The Hound of Heaven

Oliver Update.

2008-12-31T06:42:00.000-08:00

Sir Oliver Badcat put us all in a spin on Christmas Eve. I had some people in for a glass of something sparking in the mid afternoon and just as they were getting ready to go Oliver came down the stairs looking very sorry for himself, his head on one side, ear pealed back and making an appalling high pitched screaming noise. He was very obviously in a lot of pain. There was a really disgusting brown gunge coming from his ear. He looked me straight in the eyes pleadingly as if to say " Please do something".

It could not have been at a worse moment. Anyway after some ridiculous trouble with a wire free phone whose battery was flat, and a mobile with no signal, I got hold of a very kindly vet who is a member of our congregation and he arranged for Oliver to be seen even though it was now 4pm on Christmas Eve.

It turns out that Oliver had been fighting! Another cat got his claw quite deep into his ear and pierced the flesh deeply and embedded something nasty under the skin which then festered.

Anyway Badcat's now on antibiotics and painkillers. After a few days of mooching around and sleeping a lot he is getting back on form again. He went mousing last evening and the temperature was minus 4.5! He's sitting on my lap as I type and probably getting ready for his usual trick of walking along the keyboard, deleting everything I've written.

Church Flowers.

2008-12-31T06:06:00.000-08:00

A few months ago an appeal went out for people to volunteer to "do" the church flowers. One or two of the ladies who had been very active had for one reason or another to cut back, ( growing families, advancing years). For some reason, ( my guardian angel has an ironic sense of humour, I sometimes think), I volunteered! I was not the only man. The rota for the new year popped through my door this morning. It now seems that it will be spilt fairly evenly between men and women. I think this could get interesting.

I heard a story recently about days past at the London Oratory. On great feasts, like Christ the King, the sanctuary was crowded with potted plants, mainly ferns and palms, and flowers donated especially for the occasion by parishioners, great and small. At High Mass after the deacon and sub-deacon had assisted the celebrant with the incensing of the altar the sub-deacon came down to incense the clergy attending in choir. Such was the proliferation of foliage that when he had finally located the high ranking prelate he sought he greeted him sotto voce, " Dr. Livingstone I presume".

I will resist the temptation to go over board.

Last Minute Gift Idea.

2008-12-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

For the person who has everything.....A Pope Pius Clock with each of the twelve popes of that name in their proper order. I think I want one.

2008-12-22T04:14:00.000-08:00

Newly discovered blogs.

2008-11-21T06:44:00.001-08:00

I know I have not been posting much lately but I've been reading other people's blogs.

Here's a new one to me Joe Versus the Volcano. http://joeversusthevolcano.blogspot.com/

There are some interesting musings on St. Francis and Chesterton, and on Dorothy L. Sayers and the act of creation, among other things. Oh and he likes cats, indeed he describes himself as " the domestic servant of two cats".

Reminder

2008-11-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

There will be a sung Requiem in the Classical Roman Rite for Cardinal Reginald Pole in the chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford, on Monday evening next, (17th), at 7pm. He was of course the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the originators of the Council of Trent.

It has been brought to my attention that there is also a Sung Requiem for the cardinal at the Birmingham Oratory at 7.30pm.

There are a number of Masses organised for this evening for the cardinal details to be found on the LMS website. I specifically mentioned the Magdalen one because Cardinal Reginald Pole was a member of the college for a number of years and took his B.A. there.

Chickens

2008-11-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine is a member, ( non active) of the Chicken Liberation Movement. This has nothing to do with south American Jesuits but rather liberates chickens from battery farms and finds homes for them. I have just spent a whole afternoon chasing two cockerels round and round his garden so that they can be "re homed". They were liberated a few weeks ago and he took them on along with about a dozen female chickens. They were making so much noise that, even though he is well away from other houses, his neighbours threatened to get a petition together. Apparently the crowing started at about 5 each morning. Chickens are stupid and only just intelligent enough to escape your grasp again and again, and again. I should say that my helping to catch the cockerels was by way of payback for The Hound having killed one of his geese!

Now before any of you chicken lovers gets upset I should say that I am very concerned for animal welfare and appalled at what we do to God's creatures in the name of cheap food. I like eating chicken but will only buy proper free range birds. It is therefor an occasional treat rather than a staple. I buy a whole bird and joint it myself, ( this takes 5mins) and this will do for several days and the bits and bobs make divine stock. It's the only way to go where chickens are concerned.

Cartoons via Fr. Z.

Cats and Nuns.

2008-11-13T03:35:00.001-08:00

I remember reading a newspaper article some years ago about a Orthodox convent in Greece where the nuns regard it as their religious duty to give shelter and sustenance to any cats that come their way and who found a women suffering from amnesia washed up on a beach near their convent. She had an immediate rapport with the cats so they allowed her to stay in the convent for as long as she wished. I cut it out of the newspaper but lost it of course; I don't know if there were any subsequent developments.

But now I've come across this Carmelite convent in Italy where the good nuns breed Maine Coon cats commercially as a means of generating an income for their community. The cats are superb and they even have a gym...

There are lots of photographs of cats, cats and even more cats....

That one is a world champion.

Ahh, yes life really is better with cats....even a very Badcat.

Ear twitch to Orbis Catholicvs.

The cats are here... http://www.tribudeldeserto.com/pagina/en/allevamento/60/About-Us.html

I could not resist posting this:

2008-10-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

What are churches for?

2008-10-28T03:44:00.001-07:00

We have recently had our little church redecorated. While this was going on we decided to take the opportunity to rationalise the notice boards. Our church is tiny. The attendance at the single weekly Mass varies widely between 45 and 80, rising to about 115 at Christmas and Easter. Yet we had six (6!) notice boards, two of them almost the size of a normal door. And they were always full. The photographs are not of our boards but give the idea. In our village of 2,000 people there is an official village notice board in a prominent position, two external boards and several internal ones at the Anglican Church, which every one has to walk past, two at the post office, another at the car park, and several at the village shop.

So I was a little surprised at the reaction of some people to our decision to have one notice board in the entrance porch, ( behind the door) and two more at the back of the church proper. Comments ranged from "It's not just about having a neat and tidy church it also about communicating with one another and being welcoming", or " Yes I know it looked untidy from the street but at least people knew there was a lot going on in the village", "We can't just confine it to a few notices about Catholic things, can we?".

There is definitely an English disease which we might call Noticitis. I am convinced that if we were to cover the entire back wall of the church in cork it would be completely covered with fluttering paper by the end of the week. Why?

Not everyone thought it was a bad idea to cut back the notices and it is not exactly splitting the congregation down the middle, but I just thought it brought to the surface some very interesting conceptions of what the church was for.

To me the church is where I come to worship God and participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and also the place where we are privileged to have the Blessed Sacrament reserved in a sanctuary of peace and calm, where one can go to pray quietly.

But it seems to me that we have replaced those things that were thought of as traditionally Catholic, processions, devotions, exposition, stations of the cross, confraternities, etc with an endless succession of good causes, social justice issues and environmental campaigns. Having jettisoned those things which made us feel good about the state of our souls it seems we still need ways of appeasing our consciences.

Just me rambling really

Well it might work.....

2008-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

I also found the above image via the Oxford LMS rep.'s blog.

A Riposte to Dr. Dawkins.

2008-10-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what all the fuss is about Dawkins. I have read two of his books. They are exceedingly dull, operating at a very low level of intellectual argument. The man IS a fraud.

I found the above picture on the net but I can remember where, but I thought it worth reposting it.

Oxford Martyrs.

2008-10-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I tootled over the hills, through misty autumn sunshine to the city of dreaming spires to honour the memories of four Catholic men who died for their faith in 1589. Fr. George Nichols, Fr. Richard Yaxley, Thomas Belson and Humphrey Pritchard were arrested in the inn known as the Catherine Wheel and eventually sentenced to death. They were hanged, drawn and quartered on what is now the busy junction of Holywell street and Longwall Street.

They were very gruesomely put to death, first Fr. Nichols and then Fr. Yaxley, who embraced his brother priest's body before being put to death himself. They were verbally abused and taunted by the crowd and even after dismemberment had their disembodied heads, which were impaled on the nearby castle wall, disfigured by zealots. The last to be executed was Prichard who was a simple serving man. As he mounted the scaffold he called out, "I call you all to witness, in the presence of God and his holy angels, that I am a Catholic and that I am condemned to die for the confession of the Catholic faith; I die willingly."

The Mass was exceedingly beautiful and was probably the first Solemn High Mass to be offered in Blackfriars since the liturgical changes. It was also exceptionally well attended. I arrived at 10.20am for an 11.00 start. The church was already half full. By 10.45 am they were putting out the plastic chairs and even then at least 30 had to stand. It was very notable that there were many young people and a wide spread of social and ethnic backgrounds. The Mass setting was Victoria's Missa trahe me post te and we had Tallis' Salvador Mundi, sacerdotes Domini by Palestrina and a polyphonic Salve Regina also by Victoria. This and the proper was sung by a choir called Cantores Missae, which was apparently drawn from several professional choirs. In terms of the rubrics not everything was perfect. That pesky gospel procession went wrong, ( as it did at the Cardinal's Mass at Westminster), on a number of occasions both deacon and subdeacon did things at the wrong time, and the servers left the sanctuary during the singing of the Salve. I'm not sure anyone really minded; it was such a special and moving occasion. We all knew why we were there.

The Mass was followed by a procession to the site of the martyrdom where a plaque was blessed by Bishop Kenney, who had earlier given a quite hard hitting homily at Mass which it would be unfair of my to try and paraphrase. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was given back at Blackfriars.

I did not stay for the procession or benediction. Parking in Oxford is HORRIBLE! Having got a parking ticket for being three, (3!), minutes late on a recent occasion, I wanted to take no chances. On arrival in Oxford I went to the underground car park beneath the bus station, five minutes walk from Blackfriars. It charged more than £3 an hour, the machines accepted only coins and you could not pay with a card. Back to St. Giles' where it is 2Hrs no return, I thought I remembered it was three. The streets of Oxford are patrolled by literally swarms of traffic demons issuing tickets at the slightest opportunity. After Mass having tried to move the car, not finding a space, and ending up a a maze of one way streets I gave up and went home.

Christmas is coming....

2008-10-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

St. Michael's Abbey at Farnborough has a very nice selection of Christmas cards. They are designed and printed by the community and I think they are just the right kind of thing: simple, tasteful, restrained in colour, very much in the style of woodcuts and redolent of monastic tradition. And quite a few have Latin inscriptions. Ideal for keeping the real festive spirit alive.

You can order them on line at the Abbey Shop which also has a great selection of books incl., Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described by Fortescue et al., at a reduced price.

I was pleased to note the following, " we have been inundated by by requests for books, altar cards, and other items associated with the 1962 Missale Romanum".

Here's a link to the shop: http://www.theabbeyshop.com/

And to abbey: http://www.farnboroughabbey.org/home.php

By Way of Contrast.

2008-10-18T08:33:00.001-07:00

Apparently a group of 25 women, including some who seem to believe that they have had themselves ordained, marched on the Vatican chanting " Ordain Women NOW!!". They wanted to present a petition but there was nobody available to accept it so they ended up giving it to one of the Swiss Guards.

I've just been out for a walk with The Hound.

2008-10-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

A Sight to Gladden the Heart.

2008-10-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

I wish I had seen this photograph when I heard a priest recently preach on the need to accept that the church of the future would be without priests because there were no young men coming forward. He regarded this " fact" as the work of the Holy Spirit in shaping the church. We the laity are apparently to run things from here on. The one thing he did not suggest is that we should pray, and pray hard, that we may be sent priests, and that young, and not so young, men will give themselves to Christ.

That's the FSSP anniversary celebrations in Rome BTW.

2008-10-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

For anyone following the interesting events unfolding around the plans to re inter Cardinal Newman in the Oratory at Birmingham and anyone thinking about attending the special Mass to be celebrated there on Sunday November 2nd there is now a website through which you can keep up to date.

