Mass of Ages Summer 2017

Mass of Ages The quarterly magazine of the Latin Mass Society

Issue 192 –Summer 2017

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Š John Aron

The Holy Spirit: Bishop Athanasius Schneider with a reflection for Pentecost Easter Gardens Catholic film making

Plus: news, views, Mass listings and nationwide reports SUMMER 2017

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SUMMER 2017

Contents

CONTENTS/CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

A time for prayer

3 Chairman’s Message Joseph Shaw on the Holy See and the Society of Pope Pius X 6 LMS Year Planner – Notable Events

7 Liturgical Calendar and obituaries 8 Catholic film making Stefano Mazzeo on competing for hearts and minds 10 The Old Mass and the New Age Joseph Shaw reviews Roger Buck’s Cor Jesu Sacratissimum: From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed 12 The Holy Spirit: a reflection for Pentecost – by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan 14 The last Habsburg Emperor Jamie Bogle looks at the life of The Blessed Emperor Charles of AustriaHungary 16 Reports from around the country What’s happening where you are 24 Miraculous Hosts – Caroline Shaw looks at a pilgrim’s souvenir from the 16th Century 26 Muster the legions! – by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP, General Chaplain of the Confraternity of St Peter, a growing international prayer network for priestly vocations and ministry 27 The Triduum – by Matthew Schellhorn 28 Hidden treasures – Paul Waddington looks at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Caterham 30 A real devotional object – Joseph Shaw on the Easter Garden 31 Getting to know you – Antonia Robinson explains the new LMS Family Contact Register 32 Letters – Readers have their say

33 Mass listings 40 A place of pilgrimage – Kevin Jones on St Winefride and the ancient shrine at Holywell 42 The social experiment – Do we still believe in marriage? asks Fr Bede Rowe 43 Referencing the self – The Lone Veiler with some words of wisdom from St Augustine 44 Roman report – Alberto Carosa on an appeal to the highest authorities of the Church 45 The Dark Tower – Hannah Young reviews a new children’s book by Donal Foley 46 Crossword/Classified advertisements 47 Macklin Street – Fatima Centenary Celebrations

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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

Mass of Ages No. 192

Cover image: Bishop Schneider © 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.

Joseph Shaw on the Holy See and the Society of Pope Pius X

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ot for the first time in the present pontificate, the Catholic media is abuzz with the possibility that the Society of Pope Pius X (SSPX) will be ‘reconciled’ to the Holy See: which is to say, that it would gain official canonical status.

On a previous occasion, when asked for comments by Catholic journalists, I told them to calm down: my view was that it wasn’t about to happen, because of the issue of mutual trust. I was correct, then, but things have continued to develop.

The ‘jurisdiction’ needed for priests to hear confessions validly, outside an emergency situation, was granted to the SSPX for the ‘Year of Mercy’, and when that year came to an end this jurisdiction was granted permanently.

Now provisions have been made in relation to weddings celebrated by SSPX priests, so that there need not be any doubt about their validity either. These arrangements give the SSPX privileges, such as jurisdiction to hear confessions given directly from the Pope, enjoyed by no other religious institute.

We appear to be witnessing a gradual process of regularisation. The next step, I suppose, might be for the Holy See to give formal permission for priestly ordinations.

Alternatively, the gradual process could give way to a once-and-for-all agreement with special provisions for the SSPX’s apostolates, perhaps including a ‘Personal Prelature’, which would mean that SSPX priests would be answerable not to local bishops but a bishop (or Cardinal) of their own.

Time will tell. The attitude of the Holy See to the ‘Patriotic Church’ in China offers a partial parallel. The Patriotic Catholic Association, which is a department of the Chinese state, looks, on paper, like a clear-cut case of schism, complete

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CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE with an ‘underground’ counterpart in communion with Rome.

Rome’s policy of many decades, however, has been not to isolate and oppose the Patriotic Church, but as far as possible to erode the distinction between it and the Universal Church.

When asked, Rome gives permission for its bishops’ consecrations, to prevent them falling automatically into excommunication. Other Patriotic bishops have been reconciled to Rome afterwards, without ceasing to exercise their ministry within the Patriotic institution. Some of these have done so in secret.

The Faithful are told they can attend either Patriotic or underground services, and do both. The idea is to prevent the schism, which has little, if any, doctrinal basis, hardening into something which cannot be undone, when, as may happen, state policy changes.

As far as the SSPX is concerned, we should rejoice at the solicitude the Holy Father has shown the Faithful who receive the sacraments from them, and for the prospect, however uncertain,

of an official settlement of the SSPX’s canonical situation.

We should above all pray for all the parties involved.

Support the Summer School As is usual with this edition of Mass of Ages, it contains a flyer advertising the St Catherine’s Trust Summer School. We are also, with this issue, seeking funds to support it.

Regular readers will have seen photographs and reports from the Summer School, for children aged 11-18, over many years. When it started, in 2005, the project was unlike anything the Latin Mass Society had attempted before, so I founded the St Catherine’s Trust to do it: if things went wrong, it wouldn’t be the LMS on the hook.

The project has prospered, however, and after more than a decade is still going strong, with numbers up for the third year running and close to the current venue’s capacity. We have, through all sorts of difficulties, always maintained the Summer School’s founding principles: that it should be truly Catholic, with the Traditional Mass at its heart; that it

should be truly educational, and not just a holiday camp; and that there should not be a fee.

The last point makes the Summer School dependent on donations. Parents donate a lot of the cost, but by no means all, and the Latin Mass Society makes an important contribution.

With this issue we are asking the Society’s members and supporters to help the Society maintain this annual donation, which is essential for the Summer School’s viability.

The ultimate judges of the Summer School are the children who attend it, who come from all over the British Isles, and from all sorts of social and educational backgrounds. We give them the Mass (Sung and High Mass every day, plus Compline and the Rosary), and at least a taste of Catholic education (including Latin and Greek), and they keep wanting to come back. Furthermore, the school community, of students and staff, has fostered deep friendships and a number of vocations. The Summer School is something of which the Traditional movement in the UK can be truly proud.

Please help us keep the show on the road.

‘He’s being sent down to appeal to the young people of today.’

Image from Dom Hubert van Zeller (Br Choleric) Cracks in the Clouds (1976)

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SUMMER 2017

TAB

SUMMER2016 WINTER 2017

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EVENTS

LMS Year Planner – Notable Events Due to circumstances beyond our control, there will not be a Day of Recollection at Ware this year.

Saturday, 17th June 2017 High Mass in Downside Abbey. The annual High Mass at Downside Abbey in Somerset is on Saturday 17th June, at 11.00am. Dom Boniface Hill will be the Celebrant, and the Mass will be sung by the St John’s Festival Choir from Bath.

Saturday, 24th June 2017 LMS Annual General Meeting and High Mass. High Mass in St James’, Church, Spanish Place, London at 12 noon, celebrated by the newly ordained Fr Alex Stewart FSSP, will precede the AGM. An Agenda for the meeting is enclosed with this edition of the magazine sent to members but all are welcome to attend the Mass.

Sunday, 2nd July 2017 LMS Annual Pilgrimage to Holywell. High Mass (votive of St Winefride) will be celebrated in the parish church at 2.30pm, followed by a Rosary procession down to the Well whereupon the relic of St Winefride will be presented for veneration. The celebrant of the Mass will be Fr James Mawdsley FSSP.

Monday 24th July – Saturday, 29th July 2017 LMS Residential Latin Course. Running simultaneously to the St Catherine’s Trust’s Summer School in Pantasaph, the Latin course is intensive, over six days, with accommodation close by in the St Winifrede’s Guest House in Holywell. The Latinists will be able to attend the daily Missa Cantata and sung Compline which are part of the Summer School.

Thursday 24th August – Sunday 27th August 2017 LMS Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham. This will be our eighth walking pilgrimage to Walsingham for the conversion of England. Pilgrims meet at Ely on the Thursday evening and, after Mass early Friday morning, start the 55-mile walk to Walsingham.

Saturday 9th September 2017 LMS Pilgrimage to Brinkburn Priory LMS Pilgrimage to Glastonbury Saturday 23rd September 2017 Missa Cantata in St Augustine’s, Snave by kind permission of the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.

Saturday 8th July 2017 LMS Fatima Centenary Celebration. In this centenary year of the Apparitions in Fatima, the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima and Relics of Blessed Jacinta and Francisco will be taken into the church of Our Lady of the Rosary & St Dominic, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB on Saturday 8th July 2017, by kind permission of Fr Thomas Skeats OP, for High Mass and an afternoon of devotions.

Sunday 9th July 2017 Annual Mass for the Sodality of St Augustine. A Missa Cantata will be celebrated in St Bede’s, Thornton Road, Clapham Park London SW12 0LF on Sunday, 9th July at 11:00am. Music will be supplied by Cantores Missae, under the direction of Charles Finch.

Sunday, 23rd July – Sunday 30th July 2017 St Catherine’s Trust Summer School. The 2017 Summer School, for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18, will be held at the Franciscan Retreat Centre in Pantasaph, North Wales.

FACTFILE Details of all our events can be found on our website, together with booking and payment facilities where applicable. Go to lms.org.uk

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SUMMER 2017

LITURGICAL CALENDAR/OBITUARIES

Liturgical calendar MAY 2017 Sun 14 Mon 15 Tue 16 Wed 17 Thu 18 Fri 19 Sat 20 Sun 21 Mon 22 Tue 23 Wed 24 Thu 25 Fri 26 Sat 27 Sun 28 Mon 29 Tue 30 Wed 31

IV SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W S JOHN BAPTIST de la SALLE C III CI W S UBALDUS B C III CI W S PASCHAL BAYLON C III CI W S VENANTIUS M III CI R S PETER CELESTINE P C III CI W S BERNADINE of SIENA C III CI W V SUNDAY after EASTER II Cl W FERIA IV CI W (Rogation Day) FERIA IV CI W (Rogation Day) VIGIL of the ASCENSION II Cl W (Rogation Day) ASCENSION of OUR LORD I Cl W S AUGUSTINE of CANTERBURY B C II Cl W S BEDE the VENERABLE C D III Cl W SUNDAY after the ASCENSION of OUR LORD II Cl W S MARY MAGDALEN dei PAZZI V III CI W FERIA IV CI W BVM QUEEN II Cl W

JUNE 2017 Thu 1 S ANGELA MERICI V III Cl W Fri 2 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 3 VIGIL of PENTECOST (Whitsun Eve) I Cl R Sun 4 WHIT SUNDAY (Pentecost) I Cl R Mon 5 WHIT MONDAY I Cl R Tue 6 WHIT TUESDAY I Cl R Wed 7 WHIT WEDNESDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Thu 8 WHIT THURSDAY I Cl R Fri 9 WHIT FRIDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Sat 10 WHIT SATURDAY (Ember Day) I Cl R Sun 11 FEAST of the MOST HOLY TRINITY I Cl W Mon 12 S JOHN of SAN FACONDO C III CI W Tue 13 S ANTHONY of PADUA C D III Cl W Wed 14 S BASIL the GREAT B C D III Cl W Thu 15 CORPUS CHRISTI I Cl W Fri 16 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 17 S GREGORY BARBARIGO B C III CI W Sun 18 II SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 19 S JULIANA FALCONIERI V III CI W Tue 20 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 21 S ALOYSIUS GONZAGA C III Cl W Thu 22 S PAULINUS B C III CI W Fri 23 MOST SACRED HEART of JESUS I Cl W Sat 24 NATIVITY of S JOHN the BAPTIST § I Cl W Sun 25 III SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 26 SS JOHN § & PAUL § MM III CI R Tue 27 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 28 VIGIL of SS PETER § & PAUL § Aps II Cl V Thu 29 SS PETER § & PAUL § Aps I Cl R Fri 30 COMMEMORATION of S PAUL § Ap III Cl R JULY 2017 Sat 1 MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD of OLJC I Cl R Sun 2 IV SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 3 S IRENAEUS B M III CI R Tue 4 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 5 S ANTHONY MARY ZACCARIA C III Cl W Thu 6 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 7 SS CYRIL & METHODIUS BB CC III Cl W Sat 8 S ELIZABETH Q W III Cl W Sun 9 V SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 10 SEVEN HOLY BROTHERS MM & SS RUFINA & SECUNDA VV MM III Cl R Tue 11 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 12 S JOHN GUALBERT Ab III Cl W Thu 13 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 14 S BONAVENTURE B C D III Cl W Sat 15 S HENRY Emperor C III Cl W Sun 16 VI SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 17 FERIA IV Cl G Tue 18 S CAMILLUS de LELLIS C III Cl W Wed 19 S VINCENT de PAUL C III Cl W Thu 20 S JEROME EMILIANI C III Cl W Fri 21 S LAWRENCE of BRINDISI C D III Cl W Sat 22 S MARY MAGDALEN Penitent III Cl W Sun 23 VII SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 24 FERIA IV Cl G Tue 25 S JAMES § Ap II Cl R Wed 26 S ANNE MOTHER of the BVM II Cl W Thu 27 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 28 SS NAZARIUS & CELSUS MM & VICTOR I P M & INNOCENT I P C III Cl R Sat 29 S MARTHA V III CI W Sun 30 VIII SUNDAY after PENTECOST II Cl G Mon 31 S IGNATIUS C III Cl W

AUGUST 2017 Tue 1 FERIA IV Cl G Wed 2 S ALPHONSUS MARY de LIGUORI B C D III Cl W Thu 3 FERIA IV Cl G Fri 4 S DOMINIC C III Cl W Sat 5 DEDICATION of S MARY of the SNOWS III Cl W Sun 6 TRANSFIGURATION of OLJC II Cl W Mon 7 S CAJETAN C III Cl W Tue 8 S JOHN MARY VIANNEY C III Cl W Wed 9 VIGIL of S LAWRENCE § M III Cl V Thu 10 S LAWRENCE § M II Cl R Fri 11 FERIA IV Cl G Sat 12 S CLARE V III Cl W

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Veronica Spender

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ith her husband Tony, Veronica Spender, who has died aged 94, was a founding member of the Latin Mass Society. Born in Dalkey, Ireland in 1923, Veronica grew up in Bristol. She was the second of six Cookson children.

She attended Clifton Girls’ School and on leaving joined the WRNS serving as a meteorologist and then cypher clerk.

After the War she worked at the Institute of Physics and at the fledgling Horse of the Year show before meeting and marrying Lieutenant Commander Tony Spender. Her family, her Catholic faith and her dogs became the central pillars of her life from then on.

She had five children and enjoyed her life in the village of Kingsdon, Somerset, where she lived for more than 40 years, as well as the glamour of regular overseas postings with her husband – notably to Malta, Hong Kong and Gibraltar.

Veronica could be feisty and opinionated but her occasional sharp remark concealed deep warmth and great good humour. Above all she was prepared, always and unconditionally, to help others.

A Funeral Requiem was celebrated in Holy Ghost Church, Yeovil on Wednesday, 8 February.

Fr Michael Clifton

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t was a great sadness to learn of the death of Fr Michael Clifton in February at the age of 81. He said Mass regularly at Bethany Chapel, Uckfield, East Sussex, from the time he came to live at Holy Cross for his retirement.

In the 1950s, under Mgr Corbishley, Fr Michael had been a student at Mark Cross Junior Seminary, which he did not much enjoy, and where he was remembered ‘for a certain credulous piety’, for which he was the butt of some teasing.

He was apparently once shown a feather from the wing of St Michael and persuaded to venerate it. Fr Michael then moved from Mark Cross to Wonersh. He was ordained in 1959. He then taught history and geography at John Fisher School, Purley, in the1960s and 1970s at a time when a large proportion of the staff were still Diocesan priests.

Fr Michael is remembered as a ‘kindly, rather blustering teacher’, who was fondly nicknamed Ernie, because of his habit of prefacing sentences with ‘er, er’. He was originally, and perhaps surprisingly for those who only knew him as a solid Latin Mass supporter, very enthusiastic about the changes wrought by Vatican II. But by 1970, the excitement of Vatican II had worn thin, and he was again saying the Old Rite. By the 1980s Fr Michael had returned to parish work after teaching, first as Parish Priest at Colliers Wood, and then Ham, where he began his ‘Fr Mildew’ blog. He was also archivist for Southwark Diocese.

