Mass of ages issue 196 summer 2018

Mass of Ages The quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society

Issue 196 – Summer 2018

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Stained glass at Tyburn Convent

Sung Mass in Tyburn Convent’s Relic Chapel Do we still believe in parishes?

On course: learning Latin with the LMS Plus: news, views, Mass listings and nationwide reports

© Joseph Shaw

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Contents

CONTENTS

5 Chairman’s Message

Making music Joseph Shaw on the importance of training 6 LMS Year Planner – Notable events 8 Liturgical calendar 9 On course

Joseph Shaw writes about the LMS Latin course at Boar’s Hill Oxford 10 Learning curve Paul Waddington reports from a successful priest and server training conference 11 Evangelisation through Beauty

Michael Carroll on the Great Commission for Traditional Catholics 12 Books Joseph Shaw reviews Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages 14 Ravaged by Reform

Do we still believe in Parishes (again)? Asks Fr Bede Rowe 15 Reports from around the country What’s happening where you are 24 Art and Devotion Caroline Shaw looks at Caravaggio’s The Conversion of St Paul on the Road to Damascus 26 Comment

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Mary O’Regan on Our Lady of Šiluva 27 Uniquely Catholic Cardiff University Chaplain Fr Sebastian Jones reports from St Fagan's National Museum of History 28 George Goldie Paul Waddington looks at some of the churches designed by a most prolific Catholic architect 30 Roman report

Continuity with the past Alberto Carosa on Cardinal Burke’s recent lectio magistralis

32 Letters Readers have their say 33 Mass listings 40 More vigil than protest Tom Quinn reports from West London 41 Swamped by stuff Lone Veiler on why marriage starts with God 42 A stitch in time…

Lucy Shaw reports from the second Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat 44 Sung Mass in Tyburn Convent’s Relic Chapel

Joseph Shaw reports 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. 196 Cover image: Detail from stained glass at Tyburn Convent © Joseph Shaw

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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.

43 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; James Bogle, Eric Friar; Alisa Kunitz-Dick; Antonia Robinson; 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

Making music Joseph Shaw on the importance of training

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write following the LMS Priest and Server Training Conference at Prior Park College in Bath.

It was a privilege to be able to attend, and photograph, such a hive of useful activity: groups of priests and seminarians, servers, and singers, engaged in the hard work of learning their roles in the liturgy, and putting what they have learned into practice.

This was our 13th such conference, and was particularly well attended, including fifteen student servers, eleven student priests, four seminarians, and two permanent deacons, along with singers and clerical and lay instructors.

(For more on this see page10.)

Sad to say, the seminaries serving England and Wales have not risen to the challenge of Summorum Pontificum.

Even if they had, there would still be hundreds of priests who would need help if they were to avail themselves of the ‘treasure’, as Pope Benedict XVI called it, of the Traditional liturgy. In any case, the Latin Mass Society must do its part in making this help available.

In addition to the Priest Training Conferences, priests and seminarians, and lay people as well, can attend the Latin Mass Society’s annual Residential Latin Course this summer, 30th July to 3rd August, at the Carmelite Retreat Centre at Boars Hill outside Oxford. I am also experimentally organising a one-day Gregorian Chant course at the same venue, for 2nd February 2018, to supplement the three-day Chant Training Weekend which took place with more than twenty singers over Low Sunday weekend. All of these events can be booked through the Latin Mass Society’s website.

A huge amount of training and learning takes place in less formal contexts, but these sorts of courses and conferences are valuable not only for the data transferred from teacher to pupil, but for the opportunity to meet like-minded people, and to feel part of a movement greater than oneself. Again, they are occasions for truly worthy celebrations of

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the liturgy, of value for its own sake, and as an example of what the training is for.

This is true, indeed, of the Latin Mass Society as a membership organisation: by being part of it, we all able to contribute more to, and benefit more from, the community of those dedicated to the great task of liturgical restoration.

I should like to put on record my thanks to the many priestly and lay volunteers who made and continue to make these events possible. I would also like to thank our supporters who made donations for the Priest Training Conference. Those donations have certainly borne fruit.

In the current edition of Mass of Ages, we are appealing for a related cause: music. A few years ago we received a substantial bequest with the condition that the money be spent on the expenses associated with public Masses, to be said for the soul of the testator and of his wife.

This money has made possible a more generous approach to paying for music than the Society was previously able to take.

We would like to ensure that we can continue to sponsor beautiful and appropriate music when this bequest has been used up. We would also like to have a music fund which can be used not only for Masses, but for celebrations of the Office (including, for example, Holy Week Tenebrae), and musical training.

Over the years the Society has gradually transformed its relationship with music and the providers of music. In 2010 we established, with other interested parties, the Gregorian Chant Network, which has put us in touch with a large number of choirs around the country. In 2012 we appointed a number of ‘Patrons’ for the Society, including two Catholic composers of international reputation: Colin Mawby and Sir James MacMillan.

In 2015 we appointed our first London Director of Music, Matthew Schellhorn.

We take very seriously the enormous contribution to good-quality liturgical music made by amateurs and amateur groups—I write as an amateur singer myself—and we are committed to supporting these, above all with training.

When we do use professional singers

we are often able to make this more than a purely mercenary transaction, developing relationships with singers, and facilitating their formation as singers in relation to the Church’s patrimony of sacred music, and in their understanding and appreciation of the Traditional Mass.

The existence of a number of first-rate professional directors who share the Society’s aims makes this possible.

I therefore encourage readers to support this latest initiative. If you sing yourself, take advantage of our, and others’, courses and training, to be the best singer you can be. And please contribute materially to the Latin Mass Society’s efforts to support the most worthy possible liturgy, and the human skills and network of relationships which makes it possible.

"I notice they never ask me to sing the Exultet"

From Further Cracks in Fabulous Cloisters by Brother Choleric (Dom Hubert van Zeller) 1957

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EVENTS

LMS Year Planner – Notable Events

© John Aron

Thursday, 24 May 2018 High Mass at 6pm in St Mary Moorfields, London, celebrated

by Bishop Athanasius Schneider. In association with Voice of the Family and Una Voce, Scotland, Bishop Schneider is visiting the UK and has very kindly agree to offer Mass in London. The Mass will be followed by a talk, in the church hall, given by the Bishop entitled ‘Church Militant: A forgotten truth. All welcome!

Bishop Schneider will celebrate High Mass at St Mary Moorfields Saturday, 9 June 2018 Ordination of Seth Phipps (a seminarian the LMS has been sponsoring during his training) by Archbishop McMahon at St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington at 11am. His First Mass will be celebrated at the Shrine on the day after at 11am.

Sunday, 1 July 2018 LMS Annual Pilgrimage to Holywell, in honour of St Winefride.

Mass at 2.30pm followed by Rosary Procession to the Shrine well and veneration of the Relic. All welcome!

Sunday, 15 July 2018 Annual Mass for the Sodality of St Augustine, 11am, at St Bede’s, Clapham Park, London SW12 0LF. Music supplied by Cantores Missae, under the direction of Charles Finch.

Sunday, 29 July – Saturday, 4 August 2018 St Catherine’s Trust Summer School at the Divine Retreat Centre (formerly St Augustine's Abbey), St Augustine's Road, Ramsgate CT11 9PA, directly over the road from St Augustine's Shrine. Masses will be celebrate in the Shrine chapel while the accommodation, lessons and other activities will be in the Retreat Centre. See the SCT website for details.

Monday, 30 July – Friday, 3 August 2018 LMS Residential Latin Course at the Carmelite Retreat Centre, Boars Hill, Oxfordshire OX1 5HB. The course is intensive, over five days. The Latinists will be able to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form, either Low or Sung, each day. Discounts are available for paid-up LMS Members, full-time students, seminarians and priests.

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EVENTS

John Edward Arnell RIP The Latin Mass Society has received a very generous bequest from John Arnell, who died in May 2017.

John lived in south east London and was, until a couple of years ago, a member of the LMS. Whilst the generous gift John left us is gratefully received, we are trying to find people who knew John and could provide us with some background information on him. If there is anything you can do to assist us with this, please contact Stephen Moseling, the General Manager at our Macklin Street Office.

As John was not given a proper funeral at the time of his death, the Latin Mass Society is proposing to hold a Requiem Mass for him in the near future, details of which will be announced in due course.

Please pray for the souls of all members who have died recently Requiescant in Pace Scenes from the 2017 Holywell Pilgrimage.

This year’s Pilgrimage is on 1 July Photos © John Aron

Saturday, 11 August 2018 LMS Annual General Meeting in the Cathedral Hall, Westminster at 11.30am, followed by High Mass in the Cathedral at 2.30pm.

An Agenda for the meeting is enclosed with this edition of the magazine sent to members but all are welcome to attend the Mass. Members are reminded that lunch, if required, must be booked in advance.

Thursday, 23 – Sunday, 26 August 2018 LMS Walking Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham. This will be our ninth walking pilgrimage to Walsingham for the conversion of England. Pilgrims meet at Ely on the Thursday evening and, after Mass early Friday morning, start the walk to Walsingham.

A coach will take day pilgrims from London to Walsingham for Mass on the Sunday. Sign up today!

ADVANCE NOTICE OF EVENTS Saturday, 22 September 12 noon, Mass in St Augustine’s Church, Snave, Kent, by kind permission of the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.

Saturday, 27 October LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford.

Saturday, 3 November LMS Annual Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral at 2.30pm, celebrated by Bishop John Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster.

Saturday, 17 November Confirmation in St James’s Church, Spanish Place, London, also with Bishop Jwohn Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster.

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

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John Arnell Joan Bird Marco D'Agostino Heather Foster Terence Freely Mary Hathaway Bernard Hewson Anthony Higgins William Leigh Margaret Mayes John O’Brien John Peace Patrick Protts Peter Robbins Robert Robson Bernard Wilkins 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: John Arnell, Leo Bunt and Fr Michael Clifton

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LITURGICAL CALENDAR

Liturgical calendar

MAY Sun 13 SUNDAY after the ASCENSION of OUR LORD II Cl W Mon 14 FERIA IV Cl W Tue 15 S JOHN BAPTIST de la SALLE C III CI W Wed 16 S UBALDUS B C III CI W Thu 17 S PASCHAL BAYLON C III CI W Fri 18 S VENANTIUS M III CI R Sat 19 VIGIL of PENTECOST (Whitsun Eve) I Cl R Sun 20 WHIT SUNDAY (Pentecost) I Cl R Mon 21 WHIT MONDAY I Cl R Tue 22 WHIT TUESDAY I Cl R Wed 23 WHIT WEDNESDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Thu 24 WHIT THURSDAY I Cl R Fri 25 WHIT FRIDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Sat 26 WHIT SATURDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Sun 27 FEAST of the MOST HOLY TRINITY I Cl W Mon 28 FERIA IV Cl G Tue 29 S MARY MAGDALEN dei PAZZI V III CI W Wed 30 FERIA IV CI G Thu 31 CORPUS CHRISTI I Cl W

JUNE 2018 Fri 1 S ANGELA MERICI V III Cl W 2 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sat Sun 3 II SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 4 S FRANCIS CARACCIOLO C III Cl W Tue 5 S BONIFACE B M III Cl R Wed 6 S NORBERT B C III Cl W Thu 7 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 8 MOST SACRED HEART of JESUS I Cl W Sat 9 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 10 III SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 11 S BARNABAS Ap III Cl R Tue 12 S JOHN of SAN FACONDO C III CI W Wed 13 S ANTHONY of PADUA C D III Cl W Thu 14 S BASIL the GREAT B C D III Cl W Fri 15 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 16 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 17 IV SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 18 S EPHREM the SYRIAN Deacon C D III Cl W Tue 19 S JULIANA FALCONIERI V III CI W Wed 20 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 21 S ALOYSIUS GONZAGA C III Cl W Fri 22 S PAULINUS B C III CI W Sat 23 VIGIL of the NATIVITY of S JOHN the BAPTIST II Cl V Sun 24 NATIVITY of S JOHN the BAPTIST I Cl W Mon 25 S WILLIAM Ab III Cl W Tue 26 SS JOHN & PAUL MM III CI R Wed 27 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 28 VIGIL of SS PETER & PAUL Aps II Cl V Fri 29 SS PETER & PAUL Aps I Cl R Sat 30 COMMEMORATION of S PAUL Ap III Cl R JULY Sun 1 MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD of OLJC I Cl R Mon 2 VISITATION of the BVM II Cl W Tue 3 S IRENAEUS B M III CI R Wed 4 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 5 S ANTHONY MARY ZACCARIA C III Cl W Fri 6 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 7 SS CYRIL & METHODIUS BB CC III Cl W Sun 8 VII SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 9 SS JOHN FISHER B & THOMAS MORE MM I Cl R Tue 10 SEVEN HOLY BROTHERS MM & SS RUFINA & SECUNDA VV MM III CI R Wed 11 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 12 S JOHN GUALBERT Ab III Cl W Fri 13 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 14 S BONAVENTURE B C D III Cl W Sun 15 VIII SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 16 FERIA IV Cl G Tue 17 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 18 S CAMILLUS de LELLIS C III Cl W Thu 19 S VINCENT de PAUL C III Cl W Fri 20 S JEROME EMILIANI C III Cl W Sat 21 S LAWRENCE of BRINDISI C D III Cl W Sun 22 IX SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 23 S APOLLINARIS B M III Cl R Tue 24 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 25 S JAMES Ap II Cl R Thu 26 S ANNE MOTHER of the BVM II Cl W Fri 27 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 28 SS NAZARIUS & CELSUS MM & VICTOR I P M & INNOCENT I P C III Cl R Sun 29 X SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 30 FERIA IV Cl G Tue 31 S IGNATIUS C III Cl W

AUGUST 2018 Wed 1 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 2 S ALPHONSUS MARY de LIGUORI B C D III Cl W Fri 3 FERIA IV Cl G 4 S DOMINIC C III Cl W Sat Sun 5 XI SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 6 TRANSFIGURATION of OLJC II Cl W Tue 7 S CAJETAN C III Cl W Wed 8 S JOHN MARY VIANNEY C III Cl W Thu 9 VIGIL of S LAWRENCE M III Cl V Fri 10 S LAWRENCE M II Cl R Sat 11 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W

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FEATURE

On course

The Latin Mass Society’s Latin Course 2018, with Fr John Hunwicke and Jean Van Der Stegen, 30 July to 3 August, at Boars Hill, Oxford

Students at the last Latin Course

‘It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.’