Please note that it is necessary to have a ticket to attend the main Mass and that these, ( one for each person attending), can be applied for through the website, or the form downloaded and posted.

The website is as follows http://www.newmancause.co.uk/

Brideshead Moment.

2008-10-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Our little church is to be redecorated starting tomorrow morning. So this morning after Mass we set about putting away anything movable. The tabernacle was emptied and the sanctuary lamp put out. All the statues, candles, flowers, hymnals and even the large crucifix above the altar were removed.

It was quite moving. Within half an hour it had been transformed from God's house into just a oddly shaped building. I think it brought home to several of us how very privileged we are to have the Blessed Sacrament present amongst us.

That time of year.

2008-10-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

I had to go to Worcester the other day. I'm a complete scatterbrain; I needed to retax the car but had lost the logbook, so I had to go in person to the DVLA! I stopped on the way back and snapped this picture.

Freshly ploughed earth, turning leaves and Autumn sunshine on the Malverns. It was icily cold. I almost froze to the spot. When I got back in the car the thermometer was reading an outside temperature of only 3.C

Splendid English Choral Music at Tetbury.

2008-10-04T02:57:00.001-07:00

As part of the Tetbury Music Festival there will be a concert tomorrow evening, Sunday October 5th, at 5.00pm in the parish church, ( Anglican). It will feature the very highly regarded Gabrielli Consort conducted by Paul McCreesh, singing a selection of religious music with a strong emphasis on that remarkable generation of composers of the late Catholic period in England. The programme explores the ideas around pilgrimage as a metaphor for the souls journey into the afterlife. Along with some chant, In Paradisum, Ave Maris Stella, the programme includes the following: In Ora Mortis Nostra, by Thomas Tallis, Ave Maria by Robert Parsons, Christe qui Lux es et Dies, by Byrd, Media Vita Morte Sumus, and In Pace in Idipsum both by John Sheppard. It then moves on to more modern pieces with similar themes: a Nunc Dimittis by Holst, ( written for Easter at Westminster Cathedral in 1925), Take him Earth for Cherishing by Howells, Song for Athene by Taverner,( familiar from Princess Diana's funeral) and the lovely Hymn to the Virgin by Britten, ( written when he was only sixteen).

The Gabrelli Consort is one for the really top rank of professional choirs singing today and have made numerous recordings, including several liturgical reconstructions, but I have always found their style to be very full bodied and fairly robust, and it is certainly interesting to hear this great music sung in this way. I am sure there are still a few tickets to be had from the tourist office in Tetbury tel. 01666 503552 or from the door in advance on the day.

Two things to note, they do actually light all the candles in the chandeliers which is lovely, and secondly the box pews are without doubt the most uncomfortable I even had the misfortune to sit in for long. The seats in the balconies are a little better but the acoustic is not so good.

Architecturally Tetbury church is very interesting in being an example of the very early Gothic revival, creating a large open space with very high open arcades. The Victorians could not cope with it and inserted a chancel screen and reredos which were ripped out some time towards the end of the 20th century. The chancel is now rather bare with a free standing table altar and some chairs in a line along the flat east end. I might be wrong but I have a feeling they may have copied this from the Catholics, ( just a thought).

Petition against extending the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.

2008-10-02T04:19:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to publicise the following and am more than happy to do so:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/anti-abortion/

New Mass Location.

2008-10-02T04:02:00.000-07:00

As and from October 9th., Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be offered each Thursday at 6.00pm in St. Gregory's Church, St. James' Square in the centre of Cheltenham. The location could not be more convenient and there is ample parking nearby. ( Do it legally! Cheltenham is a writhing pit of venomous parking attendants.)

I think it is very nice to see the Traditional Mass returning to the main Catholic Church in the town. Things are already pretty good there; last time I attended the N.O. Sunday Mass the whole congregation sang the ordinary completely in Latin.

There will be no Mass on October 30th, but will resume on November 6th.

Catholic Oxfordshire.

2008-09-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

There is a really super article over on New Liturgical Movement about the Catholic Houses of Oxfordshire, http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/. You need to scroll down to find the post.

The nights are drawing in.

2008-09-25T01:42:00.000-07:00

You know that Autumn is well advanced when you see a scene like this....

One for Mulier Fortis.

2008-09-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

In the village where I live there is a pair of " Spectacle Stocks". Apparently they are a very unusual, with supposedly only one other pair surviving in England. Only the " victim's" legs were pinioned, but this probably resulted in even more discomfort and frustration. I couldn't help posting this photograph. It's not Sir Oliver but " Churchyard Cat", the only cat in the village to put up any resistance to the endless expansion of Badcat's territory. This one is a real bully and once scratched the Hound across the nose so hard, from underneath a parked car, that we left a trail of blood along the pavement. (I'm not sure if it was the cat or the stocks which made me think of Mulier Fortis.)

Traditions.

2008-09-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

Today is the patronal feast of the (now) Anglican Church in my village. I've just come back from attending the " Clypping Service" which is a medieval tradition reintroduced during the Victorian period. The church ministers in their best vestments accompanied by a choir and banners process slowly around the churchyard during which hymns are sung. Then all the children of the village, ( these days eeked out with adults), encircle the church, join hands and embrace it three times. Then there is a short sermon and everyone gets a bun. ( The buns come from Tesco these days, I think.)

London Oratory Vespers.

2008-09-19T04:53:00.002-07:00

I took an Anglican friend to vespers in the London Oratory recently, ( not on the occasion on which they were broadcast). Two things especially made a very great impression, in what seems to me quite contradictory ways. Firstly, she was extremely impressed with the way in which the liturgy was conducted, but who could fail to be. But what created the greatest impression was the sense of profound reverence. She stated that while beautiful vestments, wonderful music and dignified ritual are perhaps more common in the Anglican church, she had never before experienced such a sense of reverence, of simply being in the presence of God Himself.

On the other hand she could not help commenting on all the coming and going among the congregation, the people arriving late, moving seats, leaving when ever they felt like it, walking off to a side chapel to light a candle during the singing of the psalms, for instance. It was not a circus but she could not understand it. It was something completely unknown in her Anglican experience.

Also the shear diversity of the congregation, even in this bastion of English tradition, was very marked. We really are the Catholic Church.

A Refresher.

2008-09-19T04:53:00.001-07:00

The full text of the interview given by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to three well known journalists during his visit to London has appeared on the LMS website. It provoked a lot of comment at the time but it was interesting to go back and read it again. It seems very clear to me what he is saying... http://www.latin-mass-society.org/2008/cardinalcastrillonpressconf.html

Badcat's back!

2008-09-19T04:53:00.000-07:00

Sir Oliver has been missing for two days and I've been a bit worried. It's not unusual for him to go AWOL, especially as the bad weather had been cramping his style a bit. But I do live very near a busy main A road so I was concerned, especially when a neighbour brought round Oliver's new collar and name tag which he found in the road.

But all is well, Oliver arrived early this morning and has been sleeping in "his" chair since then. ( All the chairs in the house are actually his and he occupies them in rotation.)

Oh, and he was not at all happy to see his collar again.

Sunshine and Flowers.

2008-09-02T03:34:00.001-07:00

My local church looking a bit more like itself.

The Ennobling of Oliver.

2008-09-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

I have grown tired of the endless procession of delectable presents being offered by darling Oliver, especially since he brought in a pet white mouse. So he now has a collar with a little bell on it and as you see he is rather disdainful of the whole thing.

To make him feel a bit better about it I also bought him a new name tag; it reads "Sir Oliver Badcat". (" His Eminence Oliver Badcat" would not fit.)

Other Dates for your Diary.......

2008-08-29T07:02:00.001-07:00

Sunday 31 August, 6.00pm., at St. George, Warminster, Wiltshire, High Mass.

Saturday 13th. September, 12.00pm., Our Lady, Magdalen St., Glastonbury, Sung Mass.

Sunday 14th. September, 11.30 am., St. Joseph, Fishponds, Bristol, Sung Mass.

Sunday 14th. September, 10.00am., Our Lady and St. Michael, Abergavenny, High Mass.

Sunday 28th. September, 11.30am., St Francis Xavier, Broad St., Hereford, High Mass.

Sunday 28th. September, 6.00pm., Milton House, Milton, nr. Albingdon, Oxfordshire, Sung Mass.

Saturday 4th. October, 10.30am., St. Peter, St. Peter Street, Cardiff, High Mass.

Sunday 5th October, 3.00pm., St. Mary, Harvington Hall, Warickshire, Sung Mass.

Saturday 25th. October, Blackfrairs, St. Giles, Oxford, 11.00am., High Mass, as part of the L.M.S. Pilgrimage. Also 2pm: Procession and unveiling of Martyrs' Plaque and, 3.30pm.: Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Sunday 2nd., November, 3.00pm., St. Mary, Harvington Hall, Warickshire, Sung Mass.

Monday 17th. November, 7.00pm., Sung Requiem for Cardinal Pole, Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford.

All of these Masses are in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

There is also a First Friday Mass at SS. Gregory & Augustine, Woodstock Road., Oxford at 6.00pm., which is usually sung. Also there a great many Low Masses throughout the region, details of which may be found on the Latin Mass Society website. It is good to note that so many of these Masses are now at reasonable times and intergrated into the life of the parish much more than before Summorum Pontificum.

An Another.

2008-08-29T03:48:00.001-07:00

This time at Wigartzbad, for the F.S.S.P.

Now Gloriously Reigning

2008-08-29T03:34:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't resist this photograph of Cardinal Ratzinger about to offer the traditional Mass in 1999 in Weimar.

A date for your diary.

2008-08-27T01:27:00.001-07:00

On November 17th at 7.00p.m. a sung Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite will be offered in the chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford, for the repose of the soul of Cardinal Reginald Pole, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop Of Canterbury and father of the Council of Trent.

The celebrant will be Fr. John Osman and the preacher will be Fr. Aidan Nichols O.P.

The Edge...more on our glorious English Summer.

2008-08-25T06:04:00.001-07:00

I happened to have reason this morning to drive along the very Western Edge of the Cotswolds. The escarpment here is abrupt and dramatic, sweeping straight down in to the Severn Valley. In the first photograph you can see the Tyndale Monument on the right hand hillside. It is a familiar sight to any motorist who travels the M5 between Cheltenham/Gloucester and Bristol. You can click on the first image to enlarge it if you wish.

Not a lot is known for certain about William Tyndale's early life but it is though that he was born somewhere near the location of the monument in about 1494. He studied at Magdalen in Oxford and while there was ordained. Having taken his MA he went on to begin a course in Theology and was scandalised to find that it did not include any study of scripture. It is believed that he organised private reading groups of fellow students to study the Scriptures. He was a great linguist reading Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, German and Spanish. But he was already beginning to cause controversy by his opinions and after a short time as a chaplin in Old Sodbury he journeyed to London to seek permission and assistance in translating the Bible into English. This was not forthcoming and he left England secretly in 1512 and completed his translation of the New Testament which was eventually published in Worms and Antwerp in 1526. These books were then smuggled into England and circulated. In the same year he was condemned as a heretic by Cardinal Wolsey. Strangely enough Tyndale condemned the divorce of Henry VIII on Scriptural grounds and this may have been the main factor in the personal interest the King took in Tyndale's arrest and execution.

I had an "interesting" "conversation" recently with a Christian who told me that before the Reformation reading the Bible was forbidden and the church told people what to believe. Some of this old protestant propaganda dies a very slow death. As far as I see the issue with the bible was not so much one of forbidding everyone to read it but a great worry about the effect of allowing more than one version of the text to exist. Also of course it is the Church's role to interpret scripture for us. When I read of the result of everyone interpreting the bible for themselves and in their own way, I can not understand how some protestants feel so strongly that this is a good thing; everyone can not be right at the same time. When the only version of the bible available was the Vulgate we had the exact same bible in every land, just as we had the exact same Mass.

This shot is taken about a mile North of the first and what you don't really see is the precipitous drop immediately beyond the information sign. But what you can see in all these photographs is our continuing appalling weather. This morning was cold, damp and windy:

It's been one of those days....