His homilies were a joy to listen to, pithy, interesting, and always orthodox.

Annie Mackie-Savage

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FEATURE

Catholic film making Stefano Mazzeo on competing for hearts and minds

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he Black Legend is a term used mainly by Spanish Catholics to describe the myths and legends developed by Protestant northern Europe to portray the Spanish Inquisition.

Spain was the superpower of the 16th Century and the Protestant counties needed a propaganda stick to attack her and the Catholic Church. For this they used the most effective media of the day, the printing press. The Protestant authorities were desperate to cement the loyalty of their own people, most of whom wanted to remain Catholic. Spain was also the great rival for territories in the New World.

So the myths of the Inquisition were developed during the Protestant revolt and have been perpetuated ever since; it is a tradition of misinformation that continues today in the secular media.

The myths of the Crusades and the socalled Reformation are perpetuated in a similar way.

Setting the record straight It is against the backdrop of big budget secular documentaries and films that convey a very different picture from what actually happened that EWTN, the world’s largest religious broadcasting network, is making a series of docudramas to set the record straight.

The Crusades (2014) was the first of the Black Legend trilogy, followed by The Inquisition (2016) with The Reformation to follow next year. Episode one of The Reformation, which is called The Truth about Luther, may be broadcast in late October this year provided we can finish it in time.

Daunting To make docudramas that compete for the attention of our fellow Catholics against the secular media can sometimes be daunting. For example, when asked by our filming insurance people to state the budget for the Message of Fatima miniseries, they assumed I was referring to each episode and not the whole series.

For we have only a fraction of the funds available to secular film makers and

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Filming in progress therefore we must find innovative ways to raise money and increase production values.

Co-productions are a way of doing this, allowing us to share production costs with other like-minded organisations.

The Latin Mass Society were coproducers on our Wales the Golden Thread of Faith series, in which we were able to show how the Traditional Latin

Mass played a great part in the Christian history of Wales. Buckfast Abbey came on board for the Crusades mini-series, for which we won the Grand Prix for the Niepokalana film festival in Poland.

Fatima At the moment we have taken a year out from making the Black Legend trilogy to concentrate on a series that celebrates the

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FEATURE centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima. This will be a co-production with Britain’s St Clare Media (EWTN). It could be said that the Reformation and Fatima are linked, or rather that Fatima is the antidote to a convergence of malevolent anniversaries in 2017. For this coming 31st October marks 500 years since Luther started the heretical Protestant revolt; 24th June marks 300 years since the formation of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons, and it has been100 years since the Russian Revolution and spread of communism.

However, May 13th is the centenary of the first Apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children, when heaven chose to make one of the most comprehensive interventions on earth since Biblical times. The Message of Fatima will be given its premiere across EWTN’s worldwide network in May with the first two episodes: 10th May for episode one, which concentrates on apparitions of the Angel, and episode two, The First Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, on 13th May. The other episodes will be shown on the centenary date of each apparition.

Stefano Mazzeo is a Producer/Director with EWTN

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A scene from The Message of Fatima

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REVIEW

The Old Mass and the New Age Joseph Shaw reviews Roger Buck’s Cor Jesu Sacratissimum: From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed

K

arl Marx remarked that, ‘Religion is the spirituality of conditions which are unspiritual’ (the German has been variously translated).

He was wrong: religion does not only flourish when people are miserable and oppressed. Nevertheless, the soulless world created by industrialisation and de-industrialisation, the breakdown of the family and the decay of culture, at its most bleak in the post-Protestant parts of the English-speaking world, has certainly elicited a spiritual reaction.

Pseudo-religion The New Age is a religion, or pseudoreligion, for people who wish to escape from the rat-race and gain some kind of connection with nature, or the spirit world, or their own deeper and purer selves. These are typically people whose education has rubbished the supernatural and whose experience of organised religion is limited to secularised Lowchurch Protestantism, something which did not seem to them to hold the secret to healing the spiritual wounds of mankind.

The New Age can be described as the spirituality of our own unspiritual society.

This is the thesis of Roger Buck’s new book, whose first half is a thorough exploration of the New Age, its history and its character, from a Catholic perspective. Buck was deeply involved in the New Age himself.

Not only does he know the movement from the inside, but he has acute sympathy for the difficulties in escaping from it, since he had to overcome them himself.

With great charity and patience, he leads the reader through the disturbing roots of the movement in texts supposedly ‘channelled’ from spirits, the untidy bundle of ideas making up the core of the movement, and the cultural and intellectual conditions in which it flourishes.

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The second half of the book is about the lived traditional Catholic faith and culture which is the real answer to the questions New Agers are asking, but which is hard to find today. This is not an academic treatment, however: it is a flowing personal testimony of Buck’s experiences and reflections.

Materialism The New Age represents an emphatic rejection of materialism, which in both Marxist and scientific forms plays such an important role in Western culture.

The New Age does not question, however, the post-Christian rejection of Original Sin and Grace, and of a personal God

(at least, with any very significant role) in relation to whom sin and grace make sense. Instead, the view is that we can overcome our problems by our own efforts, our personal circumstances being a learning opportunity, specially arranged in the context of reincarnation. The goal of life combines Eastern enlightenment; Jungian individuation; and the world’s transformation from the Piscean to the Aquarian age, as taught by theosophists like Alice Bailey.

Spiritual development Society’s contribution to our situation has been the construction of conventions and institutions which may have been

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REVIEW the overwhelming scientific power which was part of the coming transformation of the world.

We are not called to feel helpless and depressed by the state of the world, but to feel appropriate grief for the destruction of the souls of our fellow men, and to play our part in the economy of salvation to bring poor sinners to grace. If it makes sense for us to feel compassion for those around us who are suffering, how much more will God feel it? It is through the Sacred Heart of Jesus that this compassion is most eloquently expressed, and this theme runs throughout Buck’s book.

Traditional Mass Another aspect of Buck’s response to the New Age is the Traditional Mass. As he is at pains to explain, the supernatural, transformative potential which the Sacraments represent has been thoroughly obscured since Vatican II, and it is precisely this potential which New Agers seek. A liturgy of pottery chalices, pedestrian prose, and bidding prayers about recycling does not offer the newcomer, ignorant of the supernatural reality of the sacrament and sacrifice taking place, anything he can’t find outside the Church.

What New Agers are seeking is, in the words of the late Stratford Caldicott, ‘a transforming contact with mystery’: something offered to them in a very clear way by the Traditional Mass. By contrast with the attitudes we would associate with Protestantism and Rationalism, New Agers are not allergic to ritual, or even asceticism. Criticisms of New Age practices involving tea-lights and mumbojumbo are easy to make, but the correct response must go beyond ridicule to offer them the reality whose shadow they are chasing.

The role of the Traditional Mass in helping New Agers to the Faith is not just a theoretical possibility: as well as Buck’s own experience, there are a number of people with similar stories in the Latin Mass Society. One need not, in fact, take a detour through the New Age to see that the world is hungry for the meaning and transformation offered by the mysterious, moving, and beautiful ancient Catholic liturgy.

Cor Jesu Sacratissimum: From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed is published by Angelico Press, and is available to purchase from the LMS online shop, at £17.50.

© John Aron

necessary in former times, but which are a hindrance to spiritual development today, and which people seeking enlightenment must transcend.

This echoes the Marxist view that cultural institutions such as the Church and the family are exploitative, and that the human spirit will expand and flourish when they are destroyed; it also has an affinity with the Protestant rejection of Catholic institutions and culture.

Buck’s key to unlocking the New Age to the Faith is the concept of compassion.

New Agers practice empathy and can be loyal friends, but the Christian ideal of compassion for the sin and suffering of the world, leading to radical spiritual and practical action, is absent from the New Age, as it generally is from Eastern Mysticism.

On the one hand, others’ problems are what they need to learn and develop; on the other, society’s injustices are about to be resolved by the Aquarian revolution, which can include benign technological as well and spiritual developments, and to which the individual’s contribution is above all his own self-realisation.

Alice Bailey exulted in the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan in 1945: for her this represented the unleashing of

What New Agers are seeking is, in the words of the late Stratford Caldicott, ‘a transforming contact with mystery’: something offered to them in a very clear way by the Traditional Mass

SUMMER 2017

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FEATURE

The Holy Spirit: a reflection for Pentecost

© John Aron

by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan

Bishop Schneider, Pontifical High Mass at Dome of Home in January.

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t was 120 years ago, in 1897, when Divinum illud munus, the first Papal Encyclical on the Holy Spirit, was published. With this encyclical, Pope Leo XIII left the Church a real masterwork of Catholic doctrine on the Holy Spirit. In the following quotations we can discover with amazement the ever-valid teaching on the Holy Spirit, a teaching which reveals itself to be relevant to the life of the Church in our own days.

There is only one way to salvation, and this is the Catholic Church, established

by Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, all men are invited to enter this way of salvation:

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‘Our Saviour never ceases to invite, with infinite affection, all men, of every race and tongue, into the bosom of His Church: “Come ye all to Me,” “I am the Life,” “I am the Good Shepherd.”

Nevertheless, according to His inscrutable counsels, He did not will to entirely complete and finish this office Himself on earth, but as He had received it from the Father, so He transmitted it for its completion to the Holy Ghost.’

(Divinum illud munus, 1).

Pope Leo XIII describes in an admirable and concise manner the unspeakable dignity of baptized persons as being by Divine adoption sons of God:

‘Human nature is by necessity the servant of God: “The creature is a servant; we are the servants of God by nature” (St Cyr. Alex., Thesaur. I. v., c. 5). On account, however, of original sin, our whole nature had fallen into such guilt and dishonour that we had become enemies to God. “We were by nature the children of wrath” (Eph. ii., 3). There was no power, which could raise us and deliver us from this ruin and eternal destruction. But God, the Creator of mankind and infinitely merciful, did this through His only begotten Son, by whose benefit it was brought about that man was restored to that rank and dignity whence he had fallen, and was adorned

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FEATURE with still more abundant graces. No one can express the greatness of this work of divine grace in the souls of men.

Wherefore, both in Holy Scripture and in the writings of the fathers, men are styled regenerated, new creatures, partakers of the Divine Nature, children of God, god-like, and similar epithets. Now these great blessings are justly attributed as especially belonging to the Holy Ghost.

He is “the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: ‘Abba, Father’.” He fills our hearts with the sweetness of paternal love: “The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God” (Rom. viii. 15-16). This truth accords with the similitude observed by the Angelic Doctor between both operations of the Holy Ghost; for through Him “Christ was conceived in holiness to be by nature the Son of God,” and “others are sanctified to be the sons of God by adoption” (St Th. 3a,q. xxxii., a. I). This spiritual generation proceeds from love in a much more noble manner than the natural: namely, from the uncreated Love. The beginnings of this regeneration and renovation of man are by Baptism.’ (Divinum illud munus, 8-9) There is an essential difference between the natural and the supernatural order of existence. There is the presence of God in his creation and in man on the level of nature and another presence on the level of grace, which begins already here on earth in the souls who live in the state of sanctifying grace. God is present and exists in all things: ‘By His power, in so far as all things are subject to His power; by His presence, inasmuch as all things are naked and open to His eyes; by His essence, inasmuch as he is present to all as the cause of their being.’ (St Th. Ia, q. viii., a. 3).

Pope Leo XIII explains more concretely this truth, saying: ‘God is in man, not only as in inanimate things, but because he is more fully known and loved by him, since even by nature we spontaneously love, desire, and seek after the good. Moreover, God by grace resides in the just soul as in a temple, in a most intimate and peculiar manner. From this proceeds that union of affection by which the soul adheres most closely to God, more so than the friend is united to his most loving and beloved friend, and enjoys God in all fullness and sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which is properly called “indwelling” differing only in degree or state from that with which God beatifies the saints in heaven.’ (Divinum illud munus, 9)

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True Christian life means authentic love and devotion to the Holy Spirit.

Love and devotion to the Holy Spirit do not consist in extraordinary so called ‘charismatic’ phenomena, such as speaking in tongues, having visions and delivering alleged supernatural messages.

Pope Leo XIII shows us the following sound principles of a life according to the Holy Spirit. The words of the Pontiff are touching in a striking manner the very crisis of the Church in our days: ‘We must strive that this love should be of such a nature as not to consist merely in dry speculations or external observances, but rather to run forward towards action, and especially to fly from sin, which is in a more special manner offensive to the Holy Spirit. For whatever we are, that we are by the divine goodness; and this goodness is specially attributed to the Holy Ghost.

The sinner offends this his Benefactor, abusing His gifts; and taking advantage of His goodness becomes more hardened in sin day by day. Again, since He is the Spirit of Truth, whosoever faileth by weakness or ignorance may perhaps have some excuse before Almighty God; but he who resists the truth through malice and turns away from it, sins most grievously against the Holy Ghost. In our days this sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come which were foretold by St Paul, in which men, blinded by the just judgment of God, should take falsehood for truth, and should believe in “the prince of this world,” who is a liar and the father thereof, as a teacher of truth: “God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying” (2 Thess. ii., 10). “In the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. iv., 1). But since the Holy Ghost, as We have said, dwells in us as in His temple, We must repeat the warning of the Apostle: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed” (Eph. iv., 30). Nor is it enough to fly from sin; every Christian ought to shine with the splendour of virtue so as to be pleasing to so great and so beneficent a guest; and first of all with chastity and holiness, for chaste and holy things befit the temple. Hence the words of the Apostle: “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Cor. iii., 16-17): a terrible, indeed, but a just warning.’ (Divinum illud munus, 10).

These words are indeed very up to date in view of the spreading practice of divorce and of a practical legitimization of

fornication and adultery in the life of the Church, particularly due to an ideologically erroneous and tendentious application of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia in several particular churches, abusing thereby insolently even the concept of ‘Divine mercy’.

The true pastoral work and method in helping sinners consists not in confirming them in their sinful life style and saying to them, for example, that the observance of the Sixth Commandment would constitute only an ideal. The only valid path to a life according to the will of God, which will lead to heaven, consists in a constant and humble collaboration with the Holy Spirit, which bestows His gifts to those who sincerely and confidently ask His help in prayer.

Once again we can listen to these encouraging and formidable words of the Magisterium: The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more to fly to Him who is the never-ceasing fount of light, strength, consolation, and holiness. And chiefly that first requisite of man, the forgiveness of sins, must be sought for from Him: “It is the special character of the Holy Ghost that He is the Gift of the Father and the Son. Now the remission of all sins is given by the Holy Ghost as by the Gift of God” (Summ.

Th. 3a, q. iii., a. 8, ad 3m). Concerning this Spirit the words of the Liturgy are very explicit: “For He is the remission of all sins” (Roman Missal, Tuesday after Pentecost). How He should be invoked is clearly taught by the Church, who addresses Him in humble supplication, calling upon Him by the sweetest of names: “Come, Father of the poor! Come, Giver of gifts! Come, Light of our hearts!

O, best of Consolers, sweet Guest of the soul, our refreshment!” (Hymn, Veni Sancte Spiritus). She earnestly implores Him to wash, heal, water our minds and hearts, and to give to us who trust in Him “the merit of virtue, the acquirement of salvation, and joy everlasting.” Nor can it be in any way doubted that He will listen to such prayer, since we read the words written by His own inspiration: “The Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings” (Rom. viii., 26). Lastly, we ought confidently and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and inflame us with His charity: for, thus inspired with faith and love, we may press onward earnestly towards our eternal reward” (Divinum illud munus, 11).

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FEATURE

The Last Habsburg Emperor Jamie Bogle looks at the life of The Blessed Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungary, successor to the Holy Roman Emperors, who was beatified on 3 October 2004.

His Feast Day is 21 October, the date of his marriage to HRH Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma Er suchte den Frieden und fand ihn in Gott - “He sought for peace and found it in God”

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lessed Emperor Charles of Austria was beatified by Pope St John Paul II on 3 October 2004.