Pope John Paul II, quoting Cicero

Joseph Shaw

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t was from Boars Hill that Matthew Arnold saw Oxford, ‘that fair city with her dreaming spires’; it was home to Robert Graves, Edmund Blunden, and Robert Bridges. The house of the last of those now contains a Carmelite Friary, which has twice hosted the Guild of St Clare ‘Sewing Retreat’. This year it will also be the venue for the Latin Mass Society’s Residential Latin Course, from Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August, following the closure of its venue of the last few years, the Franciscan Retreat Centre at Pantasaph in North Wales.

It will, as for many years, be looked after by Fr John Hunwicke of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who, following an Open Scholarship to Oxford, taught Latin for thirty years in Lancing College in Sussex. He will be joined this year by a second tutor, layman Jean Van Der Stegen, whose linguistic interests include Farsi, Classical Arabic, Biblical Greek, and Medieval Italian, as well as Latin, and teaches in the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London.

We hope to help clergy who wish to learn or improve their Latin for the liturgy, and for all who want to learn from

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devotional, cultural, or scholarly motives.

It focuses on the Latin of the traditional Catholic liturgy, and with the help of the Latin Mass Society’s course book, Simplicissimus, it makes use of examples, exercises, and reading passages from the Missal. As well as introducing students to the cadences of the liturgy, this enables it to make maximum use of whatever Latin students may have picked up from the liturgy.

The course is for those who are beginners, together with those who need to learn or revise from the beginning; and also for those who know the basic conjugations and declensions and want to go on from there. The two tutors are able to divide the students into separate groups to enable them to proceed at different speeds.

Naturally, the Traditional Mass will be celebrated each day during the course for all participants who wish to attend. At least one of these Masses will be sung.

There is a substantial discount for clergy, students, and seminarians, and for Latin Mass Society members. It is also possible to attend as a ‘day student’ staying elsewhere.

FACTFILE Full price is £340 (+ £30 optional single room supplement); without accommodation £290.

LMS Member £290 (+ £30 optional single room supplement); without accommodation £240.

Clergy, students and Seminarians full price £240 (+ £30 optional single room supplement); without accommodation £190.

Clergy, students and Seminarians LMS member £190 (+ £30 optional single room supplement); without accommodation £140.

See the LMS website for further information and details of how to book.

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There is certainly no shortage of priests and seminarians who are keen to learn

Š Joseph Shaw

Learning curve Paul Waddington reports from a successful priest and server training conference

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he Latin Mass Society’s latest residential conference for training priests to celebrate Mass, and laymen to serve at Mass in the Extraordinary Form took place at Prior Park College, Bath from 9 to 12 April. The students were comprised of ten priests, two permanent deacons, four seminarians and fifteen laymen; and they came from nine dioceses in England, as well as two dioceses in Scotland. The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was well represented, and there was one visitor from Malta.

Tuition was given for both clergy and lay people in Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Solemn Mass, and provided by members of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter and the Birmingham Oratory, as well as diocesan priests. Serving at Low Mass was taught by experienced laymen. All students reported making good progress, with one priest able to celebrate his first Extraordinary Form Mass on the last day of the conference.

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Prior Park College has a beautiful chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of the Snows. It is built in the classical style, and has an acoustic which is perfect for sacred music. Dominic Bevan had put together an excellent polyphonic choir, which was directed by Thomas Neal, and sang at each of the daily Solemn Masses.

It was pleasing that several visitors attended each of the Solemn Masses, some being so impressed, especially by the music, that they returned on subsequent days.

The recent conference was the third to be held at Prior Park College, and the thirteenth to be organised by the LMS since they began in 2007. Previous conferences have been held at Merton College Oxford, All Saints Pastoral Centre London Colney, Ushaw College, Radcliffe College and at Belmont, Downside and Buckfast Abbeys. Prior Park has proved a good venue, mainly due to the splendour of the chapel, and the several side chapels which are convenient teaching locations.

Over the years, since 2007, more than 200 priests have successfully been trained to celebrate at least a Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Most of these have been from England, Wales and Scotland, but some have come from overseas countries including Ireland, Spain, Italy, Poland, the United States of America, St Lucia, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka and Australia.

On one occasion, we were pleased to welcome Bishop Slattery from the Diocese of Tulsa in the USA. Many have commented that tutoring priests in the traditional form of the Mass is perhaps the most valuable service that the Latin Mass Society can provide in the modern Church. There is certainly no shortage of priests and seminarians who are keen to learn. The absence of any systematic teaching of the Mass of Ages in any of the seminaries administered by the Bishops of England and Wales is an omission that sorely needs rectifying.

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FEATURE

Evangelisation through Beauty Michael Carroll on the Great Commission for Traditional Catholics

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t is ten years since Summorum Pontificum and it is now time for those within the Traditional Latin Mass community to collectively use the great virtue of prudence to transmit the message of the Gospel into the culture and society. It is time to evangelise the culture.

The great virtue of prudence gives us foresight and the mental and spiritual means of achieving even the most great and overarching goals. After we sanctify ourselves and our families through the Latin Mass, devotions, mortification, and dying to self by way of The Imitation, we have one Great Commission left, which is to evangelise. Our traditional message can no longer be kept under a bushel. Christ's light must once again enlighten a society which is groaning under the weight of sin and a dystopian nightmare.

It is now the responsibility of traditionalists to evangelise the culture, because since Vatican II we have not collectively as a Church become the Lumen Gentium as was predicted by the council. The great hope was that the faithful would also become The Light of the Nations and that the faith would be transmitted into society from the bottom up, but this never happened.

Firstly, there is our personal duty. It has been noted elsewhere that true evangelisation is a consequence not a program. The renewal of the Church, the culture, and our broken society will not come about by plans and structures, but by holiness of life. What is required is the sort of mortification taught us by St Thomas A Kempis, St Francis de Sales, St Thérèse of Lisieux and Christ Himself, when He said, "Go and sin no more".

In order to transmit the Gospel to the

men and women of today we must first become a holy people.

Secondly, there are those of an artistic, cultural, and literary mind who, with transcendent skills and a girding of grace from God, can transmit great works of literary, cultural, and artistic

himself to come among us in human form. With the incarnation, the world becomes charged with the grandeur of God.” Since the fruits of Vatican II have so far not provided the solutions to transmit the Faith into the culture, the responsibility now falls on tradition to enlighten the world and bring Christ to the world once again. This message must be transmitted into the culture from the top down, starting with high culture.

Archbishop Gomez goes on to say: "For nearly 20 centuries, the world’s greatest artists were inspired by religious themes. By the search for God in a fallen world and by the great questions of human existence — who are we, where do we come from, why do we suffer and what is it that truly matters? The people of our times are not satisfied by the temporary consolations and diversions of our consumer, secular society.

Their hearts are troubled. They are restless to know that their life has value and meaning. They want to know love and wholeness and community. They want to know that there is something that lies beyond here, something more than this life. So let us pray for artists and writers, students, teachers, critics and readers."

This revolution will only come from individuals and brave souls who are willing to step up to the plate in mortification and from the fullness of grace that flows from tradition and the Latin Mass. It will take the courage of individuals, but it is clear that there should now be a clarion call to transmit the goodness, beauty, and truths of Our Lord Jesus Christ into the culture and wider society.

‘This revolution will only come from individuals and brave souls who are willing to step up to the plate in mortification’

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merit from the top down. The airwaves, the broadcasting media, our libraries and galleries can be transformed into conduits of God's grace through high artistic endeavours.

As Archbishop Gomez eloquently put it: “Catholicism creates a culture.

Catholicism is a way of living born from the encounter with a divine person, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Word of God and the Son of God humbling

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BOOK REVIEW

Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages,

by Peter Kwasniewski.

Foreword by Martin Mosebach. (Angelico Press, 2017)

By Joseph Shaw

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r Peter Kwasniewski is a musician as well as an academic philosopher and theologian, and his work, exemplified in this book and in his prodigious blogging output, provides a link between fundamental principles of theology and philosophy and the practical, pastoral issues with which Catholic musicians, like priests engaged in pastoral work, have to grapple. Does this or that engage people? Can it be done with limited resources? Can it be part of a growing Church, drawing people in, inspiring commitment, supporting families, and fostering vocations?

Kwasniewski’s experience, like the experience of many, is that the Church’s liturgical tradition works. The paradox of the debate about ‘progressive’ versus ‘traditional’ liturgy over the last century has been that, while progressive liturgists brush aside the Church’s perennial wisdom about liturgy, and above all the ultimate purpose of liturgy, the worship of God, in favour of something designed for pastoral effectiveness, the end product is something which is not very pastorally effective.

To put it at its mildest, it is difficult to discern the positive effect the reformed liturgy has had in the context of the collapse of all aspects of Church life since the 1960s.

To the argument that Gregorian Chant, beautifully decorated churches, and above all the Traditional Mass, actually bring people into church, on the other hand, progressive liturgists tend to respond with purely theoretical arguments.

People may like chant and Latin, they say, but they shouldn’t, because they encourage the wrong kind of liturgical participation. The vocations of young men and women may be nurtured by that kind of liturgy, but they are the wrong kinds of vocations. Worshippers may feel consoled and strengthened, but either this is fake, or it is bad.

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BOOK REVIEW In this eloquent and wide-ranging book Kwasniewski does a service to his readers and to the Church by addressing both sides of the issue: the practical, pastoral, and psychological, on the one hand, and the theoretical and theological on the other.

The restoration of Tradition will not be possible unless it is made clear that the revival found in centres for the Traditional Mass—the conversions, the young families, the vocations—is based on something genuine.

Fake or misguided religiosity is certainly possible. It might be the sense of belonging and mission found in a cult, or the euphoria of group hysteria. I won’t

is given to us from the Tradition of the Church, the instrument of Providence. Whose texts and readings have not been chosen by people of our generation, or any recent generation.

Which keeps reminding us that it we are not important: we are not being addressed, it is not even in a language we necessarily understand, it is not even necessarily aloud or visible.

Rather, it is addressed to God. In this way the Traditional Mass guards against a pervasive temptation, not just through its words, but by its whole atmosphere and approach.

Progressives might protest that the aspects of the old Mass I have just

God’s throne, where we may place our petitions for our daily lives, for the good of the Church and for the Holy Souls, but most of all where we can simply be close to Him, not empty handed or alone but in union with Christ, and to feel His influence. The God-given and God-facing liturgy is the Church’s tool to make the people God-like.

BOOKSHOP

Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness is available from the LMS on-line shop £16 + p&p.

‘ This liturgy, with its mystery and beauty, takes us out of ourselves.

It places us in the heavenly court, before God’s throne, where we may place our petitions for our daily lives, for the good of the Church and for the Holy Souls, but most of all where we can simply be close to Him’ rehearse the insults and insinuations about Traditional Catholics made by progressives: what is important is the truth of the matter.

What Kwasniewski does in this collection of essays is to connect the real pastoral value of the ancient liturgy with objective theological principles.

A good place to start is with Narcissism—self love. Kwasniewski quotes Pope Benedict (writing before his election) writing about the danger of the liturgy becoming a ‘feast the community gives itself’ (p15), which allows the worshippers, ultimately, to worship not the God outside themselves, but simply themselves. How can this be avoided?

By a liturgy which is not a human creation at all, but something which

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mentioned are those which cut people off from it, which makes it alien.

However, those attracted by it, those able to see the point of it, perceive in this apparent indifference to the congregation an indication of its Godcentredness, and it is a God-centred liturgy which they want.

If we seek the Kingdom of God, then these other things will be added also: an experience of participation, of interior consolation, and indeed of community. By seeking those good results at the expense of the worship of God, the danger arises of getting neither.

This liturgy, with its mystery and beauty, takes us out of ourselves. It places us in the heavenly court, before

Don’t miss…

Dr Kwasniewski will be visiting England in the Autumn. In honour of his visit some of his music will be performed at the Aylesford Pilgrimage on 27 October, and at Mass in St Mary Moorfields at 7.30pm 2 November. More events and details will be announced in the coming weeks.

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COMMENT

Ravaged by Reform Do we still believe in Parishes (again)? asks Fr Bede Rowe

I

n the last issue, I asked this question from a purely practical point of view.

But the question I wanted to ask is really twofold. Firstly, do we believe in parishes as we currently see them? And secondly, which is much juicier, do we believe that England and Wales should have parishes at all?

To deal with the first question, we know that the way the parishes grew up around the country was to do with Catholic population distribution.

Bluntly, if there were lots of Catholics there had to be lots of parishes. The quality of these buildings was variable.

If the area was wealthy, or the number of Catholics great, or indeed, if the parish was in the care of a religious order, then architecturally the Church building could be quite fine. With the increase in vocations, these Churches could then have Mass centres or daughter Churches, as there were both people to populate them and Priests to serve them.

Of course, populations do not stay still. As people moved out of city centres, the large Victorian buildings which they had built increasingly became empty.

Catholics stopped practising the faith, so there was no need for large buildings (though, of course, they still clung onto a sentimental attachment to the place where they had made their first communion – even if that was the last time they had set foot in it). As vocations fell, the religious orders withdrew from the dioceses, leaving diocesan Priests to man their parishes. But they too were becoming fewer and fewer. A parish designed to have a Parish Priest and two curates, now was run by one man, perhaps even with the parish next door.

As I mentioned in the last edition, people are now much more mobile and willing to drive for everything they need in life. For the Latin Mass community this has been a reality for decades – driving miles and miles to try to worship in the traditional way. So, we must face the question – do we need the parishes as they currently are?

The heart perhaps says yes, clinging to the familiar, but surely the head says

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no. After all, these buildings, to which we are rightly attached, have been ravaged by the horrors of liturgical reform. That font in which your grandparents were baptised? It is now in the priest’s garden, used as a bird bath. The altar where you knelt and received your first Holy Communion? That has been replaced twice, and is no longer even in the same place. The statues you used to kneel before? Well one or two have survived.

The altar rails were smashed by Fr X and the organ by Fr Y. The bricks and mortar of a building in which your memories construct a montage of Catholicism are still there, but that is about all.

The modern parishes seem to been built in quite sensible places, though perhaps a little too permanent. Are we simply repeating the same mistakes by spending vast sums on buildings which serve today, but may not tomorrow?

