. A few days later, the governor of the province came with his wife to offer sacrifices at the shrine, and in particular to petition the gods for a child, since they could not conceive. St Mary Magdalene preached the message of Christ to them, and managed to dissuade them from offering sacrifices. They returned several times afterwards to listen to her speak.
This is the scene that the painter has depicted. The governor and his wife are seated in the centre of the group of listeners, raised up a little on a makeshift seat on the rocks. The governor, with his red hose and his solemn expression, is thought to be a likeness of René of Anjou, the Count of Provence, who was reigning at the time of the painting, while his dignified, melancholy-looking wife is a likeness of René’s second wife, Jeanne de Laval. The retinue surrounding them, perched rather uncomfortably on the rocky outcrop, are all members of the court, richly dressed in silks and velvets with elaborate head-dresses. St Mary Magdalene’s preaching touched their hearts: the governor and his wife were converted, and soon afterwards they conceived a son. After several years, St Mary Magdalene retired to a cave high up in the mountains of Provence, where she spent the last thirty years of her life in continual prayer and fasting, supported by angelic attendants and lifted high by ecstatic visions. This is the period of her life that inspired so many Counter-Reformation artists, who often depicted her dressed in rags, seated on a rock in a dark cave, her long hair straggly and unkempt, her dress torn and her face stained with tears - the perfect symbol of penitence. This obscure but rather beautiful painting from Provence reminds us of a little-known aspect of St Mary Magdalene’s life, and thus increases our knowledge of her in a rather wonderful way: here we see her communicating with great eloquence and beauty the message of Christ, commanding the attention of pagan nobles in a distant land, and exhorting them to conversion. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she is truly an Apostle of Our Lord.
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ART AND DEVOTION
eaching in Marseilles c. 1513 Paris, Musée de Cluny
‘… here we see her communicating with great eloquence and beauty the message of Christ, commanding the attention of pagan nobles in a distant land, and exhorting them to conversion. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she is truly Apostle of Our Lord’ Rubens’ ‘Descent from the Cross’ is considered to be one of the greatest paintings of thean 17th century.
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FEATURE
A stitch in time… On the tenth anniversary of the Guild of St Clare, Joseph Shaw looks at a new scheme to sponsor training in hand embroidery
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he Guild of St Clare was founded in 2009, as a group dedicated to the making and restoration of vestments for the traditional liturgy, and for the promotion of domestic sewing. It is affiliated to the Latin Mass Society, and has active groups in London and Oxford. For two years now, an ongoing project of the Guild has been the Latin Mass Society’s own collection of vestments. The Society has never had a lot of fine vestments, although in recent years we have used bequests to buy excellent vintage Green and Black High Mass sets. Our collection is dominated, instead, by items from the era before the Second
Vatican Council, which have been given to us, or rescued by our supporters from being thrown away. Their provenance is not usually recorded, but they must come from parishes and religious communities all over the country. Though generally lacking silk embroidery or gold bullion, these ‘everyday’ vestments were made with fine liturgical fabrics which are no longer available, and represent the patient skill, and no doubt in many cases the pennies of the poor, of our predecessors in the Faith. They deserve to be preserved, whenever possible, and used for the purpose which they were created to dignify: the Church’s ancient liturgy.
In nearly all cases these vestments are in need of small, or not so small, repairs: the reattachment of trims, the patching of worn-out areas (the shoulders are often the first places to go), and the replacement of missing items such as burses, chalice veils, and maniples. In the case of High Mass sets, the Guild has undertaken to replace a humeral veil for a set which was using a poorly-made and poorly-matching one: this alone is a significant project, simply because of its size. In some cases, restoration involves the unpicking of botched or amateurish repairs. While we do not claim that the Guild’s work is of museum quality,
The Blessing of Throats on the Feast of St Blaise took place at a Guild Sewing Retreat.
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Mending: Vestments are traditionally constructed and embellished using techniques quite distinct from those of dress-making it is all done to the highest possible standards for the glory of God, and all undertaken by unpaid volunteers. This work is an opportunity, for those doing it, to learn first-hand about traditional vestments, their proportions, the materials used, and their methods of construction, and Guild collaborators are constantly learning and improving their skills. Work on LMS vestments has proceeded alongside similar work on vestments belonging to priestly benefactors to the Guild, such as retreatgivers. We have had sewing days in the LMS Office itself, in the Guild’s Sewing Retreats, and most recently in sewing days on Saturdays in London. In some cases, members have continued to work on items at home between sessions. Inevitably, the more one looks at an old vestment, the more small repairs turn out to be needed, but progress has been steady. As well as repairs, the Guild has been sewing in labels to identify the Society’s vestments in relation to a complete catalogue of our holdings. A future phase of work will be to look at those vestments belonging to the Society stored outside the Office. LMS Vestment Exchange One of the things which has emerged from a thorough investigation of the Latin Mass Society’s vestment presses (aka second-hand architect’s drawers), is a considerable number of non-matching items. In addition to a number of chasubles which lack most or
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all of their supporting items (for a Low Mass set, burse, chalice veil, maniple, and stole), we turned out to have a small mountain of burses, chalice veils, maniples, and stoles with no chasuble, or anything else, to go with them. Some of these, admittedly, were not worthy of further liturgical use. In a few cases this was because of wear and tear, but others exemplified the collapse of taste, and contempt for technical skills, which accompanied what Cardinal Ratzinger called the collapse of the liturgy. In disposing of these according to the norms of the Church with regard to blessed objects (they were cut up and burned), the present writer salvaged eleven pairs of the square boards used in burses. For the ones worth saving, one might ask why we do not simply match the lonely chasubles with the orphaned maniples, stoles and so on? In some cases, we have indeed completed sets of vestments with non-matching items. For the overwhelming majority, however, they do not ‘go’. The range of liturgical fabrics and trims in use before the Second Vatican Council was clearly much greater than that available today, to say nothing of the shades of each liturgical colour, and Roman vs. Gothic styles. One would need a library of hundreds of burses, say, to have a decent chance of finding a good match for any given chasuble. Whereas we hope in time to make from scratch the missing items needed to make the chasubles useable again,
we are clearly never going to use the vast majority of these ‘small’ items: and every now and then more of them arrive in the Office. We have decided, therefore, to make them available beyond the Society, for a small sum designed to cover our expenses, in the hope that they will provide a good enough match to complete other sets, in vestment presses of parishes around England and Wales, and perhaps beyond. If a dozen priests, looking for a few items each, peruse our collection of sixteen white maniples, nine green burses, five black chalice veils, and so on, it may be that a few happy marriages can be arranged. And for our part, we can face the arrival of the next bag of homeless liturgical ephemera with an idea of what to do with it. A catalogue of what we have, with photographs, can now be seen on the LMS website as part of our online shop. Training Sponsorship Scheme One happy aspect of the Guild’s sewing events is that tasks can be found for people at all levels of skill and experience, from repairing fine hand embroidery to unpicking seams. The involvement of people with advanced, and highly specific, skills is, however, indispensable. Vestments are traditionally constructed and embellished using techniques quite distinct from those of dress-making. Cheap vestments which do not use traditional techniques never hang right, and a serious knowledge
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Hard at work of hand embroidery techniques is absolutely necessary before repairs to embroidery can be attempted. The Guild is fortunate in currently having two active members who have completed the Certificate Course at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN). The RSN was established in 1872 to revive, employ, and pass on historic hand embroidery and related skills. As well as conservation work for museums, they make and repair liturgical items for major churches and undertake commissions from the Royal Family. The RSN represents the gold standard both in terms of the authenticity of the historic techniques it teaches, and the skills successful completion of its courses implies.
A chalice veil made by the Guild
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To take forward and expand its work, the Guild needs more input from people with RSN training. With this in mind, the Latin Mass Society is launching a scheme to sponsor students through the RSN’s Certificate Course. The Certificate requires eight days’ attendance at one of its centres for each of four modules, in addition to work done at home. The RSN headquarters are at Hampton Court Palace in London, with additional centres in Bristol, Rugby, Durham, Glasgow, and overseas. The flexibility of the course lies in the fact that tuition days can be done in quick succession or spread out over up to four years, and can be timed to suit the individual student. The main expense of the course is for these tuition days, which currently cost £135 each. Thanks to a benefaction specific to this scheme, the Society is offering to pay half of this cost for a sponsored student, up to a limit of £2,000 a year. Anyone can apply for this sponsorship; candidates will be assessed on the basis of their enthusiasm for the work and their commitment to the aims of the Guild of St Clare. The successful candidate will undertake to attend at least one of the Guild’s two sewing retreats each year. The deadline is 15th June, and we hope to interview shortlisted
Handing on traditional skills candidates in the last week of June. Assuming suitable candidates present themselves, we will make one award to start in September, and one or two more in subsequent years. Full details, including how to apply, are on the Latin Mass Society’s website.