2008-08-24T08:17:00.001-07:00

Ozelworth.

2008-08-21T03:27:00.000-07:00

I am very fond of the little, ancient Church of Saint Nicholas of Myra at Ozelworth. Of any of the churches I've described here this is probably the most isolated and difficult to find but well worth it.

The church consists of an octagonal Norman Tower, which originally functioned as the nave, and a square-ended chancel. In Victorian Times a more conventional nave was built beyond the tower.

The churchyard has been tidied up a bit more than it used to be, which I think is rather a pity. That said there were some large white field mushrooms growing there yesterday.

There is a nice medieval porch which has helped preserve a good richly carved 13th. Century door surround. The porch is inhabited by numerous swallows, so if you visit please close the main church door to prevent them gaining entry and being trapped inside.There is not much to be said for the Victorian nave except that it makes for rather more convenient accommodation than the base of the tower, but it is rather dark and fairly featureless. It is now furnished by really bad modern, (cheap), chairs, but once had some more acceptable pews. ( I've seen a photograph of the nave with those in place).

The view up into the tower is impressive, especially when you think that this is a very quiet tucked away corner of the world.

There are two arches between the Victorian Nave and the chancel both Norman. As you can see the first if very heavily carved in a fairly unusual deeply undercut toothed design. There is an arch in Saint Mary's gate in the precincts of Gloucester Cathedral with very similar carving.

The chancel furnishing is mainly Victorian but has a medieval atmosphere. I like the long panels of red material. There is some half decent stained glass and everything is in commemoration of members of the Clutterbuck family of nearby Newark Park, which is now owned by the National Trust.

To find the church: I think the best way is to branch off the A46 at the Calcot traffic lights, ( which is a funny set of traffic lights right out in the countryside). Take the road towards Wotton-under-Edge, and watch for signs to Newark Park, N.T. Take the left turning towards Newark and continue down the lane for about 1 1/2 miles, past the telecommunications mast, past the entrance to Newark Park, ( quite simple), and about 1/4 mile further on , on the left, you will come to a set of gates with stone eagles. Go through the unpainted wooden gate to the left of the main gates. You will shortly come to a drive, turn left along the drive. You are now skirting Ozelworth Park, a fine and substantial regency house, ( a bit too scrubbed up, I think). Go through the gap in the beech hedging on the right and cross the stable yard. The church is in front of you. There are sign posts but they are almost invisible.

BTW the churchyard is circular and may well mark the sight of a pre-Christian religious site.

Reform of the Reform.

2008-08-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

I get myself to the Birmingham Oratory as often as I can. It's about an hour or so at least by car but I have never found liturgy done so well anywhere else. Everything is the very best it can possibly be. Time and time again I have found myself wondering that it exists at all and terrified lest it should cease to be. And the music is stunning; a superb choir who sing the great music of the church with conviction.

So I was very interested to read the following:

http://lacrimarum-valle.blogspot.com/2008/08/tridentinisation.html

I had never even thought of having the Novus Ordo Penitential Rite said quietly during the introit. Ah, now that's enrichment.

I don't have a photo of the interior but you will not be disappointed.

This Weather is Getting me Down!!

2008-08-19T09:02:00.001-07:00

"My" Church.

2008-08-19T05:14:00.001-07:00

This is my local Catholic Church. It was converted from a slaughter house in 1934 but looked a little different then. It was hit by a bomb in 1941 and remained a ruin for some years until it was rebuilt as you see it today.

Inside there is a screen of stone columns which came from Stinchcombe Park a large country house very near Evelyn Waugh's Piers Court which he always called " Stinkers".

There was originally a flat East end, ( liturgically East, the church faces South), with, of course, the altar against the wall. There was a deep ledge above the altar which held the tabernacle, candles, flowers, etc.

As you can see we are privileged to have the Blessed Sacrament reserved. It is a pity that the tabernacle is off centre but were it to be immediately behind the altar there really would not be enough room for the priest to celebrate versum populum. There is an obvious solution but I'm not holding my breath.

The candles stand on the floor either side of the altar, Sarum style, and they are not usually short and stubby as you see them. These have burned down are are due to be replaced. The sanctuary lamp is alight but the camera did not pick it up. As you can see there is plenty of space for the Extraordinary Form.

I should mention two things; we are aware that the pointing and stone work of the altar is rather crude to put it kindly. This is being attended to. Secondly the whole interior is due to be repainted in October so you are seeing it look at its tattiest.

Oh, and of course it's a miserable overcast wet day here so you don't have the effect of sunlight flooding the interior which is when it looks its best.

Lovely English Summer's Morning.

2008-08-19T04:20:00.001-07:00

The weather is really beginning to get me down. I remember from my childhood in Ireland prayers being said at Mass for fine weather for the Harvest. Not a bad idea.

That's Gloucester with the Malverns in the distance. And here's one with The Hound in.

Snapshot.

2008-08-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick snapshot of a little shrine in my house. The ivory crucifix I found in a junk shop in Holyhead and the stole in a shop in Bath. In the corner is a small icon of the Dormition of the Virgin.

Homer Simpson Moment!

2008-08-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

I bought a new camera. It would not upload the images to my PC. I spent 5 1/2 hours on the telephone, even had the computer reset to factory settings, and then eventually someone said "have you tried connecting your camera to the USB port on the front of the computer rather than the back?"

Anyway Oliver Badcat has the honour of going first. He's a bit bored by our glorious English Summer and tired from his hunting expedition, ( three mice yesterday).

N.B. Before any smartypants brings it up the book on the shelf behind is about the Dreyfus Affair.

Warning: includes A Shocking Picture of Immature Faith.

2008-08-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

I had to bite my tongue this morning when our parish priest announced that he was organising a course for people who are still stuck in the faith which they learned about at school many years ago, " who never developed a more mature, adult faith, the faith of Vatican II".

Confused of Gloucestershire.

2008-08-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

When I visited the Prinknash exhibition I was taken by a very fine Arts and Crafts High Mass set of black vestments. They were referred to as The Gerontius Vestments though no one really seemed to know why; which is annoying as that is one of my favourite pieces of music. They featured embroidered panels with suppliant figures and angels. I was amused to note that at least one of the tailors dummies upon which they were displayed was obviously female. One of the monks explained that he had great difficulty dissuading one visitor of her belief that they were for the celebration of the Black Mass. He felt it was quite clear when the notice described them as " Black High Mass Vestment Set".

That isn't the vestment in the pic btw.

I like this very much indeed....

2008-08-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

"All Great Works of Art are an Epiphany of God."

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/206168?eng=y

Nothing more to add really.

One Day Left..

2008-08-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

There is only one day left to visit a very interesting exhibition at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire. The Benedictine Monks have just completed a move from their modern, (1972), Abbey back to their original old, ( 1520s), Abbey. They have taken this opportunity to put on display some of their treasures. I visited not once but twice it was so interesting.

The exhibition is open from 10am. to 4pm. and I have to thank a kind reader for drawing my attention to it. A full press release is here.... http://www.prinknashabbey.org/downloads/prinknashPR.pdf

Oh, and also......

2008-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I also attended the closing Mass of the Oxford Conference only one word... GLORIOUS.

I didn't have a moment afterward to meet anyone and even then I found a parking ticket when I got back to the car.

It gives a new meaning to the word extraordinary.

Our Heritage.

2008-08-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

This morning at Mass I noticed that our priest was using a different chalice to the usual one. When I enquired afterwards at the sacristy I found that our usual chalice had been lent to an exhibition because of its links to the Jesuit martyrs of the recussant period. This was the first I have ever heard of it. Our little church has a congregation of between 50 and 80, ( at eighty its standing room only), and we usually have but one chalice, even though communion is given under both species. I have taken communion from that chalice most weeks for several years and, while I observed that it was very old, nobody has ever mentioned this connection nor could anyone in the church this morning enlighten me. I've got to do some digging and will update.

In the process I discovered the following. I don't know if this is the same exhibition but it looks very interesting indeed... http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20080728_1.htm

Update: A kind reader has brought to my attention that there is an exhibition called Treasures of Prinknash at Simon Chorely Antiques on Prinknash Abbey Estate, Gloucestershire. This is most likely where our chalice has gone, as it quite near. I will pop over to the exhibition tomorrow to find out more.

Further Update: The chalice is at Prinknash and the exhibition is really super. I did not have time to linger so I'm going back tomorrow. The chalice is described as a Gunpowder Plot chalice as it probably belonged to one of the Jesuit priests who heard the confessions of those executed for their involvement in the plot and were themselves tortured and martyred for refusing to break the seal of Confession. The exhibition continues only until Thursday inclusive and is open from 10.00am to 4.00am. It includes all sorts of historic vestments, chalices, reliquaries, etc., and some very funny cartoons of the building of the monastery by Heath- Robinson whose son was a monk at the abbey.

Saint Barnabas Society.

2008-08-10T04:54:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we were delighted to find that rather than a homily we were to be addressed by Dr. Cyprian Balmires from the St. Barnabas Society. This Society has as its mission the support of those former clergy of other Christian denominations who he taken the step of converting to Roman Catholicism.

Dr. Balmires in a charming, witty and quite moving talk explained to us the difficulties pertaining to that special situation. He himself had been for all his working life a minister in the Anglican church but eventually found he could not deny the call to come home to Rome. He explained to us in some detail the problems in which both he and many others found themselves. The decision to convert has to be taken as an individual, not as a clergyman. In other words he converted as an ordinary Catholic. Any question of his status or role within the Catholic Church had to be put aside until after his full conversion. The question of priestly status is decided on an individual bases by the bishop if the convert wishes to go down that route afterwards. When you think about it that is a very sensible approach to take but very difficult for the convert.

He spoke a little about the emotive issues involving family, friends and former colleagues and congregations and how matters are made worse by misconceptions of what it is the Catholic Church preaches and believes. He himself is married to "a Belfast Protestant" and has several children. He mentioned in particular the cases of at least two female ministers who had come to feel that they had to convert and the extra difficulty of their situation.

Dr. Balmires decided not to seek ordination within the Catholic Church but found along with many others that he was essentially unemployable. After several very difficult years he is now employed by the St. Barnabas Society to help those who find themselves contemplating conversion and those who have converted.

A book is available from the St. Barnabas Society of essays from a number of clergy converts incl. Fr. Dwight Longenecker of the Standing on My Head blog. The St. Barnabas website does not really provide a lot of info but they obviously do great work behind the scenes... http://www.stbarnabassociety.org.uk/index.htm

He has also written a truly excellent booklet for the Catholic Truth Society on the subject of Protestantism and what it is they believe, both about themselves and about Roman Catholics. It is well written, level headed and very enlightening and as you read it has the marvelous effect of clearing the mind. I was somewhat surprised on clicking on the CTS website to find a great number of highly interesting publications available at very reasonable cost. They would appear to have reinvented themselves splendidly. Have a look... http://www.cts-online.org.uk/index.html.

St. Wulfstan of Worcester.

2008-08-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

I spent what spare time I had over the last week at the Three Choirs Festival which this year was held in Worcester. The festival was already being organised in 1719 by the choir masters of the three great cathedrals of this part of the west of England and takes place yearly, alternating between them: Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. There is a tremendous sense of history, so many great English pieces of music were composed especially for the festival, incl. in 1899 The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar, and in 1905 The Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, by R. Vaughan Williams. Most of the concerts take place in the cathedrals, which for the week have all their pews replaced by special seating, some of it raked, and usually more comfortable than the pews. There is a Festival Club in a huge marquee on the Cathedral Close, with bars and food and a few other enterprises incl. a really excellent second hand music book and CD shop. ( I ended up buying several CDs incl. Byrd Masses, John Dunstable, Hildergard of Bingen, and more. I was very tempted by a lovely 1929 Roman Catholic Altar Missal of the Mass for the Dead, beautifully produced and preserved. It was rather sad to see it sitting on a bookshelf unrecognised by most of those browsing. I could have put it aside for use at my own funeral, I suppose.) Not alone are there approx. 4 or 5 concerts a day but the music provided at cathedral services is particularly fine, with visiting groups and sometimes all three cathedral choirs providing the music. While I will not attend a non Catholic communion service I have no difficulty attending such a service as Evensong, which can be very beautiful. Evensong is a conflation of the Catholic services of vespers and compline; thus it has the recitation of one or more psalms and the singing of the Magnificat as has Roman Catholic Vespers but it also has the Nunc Dimittis, which for us belongs to Compline.