Of course, these modern parishes may be of ‘interesting’ taste! Too often they seem specifically designed to make traditional worship impossible.

Does every statue have to look like a monstrous marshmallow? Will the building really fall down if you put in altar rails? Are we so squeezed for space that a font must, simply must, double up as a holy water stoop? Does every inch have to have the lighting of the frozen food aisle? Can an altar not look like an altar rather than a meaningful tree/boat/ fish/abstract nonsense?

It would be perfectly possible to build new parish Churches for relatively little cost designed to last for 50 years. We could then take stock of the situation and do the same again. The ‘traditional’ attachment to the old buildings was more or less destroyed when the wreckers of the last 50 years had their way. And inasmuch as the new Churches are often not built for traditional Catholic worship (and some with the explicit intention of making it impossible), then there is no need to preserve them.

Do we still need parishes (in the first question), yes, but not necessarily the current ones.

So let’s ask the juicy question: do we need the hierarchy?!

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ROMAN REPORT

DIOCESAN DIGEST Mass of Ages quarterly round-up

ARUNDEL AND BRIGHTON Anne-Marie Mackie-Savage 01323 411370 In February, Fr Gerard Hatton said a Mass for the repose of the soul of Mrs Gwen Telford at Our Lady of Ransom.

Gwen was brought up in Eastbourne, and had many happy memories of singing in the choir, prior to the vernacular changes. I'm sure many of you knew Gwen and Mike from their days of travelling far and wide in search of the Latin Mass. No Mass was too far. They were a wonderful couple, and Gwen a sweet and charming lady. She and Mike are greatly missed.

Any change in Mass times I am aware of will appear on the blog. If you feel like learning how to serve, help is available in the Diocese, so please feel free to contact me.

BIRMINGHAM & BLACK COUNTRY Louis Maciel; Tel: 0739 223 2225 louis.maciel@gmail.com http://birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk/ I am pleased to announce a new location for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form in the region: St Dunstan’s in Kings Heath celebrated its first Missa Cantata on the Feast of Candlemas followed by another on the third Wednesday of March. The plan is to celebrate a Mass in the Extraordinary Form on the third Friday of every month to complement the first Friday Mass at St Augustine’s in Solihull. The celebration of the Extraordinary Form at this location now means there is a Mass available in every deanery in the West Midlands area.

Please see the Mass listings to find the Mass closest to you.

St Mary on the Hill in Wednesbury, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton and the Oratory in Birmingham are forming a holy triangle where the Traditional Mass is celebrated on days of additional solemnity: there were Masses at Easter and the Feast of St Chad (the patronal feast of the diocese) at all these locations, with St Augustine in Solihull also celebrating the latter as it coincided with the first Friday of the month. There was an additional Mass, at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, the usual Friday Mass of Holy Week was moved to the Monday, and a High Mass was celebrated on the Feast of the Annunciation, along with a Low Mass at St Mary on the Hill. St Mary on the Hill also celebrated an additional Low Mass on Palm Sunday.

BIRMINGHAM (Little Malvern) Alastair J Tocher 01684 893332 extraordinarymalvern.uk@btinternet.com extraordinarymalvern.uk Facebook: Extraordinary Malvern It is now six months since the Mass centre at St Wulstan’s, Little Malvern was first established and we have now settled into a fairly stable schedule of Missae Cantatae on second and fourth Sundays. That is not to say we have not had our share of teething problems though: in addition to our

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second scheduled Missa Cantata, on 10 December, having been cancelled owing to heavy snow our third planned Missa Cantata on 14 January then had to be replaced by a Low Mass since the only available server was the Schola director! This temporary shortfall in servers was unfortunately symptomatic of a marked drop in overall attendance compared with our former home at Spetchley Park: halved from an average of 35 down to 18 including in each case a Schola of 8-10 singers.

There are however already some hopeful signs of new growth: some at least of the congregation are new faces from St Wulstan’s parish and surroundings; we have acquired two new Schola members; and at least one local parishioner has recently joined the LMS. We have also identified a couple of experienced servers able to supply as and when needed to cover for absences of our regular servers, and we are grateful to them all for their help.

We have also been represented at a number of recent events too: two singers attended the Gregorian Chant Network’s Chant Weekend at the Oratory School near Reading, and I attended the LMS Priests, Deacons & Servers Training Conference at Prior Park School near Bath, not to mention a couple of our number already signed up for the LMS Latin Summer School near Oxford.

We continue to be grateful to Dom Jonathan Rollinson who travels from Belmont Abbey near Hereford to celebrate Mass for us, and to Abbot Paul Stonham for lending him to us.

Now that the clocks have gone forward and summer is approaching we hope and pray for increased attendances.

BIRMINGHAM (North Staffordshire) Alan Frost 01270768144 Traditional Rite Masses continue at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Swynnerton, near Stone, North Staffs.

Apart from the Sunday parish Mass there are Low Masses on alternate Saturday mornings. Fr Paul Chavasse continued with these Masses through the cold and the snow, and a decent turnout in the midst of the bad weather showed the appreciation of the faithful.

A first Friday Mass was celebrated by Fr Christopher Miller at his parish Church of The Sacred Heart in Tunstall near Stoke-on-Trent on 6 April, and he intends this to be a monthly event. Fr Miller is also in charge of St Joseph’s, Burslem, which for several years (to beginning of 2013) was run by the Franciscans of the Immaculate who celebrated the Traditional Rite Masses each week.

BIRMINGHAM (Oxford) Joseph Shaw 01993 812874 Oxford lacks a celebration of the Easter Triduum in the Traditional form, but we are entering a uniquely busy period for Sung and High Masses, which I dare say rivals any other part of the country. In addition to Sung Masses for the feast

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY days which follow Easter - the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Sacred Heart, and SS Peter and Paul--we will mark the feast of Pentecost in a very special way. The Vigil (19 May) will be celebrated with a High Mass in the Dominican Rite in Blackfriars, with extra readings recalling the Easter Vigil; Whitsun itself (20th) will be marked by a Sung Mass in SS Gregory & Augustine's; the Saturday of Easter week (26th), again with extra readings, will see a High Mass in Holy Rood, Abingdon Road, over the boundary in Portsmouth Diocese, and we will have another High Mass, with polyphony, for Trinity Sunday (21st) in Holy Trinity, Hethe.

In addition to these our series of Sung Masses in English Martyrs Church, Didcot (Portsmouth Diocese) continue with its Patronal Feast on 4th May, and the Annual LMS Mass in the lovely private chapel of Milton Manor House will take place on Saturday 9 June, with Fr Anthony Conlon celebrating.

Please see the Mass list for full details. Noted there also is the new pattern of Masses at Holy Trinity, Hethe, on the 2nd Sunday of each month, and--thanks to the generous help of Fr James Mawdsley FSSP--on the final Sunday of each month. Both these Masses are sung. Please make an effort to discover this very beautiful historic church.

Margaret Parffrey BIRMINGHAM (Worcester) Since loosing our Mass Centre at Spetchely, our guardian angels have replaced it with Mass at St Wulstons (Little Malvern). We are grateful to Alastair Tocher for arranging Mass at 3pm on the 2nd and 4th Sunday’s. Our thanks go out to Father Jonathon Rollinson for offering a Missa Cantata on these Sundays.

Mass continues at Kidderminster, 1st Sunday at 3pm and at Redditch 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6pm. Mass at Evesham Tuesday at 7pm.

We are in need of priests and servers at Redditch and ask your prayers in this urgent matter.

CLIFTON James Belt & Monika Paplaczyk 07890 687453 lmsclifton@gmail.com lmsclifton.blogspot.co.uk Another Missa Cantata was held at Downside Abbey on Easter Sunday, this time in the Old School Chapel. This was once more very well attended. The annual Downside High Mass has been confirmed for Saturday 2 June at 11am.

Deacon Seth Phipps, FSSP, who grew up and found his vocation in Clifton Diocese, is due to be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood on Saturday 9 June, at St Mary’s Shrine Church, Warrington. He will celebrate a First Solemn High Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, Weston-Super-Mare the following Wednesday, 13 June, at 7pm.

Other Masses continue around the Diocese, particularly in Somerset, where we now have regular Masses in WestonSuper-Mare, Glastonbury, Wells and Yeovil. Sadly, the retirement of Father Ian McCarthy means that there will be no more Old Rite Masses in Stow-on-the-Wold or Cheltenham until further notice. We would like to thank Fr Ian for his support for Catholic Tradition in the north of the Diocese.

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There have also been some changes to the schedule at Prinknash Abbey. The Abbot and his Council have made the decision that the weekly Low Mass on Saturdays at 11am is to cease, and in its place there will be a Mass on the first Sunday of each month at 3pm, and one on the third Saturday of each month at 11am. Masses will continue to be celebrated by Father Mark Hargreaves.

Your prayers are requested for the happy repose of the soul of Dom Damian Sturdy, of Prinknash Abbey, who died on 19 March. Father Damian reintroduced the Traditional Mass to Prinknash in 2002, and celebrated it regularly until around 15 months ago, when he retired to Nazareth House, Cheltenham.

EAST ANGLIA (West) Gregor Dick 01223 322401 Sunday Masses continue at Blackfriars in Cambridge. We are grateful to the friars for their manifold generosity, and not least to the several novices who learned recently to serve Mass in the Dominican rite and now help to relieve the pressure on the pool of servers. As always, offers to serve or sing are much appreciated.

HEXHAM & NEWCASTLE Keith McAllister 01325 308968 07966 235329 k_mcallister@ymail.com 2018 has happily brought a reinstatement by Father David Phillips in Berwick-upon-Tweed of the Thursday weekly Low Mass at 18:30.

Diocesan Sunday Mass provision continues as 2017 with three parishes having this offering and with a wide geographical spread.

The Lenten season launched with Low Masses on Ash Wednesday, then on 8 March Fr Michael Brown offered a Sung Mass for the Durham Juventutem Group in St Cuthbert’s, Old Elvet, Durham. University students provided the serving team and choir.

On 20 March a Lenten service of prayers, readings and sacred choral music was held at St Joseph’s, Gateshead. The music included pieces by Antonio Caldara, Pergolesi and Victoria, as well as familiar Lenten hymns, all sung by the Westland Singers of Sunderland (this following an Advent service of similar format). The choir specialises in sacred choral music and regularly sings at Gateshead Masses, usually on the 3rd Sunday, monthly. We are grateful to the organist and choir master, Paul Dewhurst, who has long been associated with Catholic church music, notably at the Oratories of Birmingham and Brompton.

The Lenten service was repeated one week later at St Joseph’s church in Sunderland; on both occasions ending with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The men’s St Joseph Schola, also directed by Paul Dewhurst, who usually sing on the 1st Sunday of the month, sang during the blessing of palms and procession on Palm Sunday.

The Easter Sunday Mass at Gateshead included music

by Gruber, Ebner, Concone and Vivaldi. A High Mass and procession is planned for Corpus Christi, as well as a Marian celebration in words & music, for later this year.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Mural at Lancaster University Chaplaincy

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY LANCASTER Bob & Jane Latin 01524 412987 lancasterlms@gmail.com latinmasslancaster.blogspot.com John Rogan 01524 858832 john_rogan@yahoo.co.uk During this quarter there were two pieces of news. On 9 February, Mass was once again said in the Extraordinary Form at Lancaster University Chaplaincy. The celebrant was Fr John Millar and this was against the backdrop of the beautiful mural painted last year on the wall behind the altar (see picture overleaf ).

On Ash Wednesday, it was announced that the Holy Father had appointed a new bishop for Lancaster Diocese, Canon Paul Swarbrick, and on the Feast of the Annunciation his episcopal ordination took place at Lancaster Cathedral. One of his first visits, after the announcement, was to St Walburge in Preston, where he had served as parish priest from 2007 – 2010.

We hope to have some Masses at Sizergh Castle as usual this summer, depending on the availability of priests. To date we are working towards Friday 25 May and Friday 22 June, but please check the website or with the Representatives before travelling.

LIVERPOOL Jim Pennington 0151 4260361 pennington893@btinternet.com Regular Sunday and Holyday EF Masses in the parishes of St Catherine Laboure, Farington, St Mary Magdalen, Penwortham, and St Anthony’s, Scotland Road, Liverpool, continue. As usual, we had blessing and imposition of ashes before Mass on Ash Wednesday at St Anthony’s, but we did not have blessing of palms and procession on Palm Sunday: if only we had a regular singing group to make this possible again!

Once again this year, Father John Hemer offered our Christmas Day Mass for us at St Anthony’s.

Sadly, we have lost two of our oldest members – John O’Farrell in December, and Bernard Hewson in February.

John’s old rite Requiem was offered at St Peter & Paul, Crosby

by Father Sean Riley, with the permission of the Parish Priest, Monsignor Furnival. Bernard’s Requiem was also offered by Father Riley at St Anthony’s Scotland Road, where Bernard and John faithfully attended Mass since the inauguration of the regular Mass there in 2000, and before that at St Mary’s, Highfield Street since 1990.

We had three Masses on Lent Saturdays for a good outcome of the Irish Eighth Amendment Referendum: Saturday Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 3 March, and Mass of the season with commemoration of St Patrick on 17 March, both offered at St Anthony’s by Father Leo Daley: and a Saturday Mass of Our Lady on 10 March at St Catherine’s, Farington by the Parish Priest, Father Simon Henry. Sad to say, none of these Masses was very well attended.

LIVERPOOL (Warrington) Alan Frost 01270768144 St Mary’s Shrine (Priory) Warrington, run by the FSSP, is now well established and attracting more people into its congregation. There are also now two assistant priests, Fr Lowenstein returning from Bavaria to join Fr Verrier and the

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Rector, Fr de Malleray. A recent convert and leading member of the choir observes how friendly the people are and how lovely is the atmosphere at the Shrine services. This comment was in a brief chat after the mid-day Ash Wednesday Mass, which impressively attracted over 130 people.

The FSSP itself attracts more young men to serve God, and a seminarian from Wales linked to St Mary’s and training in Bavaria was ordained to minor orders on 10 February, along with 23 others (including to the subdiaconate). And on Saturday 9 June, the Reverend Seth Phipps, FSSP, will be ordained at St Mary’s by His Grace Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, O.P. Fr Phipps’ first Solemn Mass will take place at the Shrine Church the following morning, Sunday, 10 June at 11am.

