Mass of Ages Winter 2016

Mass of Ages The quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society

Issue 190 – Winter 2016

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Spotlight on St James’s, Spanish Place A sacred masterpiece: Bach’s B Minor Mass Walsingham Pilgrimage report Plus: news, views, mass listings, and LMS Christmas cards

The LMS Traditional Ordo 2017 A day-to-day liturgical guide for the Missal of 1962, and Breviary of 1961, for England and Wales. Liturgical details of every Mass for every day of the year. Includes 20 pages of liturgical notes.

The indispensable guide for priests, servers and laity.

A5, wiro-bound. ISBN 9780993214042. RRP £8.

Prices, inclusive of p&p: UK £9.50; Europe (incl. ROI) £11.50; outside Europe £12.50.

Order online from www.lms.org.uk, by phone 020 7404 7284 or by post from The Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH - cheques made payable to ‘LMS’.

Traditional Catholic Calendar 2017

The LMS’s ever-popular wall calendar, with feast days according to the 1962 Missal, including many English and Welsh saints that are celebrated locally.

Each month displays a selection of colour pictures of Traditional Catholic events.

A4, that opens to display A3. ISBN 9780993214035. RRP £7.

Prices, inclusive of p&p: UK £8.50; Europe (incl. ROI) £10.50; outside Europe £11.50.

Order online from www.lms.org.uk, by phone 020 7404 7284 or by post from The Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH - cheques made payable to ‘LMS’.

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WINTER 2016

CONTENTS/CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Contents

Labouring in the Lord’s vineyard

3 Chairman’s Message Why support the Latin Mass Society? asks Dr Joseph Shaw

5 News Updates from around the country 7 Liturgical calendar

8 Engaging with the liturgy

Clare Bowskill talks to Dr Joseph Shaw about the St Catherine’s Trust Summer School

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Why support the Latin Mass Society? asks Chairman Dr Joseph Shaw

10 Of weeping and sorrow Do we still believe in maniples? asks Fr Bede Rowe

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12 When absolution was refused What does it mean to be truly sorry, asks Mary O’Regan 13 Letters to the editor

Readers have their say 15 Reports from around the country What’s happening where you are 24 Art

Catherine Donner looks at the

rich symbolism of Hugo van der

Goes’ Portinari Altarpiece 26 The Guild of St Clare Lucy Shaw on the joys of making and mending vestments

28 Books

Joseph Shaw reviews a new novel with Catholicism at its heart 29 Walking to Walsingham

Clare Bowskill talks to three of this

year’s pilgrims 32 Save St Winefride’s!

David Gorman on a Catholic crisis

in Wales and an historic occasion

for the Traditional Mass 34 Mass Listings 36 Roman Report

Alberto Carosa 42 Architecture

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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.

The Latin Mass Society 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH Tel: 020-7404 7284 editor@lms.org.uk PATRONS: Sir Adrian Fitzgerald Bt, Lord (Brian) Gill, Sir James MacMillan CBE, Colin Mawby KSG, Charles Moore COMMITTEE: Dr Joseph Shaw – Chairman; Paul Waddington – Treasurer; Kevin Jones – Secretary; Paul Beardsmore – Vice President; James Bogle; Eric Friar; Antonia Robinson; Roger Wemyss Brooks; Registered UK Charity No. 248388 MASS OF AGES: Editor: Tom Quinn Design: GADS Ltd Printers: Bishops

45 Seeing and believing

The Lone Veiler on the Beauraing

apparitions, and the film, Risen

Mass of Ages No. 190

46 Crossword 47 Macklin Street

WINTER 2016

Cover image: St James, Spanish Place © John Aron

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.

hy does the Latin Mass Society exist? What is it for? This is an easy question to answer. It exists to promote the Church’s traditional liturgy, the music which accompanies it, and the Latin language in which it is celebrated.

Slightly harder questions are: granted that these are worthy aims, why is there a need for an organisation like the LMS? A further follow-up question we sometimes hear, explicitly or implicitly, is this: even supposing the Society does good work, why should I bother to join or support it?

Fallen world We sometimes hear that in some ideal world there would be no need for the Latin Mass Society. Not in the sense that, in some ideal world there would be no accidents or disease and therefore no need for doctors, but in the sense that even in a fallen world the work the Society does should be done by ‘the Church’.

I put ‘the Church’ in inverted commas because to say that our work should be done by ‘the Church’ betrays some confusion. Work by the Society and its members is done by the Church, because the Society is part of the Church.

When the Society facilitates, supports, or organises from scratch a Mass or devotional event, clerical members of the Church do the things that are proper to the clergy, such as celebrating the liturgy and hearing confessions, preaching and giving spiritual direction.

Lay members of the Church do some of the other things necessary to make an

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE event happen, and for people to know about it and attend it.

I like to think of the Latin Mass Society as a continuation of the work done by lay-led associations in the Middle Ages, and also in modern times, which in response to local needs built and maintained chapels and churches and organised all kinds of devotional events.

No one, I hope, would suggest that in an ‘ideal world’ the lay confraternities in Spain which organise their famous Holy Week processions and festivals of patron saints should not exist.

On the contrary, in an ideal world there would be many such pious associations, and they would contribute to the work of the Church: in harmony with the hierarchy, under the authority of the hierarchy, but autonomous in the sense that they generally work on their own initiative on projects they have chosen.

Here is another question: what motivates and has for centuries motivated active laity and the priests who associate with them? It is love of the Church. If we love the Church, we must consider what we can do to play our part in her life and growth. If you are reading this, supporting the Latin Mass Society is something you can do.

Our cartoon This Br Choleric cartoon refers to an earlier Fr Lombardi, but seems to apply well to the accident-prone Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, Vatican spokesman, who has just retired.

Under Pope Benedict XVI, Fr Lombardi tried to tone down the more conservative things the Pope said, notably Benedict’s remark that condoms can make an AIDS epidemic worse.

Under Pope Francis, Fr Lombardi has been trying desperately to downplay,

or expunge from the public record, the Pope’s more controversial statements.

Ideas Fr Lombardi was always motivated, I am sure, by a desire to serve the Pope and the Church. His mistake was twofold. First, he put presentation above truth, which in time undermined his credibility. Second, it was his own delicate balance between conservative and progressive ideas which was the centre towards which he wanted to tweak Papal statements, and not the intended meaning of the Pope himself.

This meant that, in the worst cases, he himself became the story: the worst sin of the professional spokesman.

The Br Choleric cartoon is taken from Postumous Cracks in the Cloisters by Brother Choleric (Hubert van Zeller OSB), 1962.

If we love the Church, we must consider what we can do to play our part in her life and growth.

In this way lay men and women, whether individually or organised into associations and even religious orders, and all kinds of active laity living in the world, have laboured in the Lord’s vineyard since Apostolic times.

Nevertheless, wouldn’t the Society do its work, you might ask, without my bothering to fill in a membership form and renewing my annual subscription year after year?

The answer, of course, is No, we would not do our work if people did not join and support us, and bequeath us money in their wills. Our work requires money and volunteers, and our membership is indispensable for both. If each reader of my words concluded that the Society can manage without him or her, then we would have no membership, and there would be no Society.

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“You all know what to do? As soon as Fr Lombardi appears…”

WINTER 2016

TAB

WINTER 2016

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EVENTS

LMS Year Planner – Notable Events We have started planning events for 2017.

Further details can be found on our website, together with booking and payment facilities where applicable.

Saturday, 26 November 2016 The Latin Mass Society and The Guild of St Clare will be exhibiting at the Towards Advent Festival in Westminster Cathedral Hall. Please come along and support us!

Sung Requiem Mass in the chapel of St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery, Langthorne Road, Leytonstone, London E11 4HL at 10.30am.

Monday, 2 January 2017 New Year High Mass in St James’s, Spanish Place, London at 12.30pm.

Saturday, 25 March 2017 LMS Pilgrimage to York in honour of St Margaret Clitherow and the York Martyrs. St Wilfrid’s, York.

High Mass at 1.30pm, followed by a procession through York and Benediction in St Wifrid’s.

Mass at St James’s Spanish Place

© John Aron

Mass in St Joseph’s, Bradford

© John Aron

Monday, 27 – Friday, 31 March 2017 Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP will give a silent retreat for clergy in Prior Park College, Bath. The LMS is handling the bookings for this.

Friday, 31 March 2017 Start of the St Catherine Family Trust’s Family Retreat and Gregorian Chant Network’s Chant weekend in the Oratory School near Reading.

Holy Week As last year, we hope to be able to celebrate the full Triduum in St Mary Moorfields church in London. Further details will be announced.

Legacies The LMS relies heavily on legacies to support its income.

We are very grateful to the following who remembered the Society in their will

Mary Barlow John Hopgood Angela Partridge

© J Shaw

Requiescant in Pace

The Guild of St Clare will be at the Towards Advent Festival in Westminster Cathedral Hall

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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

WINTER 2016

LITURGICAL CALENDAR/OBITUARY

NOVEMBER 2016 Sun 13 VI SUNDAY remaining after EPIPHANY II Cl G Mon 14 S JOSAPHAT B M III Cl R Tue 15 S ALBERT the GREAT B C D III Cl W Wed 16 S GERTRUDE V III Cl W Thu 17 S GREGORY THAUMATURGUS B C III Cl W Fri 18 DEDICATION of the BASILICAS of SS PETER § & PAUL § Aps III Cl W Sat 19 S ELIZABETH W III Cl W Sun 20 XXIV & LAST SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 21 PRESENTATION of the BVM III Cl W Tue 22 S CECILIA § V M III Cl R Wed 23 S CLEMENT I P M III Cl R Thu 24 S JOHN of the CROSS C D III Cl W Fri 25 S CATHERINE V M III Cl R Sun 27 I SUNDAY of ADVENT I Cl V Mon 28 FERIA III Cl V Tue 29 FERIA III Cl V Wed 30 S ANDREW § Ap II Cl R DECEMBER 2016 Thu 1 FERIA III Cl V Fri 2 S BIBIANA V M III Cl R Sat 3 S FRANCIS XAVIER C III Cl W Sun 4 II SUNDAY of ADVENT I Cl V Mon 5 FERIA III Cl V Tue 6 S NICHOLAS B C III Cl W Wed 7 S AMBROSE B C D III Cl W Thu 8 IMMACULATE CONCEPTION of the BVM I Cl W Fri 9 FERIA III Cl V Sat 10 FERIA III Cl V Sun 11 III SUNDAY of ADVENT (Gaudete Sunday) I Cl V/ROSE Mon 12 FERIA III Cl V Tue 13 S LUCY V M III Cl R Wed 14 EMBER DAY II Cl V Thu 15 FERIA III Cl V Fri 16 EMBER DAY II Cl V Sat 17 EMBER DAY II Cl V Sun 18 IV SUNDAY of ADVENT I Cl V Mon 19 FERIA II Cl V Tue 20 FERIA II Cl V Wed 21 S THOMAS § Ap II Cl R Thu 22 FERIA II Cl V Fri 23 FERIA II Cl V Sat 24 VIGIL of the NATIVITY of OLJC I Cl V Sun 25 NATIVITY of OLJC I Cl W Mon 26 S STEPHEN § Protomartyr II Cl R Tue 27 S JOHN § Ap Evangelist II Cl W Wed 28 HOLY INNOCENTS MM II Cl R Thu 29 V DAY in the OCTAVE of the NATIVITY II Cl W Fri 30 VI DAY in the OCTAVE of the NATIVITY II Cl W Sat 31 VII DAY within the OCTAVE of the NATIVITY II Cl W JANUARY 2017 Sun 1 OCTAVE DAY of the NATIVITY of the LORD I Cl W Mon 2 MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS II Cl W Tue 3 FERIA IV Cl W Wed 4 FERIA IV Cl W Thu 5 FERIA IV Cl W Fri 6 EPIPHANY of the LORD I Cl W Sat 7 OUR LADY’S SATURDAY IV Cl W Sun 8 HOLY FAMILY JESUS, MARY & JOSEPH § II Cl W Mon 9 FERIA IV Cl W Tue 10 FERIA IV Cl W Wed 11 FERIA IV Cl W Thu 12 FERIA IV Cl W Fri 13 COMMEMORATION of the BAPTISM of OLJC II Cl W Sat 14 S HILARY B C D III Cl W Sun 15 II SUNDAY after EPIPHANY II Cl G Mon 16 S MARCELLUS I P M III Cl R Tue 17 S ANTONY Ab III Cl W Wed 18 FERIA IV Cl G Thu 19 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 20 SS FABIAN P & SEBASTIAN MM III Cl R Sat 21 S AGNES § V M III Cl R Sun 22 III SUNDAY after EPIPHANY II Cl G Mon 23 S RAYMUND of PENAFORT C III Cl W Tue 24 S TIMOTHY B M III Cl R Wed 25 CONVERSION of S PAUL § Ap III Cl W Thu 26 S POLYCARP B M III Cl R Fri 27 S JOHN CHRYSOSTOM B C D III Cl W Sat 28 S PETER NOLASCO C III Cl W Sun 29 IV SUNDAY after EPIPHANY II Cl G Mon 30 S MARTINA V M III Cl R Tue 31 S JOHN BOSCO C III Cl W FEBRUARY Wed 1 S IGNATIUS § B M III Cl R Thu 2 PURIFICATION of the BVM II Cl W Fri 3 FERIA IV Cl ‡ G Sat 4 S ANDREW CORSINI B C III Cl W Sun 5 V SUNDAY after EPIPHANY II Cl G Mon 6 S TITUS B C III Cl W Tue 7 S ROMUALD Ab III Cl W Wed 8 S JOHN of MATHA C III Cl W Thu 9 S CYRIL of ALEXANDRIA B C D III Cl W Fri 10 S SCHOLASTICA V III Cl W Sat 11 APPARITION of the BVM IMMACULATE III Cl W

WINTER 2016

A first for Lewes

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wo Altar Servers from St Pancras, Lewes, Sussex were enrolled in the Sodality of St Tarcisius during the Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady on Monday, 15 August.