His youngest son, Archduke Rudolf, told me that Pope St John Paul II personally remarked to him that his father, a former officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army, had named him “Karol” or “Charles” after the Blessed Emperor.

The Archduke Rudolf also confirmed in the interview that he had been present when the body of his father was exhumed in 1972 from its resting place in the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte, Madeira. The body was incorrupt despite the presence of damp in the tomb.

Emperor Charles was successor to the emperors of that Roman Empire, from Emperor Constantine I onward, which lasted for most of Christian history, until its dissolution by the anti-Christian Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806.

The Roman Emperor was regarded as the chief layman of Christendom. He had, for example, the right and duty to convene a General Ecumenical Council and to preside over it, Charles I of Austria Grand and did so for the first 1100 years Duke Charles of Austria, the of the Church’s history. The later Emperor Charles I of Emperor also retained a veto over Austria. © Public Domain papal elections until 1912.

Indeed, prayers for the Roman Emperor continued to form part of the liturgy for Good Friday and Holy Saturday in the Roman rite until 1955, when the architect of the new Mass, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, removed them.

Reverence for the Roman emperor was even enjoined by Scriptural texts, such as our Lord’s command to “render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar” and the command of the first Pope, St Peter, to “honour the Emperor” (1 Peter 2:17).

This Roman Commonwealth or Empire became a huge patchwork of large and small states over which the Emperor often had only limited control. This is because, rather than being based upon oppressive centralism, as states are today, the Holy Empire was based upon the Catholic social principle

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of “subsidiarity” where power was disseminated to the lowest reasonable level.

The Blessed Emperor Charles represented this traditional Christian view of government both in his beliefs and in his person. He treated his people as a father, rather than a mere president.

Wedding of Archduke Charles of Austria and Princess Zita of BourbonParma in Schwarzau Palace. © Public Domain

The Feast Day of the Blessed Emperor Charles had been chosen by St John Paul II, at the request of the Habsburg family, to be 21 October, being not the day of his death but rather the day of his wedding to Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. It comes therefore but 10 days before the Feast of Christ the King in the old calendar.

His beatification day was, in the old calendar of the Church, the former Feast day of our Lady of Victory, later our Lady of the Holy Rosary, celebrated on the first Sunday of October (now celebrated on 7 October).

On that day in 1571, the Christian fleet under Don John of Austria, son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, ancestor of Blessed Emperor Charles, heavily outnumbered by seven to one, achieved a stunning victory at Lepanto over the Moslem host.

The beatification of Emperor Charles was attended by some 200 members of the Habsburg family including the then head of the family, HIRH Archduke Otto of Austria, eldest son of the Blessed Emperor Charles.

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FEATURE Immediately upon his accession to the Imperial throne, following the death of his great uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph, Charles declared his intention of obtaining peace and an end to the First World War. He was even willing to give away more land than had been suggested by the peace-loving Pope Benedict XV who had pleaded with the belligerent powers to stop this bloody, futile and useless world war.

Blessed Charles persuaded his wife’s brother, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, then serving in the opposing Belgian army, to negotiate a peace with the Allies. But the Allied politicians - the grizzled old anti-Christian secularists of a previous generation who had declared war on the Pope - wanted to carry on the war so as to eliminate all that was left of the few remaining Christian kingdoms.

In order to get Italy into the war on their side, French and British political leaders had secretly agreed to concede the whole of the South Tyrol and Trentino to Italy.

This was despite the fact that the Italians, badly led by secularist Italian nationalist generals, had been comprehensively defeated by the Austria at the Battle of Caporetto in November 1917.

Charles had to keep his peace negotiations secret from the Germans. The German Protestant Emperor and his generals were foolishly intent upon fighting the war to the bitter end.

Conversely, the secularist revolutionary French premier, Georges Clemenceau, born a Protestant, also could not be trusted and deceitfully and treacherously revealed to the world’s media the whole correspondence he had with Emperor Charles so as to embarrass him.

The German High Command, outraged at the secret negotiations for peace, then used its superior military position to take over command of the Austrian forces, pushing aside the Blessed Emperor and his government. After this, peace was doomed.

The Blessed Emperor also refused to permit immoral acts of war by any of his forces.

He forbade shelling of Italian cities lest civilians be harmed.

He forbade the U-boat war against civilian shipping (which the Germans pursued anyway and so caused the Americans to join the war). He forbade the use of poison gas.

He also refused to allow Lenin to pass through any of his lands on his way to Russia to start the Revolution, stating that a Marxist revolution would be worse than losing the war. How right he was!

The German government sent Lenin in a sealed train through their lands and so helped start the Russian Revolution and spread of Soviet Communism.

At war’s end both Germany and Austria-Hungary were decimated but it was worse for Austria-Hungary because it was a polyglot, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural empire where mainstream religions were, within reason, permitted to flourish by a Catholic government. The victorious Allies very foolishly allowed the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary into its constituent national and racial parts.

Moreover, the victorious Allies even more foolishly allowed the gap to be filled with, first, Communism, then Nazism and then Communism, again.

The Allies had been deeply foolish to ignore the peace pleas and plans of the young and Blessed “Peace Emperor”.

We, today, are still feeling the consequences.

For his commitment to peace and his attempt to free the peoples of Europe from the most devastating war history had so far seen, the Blessed Emperor Charles was ungratefully exiled first to Switzerland and then Madeira.

He had been forced by the Allies to abdicate but later made two attempts to regain the Hungarian throne. However, the treacherous Admiral Nicholas von Horthy (a Protestant), although claiming to rule as his Regent, prevented Charles from doing so. Charles decided not to risk bloodshed and gave up the attempt.

The new Austrian and Hungarian governments then seized all his family money and property and left him and his family destitute.

Charles was still young but already his hair had greyed. In Madeira, being penniless, he had to live on charity and the family were lent a villa on the mountain where the weather was constantly damp. He caught a chill and developed pneumonia.

After a lingering and painful illness, born with great courage and fortitude, he died, uttering the Holy Name of Jesus, at the young age of 34.

He left a pregnant wife and seven children whom he had entrusted to King Alfonso of Spain. Empress Zita survived until 1989, long enough to witness the defeat, not only of Nazism, but also the fall of Communism.

The enemies of Catholic government nearly succeeded in halting the cause for the beatification of Emperor Charles in 1976.

Happily, Pope St John Paul II quietly revived it and then named the Blessed Emperor Charles as a patron of Europe.

Let us pray that this saintly and peace-loving Catholic emperor, from the ancient House of Habsburg, may soon be canonised.

Beatus Carolus e domo Austriae, ora pro nobis!

King Charles IV of Hungary taking his coronation oath in Budapest on 30 December 1916. © Public Domain

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James Bogle is a barrister, former cavalry officer and an historian. He is a former President of Una Voce International and a member of the LMS Committee. He is co-author of Heart for Europe, a biography of the Blessed Emperor Charles, now in its 5th edition and available from the LMS online shop. More information about the Emperor Charles Prayer League for Peace can be obtained here: www.gebetsliga.com/english/

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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

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n February, Fr Gerard Hatton celebrated his first Missa Cantata, a great success and a much needed chink of light in what has been a rather flat time for us in Arundel and Brighton. With the ill health of Fr Ray Blake, and the loss of Fr Clifton, who sadly died in February, Masses have been fewer.

(See obituary, page 7.)

The A&B blog side bar, where regular Masses are listed, is becoming a walk down memory lane. On the positive side, where we have once had Masses regularly, there is the hope they will one day happen again. At West Grinstead there is the occasional Missa Cantata, and also at the regular monthly Mass at Seaford, where Tom Haggar’s schola sang in February.

Everyone is extremely grateful for the support of the priests who say Mass for us, because it is this Mass which, once people get used to, they become hooked on.

All the updates, changes to Masses, additions, cancellations, alternative locations, are posted on the A&B blog as soon as I get the information, so please check in to see.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Birmingham (City and Black Country) Louis Maciel 07392 232225 louis.maciel@gmail.com birmingham-lms-rep.blogspot.co.uk

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t is interesting to see that demand for the Extraordinary Form is increasing, particularly in the case of special circumstances as permitted by article 5.3 of Summorum Pontificum. I mentioned in my last report that a Nuptial High Mass and Funeral Mass were both celebrated in the Extraordinary Form at the Birmingham Oratory. Article 9.2 also permits Confirmation to be administered in the Extraordinary Form, and Bishop Robert Byrne presided over such a celebration at the Birmingham Oratory in February.

Lent began with two EF Masses in the region, with the 7.30pm High Mass at the Birmingham Oratory taking place simultaneously with a Low Mass celebrated at SS Mary & John, Snow Hill, Wolverhampton by Fr Guy Nicholls Cong. Orat. There is a regular Low Mass celebrated at the latter venue at 7pm on Thursdays. Full details are in the Mass listings.

There were also High Masses at the Oratory for the Feast of St Joseph and on Maundy Thursday, although the rest of the Triduum was celebrated in the Latin Ordinary Form, with the usual EF Sunday High Mass available on Easter Day. Also of note

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this quarter, the 9.30 Saturday morning Mass moved to 9am during Lent to allow for exposition and confessions to take place after Mass.

A Low Mass was celebrated at 8am on Easter Sunday at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton, followed by a 7pm High Mass on Easter Friday, replacing the usual 6.30pm Friday Low Mass.

Birmingham (Oxford) Dr Joseph Shaw 01993 812874 joseph.shaw@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

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ur last, occasional, High Mass in Blackfriars in Oxford, in the Dominican Rite, was well attended, and by the time you read this another will have taken place.

Feast days for the coming quarter will be well served, with Masses at different times of the day in St Birinus, Dorchester on Thames: the Oxford Oratory; SS Gregory & Augustine’s; and Holy Trinity, Hethe: please see the Mass listings. Readers in the Oxford area may also like to check Mass times in Holy Rood, Oxford, and the English Martyrs, Didcot, both of these being over the diocesan boundary in Portsmouth.

Masses on Sundays, Low and Sung, continue this quarter on the usual pattern.

This year we will celebrate the Ember Saturday of Pentecost, with a Sung or perhaps High Mass and the full set of readings, in Holy Rood, Abingdon Road, Oxford. This falls on Saturday 10 June, with Mass at 11am.

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

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e can report a slight increase in numbers attending the weekly parish Mass in the Traditional Rite at Our Lady’s, Swynnerton, and some recovery for Fr Paul Chavasse in the chronic trouble he has had with his throat. This was notable in the recent excellent event of the Mass of the Feast of the Annunciation. The attendance for a 10am Saturday Low Mass was excellent, probably the same as a good attendance for the weekly Sunday Mass (around 30-plus).

Just shows you the drawing power of our Holy Mother, perhaps especially in this Centenary Year of the Fatima Apparitions!

Also well attended throughout was the service of the Stations of the Cross preceding each Sunday 6pm Mass.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Birmingham (Worcester) Margaret Parffrey 01386 750421

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e started the year with a Missa Cantata, sung by Scola Gregoriana Malvernienis with Alister Tocher as choirmaster, 42 people attended. We also have a Mini Mass Cantata in which the congregation take part. Mass continues every Sunday at 10.45am said by Father Talbot. This includes Easter Sunday which will be a Sung High Mass.

On 18 June, Bishop Byrne will be celebrating a High Mass at St John the Baptist, Spetchley at 10.45am sung by the Scala.

Mass will be followed by a Parish Picnic Lunch in the grounds of Spetchley Park; all are welcome. A Blessed Sacrament Procession will follow Mass; children are needed to distribute flowers before Our Lord. Benediction will be given by Bishop Byrne.

We had a Requiem Mass for Michael Wilkes who died recently and was a regular supporter of the Tridentine Rite.

Passion Sunday Mass was celebrated by Father Daniel Horgan of the Columbian Fathers, who travelled by train from Solihull because Father Talbot was out of action due to an injured arm.

Our grateful thanks to Father Dan and we hope to see him again soon.

Mass at Redditch has changed as we are having to find a new priest. At this moment the parish priest, Father Rowan, has volunteered to learn the Tridentine Rite and we are very grateful for his cooperation. Please check the website.

Kidderminster St Ambrose remains at 3pm on the first Sunday of each month, said by Father Lamb.

In Evesham, Father Draycot says Mass every Tuesday at 7pm.

I will close my report with thanksgiving to the Holy Ghost for all the hurdles crossed, but the final one for more Tridentine Rite priests.

generously moved his weekly Low Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, Weston-Super-Mare, to 12 noon every Sunday, and some of the Bristol faithful are now attending this Mass. Weston-Super-Mare also has Masses on other days. See Mass listing for details.

The annual High Mass at Downside Abbey in Somerset is happening this year on Saturday 17 June, at 11am. Dom Boniface Hill will be Celebrant, and the Mass will be sung by the St John’s Festival Choir from Bath.

We have our annual pilgrimage to Glastonbury on Saturday 9 September this year. Sung Mass will be at 11.30am, followed by lunch, then a Rosary procession in the Abbey grounds, and the day will conclude with Benediction in the Shrine church.

Two ordinations in the Extraordinary Form will take place at St Mary’s Shrine Church in Warrington on 17 June. At the request of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), and with the permission of Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool, two deacons will be ordained to the priesthood; Alex Stewart, from Wallasey, and Krzysztof Sanetra, from Poland. At these ordinations will also be present our own Clifton Seminarian Seth Phipps, FSSP. We are planning travelling by train with a group of faithful from Clifton to Warrington for this occasion. Please contact us on the email above if you would like to join (leaving approximately 7am and return 7pm on Saturday 17 June).

Seth Phipps, a seminarian at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska, was one of ten men ordained to the Subdiaconate on 11 February, by Bishop Thomas Paprocki, of Springfield, Illinois; and he was ordained to the Diaconate on 25 March, by Bishop Robert Morlino, of Madison, Wisconsin.

Please keep Seth and his brother seminarians in your prayers at this time. We are proud especially that Seth comes from Clifton Diocese and was a regular attendee at Holy Cross in Bristol.

Please pray for the ordinate, and especially for Seth, as they continue on to their final year of study for the priesthood.

Clifton James Belt & Monika Paplaczyk 07890 687453 lmsclifton@gmail.com lmsclifton.blogspot.co.uk

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he last few months have been marked by the very sad closure of Holy Cross parish church in Bedminster, Bristol.

Father Andrew Goodman had been celebrating a weekly Low Mass at Holy Cross on Sundays for several years, and a good-sized congregation had built up, especially in more recent years.

We are grateful to Fr Goodman for providing this Mass for the faithful in Bristol and wish him well for the future. The last Mass in the church was the Extraordinary Form and the Salve Regina was sung at the end. The Mass was attended by close to 50 people. We have downloaded a number of photos of the Holy Cross Church on the Clifton website lmsclifton.blogspot.co.uk including beautiful stained windows.

The Holy Cross was the only regular weekly Sunday Latin Mass in Bristol, and negotiations are now taking place between Bishop Lang and priests in the Bristol area to find a way to continue provision. Father Alexander Redman has very

SUMMER 2017

Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska, ordinations to the Subdiaconate on 11 February. Seth Phipps is fourth from the right Please let us know if you would like to train to become a server. We will try to organise a training session for all interested.

After our February and March newsletters we received only one response to this. Please join this initiative.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Veronica Spender, who lived in our Diocese. Veronica and her late husband, Lt. Cdr John Spender, were two of the founding members of the Latin Mass Society, he having served as the first Hon. Treasurer. The funeral requiem Mass took place in Holy Ghost church Yeovil on 9 February. (See obituary, page 7.)

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY In this Centenary Year of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima it might be a good idea to attend the First Five Saturdays devotion. Holy Masses in the Tridentine Rite on the First Saturdays can be attended in several places in our Diocese: at Prinknash Abbey in Cranham; at Our Lady & St Kenelm in Stowon-the-Wold and at St George’s in Warminster. Check the Mass times and details in the Mass Lsitings.