The daily Mass (12:10) can be watched for 24 hours on the internet, and the Sunday Solemn High Mass for the whole week, at www.livemass.org. The website has also been significantly updated, mainly through the work of Fr James Mawdsley, now at Reading/Bedford: www.fssp.co.uk MIDDLESBROUGH Paul Waddington 01757 638027 paul@gooleboathouse.co.uk The priests of the Oratory in Formation in York continue to offer a Missa Cantata at noon every Sunday. The congregation continues to grow slowly, although most of the growth seems not to come from local people, but rather from visitors to York, who may not be expecting a Latin Mass. Many of the visitors are tourists from countries where the Latin Mass is not available, and are most surprised by what they discover.

Some question whether they are in a Catholic church at all, especially when they encounter the Asperges. Most are impressed, especially at hearing a Haydn or Mozart setting of the Mass, the like of which they have probably never heard before. A few do walk out, but for many, it is an introduction which might lead to a lifelong interest in the Mass of Ages.

The Oratory also provides a Sung Mass at 6pm on Holy Days and major feast days. Fr Mark Drew is offering a Low Mass on the second Sunday of each month at the Church of Our Lady and St Joseph in Hedon, which is five miles to the east of Hull. So far this Mass has not been well supported, so I would encourage people to attend in order to justify its continuation.

There continues to be no provision of the Mass of Ages in the northern part of the diocese. I would be very interested to hear from anyone living in the Middlesbrough area who is willing to help re-establish Latin Masses there.

NORTHAMPTON (South) Barbara Kay 01234 340759 mbky3@outlook.com Nick Ross 07951 145240 nick@efmass.co.uk The Latin Masses in this area remain unchanged at present: Christ the King, Bedford (weekly on Sunday at 8.30 am), Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chesham Bois (weekly on Sunday at 8 am) and St Francis of Assisi, Shefford (3rd Friday of the month at 7.30pm). The Mass is sung at Chesham Bois on the first Sunday of each month, and similarly at Bedford, although the Sung Mass in May will be on the 13th,

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY as we are welcoming Bishop Peter Doyle on that day as part of his pastoral visit to Christ the King.

The priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) have now been saying Mass at Bedford for six months on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. In addition, one of them, Fr James Mawdsley, FSSP, is running Family Catechism Days with Fatima Devotions on First Saturdays, which are well worth attending if you can reach Bedford. There is Rosary and Confessions at 10 am, followed by Mass at 11 am, and then catechism for children and adults in the afternoon, ending up with server training and music practice. Please see https://www.facebook.com/bedfordlatinmass/ for what is going on at Bedford. The last in the current series of Family Days will take place on 2 June (on this occasion only, starting half an hour earlier at 9.30 am with Mass at 10.30 am) and the new series will begin on 1 September. Similar days are being held on 4th Saturdays at Chesham Bois; please see https://fssp.co.uk/family-catechism-day-saturday-24-march/ for details of those.

Our numbers at Bedford are healthy; about 50 attended on Easter Sunday, and some 80 attended our Sung Mass on Low Sunday. Our recently formed schola numbers around eight singers and we were very grateful to receive some copies of the ‘Liber Usualis’, containing most of the music we need, from a former choirmaster via the LMS. We would welcome new members who can commit to a fortnightly practice on a Saturday afternoon; please contact Barbara on the above email address or telephone number if this is of interest.

Two of our congregation, Chris Norfolk and Lucy Crabtree, celebrated a Traditional Rite wedding at Christ the King on 12 February. As far as we know, this was the first such wedding since 1969. Fr Gabriel Diaz was the celebrant. Another of our number, Francis Wanjiru, is to be confirmed by Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth on 12 June at St William of York, Reading, where our FSSP priests are based; Chris Norfolk will be Francis’s sponsor, and others from Christ the King are planning to be at the confirmation to support Francis on his special day.

NORTHAMPTON (Northamptonshire) Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037 The usual Saturday Mass continues at St Brendan's in Corby; Mass was also celebrated there on Ash Wednesday.

NOTTINGHAM (Leicestershire and Rutland) Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037 Sung Masses were celebrated at St Peter's in Leicester on the feasts of the Purification and the Annunciation, and on Ash Wednesday, and at Holy Cross Priory for the feast of St Joseph. Masses are also sung on the first Sunday of each month at Holy Cross, which meant that this year we had a sung Mass on Easter Sunday. Low Masses are celebrated at Holy Cross on other Sundays, and on most weekdays except Saturdays; Saturday morning Masses are celebrated at St Peter's, and there is a Friday evening Mass at St Joseph's in Oakham, as well as a first Friday Mass at St Peter's. In addition, there was a sung Requiem Mass at St Joseph's on the last Friday of January for the repose of the soul of Mackenzie Urquhart.

My thanks go to all our celebrants - Frs Rocks and Jarvis at Holy Cross Priory; Fr Dye at Oakham; and Canon Cahill

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at St Peter's to whom congratulations are due on his recent appointment to the cathedral chapter.

NOTTINGHAM Jeremy Boot 07462 018386 I mentioned in the last report that a change of clergy at Our Lady and St Patrick, the Meadows, Nottingham and the appointment of a new Dean at the Cathedral might cause us concern. So far, there appears to be no cause for worry and Masses continue as before. Despite bad weather in the months since Christmas, no Masses had to be cancelled and congregations held up well or indeed improved.

It is good to hear from those younger members who have helped us to sing or serve in the recent past and have moved on. Two are now studying for the priesthood at traditional foundations: Lawrie Swithinbank who is now a novice, now Br Ildephonse, at Saint-Benoit monastery in La Garde-Freinet, France, and Pedro Henriques Santos, a Brazilian student at Nottingham University of a couple of years ago, and who is now with the Seminaire du Bon Pasteur at Courtelain, also in France. They are both happy, doing well and we remember them in our prayers and wish them every possible success.

Masses continue at 6.15pm on the third Wednesday of the month (followed by a Juventutem meeting) at the Cathedral; Mass on the Saturday before the 2nd Sunday of the month (4.45pm) at The Good Shepherd Church, Arnold, Nottingham – yes, it does fulfil the Sunday obligation - and at Our Lady and St Patrick, Nottingham, for the 3rd and 4th Sundays of the month at 2pm (sung/said).

We were able this year to have a Sung Mass with procession and blessing of palms on Palm Sunday at Our Lady and St Patrick, Nottingham. Attendance at our Masses varies between churches but is stable and growing. There are Masses for three out of four Sundays per month in this area, and for any ‘blank’ Sundays, there are Masses at Holy Cross Leicester (1st Sunday sung) at 12.30 weekly for those who can travel. I was recently asked about Masses in Derby, where we have no outlet, and this area has been a problem for some years. If any Derby members feel there are avenues to explore, I would be happy to hear from them. We have, as I frequently mention, very limited resources and singers, servers, organists and indeed clergy. Thanks again to all of them for their time and energy.

PLYMOUTH (Devon) Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 mq018q1057@blueyonder.co.uk I am very pleased to report that all Devon Vetus Ordo celebrations have been reasonably well supported during the Spring months. St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh, always has a body of regulars, but the Palm Sunday Sung Mass that took place there was particularly memorable. This was the first time that Fr Guy de Gaynesford had performed the Traditional Old Rite Palm Sunday Mass with blessing of the palms at this venue. We have to thank the choir members who turned up to sing the Palm Sunday chants so beautifully – Michael Crawford, Timothy Tindal-Robertson, and Andrew Beards with his daughter Clare. It was also pleasing to have three servers, including Benedict Beards and our MC, John Cox. John has decided to call it a day and retire after many long years of serving on the sanctuary. John’s guidance and quiet professionalism will be greatly missed, especially at

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Fr Paul Brophy with the parish priest of St Mary Immaculate Mother of God, Barnstaple, North Devon, after a Vetus Ordo celebration – Fr Brophy was the celebrant, while Fr Paul Andrew preached the homily Blessed Sacrament, Exeter, and at St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh. It is fitting that John served for the last time on Palm Sunday, acting as Cross Bearer in the ensuing procession, where his advice and knowledge proved to be invaluable. We owe John a debt of gratitude that cannot be measured, and we wish him well for the future.

At Blessed Sacrament in Exeter, our regular third Sunday of the month Mass still has the benefit of being celebrated

by Mgr Adrian Toffolo and by Fr Harry Heijveld. On one particular occasion though, Fr Peter Coxe filled in at short notice when the scheduled priest could not make it. The third Sunday of March was a big disappointment though, as the Mass had to be cancelled due to a blizzard that suddenly hit South Devon and prevented travel. However, we have to thank Fr Harry for celebrating a ‘one off’ Mass the following week – Palm Sunday. This celebration was reasonably well attended, so we have to thank Tegwyn Harris the organist, the various people who made up the choir, and the server, John Tristram, all of whom made themselves available at such short notice (The regular servers were at the scheduled and widely advertised Mass at Ugbrooke House on the same day.) We also thank the parish priest, Fr Jonathan Stewart, for being instrumental in hosting this extra usus antiquior at Blessed Sacrament.

The Latin Mass celebrations that take place at St Mary’s Abbey, Buckfast are still popular with regulars and visitors alike, where Fr Guy de Gaynesford and Dom Tom Reagan OSB still alternately celebrate in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. On Ash Wednesday, especially, we were pleasantly surprised to see

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about 45 people at Mass - all of whom Fr Tom ensured were quite distinctively ‘ashed’. At tea afterwards in the Grange there was no mistaking those who had attended the Traditional Old Roman Rite!

The regular Plymouth Sunday morning Missa Cantata celebrated by Fr Anthony Pillari at St Edward the Confessor is still attracting young families, and it was pleasing to know that some of them were at the 7pm Ash Wednesday Mass in February. St Edward’s is the only venue in Devon where Holy Mass is celebrated in the Extraordinary Form every Sunday morning throughout the year. This fact has been instrumental in forming a real parish family, with children being at the very heart of it. Examples of this at St Edward’s are manifold, but one very good example of this was the First Holy Communion of young David Proctor that took place on Low Sunday, followed by a parish celebration in the hall afterwards. Mothers, too, visibly held in high regard in this praying community, were overjoyed to receive a special blessing on Laetare Sunday, some of whom were holding their latest arrivals. The Palm Sunday service with blessing of palms and procession around the church, was carried out using pre-1955 rubrics. (Unfortunately, due to an oversight, the intended Old Rite Triduum had to be cancelled for St Edward’s, although it went ahead as planned at Lanherne Convent in Cornwall, Fr Pillari’s home base). The second Sunday after Easter at St Edward’s included, along with the usual Sung Mass, extra time for Confessions, Adoration and Sung Benediction. At all these services the serving team was excellent, with Andrew Proctor as organist and performed

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY as the ‘solo choir’. Andrew would be very pleased to hear from anybody who would like to join in the choir singing at St Edward’s on a regular basis - just turn up and get singing! If you would like to know more about the Vetus Ordo Latin Mass and activities at St Edward’s, please feel free to log in to their new website as follows:www.tlmplymouth.co.uk I must finish with an appeal. The rate of growth of the Old Rite in Devon means that we are in dire need of servers, without whom one cannot have a properly reverent and dignified Holy Mass. I would be very happy to meet and speak to any male readers charitable enough to offer themselves for this much needed role, especially in the Exeter and Torbay areas.

PLYMOUTH (Dorset) Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 mq018q1057@blueyonder.co.uk As always, we’ve had some very reverent and dignified usus antiquior celebrations here in Dorset, both at St Mary’s in the delightful village of Marnhull, and at Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecelia in Blandford Forum. At the former, the Latin Masses were celebrated by the parish priest, Fr Martin Budge, assisted by the regular server, Dominic Prendergast, with small but appreciative congregations.

This venue deserves a much better Mass attendance than has been the case for a while now, which meant that after this Easter Thursday Latin celebration, it was a pleasure to meet some new people among the congregation – Bridget Spender and Tony Ash, along with Quentin and Cathy Straghan. These welcome visitors boosted the congregation to about sixteen people in total, nine of whom – including Fr Martin - stayed for a small convivial lunch afterwards. The very sad news for everybody, though, was that in the early hours of the following day, Joan Bird passed away peacefully in the early hours of Friday morning. Joan, along with her surviving husband Ronnie, was a longstanding supporter of the Old Rite Mass, and will be missed by us all. In your charity, please keep Joan in your prayers, along with Ronnie and the whole family. Joan’s Traditional Rite Latin Requiem Mass ttok place on 19 April in the chapel of Wardour Castle.

Monsignor Francis Jameison celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecelia, Blandford Forum, Dorset. The servers are, Kieran Weaver-Mizzi on the left, and Dominic Prendergast on the right

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At Our Lady of Lourdes and St Cecelia in Blandford Forum, Mgr Francis Jamieson continues to celebrate the Old Rite, but I was unable to be present in March because of a very heavy fall of snow in Torquay where I live. However, it was pleasing to learn that against all expectations, the twomonthly usus antiquior celebration at Blandford went ahead as planned. Also pleasing was the fact that Mgr Francis has found another server for this venue – Colin Harte. Colin has our thanks and gratitude for agreeing to learn how to serve the Latin Mass at this venue. All of us are acutely aware of the shortage of much needed servers, so please do think seriously about helping out on the sanctuary. If there are any men reading this who would like to help serve the Old Rite, do please contact me by phone or by email so that we can take it further. What must be kept in mind, especially in the Plymouth Diocese, is that the continued interest and growth in the Vetus Ordo means that now as never before, the need for servers is much greater.

PORTSMOUTH (Isle of Wight) Peter Clarke 01983 566740 07790 892592 The EF Mass continues here on the Island on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 12 noon with Exposition from 11.30am. This is thanks to Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris (Ordinariate and parish priest of Cowes and East Cowes). It was a real shock to the system when Fr Anthony Glaysher departed from the Island last year and we thought that EF Masses would cease. He did however, return in March, for a Funeral Mass for Yvonne Rampton RIP, one of our stalwart supporters.

As mentioned before, we are grateful to Father Jonathan for his pastoral care for us in offering the EF Mass.

We look forward to some additional Masses offered by visiting priests over the summer period. We would be pleased to hear from any priest wishing to visit our lovely Island and offer Mass for us.

See Listings for Mass details. For further information on Isle of Wight E.F. Masses please contact me on 01983 566740 or 07790 892592.