However on one evening Evensong was replaced by the singing of Vespers using the Worcester Antiphonal which dates from the C13th. The vespers were in commemoration of St. Wulfstan. Each of the psalms had a special antiphon recounting the life of Wulfstan and even a hymn specific to Worcester and the Saint. The whole thing was sung in Gregorian chant and very finely by a group called Opus Anglicanum.

I knew little about Wulfstan until a dear Anglican friend explained.

St Wulfstan was the third abbot of Worcester and the second to bear the name Wulfstan. He was born in 1008A.D. and was the nephew of Wulfstan who was archbishop of York. It appears his family were impoverished by the arrival of the Normans, but that he found nonetheless a common ground with them. Having studied at various monasteries he was ordained in 1038, and very quickly rose through the priory attached to the cathedral at Worcester to become Bishop. With the coming of the Normans, Wulfstan was the only Anglo-Saxon bishop who was not required to relinquish his seat. He was a great builder and organiser, whose prime interest was always the pastoral care of the people and the growth of the church. He was known on occasion to argue the just cause of the Anglo-Saxons against the presumption of the Normans. He is credited with the rebuilding of not just Worcester Cathedral but Great Malvern Priory, among many others. He seems to have balanced the building culture of the Normans, who saw the Church of God as a network of great and majestic Cathedrals, priories and churches, with the more mystical, less materialistic vision of the church which prevailed under the Anglo-Saxons. He died in 1087 and was canonised in 1203 and his grave became a place of pilgrimage until it was plundered and desecrated at the reformation.

While the vespers were sung in Gregorian Chant and were very beautiful, it must be said that it did fall short of our vespers, ( done at their best), in having no "action" at the altar and being essentially a "Choir service".

On the 14th. September, ( an easy date to remember!), there will once again be Vespers of St. Wulfstan sung in Worcester Cathedral at 4.00p.m. and the preacher will be the Most Reverend Vincent Nicholls Archbishop of Birmingham. It is part of an afternoon of commemorative activities which do sound a bit " happy-clappy, ( eg. street theatre, etc.,), but the service itself is bound to be very dignified as usual in an Anglican Cathedral and a special welcome is extended to Catholics for the occasion.

Not Dead ...Only Sleeping.

2008-08-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

Apologies to anyone who noticed my absence over the last while. Contrary to rumour, I have not been the subject of a plot between Oliver Badcat and Sydney Hound. Something quite major cropped up which took most of my free time, ( not a negative something), and just about the same time my internet crashed. After several long calls to BT, I gave up until I had the time to deal with it.

Anyway, some new posts over the coming days.

My apologies to anyone who left comments which are very late in appearing.

Holy Wells of Ireland.

2008-07-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Over at His Grace The Hermeneuticalness, The Owl of the Remove asks Fr. Finigan for the formula for blessing a well.

This brought back memories of my childhood in Ireland where there are many, even thousands of Holy Wells. I don't know how common this is, or was, in the U.K. but I think it was essentially a Celtic practice. My recollection is that a well would be considered special to a particular saint, usually a very early one, often local and sometimes the one who is credited with having brought Christianity to the area. This was a very strong belief in country places. The waters of the well were believed to have mystical powers to heal, often a particular part of the body or a particular illness, and access to the saint was thought to be particularly strong at the well. Near where I grew up there was is a secluded little glen with a well called Tubur na Suile, which in English means The Well of the Eyes and people with eye problems would go there to pray and bath their eyes in the water. In Celtic Christianity there are very strong ties between early saints and the landscape, with particular places having mystical properties. Many place names in their original Gaelic forms are associations between landscape features and a saint, and when translated into English mean things like Mary's Well, Patrick's Well, The Rock of this saint, The Cave of that Saint, The field of the Other Saint, etc.

Many of the wells are situated in country places, in quiet, atmospheric, out of the way corners. Sometimes there is just a simple well but often there is a stone cover of some sort to keep the water clean and sometimes a tiny stone building covers the well entirely. There is frequently a Hawthorn tree nearby, quite often overhanging the well, to which pilgrims will tie ribbons or small pieces of cloth, having prayed to the saint and drunk from the well or bathed in the water. Sometimes people leave rosaries on the tree and sometimes statues at the base of the trunk, ( though nowadays these are prone to be beheaded).

It was common for Mass to be celebrated at the well on the saint's feast day.

Veneration of Holy Wells is just one of the many observances which at one time were very strong in rural Ireland. Others included "patterns", which was the practice of visiting a site associated with a saint, eg., a well, church or abbey ruin, etc., and there preforming an elaborate series of repetitive movements and prayers while walking around the site, sometimes involving moving stones from one place to another. This seems to have died out, and is looked on today a superstition but I'm sure it had something in connection with meditative prayer and was similar to medieval use of labyrinths. It is some years since I've lived in Ireland so I'm not really sure if the practice of venerating holy wells is still strong but I have been told that because of poor agricultural practice many of the wells are now unfit for human consumption and have health warnings erected nearby.

As a footnote:I have read several times that these very strong popular traditional devotions are one of the reasons why the Irish have such an equivocal relationship with Liturgy. Very simply put they had their own devotions where they met God, privately, in the fields and at the well, and went to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days out of obligation. Therefor, though their faith was extremely strong, for most people, while they would not dream of missing Mass, the beauty of the Liturgy was not something which concerned them. Now that many of these old traditions have died out or in some cases been suppressed, Ireland is something of a Liturgical wasteland and many people I know are perfectly content with it being that way. I think I am correct in saying the, outside of Dublin, the Traditional Mass is just not making the progress that it is elsewhere, in the world. I live in a U.K. diocese with a bishop who is generally regarded as one of the least interested in traditional things, ( but not actually hostile), and yet there are within my diocese at least eight churches where the Extraordinary Form of Mass is regularly offered, and at least nine or ten more within relatively easy reach in adjoining dioceses. This in a diocese of approximately 140,000 Catholics. Yet this is more than in the whole of Ireland with a Catholic population of in excess of 3,000,000.

Hands Off Our English Catholic Priest Bloggers!!!

2008-07-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

Our Fathers chained in prisons dark,

Were still in heart and conscience free.

http://mulier-fortis.blogspot.com/2008/07/bishops-contemplate-bit-of-blogger.html

May they carry on in spite of dungeon, fire and sword!

( Before anyone gets upset, this post is by way of a little mild humour and is in no way intended to cast any nasturtiums on the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales.)

(BTW most new hymnals seem to omit the verse I quoted above, I wonder why?)

What It Is Really All About.

2008-07-12T02:48:00.000-07:00

As regards the Anglican Church I can not comprehend how a church can tolerate from its members such a divergent range of beliefs in the meaning of the Eucharist. There are those within the Anglican Church who believe essentially in Catholic teaching regarding the Eucharist and there are whole congregations who believe it is merely a symbolic meal. The question I always ask of those Anglicans who say, " We believe the same thing as you", is " What do you do with what remains unconsumed after the communion service?" In some churches everything will be consumed by the ministers, in others it is disposed of in various ways of more or less reverence. A good friend, whose mother was involved very much in the local church, says that the bread and wine left over were put on the side and her mother would feed the bread to the birds in the churchyard. I imaging it would for instance be a rare thing in most Anglican churches to have the altar linens soaked in water and that water poured away via the sacrarium, before laundering, as happens at my Catholic Church. I really think that this is at the root of their current problems and that the desire to "ordain" women and now to "consecrate" them bishops comes essentially from this confusion regarding the meaning and place of the Eucharist in the life of the church. If you believe that God himself is truly and fully present body, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist and that this is the soul and summit of christian life then this changes the prospective enormously. If you believe this, then concerns about whether the church has the authority to decide to ordain women and whether a women can be validly ordained becomes vital. If a women stands at the altar and says the words of consecration, but has not the power of a priest to confect the Eucharist, then it is not just an empty service or a mistake but it is blasphemous idolatry. The congregation are offering to a piece of bread the worship which is the highest thing here on earth and that which we are bound by His nature to give to God and to Him alone. (I do not wish to get into a debate over the validity or otherwise of Anglican orders but rather to tease out some of the issues the debate actually raises.)

However if you believe that the Eucharist is a symbol, a commemoration, a fellowship meal, over which the priest or minister presides then these concerns are not so paramount. In that case the minister is leading the community, directing the worship, but if the meaning of the Eucharist is primarily in the community of believers itself, then matters of validity of orders are not quite such a burning issue.

Then of course if you believe that the Eucharist or Mass is the redeeming sacrifice of Calvary, the single greatest event in human history, represented by the priest to God, well then it's a very important matter indeed.

Shakespeare the Catholic.

2008-07-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Last evening I went to Chavenage House near Tetbury for an open air performance of The Comedy of Errors. It bucketed down rain and there was a howling gale so everything was as English as can be. I was interested to see the following, (via Fr. Blake.),.... http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/07/shakespeare-was-catholic.html.

I've always believed Shakespeare was one of us. His understanding of the universe seems Catholic. And I have always read the wonderful sonnet no. 73 to be a lament for the state of the Church and of England after the reformation and the destruction of the monasteries.

Bare ruined quires, where late the sweet birds sang.

I like the fact that the author has researched Shakespeare's actual family connections and associates. It's all very well reading things into or out of the plays and poems but quite another to learn that Shakespeare's Mother's family were militantly recusant and that both his father and his own daughter was recorded as a Catholic and fined for refusing to attend the reformed services. Also that some of his extended family were executed for their involvement with " Papist" plots. You can almost trace a line through his life. Two of his school teachers were fined for Recusant beliefs, as were his friends, Hamnet and Judith Sadler, after whom Shakespeare named his own children. His great patron the Earl of Southampton was a Catholic. It is also odd that we know, or think we know, so little about the man. We know all about Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson, John Donne, et al. but almost nothing concrete about Shakespeare. Simple put he kept himself to himself, which is exactly what you would expect from a believing Catholic in the reign of Elizabeth. Even the vicar who officiated at Shakespeare's wedding was recorded as " Unsound in religion"; often this meant Catholic. (On the minus side the strange Spiritual Will once believed to have been left by Shakespeare's father is now generally debunked as an C18th. fabrication, and it seems strange that though his daughter was a "lifelong papist", she is recorded as having married a puritan, ( mixed marriages even then).)

Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire, dissolved 1539.

I'm open to correction but there do seem to be a lot of monks and nuns in the plays, and they are generally sympathetic characters, as in the Comedy of Errors where the Abbess offers sanctuary to a wronged man who believes he has probably gone mad, and stoutly defends her right to do so. In "Shakespeare, The Biography" Peter Ackroyd states," It must be said that there are a large number of friars and nuns, treated with gentle circumspection, within his drama; his contemporaries, in contrast, tended to treat them as an object of scorn or obloquy.". It might be added that puritans are sometimes shown to be the very worst kind of hypocrites, eg. Angelo in Measure for Measure. While he treats his nuns and friars with respect, Shakespeare is apt to make fun of Protestant or self appointed ministers and has characters being advised to find a true priest, especially to preform the sacrament of marriage, eg., in As You Like It, Jacques says, "And will you, being a man of your breading, be married under a bush like a beggar. Get to church and have a good priest who can tell you what marriage is.". If these fine monks and nuns were to walk off the stage of the globe and practice their faith for real they would have been arrested and met a very bad end.

How then did he become a symbol for the new England, almost the embodiment of the sane, industrious, English, Anglican? In 1864 at the national commemoration of Shakespeare at Stratford, Richard Chenevix Trench said in an address " Shakespeare was a true child of the England of the Reformation. He was born of it's spirit. He could never have been what he was, if he had not lived and moved in the atmosphere, intellectual and moral, which it had created."