From February we started issuing a monthly newsletter. This newsletter is sent to Clifton faithful by email and paper versions are also available. Please contact us if you do not receive the newsletter and we will add you to the circulation list

Hexham and Newcastle Jack Kilday handnlmsrep@gmail.com

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n addition to the usual Sunday and weekday Masses there were two additional Masses in recent weeks. The Durham Juventutem Chapter arranged a Missa Cantata on 16 March at St Cuthbert’s, Durham, which is the church of the university chaplaincy. The Mass was celebrated by Fr Shaun Swales and the schola was drawn from the student body. Unfortunately, the enthusiastic use of the thurible set off the fire alarms during the singing of the Gospel. Undeterred, Fr Swales stoically carried on singing and the alarms were eventually silenced.

On 20 March Fr Michael Brown, assisted by Fr David Philips and Fr Bede Rowe, celebrated a Solemn High Mass for the Patronal Feast of St Joseph. The choirmaster, Paul Dewhurst, conducted a mixed choir singing music by Mozart, Palestrina, and Gruber.

Masses on the first and third Sundays at St Joseph’s, Gateshead, are sung and the musical repertoire is expanding.

On Palm Sunday the choir sang for the blessing of palms and the procession. On Easter Sunday the music included the Vidi Aquam (Ebner), Missa Martyrum (Bonfitto), Laudamus te (Vivaldi), and O Filii et Filiae to a Traditional French chant.

The choir is currently working on sacred pieces by Elgar, including Ave Maris Stella, Masses by Charles Herbert Kitson, a delightful Ave Maria (for May) by Sigismond Neukomm, and some modern pieces including the Missa Brevis by Britten.

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

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ur apologies for such a short report this time. John Rogan has been endeavouring to arrange some Masses at Sizergh Castle for the summer but has been unable to finalise dates in time for this report. Please keep an eye on our website for up-to-date information or telephone us.

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A reminder that in June there will not be a Mass at St Mary’s, Hornby as this will be held at St Joseph’s, Kirkby Lonsdale, at the usual time of 3pm. Please do come and support this Mass if you can. Please also note that there will not be a Mass at Hornby in August.

Liverpool Jim Pennington 0151 426 0361 pennington893@btinternet.com

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egular Sunday and Holyday EF Masses continue in the parishes of St Catherine Laboure, Farington, offered by the Parish Priest, Father Simon Henry, and St Mary Magdalen, Penwortham, offered by priests of the Institute of Christ the King based at St Walburge’s, Preston. And of course, the priests of the Fraternity of St Peter are now well established at St Mary’s, Warrington, and the full program of Mass and the Sacraments according to the Old Rite continues. Archbishop McMahon will confer Confirmations at the shrine at 3pm on Saturday 20 May – see the FSSP website for details.

The occasional EF Masses offered by Father Sean Riley at Holy Cross in St Helens also continue. These tend to be announced at short notice: at the time of writing, I do not know of any planned in the near future.

Fr Thomas Wood has offered occasional Masses at his church of Our Lady in Lydiate. The most recent Mass there was offered by Fr James Mawdsley, FSSP on the feast of the Purification, and was very well attended.

Sadly, Fr Wood has since left the parish due to personal/ family reasons – please remember him in your prayers - and we cannot expect any more Masses there. Nor will Fr Wood be able to continue his part in the regular Sunday and Holyday Mass rota at St Anthony’s, Scotland Road. Those Masses continue, offered in turn by diocesan priests Fr John Harris and Fr Ian O’Shea, and Canons Montjean and Tanner of the Institute of Christ the King at New Brighton.

St Anthony’s now has a new Parish Priest following the unexpected ‘interregnum’ of four months – Fr Richard Ebo, who seems well disposed toward the Old Mass in his parish, so I do not expect any great changes there.

On Christmas Day last year, we were able to have Mass at St Anthony’s, thanks to the kind offices of Fr John Hemer of Allen Hall, paying a visit to his home city. Fr Hemer has generously offered to say Mass for us at St Anthony’s whenever he is visiting.

We should be most thankful to these busy priests for their continuing dedication to the Mass which we all love, sometimes in the face of less support than one would wish

Menevia Tom and Elaine Sharpling Tom.sharpling@btinternet.com

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asses continue in the normal pattern on the first and second Sunday of the month. Father Jason Jones offers the first Sunday at Sacred Heart, Morriston while Father Paul Brophy offers Mass on the second Sunday at St Therese in Port Talbot.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY We are indebted to the priests for continuing the Traditional Mass, and we have a stable group of about ten people who are faithful and determined. At times we have teamed up with Cardiff, and on Ash Wednesday the Mass was served by Andrew Butcher, who is the Cardiff LMS Representative.

The rural location and geography of Wales does make things tricky and we are grateful to the priests who continue to offer the Mass as part of a busy schedule, and to the members of congregation – some of whom travel a considerable distance.

For information about Masses in Menevia, please visit: meneviastabatmater.blogspot.co.uk. This site details the regular Masses and any extra times and places.

If you are planning a holiday to west Wales, you are more than welcome to get in touch and come along

Easter Sunday morning. It was good to see Fr Crean back with us after several months’ absence.

Looking further ahead, we will be welcoming the Bedford Choral Society back on Corpus Christi where they will be singing Palestrina’s Missa Brevis. The Choral Society was with us on All Saints’ Day last year and greatly enhanced our worship, so we are delighted that they have agreed to return in June.

We already have a complete rota of celebrants arranged up until the end of July, by which time the Latin Mass will have been at Bedford for two years. Deo gratias!

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

e have two regular Sunday Masses at Chesham Bois (8am) and at Bedford (8.30am), and a monthly Friday evening Mass at 7.30 at Shefford, normally on the third Friday of the month.

The Latin Mass at Christ the King, Bedford continues to flourish and we had two ‘firsts’ in March.

On Ash Wednesday there were two Masses with Imposition of Ashes, one at 10am and the other at 7.30pm. Our Parish Priest, Fr Patrick Hutton, kindly allowed the Evening Mass to be in the Traditional Form for the first time on Ash Wednesday since 1969. Fr Gabriel Diaz celebrated for a congregation of about 100, a number of whom were attending the Latin Mass for the first time, including most of our Confirmation candidates.

On the Feast of the Annunciation Fr Diaz celebrated Mass with us again. He is Argentinian and has a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. On this occasion the Miraculous Relic Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe visited us. The Image, which is Great Britain’s authorised copy of the original in Mexico City, is based in the Shrine of the Holy Child and St Joseph in the centre of Bedford and made the short journey to Christ the King on the Saturday morning. Around 50 people attended the Mass, which included the incensing of the Image and veneration. After Mass there was a short talk about the history of the Image and the Pilgrimage Tours.

We work closely in partnership with the Knights of St Columba when the Image goes on Pilgrimage Tour, and on this occasion, one of the Knights present was Jack Doyle, aged 94, and still very bright and sprightly. It turned out that this was his last Latin Mass, as he died a few days later. He would have first heard the Latin Mass around 1925! I am so glad that he had one last opportunity to hear the Mass with which he grew up and which he had known so long. Requiescat in pace.

We had Stations of the Cross at midday on Good Friday, led

by Fr Thomas Crean OP, who stayed over to celebrate Mass on

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Fr Diaz and the Knights of St Columba (Jack Doyle RIP beside Fr Diaz)

Northampton (North) Inc. Leicestershire and Rutland (Nottingham) Paul Beardsmore

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r Byrne continues to celebrate Mass on Saturdays at St Brendan’s, Corby. There was also a lunchtime Mass at St Brendan’s on Ash Wednesday.

Nottingham (Central) Jeremy Boot 01159 131592 jeremy.boot2@gmail.com

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am happy to report that congregations are growing, although the Masses at the Good Shepherd (Saturdays before the second Sunday, 5.45pm) remain lower in numbers of attendees than they ought to be. This Mass fulfils the Sunday obligation. Anyone who feels inclined or troubled in conscience, can still go to another Mass on Sunday!

Our Sung Masses are now reduced in number, but the Mass on the third Sunday at Our Lady and St Patrick, Launder Street, Nottingham is sung. Exceptionally too, we were able to have a Sung Mass for Palm Sunday at the Good Shepherd Church. It was our privilege in previous years for two of us to sing the Passion in Latin with the celebrant and we hope to do this again if possible should dates, resources and Masses allow.

One sad matter to report: we were very sorry to learn on Ash Wednesday of the death of Mark Jacques. He had been a very active member of the LMS locally, attending most, if

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY not all, Masses until recently. In the last two years, he had suffered from a form of depression and been seen much less.

His funeral in the Dominican Rite took place at Holy Cross Priory, Leicester on 23 March. He was 71 and a lay member of the Order of Preachers. He had also been my French teacher some 50 years ago, as he would constantly remind people in my presence, and he had kept in touch ever since! We shall miss him. Requiescat in pace.

The usual thanks to our indefatigable celebrants, servers and musicians. More always needed, please note.

Nottingham (South) Paul Beardsmore 01858 434037 pbeardsmore@btinternet.com

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hortage of clergy at Holy Cross Priory in Leicester has made it impossible to maintain the full schedule of weekday Masses in recent weeks. However, it is hoped that this situation is temporary, and the 8am weekday Mass is still celebrated whenever possible. I am grateful to the Prior for maintaining this Mass in the current difficult circumstances.

The Saturday morning Mass is no longer celebrated, but there is a Mass at St Peter’s, Leicester, on Saturdays at 11am (and also on First Fridays at 6pm). Masses on Friday evenings continue at St Joseph’s, Oakham, and, of course, the Sunday Mass is still celebrated at Holy Cross (sung on first Sunday of the month).

In addition to this regular Mass schedule there were Sung Masses at Holy Cross for the feasts of Candlemas and St Joseph, and Sung Masses at St Peter’s on Ash Wednesday and the feast of the Annunciation. Several Low Masses have also been celebrated by Fr Gillham at St Mary’s, Loughborough.

Nottingham (Lincolnshire) Mike Carroll lmslincolnshire.blogspot.com lincolnshiremartyrs.blogspot.co.uk/ Facebook Page – Latin Rite Mass in Catholic Lincolnshire

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t the present time Latin Masses have been suspended at St Bernadette, Ashby, Scunthorpe due to illness.

Things may have returned to normal by the time this magazine goes to press. So, just in case normal service has been resumed, please check with the Lincolnshire Latin Mass website, our Facebook page, or the main LMS website.

Despite this, we can bring you some good news since the last report. Around the Christmas period we celebrated three Missa Cantatas at Ashby. These are the first Missa Cantatas celebrated in Lincolnshire for around six years. A great debt of gratitude must go to a family who travel a long distance to attend the Mass and help with the singing. I must also add that I have been approached by members of the congregation who have told me just how much people have appreciated the addition of the sung Latin.

Finally, in March, and for the first time since the wellrespected Fr Philip Bailey was the incumbent priest a number of years ago, a Latin Mass was celebrated at the historic Osgodby post-penal Catholic Chapel in North Lincolnshire.

This was personally organised by the Market Rasen parish.

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Plymouth (Devon) Maurice Quinn 07555 536579 Mq018q1057@blueyonder.co.uk

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t was a great joy to be present at the first Traditional Rite Mass to be celebrated at St Edward the Confessor for more than 46 years on Sunday 29 January. With more than 50 people present, including young families, Fr Tony Pillari celebrated the inaugural Missa Cantata with great dignity and reverence. In support for the occasion, people came from other parts of the diocese and were not disappointed. On Sundays, Fr Tony celebrates the 7.30am Mass at Lanherne Convent near Newquay, and then travels up to Plymouth for the 11.30am Mass, and did so again for Ash Wednesday. The excellent serving team consisted of the MC, Matheus Vila Real, of Plymouth, and the brothers John, Zeth, and Wesley Buscombe, who travelled up from Newquay in Cornwall to take part. Andrew Proctor supplied the organ music, and Michael Crawford (chorister at St Cyprian’s Ugbrooke House, and at Blessed Sacrament, Exeter) sang in the choir.

Since that first Mass, attendance has been very pleasing with new faces making an appearance, and the weekly serving team has been strengthened with the addition of Stephen Proctor. I manage to join them on the altar when I am free to do so. We have to thank Valerie Williams for altering kneelers given by the cathedral for use at St Edward’s, and for finding a pair of small, but very useful moveable, altar rails. Many thanks also to Stephen and Judith Proctor for cleaning the church and altar cloths, and for taking good care of the vestments. Fr Peter Cox deserves thanks for spending a lot of time with me sorting out vestments from the cathedral parish for use at St Edward’s, and for celebrating Mass when Fr Tony was unavailable. My wife Mary is also deserving of thanks for the many hours that she has spent repairing old vestments for use at St Edward’s, and for making a new chasuble set for Easter Sunday. We also have to thank Marta Fernandes for offering to set up a Latin Mass website for St Edward’s, which may be expanded to include the whole of the Devon Latin Mass scene.

The Holy Mass at St Cyprian’s, Ugbrooke House, (see Mass Listings) has been well attended and is something of a favourite among visitors. Unfortunately though, tea afterwards is only possible in the summer months when we can use the Orangery, which will then be open for visitors.

It is always pleasing to see new additions to our choir, so we have to thank Juliet Beards and Mary Coghill for lending their voices to enhance the beauty of the St Cyprian’s Mass in this, the oldest Catholic parish church in the South West.

After Mass on Laetare Sunday, Michael and Penelope Crawford invited everyone back to their house for a cracking High Tea that was enjoyed by all present. It was a joyful and convivial occasion. Many thanks Michael and Penelope!

Although Fr Guy de Gaynesford is the usual celebrant at St Cyprian’s (and also at Buckfast Abbey), Fr Harry Heijveld very kindly stood in for him on Low Sunday when he could not make it, and this was much appreciated by everyone present.

Concerning the Buckfast Abbey Latin Mass celebrations, Fr Guy gave me the good news that, from now on, some of these will be sung. As always, if you do decide to attend our EF Mass

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY at the abbey, do make yourself known to me afterwards over tea in the Grange Restaurant, and meet some of the regulars.

We still get good numbers attending at the abbey, many of whom are visitors.

The Sung Mass at Blessed Sacrament in Exeter achieves pleasing numbers, and, like our other Mass venues, often attracts students and visitors from other parts of the country.

If you are one of the latter, please do check the Mass Listings before making the journey to avoid disappointment. A case in point is that the Easter Sunday afternoon Mass had to be cancelled because of the unavailability of our hard-working clergy. Although not ideal, considering the heavy work load of the clergy over Holy Week and Easter, it is completely understandable. Another change in date that must be taken into consideration is that there will be no Latin Mass on Sunday 18 June (Corpus Christi) due to the annual Corpus Christi Procession that you are welcome to attend. Do note, however, that our Latin Mass has been moved to the previous Sunday, 11 June, and will be celebrated by Fr Harry Heijveld.

We had the sad news that Mr Derek O’Donohue from Torquay had died, so I would ask that you keep him and his family in your prayers. Derek had been a member of the LMS for many years, and his Traditional Rite Latin Requiem Mass, celebrated by Mgr Adrian Toffolo, took place in Torquay at Our Lady of the Assumption in Abbey Road in February.

Portsmouth (Bournemouth) Tim Fawkes 01202 730200 t.fawkes136@btinternet.com

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egrettably due to the ill health and other commitments of Fr Glaysher of St Mary’s, Ryde, Isle of Wight we have lost our monthly Sunday Mass at Our Lady Immaculate, Westbourne, Bournemouth. We are nonetheless grateful to him for the journeys he undertook to offer Mass for us in recent years.

Those of us who were able to attend enjoyed the opportunity to fulfil our Sunday obligation in the Extraordinary Form and we miss his pertinent and thought-provoking preaching.

The Sung Masses at Sacred Heart Bournemouth continue to attract a sizeable and grateful congregation, generally on the last Monday of each month at 7.15 pm. and we are grateful to the Friars of St Mary’s, Gosport for travelling to us and to Fr Lavers, the parish priest, for making the church available.

A sung funeral Mass was offered for the repose of the soul of Christopher Smithies at a packed Sacred Heart church on 17 January. The singing was beautiful and Mass was offered by Fr Tim Finigan, who is a priest based in Margate and brother of Christopher’s widow, Joan.