PORTSMOUTH Peter Cullinane 023 92 47 13 24 pmcullinane@hotmail.com About 40 of us celebrated Palm Sunday with a short procession inside St John’s Cathedral, led by Fr Joe McNerney – we were fortunate indeed that this could take place within the very restricted time Father has before returning to his home parish to repeat the act of witness.

As last year, the Friars at Gosport celebrated the Triduum with the traditional services, including the less common Tenebrae on three successive days.

An average of 30-40 turned up each day and there was a remarkable “first” on Holy Saturday when a young man, Joshua, was received into full communion with the Catholic Church, having been instructed by the Friars. We hope that this will lead to further receptions.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY PORTSMOUTH (Reading) Adrian Dulston 01491 682909 As in previous years the FSSP gave a full Triduum Liturgy including Tenebrae - this without our former musician Fr Verrier, who was no doubt heard in FSSP Warrington. Thanks once again to the St William of York Choir for the effort which goes into this sombre and demanding but thoroughly rewarding liturgy. As usual there was the offering of both Easter Vigil and Sunday morning Easter Mass.

Fr O’Donohue is currently helping Fr Goddard with daily and Sunday Masses. The priests run youth, men and women groups as well as regular catechesis on Thursdays.

A reminder to check the following address link for timings of Masses during the week which can change but generally follow the pattern of Monday 12 noon, Tuesday 7am at St John Fisher House, Wednesday 12 noon, Thursday either 11am Mass for Family Catechism day or 12 noon, Friday 7.30pm, Saturday 8am. https://fssp.co.uk/reading/ Also, FSSP are running boys and girls retreats in the summer so please look this up on the link address above.

For those in the vicinity of Didcot there is now a regular Wednesday evening (7.30pm) Latin Mass at English Martyrs Catholic Church offered by Philip Pennington Harris with a 1st Sunday 7am Mass, although there are changes so please refer to newsletter (for Didcot) https://tinyurl.com/y77fgzr9 May Royal St Joseph continue to rebuild Our Lady’s Dowry.

SHREWSBURY (The Wirral) Stefano Mazzeo 0151 638 6822 Holy Week and Easter at the Shrine Church of Ss Peter & Paul and St Philomena were particularly wonderful this year as we were given permission to use the pre-1955 Tenebrae prayers, which were beautifully chanted by the Canons and some of the servers. All our Masses were very well attended.

In fact, it is clear that attendance for Sunday Masses in general is steadily growing at the Dome for both our 8.30 and 10.30 Masses.

Activities continue to expand - Canon Montjean runs a youth group that meets once a month on Saturdays with faith talks and discussion. Anyone between the ages of 14 and 25 who would like to join should contact Canon Montjean, at chn.montjean@icrsp.org. There is also a catechism class for ages 8 to 12 on Sundays after Mass, again contact the Shrine for details and times. And there will be a group going from the church on the Chartres Pilgrimage, contact Canon Montjean on 0151 638 6822 or Vicky Kearns on 0790 3518970.

Canon Montjean is a long-time veteran of the Chartres Pilgrimage and I was able to interview him and have produced a little video interspersed with images from EWTN's documentary of the 2013 "In Search of Christendom - The Chartres Pilgrimage". To view on You Tube See Chartres Pilgrimage 2018 preview.

Canon Vianney Poucin is giving faith formation talks for adults, this year based on the history of the Church. Canon Parant in running monthly faith formation talks for married couples, Domus Christiani which looks at love and marriage issues from a Catholic perspective. Contact chn.parant@ icrsp.org for further information. We are also running the first five Saturdays devotion for families.

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Roam with the Dome is a rambling group set up by Jane and Tim Scott, in which members of the congregation can go on wonderful walks in the Welsh mountains - to join them please email timandjanescott@me.com.

The church gets many parties of visitors and to help people understand the Catholic church, and in particularly the history of the Dome, we have produced an audio tour. The tour is a series of little three to four minute audio plays that take place in different parts of the church that can be picked up on a smart phone via wifi. Anne Archer has done sterling work in promoting the Dome and organising the lottery funding, without which we could not have been so far advanced in the renovation work.

Masses at Carmel Birkenhead continues at 7:45 on Thursdays celebrated by a priest from the shrine. This year the community will be celebrating 100 years of foundation. There is a little video on their website that I managed to put together for the Mother Prioress which she wrote and narrated.

SOUTHWARK (Kent) Marygold Turner 01580291372 As I felt there was little to report in the last Mass of Ages, I am glad to say I was lucky enough to be invited to Gricigliano for Holy Week. Holy indeed! It was superb and I don’t think anywhere in the world the marvellous liturgy could have been more prayerful or dignified – or indeed more beautiful.

Monsignor Wach is a genius in my opinion, as well as being a most generous host. He has such an eye for beauty and detail.

We were spoilt, especially as Cardinal Burke presided – Capa Magna at all times – so perfectly served by the young priests, with so much devotion. The music was sublime. I was honoured to speak to Cardinal Burke, and he struck me with his humility and care for us all. He said, ‘I hope I do enough for you’! Such a comforting approach.

Apart from that, we are so well blessed with priests, young and older, who come long distances to celebrate our beloved Holy Mass.

On the feast of the Ascension, Corpus Christi and SS Peter and Paul, we shall have Mass at Headcorn. Please all try to come to Corpus Christi, 31 May, 12 noon at Headcorn, when there will be a Missa Cantata, with Charles Finch coming to play and sing for us for the first time. This is a most special event for us in Kent, so please do come in droves! The first time we have pushed the boat out to this extent. But the feast of Corpus Christi is so poignant and important in these times, when we suspect and realise many clergy and faithful have lost their faith in the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

SOUTHWARK (St Bede's, Clapham Park) Thomas Windsor Firstly, I would like to thank the Parish of St Bede’s for kindly funding the music for our anticipated Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, David Guest’s excellent professional choir sang the Mozart Mass. This gave our own schola a break between singing the Vigil Mass in the morning, and the Day Mass of Christmas. Once again we must thank Fr Southwell for spending his Christmas break with us, celebrating these sung Masses and also for Sung Masses on St Stephen's day, Sunday, within the Octave and only a few hours later our traditional midnight Mass to welcome in the New Year and a few hours later another Sung Mass at our usual Sunday time of 11am.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Fr Diaz celebrated the Blessing of Epiphany water and chalk, followed by a Sung Mass for the Feast of the Epiphany. Father also came back to celebrate Candlemas with us where we had a full Sung Mass and procession.

As usual we had a Sung Mass and imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent also marked the 1st Anniversary of the death of Fr Clifton, so we arranged a sung Requiem Mass for him here on 2 March.

Fr Southwell returned to spend Holy Week and Easter with us. On Palm Sunday we had our usual Sung Mass and procession with the choir singing the wonderful setting by Victoria of the Passion and Isaac’s setting of the Communion Proper. Our choir once again provided some wonderful polyphony and chant for the Mass and procession of Maundy Thursday, and on Good Friday we once again had Victoria’s setting of the Passion. Our Easter began with our Vigil Mass, with the lighting of the new fire, Exsultet sung by our Polish Priest Fr Zgorecki, all the Prophecies, blessing of the Font, with the choir singing the beautiful setting of the Sicut Cervus by Palestrina. It was especially good to see so many of our boys serving and one even joined the choir and sang one of the Prophecies. Once again our church was full of young families for these long services over Holy Week.

With the Vigil over, our excellent serving team and choir could not yet have a well-deserved break, with Easter Sunday Mass and Vespers and another Sung Mass on Easter Monday.

Our Chapter of the Guild of St Clare continues to repair our vestments, and has recently made a beautiful cover for the Altar in the Lady Chapel.

Recently comments have been made about the noise at our Sunday Mass. Here at St Bede’s we are lucky to have more than 10 families and almost 40 children regularly attending. Many of these children are under four, and it can be very difficult to keep all of them quiet all the time. With marriages and baptisms being celebrated regularly in our community, I cannot guarantee Masses without the noise of babies and children, but I hope this can be seen as good news for the future of the Traditional Mass.

WREXHAM Kevin Jones 01244 674011 lms.wrexham@outlook.com www:lmswrexham.weebly.com @LMSWrexham We continue with our cycle of Masses in Wrexham Diocese, still ticking over with no reduction on the status quo. The numbers attending those Masses also remains steady and on more than one occasion, we welcome new faces, albeit perhaps maybe as visitors. It would be great to see even more people experience the beauty of the traditional Roman liturgy!

The First Saturday Mass at Our Lady of Rosary, Buckley has now replaced the Novus Ordo Parish Mass at 11am.

This assists Canon Doyle balance his heavy workload and introduces (and in some cases, reacquaints) parishioners with the Mass of Ages.

Yours truly now serves the Low Mass at St Francis of Assisi, Llay on the second Sunday.

For various reasons, we moved what would have been the Palm Sunday at St Winefride’s, Holywell to Easter Sunday and this paid a little dividend of attracting a few more people to the Mass.

Finally, planning for the Holywell pilgrimage on 1 July continues; all clergy have been identified and the music is to hand. It promises to be a glorious day! Please, if you can assist in serving please bring your apparel. The Mass is at 2.30pm.

WESTMINSTER (Spanish Place) Roger Wemyss Brooks wemyssbrooks@outlook.com Sunday Masses have continued to be well attended and said by our chaplain, Fr Michael Cullinan, with support from Fr Patrick Hayward and Fr Mark Elliott Smith who often help out at short notice. The provision of Masses was not interrupted by the recent bad weather with many braving transport problems to attend. All three of these priests also acted as sacred ministers at the Triduum ceremonies at St Mary Moorfields.

I am sad to report the death of Fr Nicholas Kavanagh who lived in the Rectory at Spanish Place for a number of years. He passed away after a long illness on his 69th birthday and his funeral was attended by the Cardinal and many fellow priests from the diocese. Many will remember Fr Nicholas saying the early OF Mass on Sundays and recall his gentle, reverant presence. May he rest in peace.

I hope that many members will again attend the Corpus Christi procession this year on Sunday 3 June. This wonderful act of witness takes place at 5.30pm at The Assumption, Warwick Street, passing through the busy streets of central London to arrive at St James’ for the welcome Benediction with glorious music and beautiful ceremony – not to be missed!

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ART AND DEVOTION

A story of light and darkness The Conversion of St Paul on the Road to Damascus, 1600

By Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

By Caroline Shaw

O

n June 29 we celebrate the great feast of SS Peter and Paul. Caravaggio’s paintings of the Conversion of St Paul and the Martyrdom of St Peter are two of the most powerful depictions of these events in art history, and will be well known to anyone who has ever made a pilgrimage to Rome. The church in which they hang, the great Augustinian church of Santa Maria del Popolo, lies at the northern edge of Rome and traditionally formed the start of one of the principal pilgrimage routes through the city.

The story of the conversion of St Paul is described in the Acts of the Apostles.

St Paul also refers to his conversion in the Epistle to the Galatians, which is read on the feast of the Commemoration of St Paul on June 30. In this letter, St Paul talks of the time before his conversion, when he was Saul, the great persecutor: “you have heard of my conversion in time past in the Jews’ religion: how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted it.” In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that Saul was on his way to Damascus with the express intention of finding Christians in order to capture and return them in chains to Jerusalem. As he drew near to Damascus, “suddenly a light from Heaven shone round about him. And falling on the ground he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?’ Who said, ‘Who art Thou, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, Whom thou persecutest.” When Saul eventually stood up and opened his eyes, he found that he was completely blind. He was led to Damascus, “and he was there three days without sight; and he did neither eat nor drink.”

Unlike most paintings, in which the main subject is placed at the centre of the composition, Caravaggio has filled the majority of the canvas with the huge body of Saul’s horse – a solid, heavy patient workhorse, who steps carefully to avoid trampling on his master. The very centre of the painting is the shadow

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below the horse’s front leg, and since this is clearly not the most important element of the painting, we are at first a little disorientated. We do not have the usual markers that help us to navigate the composition, and it takes time to understand what we are looking at.

Gradually our eye becomes acclimatised to the shadows and light, to the strange angle of Saul’s outstretched body, the tangle of limbs – hands, hoofs, fingers, feet – and the crumpled streams of red drapery, lying like the pools of Christian blood he had hoped to shed.

This is a story of light and darkness, and Caravaggio has painted it with characteristic drama. Lost in the shadows of evil, ignorance and pride, the man who was Saul the persecutor has been struck off his horse and blinded. He falls to the ground, bathed in the clear, intense light of God. In this moment of ecstatic vision, divine light enters him and pervades him entirely.

We are watching an extremely intimate moment. It is clear that, although his body is lying crumpled on the road, his mind and his soul are elsewhere.

His eyes can no longer see what is around him, but he sees vast expanses with the interior light of truth and faith. This is not merely a vision, but a complete conversion. His soul, once dark with hatred, is at this moment being washed clean with God’s love. All his preoccupations and prejudices are being stripped away, and faith, hope and charity are being fused into the very depths of his being. We cannot help but wonder what he sees with his blinded eyes. What does he hear? Tradition tells us that for the three days during which he remained blind, Paul was taught the Gospels by Our Lord Himself, for he wrote that he did not receive this knowledge from a man, but through divine revelation.

Caravaggio has arranged the scene so that Paul is in the most vulnerable position possible – lying prone on the ground, exposed to the weight of an

enormous horse, his helmet and sword unused and discarded next to him. His arms are outstretched in a gesture of trust, invitation and acceptance: Paul embraces the light of God just as a small baby innocently and imploringly stretches out his arms for his mother.

All his pride is gone, as is all his worldly power. The great zealot has fallen from his ‘high horse’ and his world has been turned upside down. As St Augustine wrote of this event: “the wolf was crushed and became a lamb; the persecutor was crushed and became the preacher; the son of perdition was crushed to be brought erect as the vessel of election.” Meanwhile, his horse waits calmly, gazing down at his master. He is held steady by the servant who, we are told, was amazed, “hearing indeed a voice, but seeing no man”. Although the old man can little have understood what was happening, he also seems to be deep in contemplation, and is perhaps undergoing his own conversion.

Caravaggio’s patron, Tiberio Cerasi, was a wealthy lawyer and member of the Papal treasury, and he purchased the chapel and commissioned Caravaggio in 1600. This was to be Cerasi’s burial place, and in fact he died before the works had been finished, but his choice of subject matter for the two paintings – one representing bodily death on the cross, the other representing a mystical death and re-birth on the road to Damascus – were most fitting for a burial chapel.