Sapperton, Gloucestershire.

2008-07-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

The village of Sapperton is situated just off the A419 approximately half way between the towns of Stroud and Cirencester. It associates itself emphatically with the historical character of the latter rather than with industrial Stroud.

The village is well known for having a large proportion of Arts and Crafts buildings, mainly by the Barnsleys and Ernest Gimson and Norman Jewson, all of whom are buried in the churchyard, ( Jewson is commemorated by a singularly inapt gravestone of pinkish marble, completely out of place in a limestone village with such associations).

The church is interesting for , although it has obvious origins as far back as the C12th, it has, unusually for the area, a very strong atmosphere of the Classical Period of the C17th/18th.

The original Norman and Early English church was rebuilt in approx. 1730 to such an extent that it feels almost entirely C18th in character but of course the chancel arches are C13th and are the base of the tower expressed in the interior of the church. Unusually the transepts are entered West of the tower, thus creating a very long chancel which stretched from the beginning of the tower to the East end.

Both nave and chancel have huge round headed windows full of clear, slightly greenish class which flood the church with light.

Just below the church , on the slope of the hill is the large terrace on which stood Sapperton Manor which was demolished by its owners in the early C18th., ( for reasons unknown to me). Much of the woodwork in the church was in fact removed from the manor and this explains to some degree the lack of religious references in its profuse imagery. There are Mermaids, and indeed mermen, and all sorts of exotic looking creatures parading themselves on the pew ends., as well as a great deal of heraldic work , in places running from floor to ceiling.

There are two really fine tombs, one in each of the transepts, elaborate, architectural ensembles, with obelisks, urns and all manner if Jacobean fantasy. But the effigies themselves are touchingly lifelike.

Sapperton is also famous for its tunnel. The canal which links the Thames at Lechlade with the Atlantic at Sharpness passes under the village by means of a tunnel approximately five miles long. It is so shallow that the boats were propelled along it by " leggers", boatmen lying on their backs and pushing with their feet on the roof of the tunnel. The illustration is of the opening of the tunnel hidden away in the wood at the bottom of the valley.

There are controversial plans under way to reopen the canal but it is such a remote and quiet place that I could not be in favour.

Coming Soon.............

2008-07-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

More churches, more eccentrics ...Oh and I'm just waiting for Badcat to do something interesting. In the heat of Summer he just lies in the middle of my flower border all day.

Apologies for the thin posting.

2008-07-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy for the last week or so.

A Reminder. Feast of SS Peter and Paul.

2008-06-27T11:14:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder for anyone in the area that there is a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form in St. Francis Xavier, Broad Street, Hereford, on tomorrow Sunday, 29th. June at 11.30 a.m.

The Mass setting is Missa Papae Marcelli by Palestrina and Tu es Petrus by Palestrina will also be sung. The preacher is the Revd. Dr. Laurence Hemming.

(There is a poster on the L.M.S. Society website but try as I might I cannot upload it.)

The timing is excellent, ( i.e. NOT 3.30pm), and I think this is an very good example of how the Extraordinary Form can be regularised into normal parish life. The parish has its Ordinary Form Mass at the usual time of 9.00.a.m.

Badcat's "Friends".

2008-06-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

Mulier Fortis has requested a Badcat update.

Apart from finding a very dead thrush under the sofa, he's been fairly quite.

But I though you might like to know the kind of company he keeps. Here's what one of his friends has been getting up to... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/7473409.stm

Didmarton Churches.

2008-06-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

There are two churches of interest at Didmarton, in South Gloucestershire, a small village on the Road between Tetbury with the main A46 at Dunkirk.

If you are travelling from the A46 you skirt the Badminton Estate and pass on the right hand side the astounding Worcester Lodge, designed by William Kent and about the best bit of architecture for miles about. But I've not got a photo, apologies.

St Lawrence is the original parish church and was essentially abandoned in Victorian times when a new church, dedicated to St. Michael, was built just a few hundred yards along the street. This has saved St. Lawrence from being brought in line with the thinking of the Ecclesiological reformers and so it retains the appearance of a Georgian parish church. It was built in two campaigns, the nave and chancel in Norman times and a transept in the early C13th. This has resulted in a somewhat unusual L shape.
This is a famous photograph taken of the interior by that exceptional photographer of churches and cathedrals Edwin Smith. I plan to do a post on him sometime as his photographs capture the magical essence of these buildings like few others. I find it amazing that this photograph was taken as late as 1961.
You can see the same bench in the Edwin Smith photograph.

The church was restored very sensitively in the 1980s and retains a special atmosphere; it is very intimate and pleasingly unfussy. The woodwork is painted an unusual but authentic limey green.

About three years ago I first visited the church and it was then vested in the Churches Conservation Trust and obviously unused. When last there I was surprised to find it once again being used for parish worship. It may be that with falling numbers the Victorian replacement was no longer needed and the parishioners of Didmarton have returned to their original parish church. The only downside is that some accommodation for modern expectations of comfort have been made, so there is rush matting covering the stone flagged floor and modern chairs in that part of the nave which previously had no seating.

The workings of the clock hang down through the transept roof and the loud ticking fills the air.

Less than a mile away is the Church dedicated to St. Alrid at Oldbury-on-the-Hill. This is very definitely not used and has no prospect of ever being used again. It too is vested in the Churches Conservation Trust but here the decision seems to have been made to allow it to slide into quite sleep. It has been made watertight but no more.

It was first built in the C13th., much altered in the Tudor period and again in Georgian times.

It too escaped the Victorians and is much more rustic than St. Lawrence. It is dusty, there are birds nesting inside, and even a few weeds growing in the floor of the nave but somehow it too is special.

Elkstone , Church of St. John.

2008-06-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

Elkstone is situated high on the Western Cotswolds, not far from the main road, ( A417), between Cirencester and Cheltenham. It seems quite a mysterious place, a tiny village, several converted barns and a great church which is partly hidden among trees and to all appearances turns its back on the village.

The bulk of the church, apart from the tower, is Norman. There is an absolute wealth of well preserved Norman features. Around the exterior of the church runs a frieze of mythical animals, some of them surprisingly classical in inspiration, incl. a centaur, a Sphinx and the like, along with exotic animals such as a leopard, etc.

There is a very striking tympanum over the main door, which as is very common in the West of England is not at the West end but to the West end of the South side of the nave.

The tympanum is surrounded by a great band of dogtoothing and beak heads and is obviously an expression of the great work going on on the continent at this time. It depicts Christ in Majesty, surrounded beasts, ( Evangelists?), and is probably among the best work of its date in Gloucestershire.

As you can see the head of Christ has been hacked off.

Inside the effect is almost entirely Norman and the church is dominated by the very fine double chancel arches. The first one has been restored, mainly due to subsidence of the masonry but the second one is in more of its original state. They create a fitting entry to the wonderful chancel itself. It is low and entirely stone vaulted, which is quite rare, especially as the vaults are decorated by strange and unusual visions. At the point where the ribs of the vault interlock there are four beasts heads. There is a lovely , very tiny, East window of the virgin and child and the whole chancel is suffused with a golden light from a similarly small window in its south wall.

The whole place is very quiet and mysterious. If you visit, try the little door to the left as you enter the chancel. If you find it open, climb the tiny staircase and you will emerge above the chancel into an unusual feature, a columbarium or pigeon loft. Why is it here? No one knows.

The tower to the extreme West of the church is very fine and quite too grand for the church. It was built in the late 1300s at a moment of great prosperity for this little hidden hillside.

English Martyrs.

2008-06-23T03:39:00.000-07:00

St. Henry Garnet.

It is time again to remember some of the English Martyrs. Sunday was the feast of St. John Fisher and St Thomas Moore and today is the 400 anniversary of the martyrdom of St Thomas Garnet, nephew of St. Henry Garnet.

There is a really excellent sermon at http://romanmiscellany.blogspot.com/ and another at http://valleadurni.blogspot.com/2008/06/god-and-country-homily-from-few-years.html , and yet more here http://friendswithchrist.blogspot.com/2008/06/great-day.html.

St John Fisher

While we have of course many churches dedicated to the English Martyrs, incl St. Thomas Moore and St. John Fisher, I sometimes wonder if we don't feel a little uncomfortable these days making too much fuss of those who died for the Faith at the time of the reformation in England. I have heard people try to play things down, " Of course, they only went as far as putting people to death during quite a short period, and after that Catholics were tolerated to a certain extent", as someone said to me lately, or, " you have to understand things from an historical perspective".

St Thomas Moore

I think many liberal Catholics find the concept of martyrdom for the Catholic Faith unthinkable, martyrdom for the Christian Religion, just perhaps, but for the Catholic Faith?

Also of course..."Don't mention the War".

At Mass yesterday there was of course no mention of the English Martyrs, and on our Mass sheet, the now infamous, our Faith on Sunday, there was no mention the commemoration either.

Looking Back at Cardinal Basil Hume.

2008-06-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading Anthony Howard's biography of Cardinal Basil Hume, called The Monk Cardinal, which was published in 2005 and written with access to the Cardinal's private papers. (I bought the book at the Cats Protection League Garden Fete, so Oliver is pleased. ) Whatever one's views on the Cardinal's stewardship of the Catholic Church in this country, I think nobody can seriously doubt that he was a truly holy man. He seemed to shine with a radiance.

However, reading this book now, years after the events it describes, it becomes obvious that some of his actions had consequences more long reaching than I imagine he could have anticipated, and which, operating a bit like time bombs, have been going off only some years after the Cardinal's death.

It was essentially Cardinal Hume who sought to somehow reconcile the position of the Catholic Church with what was, at the time of his appointment, still essentially an Anglican establishment strongly suspicious of Catholics, or " Papists", as they were still sometimes called. One of the ways Cardinal Hume wished to make the Church in E&W acceptable was to Anglicize it, playing down its international character and distinctiveness and concentrating on its local character. He sought to qualify the primacy of Rome in the face of unspoken suspicions that Catholics had loyalties outside of the state. He hugely valued relationships with Anglican churchmen and their church and regarded ecumenism as one of this great roles. He felt that some kind of historical reconciliation at the heart of the nation was possible and was willing to make sacrifices towards it. This was of course before the ordination of women. The book is quite candid in describing how, even in the aftermath of that decision, he managed the situation with regard to those Anglican clergy who wished to cross to Rome, by insisting that it be dealt with by Westminster and keeping the Vatican out of things, so as to cause minimum damage to Anglican sensibilities. I get the strong impression that he did not trust John Paul II in the same way that he did Paul VI. He was of course appointed Cardinal by Pope Paul VI and always shared something of a spiritual bond with that enigmatic Pontiff.

What is so very striking is how very much times have changed, not just in the U.K. but also in Rome. Cardinal Hume and many of the hierarchy seem to have believed that the papacy of John Paul II was somehow a conservative interlude, and we would after his death return to a more liberal ethos. At the time few probably expected that papacy to continue for so long. Of course few expected the Anglican Communion to unravel as quickly and badly as it has, or for the Church of England to be hijacked in such an aggressively progressive direction. It now appears that all the Cardinal's hard work and sacrifice has been cast aside.

And yet you are left with a feeling that everything was done for a genuine heartfelt reason. He felt that he was living at a crossroads in Christian History and had a huge part to play which he did with great humility. But his innate Englishness did not allow him to think really long term, or as part of the Church as a whole. I think he was a little too self deprecating, especially, as being the type of English, intellectual, churchman he was, he should have been aware of the strange dichotomy within the Anglican Church. A little story might illustrate. I was at dinner with some people about a year ago. There were ten or so around the table. Conversation was generally about Culture, Church music, Church Conservation, etc. At one point my rosy cheeked neighbour leaned towards me and said, " I must be true, really, mustn't it, the scriptures, eternal life and all that". Afterwards, as we were leaving, another guest and I were talking in the street, he said " I must dash I'm reading the lesson at XXXX Church at 8.30 in the morning. ". I said, " Well, so am I, here in our local church". At which point he pulled himself up a bit and asked, " At The Anglican Church?", to which I replied, " No, at our little Catholic Church, around the corner". He put his hand on my shoulder and laughed good naturedly, " Dear Boy, that doesn't quite count, I think you'll find it's not the same thing at all, you know".