This is also the Feast of St Tarcisius, the 12 year-old Roman acolyte martyred in the 3rd century for his defence of the Blessed Sacrament.

Maksymilian and Luke are the first from the parish of Lewes to be enrolled in this association of the faithful, sponsored by the Latin Mass Society.

They are pictured here with Parish Priest Fr Jonathan Martin, VG.

For the Missal

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FSSP seminarian is looking for supplements for the Missal, and especially the Breviary, for the dioceses of England and Wales, if possible from 1960-2, but older ones would also be of interest. Contact: Thomas O’Sullivan, tosullivan@olgseminary.org

Ben Schiphorst: Boatman to the monks of Caldey

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avid O’Neill writes: ‘Bernardus Fredericus Cajetanus Maria Schiphorst, who has died aged 95, was a longstanding and loyal member of the Latin Mass Society.

‘Born in Holland in 1921, he was the second of nine children. His father was a diamond trader whose taste for travel was inherited by his son.

‘The Second World War dramatically changed the lives of Ben’s staunchly Catholic family, which included a Dominican friar. The Schiphorsts’ home was taken over by the Germans and Ben, by then working for the Resistance, went into hiding.

Despite the danger of being arrested and sent, like his brother, to the concentration camps, Ben was able to help Allied pilots shot down over Holland.

‘He was a kind, warm and tolerant man, but was never quite able to forgive the Germans, as he made clear to the Colonel who had occupied his house during the War when the now retired soldier knocked at the door after the war and asked if he could show his family around!

‘Ben eventually left Holland to become a much-loved boatman to the monks of Caldey Island.

‘He later moved to Repton and worked for the Civil Service and it was around this time that he met the late Mary Berry, from whom he learned to love church music and chant in particular.

‘He moved to Newcastle where he met his future wife, June.

After retiring in 1981, he became more involved with the LMS and later joined the Latin choir at St Dominic’s Priory in Newcastle when the Traditional Mass found a home there.

‘After moving to a retirement apartment in Newcastle he suffered a fall and died on 13 December, 2015. His Sung Requiem Mass was celebrated on 29 December. We ask that you pray for the repose of Ben’s soul. Requiescat in Pace.’ David O’Neill

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INTERVIEW

Engaging with the liturgy Clare Bowskill talks to Dr Joseph Shaw about the St Catherine’s Trust Summer School

Team work: ‘The most trustworthy kind of feedback is that the children keep coming back…’

How long has the St Catherine’s Trust Summer School been running and why was it set up?

The first Summer School took place in 2005, and we created the St Catherine’s Trust as a charitable trust, to manage it, just a few months earlier. At the time there was a long-running Catholic Summer School being run by the late David Foster (not to be confused with David Forster of the Latin Mass Society), which was successful, but which did not have the Traditional Mass.

We thought it would be good to have an event like that which was based unashamedly on the Traditional Mass, especially for the many home-schooling families we were in touch with.

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Can anyone sign up?

Anyone can sign up, and we have a mix of home-educated children and those from conventional schools, some who go habitually to the Traditional Mass and others who attend only occasionally or not at all.

The school costs around £240 per pupil to run, but thanks to the generosity of parents and other benefactors – not least the Latin Mass Society – we don’t charge a fee, but simply ask for a donation. This means we have always had a very good social mix, and get students from all over England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and usually one or two from France or Belgium.

Did you do anything different this year?

For the first time we visited the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, which is not far away. It has an excellent collection of Medieval, Renaissance, and Pre-Raphaelite pictures.

Since we’ve been in North Wales, we’ve visited the Institute of Christ the King on the Wirral, the shrine of St Richard Gwynn in Wrexham, St Asaph’s Cathedral, Chester, and the splendid castle at Denbigh.

What else do the children do at the Summer School?

We give them a taste of a range of subjects, with a Catholic flavour: history, history of art, catechism, philosophy,

WINTER 2016

INTERVIEW and even a bit of Greek and Latin, and Gregorian Chant.

The children put on a staged reading of a radio play at the end of the week, and we have a very amusing quiz to see what they can remember. We have a couple of films in the evenings, and visiting speakers. The children play football after lunch, except the dozen or so who’ve chosen to do sewing.

There is a different sewing project each year, and this year they made beautiful embroidered scapulars.

The Latin Mass is celebrated every day at the summer school: how do the children react to Mass in Latin?

Not only do we have Mass, but Rosary after breakfast, and Sung Latin Compline, sometimes with Benediction, in the evening. The children accept this as part of the daily routine, and even the ones not used to the Traditional Mass appreciate it. I am sure it helps that for much of the week we have managed, in recent years, to have High Mass, with Deacon and Subdeacon, accompanied by a highly competent chant schola.

The ceremonies of High Mass, such as the Kiss of Peace among the Sacred Ministers, and the solemn proclamation of the readings, are very expressive, and with the singing this really helps the children to engage deeply with the liturgy. Similarly, sung Compline each evening is a very contemplative and consoling experience.

We feel the liturgy is at least as important as the lessons in deepening the children’s appreciation of the Faith.

The simplest way for me to do this was for it to share the same venue, and this has worked very well, with the priests and seminarians taking part as tutors or students making High Mass possible each day.

An event of this scale must take a lot of organisation and planning. Who is involved in making it happen?

These kinds of events are possible because you can carry over a lot of things — physical equipment, timetables, DBS checks (formerly CRB checks) — from year to year, making only incremental changes. Recruiting new staff is a challenge, particularly female teachers, since our female supporters tend to be at home with their own children.

The most entertaining bit of forward planning is watching films to be considered for the children. Many films from the golden age of Catholicfriendly film-making are too long, but I enjoyed watching Charlton Heston play Pope Julius II, and The Agony and the Ecstasy, about the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, will definitely be on the agenda for 2017.

Dr Joseph Shaw is Chairman of the St Catherine’s Trust.

The Summer School in 2017 will take place at the Franciscan Retreat Centre at Pantasaph, Flint, in North Wales, from 23 to 30 July. It accepts children aged 11-18. For more information, visit www.stcatherinestrust.org or email info@stcatherinestrust.org

What do the children think of the summer school?

The most trustworthy kind of feedback is that the children keep coming back, and bring siblings back with them. Very much in their minds is the social aspect of the school, making friends and spending time with them.

We have also seen students and some staff members go on to seminary or the religious life.

You also run an annual Latin course along the St Catherine’s summer school. How did this come about?

Having an intensive Latin course for priests and seminarians, and lay people too, based on liturgical Latin and at as low a cost as possible, was a high priority for the LMS, to complement our Priest Training Conferences, and I undertook to organise one.

WINTER 2016

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FEATURE

Of weeping and sorrow Do we still believe in maniples? asks Fr Bede Rowe

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y this title I do not mean the Roman army formation which came into common practice during the Second Samnite War in 315 BC (though its importance cannot be underestimated). Rather I mean those little bits of cloth that some Priests wear over their left arm when saying Mass.

The history of the maniple is quite interesting. It is common in the liturgy of the West from about the 6th Century onwards, and probably came about much earlier than this from the practical need of the Priest to wipe his face and hands when celebrating Holy Mass.

Binding vestments This may sound a little strange to us in the frozen North, but around the Mediterranean in the height of summer, with no air-conditioning, a priest would have been glad of a small piece of cloth to mop his brow – his body being encased in binding vestments for the offering of the Divine Sacrifice.

So by the 6th Century, the maniple had become a liturgical garment corresponding to the colour of the other vestments. Although in shape and style it developed at various times in various ways, it retained its place on the left arm, and always with something of its original meaning.

Balance of sorrow

The maniple: common in the liturgy of the West from about the 6th century

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A translation of the prayer which the Priest says when he puts on the maniple is “May I deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of weeping and sorrow, in order that I may joyfully receive the reward of my work.” With weeping comes the need to wipe the face, and balance of sorrow and happiness typify the Priest’s offering of his life in sacrifice and joy.

The maniple was an obligatory part of the Mass vestments until 1967. In that year the Sacred Congregation of Rites

WINTER 2016

FEATURE

issued the decree Tres Abhinc Annos, which stated “the maniple is no longer required.” So Priests threw them away.

Or sent them to the missions. Or used them for goodness knows what. They even said that it was wrong to wear the maniple as it was no longer ‘required’.

Well, we know that that is not true: just because something is not required does not mean that it is forbidden. It seems to me monstrous and wicked that sets of vestments were ravaged and torn asunder by the destruction of the maniple.

So why am I banging on about this?

Well, as I am writing this I have just celebrated the New Rite feast of Ss Margaret Ward, Anne Line and Margaret Clitherow. St Margaret Clitherow was a convert whose brother was a Priest and who sent her son abroad to be educated in Catholicism. She harboured Priests and provided a place for Mass to be said.

She cried out against the new religion and refused to go along to the statesponsored services, and as a result was imprisoned.

I died for that cloth which you so easily put aside and destroy Her third child, William, was born when she was locked up in gaol.

When in March 1586 her house was searched, the Queen’s officers found Mass vestments, and the possession of these was enough to have her pressed to death in the most foul and cruel way.

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Holy saint Let me reiterate, she died because they found vestments in her house. I can imagine this holy saint looking down from heaven and crying out “I died for that cloth which you so easily put aside and destroy” as modern Priests scorn the maniple and other holy garments.

Though I am sure that it was not just for the possession of a maniple alone that St Margaret was humiliated and tortured at the age of 33, leaving three children motherless, yet I am convinced that a maniple would have been there among the vestments which were mocked by ‘lewd men’ at her socalled trial. She died for the faith, and the faith is the Mass, and the Mass needs the Priest, and the Priest needs his vestments.

And in 1967 at a stroke “the maniple is no longer required”, and the Priest stopped saying: “May I deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of weeping and sorrow, in order that I may joyfully receive the reward of my work.”

I firmly believe in the maniple. It would be a great thing if Priests would take up again this holy garment in celebrations of both forms of Holy Mass, just as a knight of old would take up the token of his lady before going into battle.

St Margaret, the ‘pearl of York’, could be our mistress and our defender in heaven, and her handkerchief, our maniple, will be that very token

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OPINION

When absolution was refused What does it mean to be truly sorry? asks Mary O’Regan

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hroughout Dónal spent many long days with my adult life Pio at San Giovanni de Rotondo, ever I’ve been ready to lend assistance by comforting surrounded by young and befriending penitents who were female friends who trying to save their souls, enlightening tell me they view them as to what they had done wrong me as a Latin Mass and what they needed to confess.

Catholic who takes sin, and the sin of During a visit to Dónal at his home abortion in particular, too seriously. in County Cork, I asked him if he had In response I have often tried to known a woman who had been refused defend the Church’s teachings on the absolution because of having had an gravity of abortion as a mortal sin by reminding them that Padre Pio took the sin of abortion so seriously that he was known to have refused absolution if a penitent confessed to having had an abortion.

While this has led to the smiles melting from faces and shocked silence (and to my temporary satisfaction at having had the last word) I have unwittingly portrayed abortion as the unforgivable sin.

In wider circles of the global Catholic Church the assumption that Padre Pio never gave absolution when a woman or man confessed involvement in procuring or having an abortion, may discourage post-abortion women (and men) from confessing abortion; they may think it is a stain on their soul that can never be wiped clean. They may also feel painfully at odds with Padre Pio: if the great mystic refused absolution to others, had they darkened his confessional, would he do the same to them?

I wanted to discover if Padre Pio ever granted absolution in these circumstances. In the case Padre Pio could see her soul I will relate, Padre Pio refused absolution to a woman who had had an abortion. Dónal told me of one such abortion, but later granted absolution to post-abortion woman who gave him the very same woman. permission to tell her story.

It was the late Dónal Enright who Dónal first met her minutes after she gave me his eye-witness account. Dónal had left Padre Pio’s confessional. She was a dear friend of Padre Pio. As his was in great emotional distress having name suggests, Dónal was an Irishman been refused absolution. She was, from the same part of Ireland that I hail however, receptive to meeting Dónal from, Cork. who greeted her calmly with his soft

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Irish lilt. Dónal offered her the chance to talk things over with him and she agreed. He did not pry - and did not ask prying questions. But the woman felt at ease in his company and volunteered the information that she had suffered much following her abortion, and knowing it was a sin, she took it with her to Padre Pio’s confessional, but Padre Pio had refused her absolution saying, ‘you are not truly sorry for your sin’.

This is the key: Padre Pio could see her soul and could see that she was not sufficiently contrite or ‘truly sorry’ to use Pio’s exact words.

Emotional guilt, the sort that causes distress and depression, and genuine contrition where we are sincerely sorry to God for offending Him, are different and in their pure forms entirely separate phenomena.