As we contemplate this dramatic scene of conversion, we may profitably call to mind St Paul’s own words in the Epistle to the Romans, which provide perhaps the most eloquent testimony to the grace, understanding and above all, love that was ignited in his soul that fateful day: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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ART AND DEVOTION

Conversion of St Paul on the Road to Damascus by Caravaggio (1600).

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COMMENT

Our Lady of Šiluva

By Mary O’Regan

I

am fascinated by the apparitions of Our Lady in the village of Šiluva, Lithuania where she wept bitterly.

Our Lady explained why her face was drenched in tears: the ground beneath her feet had once been a Catholic Church, but had been demolished by Calvinists, and since then was being used as a pasture for farm animals.

It was a summer's day in the year 1608. A group of shepherd children were minding their sheep near a big rock in a field. Suddenly, the sound of sobbing silenced the children and their attention was riveted by the sight of a supremely beautiful woman holding a baby, standing aloft the big rock and weeping so much her tears wet the rock. After the lady and her baby vanished from sight, the children talked eagerly. They were mystified, not having been raised to venerate Our Lady, for these young children had been raised to be strict Calvinists. Calvin taught his followers that the Virgin Mary was an idol and that venerating her through the use of holy images was heresy. This led to the violent mutilation of statues and images, which Erasmus witnessed in Holland: 'whatever would burn was thrown into the fire, and the rest pounded into fragments'.

The village of Šiluva had once had a remarkably rich Catholic heritage.

Petras Gedgaudas, who had a special love of Our Lady, spearheaded the building of the church in Šiluva, dedicating it

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to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and arranging for the land to be given to the Catholic Church. From Rome he fetched an exquisite icon of Our Lady holding the Christ Child and installed it in the sanctuary of the church in Šiluva.

Beauty begets beauty and the beautiful vestments and chalices used for the liturgy in the church sat well alongside the beautiful painting Petras brought from Rome. People came from all over Lithuania and from neighbouring nations to venerate it, and Šiluva became a sacred site of pilgrimage.

On the cusp of the nation becoming Calvinist, a plucky priest, Fr John Holubka, made an iron-clad chest into which he placed the beloved icon of Our Lady as well as vestments, chalices and the legal deeds to the church property.

Sealing the chest, he buried it deep in the ground. He did this just in time, for soon the church was levelled. Eighty years later, the little shepherd children were playing on the exact spot where the church had once been. That first time Our Lady appeared she said not one word to them and one of the boys ran to the Calvinist pastor, telling him of the vision of the weeping woman, but was told he was giving voice to a mendacious fantasy. The other children told their parents who in turn rushed

'From Rome he fetched an exquisite icon of Our Lady holding the Christ Child and installed it in the sanctuary of the church in Šiluva.

Beauty begets beauty'

to the rock. The sceptical pastor joined them. When they were gathered there, Our Lady came into their midst. She was weeping and holding the Christ Child. She said, “There was a time when my beloved Son was worshiped by my people on this very spot. But now they have given this sacred soil over to the ploughman and the tiller and to the animals for grazing.”

Our Lady referred to the Catholics and not the Calvinists - as “my people” and yet she appeared and spoke to the Calvinists. The substance of Our Lady's message to them undercut the basis of their new religion, and yet they did not deny her words but reported them.

News of the apparitions reached a blind man who was 100 years old. All his life he had kept it a secret that he lent a hand to Fr John to bury the iron-clad treasure chest when he was a young man of 20. Now he asked to be led to the spot where Our Lady had appeared.

Once there, his sight was miraculously restored and he identified the place. The chest was excavated. When the deed to the land was rescued, the sacred soil was returned to Catholic ownership and a new church was built where the beloved icon was re-installed. Pilgrimages began and once again people flocked to behold the timeless beauty of the icon. Lithuanians started to return to the Faith, and today seventy percent are Catholic.

In 2008, on the 400th anniversary of Our Lady appearing at Šiluva, Pope Benedict sent Cardinal Meisner to Šiluva for the celebrations. Before his death, one year ago this summer, Cardinal Meisner had been one of the four Cardinals to sign the dubia which invited Pope Francis to clarify Amoris Laetitia. I believe Cardinal Meisner was sent to Šiluva because he had given the best years of his life to leading the small Catholic community in East Germany, a predominantly Protestant place, and Our Lady's role in restoring Šiluva to Catholicism would hearten Meisner that a country can return from Protestantism to Catholicism.

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FEATURE

Uniquely Catholic Cardiff University Chaplain Fr Sebastian Jones reports from St Fagan's National Museum of History

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This Chaplaincy Mass affords our students and alumni an opportunity to experience the Mass in a church as it might have appeared across Britain prior to the spiral of schism, heresy, sacrilege, iconoclasm and the almost complete removal of the Mass from the Welsh psyche. This annual visit is not to turn the clocks back, or repossess what has been irrevocably alienated from Catholics or destroyed by reformers, but rather to expose our students to the reality that the Mass alone is the unbroken golden thread that transcends all the cultural destruction and doctrinal confusion that litters our national landscape and place names.

The Chaplaincy's Musical Director, Tomos Watkins, has understood well the requirement that, while some members of the University Chaplaincy Choir are students at the Cardiff University School of Music or the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and are singers accustomed to performing sacred music even in chapels, churches and cathedrals, their purpose at the University Chaplaincy is always to strive to be technically excellent but never to give a performance. Their purpose at Mass is to assist the Catholic Chaplaincy in the Church's finest musical tradition in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Worship of the Triune God. This is prayer: there will be no applause.

The Mass is the centre of our Chaplaincy's life: liturgically, culturally and socially, whether during weekdays or on Sundays the Mass is that golden thread that informs everything the Chaplaincy is. There was a daily opportunity during Advent and Lent and now three times a week and on Sundays to discover the enrichment understood by Pope Benedict XVI when granting the indult. The liturgical life of the Chaplaincy is vibrantly and mutually enriched for being exposed to both forms of the Roman Rite. Š Dr David Woolf

T

he annual Mass at St Teilo's Church at St Fagan's National Museum of History in Cardiff has become a calendar fixture. It is a pilgrimage of sorts for Cardiff University alumni, staff and students.

The Mass at St Teilo's church presents challenges to the museum curators and conservators whose professional experience is at its best when facilitating historical re-enactments or pageant groups. The museum promotes the church in terms of its replica wall paintings and sanctuary furnishings: their significance being referenced as one might cave paintings or hieroglyphs.

Curators are more comfortable with the curious visitors' sniggers or winces at the Tudor Catholic artistic representations of the consequences of sin; of rejecting the Commandments, and the presentations of the miracles, or the Passion of Christ. There is no explanation Wall painting at St Teilo's Church of the walls catechetical purpose.

The museum staff are quite rather than confront this building's understandably unfamiliar with our energetic pictorial representations and energetic Catholic congregation who architectural designs proclaiming the being conversant with, and at ease in a Catholic Faith).

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass church whose artistic representations are of Pre-Reformation Catholic Wales, connects our congregation to this don't view them as archaeology but otherwise typical pre-Reformation theology. The gentle praying of the church with its original purpose. For the rosary and rattle of the thurible's duration of the Mass this expertly rechains within the rood screen, while created museum piece, whose original our scholars nervously mouth the Mass wall paintings are safely locked away music, not only creates a uniquely from the veneration of modern pilgrims Catholic frisson but a synergy between and the pious, come alive.

It soon becomes apparent to people and place: it could be mistaken for taking possession (one suspects Catholics as the moment for the Mass from the ill-ease of the curators that approaches that this building is now they would be happier speaking to a setting like no other at St Fagan's tourists in a church white washed, National Museum of History. It is not hassock-filled, musty, bearing royal and a stage or exhibit but has become as it noble insignia; a pretty mausoleum or were a real church as conceived of and a village's "repository for memories" originally intended.

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ARCHITECTURE

George Goldie Paul Waddington looks at some of the churches designed by a most prolific Catholic Architect

G

eorge Goldie was born in 1828 in York, the son on the chief physician of the York County Hospital, also called George Goldie. However, the younger George was not to follow his father into the medical profession, but rather to become an architect, like his maternal grandfather. Goldie’s mother, Mary Anne, was the daughter of Giuseppe Bonomi who had emigrated from Italy to work for Robert Adam, the famous designer of English country houses.

Besides his work for Robert Adam, Giuseppe Bonomi was the architect of two Catholic churches in London. His Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory in Warwick Street, replaced the chapel of the Bavarian Embassy, which was largely destroyed in the Gordon Riots of 1780. Bonomi’s other London Church, was the original St James’ in Spanish Place, which was replaced in the 1930s by the present and much larger St James’ designed by Bonomi’s great grandson Edward Goldie.

George Goldie, the subject of this article, was educated at Ushaw College, where it is possible that he met Augustus Welby Pugin, who was working on the chapel at the time. Aged 17, he began his architectural training in Sheffield with the firm of Weightman and Hadfield, where he later became a partner.

Matthew Ellison Hadfield was something of a specialist in Catholic churches, now best known for his cathedrals at Salford and Sheffield. In 1858, Goldie moved to London, where he practised first on his own and later in partnership with Charles Edwin Child. In 1875, Goldie’s son Edward joined the partnership.

Goldie’s first commissions were secular buildings in Sheffield, and his first church was St Patrick’s in Bradford, opened in 1853 and still standing. He also built the presbytery, the adjacent convent, now occupied by the Franciscans of the Renewal, and a school. From then on commissions came thick and fast, with more than 50 Catholic churches, cathedrals and convents to his credit over the next forty years. We can only look at a few of his works.

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Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Sligo

St Ninian’s at Wooler, Northumberland, opened in 1856 and is worth noting. Built of stone, and located in a spacious churchyard, its bell tower, although not high, carries a steep, knife-edge roof topped with decorative ironwork, a feature that was to become almost Goldie’s trademark.

The church of St Mary and St Romuald in Yarm, was opened in 1860. Built of brick with stone dressings, it has the trademark ironwork over the chancel.

Of particular note is the most unusual belfry which almost defies description.

St Ninian, Wooler

St Pancras, Ipswich

In 1866, Goldie added a tower to Hansom’s Church of St Edward the Confessor at Clifford in the West Riding.

Hansom’s church is a fine edifice, but it is completely dominated by the tower that Goldie somewhat awkwardly attached to the west end. As we shall see, towers were an obsession with Goldie.

They are a prominent feature of most of his churches, and if the funds would not run to a tower, he would provide a belfry sufficiently spectacular to make up for the omission.

The church of St Pancras in Ipswich, which dates from 1861, is an exception,

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ARCHITECTURE

no doubt a tower was planned, but it was never executed. Built of brick with rather heavy plate tracery windows in the south aisle, and at clerestory level, the exterior view is anything but elegant.

On the other hand, the interior is more impressive. Although essentially neoGothic, the building’s alternating bands of coloured brickwork give the church an Italian feeling.

St Wilfrid’s in York is perhaps Goldie’s best known church. In the city of his upbringing, and within the shadow of York Minster, Goldie no doubt tried particularly hard with this church, squeezing a fine building into a very restricted site. Externally, it is dominated by a characteristically Goldie tower with pyramidal slate roof topped by the usual ironwork. Nearer street level, the twin doors are surrounded by extensive stone carvings.

Internally, the height of the nave allows large clerestory windows, which admit plenty of natural light.

The sanctuary, which necessarily was smaller than Goldie would have liked, has cramped choir stalls (now reduced in number), a fine High Altar and, at high level, large oil paintings representing the life of Christ.

St Mary & St Augustine, Stamford

The church of St Mary & St Augustine in Stamford, Lincolnshire, along with the adjacent presbytery and school, was built between 1862 and 1865. It consists of a very low nave with a two bay north aisle, apsidal sanctuary, Lady Chapel and porch. To this, Goldie added a quite remarkable multi-tiered campanile, beneath a knife edge roof, and topped

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with his trademark ironwork. Internally, the church suffers from its lack of height, causing the arches to spring from unnaturally dwarf columns. The church is an unashamed mixture of Gothic and Romanesque, the windows being Gothic and the arches separating nave from side aisle being Romanesque.

Goldie also built churches in Scotland. His Church of St Mungo in Glasgow, built for the Passionists in 1869, was large, cruciform in shape, with a high nave and side aisles. Goldie intended a dominant tower, but only the lower part was built. The stump of the proposed tower now spoils what would have been a nicely composed western frontage, which includes a three arch open porch recessed into the building.

The west window incorporates both a statue of St Mungo and a crucifix.

Internally, the sanctuary has suffered from excessive reordering.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo was one of several churches Goldie built in Ireland. Opened in 1874, and designed to seat 1,400, it is perhaps Goldie’s only church where he was not constrained by the site or the amount of money available. Built of limestone, it is cruciform in shape, with a high roof line, and a 230ft tower at the west end, somewhat similar to the one at St Wilfrid’s in York. Sligo Cathedral is Goldie’s only work predominantly executed in the Norman style, although it has many features that are reminiscent of his other nominally Gothic works.

He designed a marble high altar with brass baldachino, in a spacious sanctuary, containing a lofty bishop’s throne. The sanctuary has been reordered to suit post-Vatican II ideas, but it has to be said that this has been done sensitively, with most of Goldie’s features retained.

Among Goldie’s other works are the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Kensington, which served as the pro-cathedral for the Westminster Diocese before the building of Bentley’s Westminster Cathedral. Unfortunately, it was bombed during World War II,

and nothing remains, although it is pleasing that the work of designing the replacement church was given to Goldie’s grandson, Joseph.

George Goldie has not been treated kindly by his critics. Pevsner described St Augustine’s at Stamford as “most crudely detailed”, and Bryan Little, in his book on Catholic Churches, talks about the “forceful ugliness associated with the name George Goldie”. It is certainly true that Goldie favoured a sturdiness in his buildings that almost precluded elegance. On the other hand, he came up with some very imaginative schemes, especially when designing towers and belfries; and succeeded in blending Classical features into his primarily Gothic buildings - something that most architects of his day would not have dared to do.

George Goldie’s son, Edward, and grandson, Joseph, continued the tradition of designing churches into the 1930s. With an architect grandfather and uncle, George Goldie was at the centre of five generations of designers of Catholic Churches.