All said, however, you can not but love Basil Hume the man.

I think the powerful effect which Cardinal Hume's personality and his deeply held commitments had on his fellow churchmen may go some way to explaining the refusal of today's hierarchy to take on board Benedict XVI's revitalisation of the church through a reorientation of the liturgy, a reassertion of Catholic identiry, and a firm hand on the rudder of the Bark of St. Peter.

Jeremy Bentham - Englishman

2008-06-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Benthan seems to me to be quintessentially English, quite mad but very sensible, both at the same time.

He was born into a wealthy Tory family in London in 1748, trained as a solicitor and became a barrister without ever practicing law, the English expression of which he grew to detest. He was of course the Arch-Utilitarian, who believed that the greatest good resulted from the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

There were many good things about Bentham, he worked to make education widely available, for the disestablishment of the Church of England, for votes for women, for welfare, for animal rights and for the abolition of slavery. But perhaps his greatest contribution was in making a gift of himself after death as.......

The Auto-Icon.

After death he was at his own request taxidermied and the result was eventually presented to London University College as a teaching aid. He was put on display in a very nice glass fronted case and is still to be seen today. The head is a replacement as it did not take very well to the preservation process and eventually became the target of student pranks when it would be stolen for a dare.

Interestingly the Auto-Icon was taken to the the 100th. and 150th. anniversary meetings of the College Council where he was listed as being, " present but not voting", however on hung votes he has the casting vote, always coming down in favour of the motion.

Hat tip to the Shrine of the Holy Whapping, http://holywhapping.blogspot.com/

Sometimes I feel like tearing my hair out!

2008-06-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

There's already a lot less of it than when Mulier Fortis saw me three weeks overdue for a haircut last Saturday.

But seriously, very seriously http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7462934.stm.

It was news yesterday and has already slipped off the radar. And don't you just love the solutions proposed.

Duntisbourne Rouse

2008-06-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

There is not really a village to speak of at Duntisbourne Rouse but there is a most wonderful church. It is one of the most hidden gems in the gem studded part of the world and quite difficult to locate. The Duntisbournes, Rouse, Leer, Abbots, are stone built villages hidden in the valley of the Dunt Stream, to the north of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, but seemingly at the end of the world.

There is an old weather beaten, unpainted, wooden signpost half hidden in the hedgerow and a rickety wooden lychgate in a gap in the foliage. Alec Clifton-Taylor in his book The English Parish Church as A Work of Art, describes it as one of his favourite churches in the whole of England and is very taken with the slight angle at which one approaches it along the path. In other words it is not aligned with the path. Such little irregularities are part of the fabric of the English scene.

There is some debate as to the exact age of the church but it is now thought that it actually straddles the critical date of 1066 A.D., so some of the stonework is Saxon and some is Norman. The little saddleback tower was completed in the late 1500s. You can see that the windows are all of different dates.

The porch is completely stone built, unlike the one at Kempley which is substantially wooden. Here we are in the Cotswold Hills where good stone is everywhere under your feet but good timber is scarce. On the gable of the porch is a Mass Dial, a sundial used to tell the time for Mass.

Inside it is the simplicity and honesty the impress. It is as if nothing has changed for hundreds of years. There are simple oak box pews, a Jacobean pulpit, a fine strong plain Norman chancel arch, some unusual panelling in the chancel, very little stained glass, and just a little medieval painting surviving here and there, in this case just decorative patterns. The simplicity of it is moving, the very stones of the floor are worn by generations of worshippers.

The churchyard itself is magical, sloping quite steeply down to the tiny stream which gives the villages their names. There are some good tombs and the remains of a churchyard cross. The few neighbouring houses are all of the same stone and the gardens are full of simple flowers and vegetables. Everything is right.

There is a surprise. Made possible by the steeply sloping ground, hidden under the chancel is a tiny one cell chapel, accessible from the outside, which feels infinitely old, a single dark, low vaulted room with a single tiny window in the East wall. It reminds me very strongly of those tiny oratories you find in the Southwest extremities of Ireland but which date from centuries before.

The church is still used for services but as the villages are within easy reach of one another the service moves from one church to another. I have no idea what attendances might be.

( I should point out that unless otherwise stated all the churches I post about are Anglican/ Church of England. They were, almost without exception, built for Catholic worship, but due to historical circumstances, ( " that's one way of putting it", Ed.), there are very very few medieval parish churches still in Catholic hands. )

Kempley Church.

2008-06-19T04:23:00.001-07:00

I am going to start an occasional series of posts on Historic English Churches, mainly medieval and mainly West of England. Let me know if you like the idea and I will continue. First off is Kempley in the County of Gloucestershire, ( but only just).

Situated North West of the City of Gloucester, on the border with Herefordshire, set among rolling countryside where in Spring there are masses of native wild daffodils, is the pink rendered and stone towered medieval church of St. Mary at Kempley. The village itself is a mile or more away to the Southwest and at the turn of the C19/20th. a new church was built in the village in the Arts and Crafts Style.

The medieval church is Early Norman and has a tunnel vaulted chancel almost entirely covered with wall paintings of approximately 1130A.D. They were completely whitewashed over at the Reformation and rediscovered in 1872. At that time they were covered with varnish to prevent their deterioration but soon began to darken until almost nothing could be seen of them. A brave person discovered in 1955 that only the varnish had discoloured and it could safely be removed to uncover the paintings in good condition underneath.

In the centre of the barrel vault of the chancel is the Logus or Christ in Majesty, seated upon a rainbow, his left hand holds an open book in which are written the monograms IHC and XPS. His right hand is in the process of benediction. He is surrounded by the sun, moon and stars, seven golden candlesticks, and the symbols of the four Evangelists, and in each corner is a winged Seraphim.

On the east wall of the chancel is a very fine figure of a bishop in Mass vestments, green Gothic chasuble, short plain miter and a very long maniple.

The twelve apostles are ranked on the north and south walls of the chancel

In the nave there are lots of other paintings of several dates in various stages of visibility, including a Wheel of Life which is apparently very unusual.

There are also images of the Three Mary's at the Empty Tomb, which is said to be a depiction of that event as enacted in the Medieval Miracle Plays, and several others incl. a group of men wearing extraordinary plumed hats. It is much more difficult to make sense of the paintings in the nave, partly because they are in a less good state of preservation and partly because, unlike the chancel, they do not form a complete, thought out , sequence but jostle together.
There is also quite a bit of nice glass, mostly dating from the late C19th., and thankfully not too dark or intrusive. I really like the East Window which is by Charles Kempe, depicting angels presenting the infant Christ with the instruments of the Passion, though I have heard it described as " in poor taste" and " unfortunate". There is also a lovely little window, in the nave, by the Wheel Of Life painting, with some very good painted glass with symbolic representations of the Virgin, eg, Hortus Conclusus, Font of Ivory, etc. dating from early in the C20th century.

Among other marvels is probably the oldest church roof timbers in England, ( hidden by a early C17th ceiling), and what is widely regarded as the oldest church door in the country, three planks cut from the same log, with the original ironwork.

The church has an extraordinary atmosphere whether you find it completely deserted or with a few tourists about. It is very well cared for, with fresh wild flowers on the altar, and well dusted, though I could not find any indication that any services take place. If you go to visit bring a picnic lunch, otherwise there are slim pickings about.

Very Badcat!!!

2008-06-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

I came down this morning about 5.00am to make a pot of tea and trod in what turned out to be five or six brown feathers, a clawed foot and something green and disgusting, probably a gallbladder.

Needless to say I was barefoot.

Such is life with Oliver Badcat.

I do feed him, you know.

Udate

2008-06-18T03:40:00.001-07:00

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales now has the texts of both the Cardinal's Homily at Mass and his address to the LMS AGM beforehand, along with two press releases...here http://www.latin-mass-society.org/.

The name of this society reminds me a little of one of my most heart stopping moments. I came home from college to my rented flat, about 20yrs ago, probably after sharing a drink or two with fellow students. I flicked on the television to the BBC. A solemn announcer said, "There follows an important NEWSFLASH", and the scene cut to an even more solemn newsreader behind a desk. He said, "I regret to inform you that following the breakdown of secret negotiations this evening full scale hostilities have broken out between the USSR and the USA and her Allies. We have confirmed reports the a large number of nuclear missiles have been launched from Russia. The Department of Defence estimate the time to impact at approximately 12 mins. This does not of course apply to viewers in Wales and the West Country who will have Coronation Street followed by the News.

Cue jaunty music.......

I collapsed in a gibbering mass and watched the rest of the sketch show.

I am a tremendous fan of the LMS and won't have a word said against it but in this realm we never seem to have societies who cover England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland; I just wonder if we might have a little more " clout" that way.

What's in a Name?

2008-06-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

St.Basil and St. Gregory

One of the many interesting things in the Cardinal's address at Mass on Saturday last, and in his address to the LMS AGM beforehand, was the variety of titles he used to refer to the form of Mass being celebrated. In his homily he referred to it as the Extraordinary Form,the Usus Antiquior, the Classical Form of the Roman Rite, and in his AGM address he used the term Gregorian Mass. So what's going on here?

St. Gregory sending the mission to the English

Most of us have heard and used the first three terms, though, of course, Extraordinary Form appeared only with the release of Summorum Pontificum. The term Gregorian Mass is a new one to me and I suspect to most people. What exactly is meant by this term? We know it refers to the Extraordinary Form but what's the connection? We could even ask which Gregory is involved? It can't be referring to Gregorian Chant, firstly because this can be used, you could say should be used, just as much in the Novus Ordo, and secondly it is a question of forms of the Rite not externals, like music, and thirdly the Cardinal is far too sharp to muddy the waters thus.

He must have been referring to Pope Gregory the Great, pope for 13 years, from 590 ad to 604. In his fairly short pontificate he accomplished an immense amount, including sending St. Augustine on his mission to convert the English, (an ongoing project). He, like St. Basil, but to a much greater extent, was a supreme liturgical reformer and he essentially set the Roman Rite of Mass on the road to being what we refer to today as the Extraordinary Form. He codified the Canon, placed the Pater Noster at the end of it, eliminated the Prayers of the Faithful and gave a great emphasis to what we now know as Gregorian Chant. It might not be going too far to say that he as instrumental with establishing the idea of Traditio, the handing down from one generation to the next something ineffably sacred to be cherished and slowly, organically developed.

It is notable that the Cardinal never once referred to this form of Mass as the Tridentine Mass, ( or even as the Latin Mass), and I think the reason for this is to be found in what he has had to say on the subject. He refers to the Mass as a treasure for the entire church, not to be seen as a form of provincialism. He says he wished it to be a normal form of Mass in ordinary parish situations and that it should become a familiar way of celebrating Mass for the whole church.

As I was trying to find a seat on Saturday in Westminster Cathedral, a lady of certain years, who was sitting at the end of a row of seats caught me by the arm. The choir had just begun to practice their chants. She said, in a strong Irish accent, "Tell me is this going to be the Tridentine Mass?", I said, "Well, yes, it's going to be the older form of the Mass and a very important Cardinal had come from Rome specially to offer it". She got up, gave a bit of a snort and said, "Well he'ill have to do it without me then!", and walked off. I felt rather sad for her.

Names bring associations and like it or not the phrase Tridentine Mass is laden with associations, not the least of which is betrayal and perceived scandal. When the Holy Father referred to a reconciliation within the Church I am certain he was not just referring, by a long shot, perhaps not even primarily, to the SSPX but to the reconciliation with the long history of the church which will bring wholeness.