After being refused absolution, the woman had to pray for contrition. Interestingly, it is when offering the Mystery of the Rosary, the Scourging of the Pillar that we ask for true contrition for our sins. In my view true contrition and the personal cultivation of it has not had much attention in the Year of Mercy, which ends this November.

True contrition did not come easily to the woman in question.

She struggled for months: she was convinced that her postabortion guilt was the same thing as contrition for her sin. Dónal (and I’m sure Padre Pio) prayed for her.

It took her a year, but she developed true contrition for arranging the death of her child. When the searing ache of true contrition pierced her soul, she returned to Padre Pio’s confessional and once again confessed to having had an abortion. On this occasion, Pio did not refrain from granting her absolution, and said, ‘now you are truly sorry, I can give you absolution’.

WINTER 2016

LETTERS

Letters to the Editor Restoring the ancient church I would like to take issue with Mgr Keith Newton’s remark (in his interview with Dylan Parry), that the Catholic Church in England and Wales after 1850 did not emphasise its continuity with the English Catholic past, but rather its Irish and Italian connections.

As a matter of fact, large-scale Irish immigration was only just beginning in 1850. What the bishops and others were doing in this era was restoring the Church which had existed in this country since the time of St Alban. This idea guided the Church here right into the 1950s.

The monks of Buckfast took it most literally when they built a 13th Century-style Abbey church on the very foundations of one destroyed in the Reformation, but all over the country we find restored medieval shrines (Willesden, Caversham, Holywell, Walsingham), the veneration of medieval saints (St Chad, St Edmund of Canterbury), with glorious medieval-style churches and Gothic vestments designed by the Pugins and their followers.

Italianate, Roman and even Byzantine styles were not, of course, excluded, and nor were post-medieval devotions and the saints of modern times, but the idea of restoration was extremely powerful.

The sociologist Anthony Archer noted that what he calls the ‘restoration model’ was embarrassing to some of the old Catholic families, who didn’t want to spoil their chances of re-joining the social and political establishment as the era of active persecution ended, and came to an end in the 1960s because the English and Welsh bishops wanted to join that same establishment.

There was a consciousness throughout the period that the idea of restoration implied that Anglicanism was not the authentic Christianity of England and Wales. It was the ancient Catholic liturgy which was in real continuity with the liturgy and spirituality of our ancient and medieval predecessors, even if the Anglicans occupied their old churches.

I welcome the contribution of the Ordinariate to a renewed evangelisation of the UK based on a confidence that the Catholic Church has deep roots in this country.

As a matter of historical accuracy, and also of proper gratitude, we should be conscious, as we make this claim, that we are continuing the programme of Cardinal Wiseman and a century of his successors.

Dr Joseph Shaw, Woodstock

Moral identity In the autumn edition of the LMS magazine Fr Bede Rowe writes on Europe and a history of the Christian faith. He quotes Pope Benedict XVI:

“It is a question of a historical, cultural, and moral identity before being a geographic, economic, or political one; an identity comprised of a set of universal values that Christianity helped forge, thus giving Christianity not only a historical but a foundational role vis-a-vis Europe.”

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I find this quote interesting because it is similar to the one below, by Benedict, which I noted some years ago:

“The EU is godless. But then it is unthinkable that the EU could build a common European house while ignoring Europe’s identity. Europe is a historical, cultural and moral identity before it is a geographic, economic or political reality. It is an identity built on a set of values which Christianity played a part in moulding.”

Gary Ross Via email

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

Please pray for the souls of all members who have died recently Requiescant in Pace Michael Akerman Robert Doran Kathleen Holt Vincent Howard John Lawrenson David Maunsell Elaine McQuillan

Angus Nicol Edward O’Connell Angela Partridge Bernardus Schiphorst George Smith Edward Stratton Teresa Whitney

Every effort is made to ensure that this list is accurate and up-to-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.

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PILGRIMAGE

Wrexham Martyr Kevin Jones reports on a North Wales pilgrimage

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aint Richard Gwyn (1537-1584) is one of the patrons of the Latin Mass Society so it seems fitting to have a pilgrimage and Mass in his honour. The Mass was on 15 October, 432 years to the day after Richard was executed.

Some 40 pilgrims made the journey to the Gothic Revival church of Our Lady of Sorrows, which was designed

by Edwin Welby Pugin (son of the more famous Augustus Welby Pugin) and the seat of the Bishop of Wrexham, the Rt Rev. Peter Brignall.

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Built during the 1850s to replace a small Catholic chapel in nearby King Street, it was completed in 1857 and its smaller size, but no less grand design, is an indication that it was never meant to be a Cathedral church.

This was a joint pilgrimage with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Canon Scott Tanner, from the shrine church of Ss Peter & Paul and St Philomena at New Brighton, sang Mass and we are indebted to him and Canon Poucin (of St Walburge, Preston) who sang in the choir.

St Richard Gwyn was born in Wales. He studied at Oxford and then at St John’s College, Cambridge, but his studies were interrupted in 1558 when Elizabeth I ascended the throne and Catholics were expelled from the universities. He returned to Wales and became a teacher. He married and had six children.

He was leant on to become an Anglican and succumbed briefly to

the pressure, but returned to the faith after a sudden illness and remained steadfast in it thereafter. He frequently had to change his home and place of work to avoid fines and imprisonment, but he was finally arrested in 1579, and after escaping and spending a year and a half on the run, he spent the rest of his life in prison.

He was fined astronomical sums for not attending the Anglican church, and was carried to church in irons more than once; but he would disrupt the service by rattling his irons and heckling!

Eventually, enough evidence was invented to sustain a charge of high treason, which was a charge vague enough to be usable against anyone whose actions were inconvenient to the state. He was convicted after a trial in 1583. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Wrexham on 15 October 1584.

St Richard, pray for us!

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

DIOCESAN DIGEST Mass of Ages quarterly round-up

Arundel and Brighton Annie Mackie-Savage 01323 411370 amacsav@sky.com www.arundelbrightonlatinmasssociety.blogspot.co.uk

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he summer has seen the resumption of the 3pm Masses at St Thomas More, Seaford, and the initiation of Masses at Our Lady of Ransom, Eastbourne.

Fr Gerard Hatton has been learning the Latin Mass and kindly said he would say them in Eastbourne on the second Sundays of the month, at 8am. Fr Paul Gillham has also said occasional Masses at St Mary Magdalene, Bexhill when he has been visiting.

I would like to thank Fr Bruno, Fr Gerard, and Fr Paul, for their generosity, it is very much appreciated. It is so good to see, in the east of the diocese at least, a Sunday Mass now each week.

It would be fantastic to be able to see a few years down the line a Sunday Mass in every Deanery of the Diocese.

The usual Latin Mass times are unchanged as I write this, although any additions, cancellations, or alterations, can be found on the A&B blog. Please contact me if there is anything I can do to help forward the Latin Mass in your area, and thank you for your ongoing support.

Birmingham (City & Black Country) Louis Maciel 07855 723445 louis.maciel@gmail.com www.birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk

Friday Low Mass, which followed the previous one in July, a totally parish affair down to the choir and the servers!

The September and October first Friday Masses at St Augustine’s in Solihull unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the unavailability of Fr Daniel Horgan. It is a Jubilee church for the Year of Mercy, while Maryvale and the Oratory are places of pilgrimage.

Birmingham (Staffordshire North) Alan Frost 01270 768144 alan.jfrost@btinternet.com www.north-staffs-lms.blogspot.co.uk/

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e are happy to report encouraging news about the continuing improvement of Fr Chavasse’s throat condition, and he was able to celebrate his first Missa Cantata for some time on the Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, to whom the Swynnerton Church (where he is PP) is dedicated.

There have been other celebrations of the Missa Cantata at Swynnerton recently, offered by Fr Stephen Goodman from Wolverhampton who stepped in for Fr Chavasse as his treatment continues. A new server assisted Fr Dykes in Wolstanton at the August First Friday Mass as the usual server was at a Conference in France, held at the Chavagnes International Catholic Boys’ College. The Guest of honour and celebrant at Solemn High Mass there was Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan.

Priests familiar to the LMS at the Conference included Fr Bede Rowe, Fr Simon Henry (Offerimus Tibi Domine blog) and College Chaplain Fr Mark Lawler.

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rchbishop Bernard Longley is scheduled to celebrate Pontifical High Mass at the Oratory for the Immaculate Conception, the second time he has done so this year after his celebration in January. It will be the first time a current Archbishop had celebrated Mass in the Extraordinary Form in his own Archdiocese in this country since the reforms. Please do your best to attend. This follows from the High Mass celebrated in the presence of Bishop Robert Byrne for the Assumption, the patronal feast of the Archdiocese, followed by a renewal of the consecration of the parish to Our Lady.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was also celebrated with High Mass at the Oratory, with a blessing of the newly restored crucifix in the cloister after Mass. The feast coincided with the second Wednesday of the month, which meant there was a Mass at the same time at Maryvale, where Blessed John Henry Newman lived before he founded the Oratory. At the time of writing, High Masses are planned for All Saints and All Souls.

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour celebrated a High Mass for the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, in place of its usual weekly

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Bishop Schneider celebrating a Pontifical High Mass at the Chavagnes International Catholic Boys’ College in France.

The occasion was a Summer Conference on The Virgin Mary in Language Literature and Life on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the death of St Louis-Marie de Montfort.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Cardiff

East Anglia

Andrew Butcher M: 07905 609770 E: andrew.butcher@lmscardiff.org.uk W: www.lmscardiff.org.uk

Alisa and Gregor Kunitz-Dick igregord@gmail.com alisarkd@gmail.com 01223 322401

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ur new website is up and running. It has a new interactive map feature to show the locations and times of Holy Mass as well as many other improvements. We hope you find it very useful. Any improvements or comments would be very welcome.

The time of Holy Mass at Abergavenny has changed.

Mass will now be offered on the first and penultimate Fridays of the month at 6.30pm. All other Mass times and locations within the Archdiocese remain unchanged at the present time. Masses may be announced at short notice, if a priest is available. A Mass may be offered at Christmas, but please contact me in December for more information. I will do my very best to keep you informed, but if you have the internet, checking our website weekly or signing up for our newsletter would be the best way to stay in touch.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact either Shaun Bennett (Hereford) or myself. Our Mass Listings have been included at the back of this edition of Mass of Ages.

We also have commissioned an app, which is available to all Android users from the Google Play Store. The app contains all the latest updates, Mass times, photographs and much more. Search for LMSCardiff or Latin Mass Society Cardiff and you will find it. I am sorry the app is still not available for iPhone users.

Of your charity please continue to remember Dom Antony Tumelty OSB in your daily prayers who is seriously ill at this time. Pray also for his father, brother and his family. Our Lady and all the Saints and Blesséd of England and Wales, pray for him.

In Domino.

Clifton Ken and Carol Reis (Main Reps) 07896 879116 pussyfooters@blueyonder.co.uk www.lmsclifton.blogspot.co.uk

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he annual LMS Pilgrimage to Glastonbury took place on Saturday 10 September. Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us an,d due to rather persistent rain, the Mass took place in the parish church of St Mary’s (Our Lady of Glastonbury). The Parish Priest, Father James Finan, kindly cancelled parish activities that morning so we were able to set up the church in time for the Mass to start at 11.15am.

The Mass was well attended and music was provided by the Bevan Singers and was excellent. After the Mass the weather improved and we had a Rosary Procession around the Abbey grounds, followed by lunch in the Parish hall and at 2pm Benediction was held in the church. The event finished about 2.30pm.

This will be our last report as we are standing down as the Clifton Diocese Reps and our successors are James Belt (Main Rep) supported by Monika Paplaczyk (Assistant Rep) and we wish them every success.

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asses in East Anglia continue as in recent months, and full details are given in the diocesan Mass Listings in this magazine. The Sunday Mass at Blackfriars in Cambridge remains well-attended. This is celebrated according to the Dominican use and is usually a Low Mass, but is occasionally sung; the next Sung Mass is planned provisionally for the feast of Christ the King on Sunday 30 October.

Mass on Christmas Day will be at the usual Sunday time of 9.15am and, if enough servers are available, this Mass will be sung. New servers and singers are always needed and offers would be received gratefully.

In previous years there has been Mass at the cathedral in Norwich on Christmas Eve. This had not been confirmed for this year at the time of writing, but those interested are advised to consult the LMS website or contact the representatives closer to the time.

With the beginning of the school term, a weekly Latin and Greek class for Catholic children has begun, to teach them to read medieval and patristic texts. Currently there are eight students. Please direct any enquiries to us.

Hexham and Newcastle Jack Kilday handnlmsrep@gmail.com

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ello all. I am Jack Kilday, the new Diocesan Representative for Hexham and Newcastle. I go to St Joseph’s in Gateshead and you may feel free to contact me via the above email address.

On 10 September we held our annual pilgrimage to Brinkburn Priory, with Solemn High Mass. We had Fr Bede Rowe as Priest, Fr David Phillips as Deacon and Fr Michael Brown as Sub-deacon, with a serving team provided by St Joseph’s, Gateshead.

The pilgrimage went well, with a decent sized turnout as in previous years, and we had good weather for the day.

Brinkburn Priory is a former Augustinian Priory that managed to survive the Reformation relatively untouched.

For all future updates in the Diocese check out our blog, as I will be posting news on any upcoming events.

Right: Bradford, in the Leeds Diocese, now has a home for the Latin Mass thanks to Bishop Stock.