Portsmouth (Isle of Wight) Peter Clarke 01983 566740 or 07790 892592 pclarke.wight@tiscali.co.uk

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ortunately, Fr Glaysher has recovered from ill health and EF Masses have been restored. We were pleased to have our annual 40 Hours Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

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in St Mary’s, Ryde over the Passion Sunday weekend for the ninth year in succession. This included the usual devotions and two EF Masses. Fr Glaysher told the congregation: ‘The most beautiful and wonderful thing on the earth is the presence of Our Blessed Lord, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, a gift to us and an aid to our salvation. Although the Mass is central to Catholic life, devotions to the Holy Eucharist, and especially, this 40 Hours, are also important. Through them we can adore Jesus, pray in his presence, express our sorrow for sin, and experience a oneness with him that leads us to a deeper love of the Lord.’

We continue to have two weekday EF Masses. These are on Tuesday and Thursday at 12noon in St Mary’s, Ryde. There is also a First Sunday of the month EF Mass at 5pm and a First Friday Mass at St Michael’s, Bembridge at 10am. See Mass Listings for details.

As summer approaches, there are many visitors to the Isle of Wight. Why not combine a visit to Ryde to include an EF Mass and a guided tour of St Mary’s Church, one of the finest early Victorian Catholic churches in the south? Please contact me and I will be happy to arrange this: 01983 566740 or 07790 892592.

Portsmouth (Reading) Adrian Dulston 01491 682909 adrian.dulston@btinternet.com lmsreading.wordpress.com

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r Goddard and Fr Verrier were joined by Fr Anselm Gribbin (we are truly grateful for his generosity) to provide Holy Week liturgies, including Tenebrae. We had many new faces attending the Triduum. We must not forget how providential it is to have a solid and regular Latin Mass presence in this part of the world which offers stability to local families. We do not forget the sacrifice of the priests giving their lives to resurrect in the minds of the Faithful in the Reading area, the beauty and majesty of the liturgy ‘received’ from our forefathers.

As previously reported, I have made enquiries about the ‘old’ Latin Missals at St Joseph’s School next door to the parish and was told they would be with us, but have yet to see them still intrigued.

If you are in the Didcot area on Wednesdays then do check www.lmsreading.wordpress.com as a Latin Mass is normally offered by Fr Pennington-Harris at the English Martyrs Church at 7.30pm.

Please check the FSSP Facebook page www.facebook.com/ fssp.england. These pages give the latest times for the weekly Masses at St William of York in Reading, at the same time as keeping you up to date with what is happening at St Mary’s, Warrington.

For those interested in Pro-Life in Reading, one of the FSSP priests normally leads us in a Rosary around the BPAS clinic not far from the Church on the first Saturday after the 8am Mass, appropriate in this centenary of Fatima. Hopefully, we will have a Mass in honour of Our Lady of Fatima on 13 May. May Our Lady of Fatima bless the work of the FSSP here in Reading, increase our numbers and inspire priests to learn to offer the Mass of Ages.

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Shrewsbury (Chester)

Southwark (Wandsworth)

Kevin Jones

Julia Ashenden

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fter many years, the third Sunday Mass at St Thomas Becket, Tarporley has now come to an end. The Society is indebted to the support of Parish Priest Father Joseph Carney in making the Mass available. The last Mass said at Tarporley was that of the Third Sunday of Lent (19 March) and Father Marlor of Salford Diocese celebrated.

From the third Sunday in April, (Easter Sunday, 16 April), Mass in the Old Rite will begin to be said at St Claire of Assisi, Downsfield Road, Chester CH4 8HH at 3.30pm, by kind arrangement with Father Emeka Nwachukwu, the Parish Priest. Father Marlor has kindly agreed to travel to Chester to support this new Mass location.

It is some considerable time since the forma extraordinaria has been available in Chester and it is hoped that this third Sunday Mass will be supported by existing and new attendees

Shrewsbury (The Wirral) Stefano Mazzeo 07767 139576

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t the Shrine Church of SS Peter and Paul and St Philomena (The Dome of Home) we continue to make progress in renovating the church, and our priests, under the Prior Canon Montjean, continue their great pastoral work.

There will be a Low Mass and Confirmations celebrated by the Right Rev. Mark Davies on Wednesday 14 June at the Shrine Church at 7pm.

Our Easter celebrations where superb as usual and were very well attended, with over 100 at each of the main Masses and liturgies. We had 3 converts received into the Church during the Easter Vigil Mass.

Also, we have a new Latin Mass on the Wirral every Thursday at 7.45 at the Carmelite Monastery, 12 Grosvenor Place, Prenton, Birkenhead, The Wirral CH43 1UN at the special request of the Rev. Mother Bernadette. The Masses are celebrated by priests of the Institute of Christ the King from New Brighton.

Southwark (Kent) Marygold Turner 01580 291372

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ot much to report, except Fr Chris Connor gave us a Day of Recollection on 30 March. It was a very happy occasion and Father gave us two excellent sermons. We are very lucky to be served by such good and faithful priests.

We manage to have Holy Mass on all major Feast Days and will soon be celebrating the Ascension and Corpus Christi.

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he 11am Mass in the Traditional Form at St Mary Magdalen’s has gone from small beginnings to an everincreasing congregation. I notice that some of those attending are young adults who used to attend the earlier English Mass for families but seem very happy to come to the EF, and are using the Latin Mass booklets for the Ordinary of this Mass.

Southwark (Clapham Park) Thomas Windsor 020 8654 9352 thomaswindsor@mac.com

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fter our successful Epiphany Mass mentioned in my last report, the following Sunday we were busy handing out Epiphany water, and blessed chalk. We also handed out sheets with the all-important house blessing, in the process introducing this custom to some of our newer members.

This year is the 500th anniversary of the death of Heinrich Isaac (c.1450 – 26 March 1517). Isaac is held in high regard for his Choralis Constantinus. This is a huge anthology of more than 450 chant-based polyphonic motets for the Proper of the Mass. Over the past few years our choir has been singing his settings of the Communion, Alleluia and Introit Propers, during our regular Polyphonic Masses. For the third Sunday after Epiphany our choir sang his setting of the Alleluia as well as the Communion.

Sung Masses were organised for Candlemas and Ash Wednesday, with the usual excellent attendances we have come to expect.

For the Feast of the Annunciation, Fr de Malleray, FSSP made a welcome visit, having been resident here at St Bede’s more than ten years ago. With Deacon Xavier Champagne-Deuve also visiting this was a perfect opportunity for a Solemn High Mass, our choir also added to the occasion singing Hassler’s Missa Super Dixit Maria including the Credo and the motet of the same name, as well as De Pre’s, Ave Vera Virginitas.

The following day, Laetare Sunday, our set of rose vestments again being used for another Solemn High Mass, sadly the visiting choir were not able to sing any Isaac, today being the Anniversary.

Members of our young serving team were able to represent the parish at Fr Clifton’s Funeral Mass, and achieve the distinction of serving three Solemn High Masses on consecutive days.

We are now well into our preparations for Holy Week, which I will report on in the next issue.

Southwark (Thanet) Antonia Robinson 01843 845880 LMS_Thanet@icloud.com

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quieter Lent and spring in Holy Thanet than last year.

Because of the ongoing renovations at the Shrine of Saint Augustine, Holy Mass has been said in the Sacred Heart Chapel. This beautiful, but narrow space with a small Sanctuary, necessitates that the schedule for Holy Week and

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REPORTS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Easter is simplified this year. As previously, Ramsgate has the full Triduum in the traditional form. At St Austin and St Gregory in Margate, Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday are Sung Masses.

Palm Sunday at Margate saw the traditional solemn blessing and distribution of palms and procession around the walled parish gardens before Sung Mass with solemn chanting of St Matthew’s Passion.

Attendance remains stable, although we have lost one Traditional Mass: at St Augustine’s (Ramsgate), the Friday noon Low Mass has been replaced with Mass in the Ordinariate Usage.

Numbers are stable for the other weekday Low Masses (two at St Ethelbert’s Ramsgate, and one in Margate). Two new servers to the Traditional Mass (a father and son, no less!) have been trained in Ramsgate with help from the Margate MC. With three traditional priests and more children and families appearing at both Masses, the future is looking bright in this corner of Kent.

Westminster (Spanish Place) Roger Wemyss Brooks 020 7224 5323

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ongregations for the 9.30am Sunday Masses seem to be growing, with a good number of families with children and young people. Each week there are visitors, many of whom are not necessarily familiar with the Extraordinary Form. We have a stock of copies of the Society’s Mass booklet ‘Ordinary Prayers’ and I make a point of ensuring that there are always plenty of these available. I would strongly recommend that those who attend this Mass regularly ensure that visitors are given copies if they need them in order to follow the Mass well.

It would also be helpful to invite visitors to the Social Centre for refreshments after Mass.

Regular worshippers at Spanish Place Masses generally attend the Sacred Triduum at St Mary Moorfields, hopefully this year in great numbers.

Wrexham Kevin Jones 01244 674011 lms.wrexham@outlook.com lmswrexham.weebly.com

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he coetus fidelium continues to support the Extraordinary Form Masses in the North East of Wales.

I am grateful to all - be they clergy, servers, cantors or faithful for their help.

The February First Saturday Mass at Our Lady of Rosary, Buckley was a Missa Cantata and was attended by 25 people – while we ought not to use attendance as a yardstick, this was a delightful surprise for a Saturday Mass.

As has become the custom, the April Mass at St Francis of Assisi, Llay was a week earlier on Passion Sunday. In addition to being a prudent move to ensure the two longer Palm Sunday Masses don’t become ‘bottlenecked’, having the Extraordinary Form Mass a week earlier allows for the Mass of Passion Sunday to be celebrated.

St Winefride’s, Holywell was the host to celebrations of the Masses for Sexagesima and Lætáre Sundays – the latter allowing for our newly acquired set of Rose (not pink as some advocate!) vestments to be used.

Planning for the Holywell pilgrimage on 2 July continues.

All clergy have been identified, Fr James Mawdsley FSSP is celebrant, supported by Fr Simon Henry as deacon and Fr Sean Riley as sub deacon. Music will be provided by the choir of St Mary’s Warrington. If you are able to serve at this Mass, please do make contact with me.

Westminster (Maiden Lane) Dominic Bevan dominic.bevan@rcm.ac.uk

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embers will have been sorry to learn of the death, just before Christmas, of Canon John MacDonald. Canon MacDonald succeeded Father Dodd at Maiden Lane and proved an equal friend to the Society, facilitating Masses every week and celebrating himself on Holydays.

Fr Cullinan had been unable to attend his funeral at the Cathedral and asked to celebrate a Requiem Mass for him, which was arranged at Maiden Lane on 13 February. It coincided with the removal of the scaffolding in front of the High Altar to reveal a most tasteful and beautiful restoration. Unfortunately, the altar was not then available for use, and the Requiem was celebrated in the Lady Chapel. Father Hayward sang the epistle, and the motet after Communion was the 10th Century responsory Media Vita. Father Vipers, who succeeded Canon MacDonald at Maiden Lane, was unable to attend but wrote affectionately of his predecessor.

After Mass Fr Cullinan read the tribute given at Canon MacDonald’s funeral and added a tribute of his own.

The annual requiem for Fr Dodd was held on March 6, 25 years after he died.

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Miraculous Hosts Caroline Shaw looks at a pilgrim’s souvenir from the 16th Century

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n this issue we are going to consider a rather smaller, humbler image than usual: not a large altarpiece or a great work on canvas, but a miniature painting in tempera on a vellum sheet that was purchased as a souvenir by a pilgrim in the early 16th Century. Images such as this could be bought by pilgrims from the shrines and chapels they visited, in much the same way that we buy postcards and prayer cards from sanctuary shops today. The only real difference is that these earlier images were handpainted. Once home, the pilgrim who bought this holy picture would have inserted it into his Book of Hours to remind him of graces received, and to aid his contemplation and prayer. This little image would thus have been seen by only a very few people, praying in private.

The image shows the miraculous bleeding host of Dijon, which at that time was one of the most important and most visited holy relics in France, attracting thousands of pilgrims each year. The host was discovered during the early 15th Century, with a faint but unmistakable image of Our Lord, enthroned and surrounded by the instruments of His Passion, and drops of blood dotted all around Him. The drops of blood can clearly be seen on Jesus’ head in the position of the crown of thorns, on His feet and hands, and on His side. Around the monstrance in this image are six angels; two are supporting the base, two are swinging thuribles and two are holding a crown, together with a phylactery bearing the words ‘O Salutaris Hostia’.

The origins of the miraculous host are somewhat unclear. One account tells of a stolen monstrance in which a host was found still mounted inside.

When the host was roughly prized out of the monstrance with a knife, it started to bleed and to display the miraculous image of Our Lord. Another story is that the host started to bleed after being desecrated by a non-believer.

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The Miraculous Bleeding Host of Dijon, made in the 1530s by the Machéco Master, at Dijon. Tempera on vellum. Metropolitan Museum, New York.

This was by no means the only miraculous bleeding host on display at this date. During the Middle Ages, throughout Europe, there were a number of eucharistic miracles that took place in France, Italy, Moravia, the Netherlands and elsewhere. One of the earliest miracles occurred during

the 8th Century at Lanciano, the small town in eastern Italy from where St Longinus is said to have originated.

While celebrating Mass one day the priest, a Basilian monk, entertained doubts about the Real Presence of Our Lord, and asked for a sign. Before his eyes, the host he had just consecrated

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ART began to bleed, and the consecrated wine coagulated into five drops of blood. “Frightened and confused by so great and so stupendous a miracle, he stood quite a while as if transported in a divine ecstasy, but finally, as fear yielded to spiritual joy, he turned to the congregation and said… ‘Come brethren and marvel at our God so close to us. Behold the flesh and the blood of our most beloved Christ.’”

The miraculous species can still be venerated today, preserved in a beautiful reliquary in the church of San Francesco in Lanciano. A scientific investigation in the 1970s and 1980s proved what our ancestors knew in faith to be true: that the flesh is real human flesh, containing muscular tissue from a man’s heart, and the blood is real human blood, of the type AB, which is the same as the blood-type of the Turin Shroud.

Of the many miraculous hosts to be discovered at this time, the one at Dijon was one of the most important and revered, mainly due to the presence of the image of Christ enthroned on the host, and the blood spots that appeared at exactly the points of Our Lord’s wounds. It was also important because of its royal connections: in 1433 the host was given by Pope Eugenius IV to Duke Philip of Burgundy, who installed it in the chapel of his ducal palace in Dijon.

It quickly became the centre of a cult that spread to Paris and beyond, and it gained even more adherents when, in 1505, Louis XII, King of France, came to Dijon as a pilgrim and prayed to be healed from his life-threatening illness. His complete cure was attributed directly to the miraculous host of Dijon. King Louis donated his crown to the chapel, in honour of the miraculous host, and it is this royal diadem that we can see being held by the angels above the monstrance.

Once a year, the miraculous host of Dijon was paraded through the streets, on the feast of Corpus Christi.

This great feast had been instituted only a few decades after the end of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which for the first time formally defined the dogma of transubstantiation. The feast owes its foundation in great part to St Juliana of Mont Cornillon, who came from Liège in present-day Belgium. St Juliana was a devout religious with a great love of the Blessed Sacrament.

She dreamed one night of a full moon marred by a dark blemish, and Our

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Lord Himself revealed to her that the moon represented the Church, while the blemish was the absence of a feast to celebrate the Eucharist. The Bishop of Liège was favourable to the idea, and commissioned an Office for the feast. The first Mass of Corpus Christi was celebrated in Liège in 1246.

This new feast might perhaps have remained a local phenomenon but for another great eucharistic miracle, which took place in 1263 in Bolsena, Northern Italy while a German priest, who had stopped at Bolsena en route to Rome, was celebrating Mass at the church of St Christina. He too entertained doubts about the Real Presence, but just as he had begun to speak the words of consecration, a copious amount of blood started to seep from the host, trickling over his hands and onto the corporal. The matter was immediately referred to Pope Urban IV, who happened to be residing at nearby Orvieto. The Pope met the procession of the host and corporal

The miraculous host and precious blood of Lanciano.

in great solemnity at Orvieto, and the miraculous relics were reverently enshrined in the Cathedral, where they remain to this day.