All photos by Joseph Shaw
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The Broad-Stone of Honour: Kenelm Digby and the Catholic Revival By Charles A. Coulombe
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he Romantic Movement brought many gifts to the British Isles: Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott; the Gothic Revival in architecture; the Eglinton Tournament; Young England; the Oxford Movement; the so-called “Merrie England” ideology; the Celtic Twilight; Neo-Jacobitism and the renewed culti of Charles I, Henry VI, and Mary Queen of Scots; the Arts and Crafts Movement; and most certainly the (Roman) Catholic Revival. At the crossroads of most of these – and responsible for propagating many of them – was a remarkable man by the name of Kenelm Digby. Almost unknown to-day, he deserves to rank beside Newman, G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc not merely in the front row of British Catholic, but of British literature. B o rn i n 1 8 0 0 t o a weal thy, distinguished, (and in the case of his father, Church of Ireland Dean of Clonfert, clerical) Anglo-Irish family, he was a distant cousin several timed removed to the Cavalier hero of the English Civil War of the same name. His imagination was early fired by his youth in Ireland; his mother was a cousin of both the Abbe Edgeworth, who heard Louis XVI’s confession, and Maria Edgeworth, the novelist. Wandering about the ruins and woods of his native land, reading Sir Walter Scott and Chateaubriand, it would have been strange indeed for him not to have absorbed the Romanticism of the time. A great athlete, young Kenelm was sent to Petersham school near Richmond, and in 1815 matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Amongst other things, he was one of the first rowers on the Cam. At the end of his freshman year, Kenelm went on a journey through Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and France, encountering Catholic culture for the first time (he already knew such thenprominent English Catholics as Charles – nephew of Alban – Butler and Sir Henry Englefield). He would travel extensively on the Continent in the ensuing four years; during one of these trips he encountered
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the Castle of Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine. This spectacular fortress, also lauded by Byron, Melville, and Washington Irving, would lend the English translation of its name – “Honour’s Broad-Stone” to Kenelm’s most famous book. Between Cambridge’s architecture, the castles, abbeys, and cathedrals he saw abroad, and his own Medievally-inflected imagination, his undergraduate years were filled with yearning for Knighthood and Chivalry. Kenelm and a friend went so far as to break into the chapel of King’s College (founded by Henry VI and to be famous in our time for its Lessons and Carols) to keep an overnight vigil. They made themselves lances and jousted, and on one occasion he literally rescued a damsel in distress from a would-be rapist. In 1819, he took his BA – but being wealthy and uninclined to take up a trade, he remained in Cambridge as part of the university scene. In addition to swimming, rowing, and riding, he read voraciously in the various college libraries. The year after Kenelm graduated, he won the Norrisian Prize, annually awarded for “an essay on a subject relating to Christian Doctrine or Systematic Theology.” This being printed, it would be the first of a long line of books. Two years later, he wrote the first version of The Broad-Stone of Honour: or Rules for the Gentlemen of England, a collection of quotations ancient and modern and his own musings on the true nature of Chivalry and its application to everyday life. He would live in Cambridge until 1828, and he had an enormous influence on such newcomers as Alfred Tennyson – whose Idylls of the King and much else owed a good deal of their subject and some of their tone to Kenelm’s work. Little known today, as Mark Girouard’s 1981 book, The Return to Camelot: Chivalry and the English Gentleman makes clear, Kenelm’s tome would have a social influence on the Upper and Middle classes in England – and across the Anglosphere – that would endure until World War I and beyond. It had a huge influence on turning the eyes of the influential to the
past – and this would have architectural results, as Kenelm’s friend and admirer Ruskin could point out. There were even political results; the aristocratic youths who formed Young England may have had a limited effect on British politics, but from their ranks emerged Disraeli. But in 1825, Kenelm converted to Catholicism, as did two of his best friends at Cambridge – Ambrose Phillips de Lisle, who would bring the Cistercians back to England and sire a Catholic clan that continues to this day; and Frederick Spencer, who eventually became a Jesuit and a great maker of converts in his own right. There being no Catholic church in Cambridge, the three friends would ride twenty-six miles, fasting, every Sunday to Old Hall at Ware; there they would attend Communion, High Mass, and Vespers, and then ride back. This zeal would also find an outlet in his literary work. Kenelm rewrote BroadStone of Honour, transforming it into an apologetic for Catholicism as well as Chivalry – and intimately linking the two. He would continue to revise it through the course of his life, so that the final version has four volumes – Orlandus, named after Charlemagne’s nephew; Godefredus and Tancredus, in memory of the great Captains of the Crusade; and Morus, commemorating St Thomas More – these three being, in his estimation four of the greatest knights who ever lived. Kenelm would write two other major multi-volume apologetics works. The first, which he began in the early 1830s, was Mores Catholici, a defence of the truths of the Catholic Faith through the actual customs of the Catholic peoples, during and after the Middle Ages. The second, Compitum, similarly explores different “paths” in the Faith – the ways in which it has been lived by different professions and degrees of men. Taken together, they are an extraordinary library of Catholic knowledge – and now freely available to everyone via the miracle of the internet, as is Bernard Holland’s Memoir of Kenelm Henry Digby. It is high time to revive the memory of this titan of the Faith.
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DIOCESAN DIGEST Mass of Ages quarterly round-up Arundel & Brighton Annie-Marie Mackie-Savage 01323 411370 aandb@lms.org.uk Regular Masses are continuing on each Sunday in A&B for the foreseeable future, supplemented by occasional Sung Masses, thanks to Tom Hagger and the Seaford Schola. We are also lucky to have extra Low Masses when possible. We have been especially grateful to Fr Thomas Mason from the Ordinariate who is very happy to say the Latin Mass, with a regular Tuesday morning Mass, as well as a fourth Sunday at Christ the King, Eastbourne. It was awful to learn of Fr Gerard Hatton’s terrible illness, and we thank God that his recovery has been so miraculously fast. Thanks to everyone who supports the Masses in the Diocese, and the priests who give their time to make them possible. All regular Masses are listed on the blog sidebar, news, cancellations, and extras can be found as separate posts. Birmingham & Black Country Louis Maciel 0739 223 2225 birmingham@lms.org.uk http://birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk/ For the first time since the reforms, an Easter Triduum in the region was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form at the Birmingham Oratory. Summorum Pontificum does not apply to the Triduum, but it took place with the blessing of the Archbishop. Ash Wednesday, the Feast of St Joseph, and the Annunciation all had a High Mass at the Oratory and a Low Mass at St Mary-on-the-Hill in Wednesbury, with several other ad-hoc Low Masses celebrated at the latter in addition to the regular third Sunday Low Mass. I am pleased to say the discontinued first Friday Mass at St Augustine’s in Solihull has been replaced in the same deanery at Sacred Heart and All Souls in Acocks Green, which moved its short-lived fourth Friday Mass to a more traditional monthly date. There was a very good turnout for the High Mass celebrated on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter in Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Wolverhampton, with another High Mass celebrated on Easter Friday. The second Wednesday Mass at Maryvale in February was said for the repose of a soul whose friends and colleagues turned out in large numbers, leading to a record attendance. Despite being from the charismatic tradition, they naturally (without being told) took communion kneeling and on the tongue, showing that the Mass of Ages has an appeal beyond stereotypical supporters.
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Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form will take place at the Birmingham Oratory at 7pm on Monday 15th July, to be administered by Bishop McGough. Please contact parishpriest@birminghamoratory.org.uk before the end of May if you would like to register yourself or your child for confirmation. Birmingham (Little Malvern) Alastair J Tocher 01684 893332 malvern@lms.org.uk extraordinarymalvern.uk Facebook: Extraordinary Malvern Sung Sunday Mass at St Wulstan’s continues twice monthly and, although attendance has declined since the surge towards the end of last year, it is nevertheless still higher than last year’s average and includes several very welcome new faces. The Schola Gregoriana Malverniensis, in addition to providing music for us locally was invited by Canon Scott Smith to sing Mass on the Feast of the Purification at the new ICKSP mission at St Winefride’s, Shrewsbury. Four singers sang a mixture of chant and polyphony and the Procession and Mass were well attended. The Schola has subsequently been invited back to Shrewsbury to sing the Solemn Liturgy in the pre-1955 form on Good Friday and has also been invited to sing for the LMS Annual Pilgrimage to Holywell on Sunday 7 July. Two of our singers attended the recent LMS Chant Weekend at the Oratory School near Reading, expertly led this year by Fr Guy Nichols CO and Dominic Bevan. It was a delight to sing not only daily Mass, but also Vespers and especially Compline: a beautiful way to end the day. This quarter also saw the first enrolment of one of our servers in the newly re-launched Society of St Tarcisius. It is hoped that our other servers might be enrolled soon. Lastly our thanks as ever to Dom Jonathan Rollinson OSB for his faithful support and to Fr George Grynowski for celebrating Mass for us on Sexagesima. Also, to our servers and singers for their invaluable contribution. Birmingham (North Staffordshire) Alan Frost A Missa Cantata was offered at the Third Sunday Mass of Lent at Our Lady’s, Swynnerton, by Fr Stephen Goodman from Wolverhampton. He kindly stood in (as he has done on several occasions) for Fr Paul Chavasse who had travelled up to the North East for the enthronement of Bishop Byrne at Newcastle Cathedral on the Feast of the Annunciation. Long-
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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY standing friends, the new Bishop and Fr Paul were novices together, and received the Oratorian habit together on the Feast of St Bruno in 1980 at the Birmingham Oratory. Bishop Byrne was previously Auxiliary Bishop in the Birmingham Archdiocese. Fr Chavasse will be offering the Traditional Rite Mass for the Feast of Ss Peter & Paul (29 June) at Swynnerton at 10 am. During March he organised a Novena for the promotion of the canonisation of Bd Dominic Barberi, who brought J. H. Newman into the Catholic Church. Fr Chavasse is an authority on Cardinal Newman.
Back in Birmingham Archdiocese, we had the first of what are now quarterly Sung Masses at Holy Trinity, Hethe, with thanks to the Parish Priest, Canon John Batthula, our celebrant, Fr Aldo Tapparo, our cantor, Jeremy White, and our MC, Thomas O’Sullivan. We also marked many feast days and third Sundays with Sung Masses at SS Gregory & Augustine’s in Oxford, thanks to the generosity of Fr John Saward. The quarter to come will see a similar pattern. There will be a Mass in Holy Trinity, Hethe, on Whitsun (Pentecost: 9 June), at 12 noon; a Mass in Didcot for the Annunciation (2 July, 7:30pm); and a Sung or High Mass in Holy Rood, Abingdon Road, Oxford, for the Ember Saturday of Pentecost (15 June). Regular Masses for feast days in SS Gregory & Augustine continue, and Low Masses on many of these days and also Sundays in the Oxford Oratory. Particularly worth mention is the High Mass and procession planned for Corpus Christi (20 June) at the Oratory. At the time of writing I have yet to confirm some events, so please consult the local website and look out for local mailings.
Fr Goodman and altar boys – all brothers © Alan Frost Birmingham (Oxford) Joseph Shaw oxford@lms.org.uk This last quarter we had our annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham, in the outskirts of Reading. I should like to thank the Shrine custodian, Mgr Patrick Daly, Fr Seth Phipps FSSP, who stepped in at short notice to celebrate the Mass due to the indisposition of another priest; Adrian Taylor, who travelled all the way from South London to lead the chant schola; and Alexandra Lloyd, who led the Newman Consort in singing some lovely early polyphony, namely Thomas Crecquillon’s Mass Je prens un gre, and Jacob Obrecht’s motet, Parce Domine. And not to forget Lucy Shaw, who provided pilgrims with an excellent lunch. Over the diocesan boundary I was able to facilitate another of the occasional Masses in English Martyrs, Didcot, on this occasion for St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary; it is good to see numbers at these Masses creeping up.
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Mass at the Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham © Joseph Shaw Report from the Society of St Tarcisius Following its re-launch in the New Year, the Society of St Tarcisius has been very active. Part of the re-launch was the delivery of die-cast medals, featuring a design taken from a fine black High Mass set recently purchased by the Latin Mass Society in memory of a deceased benefactor, John Arnell, comprising the monogram IHS within a crown of thorns and quatrefoil. Servers whose level of expertise has been established can now be enrolled into the Society by a priest, with the traditional ceremony used by the Confraternity of St Stephen, substituting the name of St Tarcisius for that of St Stephen, and invested with the medal. The colour of the cord of the medal indicates the level of expertise.