Every Sunday a Missa Cantata will be celebrated at St Joseph’s Parish in Bradford at 12.30pm. The first Mass at St Joseph’s (see picture) was celebrated by Fr Hall with Fr Timothy Wiley, the diocesan EF coordinator, in attendance. Local membership in the diocese numbers more than 100, but there are many friends and supporters, which has enabled the parish to put together a team of servers. They are always looking for new servers and singers.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

© John Aron

Lancaster Bob and Jane Latin 01524 412987 lancasterlms@gmail.com John Rogan 01524 858832 john_rogan@yahoo.co.uk www.latinmasslancaster.blogspot. co.uk

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s hoped, we are able to bring you good news, but slightly different from that expected. We are delighted to be able to report that John Rogan has agreed to act as Assistant Representative. John is one of our servers and is very well versed in the liturgical side of the Extraordinary Form Mass. He will be responsible for arranging all the liturgical requirements for the Traditional Masses in our area, including the arranging of priests, servers, and equipment.

This will allow us to stay on as Local Representatives and we will continue to provide administrative support. We are very grateful to John for his involvement. By the time you read this, God willing, all three of us will have attended the

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Representatives meeting in London so that John can meet the Committee and HQ staff.

One of the things that John has already done is to recruit another server, Andrew Dennison, who came along to two of the Sizergh Masses in the summer. When his commitments to his own parish allow, Andrew will assist John with serving at St Mary’s. Hornby. On the subject of Hornby, in September the numbers dropped significantly so those of you who live in the area please do try to come and support this Mass. Canon Ruscillo is happy to continue to say it but it would be nice to have a few more in the congregation.

Numbers at the Masses at Sizergh Castle were quite good this year, including, at the last one in September, a family who had travelled up from Chester. Many thanks to Fr Simon Henry and Canon John Watson for saying these Masses for us.

It is a privilege to be able to have Mass in the Castle Chapel and we are most grateful to the Strickland family for allowing us to continue to do so and making us so welcome.

There have been changes at St Walburge in Preston. Canon Francis Altiere has transferred to another of the Institute’s churches in Wisconsin, USA and his successor is Canon Cristofoli, who for the last eight years has directed their apostolate in Rennes, France. He celebrated his first Mass at

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY St Walburge for the Feast of its Dedication on 25 September.

As I write, Canon Cristofoli had only been in post a week so we do not have any details of forthcoming events. Please see their website http://www.stwalburge.org for up to date information. We are very grateful for the cooperation of Canon Altiere in keeping us informed, his hospitality when we have been able to attend St Walburge, and the example he gave of a priest dedicated to offering the Traditional Mass; we wish him every blessing in his new post. Bishop Michael celebrated another EF Mass at St Walburge on 17 July and spent time with parishioners and other members of the congregation at the reception afterwards.

Lincolnshire Nottingham (Lincolnshire) Mike Carroll http://lmslincolnshire.blogspot.com http://lincolnshiremartyrs.blogspot.co.uk/

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incolnshire continues to have a weekly Sunday Low Mass at St Bernadette, Ashby, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe DN16 2RS at 5pm. Holy Rood Market Rasen still organises additional Latin Masses on an occasional basis. Check the LMS Lincolnshire website and main LMS site for updates.

Please also regularly check the local website (address below) as the weekly Low Mass at Scunthorpe may change to 3pm to take into account the winter months. Regulars who attend can also ask Fr O’Connor to add their names to the parish newsletter which he emails out each week. This will keep you up to date on any future changes.

I am pleased to report that August saw a flurry of activity in Lincolnshire for the Latin Mass (beyond our usual weekly Mass) after a quiet period. There was a Low Mass at Holy Rood Market Rasen on The Feast of St Lawrence the Martyr, on Wednesday 10 August. This was celebrated by Fr Christopher Thomas who is Secretary to the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. We were then further pleased to announce that on 24 August at Holy Rood Market Rasen there was a Low Mass celebrated by recently ordained (Belmont) Benedictine priest, the Rev. Dom Jonathan Rollinson OSB on the Feast of St Batholomew, Apostle and Martyr. One of the Sunday Masses at Scunthorpe on the 14th Sunday after Pentecost was also kindly covered by Fr Rollinson.

On the 19th Sunday after Pentecost we also celebrated out first Missa Cantata, which was greatly appreciated by the congregation.

Northampton (North) Northamptonshire, including Nottingham Diocese: Leicestershire and Rutland Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037 pbeardsmore@btinternet.com www.latinmasslnr.co.uk/

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asses at Corby continue on Saturday mornings, and a lunchtime Mass was also offered on the Feast of the Assumption.

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Northampton (South) Barbara Kay Tel: 01234 340759 Email: mbky3@outlook.com Nick Ross Tel: 07951 145240 Email: nick@lifestyleheritage.co.uk

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e are pleased to announce that the LMS has approved our joint appointment as Reps for the above area; we have taken over from Eric Friar, who is now serving the LMS on the National Committee. Nick will be dealing with the liturgical aspect of the job and I will be dealing with the administration.

We have two regular Sunday Masses: at Chesham Bois (8am, usually Low, but Sung one Sunday a month, usually the first Sunday), which has been running now for more than two years, and at Bedford (8.30am, Low Mass) which has been running for just over a year. Both continue with good numbers. At each church we have the opportunity to get to know each over a cup of coffee in the hall afterwards. There is also a monthly Friday evening Mass at 7.30pm at Shefford, normally the third Friday of the month.

Thanks are due to all the priests and servers who make those Masses possible. We are also pleased to learn that interest has been shown in starting a Sunday Mass in Milton Keynes and look forward to this happening in due course.

In Bedford, as well as an unbroken celebration of Sunday Masses since August 2015, we have celebrated one Sung Mass on Corpus Christi and three Low Masses on SS Peter and Paul, The Assumption and The Nativity of Our Lady on weekday evenings over the past few months. We are now very much looking forward to a Sung Mass on All Saints’ Day at 7.30pm celebrated by either Fr Matthew Goddard or Fr Ian Verrier of the FSSP. We will be joined by Bedford Choral Society who are singing the Mass setting by the 19th Century German composer Adolpho Kaim. The celebrating priest has also offered to stay over to celebrate a morning Mass at 10am on All Souls’ Day. We are grateful to Fr Nicholas Aldritt, Fr Thomas Crean, Fr Gabriel Diaz and Fr Daniel Horgan, our regular celebrants, and to other visiting priests – Fr John Hunwicke, to name but one.

We also very much appreciate of the work of Nicholas Dyson who faithfully serves week by week at Bedford, and to Alex and Justin who stand in for him from time to time. Nicholas ran a servers’ training day at Bedford on 17 September and we now have three more servers in training. We have several priests in the area who are interested in learning how to say the Latin Mass, so we are hoping to organise local training for them.

Exciting times are ahead; please see our Northampton (South) blog, which will incorporate the Bedford Latin Mass blog, for the latest news.

Nottingham Central Jeremy Boot 0115 9131592 jeremy.boot2@gmail.com

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ur extra fourth Sunday Mass at Our Lady and St Patrick, Nottingham, is provisional on people attending. So far congregations are not huge, but we have

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY secured (via a parishioner) mention of it as well as the Mass on the third Sunday (sung, same venue) either from the pulpit or in the parish bulletin from the Parish Priest.

Until now it seems the parishioners did not know of its existence so we may in future have a better attendance. It is important that LMS Masses are not seen as exclusive but open to all. Other Masses continue at the Cathedral on the third Wednesday of the month, and the Mass at the Good Shepherd on Saturday before the second Sunday at 4.45pm will usually now be a said not sung. I wish more would attend.

In the last report I mentioned two High Masses at Our Lady and St Patrick for a departing student who was about to join the Benedictines, and another High Mass for the feast of SS Peter and Paul at St Peter’s Church Leicester. To these, we can now add a first in some 50 years for the feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady on 15 September at the Rosminian church of St Mary’s in Loughborough. The ministers were Fr Paul Gillham IC, celebrant, Fr Crean OP from Leicester Holy Cross, deacon, and Fr John Cahill subdeacon. Servers again came from Leicester and Nottingham with a schola and organist from Holy Cross, Leicester and Nottingham. The Mass was a beautiful event which was well attended and received by parishioners.

As the year draws to a close, we thank God for those successes we have had and pray that next year will bring more to know the Mass in the Extraordinary Form throughout the area.

Nottingham South (Leicestershire and Rutland) Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037 pbeardsmore@btinternet.com www.latinmasslnr.co.uk/

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ung Masses were celebrated at St Peter’s, Leicester, for the Assumption of Our Lady, and at Holy Cross, Leicester, for the feast of St Dominic. I understand there was also a sung Mass at Holy Cross for the patronal feast on 14 September.

Jeremy Boot has noted in his report (Nottingham Central) the High Mass at Loughborough, which, unfortunately, I was unable to attend. Otherwise the established Mass schedule has continued at Leicester and Oakham. our thanks go to the Prior and the Dominican community at Leicester, our Midlands chaplain Fr Cahill, Fr Dye at Oakham and Fr Gillham and the Rosminian fathers at Loughborough.

Mass at St Mary’s Loughborough

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© Jeremy Boot

Plymouth (Devon) Maurice Quinn Email : mq018q1057@blueyonder.co.uk Mobile : 07555 536579

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ince my last report in the Summer issue of Mass of Ages, there have been more good things happening on the Traditional Mass scene here in Devon. I am happy to report that another priest of the diocese, Fr Harry Hijlvied, attended the Prior Park training session last April, and is now celebrating the Vetus Ordo Mass for us. The value of the LMS yearly training session at Prior Park for priests and servers has certainly shown its worth for us in this Diocese. Fr Harry celebrated his first public Traditional Rite Mass for us at Blessed Sacrament (Exeter) on Sunday 21 August, and is now a regular on the rota. This has also opened up the possibility of having another Traditional Mass in Devon at a new venue, but at the moment this is still in the planning stage.

Mass attendance has improved over the summer at all venues, with local people and visitors from London and elsewhere noticeable in the congregations. However, the largest jump in numbers is at Christ the King, Plymouth, where attendance fell dramatically earlier in the year, but is now increasing nicely. Christ the King is a beautiful church that has excellent acoustics, has not been ruined by post Vatican II structural changes, but, being adjacent to the Hoe, parking is via meters outside the building.

I am also pleased to report that we have two new young and experienced altar servers on our team at St. Cyprian’s – Jerome and Benedict Beards – while their father, Andrew, has become a very welcome part of the small choir.

We have to thank those stalwarts who regularly provide us with a choir at both Blessed Sacrament, Exeter, and at St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House – Michael Crawford, Timothy Tindal-Robertson, Stephen Bemrose, Peter Allsop, and Stephen Lowry, along with the organist Tegwyn Harris. At Blessed Sacrament, Exeter, we have to thank Bernard Courtis for opening up the church for our Mass, and for bringing the Mass books, as well as for seeing to the collection.

We are indebted to the Cardiff LMS Rep, Andrew Butcher, for coming to Buckfast Abbey to act as MC for our beautiful Missa Cantata on the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. Andrew has helped out on a number of occasions at Buckfast – his advice has been invaluable. (Incidentally, at this Mass, the three servers were all Knights of St Columba, two of whom are also reps for the LMS). Unfortunately, this was the last Traditional Rite Mass celebrated for us in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the abbey – see photograph - by Fr Tom Reagan OSB, who we are losing to parish duties at Blandford in Dorset. Everybody will miss Fr Tom, and we wish him well on his new appointment.

Fr Guy de Gaynesford has kindly agreed to take Fr Tom’s place in celebrating the regular monthly Latin Mass at Buckfast Abbey, as well as continuing to cover for the St Cyprian’s celebration at Ugbrooke House.

Next year, we hope to include all the Buckfast Abbey Mass times and dates in the Mass Listings, so do keep an eye out for these. In the meantime, if you want to attend one of our weekday monthly celebrations at Buckfast, contact me, Maurice Quinn, by phone or email, and I shall get back to you with the details.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Fr Tom Reagan OSB celebrating his last Vetus Ordo Mass at Buckfast Abbey on the Feast of the Nativity There are three important changes to our Mass times that have to be noted by anybody travelling for a Traditional Rite Mass in December and in January. In December, our Mass at Blessed Sacrament, Exeter, will be on the second Sunday of the month instead of the normal third Sunday, while at St Cyprian’s Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh, there will be no Traditional Rite Mass on the afternoon of the fourth Sunday, which is Christmas day, and many people

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will be away. At Christ the King, Plymouth, there will be no Vetus Ordo celebrated on the first Sunday of January 2017.

Apart from these three changes, Mass at these venues will continue as normal. If you have any questions regarding these changes or for any other matter, do contact me.

I will leave you with some more pleasing news – another boy is keen to begin serving, this time for our monthly weekday Traditional Mass at Buckfast Abbey.

Hopefully, this will begin soon, or at least in the New Year.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Portsmouth

Peter Cullinane Tel: 02392 471324 Email: pmcullinane@hotmail.com

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great expansion of EF Mass provision has taken place in the Portsmouth Diocese in recent months.

Firstly, St Mary’s Gosport now has a Sung Mass at 5pm each Sunday, but more people in the congregation would be warmly welcomed to show our appreciation of the Friars’ initiative.

Secondly, a Sung EF Mass takes place in the splendid St Agatha’s, an Ordinariate church, at 3pm on the last Sunday of each month and again more attenders would be welcome.

St Agatha’s has its own parking and is very close both to the Cathedral and to the Cascades shopping centre car park.