Is it just possible that an analogy is being drawn between Benedict XVI and Gregory the Great, even just a little bit? Gregory was a deep thinking theologian who never really saw himself rising up the ranks of the church and indeed shrank from rather than sought office, he even hid in a cave when the people sought him to have him declared Pope. We know that when Joseph Ratzinger was an academic in Regensburg he was somewhat shocked to be picked out and made bishop of a large diocese, likewise just when he was ready to retire, (having submitted his resignation three times), and write those books about cats, he was picked to be Pope. He is quoted as having prayed, " Please God, don't do this to me". Cometh the hour.....

The Cardinal's Address to the LMS.

2008-06-17T03:08:00.000-07:00

The full text of Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos' address to the A.G.M. of the Latin Mass Society which preceded the Mass on Saturday last is now to be found here http://thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/.

Again, as at the Mass, I am struck by the candour and honesty. This man knows exactly what the situation is and gives the lie to those who say that London is outside of the orbit of Rome. Every word is heartwarming sense. Again I am very strongly struck with the fact that this man is a true pastor of souls.

It leaves one with a very strong impression that a plan is being deliberately and carefully set in motion to put things right. He refers to it as delicate work.

From my point of view there is no sense in suddenly mandating that Mass be said Ad Orientem or in Latin or according to the Extraordinary Form. Over and over I have come across commentators on the internet suggesting, demanding even, that this be done. How many good Catholics would this alienate?

(There is probably something in the fact that the Holy Father himself has lived through and indeed experienced two catastrophic tumults in his life, WWII and the aftermath of VII. We know that at the time of the council he was a reformer, and can only speculate the ways in which his views have changed since. His sharp observance of the effects of those changes and how they were put in place would seem to have made him very careful of repeating history.)

Where to begin?

2008-06-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Pontifical Mass at the Throne celebrated by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos in Westminster Cathedral. There is so much that could be said, my mind and indeed emotions are still in a bit of a spin. I don't have any pics I afraid as my camera would appear to have died. I think Badcat has been playing with it when I'm not around.

One of the first things to mention is the crowds. I arrived early, entering the cathedral just as the consecration of the 12.30, English language, Mass was taking place. I was glad to see some people, obviously there for the Cardinal's Mass, kneeling in the side isle as they waited for confessions. The portable altar was still in place at 1.00pm and I began to distress myself that it was going to remain. I was obviously not going to have to worry about seats at this point so I went for a wander around Westminster arriving back at the Cathedral at about 1.20pm or so. The portable altar had vanished without trace. Already every seat beyond the crossing was taken, apart from a block reserved for the LMS. I got a seat six rows back from the crossing. By 1.50pm it seemed that every seat in the cathedral was taken and indeed people began to stand around the pulpit, and at the crossing. By the time Mass started there were people standing in the side isles and at the back of the Cathedral. The LMS reps were obviously taken aback by the numbers and opened up their reserved seats to those standing. They also ran out of Mass books and an appeal was made for those who had brought their own missals to pass the Mass Books on to those who were without. There was a tremendous atmosphere building and people began to turn in their seats, looking back down the nave at the scale of the congregation.

The Mass itself was absolutely beautiful, vestments, altar, music, everything was the best it could be. There were a few moments of confusion here and there but they signify nothing.

It was wonderful to see the cardinal being vested at the throne, first, I think it is done like this, in the vestments of a deacon, then priest, then bishop. Though they were made of fine silk it did put me in mind of a warrior being prepared for battle and if you pop over to Fr. Blake you will see that such is the case, http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/2008/06/my.new.hero.html

And there's a video on Massinformation, the Anglican site, http://massinformation.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-extraordinary-week.html. You can see how the Cardinal wields his crozier, more like a battering ram than a walking stick. The footage is of the very end of the recessional procession, almost at the vestry, and they've picked up a bit of seed by then. They processed down the nave with the utmost of stately dignity.

Fr. Tim Finigan was indeed at the receiving end of that crozier http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/2008/06/behind-scenes-at-pontifical-mass.html.

The Mass was beautifully sung by they CATHEDRAL CHOIR. I have been disappointed in the past that even when the LMS publicity has stated that the cathedral choir would sing it was not they. Westminster Cathedral Choir is quite possibly the best church choir in the world, and when they sing it really sounds like the sublimest form of prayer. They are not just preforming they offering their song to God. I noticed at one point early before Mass the boys of the choir lined up across the sanctuary being shown how to receive Holy Communion, which they subsequently did, all on the tongue, directly from the cardinal.

I hope the LMS will publish the text of the cardinal's address as, 1 with his strong accent and the acoustic in the cathedral it was sometimes difficult to hear him and 2, it was quite concentrated, each point being covered in only one or two well thought out sentences. It was reasoned and balanced and I thought, " this man is a true pastor of souls". He assured us that the Vatican and Pope Benedict are well aware of our attachment to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and encouraged us, while at the same time telling us not to be polemical about it and the Novus Ordo, which he stressed is equally valid. He stressed that the Mass is a sacrifice and that the true way to actively participate is by joining ourselves with the sacrifice of the priest.

Then he mounted to the altar, and first his mitre and then his scull cap were removed and he stood bareheaded before the altar of God. Then as the cannon went on, first the deacons and then the assistant priests, stepped back and he stood alone to offer the sacrifice in silence. In such moments it seems to me that only the true Catholic view of the world and God's relationship with it make any real sense.

The lady next to me was Nigerian, ( I think), and covered her head with a bright yellow and gold spangled wrap which reached to her knees. She sang the Pater Noster, from memory, softly with the Cardinal. The Liturgical Police have obviously not caught up with her yet. Nor with the Cardinal who kept his maniple on while giving the sermon. Shouldn't he have taken it off?

(One thing which does slightly annoy me among Latin Mass aficionados is Liturgical nitpicking. Two " gents" in the row in front had a high time of it when the configuration of ministers and servers for the gospel went a bit astray and when the wrong epistle was on the point of being read. One had already commented that the candles on the altar were lit in the wrong order. But I am sure that as the Extraordinary Form becomes more " normal", this kind of attitude will diminish. I hope so.)

As I went forward for Communion the sound of the entire cathedral singing Adoro Te Devote, with, as we passed row after row of people on their knees, their individual voices becoming distinct and then being replaced by the next row, brought me as near to tears as I've been in many a day.

Afterwards the piazza was thronged with happy people.

Can I suggest that as many as possible should write three short letters: one to the Latin Mass Society thanking them for organising the Mass , one to the Cathedral Administrator for facilitating the mass and for all their help, ( for instance I believe the vestments came from the Cathedral, and I know that the Mass Books were printed by the Cathedral), and one to the master of Music thanking him for the choir's wonderful contribution for which they gave up their free weekend time.

The Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street , London WC2B 5NH,

Mr. Martin Baker, Master of Music, Westminster Cathedral, Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW.

The administrator has recently changed so it might be more appropriate to write just to that title, also at the above address. N.B. It has been very kindly brought to my notice that the new administrator is Fr. Christopher Tuckwell.

Vernon Quaintance has many really superb photographs up, http://www.traditionalcatholic.org.uk/ The site is great but takes a long time to load and is very slow in moving on from one set of photo's to the next which may be due to the amount of traffic or the superb detail of the imaged contained therein.

(Oh, and I briefly accosted Mulier Fortis afterward, but had to dash to catch a coach. I had booked my ticket without allowing any time for hobnobbing afterwards! What was I thinking!!!)

More Wildlife!

2008-06-13T04:02:00.001-07:00

About half an hour ago a hedgehog walked in my front door off the street and spend some time wandering around my sitting room. With all those sharp spines I think Oliver Badcat might have met his match. I can't imagine where it came from as I live in the centre of a large village, ten yards off a very busy A road.

You might be thinking of Mrs Tiggywinkles:

But Oliver is thinking of this:

Fr. Blake's Common Sense.

2008-06-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Fr. Ray Blake is talking a lot of sense, as usual, over at St. Mary Magdalen, regarding the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite of Mass http://marymagdalen.blogspot.com/2008/06/westminster-i-am-going.html

On the question of the bishops and the M.P. I am very glad to hear that some bishops are actively canvassing for priests able to celebrate the Extraordinary Form. And it is excellent to hear a priest who is sympathetic to the issue discuss the practicalities involved.

I tend to agree with him on the question of Low Mass; my idea of it is as something quiet, deeply spiritual, etc but in reality I come away unfulfilled. It could be countered that the Mass is not about me at all but a sacrifice offered to God. But it is meant to offer us consolation as well. Perhaps our world has moved on so much that I no longer "get it". ( There was after all a genuine reason why Vatican II called for a reform of the Missal, even if what we got was nowhere near their intention. )

But above all I hope and pray that we might have as Fr. Ray suggests reconciliation with the Past.

Oh and GET TO WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL ON SATURDAY.

You take the high road and I'll take the low......

2008-06-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

In which of the " Worship Events " in each of these pairs of photographs would you like to actively participate?

(You can click on the images to enlarge if it helps)

This or This?

Would you be surprised to find that the first image in each pair is from the Anglo Catholic side of the Anglican Church and the other image from the Roman Catholic Church?

I wonder what a difference it would make to our Catholic Church were we to facilitate the "crossing over" of our Anglican Brethren en mass. As far as I know the powers that be are very willing to accept individual conversions but not very interested in groups. It might be interesting to speculate why? After all those coming from Anglicanism are likely to be doing so because of strongly held faith and convictions, ( on women priests and bishops, openly gay clergy, remarriage of divorced persons, etc.)

(Of course I could be talking through my clown's hat.)

The Ecclesiological Society.

2008-06-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

For anyone keen on old churches from an architectural viewpoint the following site might be of interest http://www.ecclsoc.org/ . It does approach things from an Anglican perspective generally but there are many interesting items. For anyone who spends lazy afternoons driving along back roads and narrow lanes, balancing an Ordinance Survey Map on one knee and the Pevsner guide on the other it is a bit of a treasure trove. The website is quite basic and clunky but there is a mass of fascinating detail.

The picture essay section is interesting, with sections on Mass Dials,The Easter Sepulcher, Post Reformation Communion Arrangements, etc.

Of particular interest is the section headed Organisations, which provides a good list of organisations concerned with churches as buildings and as part of history.

Oh and beware of the horrid pop-ups!

More Mice

2008-06-11T03:51:00.000-07:00

Oliver's just brought in another mouse, ( or perhaps the same poor unfortunate), I can see this is going to get tedious.

New BADCAT Update.

2008-06-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

The mouse has been rescued from beneath the bookcase and released at the bottom of the garden, apparently bright and without any obvious physical injury.

Oliver has retired, at my suggestion, for an evening of quiet meditation in the back bedroom.

BADCAT Update!

2008-06-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Oliver Badcat has just brought in what I think must be a young field mouse and released it on the sitting room floor. It has gone under some bookcases but he and the dog are in hot pursuit. I give you the protagonists in this epic battle:

Choral Rarities in Tewkesbury Abbey

2008-06-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

There is an opportunity to hear some interesting very early religious music in Tewkesbury Abbey on Thursday 10th July at 7.00p.m. The Estonian Philharmonic Choir is performing a programme which includes some rarely heard motets by the School of Notre Dame de Paris, which was active at the very beginning of polyphonic music in Western Europe, combined with works by Avo Part the Estonian Composer, whose music sounds oddly akin to that from the Gothic period. Works preformed include Leonin, Alleluia Navitatis, also a setting of Veni Creator Spiritus dating to the 1100s, and English piece from the C14th., titled Angelus ad Virginum along with a Magnificat and a Nunc Dimitis by Arvo Part.

Tewkesbury Abbey is a fascinating building. It feels very Anglican now but of course has a deeply Catholic history. It was founded in 1029 as a Benedictine Abbey and is actually larger than many of the English Cathedrals. I think I'm right in saying it was the very last Monastery in The West Country to surrender at the dissolution in the 1540s. It was then hacked about a bit loosing its cloisters and many other ancillary buildings. As can be seen from this picture of the East End, the Lady Chapel was hacked off quite mercilessly.