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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY We have now had two training days in St Mary Moorfields in London, with enrolments, and we had another enrolment ceremony at the St Catherine’s Trust Family Retreat. This brings the total number of enrolled members to 28, with members at each of the five ranks. I am myself on the lowest rank, that of Junior Acolyte, which means I can serve Low Mass and be Torchbearer at Sung Masses; to simplify, the next rank up, Senior Acolyte, implies mastery of the role of Thurifer, a ‘Junior MC’ can MC Sung Mass, a ‘Senior MC’ High Mass, and a ‘Grand MC’ Pontifical Masses, Holy Week services, and the other sacraments. The training days have been very successful, with a whole serving team, from St Anne Line, South Woodford, accompanied by Fr Neil Brett, as well as individuals from Oxford, Bristol, and London, wishing to learn various roles. I am particularly grateful to Jonathan Hague, Oliver McCarthy, and Dominic Auty, for their dedication as trainers. The next dates are 11 May (in Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, and 14 October and 16 November in St Mary Moorfields. It was very pleasing to see serving teams made up of members of the Society of St Tarcisius, with their medals, at the LMS Pilgrimage to Caversham and at the final Mass of the St Catherine’s Trust Family Retreat. The next step is to have training days outside London: I should like to hear from Local Representatives and priests who would like to arrange these. More information about the Society can be found at www. tarcisius.org; the contact email address is tarcisius@lms.org. uk. Joseph Shaw, National Coordinator Birmingham (Worcester) 01386 750421 Margaret Parffrey Apologies for the lack of reports from Worcester owing to email issues. Firstly, we welcome our newly ordained priest, Fr Jason Maloney, to the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Redditch. He will now say Mass in the Tridentine Rite on 1st Friday of the month at 6pm. This is a new date, but for all 1st Friday devotees of the Sacred Heart a welcome change. Also, opportunity for 1st Saturday Fatima people to complete Our Lady’s requests for conversion of Russia. For details of Our Lady of Fatima & 1st Saturday devotions, please ring my number above for details. Fr Maloney arrived last year and is a welcome relief to the problem of finding priests to say Tridentine Masses. Please remember him in your prayers. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Redditch: Fr Maloney says Tridentine Rite Mass 1st Friday at 6pm commence 7th June 2019. Kidderminster: Fr Lamb says Tridentine Rite Mass on 1st Sunday at 3pm. Evesham: Fr Christopher says Tridentine Rite Mass every Tuesday at 7pm. Please keep all these priests in your prayers. Clifton James Belt & Monika Paplaczyk 07890 687453 clifton@lms.org.uk lmsclifton.blogspot.co.uk Following the highly successful Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in December, the regular Sunday Mass at Bristol University Catholic Chaplaincy was
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sung for the first time on 31 March, Laetare Sunday. This was once more very well attended. It is hoped that Sung Masses will be celebrated more regularly at the Chaplaincy, with the next planned for May. Further details will be published nearer the time. Fr Seth Phipps, FSSP, who was ordained to the Priesthood last June in Warrington, will be returning to his home diocese of Clifton in May. He will celebrate a High Mass of Requiem at Prinknash Abbey, at 10:30am on Saturday 25 May. All are welcome. The regular Sunday Masses at the Chaplaincy continue to be well-attended, by students, university staff and others. The other regular Masses also continue to be offered around the Diocese. Thanks to all the priests and laypeople who make this possible. East Anglia (West) Gregor and Alisa Dick 01223 322401 The usual Sunday Mass schedule continues in Cambridge and, as last year, there will also be Mass on Ascension Thursday at Blackfriars at 9:15am As always, volunteers to serve or sing will be received gratefully. Hexham & Newcastle Keith McAllister 01325 308968 07966 235329 k_mcallister@ymail.com Principal Mass provision continues as previously, with Lent seeing a strong start, having Low Masses for Ash Wednesday at Gateshead ( Fr Michael Brown), Thornley (Fr Paul Tully) and Coxhoe (Fr Shaun Swales). Following the retirement of Bishop Cunningham, we welcomed the installation of Bishop Robert Byrne, 14th prelate of Hexham & Newcastle, at St Mary’s Cathedral on March 25, the great feast of the solemnity of the Annunciation. The major Latin component of the installation ceremony was indeed uplifting, with Ecce Sacerdos Magnus (Elgar), Gloria & Credo sung in Latin by the excellent Cathedral choir. This, followed by the Dixit Maria at Angelum for the offertory (H.L Hassler) and then Agnus Dei – Ave verum (Byrd). Strong adhesion to tradition was highlighted with Bishop Robert wearing the C13th ring of St Cuthbert, recovered from the Saint’s incorrupt corpse and also his vesting with an early C15 cope, most appropriately carrying an image of the Annunciation. We can have great confidence in our new bishop’s approach to this fresh apostolate, given his broad experience and solid formation within the Oratorian community in the Midland counties. The diocesan summary highlights the scale of our new Shepherd’s task, noting a population of 2.32m souls in 3195 sq miles, embracing c.167000 Catholics within 146 parishes! Ad multos annos! We were privileged to have a patronal High Mass at Gateshead on the feast of St Joseph, March 19, thanks to Fr Michael Brown with Fr David Phillips as Deacon and Fr Martin Wheaton, Subdeacon. The Westland Singers directed by Paul Dewhirst performed a Mass setting by Henri Nibelle, plus Vivaldi’s Gloria.
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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Lancaster Bob & Jane Latin 01524 412987 lancaster@lms.org.uk latinmasslancaster.blogspot.com John Rogan 01524 858832 lancasterassistant@lms.org.uk By the time this edition goes to press we will have had our first Mass of the year at Sizergh Castle which, deo volente, Canon John Watson will have kindly travelled from Workington to offer for us. The next scheduled Mass will be on Friday 14 June at 7 pm, but this is dependent on priest availability, so please check the website or phone us before travelling. A Traditional Latin Mass was sung at Lanercost Priory near Brampton in Cumbria on Saturday 23 March, with the kind permission of the Anglican authorities and Bishop Paul Swarbrick. The celebrant was Canon Scott Tanner, ICKSP from St Walburge's in Preston, with Charles Jordan as MC and Nicholas and George Steven serving as acolytes. This was a very beautiful Missa Cantata with the Brampton Consort (leader Simon Mortimer) singing the Byrd Four Part Mass and the propers sung by a local Schola (leader Andrew Plasom-Scott). The Schola also sang Parson's Ave Maria at the Offertory and Byrd's Ave Verum and Tallis's O Sacrum Convivium as Communion motets. Lanercost Priory was an Augustinian foundation from 1169, dissolved in 1538 and subsequently ruined but the nave of the former Priory Church, re-roofed in 1747, was the setting for this beautiful Missa Cantata, probably the first Traditional Latin Mass since the Reformation. Mass was offered for the living and deceased members of the Steven family (on the occasion of Lucy Steven's 25th, Edward Steven's 26th, William Steven's 30th and Nicholas Steven's 70th birthdays). Thank you to Jonathan Steven for this report. Liverpool (Warrington) Alan Frost 01270 768144 The life of St Mary’s Priory Shrine seems to get busier as groups and activities grow. There are young families and young adults’ groups with members going on the forthcoming annual Pilgrimage (7 – 11 June) to Chartres. There are regular activities for teenagers and children with summer camps taking place in August. Concerning social issues, a pro-life group meets each month and there is also a meeting each month for anyone suffering addiction to drugs or alcohol (a confidential phone contact is available). Mass and Confession continue to be offered everyday, with the Mass televised live on the Internet (www.livemass. org). The Mass on March 30 was part of a whole Day of Lenten Recollection led by Rector, Fr de Malleray, FSSP, who will be giving a Lenten Retreat for clergy at Douai Abbey, 13 -17 May. The Summer issue of the FSSP quarterly ‘Dowry’, edited by the Rector, will be available in June. The following month, on Thursday, July 4, there will be Confirmations in the Traditional Rite in a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon O.P. Candidates from other dioceses are welcome to be confirmed at this Mass (contact Fr Lowenstein at padrek@libero.it).
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There was a bit of a hitch in the Priory Campaign to purchase nearby property to provide the Shrine with necessary additional building space, but the news is now good. The purchase of Priory Court has been agreed (two Units to be paid now and the third Unit within a year, subject to further fund-raising). Northampton North (Northamptonshire) Paul Beardsmore northampton@lms.org.uk Fr Byrne continues to offer Mass every Saturday at St Brendan's, Corby. There was an additional Low Mass at St Brendan's on Easter Sunday. Northampton (South) Barbara Kay mbky3@outlook.com 01234 340759 All good things must come to an end and so it is that my former fellow Rep, Nick Ross, moved with his wife Kerrie to Nottinghamshire on 7 March. He served for the last time on Ash Wednesday, the evening before the day of the move, and was thanked by Fr Matthew Goddard, FSSP for his work as both Diocesan Rep and that of MC at our Sung Masses. Nick went out on a high, in that the Mass on Ash Wednesday was attended by some 120 people, the most we have had at Bedford to date. Nick hopes that this Mass will not be his last, as he hopes to visit Bedford from time to time and has kindly offered to help out with the serving if needed. Meanwhile he has been enlisted as Rep for Hallam, where he will work to build up the Latin Mass in that part of the country. Another good thing which has come to an end in the last few months is the monthly Friday evening Mass at Shefford. We are grateful to Canon Bennie Noonan for celebrating this Mass over the years. Apart from Bedford, the other remaining Mass in Northampton South is at Chesham Bois every Sunday at 8 am. We are grateful to the FSSP based at Reading for providing celebrants both at Chesham and at Bedford each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, the latter of which there are, of course, several this summer. Sunday Masses at Bedford continue with around 80 – 90 people each week. The first Sunday in the month is usually a Sung Mass with the schola. On the third Sunday of the month and normally one other, Matthew Schellhorn, our Director of Music, plays and sings at the Mass. In Lent, apart from Laetare Sunday, he has been singing unaccompanied in the sanctuary. Our series of First Sunday Family Catechism Days at Christ the King, Bedford are being well attended, with sessions for the under 8s, under 16s and adults, led by Fr Patrick O’Donohue, FSSP. Fr O’Donohue is giving some fascinating talks to the adults about the background to the various parts of the Mass and the significance of what happens in the sanctuary. Regina Caeli, the new Bedfordshire-based homeschooling academy, held an Open Day on 13 April with opportunity to enrol for the autumn term, when the Academy opens its doors for the first time. Full details can be found at https://www.rcahybrid.org.uk/. Following the success of last year’s Mass of Reparation, we are starting to plan for a second visit from the Latin