It is a splendid Roman basilica-type building with many side altars and is now in the good hands of the Ordinariate.

Turning to established parishes, congregations at St John’s Cathedral at 8 am each Sunday continue to grow a little - an average of 40, sometimes increasing to 50.

I am always pleasantly surprised by how many crossChannel travellers still manage to find the Cathedral despite a puzzling progression of roundabouts and one-way systems from the Ferryport.

We thank Fr McNerney for his unfailing devotion to us, being well aware of the tight timing which requires his swift return for Mass in his own parish.

At Winchester we were saddened by the death in midSeptember of Captain Vincent Howard, who was an early LMS representative for the Andover area many years ago when the LMS was generally ostracised. May he rest in peace: a Mass will be said for him at Winchester.

Following Mass at St Peters we meet for light refreshments in the Royal Hotel, thanks to a lady from London who has a flair for organising social gatherings. This gives us the chance to meet informally.

Portsmouth (Isle of Wight) Peter Clarke 01983 566740 pclarke@wighttiscali.co.uk

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e were pleased to have a Mass on the Feast of the Assumption in St Mary’s Church, Ryde in addition to our regular EF Masses. On this feast, Fr Anthony Glaysher, parish priest, reminded the congregation that: ‘We honour and venerate Mary as the Mother of God; she who was chosen to bear the Word of God and to bring Him forth into the world. In honouring His mother, we are also honouring Almighty God Himself.’

Looking to the future, we are pleased once again to have EF Masses on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Christmas (8.30pm on Christmas Eve), New Year’s Day and on the Epiphany.

In January we will welcome Fr Matthew Goddard FSSP to the Isle of Wight. He will lead a Day of Recollection on Monday, 9 January and visit homes to give an Epiphany blessing. Further details later.

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If you are coming from the mainland you may wish to contact me, Peter Clarke, on 01983 566740 to confirm that the scheduled Masses are being offered.

Southwark (Kent) Marygold Turner Tel: 01580 291372

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ur Masses have continued as usual, and I would ask any of our members to try to support these hard won Tridentine Masses! Our priests come a long way very often and deserve better congregations than they find. I refer to numbers, not devotions, because our band of Mass-goers are immensely loyal and very pious!

Fr Neil Brett celebrated Mass for us on the feast of the Assumption, and brought some of his delightful friends with him. A very good friend, Fr Richard Whinder, is coming for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and Fr Briggs from Chislehurst is celebrating on All Saints Day. I am immensely grateful to our regular priests, and especially to Fr Basden, an old friend, who has helped a great deal with his Polish priests (and himself!) On 24 September, Fr Marcus Holden celebrated Mass on the Marsh in the Medieval church at Snave. The Victoria Consort sang Byrd and Tallis, and we had a superb Mass. We shall try to repeat this next year – the third year running – on 23 September 2017. We are very grateful to the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust for inviting us again; it is a moving occasion.

Southwark (St Bede’s Clapham Park) Thomas Windsor Tel: 020 8764 0879 Email: thomaswindsor@mac.com

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he Summer quarter is always quiet with so many away but, fortunately, clergy, servers and choir have been available throughout to continue our Sung Sunday Mass.

We have also managed to have extra weekday Sung Masses at 12.30pm for the Feast of the Assumption, Nativity of the BVM and the Feast of St Michael. We are one of the few places to have Sung Mass during the week, so I would encourage members to avail themselves of this opportunity.

The Sodality of St Augustine continues to meet here on a monthly basis to pray the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament at 11.30am on Thursdays, followed by Benediction with Mass following at 12.30pm. Please see the website for details.

At the moment (October) we are preparing for our annual All Saints party. This is always a wonderful occasion with the children dressing up as their favourite saint. After Mass the children have the opportunity to talk about their Saint, and we have prizes for the best costume! Shared lunch follows, and we usually finish the day with a procession and Benediction.

I hope we will be able to publish photographs in the next issue.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Another piece of wonderful news is that Bishop Davis of Shrewsbury will celebrate a Pontifical High Mass at the Dome at 10.30am on Sunday 4 December.

We have received further support from the Heritage Lottery of £27,100 to renovate Our Lady’s side chapel, the Sacred Heart Chapel, and the confessional. This is also a development fund to prepare plans to apply for a full HLF grant of up to £222,900 to stop the water that comes through the barrel roof, windows and brickwork. Grateful thanks are due to all the hard work put in by Canon Montjean and his team.

The choir at the Dome has made great progress, starting from scratch only a few years go under the expert direction of Clare Tucker with organist Christian Spence. I am very pleased to announce the choir will provide some of the music for Catholic TV Channel EWTN’s The Message of Fatima, and the Canons of the Dome and Preston will provide the Gregorian chant. The soundtrack is a new composition by young English composer Adam Tucker.

Canon Montjean is running a monthly faith formation course, Domus Christiani for married couples at the Presbytery.

Please contact chn.montjean@icrsp.org. Canon Tanner is running a series of talks on the Sacramental Life. There is also a youth group, a Rosary group and many others. For further information on Masses and activities, and if you would like to help support the work of the shrine, please contact the rector Canon Montjean on 0151 638 6822 or contactus@ domeofhome.org.

Westminster (Spanish Place) Roger Wemyss Brooks 020 7224 5323

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aving spent much of the past two months first in the Far East and then sick in bed I have been missing the Extraordinary Form sorely. While it is enriching to worship with fellow Catholics around the world even in reverent Novus Ordo Masses, I miss the unifying strength of the Latin we are so fortunate to cherish. It’s good to be home!

We continue to benefit from visiting priests supplying Masses, most recently Fr Michael Rowe from Perth, Australia.

Fr David Irwin, who has not been well for several months, is now happily recovered and able to say Masses again. Another who has been hit by ill health is our sacristan Linda Helm at present back in hospital; please pray for her complete recovery.

The provision of breakfast after Sunday Mass has been disrupted by the current refurbishment of the kitchen. The work should be completed soon and the resumption of this important social gathering will be most welcome.

The Wirral Stefano Mazzeo Tel: 020 7404 7284

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he Church of SS Peter, Paul and St Philomena (The Dome of Home) now has three priests, and we are very pleased to welcome Canon Parant at the shrine.

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) has received 13 new seminarians in Florence this September, with three Englishmen, one from the Dome.

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Worcester (St John the Baptist, Spectchley) Margaret Parffrey Tel: 01386 750421

O

ur Sunday Mass at St John the Baptist remains at 10.45am.

Father Talbot sings a Missa Cantata every fourth Sunday, supported by Scola Gregoriana Malverniensis choirmaster Alister Tocher. New members are always welcome.

The old girls from Worcester convent had a Missa Cantata during August in which they brought a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, which was taken in procession and blessed by Father and now resides in Spetchley Gardens for all to venerate.

If you come to Spetchley, just ask to see the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and please say a prayer in her honour.

At Spetchely our numbers remain consistent and we see many new faces. Our altar servers can always be relied upon and we are grateful for their services. Redditch Mass centre continues its work with Mass said by Father Grynoski on the second Tuesday of each month at 6pm.

Mt Carmel is a beautiful church and we hope to attract more worshipers to the Tridentine Rite. (Please note remarks below.)

Our thanks to Peter Hatton for his faithful service at the altar.

Father Christopher at Evesham says Mass every Tuesday at 7pm, for which we are very grateful. Father Lamb at St Ambrose Kidderminster says Mass on the first Sunday at 3pm and 7.30pm on Friday evenings.

Please note that no Mass is being held during November in Kidderminster.

For further Mass times see the listings in this magazine or ring the Latin Mass Society.

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ART

Lord of all Catherine Donner looks at the rich symbolism of Hugo van der Goes’ Portinari Altarpiece

The central panel shows a circle of worshipping humans and angels, concentrated on the tiny, naked figure of the Christ-child

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he Portinari altarpiece, painted by the Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes, was commissioned around 1474-76 by Tommaso Portinari, the representative of the Medici bank in Bruges. It was originally painted for the Portinari Chapel in St Egidio, Florence, and now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery.

Rich private patrons commissioned religious works for both public and private devotion. Such commissions displayed the piety and the generosity of the donors, especially in public works such as altarpieces. They were

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also implicitly asking for the prayers of those viewing the paintings, and immortalizing their piety and generosity as a witness for future generations.

Universality As a triptych, this altarpiece can be viewed as a complete visual expression of the Nativity, the Eucharist and the universality of Christ’s Redemption.

With the two outer panels closed, the Portinari altarpiece displays the Annunciation, in grisaille. The Virgin

turns to the angel with her left hand raised and a dove hovering over her head.

This representation of the Annunciation provides an excellent ‘cover’ for the inside, which continues and develops the story of Redemption.

The design of the central panel (pictured here), is a circle of worshipping humans and angels, concentrated on the tiny, naked figure of the Christ-child in the middle. Rays of light emanate from the Christ-child revealing Him as the ‘Light of the World’.

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The initial impression of this central panel is one of still, silent contemplation, interrupted only by the arrival of the shepherds. The Virgin Mary, in the dark blue cloak of humility, kneels before her infant son, with her hands pointing towards Him to indicate where we should fix our gaze.

The Virgin is relatively large in scale and the Christ-child is relatively small, thus emphasizing Our Lady’s importance in the role of salvation while the naked new-born child is the centre, both of the picture and of the World.

The tiny infant is vulnerable: He is at the mercy of those around him, and indeed the whole of humanity, and at the same time, He is Lord of all.

St Joseph kneels to the left with an angel hovering above his head, and has removed a shoe, indicating that this is holy ground; the ox and the ass gaze in adoration from behind. Above the head of the ox in this apparently peaceful scene appears a devil, extending a claw and with fangs visible. Two angels dressed in blue in the centre face the viewer but gaze towards the baby. On the right at the back the shepherds have just arrived and have stopped suddenly, amazed at the scene, while the annunciation to the Shepherds appears in the background.

Significantly, the shepherds were the first to learn of Christ’s birth: Christ Himself is the Good Shepherd, the shepherd of our souls. The priestly vestments of the angels at the front signal the priestly role of Christ, and ‘SANCTVS, SANCTVS, SANCTVS’ is embroidered in pearls along the edge of the central, most richly decorated one.

The vestments of the angels indicate His Passion, and the Eucharist which is its continuation. Those on the right do not appear to be looking at the Christchild; they seem to be looking out from the painting to the viewer as if to say: ‘Come and worship’.

Above and between the heads of the angels dressed in blue and the head of the shepherd to the left, there can be seen a tiny image of the Visitation of Our Lady to St Elizabeth: God must come into our hearts before we can go out to as Christians to others.

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Calvary At the bottom of the painting and in front of the infant are two vases, some flowers and a sheaf of wheat. This miniature still-life within the painting reveals symbols that complement the scene. The two vases and the flowers represent Christ’s Passion.

One of the vases, of Spanish design, is decorated with grapes which allude to Christ’s blood shed on Calvary, to His statement: ‘I am the true vine’, and to the wine of the Eucharist. The scarlet lily signifies the blood of His Passion; the blue iris, the ‘sword-lily’ (from the Latin gladiolus), indicates the sword of grief that will pierce the heart of the Mater Dolorosa, while the seven columbines, also representing sorrow, emphasize her Seven Sorrows.

The fifteen angels, one for each of the Virgin’s Fifteen Joys, balance these sombre allusions, while the violets scattered on the ground signify her humility and modesty. The three red carnations, possibly an allusion to the Holy Trinity, are also known as ‘nail flowers’ and here represent the nails of the Crucifixion: the Nativity, Adoration and Passion are inexorably intertwined.

The white iris is the emblem of Florence, indicating the origins of the donor, Tommaso Portinari.

House of Bread Behind the vases, a sheaf of wheat identifies Our Lord’s birthplace, for ‘Bethlehem’ means ‘House of Bread’ and symbolizes the Eucharist. Bethlehem was also the City of David, reminding the viewer of Christ’s lineage; here, David’s palace is shown in the background, identified by the harp over the door. The portal of the palace bears the letters ‘M.V.’ surmounted by ‘P.N.S.C.’ which have been interpreted as ‘Maria Virgo’ and ‘Puer Nascetur Salvator Christus’. It also tells us implicitly that Christ’s Nativity, and indeed sacred history, was pre-ordained

by Divine Providence.

This beautiful image, so rich in symbolic meaning, reveals to us the great mystery of the Incarnation: ‘And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.’

Catherine Donner is studying for an MPhil on St Thomas More, and is a member of the Latin Mass Society.

Caroline Shaw returns to this column in the next issue of Mass of Ages.

With the two outer panels closed, the Portinari altarpiece displays the Annunciation

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FEATURE

The Guild of St Clare Lucy Shaw on the joys of making and mending vestments

The Guild gives like-minded people the chance to work together

S

ome years ago I was approached by a parishioner in the community we generally attended for Sunday mass, and asked if I could repair some vestments. She interrupted my protestations of inexperience. “There isn’t anyone else,” she said. “We’ve already asked everyone we thought might be able to do it.”

This is an almost universal problem, and the Guild was founded in 2010 to tackle it. It is a network of needleworkers who are actively developing their sewing skills and experience in making and mending vestments and liturgical furnishings, as well as domestic sewing skills.

Since my first, hesitant, forays into vestment repairs, around 10 years ago, I’ve mended all sorts of things, from burses to humeral veils, many of which had been mended already, and I have realised that the standard of mending in parishes, over many decades, has not always been very high, no doubt because of the perennial shortage

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of skilled people with the time and willingness to devote to this kind of task.