St Edward the Confessor, Clifford

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ROMAN REPORT

Continuity with the past Alberto Carosa on Cardinal Burke’s recent lectio magistralis

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he renewal and reform of the sacred liturgy is brought about not through rupture with the past, not through revolution, but in continuity with the past, through respect for the sublime beauty of the Sacred Liturgy celebrated uninterruptedly along the Christian centuries: this was the message of Cardinal Raymond Burke at his lectio magistralis in L’Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region, on 24 March, with the title La Chiesa e la Società contemporanea – La Sacra Liturgia: Segno eminente della presenza viva di Cristo (The Church and contemporary Society – Sacred Liturgy: eminent Sign of the living presence of Christ).

His lecture, amply based on his recent book Un cardinale nel cuore della Chiesa (A Cardinal in the heart of the Church), was organized by the local chapter of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George for Abruzzo and Molise, and the Giuseppe Sciacca Foundation in the person of its president professor, Don Bruno Lima (Cardinal Burke is also its honorary president) in conjunction with the Missa Est association, a local group for the celebration of the traditional Latin liturgy. Missa Est is a member of CNSP (Coordinamento Nazionale del Summorum Pontificum - National Coordination of Summorum Pontificum), a free federation of Italian lay and religious associations that in their areas are involved in various ways in the application of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Benedict XVI and the related interpretative note Universae Ecclesiae of 2011. In turn, CNSP is part of CISP - Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum - the international organization which oversees the annual thanksgiving international pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the Motu Proprio of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who with this 2007 apostolic letter intended to liberalize the celebration of the traditional pre-Vatican II Roman rite of the Mass.

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The conference took place in the Sala Rivera of the Palazzo Fibbioni, one of the finest palaces in L’Aquila, currently housing also the City Hall offices, in the presence of a packed audience with a number of representatives of local

civil, military and religious authorities, including the head of L’Aquila archdiocese, Archbishop Giuseppe Petrocchi.

As explained by Don Bruno Lima in his introduction, the event was

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ROMAN REPORT

essentially motivated by the intention to present the book authored by His Eminence, whose lecture was in fact largely based on its content.

Starting from and based on his personal experience, the Cardinal's lecture touched on various topics of particular relevance in today's ecclesial and social life: clergy formation, secularization and ethical relativism, family, bioethics and youth education.

But most of all, the event offered the opportunity to deepen the Catholic doctrine on fundamental issues regarding the Sacred Liturgy as the highest expression of Christian life.

“My book is a personal contribution to the attempt to identify the certainties of the kingdom of Christ for the men of today, who appear disoriented and as lost in the whirlwind of the events that cloud their consciences”, the senior prelate said. He then went on to recall when, at the age of 14, he entered his diocesan seminary in the US, where the formation there was characterized “by a strong rigor combined with an intense life of prayer which had its fulcrum in the sacred liturgy celebrated with great dignity and beauty.” In such context, he noted, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary came naturally from the centrality of the encounter with Christ in the sacred liturgy.

But this situation came to an end following Vatican II, whose texts were arbitrarily used by some ecclesiastics as a tool to start denting the immense spiritual heritage built up by the Church over almost two millennia. “It was above all the sacred liturgy that suffered the disastrous consequences of such an attitude, that behind an apparent desire for good concealed in reality reprehensible purposes”, the Cardinal observed. “Since then an ever more frequent practice of abuses of every kind has been introduced”, which in vain the following Supreme Pontiffs sought to curb.

Every aspect of the life of the Church was affected, starting from the formation given in the seminaries. The sacred liturgy was trivialized and the perennial teaching of the Church in matters of faith and morals came to be questioned.

In other words, Cardinal Burke said, this was the hermeneutics of

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discontinuity or rupture referred to by Benedict XVI in his Christmas greetings to the Roman curia in 2005.

As a result, “the secularization of culture unfortunately also penetrated the life of the Church and was the main difficulty that I had to face in the exercise of my episcopal ministry”, he lamented.

In the ecclesial context, he pointed out, the consequences of this mentality can be overcome by resorting to the hermeneutics of reform in continuity, according to the message given by Pope Benedict XVI. Therefore, “to save the spiritual identity that distinguishes us, it is necessary to return to metaphysics by directing social and ecclesial life in a theocentric and therefore objective perspective”, he argued. “In other words we must return to the recognition of the law of God, of the kingship of Christ, expressed through the worship of God in spirit and truth, in obedience to the perennial teaching of the Church and to human and Christian virtues as the rules of daily life.”

With this in mind, “it is necessary to give due weight to the sacred liturgy celebrated with dignity. It is always true that the law of worship postulates the law of faith Legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi (the law of praying establishes the law of believing) according to the words of Saint Prosper of Aquitaine (c.390-c.455).”

At the same time, he pointed out that the law of worship relates to the moral law. “The promotion of the two forms of celebration of Holy Mass according to the only Roman rite favored by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Benedict XVI is an important component of the continuity process with the possibility of a mutual enrichment of the current two forms of the Roman rite”, Cardinal Burke said. But especially the usus antiquior, he maintained, “can enrich the novus ordo with more vivid expressions of the divine action of the sacred liturgy.”

Sacred liturgy, in fact, constitutes the highest and most perfect action for mankind to perform on earth and the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, promulgated by Benedict XVI on 7 July, 2007, enabled the re-appropriation of the thousand-year old great liturgical treasure of the Church, the Cardinal

stressed, contributing to correctly addressing the interpretation and implementation of the sacred rites and thus comprehending their right significance.

That’s why, Cardinal Burke said in conclusion, “I rejoice that in this diocese every Sunday there is a Mass celebrated in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in compliance with the pontifical motu proprio and in full communion with His Excellency the Archbishop Monsignor Giuseppe Petrocchi”, an initiative promoted by the Missa Est association, registered at the Commission Ecclesia Dei as a coetus Summorum Pontificum, and with the sacred Constantinian military order of San Giorgio being in attendance of the aforementioned celebration at least once a month.

Source of photos http://premiosciacca.it/2018/03/24/burke-cardinalenel-cuore-della-chiesa-aquila/

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LETTERS

Letters to the Editor A newcomer writes…

A friend gave me a copy of the Spring 2018 edition of Mass of Ages and I wanted to write to say how much I enjoyed reading it.

I’m a committed Catholic but was not aware that a movement existed to try to keep alive the ancient traditions of the church in other words, the Latin Mass.

Born in 1963, I am too young to remember at first hand the upheavals of Vatican II, but your magazine certainly evokes a powerful sense of the treasures we have lost – treasures that would have been taken for granted by our parents and grandparents.

Even I can see that in making the Mass more accessible – arguably – by adopting the vernacular of the country in which the Mass is being celebrated, we have paid a heavy price in terms of the loss of mystery and the sense of depth that must once have accompanied that mystery.

' I think it is an excellent idea to run regular articles on religious painting... and architecture... both of which remind us of the widespread influence of Catholic culture through England and Wales and indeed through Western Europe'

You might also note that the Wikipedia entry for the Latin Mass does not mention the Latin Mass Society nor in the reference section at the end of the entry does it list Mass of Ages among other traditional Catholic magazines. Surely the LMS can contact Wikipedia and arrange for the relevant information to be added?

Richard Holland London

Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Mass of Ages, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH email editor@lms.org.uk Letters may be edited for reasons of space

As a newcomer to your magazine I thought you might allow me also to comment on one or two other articles.

I thought Alberto Carosa’s feature on the growth of Catholicism in Sweden was particularly heartening and I think it is an excellent idea to run regular articles on religious painting (Caroline Shaw) and architecture (Paul Waddington) both of which remind us of the widespread influence of Catholic culture through England and Wales and indeed through Western Europe.

If I have any criticism of the magazine (and it would certainly only be gentle criticism!) it would be that you have a tendency to preach, as it were, to the converted. You should perhaps publish more articles on subjects that might interest those – like me – who are certainly Catholics but not already knowledgeable about the Latin Mass and the traditions that accompany it.

More articles on the byways of English Catholic history – early saints and scholars, lost traditions and so on might help create a less exclusive tone. Perhaps too you should try to distribute the magazine more widely so that even Anglicans might come to see what they are missing!

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COMMENT

More vigil than protest Tom Quinn reports from West London

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atin Mass Society members will have no doubt seen recent reports that perfectly lawful protests outside an abortion clinic in West London are to be banned.

Of course the local authority in question – Ealing and Acton Council – has insisted that the ban will not stop the protests but merely move them further away from the clinic itself.

The council’s motive, according to media reports, is ‘to stop the intimidation of women entering and leaving the clinic.’

The idea is a curious one given that anyone and everyone who has visited this part of Ealing will have seen that the protesters are invariably quiet and dignified.

As one journalist remarked, ‘no one in their right mind could possibly describe this as an intimidating protest.’

The journalist in question is highly experienced and has covered hundreds of marches and protests, some very intimidating indeed, in the UK and around the world.

Protest is in many ways the wrong word to describe the activities of those who are being moved away from the Ealing clinic.

Their protest is in fact a vigil; they are

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there to remind the materialistic world of the rights of unborn children, who are so often described by the mainstream media as if they were inanimate objects and not unborn children at all: the cruel and illogical argument is that aborted foetuses were never unborn children – a patent absurdity.

The Ealing issue highlights the difficulty of persuading an increasingly materialist and secular society that abortion is a word that turns a profound moral and religious issue into an argument about convenience; adult humans with immortal souls do not have the right to destroy other human souls, either on the grounds of convenience or indeed or any other grounds.

Perhaps the clearest indication that those who promote abortion know that it is wrong can be judged by their attempts – unfortunately accepted by many - to medicalise a procedure that is not really about medicine at all.

With all this in mind the decision by Ealing and Acton Council seems to fly in the face both of the democratic right of protest and the right to hold and to express one’s religious convictions.

Those keeping the Ealing vigil have been doing so for more than twenty years and their offence seems to be nothing more than talking gently to those who wish to listen and handing out leaflets that offer women an alternative way forward.

And it is not even as if the arguments against abortion are all religious and moral ones. Reminding women in as gentle a fashion as possible that they may feel regret for the rest of their lives if they make the wrong decision can hardly be described as ‘intimidating’ or ‘unreasonable’.

Research has shown that some level of regret – and it is often profound - is an almost universal consequence of abortion. Countless studies have revealed that women who considered an abortion, and then decided against it, always report their relief and joy that they managed to escape from a terrible mistake that would almost certainly have blighted their lives.

Some of these women have gone on to become profound opponents of abortion.

They have occasionally even joined that quiet vigil in Ealing.

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LONE VEILER

Swamped by stuff

Lone Veiler on why marriage starts with God

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edding Fairs - or “fayres” if you prefer - have a peculiar hold over me. On the one hand, I love the invitation cards, confetti, flowers, pretty dresses, and on the other I loathe the invitation cards, confetti, flowers, etc. From January onwards in my part of the world, adverts pop up all over the place for these marketplaces of matrimonial merchandise. Love hearts with the bride and groom's names on for favours? Check. Couture and not so couture backless (almost) frontless bridal gowns? Check. Ditto for the adult bridesmaids? Check. Wedding cars, photographers, wedding cakes, the all important perfect “venue” - a barn here, a hotel there, or beach abroad, the list is endless. And meaningless. I am unashamedly a wedding paraphernalia party pooper. It's not marriage, it's the stuff that swamps and undermines it.

Not that I have anything against the bride being queen for the day, or even the groom, bless him, having a look in and being prince consort; I object to the obscene amounts of money people believe they have to spend for the day to happen at all. It's not as if marriage is at the start of a beautiful life together.

It's now after the rented flat, then the mortgage, and even the first child or two. It's when there is enough in the kitty to think about paying back the loan for the ultimate fantasy day. Although it seems ridiculous, the most popular magazine for finding out how it should be done properly, from September last year, totted it up to a cool £30,000 - yes, I kid you not. And that's not including the now also seemingly compulsory stag and hen weekends. Shudder.

It's completely understandable to want to have the most memorable and beautiful wedding day; having to spend a ludicrous amount of money not so much. I know several couples who 'can't afford' to get married, when what they mean is they haven't got at least ten grand. Of course, beautiful weddings can be economical, and I dare say, happen even before the moving-

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in-together-day, although that may make me seem judgemental and not journeying or accompanying enough.

But I am biased. There is a right way to do things, a God given way, a way that doesn't get particularly positive secular air time or advertising (unless it's for the paraphernalia), a way that sends a couple on the most amazing adventure.

And for Catholics, it starts with God, and hopefully moves on to Mass, Nuptial Mass. I am always amazed at how very

'Or is it just how we are made, made to want that one special person and have a family with them?

I think there is an innate desire for commitment that's been twisted and warped almost out of recognition' profound and how very short the actual marrying bit of the wedding ceremony is. It's almost blink and you miss it. It makes so much sense that Mass is the first thing you do as a married couple, put God first, and whatever nightmares may await you in the married state, you can get through them with the Grace of God - whether you think you will or not. If you're both singing from the same order of service from the start, it

gives you a boost for sure. The recent canonisations of St Thérèse of Lisieux's parents has given us married saints with great devotion, first to God, and then to each other, and offer us a great example of faith. Today, marrying after knowing one another a few months might be considered at the best, pretty irresponsible.

This way of doing things, even waiting for a few months, does swim against the tide of instant gratification.

The idea of waiting for anything, be it as humble as internet connection, can send some folks into a flat spin. So, having to wait until you can afford to be married seems mindlessly stupid.

In secular terms, of course it is. If you haven't God in your life, why on earth would you choose to wait? Which leads me to ponder what drives people to marry at all these days, because the media and celeb world tells you that The Party Is The Thing? Collective memory?

Or is it just how we are made, made to want that one special person and have a family with them? I think there is an innate desire for commitment that's been twisted and warped almost out of recognition. It's seen to be the 'mature' thing to live together and see if you get on before you tie the knot, but I think it is the most tremendous shame. Marking the start of your live together with a profound ceremony means something.

You can always have a great big party later, with invitations, favours, whatever, and cheaper, because it won't have the cynical mark up attached to the word “wedding”.

There are two wonderful weddings I love in two of my favourite books. The first is Jane Eyre to Mr Rochester. Yes, I even like the first failed attempt with the mad wife still in the attic. The second is of Wemmick to Miss Skiffins in Great Expectations. Why these particular two?