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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Mass Society to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Church of the Holy Child and St Joseph, Bedford, probably in November. For details of all our activities, as always please see our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ bedfordlatinmass/ Nottingham Jeremy Boot Nottingham@lms.org.uk 07462-018386 I am very pleased to report a considerable increase in size of our congregations and interest at all our Masses, now for some months. It is heartening for our celebrants, but also an increase in numbers seems to attract more new attendees as the word gets around. This particularly applies to the Masses at The Good Shepherd, Nottingham, on Saturdays anticipating the Sunday Mass (4.45pm Sat before 2nd Sunday of the month) where numbers had been somewhat disappointing for some time. There for several months we have been able to welcome 30-40+ not only LMS members but many new faces. Similarly, the attendance at our Masses at Our Lady and St Patrick, Nottingham (2pm 3rd and 4th Sundays) has also increased by about 50% or more, with many families and students and other new faces, besides those who have been attending for some time. Masses at the Cathedral continue also at 6.15pm on 3rd Wednesdays. All are most welcome to all our Masses. In addition, we have been able to form a schola with new singers – who in fact came together almost by accident in Advent - with whom we are able now to sing full plainsong Masses and a little polyphony during at least two of the Masses (Good Shepherd and 3rd Sunday Mass at Our Lady and St Patrick), if not to some degree at the (usually) Low Mass on 4th Sundays there. All this is really a sign of God’s grace and we should be very grateful, as indeed we are, to celebrants, servers, musicians and all those who help in any way to maintain these Masses. Please note, that as usual, because of holidays and other absences, there will be no Masses throughout August. Masses resume at all venues in September. Nottingham South (Leicestershire and Rutland) Paul Beardsmore The usual weekly schedule of Masses has continued in the area, with additional Sung Masses being offered on Ash Wednesday (St Peter's, Leicester), the feast of St Joseph (Holy Cross, Leicester) and the feast of the Annunciation (St Peter's again). A sung Requiem Mass was also offered at St Peter's on the second anniversary of the death of Mark Jacques, a LMS benefactor. Longstanding member of the Society, Gerald Pearce, died on 3 April; his Old Rite Funeral Mass will be at St Peter's, Leicester, but as I write the date has still to be agreed. Plymouth (Devon) Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 devon@lms.org.uk Once again, many good things have been happening on the Devon Latin Mass scene, such as at St Edward the Confessor, Plymouth, where they await the coming baptism
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of a new baby, and the formation of a young adult’s group. I managed to attend Mass at St Edward’s on Sunday, 3 March, and was pleased to discover that immediately after Mass, Fr Anthony had arranged a Holy Hour with Benediction. We have to thank Fr Pillari for working hard to ensure that the ‘Latin Mass Mission’ at St Edward’s continues to thrive, whilst also continuing with his normal duties at Lanherne Covent in Cornwall (I might just add that although it is out of my area, Fr Anthony celebrates a daily usus antiquior at Lanherne throughout the year). During January we were saddened to learn that Mr Stephen Lowry died on the Feast of the Epiphany after a long illness. Stephen, a barrister by profession until his retirement, had been a member of the Latin Mass Society since the early days, and was a valued member of the choir at our Traditional Rite Latin Mass celebrations in the Exeter area until failing health prevented this. Stephen’s Old Rite Sung Requiem Mass took place at Blessed Sacrament in Exeter on Thursday 24 January, with Fr Thomas Reagan OSB as celebrant, and with the Abbot Administrator of Buckfast Abbey, the Rt Rev. David Charlesworth sitting in choir. The MC travelled down from the Birmingham area especially, and was assisted on the sanctuary by myself and by Joseph Jones and John Tristram. Tegwyn Harris was organist, with Stephen Bemrose, Michael Crawford, Timothy TindalRobertson and Mary Coghill in the choir. Stephen is survived by his wife Mary and family, so do please keep them all in your prayers. There have been recent changes at St Mary’s Abbey, Buckfast, where we were disappointed to learn that both the Abbot Administrator, the Rt Rev. David Charlesworth OSB, and Fr. Thomas Reagan OSB left for pastures new. However, in this instance Devon’s loss is Staffordshire’s gain, where Fr Thomas has taken up the position of chaplain at Oulton Abbey (Benedictine nuns) where he will continue celebrating the usus antiquior along with his other duties. We thank them both for their continual support of the Old Rite at the Abbey in the past, and wish them well for the future. Unfortunately, though, at the time of writing, this means that the future of the Traditional Rite Mass at the Abbey is in doubt, as I have been as yet unable to obtain confirmation of any future usus antiquior celebrations there. However, as this situation could change at any moment, please get in touch with me for the latest information/details. The last Traditional Rite Latin Mass at Buckfast was a Low Mass celebrated by Fr Guy de Gaynesford on Ember Day, Wednesday 13 March, and was much appreciated by all present (see photograph). At Blessed Sacrament in Exeter, the monthly Latin Mass has been made possible by Mgr Adrian Toffolo and by Fr Peter Coxe, both of whom have kindly agreed to celebrate Mass for us on different dates. Fr Peter, especially, has agreed to become a regular celebrant at Blessed Sacrament during the coming year. This Blessed Sacrament venue can attract a sizeable congregation for the usus antiquior, so it was with much disappointment that we had to cancel April’s third Sunday of the month Mass as it fell on Easter Sunday - a very busy time for our clergy - when we could not get a celebrant. However, we have to thank our priests for doing everything that they can in order to accommodate our needs for now and in the future. Apart from his celebrating the last Latin Mass for us at Buckfast Abbey in March, we are pleased to report that Fr
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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Guy de Gaynesford still continues to serve our spiritual needs on the fourth Sunday of every month (see Mass Listings) at St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh, the home of Lord and Lady Clifford. It was pleasing to have Mr John Tristram assist me in serving the Sung Mass at this venue, and once again to have the benefit of Dr Andrew Beards and Michael Crawford leading the Latin chants, without whom we could not have had a Sung Mass. We heartily thank Fr Guy, the Clifford family, and all concerned in giving up time and energy in order that we could have a usus antiquior at this truly beautiful and historic venue. Please note, however, that as I reported in the previous issue of the Mass of Ages magazine, there will be no Traditional Rite Latin Mass at St Cyprian’s on the fourth Sunday in May due to circumstances beyond our control. The Hon. Alexander Clifford did offer us an alternative date but it proved to be unworkable, so, as always, check the Mass Listings or contact me before travelling any distance.
months may well attract more people. For those considering attending one of the Latin celebrations at either Marnhull or Blandford Forum for the first time, do check the Mass Listings or contact me for details. Also, remember that at both venues there is always an enjoyable free social lunch after Mass at which you will be most welcome. Interestingly, over the past year I have been approached by different people asking about the possibility of having a Traditional Rite Latin Mass at Chideock (Queen of Martyrs and St Ignatius) in honour of the Dorset Martyrs. As interest in this appears to be growing, I have promised to look into it and report back my findings. If you think that you could throw some light on this please do not hesitate in contacting me by phone or by email. Portsmouth (Isle of Wight) Peter Clarke We have just completed thirty-one years of E.F. Masses here on the Island. These have been mainly at St Mary’s, Ryde. Today, they are offered mainly by Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris (Ordinariate and parish priest of Cowes and East Cowes) on Thursdays at 12 noon, at St David’s, East Cowes; with occasional Masses at St Thomas’s, Cowes and St Mary’s, Ryde. There is always Exposition and Confessions for half an hour before the Mass. We look forward to having our annual Corpus Christi Mass and Procession at St Mary’s on 20 May. Please ring for confirmation of these Masses if you are coming from the mainland. Tel. 01983 566740 or 07790 892592 Shrewsbury (Chester) Andrew Nielsen chester@lms.org.uk Third Sunday Sung Masses are continuing at St Clare's Chester. The Mass for the Second Sunday of Lent was celebrated by Canon Poucin de Wouilt ICKSP with a full team of servers, including torches. As usual we had the services of our reliable local based choir. Congregation numbers are steady with a core of regular attendees but more would be welcome.
Fr Guy de Gaynesford preparing for Holy Mass Plymouth (Dorset) Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 devon@lms.org.uk In Dorset the usus antiquior is still celebrated in alternate months by Fr Martin Budge at Our Lady’s in the lovely village of Marnhull, and just a short distance away by Mgr Francis Jamieson at Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecilia in the quaint market town of Blandford Forum, usually at 12 noon on weekdays at both venues. Although at both churches the congregations are relatively small in number, the summer
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Shrewsbury (The Wirral) Stefano Mazzeo 0151 638 6822 At the Dome of Home, the Shrine Church of Saints Peter and Paul and St Philomena, we continue to make progress both to the fabric of the church and with the continued growth in the congregation both in size and, hopefully, spiritually. We continue to renovate this huge church and for this we have manage to secure various Heritage Lottery grants. One of the conditions of the Heritage Lottery grant has been that we reach out to the local community; they do not seem to mind that we are a Traditional Catholic Church, which suits us very well. They have helped us provide a heritage book, heritage days, tours and an education pack. We need to provide a certain amount of the funds ourselves - for example the cost of hiring someone to do a detailed structural survey of the dome was £3,000! This was not covered by the HLF grant. Any donations to help us cover this cost would be very much appreciated, small or large.
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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY But we continue with our grant applications. The dome and sanctuary still need major work but we must, again, raise a proportion of the money ourselves. Please contact Anne Archer, our project manager, - contactus@domeofhome.org for further information - or Rachel Buckley, our engagements officer, to find out more or to become a member of the Friends of SSPPP. Alternatively, contact Canon Montjean on 0151 683 6822 or email chn.montjean@icrsp.org. The Masses at Birkenhead Carmel continue at 7:45 on Thursday mornings. Southward (Kent) Marygold Turner We have been well blessed in the past few months, no cries of priests being held up or ill, since I wrote in my last report on the incapacity of Fr Whinder (Balham) at the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Father tells me he is much better and we shall see him soon, I hope. He is a very good friend to us. I have had two telephone calls from a priest in the Ivory Coast! Just social calls complimenting us on The Mass of Ages! Nice to know how far we reach. Again, all our slots are filled, including Ascension and Corpus Christi – Deo gratias. Monsignor Wach very generously invited me to the opera in Milan in February – La Traviata – which was the best I have seen. Canon Hudson will be joining me at Glyndebourne in June for The Barber of Seville. The Institute expands and flourishes with such distinguished priests. Southwark (Wandsworth) Since our last report, our regular Sunday 11am Masses have continued, and have recently witnessed a satisfying increase in numbers. This Mass is sung on the first Sunday of each month and, since Canon Edwards currently enjoys the assistance of a transitional deacon with links to the seminary, we have been able to have several High Masses. During Lent Canon Edwards has celebrated a Low Mass on Friday evenings and traditional Compline has been sung on Tuesday evenings. At the time of writing we are looking forward to a Missa Cantata at 11am on Palm Sunday and at 8pm on Maundy Thursday. The Easter Sunday 11am Mass will be a High Mass: the setting will be the luxuriant and rarely heard Messa di Gloria by Puccini. Southwark (St Bede’s Clapham Park) Thomas Windsor This quarter started with a particularly busy time, Christmas. Between December 22 and January 7 our servers and singers managed a Sung Mass on all but 3 days. Once again David Guest’s excellent professional choir sang the Mozart Mass at Midnight giving our own schola a break between singing the Vigil Mass at 12.30pm, and the Day Mass of Christmas. Once again, we must thank Fr Southwell for spending his Christmas break with us. We also thank Fr Diaz who now lives locally. We celebrated the Blessing of Epiphany Water after our usual Saturday Sung Mass on the Vigil of the Epiphany, with the chalk being blessed after our Sung Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany. This year Candlemas fell on a Saturday so we were able to have a full Sung Mass and procession.