The Guild of St Clare aims to provide not merely a botch job that will just about hold your maniple together for another 12 months, but a competent repair that will give your vestments a new lease of

© J Shaw

life, make them a pleasure to use again, preserve items of real artistic value, and assist the glorification of God in the beauty of the liturgy. As Susan Gollop, the co-ordinator of the London chapter, observes: “It is important that the priest, in persona Christi, uses vestments and linens in a good state of repair.”

Much of the work is highly skilled – it keeps an important part of Catholic culture alive

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To this end we have established a regular series of training days, mostly in embroidery techniques such as Goldwork and Silk Shading. On one memorable occasion, we had a day trip to the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) at Hampton Court Palace, for a day course on Basic Ecclesiastical Embroidery.

Since then, another RSN tutor, Jacqui McDonald, has visited Oxford to teach us techniques such as surface embroidery stitches, Goldwork, Crewelwork, Silk Shading and Stumpwork. We have also run our own courses in dress making, including a two-day skirt making workshop; we have blouse-making and coat-making courses planned (see below for dates).

As founding member Clare Auty remarks: “The Guild has introduced me to many techniques which I would not otherwise have known about, never mind tried! It encourages me to keep sewing and keeps it interesting.”

Members have made everything from rosary purses to aprons, tote bags, and scapulars We don’t want only to develop our own skills as adults, however: we have also begun running a class for children at the Oxford Homeschooling Group, so they can be introduced to basic sewing skills in a series of small projects. At the St Catherine’s Trust Summer School, we can

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The Guild’s first retreat is planned for early next year in Oxfordshire attempt something more ambitious, with five afternoon sessions with the children who have chosen sewing as an activity.

We have made rosary purses, aprons, tote bags, scapulars, and other items, using embroidery, quilting, Appliqué, Silk Shading, and Goldwork techniques.

At the time of writing there are two Guild chapters meeting regularly, one in London and one in Oxford. These undertake both repairs and commissions such as altar frontals, sanctuary furnishings, vestments and habits. It has been very exciting to see the Guild nurturing its members’ talents.

Several of our members have begun formal training: three, including myself, at the Royal School of Needlework, studying for the Certificate course; another is beginning a pattern cutting course this month.

I am delighted to see one of our founding junior members, Daniella Stevens, now undertaking professional dressmaking and pattern cutting training.

She will be teaching a three-day coat making workshop for the Guild next year; it will be a joy to be taught by an erstwhile pupil of the children’s Guild, and one of the blessings of our endeavour.

The Guild’s aims are pragmatic, but we have also seen the spiritual side of the work begin to develop. One of our

members, Pia Jolliffe, who tried her vocation with the Carmelites in Israel, puts it very beautifully: “[In the convent], I learned to appreciate different forms of needlework we as women of the Church can do. There is the mending of everyday clothes as well as vestments. Then there is the production of vestments and other liturgical items. It is a beautiful craft.

Sadly, many Sisters do not have much time any more to do needlework. Hence, there is a real concern about how to pass on traditional crafts such as embroidery.

Because without the needlework, how should everyday clothes and vestments be kept together and passed on?

The Guild seems to respond to the urgent need to pass on Catholic cultural heritage through the practice of needlework... It is lovely to see girls and women of different age groups and at different levels of skills working and learning together. In a way, it reminds me of the happy hours of recreation in the Carmelite monasteries.”

These are the sentiments I hope will underpin our very first sewing retreat, which is planned for early next year in Oxfordshire, to be given by Fr. Richard Biggerstaff.

There is a beautiful arrow prayer, once given an indulgence specifically to be recited while mending vestments: “Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, have mercy on me!” May He indeed bless our efforts to assist His priests and beautify the liturgy, and through them bring us closer to Him. Factfile Contact: lucyashaw@gmail.com www.guildofstclare.org

Forthcoming events (Oxford) Blouse making: 19 November and 10 December 2016.

Vestment mending: 15 October 2016 Coat making: 28 January, 18 February and 4 March 2017 Sewing Retreat: 10-12 February 2017, with our chaplain Fr. Richard Biggerstaff, at the Carmelite Retreat Centre, Boars Hill, Oxfordshire

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BOOKS

Evangelisation through beauty Joseph Shaw reviews a new novel with Catholicism at its heart

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he Traditional Catholic world has come of age, in one way, when a novel published by a mainstream publisher appears with Traditional Catholicism at its centre, not as a form of fanaticism, nor as a picturesque eccentricity, but treated sympathetically, though discreetly, as the candle-flame around which the main character flits.

Miss Prim is a highly cultured, nonbelieving, unmarried thirty-something woman, who escapes her office job to catalogue a private library in what turns out to be a home-educating community based around a traditional Catholic monastery. The Awakening of Miss Prim was first published in Spanish, so presumably the setting is Spain, but there is no reference to Spain’s particular cultural and religious divisions, and the community in the fictional village of San Ireneo is an international one.

The first half of the book reads like a comedy of manners, based around the interaction of Prudencia Prim, her intellectual, traditional Catholic employer, referred to only as ‘the Man in the Wingchair’, and the extraordinary village community. The community is united by its rejection of 21st century educational practices, and a desire to live a truly civilised life, with time for serious conversation and cakes for tea.

At a meeting of the San Ireneo Feminist League, Miss Prim is shocked to hear an account of the women of the community.

‘Most of the married women in this village don’t even remotely depend on their husbands the way you depend on your boss. As owners of their own businesses, some are the main breadwinners in their households, and many others save a great deal of money by educating their children themselves… None of them has to ask permission to carry out personal business, as I hazard that you have to at work. None of us have to keep our opinions to ourselves, as I’m sure you frequently have to in conversations with your employer. ‘…It wouldn’t occur to any of them

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… to present a medical certificate when they’re ill, or expect to endure condescension when they announce something as natural as a pregnancy.

Do you see that quotation in the little frame over the fireplace?

‘Ten thousand women marched through the streets of London saying: “We will not be dictated to,” and then went off to become stenographers.’

The village community stands halfway between Miss Prim, who prizes honesty, beauty, and above all delicacy, and the uncomfortable truths enshrined by the monastery and the Man in the Wingchair. The villagers are not all believers, and the subject of their discussions is not religion but how to live.

They are able nevertheless to draw Miss Prim into a confrontation with the Faith which she would not otherwise have had.

It is a sort of fable of the via pulchritudinis, evangelisation through beauty.

What is hinted at in the first half of the book becomes more explicit in the second, where the tone of the novel becomes more serious. Highly civilised people do not necessarily accept the truth: people who appreciate beauty do not always approach its supernatural source.

This is because to do so is not simply to have more intensely pleasant experiences of beauty than before, but to confront the ugliness inside oneself.

The fable’s happy ending is not a forgone conclusion. Miss Prim must not accept merely the artistic excellence of great Russian icons—which she is very ready to do—but understand that they are truly windows into another world.

An appreciation of the via pulchritudinis must include an acknowledgement of the barriers which exist to conversion.

Miss Prim sees religion as a crutch, but she is wrong. ‘Life is much simpler if you say “no”?’ she asks incredulously.

‘Life is much simpler and easier to bear if you believe it doesn’t end in a coffin underground. You can’t deny it, it’s common sense.’

The Man in the Wingchair explains.

‘As a theoretical belief it can serve as a wild card for a time, undoubtedly.

But theoretical beliefs don’t save anyone.

Faith isn’t theoretical, Prudencia.

Conversion is about as theoretical as a shot to the head.’

The Awakening of Miss Prim, by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera is published by Little, Brown.

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FEATURE

Walking to Walsingham Clare Bowskill talks to three of this year’s pilgrims

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f you were in the Norfolk countryside this August Bank Holiday weekend, you may have seen the extraordinary sight of a large group of weary walkers clutching tall resplendent banners heading north. The sound of French, Latin and English hymns and prayers filling the fens.

“Je vous salue, Marie pleine de grace…”

At the front of this long line of travellers was the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham carried on two long wooden poles, the gold of her clothing shining in the midday sun.

This was the seventh Annual Latin Mass Society Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham praying for the conversion of England. That is just under 60 miles, hundreds of Ave Marias, gallons of water, and lots of plasters, porridge and prayers.

“Ave Maria, Gratia Plena” It takes three days to walk the distance and the pace is surprisingly fast. A Sung Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated each day and Confession is available throughout the day. At the end of each day, the women and children either sleep on the cold floor of village halls while others choose to brave it outdoors camping for the night. The pilgrims are given neat little handbooks with music, prayers and psalms to sustain their journey, and during the day the Rosary is recited. There was the opportunity for spiritual conferences from the chaplains and regular bursts of singing traditional chants and hymns. There were periods of silence and quiet reflection or the chance to chat with other pilgrims and to renew friendships, or establish new ones.

I asked three of our pilgrims to write about their experiences of taking part in the LMS Walsingham Pilgrimage.

Fr James Mawdsley, a newly ordained priest with the Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri (FSSP), Lucy Shaw who was in charge of catering, and Antonia Robinson who walked the pilgrimage with her husband and two of her children.

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The walk brought together pilgrims of all ages Fr James Mawdsley FSSP ‘Everyone who makes a pilgrimage to Walsingham has the consolation that God will not be outdone by us in paying honour to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Therefore, the more we give of ourselves for her (and walking three days from Ely certainly requires some giving) the deeper is our contentment.

‘A secondary motivation is to recall that 400 years ago a poet touched despair over Our Lady’s Shrine at Walsingham, lamenting: “Sinne is where our Ladye sate, Heaven turned

© John Aron

is to helle, Sathan sitte where our Lord did swaye, Walsingham, oh farewell!” It is unthinkable that this be the last word.

‘If prayers in Walsingham ceased, then the most damaging tyrant England ever suffered, Henry VIII, would have triumphed over the purest goodness ever created: the Virgin Mary. By making a pilgrimage one is reassured that evil fails and in the end Mary’s Immaculate Heart will triumph.

‘Would it not be fitting, as a precursor to her triumph, that we re-build the Holy House in England’s Nazareth? The

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© John Aron

FEATURE

At the front of the long line of pilgrims was the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham Walsingham Hymn suggests penance is the price still to be paid: “Yet a thin stream of pilgrims still walked the old way / And hearts longed to see this night turned into day… / Till at last, when full measure of penance was poured / In her Shrine see the honour of Mary restored.” No spot in England is so blessed as the site of the Holy House.

For half a millennium the empty spot has lain beside the ruined priory, but the first has not lost its allure nor the second its beauty. Surely the House should be rebuilt?

‘I recommend every newly ordained priest in England try to make this pilgrimage. It helps one learn what England really is, and what we must do.

It is deeply moving to visit Ely Cathedral, to stop en route to pray at ruined religious houses and to remember the martyrs.

‘What is it like to do this as a priest?

It must be because better men are not coming forward that ones like me are permitted to serve. To offer Solemn

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Masses at the chapel at Oxburgh Hall (where there is a priest hole) and then at the Catholic Shrine in Walsingham, is more than my mind can process. But all along the way I thanked God for the good company of the faithful on the LMS pilgrimage: they are rich in charity.’

Lucy Shaw, chief cook ‘If anyone had asked me, back in 2010 when the pilgrimage began, if I felt like cooking for 70 pilgrims, I would have explained regretfully that it was impossible. Three dinners, three breakfasts and three lunches in a total of seven locations - and this in Norfolk, where the convenience store is all but unknown and GPS a myth.

‘Somehow the question was never put to me in quite those terms. The numbers have crept up from 12 in 2010 to pushing 90 last year, without the challenge of cooking becoming too great.

‘The catering would be impossible without my extraordinarily committed cooking team members: Clare, Selina

© John Aron

and Bridget. They have assisted me every year for four years, and I do not exaggerate when I say that the success of the venture is due entirely to their generosity and team spirit.

‘For us the pilgrimage begins at least a week before the moment of departure from Ely. There are considerable preparations to be made, and they shoulder their part in this with great willingness. Apart from menu planning, which I usually do myself, there is the equipment hire to be arranged, cups and plates to be ordered and provision for special diets to be made.

‘It takes at least three hours to cook soup each evening for the pilgrims. We have our own cooking equipment - the ovens in the kitchens we stay in are small and unreliable. The support drivers have the unenviable job of heaving the calor gas bottles and burners between the kitchens and transports each day.

I usually bring my own chicken stock on the first evening, but on Friday and Saturday we make our own. We pride

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ourselves on the standard of the cooking during the pilgrimage - the recipes we use are very simple, which means we can cook from scratch something approximating a meal you might have at home.

‘It is impossible for the cooks to join in any of the walking. Clearing up after breakfast, moving the equipment, organising each day’s food supplies, meeting the walkers at the lunch stop with bread rolls and then beginning the main task of preparing the evening meal is an all-consuming project. However, for us it is undertaken in the same pilgrim spirit as the walk. The long journey to Walsingham, with its pains and sacrifices, is ours too. Although we can’t come to the main Masses because they coincide with our breakfast preparations, we are very fortunate to have our own Masses provided for us so that we have our spiritual nourishment along with the pilgrims. And our happiness at reaching the shrine is very great, knowing that we have been able to assist in a tangible way such a powerful witness to the Faith.