The concert is part of the Cheltenham Music Festival and bookings are taken through their website and also I should think from Cheltenham Town Hall. An unusual element of the concert is that the seats at the back of the church will be removed and super-bargain tickets, at £8. will allow one to sit on or lie on the floor.

BADCAT!

2008-06-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Mulier Fortis has given me six of the best for my neglect of things feline. Not alone do I possess The Hound of Heaven but I also share my life with BADCAT.

Oliver is a 3yr old ginger and white, long haired, Tom Cat, ( neutered). He is so naughty that I can not even bring myself to think about what he might have gotten up to had he not been " fixed". His antics have gotten him the nickname Badcat among my neighbours and indeed an artistic lady made him a special Christmas card showing him eating a stolen fish while sitting in my dog's belly. I have in the past received phone calls at unearthly hours of the morning from elderly ladies several streets away to say that he has crept in their open windows and is running all over the house. Another neighbour awoke in the middle of the night to find him sitting on her chest as she lay in her bed. She threw him out her upstairs window!!! but not before he managed to bite and scratch her. Two other neighbouring cats are apparently too afraid to venture out of doors for fear of meeting him. I will say nothing of his dining upon blackbirds, blue tits and green finches.

He is of course a perfect angel at home.

Dear Mulier Fortis can you now see why I might have neglected to mention him.

High Mass in Hereford on Sunday June 29th.

2008-06-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

There will be a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Broad Street, Hereford on Sunday 29th June at 11.30a.m.

June 29th. is of course the feast of SS Peter and Paul.

The Church is situated in the very centre of Hereford, close to the Cathedral, and in easy reach of ample parking.

Sir Edward Elgar played the organ here during the period 1904 to 1911, while he lived in Hereford. During this time he composed among other works, both Symphonies, the Introduction and Allegro for Strings, The Wand of Youth and the Violin Concerto.

High Mass Downside Abbey June 21 at 11.00 am

2008-06-10T03:38:00.000-07:00

There will be a High Mass, in the Extraordinary Form, in Downside Abbey on June 21st at 11.00a.m.

The sermon will be given by the Abbot of Downside.

For anyone planning to get to Downside from the Bath side, I've always found it takes me quite considerably longer than I had anticipated from looking on a map, due to the hilly countryside and long stretches of road with no overtaking and some speed restrictions. But it really is just a case of leaving an extra half hour or so. The Abbey is magnificently situated on the Foss Way, the ancient Roman Road running South from Bath, in the centre of Stratton-on-the-Fosse village and the great central tower of the Abbey Church reigns over the surrounding countryside.

High Mass in Winchester Cathedral on Saturday June 21st.

2008-06-10T01:15:00.000-07:00

A Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form will be celebrated at the High Altar of Winchester Cathedral on Saturday 21st June at 11.00 a.m.

It has been organised by the Guild of Saint Gregory and has the permission of the Bishop of Portsmouth.

Six men from the Cathedral Choir will sing the Ordinary of the Mass, ( as far as I know the Missa Papae Marcelli by Palestrina), and the Proper will be sung by a separate Schola.

The celebrant will be the Benedictine Abbot of Belmont and the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Hemming will act as deacon.

Among other wonders Winchester is the longest medieval church in Europe, and the resting place of the Anglo Saxon Kings of England, ( and Jane Austen, of course).

This casket is situated near the High Altar and contains the remains of King Canute.

Seige of Jericho.

2008-06-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

If you are any where near Birmingham you may be interested in the following. Of course you can also assist with your prayers.

Organised by The Birmingham Oratory...

" " The Siege of Jericho", will take this year from Monday 9th to Sunday 15th of June. From Monday to Saturday there will be Mass here at 3p.m., which will be followed by a procession, led by a priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament on his person, beginning at the Calthorpe Abortion Clinic in Arthur Road. The Rosary will be said along the way. On Sunday the 15th there will not be an extra Mass, but a Solemn Procession of the Blessed Sacrament (exposed), will take place around the clinic, commencing at 2 p.m. in Arthur Road. We hope you will make your best effort to be there. For those who cannot take part, please support us in your prayers."

The intentions are firstly for a change of heart among both the organisers and staff of abortion clinics both in Birmingham and elsewhere, that they should know the distress inflicted by abortion and the cruel death inflicted upon unborn life and secondly to reinstate the priesthood in the eyes of the people.

I originally thought of contrasting an image of the Blessed Sacrament with one to do with abortion but on doing a Google image search the images were so shocking I could not bring myself to use one. Instead we have an image of despair as this is where abortion leads. If you want to see what abortion is about do that image search for yourself.

( There is a poster for the event but I can't upload it for some reason.)

If you have't done so already, there's still time to buy those train tickets.

2008-06-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

Extraordinary circumstances

2008-06-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

I had a fascinating, albeit brief, conversation with an elderly lady at the back of our church. At the very end of WWII she was a nurse aboard a boat taking newly liberated prisoners of war from Japanese camps to Australia. She did not wish to talk about what she had seen there but about an unusual incident which happened aboard.

At some point they took aboard an American Catholic Priest and when he came to say Mass he found that the man who had arranged to serve was not there. The priest said, " Is there anyone here who would like to answer Mass for me?". Nobody replied. He asked the question again. Still no one answered. Then this Lady, who then must have been about 24yrs old, piped up and said, "I can do it Father, if you will have me". He said, " Gladly". And Mass went ahead, with this lady serving at the altar and making all the responses. This lady is very devout, still goes to a Latin Mass when she can. She had then and still has many devout priests and religious as her friends. She looked me in the eye and said, " They were extraordinary times".

Tony Blair, St. Matthew, and Our Faith on Sunday.

2008-06-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

There has been a rumble of discontent from the pews over the last week due to an article published by the Catholic Printing Company of Farnworth in Our Faith On Sunday, the Mass sheet used by quite a number of Catholic Churches across the U.K. The front and back pages are preset and the inner spread is printed specially for each parish. The back page contains the readings and propers and the front generally three or four articles. These are generally milk and water but not last Sunday. This weeks article began by mentioning Mr. Blair's long anticipated entry into the Catholic Church and contrasted his reception by cardinals and the pope with the reaction of Anne Widdecombe. It went on to ask a series of questions regarding Catholics and their moral obligations if engaged in politics. It suggested that if they always voted in accordance with Catholic doctrine they would be unelectable and went on to ask if adultery should be made illegal as it is a sin. Many have read this article as very manipulative and sneaky. It was placed into the hands of many thousands of Catholics as they arrived for Mass last weekend without anyone, priest or lay person, being aware that it was coming or whence it came. It is both cowardly and a scandal.

I along with quite a number of parishioners were appalled, some very angered indeed. One described it as a kick in the teeth. We have taken it up with the publishers. They are unwilling to say who wrote the piece which was published anonymously. The more one reads it the worse it seems.

While I am strongly of the opinion that the article should not have been written, the degree to which it has whipped up hatred of Tony Blair has left me feeling uneasy. I myself felt angry all week about it until this morning's sermon. It was of course about the calling of Saint Matthew. The priest, a visitor in the parish, took as his text, " I have come to not to call the virtuous but the sinners". He said that one of the wonderful things about the Catholic Church is that it is a church of sinners. God does not accept us only when we have become perfect but comes to meet us in the degradation of our sinfulness. He described the painting by Caravaggio of the Calling of Saint Matthew where Christ appears almost to reach across the canvas to grasp hold of Matthew who, ensconced among his cronies, gestures towards himself as if to say, " Me, you can't possibly mean me!". In the heat of things it is easy to forget the New Commandment. While in no way wishing to play down the enormity of the issues involved, ( indeed I think most people fail to realise how huge they are), the lack of compassion among those feeling righteous angry saddens me.

These thoughts have not cleared things up for me in the least but set me thinking even more. Considering Mr. Blair's voting record, on abortion, unjust war, etc., to what degree may we judge him? Given the seemingly expedient timing of his coming into communion can we or should we make any judgements about his sincerity? And even if he is sincere, to what degree does this mitigate the evil which has resulted from his actions? There have been many in history who have done evil of untold magnitude with great sincerity.

I have a feeling that Mr. Blair's soul is in a state of great anguish. The constant smiling and seemingly endless confidence seems so fake to me. I wonder if he has dug so far down into the black pit that he feels if he keeps slogging away he will eventually come out the other side. I wonder if he wakes up at night and sees bloodstains on his hands. While we must object to biased articles being published, and to the way he was received into the Church, and to the way his wife carries on, and to his continued flouting of so much that is Catholic doctrine, we should also pray for him. To do otherwise is not Christian.

Something Extraordinary is Happening.

2008-06-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

For those of us attached to the beauty of the Liturgy of the Church, these are interesting times. Not alone are we seeing a gradual increase in celebrations of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form but something a little unusual also appears to be happening.

On Saturday of last week I attended a most wonderful Solemn Sung Latin Mass in the Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral. It was celebrated in the Novus Ordo and organised by the Association for Latin Liturgy. The propers and ordinary, ( Con Jubilo), of the Mass for the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin were sung by the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge under Philip Duffy. The celebrant was the Abbot of Downside Abbey and the deacon and subdeacon were Fr. Guy Nicholls of the Birmingham Oratory and Fr. Anton Guziel respectively. The Mass was offered Ad Orientum and it was special for a number of reasons.

Gloucester Cathedral was built and thrived as one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in the West of England, until it was dissolved by Good King Henry VIII. It had become immensely rich due to the huge influx of pilgrims visiting the tomb of King Edward II. After his murder, his body was refused by several abbeys including the very powerful one at Malmesbury. The abbot of Gloucester accepted the body and the abbey profited from having not just the body of a King of England but a murdered one at that. It underwent an amazing building programme over approx a hundred and fifty years from 1330 onward which culminated in the building of the Lady Chapel in 1470. This is entirely in the Perpendicular style, with a beautiful East Window and unusual singing galleries on each side. The Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester was one of the last abbeys in this area of England to surrender, doing so only on January 2nd. 1540, ( I think the last but one, that being Tewkesbury).

The Mass was a moving event on a number of levels. How lovely to be able to offer Holy Mass once again in one of the finest churches in the land. And to offer the Mass of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin appropriately in the Lady Chapel. And offered by a Benedictine Abbot. And offered in Latin, with Gregorian Chant, Ad Orientum, with all the ceremony of the Church. Holy Communion was offered kneeling and it seemed the majority received on the tongue. As an interesting note the three sacred ministers wore very fine BLUE vestments. This colour is not generally regarded as liturgical. But the Abbey of Downside has an indult dating from the turn of the C19/20th to use such a colour for feasts of the B.V.M., ( I don't know if the vestments used were property of Downside but I suspect so). It appears to have been an accepted colour in the Sarum Rite. And indeed the Altar at Gloucester was set up in the Sarum fashion; crucifix on the altar and candles on the floor either side.

There are some images of the Mass on the Association for Latin Liturgy website: http://www.latin-liturgy.org/events.htm

But this event is not alone. Last month there was a full High Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. John's College Chapel, Cambridge and later this month, June 21st, there will be another High Mass, EF, at the High Altar of the Anglican Cathedral at Winchester, resting place of the early English Kings.

So what is happening?

It might be interesting to contrast it with the way in which some of our Catholic Churches approach things.

Today, Sunday, I met an elderly and quite infirm Lady whom I had ferried to the Mass. She said it took her three days to recover, after walking the length of the Cathedral to the Lady Chapel, " But", she said, " it was worth it. I was longing for a Latin Mass".

WELCOME

2008-06-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. This is the very first post.

After several years of reading many other peoples very admirable blogs, mainly to do with the Roman Catholic Church, especially as it exists in its peculiar, ( I almost said extraordinary), form in England and Wales, and being, in no particular order, alternatively, and sometimes at the same time, excited, annoyed, enraged, delighted, and thrilled, ( that's putting it a bit strongly, (Ed.)), I have decided to embark on a blog of my own.

I have called it The Hound of Heaven, for two reasons, firstly, I own, or rather am owned by, a mad basset hound/spaniel cross by the name of Sydney, and the second I will let you work out for yourself.