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Over this quarter our Choir has sung polyphonic Propers by Palestrina (Offertory) and Issac (Introit, Alleluia, and Communion) on the 3rd and 5th Sundays after Pentecost. On the 2nd Sunday of Lent they sang the Byrd three-part Mass with the rarely heard Credo, as well as his setting of the Emmendemus in melium and Ave Verum. This year thanks to our new parish Priest, Fr Holden, we have also started up a monthly special Sunday with shared lunch, talks for adults and catechism for children, ending with Rosary and Benediction. We also now have catechism preparation for First Holy Communion and Confirmation meeting twice a month after the Sunday Mass. Our Chapter of the Guild of St Clare, continues to repair our vestments meeting on the 3rd Saturday of the month. As part of this day we have added servers practice, and children’s choir practice, as well as run a creche for smaller children and babies. Our Community continues to grow with so far five new babies being baptised this year, with another three mothers expecting! Westminster (Willesden) Anna Grayson-Morley willesden@lms.org.uk 07710 472295 Since we started offering Mass in the Traditional Form almost 6 years ago, the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden continues to flourish. Last year, as part of ongoing restorations, an intricate wrought iron gate was fitted to encompass the chancel, adding to the splendour of our beautiful Shrine chapel. Attendance at the Low Mass has fluctuated between 7 and 60, but is usually around 25, a mix in age, most of whom come for the Form, although some parishioners also find the time convenient. Over the years, we have had difficulty in finding servers, but are most grateful to Patrick Valente, who having been received into the Church last Easter, is now our regular altar server. Fr Stephen Willis is our only priest in the parish able to celebrate the Traditional Form, which poses a challenge when he is away, since finding a celebrant to take his place is difficult. Our most pressing need is more faithful and more priests in London who can offer Mass in the E.F. The weekly 5:30pm Sunday Low Mass and the E.F. Masses offered on Holy Days and occasional High Masses, such as the Latin Mass Society Pilgrimages, have been celebrated at the High Altar. We are lucky that all the original furnishings of the church are intact, and the main Shrine Church has one of the largest sanctuaries in London. Our hope is to grow in number and confidence, and to contribute to the life of the parish, and if so, to have the resources to begin having a monthly Missa Cantata. In the last four years, we have established a Pueri Cantores of 15 children, who have been learning chant and who generally prefer to sing in Latin. Our hope is to build on this. In addition, the parish is fundraising to rescue an historic organ and rebuild it in the Shrine Church to replace our currently rather limited instrument.
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FEATURE
Mass of Ages down the ages In July 1965 the first Latin Mass Society Newsletter was published. In this first edition of what was to eventually become ‘Mass of Ages’ the Society reported that "It is with great apprehension that the Holy Week Liturgy is now being translated into English." They also reported that “Masses in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris are still being celebrated in Latin.” Most of this f irst newsletter sets out the Society’s view on why an ‘all-Latin Mass’ should remain available as an alternative to the vernacular Mass which was being introduced across England and Wales. The article continues by stressing the value of Latin as laid down by Pope John XXIII in Veterum Sapientia and then reiterates why the LMS felt so strongly that the universal language should be maintained.
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FEATURE
When what we now know as Mass of Ages first began it was a typed newsletter with one simple aim – to ensure that the Latin Mass remained available for those that wanted to celebrate in the traditional language of the Church rather than the vernacular. These were the days when no one had quite realised the actual destruction of the Roman Rite that was to happen with Vatican II. By the 4th newsletter, dated May 1966, the Society had been in existence for a year and had a residence at 43 Blandford Street London W1. In this edition the editor outlines the challenges that the Society had encountered during the first year, including limited financial resources to employ a paid member of staff. Despite this, the membership was increasing and there was great support and interest in the organisation’s work.
By July 1966 the 5th newsletter documents the implementing of a national directive:
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FEATURE
In May 1974, the News Bulletin, as it is now called, was given a distinctive header and the logo (still is use today) was introduced. It continued in this format until February 1992 when it made a brief appearance as a professionally printed, A5 stapled booklet.
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FEATURE
The following year a photograph was introduced to the cover, albeit in black and white‌
‌ and the 100th edition issued a rallying call to members to persevere in the work they do. 24
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FEATURE
Rubens’ ‘Descent from the Cross’ is considered to be one of the greatest paintings of the 17th century.
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FEATURE
In May 1996, a full colour picture adorned the cover for the first time.
In May 2003 the Newsletter was renamed to that which is familiar to us today Mass of Ages.
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FEATURE
As we are today.
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Holy Week with the LMS
The LMS celebrated the Sacred Triduum in St Mary Moorfields Church, London Top: Carrying the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose
Easter vigil Blessing the Fire
Veneration of the Cross
Maundy Thursday the Mandatum
Tenebrae we celebrated all three each anticipated the evening before
Good Friday the clergy prostrate themselves
All photos: Š Joseph Shaw
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REVIEW
Murder mystery Lone Veiler reviews An Oxford Scandal by Norman Russell
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he historical detective novel, An Oxford Scandal, is set in the perennially popular Oxford in the late Victorian period. At the fictional St Gabriel’s College, Anthony Jardine is a well-liked tutor and ladies’ man. In conversation with the Provost he learns a tomb has been discovered containing the alleged remains of St Thomas a Becket. While this sets the scene for later interdenominational s p a r r i n g b e t we e n C a r d i n a l Va u g h a n , Archbishop of Westminster, and Edward Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and comes to the attention of an old recusant Sussex family through their undergraduate son Harry Napier, it is slotted in to what is primarily a murder mystery. Away from the job, Jardine has a neglected morphine addicted wife, Dora, migraine headaches, and a mistress, Rachel Noble, with whom he has set up house in Cowley where they can play at Mr and Mrs. D o ra’s c o n f i d a n t e, Je a n , attracted to but suspicious of Jardine, snoops around witnessing Rachel and he meeting, and finds Dora’s drug supplier. Meanwhile, the expert called down from London to examine the remains in the tomb, Count Raphael Savident to whom Jardine takes an instant dislike, pronounces them authentic. Given Jardine’s charisma, no-one can really believe he murdered his wife on a tram one rainy night, even with no alibi that won’t ruin Rachel’s hitherto spotless reputation. Enter Inspector Antrobus, advanced TB sufferer, investigating along with doughty Sergeant Maxwell and renowned Doctor Sophia Jex-Blake. To cheer Jardine up following Dora’s funeral, his neighbours invite him to dine where he meets the charmante Mme Elodie Deschamps, unsurprisingly striking up an immediate rapport. He returns to the house in Cowley to find that Rachel has left him.
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Confrontational, Jardine visits her house, finding her body laid out on the sofa and her husband playing the cello, singing the Dies Irae. Jardine is justifiably a bit perturbed. Antrobus and Maxwell learn that Dora, Rachel, and another called Melanie, were girlhood friends in London when Dora witnessed a murder. Terrified by the perpetrator into silence, Dora wrote a letter revealing his identity as an insurance policy, giving it to Rachel. The action then moves to London, where Antrobus’s life is saved by Sophia Jex-Blake and Maxwell takes over the investigation. He pulls together the evidence, solves the murder, but I won’t tell you how. And the bones? Well dear Reader, that too I leave to you.
The author uses the InspectorS idekick-Pat hologi st formula to good effect. Introducing the real-life character of Sophia JexBlake, along with the Cardinal and Archbishop, and name-dropping Lewis Carroll on the first page perhaps anchors the story, but I’m not sure it adds anything particularly to the narrative and feels too deliberate and set piece. As indeed does the final entombment of the bones of the Saint, while the denouement is rather melodramatic. The period detail throughout is atmospheric, which I like in a novel, and I am particularly fond of chapter headings, so a win there too. The narrative doesn’t always flow as it might as some of the characterisation is a bit generic, particularly of the women. Is it really feasible that Dora and Rachel would be unaware of the other’s existence in the same town after sharing such a terrible secret? Is it really possible that a murderer would let young Dora go with nothing more than a threat? Suspension of disbelief can only go so far. Jardine’s character is undeniably flawed, but there is an ‘oh well, boys will be boys’ attitude to his indiscretions, in spite of the raised eyebrows and moustache twitching, that is mildly irritating. The meal over which the fate of the bones is finally decided is hosted by bon viveur Monsignor Lucie. While excessive consumption by the characters may have dulled their minds, I found as a reader it didn’t quite convince me as a solid enough reason for Team Cardinal Vaughan to take custody of the bones rather than Team Archbishop Benson. It’s not a long book but packs in a lot, and is a quick, light-hearted read. I quite enjoyed it, although I didn’t particularly warm to any of the characters. Catholicism is positively portrayed but not dominant and to paraphrase Flora Poste, Victorian set novels are really the only kind you can read while eating an apple.
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ARCHITECTURE
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Peter of Alacantara Paul Waddington looks at the history of Shrewsbury’s cathedral, and explains how such a small building became a cathedral
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hrewsbury got its first postReformation Catholic chapel in 1776. Situated in the street known as Town Walls, it was originally a simple building in the style that we now associate with Nonconformist chapels. Extensions of 1826 and 1840 gave it a classical facade, and increased the seating capacity to 300. But by the late 1840s, the Catholic population of Shrewsbury had grown to the extent that a larger building was required. With this in mind land was purchased further along Town Walls, which eventually became the site of Shrewsbury Cathedral, but not before several changes of plan. When the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales was re-established in 1850, it was decided that the counties of Shropshire and Cheshire should form a diocese to be named Shrewsbury, largely in deference to John Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, who had funded the building of several churches, especially around his estate of Alton Towers in Staffordshire. A new cathedral was necessary as there was no existing church in the two counties of sufficient
The interior has much to admire Birkenhead, Chester or Shrewsbury? size or dignity to fill the role. The siting of the new building became the subject of much debate. As a temporary measure, A.W.N. Pugin’s newly completed Church of St Alban in Macclesfield was selected to serve as a pro-cathedral.
The exterior: the cathedral is constructed of sandstone, and has a five-bay nave with side aisles
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Because of the concentration of Catholics in the Wirral, Birkenhead was initially the favoured location; but, the Earl’s offer to pay for a cathedral if it were built in Shrewsbury swayed opinion in favour of that town. A.W.N. Pugin would naturally be the architect. However, in 1851, Bishop Brown surprised everybody by purchasing a Georgian house in Chester with adjacent land, with the intention of building the cathedral there. Objections to this proposal, particularly from the Earl and his architect friend were sufficiently strong for the bishop to back down. At this point fate intervened, because both the Earl and A.W.N. Pugin died before work could be started. Bertram Talbot, the nineteen-year-old nephew of John, became 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, and despite his young age, renewed the family commitment to fund the Shrewsbury project. It fell to Edward Welby Pugin, also aged nineteen, the eldest son of A.W.N. Pugin, to draw up plans for a cathedral to be built on the site purchased
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ARCHITECTURE Shrewsbury is anything to go by, he is a much-underrated architect. Shrewsbury Cathedral also has a quantity of twentieth century stained glass, some of it replacing windows designed by the Hardman company, which were transferred to the nearby convent. Most of this, including the five light West Window depicting English Martyrs, is the work of Margaret Agnes Rope, a native of Shrewsbury and exponent of the Arts and Crafts tradition. Margaret Rope, a convert to Catholicism later became a Carmelite nun.