Preparing food is an all-consuming task

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Antonia Robinson - Mother Three days. Sixty miles. At least 60 decades of the Rosary. Countless litanies. Scores of hymns and marching songs. Many friendships. Innumerable graces. Deo gratias!

If you haven’t done this pilgrimage, do consider it. It was my first time, and I’m pleased to say that I managed to walk the whole thing. It is physically difficult, but nothing that a reasonably fit adult can’t manage.

‘In a way it needs to be gruelling in order to reach that place of inner peace that allows for fruitful prayer.

For me it was a profoundly spiritually healthy experience and one which I’ve been waiting many years to do.

I had to wait until my children were either old enough to complete the walk themselves (around 11-12 seems to be realistic) or were old enough to be left for five days with somebody else while I was on pilgrimage (which is what we did with the seven and nine-yearold this year). The older two children joined us.

‘Walking a pilgrimage as a family (or partial family) is probably quite different from walking alone: I was moved by how stoic my children were in the face of demanding physical hardship, how prayerful they were, how cheerful and helpful they were to others. Walking in prayer for long, hard miles with my husband nourished our marriage in ways that I didn’t expect.

‘Walking alone or with old or new friends offered countless possibilities for insights and inspirations. Having confession heard by an excellent priest while walking through a forest was a novel (but very positive) experience.

Sixty miles is a long way. It feels much further on foot than it does, say, in a car or even on a bike.

‘The last mile on the Saturday was probably the hardest: the sky clouded over, the wind became fierce and heavy rain lashed down. Still, we managed to enter Great Massingham singing Jubilate Deo. Loudly, happily; a glorious burst of praise. See you next year!’

© John Aron

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FEATURE

Save St Winefride’s!

David Gorman on a Catholic crisis in Wales and an historic occasion for the Traditional Mass

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t is now almost four years since the Victorian Gothic Church of Our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride, generally known as St Winefride’s, was controversially closed by the Bishop of Menevia, allegedly on health and safety grounds.

Since then, a group representing many parishioners has fought to have the town centre Church re-opened and refurbished. The Diocese, however, has pursued its own plan to renovate a derelict Church built in 1970 in an out of town location, despite independent surveys which have found St Winefride’s to be structurally sound.

The campaign to save St Winefride’s continues to attract press attention, including that of the Catholic press, and has been raised at the highest levels both in the England and Wales hierarchy and in the Vatican. Campaigners are particularly upset that a large debt will be incurred on behalf of the Parish by the Diocese to fund what they consider to be a poorly conceived and wasteful project to refurbish a poor quality building which is in the wrong location for the town. All this without proper consultation with parishioners!

Mass is currently celebrated in the hall of St Padarn’s, the local Roman Catholic Primary School, while the disagreements

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continue about the future of the Church building. This is a far cry from the early 1870s, when exciting plans were afoot to build Our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride with an adjoining presbytery.

Today, both buildings stand in Queen’s Road; rather forlorn eyesores surrounded by security fencing.

The 1860s witnessed the pressing need for a permanent place of worship for Aberystwyth’s Roman Catholics, particularly given the growing number of visitors to the town, then known as the Brighton of Wales. At the time, a small Chapel and house had been established in the town by Bishop Bernard Collier OSB, who had retired to Aberystwyth after serving as a missionary in Mauritius. During 1872, Fr William Williams, a native of Anglesey, arrived in Aberystwyth and launched an appeal to raise funds for a new Church. Bishop Collier had already secured the site in Queen’s Road and construction started in March 1874, to a design by architects, George Jones and Sons.

Due to rising costs plans to build a bell tower, which would have been 110 feet in height, and a parish school were eventually abandoned. The cost of the Church, built in the style of early decorated Gothic to seat a congregation of 300, was £1,500 with the adjoining presbytery costing £500.

The High Altar was presented to the Church by an anonymous benefactor at a cost of £300. The Stations of the Cross were also the gift of an anonymous benefactor and were the work of the Parisian artist, Aristide Alcan. On 16 July 1874, Bishop Collier laid the foundation stone for the Church, an event which local dignitaries and representatives of the other Christian denominations attended. The Aberystwyth Observer of 18 July records: The Bishop was robed in full pontifical, wearing his mitre and crosier and cincture, with white cope and red orphreys, and was assisted by the Rev. W. E. Williams, who was vested in a surplice and stole, with a white cope.

After the Bishop had solemnly laid the corner stone, which was inscribed “July 16th, 1874”, a procession was formed, which wended its way around the foundations, which have been raised a few feet in height, the right rev prelate sprinkling holy water round the walls of the building, the holy water vat being carried by an acolyte.

The correspondent writing in the Aberystwyth Observer was obviously struck by the lack of any ill feeling towards the Roman Catholics in what was a strongly non-conformist area:

This beautiful and imposing ceremony had many points of interest connected with it, even for the most indifferent observer, but one feature shows out in such strong relief that it was impossible not to have been struck with it. I allude to the liberal, generous and friendly spirit evinced by the Protestant residents and visitors of Aberystwyth on this occasion.

Nothing could exceed the tolerant, good natured, almost I may call it sympathising, feeling.

Work was almost complete when, on 19 August 1875, the dedication and opening of the new Church was attended

by Cardinal Henry Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, who preached the sermon. Cardinal Manning agreed to attend after some persuasion from Fr Williams and, in his red Cappa Magna with its long flowing train, his arrival in Aberystwyth must have been an impressive sight.

As it was the height of the holiday season, large crowds of curious locals and visitors alike lined Queen’s Road.

A special choir, including members of Manchester’s Halle and Salford Cathedral Choirs, took part in the Pontifical High Mass at 11am. The Mass itself was

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FEATURE

Under threat: St Winefride’s Aberystwyth celebrated by Bishop Cuthbert Hedley OSB, the Auxiliary Bishop of Menevia and Newport, and a Benedictine of Ampleforth Abbey. At 7pm that evening there was Solemn Vespers and Benediction in the Church.

The Church is of importance as the first Roman Catholic Church to be built in Mid Wales since the Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th Century. It is also of significance as a centre of Welsh Catholicism; the Welsh translation of the Order of the Mass and the first collection of Welsh Catholic hymns originated here. The Welsh literary giant, J. Saunders Lewis, also attended the Church between 1938 and 1952 and taught at St Mary’s College, now home to the Welsh Books Council, which had been established as a seminary and training college for Roman Catholic Priests, with particular emphasis on the Welsh language.

On 25 June 2016, the Traditional Rite of the Mass was celebrated for, what is believed to be, the first time in Aberystwyth in over 40 years. This was a Requiem Mass held for the late Professor Robin Whatley, an internationally

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acclaimed geologist, who taught at Aberystwyth University between 1966 and 2001.

The celebrant at the Requiem Mass was Father Jason Jones STB, Parish Priest of Sacred Heart, Morriston, and former Rector of Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan, which is the National Shrine of Wales to Our Lady. The servers were Mr Corey Sharpling, MC of the Diocese of Menevia, Mr Andrew Butcher, the Cardiff Representative of the Latin Mass Society and Brother David Chadwick, Cong. Orat. of Petergate House, York.

The Newcastle Emlyn Schola and the Aberystwyth Schola combined to sing the beautiful chant, their voices blending as one, which together with Father Jason’s fine voice, truly made the Mass ‘the most beautiful thing this side of heaven’.

Professor Whatley had regularly attended Mass in the Tridentine Rite in Shrewsbury or Morriston, both fourhour round trips from Aberystwyth.

Unfortunately, this historic occasion could not take place in the Church of Our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride, as it should have done, but was held, by kind permission of the Church in Wales,

in St Michael’s Church, Aberystwyth, demonstrating the present plight of the Roman Catholic community in the town, eased only by the generosity of other denominations and Churches, in particular St Michael’s, Aberystwyth and Hafod Churchyard, Cwmystwyth, where Professor Whatley is interred.

Since Professor Whatley’s Requiem Mass, a number of parishioners in Aberystwyth, who attended and experienced Mass in the Tridentine Rite for the first time and were struck by its reverence and beauty, have expressed a wish to have the Mass made available on a regular basis in Aberystwyth and, in the meantime, to travel to Morriston to hear Fr Jason Jones celebrate it.

It is to be hoped that the current sad circumstances where parishioners find themselves seriously at odds with their Diocese, can be resolved in the near future and that the growing interest in the celebration of the Tridentine Rite in Aberystwyth can be nurtured.

I am grateful to Dr Caroline Maybury, Aberystwyth, and Mr David Subacchi, Wrexham, for their comments.

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MASS LISTINGS

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MASS LISTINGS

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MASS LISTINGS

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MASS LISTINGS

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MASS LISTINGS

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MASS LISTINGS

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MASS LISTINGS

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ARCHITECTURE

Solid, simple, stately and spacious Paul Waddington visits a London gem - the Church of St James’s, Spanish Place

Spanish Place: Early English style using Kentish ragstone under a slate roof

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t is often asked why the large Catholic church of St James close to Baker Street in London’s West End is usually referred to as St James, Spanish Place, when it has George Street on one side and Blandford Street on the other.

To understand the reason, we must delve into the history of this magnificent church.

During penal times, London’s Catholics were able to attend Mass at the chapels associated with the embassies of Catholic countries. One such chapel belonged to the Spanish embassy which, in the latter part of the 18th century, was located at Hertford House in Manchester Square (now the home of the Wallace Collection). Because the Catholic population of London was growing, Dr Thomas Hussey, the resident priest at

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the time, decided to build a larger ‘public’ chapel, in Spanish Place, a narrow street at the side of the embassy, connecting Manchester Square with Charles Street (now George Street).

The Italian-born architect Giuseppe Bonomi was engaged to design the new chapel, which opened in 1791. His chapel was classical and incorporated a campanile, something that would not have been permitted had it not been on embassy property. It was an impressive building with the nave lined

by Corinthian columns. The chapel remained under the control of the Spanish Embassy until 1827, when it was handed over to the Vicar Apostolic for the London area. It established a reputation for being the most fashionable Catholic church in London, until the opening of

Brompton Oratory in 1884. The church was enlarged in 1846, but this measure was insufficient to accommodate the growing congregations.

In 1880, a convenient plot of land just across the road from the old chapel became available, and this was purchased for £27,000, to become the site of the current church.

Leading Catholic architects were invited to submit designs for a church in the Early English style and ‘characterised

by Solidity, Simplicity, Stateliness and Spaciousness’. Nine designs were submitted, the winning one being by Messrs Goldie, Child and Goldie. It was the junior member of the partnership, Edward Goldie, who was principally responsible for the design. He was the son of George Goldie, the architect of

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ARCHITECTURE

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baptistery, were built during the First World War. Goldie was snubbed again when Geoffrey Webb was subsequently invited to design the stained glass, and to provide the decoration of the baptistery.

Presumably, due to shortage of funds, Goldie’s tower with its ornate spire was never built, leaving the composition of the building somewhat unbalanced.

Neither was the decoration of the external stonework ever undertaken.

As a consequence, the exterior of the church has a relatively modern appearance when viewed from most angles. Goldie’s design can only be fully appreciated by examining his drawings.

Inside the church, it is a different matter. One is immediately impressed by the height of the building, and while looking upwards, one can admire the vaulted roof, especially over the sanctuary. A feature typical of many Goldie churches is the addition of marble shafts to the principal columns and the window reveals. Those attached to the chancel arch serve to emphasise the building’s height. They are ingeniously integrated into the moulding of the arch. Most impressive of all is the sanctuary, with two tiers of windows over a blind arcade. Especially clever is the way the clerestory windows blend in with the vaulting of the apse.

The most admired internal features are the work of Bentley who, it seems, did not feel constrained to design exclusively in the Early English style.

His treatment of the sanctuary walls is in sympathy with Goldie’s work, although the High Altar, fronted with a spectacular polychrome relief depicting

the adoration of the Magi with added saints, looks somewhat out of place.

The same applies to the white marble and alabaster pulpit, which bears a striking resemblance to the one in Westminster Cathedral. Other features attributable to Bentley are the communion rail, and the tester above the High Altar. Bentley’s altar and reredos for the lady chapel is particularly well designed.

The church contains many other treasures. The statue of St James is given a prominent position in a hooded niche in the south aisle; and the statue of Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, known as the Golden Lady, is famous as it is entirely covered in gold leaf. This dates from 1840, so was presumably transferred from the earlier church.

Credit must also be given to Geoffrey Webb for his stained glass, especially the rose window at the western end, his Stations of the Cross, and his font cover in the baptistery.

Fortunately, reordering in the years following Vatican II has left the church relatively intact. The High Altar has been moved to the front of the sanctuary, where it has been placed at floor level. Without altar steps, the sanctuary is less than ideal for the celebration of Solemn Mass. The church of St James, Spanish Place was one of the first in England to introduce a regular Sunday Latin Mass following the indult granted by Pope Paul IV in 1971, and this practice has continued to the present day, when Low Mass is offered in the Extraordinary Form every Sunday at 9.30am.

© John Aron

many Catholic churches throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, and the great grandson of Giuseppe Bonomi the architect of the embassy chapel.

Goldie designed a cruciform church in the Early English style, faithfully complying with the specification. Built from Kentish ragstone, and under a slate roof, it was a lofty structure with triforium and clerestory. The nave had eight bays of arcading, and the chancel with polygonal apse was of generous size.

Unusually, Goldie provided double aisles on each side of the nave.

To stabilise the very high roof, flying buttresses were employed. Considering the restrictions of the site, Goldie did well to deliver a design that was solid, simple, stately and spacious.

