Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Monday 4 April 2016

EF High Mass for the Annunciation at the Oxford Oratory


Earlier this evening I attended the EF High Mass for the transferred Feast of the Annunciation at the Oxford Oratory.

Having a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite on this feast has become part of the Oxford Oratory's liturgical life in recent years, and was a very well attended celebration. The congregation included what might be termed enthusiasts for the traditional form as well as regular attendees of the 6pm Mass and those who had come because it was amajor feast - not either/or but both-and if you follow my mental shorthand. The argument proffered by the declining number of opponents of the older form that people will not attend it was once again disproved

This was a particularly beautiful celebration with the elegant liturgical choreography performed to a very high standard indeed.

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