The West Window, English Martyrs by Margaret Rope
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it is approached by steps from the road. Although unspectacular on the outside, there is much to be admired internally. The chancel has a fine seven light window with intricate tracery and stained glass by the Hardman company dating from 1862. Beneath it, E.W. Pugin’s Caen stone High Altar and reredos, although not currently used, have survived the drastic reordering carried out in the 1980s. Also in the chancel are sedilia built into the south wall in a similar manner to A.W.N. Pugin’s sedilia at St Giles’ Church in Cheadle. Much of the internal decoration dates from 1885, and is largely the work of J.A. Pippett, chief designer of the Hardman company. He designed much of the stained glass, remodelled the side chapel in the northern aisle, and adorned extensive areas with wall paintings and other decorative schemes. Further work was undertaken fifteen years later by Pippet’s son, Gabriel. Unfortunately, much of this work was covered by indiscriminate whitewashing in the 1950s. The spectacular hanging rood with the figures of Our Lady and St John, which replaced a simpler one by Edward Pugin, dates from this period. Pugin originally proposed a full rood screen, but this was vetoed by 17th Earl, who clearly believed that there should be an uninterrupted view of the sanctuary. A Much Underrated Architect Further improvements were made in 1901, when Edmund Kirby added a chapel dedicated to St Winefride to the southern aisle. This is an imposing polygonal structure with a complicated vaulted roof supported by many delicate columns. It is arguably the most impressive feature of the cathedral. Edmund Kirby had been educated at Oscott College and later articled to Edward Pugin, before practising on his own. With such a background, it is not surprising that the chapel blends in perfectly. If his work in
Blue Carpet
© A.M.Thomson
some years previously. This was his very first architectural commission, and he designed a cathedral, said to be capable of seating one thousand, with a tower and spire having a combined height of 227ft. It would certainly have been a prominent landmark on the Shrewsbury horizon. Again fate intervened, because, after construction had started in 1853, it was discovered that the soil conditions on the hillside would not support a building of that size. The tower and spire had to be deleted from the scheme, and plans were scaled down to such an extent, that the building was no longer thought sufficiently dignified to serve as a cathedral. Birkenhead was in need of a large church at the time; and, in another change of plan, it was decided to build the new cathedral there. The Earl, presumably with some disappointment, agreed to fund the new project in addition to the Shrewsbury church. Edward Pugin drew up plans for Birkenhead, which included a tower with spire similar to that which had been proposed at Shrewsbury, but an unexpected turn of events meant that Birkenhead never got a cathedral. It seems that Rome objected to this latest scheme on the grounds that a cathedral in Birkenhead would be too close to the one proposed just across the river in Liverpool. Edward Pugin’s plans for Birkenhead were eventually executed as the church of Our Lady, which opened in 1862 and exists to this day, although the tower and spire were never built. In yet another change of plan, it was decided that Shrewsbury’s much reduced church would become the cathedral. It eventually opened in October 1856, two months after the tragically early death of Bertram, aged only twenty-three. The cathedral is constructed of sandstone, and has a five-bay nave with side aisles. Over the western gable there is a bellcote. Due to its hillside location,
In a disastrous reordering scheme executed in 1984, the communion rail was removed, the sanctuary floor raised, and a platform installed to extend the sanctuary into the nave, where a forward altar and ugly ambo were installed. All was covered by a most inappropriate blue carpet, which is currently the dominant feature. The encroachment into the nave substantially reduced the seating capacity which was already extremely limited. The choir stalls were removed, as were all the benches, which were replaced by modern style individual seats. More sensitive work was carried out in 2014 when the The sedilia entrance, which was previously directly off the street, was made more convenient with new steps and railings. The Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Peter of Alacantara is a Grade II* Listed Building. Despite the damage done by reordering, there are still many excellent original features, and the Cathedral is well worth a visit. There are plans afoot to restore much of the damage done in the 1980s, including the removal of the blue carpet, which should reveal the original Minton tiles of the sanctuary. It remains to be seen how much of Pippet’s decorative work can be restored. In 2018, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest arrived in Shrewsbury. One of their priests is resident at the Church of St Winefride, which is part of the Cathedral parish, and where a Sunday Mass is offered in the Extraordinary Form. They also offer a daily EF Mass in the Cathedral.
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Photographs © John Aron
Shrewsbury Mass
Bishop Davies saying Mass at Shrewsbury Cathedral
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MASS LISTINGS
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SUMMER 2019
LONE VEILER
Hope among the devastation Lone Veiler on over-familiarity
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ven though we have a phone that blocks cold calls, some still slip through, usually when the answerphone is off. I have found myself responding to a complete stranger, who greets me by my Christian name as if we have known each other for years like Margot Leadbetter in the Good Life, ‘Have we been introduced?’ As this is off script, the person on the other end usually starts to babble, or hangs up. Result. I was talking to a friend about this the other day, and we were trying to sort out when what my grandmother would have called ‘overfamiliarity’, started. I don’t ever remember being called ‘Mrs’ by a cold caller, she didn’t either. So, we concluded that like everything else, it had to be the fault of the 1960s. I know it’s not particularly fashionable at the moment, but that kind of courtesy is appealing precisely because it’s so rare. Which made me think of something that has been niggling at me for a while, that encouraging selective overfamiliarity is a really dangerous thing. I have noticed that the more matey and down with the kids the prelate, the less likely he is to have his ring of office available for the faithful, and the more likely he is to be a total autocrat beneath the avuncular veneer of smiles. We are seeing this very thing played out in the awful abuse scandals within the Church. Indeed, other scandals in the press seem to bear out the fact that the more egregious the crime, the more it’s hidden beneath a cultivated and selective bonhomie that makes the crime seem unlikely, if not impossible. This leaves the victim as the guilty party for having the audacity to speak up for himself, and the always much more powerful and influential abuser lifting up his hands in horror that he should be slandered. There is an outrageous arrogance at work in refusing to accept responsibility for failure to acknowledge crime, in attempting its justification, or in ineffective hand-wringing apology. It comes down once again to pride. The failure of large parts of the hierarchy has to be driven for the most part by the
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arrogance and pride of individuals. We see where this individualism has taken Germany, not that the Church Tax is much of a motivator there, I’m sure. Within our own parishes, we are being blessed with younger priests who are entirely orthodox, and my, aren’t they suffering for it. The most appalling thing related to me recently was from a parish in which the leading lay lights maintained that whatever Rome did, that wasn’t how they did things, effectively telling the priest where to get off. Begs the question of why they haven’t all nipped down the road to become Methodists. But, ah, hang on, it’s that power thing
brave priests respected for preaching the reality of the Faith rather than berated for it, because ‘that sort of stuff’ was got rid of in 1960-whatever. Well, as a post ‘whatever’ Catholic, I can see the tremendous damage the idea that we can make it up as we go along has done and is still doing. I thank God that the gates of hell shall not prevail, because there are an awful lot of folks within the Church who doing a very good job at trying to bring it down, wittingly or not. A small thing, I once witnessed the ladies of the flower ministry using the lady altar as a work bench, yes, cutting flowers, stripping leaves, wire and foam,
'I would like to see our brave priests respected for preaching the reality of the Faith' again. They’d have to start all over again with the Methodists. Which brings me right back to respect and overfamiliarity. The power of the laity in most parishes (and mine isn’t Traditional, more’s the pity) can be hugely disproportionate. It’s not even all the laity of the parish, it’s a very small vocal minority who have been given the impression that they run it, so can also run any clergy that come their way. It’s another abuse of power, and it’s one that’s very difficult to overthrow, given these control cliques always seem to be self-perpetuating oligarchies. It’s not that I want a Jansenist-style priesthood, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I would like to see our
and arranging them there. They always had used it like that, they were going to continue using it like that. Along with the ubiquitous felt banners and infantile ditties from the singing groups, this lack of reverence somehow reinforces the erroneous power of some laity in ways that their beloved Vatican II did not actually endorse. And it’s always the tiny vocal minority who dominate. Yet am I downcast? Nope. Not at all. I see amongst the devastation, hope. The Latin Mass, and lots of hope. What we are witnessing is nothing more than what Our Lady of Good Success told us would happen. So I say, right now, bring it on. And FWIW, ‘Mrs’ works for me.