The foundation stone was laid by Cardinal Manning on 17 June 1887, the feast of the Sacred Heart; and the new church of St James was solemnly opened on 29 September 1890 (Michaelmas), although not by Cardinal Manning, who was absent due to illness. However, the church was far from complete. The west end was truncated by a temporary brick wall, leaving three bays unbuilt.

Work on the tower with its elaborate spire and many attendant pinnacles had not begun, and much of the external stonework lacked the intricate ornamentation that was part of Goldie’s design. Internally, the church lacked decoration.

Another deviation from the original design, and one that adversely affects the appearance of the building, is the absence of pitched roofs above the transepts. Their replacement by flat roofs was presumably an economy measure.

The Rector at the time was Canon Michael Barry. Apparently he had not favoured the Goldie design, preferring rather to give the work to John Francis Bentley, who had not even submitted a design. Soon after the opening, Canon Barry snubbed Goldie by commissioning Bentley to design the furnishings and undertake the internal decorations. This would now seem to be a huge betrayal of Edward Goldie, who was denied the opportunity to complete what would undoubtedly have been his greatest work. After Bentley’s death in 1902, the decorative work was continued by Thomas Garner.

Goldie was, however, invited back to complete the west end. The three missing bays, with a simplified west end together with an octagonal

The interior: fortunately, reordering in the years following Vatican II has left the church relatively intact

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ROMAN REPORT

From Finland to Trieste Alberto Carosa reports on how choirs from two widely separated countries joined together to perform a masterpiece of sacred music

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ctober 2 will go down as a unique and memorable day for the local Catholic community in Trieste: for the first time in living memory a complete version of Bach’s B Minor (Sì Minore in the Italian system) Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke in the parish church of Beata Vergine del Rosario (Blessed Virgin of the Rosary) in Trieste, which is the local church where the old Latin Mass is regularly celebrated on Saturdays.

It is remarkable that a sung Solemn Mass of such complexity, richness and beauty, regarded as the greatest religious composition of all time, should be celebrated in its entirety. Equally remarkable is the story behind this event.

It began a few years ago when Finnish Lutheran pastor Juhana Bach: masterpiece Torkki met a young man from Trieste. Torkki went to Trieste Love for music is in the DNA of to visit his new friend, whose family Finnish people. Suffice to say that invited him to attend the Mass in the old, walking in a Finnish town, you may come Extraordinary Form in the parish church across a Lutheran parish church offering of Beata Vergine del Rosario. music lessons in Gregorian plainchant There the young pastor had the chance, – something I myself experienced in for the first time, to see the celebration of Kuopio the capital of the Savo region. a solemn High Mass in the ancient Latin Juhana Torkki has a doctorate in Rite of the Church. He was so impressed theology from the University of Helsinki, he decided to come back several times but also studies at the Sibelius Academy to Trieste. He was particularly struck by in Helsinki Conservatory. At the end the high quality of the sacred music sung of 2015 he was able to announce that by the chapel choir of the church during the Candomino Choir of Helsinki was the liturgy; so much so that he promised prepared to cooperate in a sacred music he would try to bring a Finnish choir to project with their colleagues in Trieste.

Trieste for a joint performance of sacred Candomino is one of Finland’s most music. renowned choirs, specialising in sacred Juhana Torkki’s love of music should polyphony and Baroque repertoire that not come as a surprise since Finland, they have performed at some of the proportionately to its population, boasts world’s most prestigious international an extraordinary concentration of festivals. The name Candomino is a conductors, composers and musicians contraction of two Latin words, Cantate probably unparalleled in the world, with Domino, sing for the Lord, another even the most remote Lutheran parish reflection of the popularity of high church having its own choir. culture in Finland. For example, so far

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as I know, Finland is the only country in the world with a radio broadcasting in Latin!

Finally, a decision was taken to perform Bach’s Mass in B Minor, the masterpiece of all sacred music masterpieces. It was written for soloists, two choirs and orchestra (violins, second violins, violas, two flutes, two oboes d’amore, a horn, three trumpets, timpani and basso continuo).

In January 2016 rehearsals of this immensely challenging and complex piece began: during weekly rehearsals maestro Elia Macri coached the chapel choir in Trieste (consisting of young graduates from the Conservatory) and maestro Esko Kallio, principal conductor of Candomino, rehearsed his group in Helsinki.

So far as I am aware, Bach’s masterpiece has not been performed during Mass in recent times: parts have been performed during the liturgy but never the whole, and never in the context in which the work was created, namely in the context of the Latin Gregorian Mass.

This was confirmed by Juhana Torkki during a recent conversation. ‘Through my Italian friends in Trieste’, he said, ‘I realised that there was a church where the great works of music were performed in the Mass, not as concerts but in the authentic spiritual context for which the music was composed originally.

‘This was my source of inspiration and I suggested to Don Stefano at Beata Vergine del Rosario that the Finnish choir should visit, and he accepted the idea with joy.’ Juhana Torkki does not want to take any special credit for the event, but it was a great success.

‘I was just a link-man and connected the right people”, he said. ‘Let us say what Bach used to say: Soli Deo Gloria (Glory only to God).’

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COMMENT

Seeing and believing The Lone Veiler on the Beauraing apparitions, and the film, Risen

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eeping the Faith, otherwise known Our Lady told them to the best of their as How To Do The Right Thing ability given the initial incredulity of When Everyone Else Thinks those around them. They persevered You’re Nuts, is a full time occupation in with their story, and after the inevitable my house. Not all of us have been blessed with a 100 percent Catholic family; most of my time consists of Catholic stealth education with the occasional direct confrontation, the latter of which I try to avoid at all costs.

I know, vinegar and honey and all that, but sometimes there’s no alternative. It’s so full time, and the secular tide is so strong, that it’s quite a temptation for me to want to give up, yell ‘Whatever!’ and head for a hermitage, swimming against it all being so exhausting.

It’s then that invariably the Life Guard throws me a ring as I’m ready to throw in the towel, and I hang on to that for a while until I get my breath back and get going again. I’m in the process of hanging on to one at the moment. This particular lifesaver came courtesy of an article I read about the seers at Beauraing, in Belgium.

In 1932, a group of children, some of whom were playing knockdown ginger for the obvious edification of their neighbours, were on the way to collect a friend from her Risen: swords and sandals convent school at the end of the day when Our Lady appeared to them on, of all places, a railway bridge. questionings, and indeed the barbaric I hadn’t heard of this apparition before, prodding with needles and burning with and was hooked as soon as I read ‘railway matches meant to disprove the ecstasy bridge’. Who would make that up? The the children had fallen into, the children five very ordinary children ranged in age were believed, the chapel to Our Lady from 15 to nine years old and people, was built as she requested. The message being people, didn’t believe them. of the Lady of the Golden Heart to the Their parents were horrified, children was to ‘Pray. Pray very much. they were ridiculed, yet the children Pray always,’ and that she will convert consistently told the truth, and did what sinners.

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The last child, Gilberte Degeimbre, died in 2015, and there is a moving interview with her which can be found on YouTube. In it she says: ‘We were no better than any other. We were nothing, chosen... as a free gift.

Yes, absolutely! And we’ve done everything we could to pass on the message, and after our death, close the coffins and forget us!

Just remember that she came here.’

The faith and steadfastness they displayed throughout their lives following the apparition is a great example. Our Lady says that penance and prayer leads to the conversion of sinners. However hard it might be, giving up really isn’t an option. Which actually cheers me up no end.

I must just quickly mention something else, Risen. The DVD I had been waiting for finally arrived, and was viewed with some trepidation. What to say. Well, I thought it was a bit of a curate’s egg, formulaic and a tad plodding, but, leaving other quibbles aside, it was quite good. It’s very much in line with the 1950s sword and sandals movies, yet with a lot more gore. It is a movie whodunit, searching for a corpse, so there’s a fair amount of exhumation, nose plugs, rosemary, and interviews to see who saw what, and when.

The Roman, Clavius, hasn’t a clue about what is going on. He witnessed Our Lord die and had the tomb sealed, but then is alive with the disciples. Clavius, a soldier very good at his job, took some time wrapping his head round that one. What struck me most though was the portrayal of the joy of the disciples, ridiculous joy, and laughter.

It contrasted so well with the world weary hopeless Roman yearning for a day without death, yet expected every day to be ready to dish it out. So did Clavius come to believe?

Of course he did.

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CROSSWORD

Clues Across

1 ‘-------, benedicere, praedicare’, motto of the Dominicans (7) 5 Book of the Old Testament (5) 8 Initials indicating priest is a member of the Marist Order (1.1.1.)

9 Papal Bull of St. Pius V promulgating the 1570 Edition of the Roman Missal (3,6) 10 A rchitect of the Sagrida Familia Cathedral in Barcelona (5) 11 Official answers by a pope to legal questions (9) 14 R emoving items of ceremonial attire as with the maniple before the homily (9) 18 D ivine element in theatrical farewell (5) 21 Book of the Old Testament (9) 22 S t Alban ---, OSB, one of the Tyburn Martyrs (3) 23 C hange end of prayer with old penny (5) 24 S aint founder of the Order of Praemonstratensians (7)

Clues Down

Alan Frost: September 2016

ANSWERS FROM AUTUMN CROSSWORD

Across: 1 Vibrant, 5 Lions, 8 Cor, 9 Nonentity, 10 Items, 11 Domine non, 14 Sum dignus, 18 Cut up, 21 Gregorian, 22 Nay, 23 Nurse, 24 Exegete.

Down: 1 Vaccines, 2 Barber, 3 Agnus Dei, 4 Tantum, 5 Line, 6 Orison, 7 Skye, 12 Nascence, 13 Neophyte, 15 Meteor, 16 Novice, 17 St Anne, 19 Egan, 20 Cope.

Closing Date & Winner

Closing date for Crossword entries: Friday 16 December. The winner of the Autumn 2016 competition is Dr Lithgow-Smith of Rainford, who wins a copy of the LMS 2016 Wall Calendar.

1 Appear attractive and saintly? (4,4) 2 ‘Nos tibi semper et ------ gratias’, from the Preface of the Mass and everywhere (6) 3 Comes into possession of something (8) 4 Book of the Pentateuch (6) 5 Instrument referred to in the Judica Me prayers at Mass (‘Confitebor tibi…’) (4) 6 Timeless Erasmus comes to a conclusion (4,2) 7 ‘---- Redemptoris Mater’, seasonal Antiphon to Our Lady (4) 12 Collect in again (8) 13 Composer of a popular Ave Maria and an unfinished symphony! (8) 15 Long veils worn by servers carrying mitres at pontifical Masses (6) 16 C olumnar feature of Greco-Roman style churches (6) 17 U .S. President during time of Queen Victoria (6) 19 Book of the Old Testament (4) 20 R efused entry we hear for Shakespeare! (4)

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS

Exciting news!

From the Spring 2017 issue of Mass of Ages, we will be taking classified advertisements, so whether you run courses, a small hotel, a B&B, a retreat or have something to sell or a service to offer that would be of interest to our readers just contact us on 020 7404 7284.

Classified advertisements cost just 50p per word with an additional charge of just £5 if you’d like your advertisement in a box.

Categories include: • Property for sale or to rent • Travel • Accommodation • Art • Courses • Gardening • Personal • Books • Jobs COURSES St Catherine’s Trust: Family Retreat, Oratory School, 31 March-2 April, led by Fr Serafino Lanzetta.

See www.stcatherinestrust.org Gregorian Chant Network: Chant Training Weekend at the Oratory School, 31 Mar-2 Apr, led by Colin Mawby and Chris Hodkinson. See www.gregorianchantnetwork.com

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Guild of St Clare: forthcoming events Oxford area Blouse making: 19th Nov & 10th Dec 2016.

Vestment mending: 15th Oct 2016.

Coat making: 28th Jan, 18th Feb & 4th Mar 2017.

Sewing Retreat: 10th-12th February 2017, with Fr Richard Biggerstaff.

See www.guildofstclare.org WINTER 2016

MACKLIN STREET

Member discounts Stephen Moseling on subscriptions and how Direct Debit can help

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hose of our members who managed to join us for the Annual General Meeting will know that we ran a substantial deficit last year, which was a poor year for legacies. Now we have had three quarters of the current year, it looks as though the same will be true this year. The Committee has taken the decision to cut expenditure in a number of areas, but we also need to increase our income, including by raising subscriptions, which have not risen since 2009.

The Committee has decided on a small increase, from £25 to £27 for Ordinary members, with the possibility of another small increase in 2018. The concessionary rate will rise from £15 to £16.50, and the Joint rate from £35 to £37.

In addition, we are concerned that only 30 percent of our members pay their subscriptions by Direct Debit. Paying by cheque or credit/debit card creates a great deal of unnecessary work and expense in the office and prevents us from automating aspects of the subscription renewal process.

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To encourage members to use Direct Debit, we are introducing a permanent discount of around five percent on subscriptions paid in this way. So, for those already on Direct Debit, or prepared to sign up for Direct Debit, the increase at the end of the year will be much smaller, to £25.50 for Ordinary members, to £15.50 for the Concessionary rate, and to £36.50 for the Joint rate. These increases will come into effect from 1 December 2016.

We hope this very modest increase in the subscription rates of 50p for Ordinary and Concessionary members, if they are willing to pay by Direct Debit will not put anyone off becoming or remaining a member, because we also want very much to encourage people to join. 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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