Soon afterwards, Pope Urban IV commissioned St Thomas Aquinas to compose the Proper for a Mass and an Office honouring the Blessed Sacrament as the Body of Christ. The Mass and Office that St Thomas composed has given to the Church the three great hymns to the Blessed Sacrament that we still sing today: O Salutaris Hostia; Tantum Ergo and Panis Angelicus. A year after the miracle of Bolsena, by means of a papal bull in August 1264, the pope instituted Corpus Christi as a feast to be celebrated by the entire Church.

By the time our image of the Dijon host was painted, the feast of Corpus Christi had expanded into an event that often lasted a whole week, with mystery plays, indulgences and Masses, special hymns and sermons, eucharistic adoration and – the highlight – an elaborate procession through city streets, specially decorated for the occasion. The week-long feast gave faithful Catholics the opportunity to spend hour after hour in adoration, and to gain the indulgence granted to anyone who prayed a Pater and an Ave while looking at the host during the procession (increased if one had carried a torch in the procession, or made a confession beforehand). Since Catholics normally only received communion once a year, at Eastertide, the sight of the Blessed Sacrament was held to be of great importance: many faithful believed that just looking at the consecrated host could ward off evil and cure ailments.

Tragically, in 1794, during the terror and fury of the French Revolution, the Dijon host was removed from its monstrance and publicly burned. A Mass is still said annually in Dijon, on the anniversary of its destruction, to atone for this terrible act of desecration. The eucharistic miracles that took place at Dijon and elsewhere during the Middle Ages and beyond, proved that Christ is truly present on the altar of every Catholic church at every Mass. They remind us that Our Lord’s sacrifice is real, and that what we receive at Communion truly is His precious body, and His precious blood.

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FEATURE

Muster the Legions!

By Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP, General Chaplain of the Confraternity of St Peter, a growing international prayer network for priestly vocations and ministry ‘We are very sorry to announce that the First Legion has already left the camp.’ Dear friends, we feel sorry for you because, knowing your good heart and your realistic concerns for the near future of the Church, we guess that you would not want to be left behind. Yet, as you are reading this article, already 5,200 spiritual warriors (the number of troops in a Roman Legion under the Empire) are waging war against gloom, sending to heaven powerful signals for young men to hear and answer God’s call to the Sacred Priesthood.

These 5,200 mystic fighters are being heard by God; their faith shines brighter every night and their merits increase at every sunrise, and they so much wish you were there! There we are though, the First Legion is already gone and you have missed it. But hark!

On the platform of Redemption, the loudspeaker speaks further: ‘We are delighted to announce that a Second Legion is now being mustered and every beating heart is welcome to enlist!’

We celebrate this year the tenth anniversary of our international prayer network for vocations, the Confraternity of St Peter, founded on 22 February 2007. Every day, its 5,230 members ‘ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest’ (Mt 9:38).

Members are Catholics of 14 years of age at least, who commit to pray daily the Prayer of the Confraternity and one decade of the Rosary, and have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered once a year to the same intentions. They may leave the Confraternity as they please, and do not need to attend any particular event.

In contrast with the accelerating frequency of clergy obituaries, of seminary and church closures, no fewer than 114 new priests were ordained for our Fraternity since the founding of the Confraternity a decade ago (out of 425 priests and seminarians in total since our Fraternity’s founding in 1988). That means nearly one new priest ordained every month. Yearly from 2015 onwards (and until 2019, please God), one comes from Great Britain! What graces! As the shortage of priests increases, let our prayer over-increase so that, please God, we may ordain many more priests!

‘ We celebrate this year the tenth anniversary of our international prayer network for vocations’ 26

Thus our first 5,200 members amount to one spiritual legion. The next 30 members have begun our second legion (they don’t know it yet). When will we stop, you wonder? We shall stop when every soul in our country will have fallen in love with Christ and His Holy Church.

We shall stop when all our churches are full, and when each soul will rejoice in communion of love with the Triune God. How many legions should we raise then?

Ask the Lord, Who affirmed to St Peter: ‘Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father, and he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels?’ (Mt 26:53). Angelic legions were not sent to Gethsemane, because the Messiah was to redeem us through His Passion and Death. But now that He has acquired for us infinite merits, Christ wants priests to apply those to us, essentially at Holy Mass.

Friends, who will obtain from His Father the priests to re-enact the unique Sacrifice of the Son on our altars? Who are the faithful ones, who will give five minutes of their day for men to hear God’s call? Where are the watchful souls, whose prayer will shield from the devil’s allurements, priests in the making, and care for them until the Church gives birth to them on their ordination? How many zealous souls will be needed to pray for the new priests, and also to support the tired, the wounded, the lonely ones?

Our Lord saw the legions of angels kept as reserve, for after His Resurrection.

We are glad to announce that now is the time for legions to be raised – legions of intercessors! Now is the time for Catholic men and women to enlist and offer the Queen of Angels their good will and their faith, that She may touch and bless thousands of priestly souls, soon rising and standing at our altars in Her Son’s Person.

Information: www.fssp.org/en/ confraternite - or email the writer at: malleray@fssp.org

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FEATURE

Triduum Sacrum: on planning for Holy Week

By LMS Director of Music for London, Matthew Schellhorn

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t has once again been my enormous privilege to plan and put into effect the musical repertoire for the Sacred Triduum celebrated at St Mary Moorfields in the City of London, organized by the Latin Mass Society.

I first took on this responsibility in 2012, and it is remarkable how much one seems to grow in understanding and appreciation of the task in hand the more one experiences the beauty and the power of these sacred ceremonies.

In earlier years, I was preoccupied with musical standards in individual services. More recently, I have become more aware of the overall shape of the Triduum as a whole. I mean this not only in a liturgical sense but also in a musical one. Now, I try to plan the musical repertoire such that those who attend all the ceremonies are not bored or become so acclimatized to the musical style that they cease to be moved by it. By the same token, it is crucial that for the person who might attend only a few services, or even one, he or she takes away something fresh, exhilarating and meaningful from that encounter.

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This year, I should say, was the most ambitious programme yet, particularly on account of our performances of the complete Tenebrae Responsoria by Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa (1566–1613) over three days. This remarkable nobleman – Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza – has supplied us with the most astonishing settings of the Tenebrae Responsories: these texts are most commonly heard as set by near-contemporary Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548–1611) and yet here we encounter them in an unnerving, almost post-modern manifestation – shocking dissonances and disturbing chord progressions move us into musical territory as far removed from our comfort zone as Christ himself in his human form was from us on the first Good Friday.

As I choose the music, another priority for me is to try to reflect the universality of the Catholic religion. Hence, we had English settings of the Mass and of the Passion (by Tallis and Byrd respectively), Italian settings of the Benedictus at all three Tenebraes (by Palestrina, Asola and Anerio), and a French menu to pull together the various strands of the

Easter Vigil (by Gounod and Franck, with organ music by Vierne). This brings me to a rather surprising South American piece, which for its sheer beauty and appropriateness of style I continue to use year after year – a most moving setting of one of the Mandatum Antiphons (Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes) by José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830), a Brazilian priest who was also a very gifted and prolific composer.

To fulfil all these ideas, I am particularly grateful to my friends and colleagues who form the group I founded six years ago specifically to provide polyphony and chant for celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass. my objective for this group is precisely to perform sacred music in the context for which it was composed. It is a very rewarding aspect of my work that I might not only bring to congregations the joys of such wonderful music but also to fellow musicians the joys of such wonderful sacred ceremonies.

More from Matthew at www.matthewschellhorn.com and www.cantusmagnus.com

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ARCHITECTURE

Hidden treasures

© Paul Waddington

Paul Waddington looks at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Caterham

Exterior of Sacred Heart Church

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hen the Caterham Railway opened in 1856, the village of Caterham* had only around 500 inhabitants. Few of these would have been Catholics, and the nearest church was in Croydon, some eight miles away.

However, the coming of the railway caused a massive increase in the population in the following 30 years.

The population was given a further boost as a result of the decision by the Metropolitan Asylums Board to locate one of its institutions at Caterham.

The Caterham Imbeciles Asylum (later

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renamed St Lawrence’s Hospital) occupying a 72-acre site to the west of the village, opened in 1868 and housed 1,560 inmates, many of whom, and the nurses who looked after them, would have been Catholics. Although the asylum had a fine chapel, it seems that no provision was made for the spiritual welfare of the Catholics.

It was neither the housing developments that followed the opening of the railway nor the opening of St Lawrence’s Hospital that was the reason for the building of the church.

Rather, it was the opening in 1877 of

Caterham Barracks, as the Depot of the Second Brigade of the Grenadier Guards. A number of the guardsmen were Irish Catholics, and their adjutant, one Capt. Horace Gainsford, who was also a Catholic, contacted the parish priest at Croydon asking for a priest to visit the barracks. Because of the distance involved, the priest was only able to make occasional visits to offer Mass. Apparently he walked there and back on the first occasion, but later used either a bicycle or pony and trap.

In August 1889, Bishop Danell of Southwark sent Fr Francis Roe, then

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three windows are of excellent quality, and have survived without damage or alteration.

Once the stained glass was in place, Fr Roe turned his attention to further embellishment of the sanctuary. Again, he engaged the Hardman company and, under the direction of John Hardman Powell, a decorative scheme was devised for the entire sanctuary that would complement the glasswork and incorporate wall paintings, joinery and metalwork. The centrepiece was a painted image of the Lamb of God, flanked by angels, affixed to the front face of the high altar. The surrounding walls were covered with paintings, including a multitude of angels singing the opening words of the Te Deum. On the side walls, and in the spandrels above and around the windows, were depictions of Old Testament prophets and scenes from the New Testament.

The artist was Hardman’s chief artist, Joseph Aloysius Pippet. Unusually, these wall paintings were applied directly to the limestone of the walls.

The sanctuary was completed with a stone reredos incorporating a tabernacle with an ornate monstrance throne above. Wrought iron and brass gates were fitted to the communion rail and appropriately carved seating was provided for clergy in choir.

In 1892, Fr Roe turned his attention to the Lady Chapel. The Hardman company provided a fine wooden altarpiece with an icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour as its centre.

Stained glass was fitted to all of the five windows, and the walls were covered with paintings, again using Pippet as the artist.

Fr Roe remained at Caterham until he died in 1918, serving the Sacred Heart Church for 39 years. He was succeeded in 1920 by Fr Walter Cooksey, later Canon Cooksey, who also gave good service. It was during his time, in 1923, that Caterham became a parish. It was also in his time (1931) that the long deferred north aisle was finally added. A porch and baptistery were added to the west end at the same time. Canon Cooksey served at Caterham for 33 years until he was succeeded in 1955 by Fr Cyril Scarborough. Fr Scarborough, who had been the curate at Caterham between 1932 and 1935, also gave long service, remaining in post until his retirement in 1979.

It was during Fr Scarborough’s time that people started to think about “modernising” churches. Caterham did not entirely escape this trend. The reredos, with its monstrance throne, was removed and replaced by a curtain.

The stone tabernacle with its elaborate doors was replaced by a simple brass one; and, most tragically, the three panels depicting the Agnus Dei and the two adoring angels which had graced the front of the high altar were lost for good. Rising damp had affected the wall paintings in the sanctuary up to dado level, and these were simply painted over. An attempt was made to clean the paintings above dado level, but the abrasive materials used only served to cause further damage. The wall paintings of the Lady Chapel, where leaking gutters had caused more extensive damage, received more drastic treatment. Here, all the surfaces were treated with a paint that contained cement, a product that later proved almost impossible to remove.

In more recent times, further reordering has taken place, with the sanctuary extended into the crossing to accommodate a moveable free standing altar. It was when this work was being carried out that some parishioners began to realise the value of some of the church’s artefacts, especially the partially covered wall paintings. After the arrival of the current parish priest, Fr Sean Finnegan, a plan was put in place to restore all the wall paintings.

This work is now nearing completion and will be featured in the next edition of Mass of Ages.

Mass is offered in the Extraordinary Form at the Sacred Heart Church in Caterham every Wednesday morning at 10am. * The village referred to is now known as Caterham-on-the-Hill.

© Paul Waddington

aged only 29, to set up a mission in Caterham. Fr Roe was a convert, as was his father, Capt. William Harriott Roe. The Roe family must have been wealthy, as Capt. Roe funded the building of the church and presbytery at Caterham.

Fr Roe lost no time in setting about his work. Within months he had opened a school and appointed an architect to design a new church. The architect was E. Ingress Bell, who was little known at the time, but who subsequently became famous for his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and at several academic institutions, including Imperial College in South Kensington and several Cambridge Colleges.

The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Danell in June 1880, and the church was opened in August 1881.

Bishop Danell had died by this time, so the opening Mass was celebrated

by Bishop Lacey of Middlesbrough, with Cardinal Manning presiding and preaching.

Ingress Bell designed a Gothic Revival Church on a cruciform plan, built from local stone. It was to have a large apsidal chancel with adjoining Lady Chapel, short transepts, nave with aisles on either side and a modest tower surmounted by a tall and slender spire.

All this was to have been funded by Fr Roe’s father, Capt. William Roe. At the time of the opening, it was incomplete, with the north aisle unbuilt, and only the base of the tower in place. The reason for this seems to have been a dispute within the Roe family. Although Fr Roe, his father and brother had converted to Catholicism, his mother, through whom most of the family fortune had been accrued, remained a staunch Protestant, and she withdrew her support for the project.

Although there was insufficient money to complete the building of the church, enough was found in the following decade for the sanctuary to be adorned in a quite spectacular way.

The Hardman company was engaged to supply glass for the three Gothic windows of the chancel, each with three lights. These were designed by John Hardman Powell, the son-in-law of Augustus Welby Pugin. The central window features an image of the Sacred Heart, surrounded by scenes taken from the life of Our Lord. The window on the left depicts prophetic events recorded in the Old Testament, and the one on the right is devoted to mysteries associated with Our Lady. All

Stained glass and some of the wall paintings in the sanctuary

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CATHOLIC FAMILY TRADITIONS

A real devotional object Joseph Shaw on the Easter Garden

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© Joeseph Shaw

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tradition I was brought up with is that of making a miniature garden, with a tiny tomb in it, at Easter. It is a fairly widespread idea, as an internet search reveals, but I confess I do not know when or in what part of the world this custom developed into its current form. (Anyone with information should write to the Editor.) We have been doing it in my family for getting on for half a century, if not longer.

The origin of the idea is clear enough: the tradition of the Easter Sepulchre in churches. Just as the Blessed Sacrament is placed in a temporary tabernacle in an ‘Altar of Repose’ after Mass on Maundy Thursday, in memory of the Agony in the Garden, so also, from the 10th Century in England and elsewhere, a crucifix, and later the Blessed Sacrament in a pyx, as well or instead, were reposed in a special sepulchre in memory of the Deposition in the Tomb, after Vespers on Good Friday.

The sepulchre could be a wooden frame covered with fabric, but it could also be a permanent stone structure, and some of these can still be seen in Medieval churches in England.

In some cases, the lid of a benefactor’s tomb formed the shelf upon which the Blessed Sacrament would be placed, perhaps inside a figure of Christ, with a rock crystal window in the chest through which the Host could be seen. Sepulchres were placed or built against or in the north wall of the sanctuary, near the altar, and could incorporate the figures of soldiers and angels, and other appropriate decoration. On Easter Sunday, before Matins, the Blessed Sacrament would be solemnly raised from the sepulchre.

Easter Sepulchres did not survive the Reformation in England, but in other parts of Europe, they continued to be used until the Second Vatican Council, and—I am told—in Poland they are used in some places up to the present day. Perhaps Polish Catholics in the UK should help us revive the custom here.