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ROMAN REPORT
A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land Graced by the Celebration of the Vetus Ordo By Alberto Carosa
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ntil recently the author of this article had never seriously considered the idea of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but everything changed when the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) informed his supporters and friends that the Institute would organize a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in late January. As far as is known, it was the first such pilgrimage arranged by the Italian chapter of the ICKSP as a sort of test for an initiative graced by the celebration of the Old Rite more than once a day. Ultimately, as a whole the test was successful and the Institute is planning another pilgrimage in late 2019 or early next year. The ICKSP is a religious institute of pontifical right whose apostolate is based on the celebration of the preVatican II liturgy, but this liturgy is almost no longer celebrated in the Holy Land, according to the authoritative opinion of our guide during the pilgrimage, Don Michele Somaschini, a priest of the diocese of Milan and close friend of the ICKSP. By contrast, he points out, a number of the Christian holy sites with their buildings and structures, including altars and rails, have remained unchanged since 1757, when the Ottoman Empire, reconfirmed by decree in 1853, froze the situation with regard to the shared ownership, possession and use of these sites among the various Christian communities and denominations. The decree, which provides that nothing be changed without unanimous consensus, still applies today and to give an idea of how complex the situation is, suffice to say that up to five Christian denominations currently cohabit in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem: Greek Orthodox, Latin (namely the Catholic community,
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The Basilica of the Annunciation represented by the Franciscans under the Status Quo provisions), Armenian, Copt, Syrian and Ethiopian. The Holy Sepulcher was one of the three main holy sites, together with the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth and that of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Traditional Masses were also celebrated by the other two priests accompanying our group of pilgrims. Whereas Don Michele was mainly in charge of logistics, two priests of the ICKSP, Don Antonio Landais, seconded to the Institute's Roman headquarters, and Don Federico Pozza, who instead is based in Florence, were responsible for the liturgical celebrations in the various holy places visited by the group of pilgrims. In total, including the three priests, the group consisted of 17 people, an excellent number for the success of the pilgrimage, as it is preferable to have
groups not exceeding 20. In fact, it would have been quite difficult for a bigger group of people to be accommodated in the narrow spaces available at most of the holy sites, and notably in the above three main, most symbolic places. Moreover, in these three sites the Masses had to be celebrated ay side altars or chapels, and not where the specific event exactly took place. In Nazareth the Mass was celebrated in the presbytery in the lower Basilica of the Annunciation, just opposite the grotto where the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary. Whereas this basilica is held by the Franciscans, the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem is in the hands of the Greek Orthodox clergy, another legacy of the above Status Quo which appears to be all the more puzzling if one considers, as noted by Don Michele, that there are virtually no Orthodox faithful
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ROMAN REPORT
in the Holy Land. The basilica stands on the grotto complex, which includes that of the Nativity, but with a wall in common with the adjacent Franciscan convent of St Kathryn of Alexandria "ad Nativitatem", whose Franciscans are once again securing a continued Catholic presence in the holy sites. In this complex of caves, the most important one after that of the Nativity is that of St Jerome, because this Doctor of the Church settled there at the beginning of the fifth century to write by candlelight the Vulgate, or Latin translation of the biblical texts written in Hebrew and Greek. And exactly in this cave, precisely adjacent to that of the Nativity, we were able to celebrate our daily Mass. And there is nothing more appropriate than to celebrate the ancient Latin Rite in the place where the first Latin translation of the Holy Scriptures was written! A similar situation was experienced at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, in the sense that this shrine is owned by the Greek Orthodox church, in collaboration with the Franciscans and four other Orthodox denominations. For the celebration of our Traditional Masses, access was granted to the altar of St Helena and to that on the right-hand side of the chapel of the crucifixion. St Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, founded the basilica in the fourth century in the place where she miraculously found the hill of Calvary, the grotto of the Sepulcher and the Cross. Due to the uninterrupted flows of pilgrims and their priests, especially in this basilica, it looked as if it might be a sort of miracle if we were able to have our Masses there. Besides physical constraints, in the sense that it is simply impossible to celebrate Mass in certain places such as, for example, the exact location of the Sepulcher, another problem to be borne in mind was the time slot allotted for the celebrations, which at times might be only 20 minutes. This might be fine for a novus ordo mass, but would make it virtually impossible for an Old Rite Mass to be decently celebrated and therefore alternative solutions and arrangements had to be found, but again in terms of what is provided for by the “status quo” arrangements. We had heard of single priests celebrating the old rite in some holy sites, but we were probably the first, or at least one of the first organised groups to use the traditional liturgy here. In general, we pilgrims and our three priests were
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warmly received and assisted wherever the request was made to celebrate Mass, not only by the Franciscan custodians of the holy places, but also by the religious responsible for the other churches and shrines under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem-based Latin Patriarchate, the other Catholic institution overseeing the network of parish churches and other non-conventual diocesan structures in the Holy Land. The Latin Patriarchate was reinstated only in 1847 by Pius IX, after its initial establishment and activity during the Crusades, and the Franciscans in the Holy Land this year are celebrating the 800th anniversary of their continued presence since 1219, when, in September of that year, St Francis met the Egyptian sultan Melek Al Kamil, nephew of Saladin. This meeting was recalled even by Pope Francis himself, during his recent trips to the United Arab Emirates in February and to Morocco in March. Although on the occasion the sultan did not convert after the saint's preaching, nonetheless St Francis managed to win from his interlocutor a fundamental concession: access and permanence for his friars in the Holy Land, where they gradually expanded the number of holy sites under their control. Once the crusades were over,
the Franciscans represented for several centuries the only Catholic presence in the Holy Land, making enormous sacrifices and at times even martyrdom in order to maintain the right to possession of these holy places. We can never be sufficiently grateful to St Francis and his friars for having paved the way for us to be pilgrims to the holy sites and thus reap immense spiritual benefits, all the more so with the graces of at least one daily Traditional Mass, something that the author has personally experienced. And words are not enough to describe the emotions and feelings which went with this experience, so much so that every devout faithful should make a visit to the Holy Land at least once in his or her lifetime. After all, Don Michele made it quite clear that the primary aim of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is to foster and increase one’s faith and love for Jesus by looking at the skies He looked at, breathing the air He breathed, admiring the panoramas He admired, treading the soil He trod. At times, he went on, this is also a powerful antidote against scepticism, as was the case in one of his past pilgrimages, when a young woman at the end burst into tears exclaiming: “But then it’s all true!”.
Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem the Mass at the altar of the Nails of the Cross
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COMMENT
Little Nellie of Holy God Mary O’Regan remembers a special child
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n 1907 in Ireland, a toddler nicknamed 'Little Nellie' was dying tragically of tuberculosis in a Catholic convent. She suggested a barter to her statue of the Infant of Prague: ‘Jesus, if you give me Your ball, I will give you my shoes’. Her nurse, Miss Hall, told her she could not have it, but Nellie retorted, ‘Him can give it if Him likes!’ A few years later Nellie’s request was granted insofar as Jesus gave her the world to influence when accounts of her holiness and mystical gifts moved the heart of Pope Saint Pius X to issue the decree in 1910 which lowered the age of First Holy Communion from 12 to 7 years. Little Nellie was the youngest of four children. Her mother died when she was an infant and her father, finding himself unable to cope, placed his tiny tots in care. A convent home was found for Nellie in Cork City. Some believe Irish nuns of that day were excessively harsh, and perhaps they were stern. But during her short stay in their midst, rather than being dominated by them, she directed them to deeper holiness. Little Nellie was a bright child, but she continually cried out during class, and thinking she was acting up, a nun punished her by taking away her new shoes and socks and forcing her to wear old boots. Soon they found the reason for Nellie’s wailing: she had sustained a severe spinal injury which made sitting
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still in class agonising. Nellie so lovingly forgave the nun who had disciplined her that the nun’s heart melted. There are a surprising number of these accounts told of Little Nellie by the members of that community. Nellie’s lungs were found to be badly consumptive; she was given months to live. Frustrated by being confined constantly to her cot, she was induced to offer a novena to the Infant of Prague for a grace of healing, and after nine days of prayer she had such inexplicably renewed strength she was able to walk in the garden, thus inspiring her to befriend the Divine Child. With great love she kept up lively conversations with the statue of the Infant, as if He were her closest friend. She insisted that clean, fresh flowers were the only ones to be kept by the statue of the Infant, refusing a gift of artificial flowers from one of the nuns by telling her, ‘They are too stiff…give Him some of His own flowers.’
'She would come to be known as the Little Violet of the Blessed Sacrament' Her nurse took Nellie to do the Stations of the Cross. Seeing Christ being nailed to the Cross, Nellie expressed her bewilderment, ‘But why Him letting them do that? Him could stop them if Him liked!’ When she learnt Our Lord let His Blood flow so as to cleanse us of our sin, she cried, ‘Poor Holy God! Oh, poor Holy God!’ This is why she is known today as Little Nellie of Holy God. In addition to TB, more physical agonies were visited upon her; she was diagnosed as having a diseased jaw. As her jawbone crumbled, there was a
terrible smell. She held her crucifix and asked, ‘What is it compared with what He suffered on the Cross for me?’ She demonstrated a gift for knowing if someone had received the Eucharist or not. She flatly told a girl who tried to fool her into thinking she had received the Sacred Species, ‘You did not get Holy God today.’ Once, when her nurse mistakenly thought she had died, Nellie said, ‘Holy God says I am not good enough to go yet.’ An intense desire grew in her to receive the Sacred Species before she died. Yet Little Nellie was still some eight years younger than the age at which children were then given their First Holy Communion, so she said to her nurse: ‘When next you go down to chapel to get Holy God, come back and kiss me. I want Holy God!’ A kiss from her nurse would momentarily satisfy Nellie’s longings. Two months before her death Nellie made her First Holy Communion and on that same day the stench from her jaw disappeared and the smell of incense surrounded her cot. She would come to be known as the Little Violet of the Blessed Sacrament, but Nellie was no shrinking violet; once when a priest was about to give her a blessing, she instructed him to take off his biretta first: 'Father, take off your cap!' One of the Sisters told Nellie that when she went to God, she was to ask Our Lord to take her, the Sister, to Heaven, but Nellie responded, ‘Holy God can’t take you Mother, till you are better and do what He wants you to do.’ The nun lived to be 99. Aged just four years and five months, Little Nellie said she could feel Holy God coming for her, and she breathed her last. Little Nellie of Holy God was born on August 24, 1903. Perhaps we may remember her on her birthday this year, and pray for the childlike Faith Our Blessed Lord said was necessary for our entry into His Kingdom, and for her special love of the Eucharist.
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FEATURE
The Buckfast Abbey Chapel Window and the Shroud of Turin: An Image of Redemptive Suffering By Mackenzie Robinson Turning to the arms, we see further similarities between the two images:
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isitors to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Buckfast Abbey are always struck by the impressive floor-to-ceiling stained glass window of Christ, offering his body and blood in the Eucharist. Many puzzle over the seemingly abstract choice of colours - the face, for example, contains a mixture of reddish-brown, green, blue and more. However, a comparison with the face in the Shroud of Turin reveals that there is nothing abstract about the choice of colours. The similarities between the two images are so close that the monk who created the stained-glass window, Dom Charles Norris, must surely have been influenced by the Shroud image. Look first at the reddish-brown areas of the face in the window. Both eyes are surrounded by this reddish-brown glass, the left eye more than the right. Forensic pathologists who have studied the Shroud of Turin point out that the area around the left eye is considerably swollen, possibly suggesting a broken cheekbone, likely to have closed the eye. The area under the right eye is also swollen, but less so. The use of reddish-brown glass in the window therefore seems to replicate the injuries shown on the Shroud.
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The similarities do not end there. The face of Christ in the window has an odd white patch in the beard. Comparison with the Shroud shows a similar appearance, where part of the bloodstained beard was pulled out by Christ’s torturers prior to the crucifixion. The face also appears to record a similar pattern of bloodstains from the Crown of Thorns. Note the distinctive ‘3’ shaped bloodstain on the forehead of Christ in the Shroud, and then note the position of the prominent red-brown glass section in the window, with its small lower drip of blood also present. The other bloodstains on the forehead of the Shroud image have similar echoes in the face of Christ in the window. Next look at the hair in the Shroud image. As a result of the rigours of the Passion and Crucifixion it would have been matted with sweat and blood into the rigid strands visible in the image. The head of Christ in the window has a similar appearance, even down to the shape of the hair where it meets the shoulders. The trickles of blood through the hair, which appear white in the famous ‘negative’ image of the Shroud, correspond to the sections of white glass in the window.