Because they just get on with it. I'll leave the last word with Wemmick: "Here's a church! Let's go in!...Here's Miss Skiffins!

Let's have a wedding."

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FEATURE

A stitch in time‌

Lucy Shaw reports from the second Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat

Mass at the Sewing retreat

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he first weekend of March this year saw the second Guild of St Clare Sewing Retreat, held once again at the Carmelite Retreat Centre in Oxfordshire.

St ThÊrèse of Lisieux, surely the bestknown of all Carmelite nuns, adored snow, and describes in her autobiography how, on the morning of the day she took Solemn Vows, she awoke to see a thick blanket of snow on the ground - a wedding gift from her heavenly Spouse.

Both our retreats have been similarly blessed; and although it seems a remarkable indication of heavenly favour, it looked as though this year's fall might be sufficiently abundant to prevent the retreat happening at all. The snow, which had started falling during the week before, starting falling again on Friday afternoon, and the final approach to the Retreat Centre up a steep hill became impassible

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to all but four-wheel-drive vehicles.

However, the remarkable courage of the retreatants and the assistance of our heavenly Patrons defeated the weather, and we assembled without serious accident at the Priory for a weekend of sewing, spiritual conferences and, most importantly, traditional liturgy.

I founded the Guild in 2010 because I became aware that there was a drastic shortage of people with the skills to repair vestments for the growing number of traditionally minded priests wanting to use and maintain them. I had very little experience of vestment mending myself at the time, and had been plunged in at the deep end with a beautiful nineteenth century watered silk chasuble covered in goldwork. I and my fellow Guild members have tackled a number of commissions since then, and working together has enabled us to develop our skills in a

way which would have been impossible otherwise. We have all been grateful, not only for the opportunities to learn new skills, but for the fellowship of other committed Catholics determined to serve the Church through thick and thin, which has brought us all many graces. The Retreat is a way of deepening this mutual endeavour, and also of bringing it to people who live too far away to participate in our local events and meetings, most of which take place in Oxford.

I am constantly impressed by people's willingness to undertake the most mundane tasks when working for the good of the Church, and so it was this weekend. Retreatants re-stitched couched goldwork threads that had come loose on a preaching stole, replaced the clasp and gold braid of a cope, and patched damaged maniples. Enormous holes in a deep lace trim on an alb were repaired,

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FEATURE and new orphreys for a chasuble were cut out and stitched into place.

The hardest part of repairing vestments is often making decisions about exactly the best way of going about it, and choosing appropriate materials; the sewing itself can be quite simple, though time-consuming. The Retreat brings the great benefit of consultation, and we were able to discuss at length the various options for each item. The aim of the Guild is always to avoid as far as possible a botched or fudged repair – ideally, we want to restore vestments to a state where they are once again a joy to use. That often means a considerable investment of time, but we are sustained in our efforts by the knowledge of the sublime use to which the end product will be put.

On the occasion of the retreat, we had also the spiritual nourishment of the liturgy, and of our chaplain, Fr Hunwicke's, talks. Fr Hunwicke is always a splendid speaker, both witty and profound, and we were fascinated by the talks he had prepared for us. Taking as his starting point Christ's Passion, he took us through several passages in the Gospels and linked them with their precursors in the Old Testament. His scholarship opened up some of the riches to be found there for us, and gave us a great deal to meditate on during the rest of Lent.

The staff at the retreat centre made us extremely comfortable. Food and hot drinks are plentiful, and the bedrooms immaculate. I particularly appreciate the tray of emergency supplies for retreatants who may have left behind some essential or other: a tube of toothpaste, soap and the like are left on the landing for our use.

The chapel is very sparsely decorated, but the quiet bestowed by its rural situation makes the occasion a retreat in the most literal sense of the word. The weather meant we could not make use of the beautiful outdoor Stations of the Cross, but many of the retreatants made an opportunity to visit the little grotto in the Priory gardens.

With the Traditional Mass at the centre of all our activities, we formed a truly Catholic community. It was a joy to be able to assist our priests in such a practical way, and I am delighted that we have been able to confirm next year's dates: 1st-3rd February 2019. In response to the tremendous demand for places we are planning an extra retreat this year, to take place at Douai Abbey from 23rd to 25th November. Bookings can be made on the LMS website.

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At work: the sewing itself can be quite simple, though time-consuming

The aim of the Guild is always to avoid as far as possible a botched or fudged repair

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FEATURE

Sung Mass in Tyburn Convent’s Relic Chapel Joseph Shaw reports

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eaders of the last edition of Mass of particularly those who died a short Ages will have seen a notice about a distance away on the Tyburn Tree, the youth conference being organised special large-capacity gallows where no by the Catholic Medical Association in fewer than 105 men and women died for Tyburn Convent, on Saturday 12 March. the Catholic Faith, echoing Susanna’s This duly took place, and opened with a words: ‘It is better for me to fall into your Traditional Sung Mass, sponsored by the power without guilt than to sin before the Lord.’

Latin Mass Society.

Since time was short it was a Missa Cantata without incense. It was accompanied by a schola of two, led by the Latin Mass Society’s London Director of Music, Matthew Schellhorn. Fr Serafino Lanzetta from Gosport was the celebrant, and he preached about the subject of the conference, which was well illustrated by the readings for the Wednesday after the 4th Sunday of Lent: the story of Susanna and the Elders, and the story of the Woman taken in Adultery.

The story of Susanna and the Elders must be one of the longest lections in the Church’s year, apart from the Passion narratives, but it is a thrilling tale with more relevance than ever.

Susanna risked not a Hollywood career but her very life by refusing the amorous advances of the two Elders, senior judges who backed up each others’ stories of finding her in Celebrating Mass the arms of a young man. She was saved from stoning at the last moment As well as relics, there is a set of by the youthful prophet Daniel, whose very beautiful stained-glass windows brilliant (and not very polite) cross- illustrating the Seven Corporal Works of examination of the witnesses is one of Mercy and the Seven Sacraments from the great court-room scenes of world episodes from the lives of the martyrs. literature. You won’t find Daniel 13 in the These details of their lives are touching in King James Bible, but I recommend it to their simplicity, for most of the martyrs were quite ordinary people in worldly readers with a good Catholic edition.

Susanna’s story of fidelity usque terms. They deserve to be better known.

The Traditional Mass has been mortem was also an appropriate one for the setting: The Relic Chapel of celebrated in the Relic Chapel a number Tyburn Convent. The walls are adorned of times in recent years, and, as one of the with mementos of the English Martyrs, nuns remarked, it is appropriate because

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this is the Mass for which the martyrs died. On this occasion the chapel, which can accommodate about sixty people, was packed.

The conference itself was filled to capacity and the talks, including one I gave, were well received.

It is interesting to see the hunger of young Catholic medics for a proper discussion of the problems of working as a Catholic in today’s health sector. Equally pleasing was the thought of the organising committee, that it should be quite normal to have a Traditional Mass at such an event. It was an honour to be there.

A representative of the Catholic Medical Association who attended the conference said: ‘In the first talk of the conference, one of the Tyburn nuns reminded us of the historical precedents of conscientious objection in a fascinating and moving account of the lives of the Tyburn martyrs. Her talk was a reminder of three important facts: firstly, whilst we may feel challenged at times, our lives are not literally on the line; secondly, the battle has already been won, just as the blood of the martyrs is now glorified, so will our small battles give way to glory in the future; lastly, we have the prayers of so many religious (and lay) people around the world to support us in our endeavours to do what is right.

‘The ensuing discussion on conscience was thus set up in the context of eternity and placed us in a humbling lineage of figures now gone before us, who had remained true to their convictions to the last - the martyrs of course, but also more contemporary figures such as Dr Jerome Lejeune who fought so voraciously to defend the rights of people with Down’s Syndrome.

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‘ The Traditional Mass has been celebrated in the Relic Chapel a number of times in recent years, and, as one of the nuns remarked, it is appropriate because this is the Mass for which the martyrs died’ ‘The two talks on conscience, delivered by Dr Joseph Shaw and Mr John Smeaton (the latter from SPUC) provided us with a thorough philosophical and practical grounding in the nature of conscience within the healthcare setting, both what it is, and perhaps more importantly, what it isn’t. The day ended with a panel discussion enabling the attendees to enquire about some of the practicalities raised by the talks and so engage directly with the speakers.

The Q&A session also provided the opportunity for various professionals from the floor to offer their insights, demonstrating the diverse range of knowledge and experience present at such a meeting.

Marking the spot: a plaque now marks the spot where Tyburn Tree once stood

Memorial stained glass to some of those who died at Tyburn

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‘Overall, the day was a great success and it was a real privilege to listen to such fantastic speakers in such a beautiful and apt venue. Many thanks to the Tyburn nuns for their hospitality and prayers, they are, of course, assured of ours. Many thanks also to the CMA for organising such a stimulating conference!’

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CROSSWORD

Clues Across

1 Angels with six wings according to Isaiah 6 (7) 5 ‘O Mary we ----- thee with blossoms today’, May hymn (5) 8 & 20 Down: Symbols from two intersecting Greek letters forming a common Christogram (3-4) 9 ‘Quam ---------’, St. Pius X decree promoting frequent Holy Communion (9) 10 ‘----- Te Devote’, hymn attributed to St Thomas Aquinas (5) 11 Arena for competing cyclists (9) 14 St Bernard of, reforming French Benedictine effectively created the Cistercian Order (9) 18 ‘----- of sanctity’, sweet scent that may be emitted by the bodies of saints nearing death (5) 21 Skullcap worn by clergy [originally to cover the tonsure] (9) 22 Very small mark forming a point used in Morse Code (3) 23 As priest, prepares in the sacristy to celebrate Mass (5) 24 Not belonging to a specific person (7)

Clues Down Alan Frost: March 2018

ANSWERS TO SPRING 2018 CROSSWORD

Across: 1 Fanatic 5 Avila 8 Low 9 Resembles 10 Of Ars 11 Alexander 14 Ebbsfleet 18 Rings 21 Altare Dei 22 Una 23 Mamre 24 Sets The Down: 1 Filioque 2 Newman 3 Teresa Of 4 Castle 5 Alma 6 Island 7 Apse 12 Altruist 13 Ramsgate 15 Beatum 16 Exodus 17 Indult 19 Palm 20 Erse

Closing Date & Winner

Closing date for the crossword entries: Friday, 29 June 2018. The winner of the spring 2018 competition is Mrs Geraghty of York.

1 Relating to a Greek philosopher [d.399 B.C.] or his philosophy (8) 2 ‘------ d’etre’, a purpose, especially for existence itself (6) 3 Jewish Feast commemorating the Biblical delivery from death linked to the Easter Vigil Candle (8) 4 Footwear associated with monks and holiday-makers! (6) 5 Latin cross at the heart of the matter? (4) 6 ‘--- --- nobis peccatoribus’, Ave Maria (3,3) 7 Where in Luke 7, Christ restores a dead son to his mother (4) 12 Hymn or liturgical work ascribing glory to God (8) 13 Title of one retired from high official duties, e.g. Benedict XVI (8) 15 Something you can count on (6) 16 First name of crime writer associated with Paul VI Indult for the Latin Mass (6) 17 Riot instigator who put Bishop Challoner’s life at risk (6) 19 Sea of ----, inland sea between Ukraine and Russia (4) 20 See 8 Across

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS Gregorian Chant Network. Oneday chant course 2nd Feb 2019 with Matthew Ward, at Boars Hill, Oxford: booking open on the LMS website.

Gregorian Chant Network. Advance notice of Chant Training Weekend 5th7th April 2019, with Thomas Neil and Fr Guy Nichols, at the Oratory School, near Reading.

Retreat. The dates will be 5th-7th April (before Easter); to be led by priests of the Fraternity of St Peter.

Latin Mass Society Residential Latin Course, at Boars Hill, Oxford, Monday 30th July to Friday 3rd August, with Fr John Hunwicke and Mr Jean Van Der Stegen: booking open on LMS website

St Catherine's Trust. Summer School 2018, 29th July to 4th August, St Augustine’s Monastery, Ramsgate: see www.stcatherinestrust.org for information and booking.

Guild of St Clare Forthcoming Events

St Catherine's Trust Family Retreat: advance notice of the 2019 Family

12th May: Vestment mending in the LMS office

23rd-25th November: Sewing Retreat at Douai Abbey 1st-3rd February 2019: Sewing Retreat at Boars Hill Carmelite Retreat Centre For more details look at our blog www. guildofstclare.org or contact Lucy at lucyashaw@gmail.com

26th April, then fortnightly: evening course in Torchon bobbin lace techniques, in Oxford

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SUMMER 2018

MACKLIN STREET

New Data Protection Regulation

O

n 25th May 2018, a new Data Protection law comes into force which will affect the way we, the Latin Mass Society, interacts with you, its members.

Under this law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR), if we do not have your explicit permission to contact you by email, post or by telephone (but preferably all three), you will not receive ANY communication from us about anything, including not receiving your copy of Mass of Ages or notification of membership renewal.

The Latin Mass Society is committed to protecting the privacy of our members and supporters. How we do this can be found in our Privacy Policy, which is available to read on our website.

To enable us to continue to maintain contact with you it is vital you complete the questionnaire in the letter from the Secretary and return it to Macklin Street in the pre-paid envelope. You will find the letter on the reverse of the address sheet that accompanied your copy of Mass of Ages.

For those who have supplied us with an email address, we would have already contacted you about this and, hopefully, you have replied. If not, please do so without delay!

WITHOUT YOUR EXPLICIT CONSENT, YOU WILL RECEIVE NO FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS FROM US.

SUMMER 2018

Annual General Meeting and High Mass We are delighted to be able to return to Westminster Cathedral this year for our AGM and annual High Mass. Due to renovation work on the hall and unavailability of the Cathedral, last year we met in St James’s, Spanish Place.

At the time of the AGM this year there are two vacancies for elected members of the Committee.

Nomination forms (available from the General Manager) must be returned to the General Manager by 22nd June 2018.

Candidate and Proposer must both be in good standing at 22nd June 2018, having paid their year 2018 subscriptions by this date.

Candidates must have been members of the Society for at least two years.

Any nomination form incorrectly completed will be considered invalid. www.twitter.com/latimmassuk (@latinmassuk) www.facebook.com/latinmassuk

To contact the General Manager, Stephen Moseling, please email stephen@lms.org.uk or telephone the office.

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