The writer’s Easter Garden There is a parallel, then, between the Easter Garden and the Christmas Crib, as domestic versions of something found in churches, namely a dramatic representation of what is remembered in the liturgy. The domestic Easter Garden has further significance, however, in that in one way it can do a better job of re-presenting the scene of the Holy Sepulchre than a church’s Easter Sepulchre: as a real, though miniature, garden. It would not be practical to make the Easter Sepulchre in church look as though it were located in a garden, but the garden setting is of immense significance. Adam and Eve were placed in a garden, a place of nature perfected by human work, and it was there that they were tempted, and fell. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane where Our Lord was tested in his Agony. And it was in St Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb garden that the new Adam rose from the dead on the first day of the week, the first day of the new creation of the world.

With this symbolism in mind, let our domestic Easter Gardens look like gardens, and do not confuse them with the barren landscape of Calvary.

When I was a child we gathered small wild and garden flowers, with their roots.

Now I visit my local garden centre, which offers a fantastic range of appropriate spring plants: flowering thyme, cowslips,

pansies, crocus, forget-me-nots, and other, even smaller, flowers. These can be planted on a plastic tray. I use a round ceramic tray designed for a planter to sit on. Flat stones can create the sepulchre itself; we use the same ones every year, including a round one for the door. I have some gravel to make a path to the tomb: the type used for the bottom of a fish tank. We have over the years made soldiers to guard the tomb, and angels to sit on it from Easter Sunday.

Being an old curmudgeon, I believe in close adult supervision to enable small children create something of genuine beauty, rather than letting them make a mess, because the Easter Garden is a real devotional object. Above all, the tomb should be closed on Good Friday evening, and opened after the Easter Vigil, or on Easter Sunday morning. It was opened by the angel, of course, not to let Christ out, but to reveal to the unbelieving world that He had already left it. We put a tiny bit of white fabric on a slab inside to represent the winding sheet.

Duly watered, it should last a couple of weeks at least.

More on Easter Sepulchres can be found in Philip Goddard’s Festa Paschalia, pp190-3, and Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars pp31-5, both of which are on sale in the LMS’ online shop.

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LMS NEWS

Getting to know you Antonia Robinson explains the new LMS Family Contact Register

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first three letters of postcode, children’s year of birth and sex, and phone number and/or email address. So my entry would appear as follows: Antonia and Paul Robinson, CT7, 4 children (M2002, F2004, F2007, M2009), 01843 845880 / LMS_Thanet@icloud.com It’s a very simple system and how it’s used is up to you, the member-user. To start, it will be run manually through the LMS Office. Each time a new member enters their details, every family on the register is emailed an updated list. If lots of people find it useful it could be made into a more automated part of the LMS website. What’s most important though, is that it is used, that our LMS families get to know each other and our children and parishes all benefit.

If somebody were very ambitious, they could use the register to organise a meeting for local (or not so local) families at a parish or a home. Those new to an area can have instant contact with other tradition-minded families. If you’re spending a week or two on holiday in a different area you can look up locals.

© Joeseph Shaw

ne of the commonly expressed desires of Catholic parents is to have a good network of sound Catholic friends around their children as they grow up. Friendships with good Catholics and support from other Catholic families are key in helping our children keep the Faith in a hostile, secular world.

Those families fortunate enough to live in areas dense with traditional families, with long established TLM parishes and communities, benefit from the support of likeminded families.

For most of us, however, the situation is less rosy. While the St Catherine’s Trust family retreat and summer school go some way to helping families meet other families, create friendships and networks, not everyone is able to attend these, and the LMS Committee felt that it could do more to help.

A common theme I’ve noticed while visiting traditional parishes, throughout the world, is that those parishes where families have a chance to make friends and create networks, are those that thrive. Helping families helps parishes. However, if your only TLM option is 4pm on the last Sunday of the month, and parking is atrocious, and everybody scuttles off into the darkness after the Marian anthem, then how do families get to know each other?

Having recently moved from an area abundant with traditional Catholic families, to one where the TLM is just starting out and communities are only beginning to be built, I became aware of how difficult it is to meet people. Where people travel fairly long distances to Masses, or where they may attend Masses in different areas in different weeks, it can take a long time to meet and make new friends.

This is where the LMS Family Contact Register comes in.

Simply put, it’s an opt-in scheme where families who would like to meet other LMS member families can choose to share a (very limited) amount of data about themselves via the LMS website:

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LETTERS

Letters to the Editor Dorset seminary As a recent convert to the Church from Anglicanism, it didn’t take me long to discover the beauties of the Latin Mass, thanks to the regular celebration of Extraordinary Form Masses at St Mary’s, Ryde.

Recently, I visited Highcliffe Castle on the Dorset coast.

While there, I learned that, from 1953-1966, the building had been used by the Claretians (Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) firstly as a Noviciate, then as a Seminary.

I bought a fascinating little history of this period, from the Castle gift shop, written by Harry Salsbury, who was apparently a seminarian at Highcliffe, although he seems to have subsequently left the priesthood.

His account of life at the Noviciate/Seminary, and the growth of the Claretian Congregation in England in the 1950s was very moving, and reveals a vibrant and devout group of men, dedicated to the Church, and with the Sacred Liturgy at its centre. The local people and the families of the novices and seminarians were extremely supportive, and the Seminary seems to have been an important part of life in the area. It therefore seems truly shocking that the advent of the 1960s brought about a sudden drastic decline in numbers, ending in closure of the Seminary in 1966.

Is it pure coincidence that this decline seems to have started with the announcement of the Second Vatican Council, and continued with the publication of Sacrosanctum Concilium in 1963, followed over the next few years by the rest of the Council’s documents?

I know that the relationship between the Council and the decline of Church membership has been endlessly debated, but I would be really interested to know, from those who were aware of events at the time, whether the very proposal to overhaul the Liturgy (followed by publication of SC, several years before the new Roman Missal was actually launched), was sufficient to dishearten prospective clergy, and lead them to reject the prospect of training for the priesthood.

Mrs Sue Mawson, Via email

Elizabethan English In the Autumn 2016 issue, Mgr Newton replies to the many comments that Ordinariate Usage is like an Elizabethan English version of the Old Rite, simply that it is not a translation of the Old Rite and has certain prayers from various places such as the Sarum Rite or Book of Common Prayer.

The English Sung Eucharist I knew in the Church of England in the 1950s most certainly was like the Traditional Roman Rite. The reason is obvious: it undoubtedly came from the First Prayer Book of King Edward VI, which was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, made from the Sarum Rite, a medieval modification of the Roman Rite mainly in use in England before the Reformation.

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If this Eucharist was basically made from the Sarum Rite, I think the connection is important in considering it an alternative to the Tridentine Reform. Also, Tudor English as an ancient form of the mother tongue has something in common with the Orthodox national liturgies.

Miss Maureen Elsden 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 Margaret Clark John Delaney Sadie Dyson Arthur Easdown Peter Frame Henry Gibson Br Harold Hayward Geoffrey Hilton (Priest) Mark Jacques Mari Joel John Maguire John Moore Michael Murray Derek O’Donoghue John Roberts Veronica Spender John Taylor George Vassallo Elizabeth Wang Every effort is made to ensure that this list is accurate and upto-date. However, if you know of a recently deceased member whose name has not, so far, appeared on our prayer memorial, then please contact the LMS, see page 3 for contact details.

The LMS relies heavily on legacies to support its income.

We are very grateful to the following who remembered the Society in their will: Mark Roberts. If you would like details of how to leave a legacy to the LMS, please contact the Office.

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FEATURE

A place of pilgrimage Kevin Jones on St Winefride and the ancient shrine at Holywell

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© John Aron

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he ancient shrine of Holywell has the distinction of being a place of uninterrupted pilgrimage for 13 centuries. Situated in a beautiful part of North Wales, this special place of spiritual continuity stood up to the torments of the Reformation and the early years of the Protestant schism.

The shrine is dedicated to Gwenfewi or as most will know her Winefride. She lived in the first half of the 7th Century in Treffynnon, North Wales. Treffynnon is better known these days as Holywell. Her father, Thevit, was an affluent Cambrian baron, the possessor of three manors in what is now Flintshire, the county that straddles the English border in the north east of Wales. Her mother, Wenlo, was the sister of St Beuno and she was of regal descent being connected to kings in the south of the principality.

Winefride grew in virtue and prepared to consecrate herself to God. Her beauty and charm became the talk of the age and eventually a chieftain named Caradoc, who came from Hawarden, some 11 miles east toward Chester, determined to seek her hand in marriage.

Eventually, driven by the ‘challenge’ of diverting Winefride’s attention from God and toward himself, he visited Winefride one morning at the family home while her parents were at Mass. He attempted to seduce her but she escaped towards the church built by Beuno, who was offering the Mass at which her parents were present. Caradoc pursued her and cut off her head. It rolled down a steep incline and in the place where it came to rest, a spring of water appeared.

Meanwhile, Beuno paused the Mass and went to the spot where the head lay beside the spring. He picked up his niece’s head and, using his cloak, covered it and returned to the altar to complete the Holy Sacrifice.

Once he had finished Mass, he knelt beside Winefride’s decapitated body and offering up prayer, he placed her head back on her body and she came back to life. She awakened as if in a deep slumber

Venerating the relic last year at Holywell with no sign of the decapitation except a thin white circle around her neck, a sign of her martyrdom!

Caradoc fell dead on the spot and the ground opened and swallowed him.

The legend has it that this was the result of a celestial rebuke invoked by Beuno.

Winefride went on to live the life of virtue she had always wanted. In fulfilment of her promise, she solemnly vowed virginity and poverty as a recluse. A convent was established and she became the abbess and a chapel was erected over the well.

St Beuno left Holywell, and returned to Caernarfon in North West Wales.

Accounts say that before he departed he sat on the stone that now stands in the outer well pool and proclaimed in God’s name, “that whosoever on that spot should thrice ask for a benefit from God

in the name of St Winefride would obtain the grace he asked if it was for the good of his soul”.

These were tumultuous times and every indication was that the Saxons would soon destroy Holywell as they had seized nearby territory.

Having remained at Holywell for eight years and having learned of the death of her beloved uncle, St Winefride left the convent and retired further inland in the light of the prevailing circumstances. She chose to settle at Gwytherin.

She was welcomed by St Elwy (Elerius) who wrote the first account of her life.

She brought her community of nuns with her and they joined other nuns already present.

Winefride was known within her community as a living saint. During her life, she performed many miracles, and

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FEATURE There are numerous accounts of people cured by the soothing waters of the well. For example, in 1914, a six-yearold girl was suffering from an infection in her eyes and was taken to Holywell by her mother. She was cured after bathing in the well.

In another case at around the same time, Nellie Nugent, a disabled girl of 13, recovered the use of her limbs after bathing. The girl, an orphan from Liverpool, had been injured in a fall when she was two years old. She had been bed-ridden until she was eight years. For five years, she had walked with great difficulty and only when supported by an iron frame running from her waist to her heels. After emerging from the well, however, she said, “I think I can walk”, and on making an attempt found she could. Discarding her iron frame, she walked around the bath and up the hill to St Winefride’s Hospice.

Many have followed Nellie Nugent.

Countless pilgrims have been drawn to Holywell by the eternal memory of St Winefride and her powerful intercession.

Although a Welsh saint, St Winefride is venerated far beyond our borders here in Wales. In the Middle Ages, the Kings of England came regularly to her shrine and well, to venerate her relics and bathe in the miraculous waters.

Indeed, the pilgrimage site has an unbroken history of receiving visitors

since the latter part of the 7th Century and it is worth re-stating that it is the only shrine in these islands that was left intact during the turbulence of the Reformation.

Now known as the Lourdes of Wales, the well and shrine host an annual pilgrimage organised by the Latin Mass Society on the first Sunday of July, when a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form is offered in honour of St Winefride, with a commemoration of the occurring Sunday after Pentecost.

I believe it was my predecessor, the late Edmund Waddelove, who initiated the LMS pilgrimage more than 30 years ago, and for many years David Lloyd (someone I consider a mentor) has been involved in the organisation of this special day.

LMS members should be very grateful for their efforts as a High Mass in the usus antiquior in the days prior to Summorum Pontificum (2007) and Ecclesia Dei (1988) will not have been an easy task!

Following Mass, pilgrims are encouraged to process down to the well while they recite the Rosary. Upon arrival, they seek the spiritual healing available from the Holy waters.

This year the Pilgrimage will take place on 2 July at 2.30pm and Father James Mawdsley FSSP is celebrant. St Winefride, pray for us!

© John Aron

after her death, up to the present day, countless wonders and favours continue to be worked and obtained through her intercession.

Her martyrdom is recorded as 22 June (although this is open to debate) and it is believed that until the late 14th Century, the feast was kept on that date but was later moved to 3 November. This date is observed in the Dioceses of Shrewsbury and Menevia, together with the recently created Diocese of Wrexham – this applies to both the pre and post Vatican II liturgical calendars.

Locally, the Diocese of Wrexham keeps 22 June (or the closest Sunday) for a pilgrimage to the shrine and a Novus Ordo Votive Mass.

The story of St Winefride emerges from a mixture of historic manuscripts, legend and tradition. But it is above all a story about a pure and gifted soul who was prepared to sacrifice everything, and indeed her very life, to live for Divine Love alone.

Over the years many have made pilgrimage to the holy well in search of cures for many ailments and afflictions, and many have left with a cure through St Winefride’s intercession and God’s will.

There is a small exhibition room at the shrine and one of the static displays is a box of crutches abandoned by invalids who, having immersed themselves in the waters of the well, found their suffering ended.

Holywell: a place of pilgrimage for 13 centuries

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FEATURE

The social experiment Do we still believe in marriage? asks Fr Bede Rowe

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f all the thorny subjects in the world, this one really should not be thorny at all. We have come to a pretty pass when we can look at this title and instead of thinking “Now, what is that silly Fr Bede up to now? Of course we believe in marriage!”, rather, our minds veer towards “Gosh, Fr Bede, this is pretty contentious stuff, you could be struck off the Pope’s/Cardinal’s/Bishop’s Christmas card list for this!”

So, we still believe in marriage? Good question.

Let’s look at it point by point. Do we believe that marriage is the stable union of man and woman, designed by Almighty God for the enrichment of the human soul, and the begetting of the human race? Yes, I think we do. However, society does not. It, through its laws, and, more influentially through its television programmes and soap operas, presents a vision of marriage which is not lifelong, exclusive or open to life. At base, it is not even a union between a man and a woman at all. That has been ‘redefined’.

Two men, or two women, may now contract a ‘marriage’. And this union is not essentially lifelong. Why should it be?

If it happens like that, all well and good but if not, then that’s fine. And it cannot be for having and raising children, as the nature of such unions is not biologically open to any form of a natural conception of human life.

And who knows what effect the grand social experiment will have on the little ones who are brought up in this world, being told that anything goes, that they can express themselves in any way they like, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Let’s face it, they can even decide they’re boys if they’re girls, and girls if they’re boys.

Where does marriage stand in all this?

Do we believe in marriage? If by ‘we’, you mean Catholics, then ask those around you next time you’re in Mass what they think about it. Do they think Frank and Bob are married? Should they be able to adopt? Should 16-year-olds be able to align themselves to a different gender? And if you get the answers you

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expect, then turn from that person and ask someone under 20. You see, the social experiment has been at work on them for quite a while now. We may believe it, but you have to ask who ‘we’ are.

So, what about our hierarchy? Well, we got the concession that we priests won’t be prosecuted for refusing to marry two men or two women in church; we are exempt from this so-called equality legislation. I think our forefathers might have died for less, but never mind. However, I do not remember us marching in the streets to defend marriage as the French did. Our adoption agencies were closed down for refusing to place children with same sex couples (though some shamelessly continue to do so while claiming links to the Catholic Church, even with Bishops’ approval and parishes’ fundraising), and our schools are too tainted by government ideology to be able to present the truth of Catholicism without watering it down with relativism.

So, do we really believe in marriage, when our defence of it was a few raised voices at the time of its redefinition (but not too much, we are English after all and it wouldn’t do to make a fuss), a waved piece of paper saying we won’t have to do it in our Churches, and an almost complete capitulation in every other sphere of social life?