Some have observed that the use of straight lines of coloured glass on the forearm gives the odd impression of the arm being almost octagonal in shape. However, comparison with the Shroud shows that the use of red-brown glass is once again a portrayal of blood flows, and the area of colour in the palm of the hand is the location of the nail wound (the exit wound on the Shroud appears to be at the wrist, but it has been pointed out that the entry point may have been the base of the palm, with the nail being driven in at an angle). It has been commented by forensic pathologists that the direction of blood flow, down the forearms of the man in the Shroud, is one of the most convincing details suggesting the Shroud’s authenticity. The same feature is clearly visible on the arms of Christ in the window. The image in the window of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel therefore seems to be less an abstract use of colour, and more an accurate portrayal of Christ’s Passion – a reminder that the light of the resurrection only comes to us through the darkness of His suffering. To those who can visit Buckfast Abbey this Easter, the window will be a moving and powerful reminder of the reality of the event on which our faith is based.
(Mackenzie Robinson is an Oblate of St Mary’s Abbey, Buckfast, the Director of St Benedict South West (www.stbenedict.co.uk), and lectures on the Shroud of Turin).
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FEATURE
The Role of the Family in Building a Culture of Life The Catholic Medical Association’s Committee for the New Evangelization is the youth branch of the Catholic Medical Association. We are very grateful to the Latin Mass Society for sponsoring the Old Rite Mass and choir for our annual retreat. The following is an event report written by a young occupational therapist who works with stroke and brain injured patients
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arlier this year, the Catholic Medical Association held its second Annual Youth Retreat. This time it was held in the grounds of the stunning venue of St Dominic’s Priory, home to the Dominican Friars in London. The title of the retreat, 'The Role of the Family in Building a Culture of Life' provided a solid theme for a very fruitful day. The aim was to provide support to young people by way of prayer and reflection away from the busy pressures of work. Young healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and therapists along with some religious sisters working in the caring profession and other young adults, filled the parish hall to its capacity. The day started with Holy Mass (a Missa Cantata in the Dominican Rite), followed by lunch and then talks on the themes of prayer, the Rosary, Catholic manhood and Catholic femininity. We also heard a brief history of the Dominicans in London, before beginning a rosary procession in the shrine-church. Each mystery of the Rosary has a specific side chapel dedicated to it, and we stopped at each one along our procession before finishing by singing the Salve Regina at the tops of our voices in the Lady Chapel. The first talk was delivered by Friar Philomeno of the Marian Franciscans based in Gosport on the south coast, and was on the life and work of Venerable Fr Patrick Peyton. Fr Peyton was born in 1909 in Ireland but travelled to the USA (in search of wealth!). After a miraculous healing he dedicated his life to spreading devotion to the Rosary. Fr Peyton was the pioneer of the family rosary crusade
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and travelled the world inspiring devotion to Our Lady. The Rosary brings us closer to Our Lady, and Fr Peyton held the conviction that peace will come to families who pray the Rosary. He brought hope throughout the world with this message and coined the phrases ‘the family that prays together stays together’ and 'a world at prayer is a world at peace'. In 1952 Fr Peyton gathered thousands of Catholics from all over the UK to Wembley Stadium to meet with him and join him on this Rosary crusade. How appropriate that on this retreat day, we gathered at London’s diocesan rosary shrine and had the opportunity to pray the rosary together. ‘The world is thy ship and not thy home.’ These words of St. Thérèse of Lisieux point to heaven as our real home and provided the thread through the second talk presented by a young nurse, Catherine Collins. She shared her experience of caring for her dying father and stressed the importance and role which the family has in praying for their dying relatives. She emphasised that prayer and the sacraments helped her, her father and the family to live in faith and not fear during this preparation for his death. Her sharing was beautiful and moving. The final two talks, on Catholic manhood and Catholic femininity were excellent. Sam Baker of Catholic Man UK delivered a powerful and inspirational vision of what it means to be a man in the modern world. Attending events run by the Catholic Medical Association has been a great source of support since I qualified as an Occupational Therapist. I have often felt quite alone as a Catholic living and working in a culture which does not always uphold the dignity
and value of human life. CMA events such as this have assisted in forming me as a Catholic in healthcare. I have had the opportunity to seek answers to many difficult clinical conundrums and most of all I have made good Catholic friends who share the same struggles fulfilling their vocations as Catholics in healthcare. This was a great day of prayer and reflection and I look forward to the next event: The Catholic Medical Association's fourth annual youth conference in October!
Traditional Latin Mass in the Dominican rite
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CROSSWORD
Alan Frost: March 2019
ANSWERS TO SPRING 2019 CROSSWORD
Across: 1 Gnostic 5 Omens 8 Sed 9 Orthodoxy 10 Iraqi 11 Surpasses 14 Trousseau 18 Duomo 21 Institute 22 Tot 23 Linus 24 Dominic Down: 1 Gaslight 2 Ordeal 3 Thomists 4 Cathar 5 Oboe 6 Exodus 7 Styx 12 Apud Deum 13 Synoptic 15 Orison 16 Edmund 17 Cotton 19 Hill 20 Pius
Closing Date & Winner
Closing date for crossword entries: Friday 28th June 2019. The winner of the spring 2019 competition is Mr Slowey of Hertfordshire who wins a copy of the CD ‘The Liturgy of Easter’ recorded at Pluscarden Abbey.
Clues Across 1 Latin version of the Bible translated by St Jerome (7) 5 Eldest of the three child seers of Fatima (5) 8 Short address to priest starting up motor cycle? (3) 9 Elgar set his ‘Dream’ to music from Cardinal Newman’s very spiritual poem (9) 10 Annual international category Prize (Laureates include Mother Teresa) named after Swedish scientist (5) 11 Gives direction and teaching (9) 14 Relating to writings of early Saint Doctor of the Church or his plainsong (9) 18 Board used by pagans and necromancers to try and contact the dead (5) 21 Follower of a heresy condemned by the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon (9) 22 & 3 Down: Dominican Renaissance artist who preaches profoundly with his brush (3,8) 23 Orders taken by seminarians on the way to becoming priests (5) 24 ------- and Heloise, famous Middle Ages lovers; became a controversial monk (7) Clues Down 1 Name given to woman who washed the face of Jesus (8) 2 The part of the Mass when the priest washes his hands (6) 3 See 22 Across 4 Being human we make them as the saying reminds us (6) 5 St Anne ----, martyred at Tyburn (1601) aged 33, for sheltering a Catholic priest (4) 6 One who gives published opinion on work of art or music (6) 7 Semi-circular church structure surrounding sanctuary and rear of building (4) 12 Easter Baptismal Promises renewal: ‘Do you ------- Satan?’ [ ‘Abrenuntiatis Satanae?’] (8) 13 Baroque form of lively Spanish dance as remodelled by Handel, as in his Keyboard Suite in D Minor (8) 15 Robert Hugh, Priest convert wrote ‘Come Rack, Come Rope’; Private Chamberlain to St Pius X (6) 16 German 8th c. Saint, Princess and Abbess, Feast Day Christmas Eve (6) 17 Former State of Nigeria (mostly Ibo people) in famous revolt for independence in 1967 (6) 19 ‘Et in ---- Dominum Jesum Christum’, Credo (4) 20 The last time we ask Our Lady to pray for us (4)
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS Guild of St Clare: 2019 Sewing Retreat at Douai Abbey, 1-3 November, with Fr John Hunwicke. Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, RG7 5TQ. Booking open: see lms.org.uk Guild of St Clare: 2020 Sewing Retreat at Douai Abbey, 28th Feb-1st Mar, with Fr Stephen Morrison OPraem. Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Reading, RG7 5TQ. Booking open: see lms.org.uk Guild of St Clare: Bobbin Lace for Beginners. Ongoing course, fortnightly on Thursday evenings. Email for further information: lucyashaw@gmail.com Latin Mass Society: 2019 Latin Course, with Fr John Hunwicke and Dr Jean Van Der Stegen, 29th July to 2nd August, at the Carmelite Priory, Chilswell, Boars Hill, Oxford, OX1 5HB. Booking open: see www.lms.org.uk
St Catherine’s Trust Summer School, Sunday 28th July to Saturday 3rd August, at the Divine Retreat Centre, St Augustine’s Monastery, Ramsgate CT11 9PA. Booking open: see www.stcatherinestrust.org Thank you St Jude and St Anthony for all prayers answered. Please continue to look after us. Secondhand Books Wanted The secondhand books section of our website is proving to very popular with our customers. If you have any books you would like to donate, please contact the LMS Office info@lms.org.uk To rent Villa/Apt. with panoramic views for rent in Saint Lucia. With all amenities, close to the beach, sh ops, supermarket s et c. From £30 per person per night. Sleeps 4. Email: casenbas_rentals@yahoo.com
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MACKLIN STREET
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his edition of Mass of Ages is the 200th publication issued to members of the LMS since it was founded in 1965. In the archives, stored in our Macklin Street Office, we have copies of all of these, dating back to the very first ‘Newsletter’ issued in July of that year. It is interesting to see how the ‘Newsletter’, as it was originally called, has evolved since 1965. From being a few sheets of duplicated text, probably produced on a Gestetner machine, (for those not old enough to remember, the duplicator stencil skin had to be produced on a typewriter, fitted to the drum of the machine and the handle cranked as copy after copy came out of the duplicator) to being the full colour, professionally produced publication we have today. See the centre pages of this edition of Mass of Ages. From those very early days, an important part of the publication has been a round-up of news from around the country. Today, this news is submitted in the form of reports from our network of Local Representatives and Assistant Representatives. Reporting on Masses and events in their area is but one (albeit an important one) part of the work of
a Representative. They also pass on information, opinions and advice garnered from their local activities to the LMS Office so, at a national level, we can react or offer support. They represent the Society, offer practical and moral support to priests, are available to members and supporters, promote training events, encourage membership, organise Masses and other events. We are currently looking for people to act as either full Local Representatives or as Assistant Representatives in different parts of the country, namely: Hexham & Newcastle, Leeds, Plymouth (Dorset), and Middlesbrough (North). If you are interested in volunteering for any of these positions, or if you would like more information, please phone the LMS Office (020 7404 7284) and ask to speak to Stephen Moseling, the General Manager, for an informal chat. The publication of our 200th edition is an appropriate time to thank all those who have, and those who continue, to contribute news, features, regular columns, photographs or letters. We also take this opportunity to thank our previous and current Editor, designer and printer for their work in helping to produce a publication of which we can be proud.
Please pray for the souls of all members who have died recently Requiescant in Pace Departed: Bernard Baker Roger Burton Aileen Carter Anne Finucane Jean Giuffrida Sheila Hall Mr W Hawkins Michael James ap John Ian Lambert Henry Long Winefride Lynch Gregory Murphy Mary O'Brien John Shepherd Edita Thomas Pamela Woodley Every effort is made to ensure that this list is accurate and upto-date. However, if you know of a recently deceased member whose name has not, so far, appeared on our prayer memorial, then please contact the LMS, see page 3 for contact details. The LMS relies heavily on legacies to support its income. We are very grateful to the following who remembered the Society in their Will: Joan Rainford
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