Actually, I’m not sure we do believe in marriage that much after all. If I say that I love you more than life itself, but then cannot be bothered to help you when the chips are down, then my words and my actions are at odds. I am a hypocrite. You should not believe what I say. What can you tell about what the Catholic Church believes about marriage by her actions in the social realm? What is our defence of marriage? Of family life? Of the raising of children?

To be frank, I think that we have conceded the fight, and have retreated into a little Catholic box where we can define what we believe and what we do, and we do not have to engage with the nasty world.

It will be the death of us.

SUMMER 2017

COMMENT

Referencing the self The Lone Veiler with some words of wisdom from St Augustine

Q

uite the year we’re having. Half the time I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, get mad, or possibly

do all three at once. There doesn’t seem to be any escape, apart from cutting off access to all news again, including Catholic news, and ignoring everyone.

A sore temptation, I might add. I did try it for a couple of days during Lent, but I didn’t like being out of the loop and decided I’m not called to be an information hermit any more than I am an information junkie; moderation in all things and all that.

Anyone who has ever glanced at a tabloid newspaper knows that usually beneath the huge front page-covering sensationalist headlines there are a few paragraphs of very pithy prose, usually with a slant so obvious you could use it as a ski jump. Broadsheets too use the same technique but with a more generous word count, and try to be a bit subtler, but honestly not by much.

Whatever I currently pick up to read, I’m aware that I’m exposing myself to Orwellian levels of double speak, and the celebration of complete confusion.

As St Augustine pithily put it, ‘The punishment of every disordered mind is its own disorder.’ If you landed from another planet, you might seriously think that everyone is doing nothing but contemplating the current societal hot potato, gender identity. My, how confusing the Olympics is going to be in a few years’ time! The trans doll. Trans doll? Well, kudos to the marketing man/ woman/ who saw the gap in the market for that one, but frankly with not much imagination. Barbie and Ken could do just as well if necessary.

Time to suck it up, ladies; men just make better women. Oh, and I don’t want to be discriminatory: vice versa of course. Except when one wants to be neuter trans-species alien, obviously.

What I find astonishing is that the liberal West wants, nay, expects, to be

SUMMER 2017

St Augustine: transformed from a bit of a lad to one heck of a saint taken seriously by the rest of the world, and yes, there is a ‘rest of the world’ that doesn’t necessarily think the same way.

It comes as a shock for some to find that exporting their brand of lifestyle choices to the needy in the form of strings-attached aid deals might not be welcome. It’s the worst form of cultural imperialism.

This is the age of Me, Myselfies, and I; no wonder people can be dissatisfied and miserable. The thing about lifestyle, any lifestyle, any choice, is that it will always have an impact beyond the individual as well. Not that this is new. St Augustine had a rare old time before he saw the light; he didn’t just nick pears: ‘My sin consisted in this, that I sought pleasure, sublimity, and truth not in God but in his creatures, in myself and other created beings. So it was that I plunged into miseries, confusions, and errors.’

Look how poor St Monica suffered because of her son’s choices. ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not just yet.’

Constantly referring to and referencing the self, as if that is all that matters, inevitably leads to sadness. Today, don’t like your face/lips/miscellaneous other body part? Change them, if you can afford it, you’ll feel better. Perhaps. Change your girlfriend/boyfriend, change everything, the grass is always going to be greener if you want it to be. It’s the self-perpetuating messiness of this positive feedback loop which can ruin lives.

‘Our hearts are restless until they rest in You’, is more true than it’s ever been.

St Augustine, dear St Augustine, who by the grace of God, and a very persistent mother, was transformed from a bit of a lad to one heck of a saint, pray for us.

We’re in a bit of a mess.

P.S. For anyone on Twitter who likes a bit of sunshine in what can appear as the newsfeed of doom, could I recommend following Augustine of Hip-hop? Here’s a taster: ‘Can’t measure God like a gram or a kilo, He created space-time, did it ex nihilo.’ Enjoy!

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ROMAN REPORT

Sacred music Alberto Carosa on an appeal to the highest authorities of the Church

R

ome: 5 March marked the 50th anniversary of the Vatican II instruction Musicam Sacram, the Council’s document on sacred music, and on the occasion the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Congregation for Catholic Education, in collaboration with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of the Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo, organised a conference on, Music and Church: Cult and Culture, 50 years after Musicam Sacram.

Having highlighted the importance of the aesthetic and musical formation of clergy, religious and lay people involved in pastoral life, in his message to the participants on 4 March 2017, Pope Francis called for ‘safeguarding and enhancing the rich and manifold patrimony inherited from the past’ and ensuring ‘that sacred music and liturgical chant be fully inculturated in the artistic and musical language of the current time’, namely ‘to incarnate and translate the Word of God into song, sound and harmony capable of making the hearts of our contemporaries resonate; also creating an appropriate emotional climate which disposes people to faith and stirs openness and full participation in the mystery being celebrated’.

Acknowledging that ‘at times a certain mediocrity, superficiality and banality have prevailed, to the detriment of the beauty and intensity of liturgical celebrations’, Pope Francis concluded his address by calling upon ‘the various key figures in this sphere, musicians, composers, conductors and choristers of the scholae cantorum, with liturgical coordinators’ to make ‘a precious contribution to the renewal, especially in qualitative terms, of sacred music and of liturgical chant’.

The following day, 5 March, more than 200 musicians, musicologists and sacred music experts issued the petition, ‘A Statement on the Current Situation of Sacred Music’ to Church authorities for them to correct a situation they say

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is increasingly getting out of hand. The petition expresses ‘our great love for the Church’s treasury of sacred music and our deep concerns about its current plight’.

After recalling the love the Church has always had for such expressive forms, the petition goes on to summarise some of the most significant motivations underlying the present deplorable situation of sacred music and of the liturgy: from a loss of understanding of the ‘musical shape of the liturgy’, that is music as an inherent part of the very essence of liturgy as public, formal,

solemn worship of God (by encouraging the singing of the Ordinary and the Propers of the Mass in Gregorian chant or music inspired by it), to the secularism of popular musical styles contributing to a de-sacralisation of the liturgy; from groups in the Church pushing for a ‘renewal’ that does not reflect Church teaching but rather serves their own agenda, to a disdain for Gregorian chant and traditional repertoires, despite the fact that ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium teaches that the musical and artistic heritage of the Church should be respected and cherished, because it is the embodiment of centuries of worship and prayer, and an expression of the highest peak of human creativity and spirituality’.

Another cause of the decadence of sacred music is clericalism, with sectors of the clergy being often poorly educated in the great tradition of sacred music.

However, the petition promoters still ‘maintain the hope that there is a way out of this winter’ and to this purpose offer a set of eight proposals in spiritu humilitatis, for the dignity of the liturgy and of its music in the Church to be fully restored, as called for by Pope Francis.

Among these proposals is the reaffirmation of the traditional heritage alongside modern sacred compositions in Latin or vernacular languages; the need to give space to well-trained laity in areas that have to do with art and with music, in full compliance with the Magisterium; the insistence on higher standards for musical repertoire and skill for cathedrals and basilicas; the liturgical and musical training of clergy who, according to Musicam Sacram and other documents, should be able to chant the prayers of the liturgy, not merely say the words.

But the formation of liturgists is likewise also fundamental, the petition goes on.

‘Just as musicians need to understand the essentials of liturgical history and theology, so too must liturgists be educated in Gregorian chant, polyphony, and the entire musical tradition of the Church, so they may discern between what is good and what is bad’.

Most of all, the petitioners point out, specifically with regard to every basilica and cathedral, they suggest that ‘there be the encouragement of a weekly Mass celebrated in Latin (in either Form of the Roman Rite) so as to maintain the link we have with our liturgical, cultural, artistic, and theological heritage’. Moreover, ‘each parish should be encouraged to have one fully-sung Mass each Sunday’.

This is all the more important if we consider that today young people are increasingly ‘rediscovering the beauty of Latin in the liturgy’, in a sign of the times that should prompt us ‘to bury the battles of the past and seek a more “catholic” approach that draws upon all the centuries of Catholic worship’.

(For full text of the petition in English and eight other languages: http://www.altaredei.com/?page_id=20 )

SUMMER 2017

REVIEW

The Dark Tower Hannah Young reviews a new children’s book

by Donal Foley This book would be an ideal gift, or for group discussion in schools, because it will, as G.K. Chesterton said, “teach children that dragons can be killed”. But it will go further than this. In its last dramatic moments The Dark Tower reveals that, even in the darkest of times when we are surrounded by evil, we need not give up hope. We need to call upon the Lord, who has triumphed over the powers of evil, and He will assist us in our quests to defeat the powers of evil in the here and now.

Finally, The Dark Tower reminds us that Christ, whose mercy is infinite, will forgive even the very worst of deeds, when a contrite heart turns to Him and asks His forgiveness.

The Dark Tower is published in paperback by Theotokos Books, at £7.99 and is available at http://glaston-chronicles. co.uk/book-orders

T

he Dark Tower, the second of Donal Foley’s The Glaston Chronicles, is a work of fantasy following in the footsteps of authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis; as well as subtly alluding to the old legends of King Arthur, who, after fighting to protect Albion from evils both human and supernatural, will, like the archetypal Christ-figure, return from his resting place at Avalon – for Avalon read Glastonbury – when Albion’s need is greatest.

Much like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, Foley’s book contains all the most important of themes: spiritual warfare, the supernatural realm, the fight for personal holiness, and – the route of all good stories – the eternal battle between good and evil. Yet they are not overwhelming nor too forced, but are neatly entwined in an adventure, which will entertain and edify children and young adults.

Few novels today, for children or otherwise, stress the essential and salvific power of the Catholic faith, while simultaneously entertaining its readers. However, Foley’s child characters, who like Frodo, or Peter, Susan, and Lucy of Narnia, are called on a quest. A quest which, while it may be filled with peril is also filled with joy, as it promises the defeat of evil and the salvation of souls. Similarly, not many fictional priests speak movingly of the importance of the Faith and the salvific and sacrificial matter of priesthood and the Mass while they plot to wrest mysterious and priceless artefacts from corrupt, time-travelling, aristocrats. Such things will go a long way to attracting the young to a Church which is not only young and alive, but is also seeking adventure and holiness all across the world.

SUMMER 2017

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CROSSWORD

Clues Across

1 ‘------- mori’, something that reminds us of our mortality (7) 5 The De Profundis for example (5) 8 Form of masts, etc. on a sailing ship (3) 9 They can be sinful, with thoughts, words or deeds (Catechism) (9) 10 ‘Brideshead ‘ and ‘Campion’ author who loved the Traditional Rite (5) 11 County of birth and martyrdom of LMS Patron St Margaret Clitherow (9) 14 Relating to philosophical reasoning associated with Hegel (9) 18 The sound of a bell for example (5) 21 ‘Et concepit -- ------- sancto’, Angelus (2,7) 22 ‘--- et benedictio’, from the Tantum Ergo (3) 23 A Christian woman mentioned in Acts 16 (5) 24 Judean sect at the time of Jesus linked to the Dead Sea Scrolls (7)

Clues Down

Alan Frost: April 2017

ANSWERS FROM SPRING 2017 CROSSWORD

Across: 1 Ergo sum, 5 Death, 8 Cor, 9 Uplifting, 10 Enrol, 11 Candlemas, 14 Antiphons, 18 Tunic, 21 Hermitage, 2 Eli, 23 Trent, 24 Ecstasy Down: 1 Ecclesia, 2 Gerard, 3 Skullcap, 4 Milton, 5 Da-fe/De-fe, 6 Animam, 7 Hugh, 12 Listless, 13 Sanctity, 15 Tierce, 16 Oblate, 17 Angela, 19 Whit, 20 Diet

Closing Date & Winner

Closing date for Crossword entries: Friday 30th June 2017.

The winner of the spring 2017 competition is Mr G. Moorhouse of Dartford.

1 Nun and Lay Sister also born in 11, she founded the Sisters of Loreto (4,4) 2 ‘------ Opus’, great literary work (6) 3 A novice or a recent convert (8) 4 St ------ Plunkett, Tyburn martyr, last victim of the ‘Popish Plot’ (6) 5 Italian pilgrimage city famous for its tower (4) 6 ‘-- --- malo’ libera nos Iesu, ‘-- ---- peccato’ libera nos Iesu (2,4) 7 Clio or Polyhymnia, e.g., in mythology (4) 12 Gives comfort and help, as with Our Lady perpetually(8) 13 Critical interpreters of scriptural texts (8) 15 Responsive to witty comments, unlike Queen Victoria presumably! (6) 16 ‘Thou shalt deny me ------’, Our Lord to Peter after the Last Supper (6) 17 Biblical strong man who brought the house down (6) 19 Object of pagan worship (4) 20 City associated with first native Saint (Rose) of the Americas (4)

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27th May, 27th June: Making clothes for children 2nd September: Project finishing (bring along your unfinished sewing projects) 21st October: Embroidery techniques with Jacqui McDonald of the RSN LMS intensive, residential Latin Course with Fr John Hunwicke and Fr Richard Bailey, from Monday 24th to Saturday 29th July, at Holywell and Pantasaph in Wales. Half price for clergy and seminarians. See www.lms. org for details and booking.

St Catherine’s Trust Summer School, for ages 11-18, 23rd to 30th July, at Pantasaph, North Wales. A unique Catholic experience, with the Traditional Mass. Donations are invited, no fee. See www.stcatherinestrust.org for details and booking.

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The Verdi Bears’ Picnic’

by Aileen Boyd-Otley is now available as a Kindle ebook/ePub Price: £3.99 Aileen was devoted to the Latin Mass, and wrote this best-selling children’s novel in 1967.

See lms.org.uk for details.

Why not visit her website: www.aileenboyd-otley.co.uk Classified advertisements cost just 50p per word with an additional charge of just £5 if you’d like your advertisement in a box, 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.

Categories include: • Property for sale or to rent • Travel • Accommodation • Art • Courses • Gardening • Personal • Books • Jobs

SUMMER 2017

MACKLIN STREET

Fatima Centenary Celebrations

T

his year marks the 100th anniversary of Our Lady appearing six times to three shepherd children - Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta - in Fatima. In February, Cardinal Vincent Nichols crowned the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima that will be touring England and Wales throughout this year, accompanied by the Relics of Blessed Jacinta and Francisco. The celebration in Westminster Cathedral marked the inauguration of a programme of events being held around the country of which, we are delighted to announce, the Latin Mass Society is a part.

The Pilgrim Statue and Relics will be in St Dominic’s, Haverstock Hill on Saturday, 8 July. High Mass (Dominican Rite) will be celebrated at 12noon and, following an afternoon of devotions, the day will conclude with Vespers and Benediction.

We are very grateful to The World Apostolate of Fatima, the organisers of the centenary celebrations, for allowing us to participate in them. Full details of the programme for our day can be found on page 45 of this magazine.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Fatima, there are a number of publications available from the LMS online shop.

One very good, and recently published, booklet is by Timothy Tindal-Robertson and Donal Foley, entitled The Message & Prayers of Fatima.

Quoting from the writings of Sr. Lucia (see Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words – Sr. Lucia’s memoirs) and those of Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, the authors show that the Church, the world and each of us as individuals need to revisit the messages given in Fatima 100 years ago. Those messages, from deep within the Immaculate Heart of Mary - like the Gospel itself - are not messages for their time only. The need for prayer, penance and conversion are, to quote the authors, ‘…more and more relevant than ever, both for the well-being of the Church as well as for the development of its mission for the salvation of mankind in the years ahead’.

Under headings which include Models for Modern Families, Taking up One’s Cross, The Rosary and the Immaculate Heart, and Help us withstand Pressure of Modern Life, the authors offer thought provoking reflections on what Our Lady of Fatima, her message, and the lives of those three shepherd children have to say to us today.

Two-thirds of the booklet is made up of an excellent selection of prayers, devotions and hymns - sadly, none in Latin.

The Message & Prayers of Fatima is published by CTS, price £2.50, and is available from the LMS online shop. It, together with other books and DVDs about Fatima, will also be available from a bookstall at St Dominic’s on 8 July. 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.

SUMMER 2017

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