An Anglican reconstruction of the Sarum liturgy of Candlemas

A few days ago I chanced upon an online video of a reconstruction by Antiquum Documentum of the Mass for Candlemas according to the Use of Sarum.

This was recorded at the church of St Bartholomew the Great Smithfield. The homily from John Mirk’s Festiale, a collection of model sermon texts dating from about 1380, is read by my old Oriel friend, Marcus Walker, who is now the Rector of the church.

Wikipedia has a lengthy account if what little is known of the life of the Augustinian Mirk, a canon of Lilleshall in Shropshire, and of his guides for parish priests, which can be seen at John_Mirk

The video of the service at St Bartholomew’s can be viewed at Mass & Procession According to the Use Of Sarum | Antiquum Documentum at St Bartholomew the Great

Candlemas reflections

Today is Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.

I have written in previous years that Candlemas is a feast for which I have a particular affection. There are three basic reasons for this.

Firstly, when I was to an Anglican in my home parish the new Vicar started observing the feast as part of the regular calendar of the parish year. I was charmed by the liturgy, and also by the way in which links Christmas with all its symbolism of light, and Easter with its emphasis on the light of the Resurrection. 

Secondly, when I went to Oriel, I found that Candlemas was the principal College feast of the year. This is probably because it is the only feast of Our Lady which falls in termtime, and which the House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford could celebrate together. It is marked by a candlelit Evensong in the Chapel, followed by a celebratory Dinner in Hall. My first year, for the service we were given candles, without candle guards, being assured that they were non-drip. I thought about that ruefully as I took my suit to the cleaners, the next day to get rid of all the accumulated wax from the previous evening…. The following year as Head Bible Clerk I made sure we had the cardboard guards.

Thirdly, when I started attending The Oxford Oratory, I found that Saint John Henry Newman established it in England on the Feast of Candlemas in 1848. This must reflect the fact that he chose the Oratory as a structure for his future ministry because it most resembled the structure of Oxford collegiate life which, in his case, would have meant Oriel. I also found that, like myself, Saint John Henry had seen the symbolism or Christmas linking to Easter in the hymn he wrote for Candlemas which is always sung at the Oxford Oratory on this day.

This year I see that the New Liturgical Movement has a detailed study on their website about the celebration of the feast. This concentrates on the five prayers made over the candles used in the procession at the beginning of the liturgy and their relationship to the five Books of Moses. It also looked at the parallels with the Byzantine rite. The article is well worth reading and can be accessed at The Five Prayers of the Candlemas Blessing and the Five Books of Moses

A happy and joyful Candlemas to all my readers.

Septuagesima and beyond

Looking back at what I have written in previous years about Septuagesima and the pre-Lenten season I found that two years ago I had gathered the links to these together in a single article. This provides access to my previous posts about both the liturgical

marking of the change in the calendar and to others about how we should use the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. 

That combined post can be accessed at Burying the ‘A word’ and Septuagesima

So whether you have buried the ‘A word’ tonight or are waiting until Shrove Tuesday may I wish my readers a prayerful and fruitful gesima season and reflection on the observance of Lent.

Restoring the historic environment in Wiltshire

Two linked articles on the BBC News website cover stories about restoring the historic natural environment. 

The first is about an initiative in Swindon by a local councillor to plant saplings of the Black Poplar in his ward. The tree is now a rarity in England as the conditions for its successful propagation and growth have declined yet it was once a frequently recurring feature in wet lowland areas. Thanks to books such as the late Oliver Rackham’s splendid and stimulating Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape and his History of the Countryside we are more aware of our ancient woodlands. There have also been moves to restore, regenerate and recreate these historic locations and foster them for their wider environmental impact. 

The article about the Swindon initiative can be seen at Joining the mission to save Britain's rarest tree

Linked to it in the report is one of an ornithological success in the same county of Wiltshire in the reintroduction of the Great Bustard to Salisbury Plain. This ongoing project seems now to be establishing breeding pairs literally on the ground in Cranborne Chase. The article can be read at Bustards nest found in Cranborne Chase for first time

Identifying the lost grave of Ivarr the Boneless?

The BBC News website has a report today about an archaeologist who believes he has identified on the Cumberland coast the ship burial grave of the Viking leader Ivarr the Boneless who is believed to have died in 873. A leader of the Great Heathen Army which invaded Northumbria in 865-867 Ivarr led his troops into East Anglia and Mercia, overthrowing the local kingdoms, leaving only Wessex as an independent Anglo-Saxon realm, and ruled from 871 by the young King Alfred the Great. Ivarr may have also ruled a kingdom based in Ireland.

The reputed burial site, at an undisclosed location near the coast, is surrounded by other burials, which suggests that this was indeed in the necropolis of a major figure.

The article about the site, with illustrations of ship nails found there in preliminary survey work can be seen at Cumbria hill could hold grave of Viking king Ivarr the Boneless

Wikipedia has a useful and nuanced article about Ivarr, and his intriguing nick-name at Ivar_the_Boneless

This would appear to be an archaeological site with great potential if the theory as to its occupants is correct.

To end on a slightly facetious note, if this is the burial place of Ivarr the Boneless then his skeleton is not going to be found….

Ven. Mary Ward

 

The Catholic World Report has an article today about Venerable Mary Ward ( 1585-1645 ) the Yorkshire born 
recusant pioneer in educating girls and in developing an un-enclosed Order for women. Controversial both during her life and after her death, she is far better known on the continent than in her home country. She died on this day in 1645 at Heworth outside York. The city was under siege at the time and she was buried in the nearby churchyard at Osbaldwick.

The Catholic World Report article makes a good case for a sensible understanding of this clearly determined Catholic Yorkshirewoman and it can be read at The truth about Venerable Mary Ward, proto-religious sister and future Saint

I would recommend also reading in conjunction with it the Wikipedia account of her which gives more detail and context for her remarkable life, such as having three uncles involved in the Gunpowder Plot and walking several times to Rome to defend her ideas before the Pope and Cardinals. It can be accessed at Mary_Ward_(nun)

Venerable Mary Ward pray for us

Remembering King Charles the Martyr

Today is the 376th anniversary of the regicide of King Charles I in 1649.   

King Charles I during his trial in 1649

A portrait by Edward Bower circa 1650

Image: Baldwin.co.uk

The Society of King Charles the Martyr and the Royal Martyr Church Union, many High Anglican and Anglo-Catholic churches and foundations, as well as Civil War re-enactment groups will be holding services and commemoration ceremonies today and over this coming weekend.

Looking online I found on the Project Canterbury website the text of a booklet about the Royal Martyr and his cult published by SKCM, which appears to date from the 1930s. It can be read here

St Mary Graces Abbey in London

The continuing and still unresolved saga of the proposed conversion of the former Royal Mint and the modern development around it on Tower Hill into 
the largest embassy in Europe for the Chinese government has attracted no small amount of coverage in the media. If I were to express an opinion it would be against allowing it to go forward and maybe the local residents will be successful in their legal challenge. 

However whatever happens there should be in the basement not just the much publicised Secret Room but another feature of interest to people like myself and the readers of this blog. Under the design proposed for the new Embassy there will be in the basement access to and interpretation of the surviving foundations of the Cistercian abbey of St Mary Graces. This was founded in the mid-fourteenth century by King Edward III in the aftermath of the Black Death and was the last house of the Order to be founded in the country before the suppression of the monasteries in the reign of King Henry VIII.

There is an online article about the proposal from the very helpful ianvisits.co.uk which  can be seen at London’s new Chinese embassy will include a free museum displaying the ruins of a medieval abbey

Presumably, if they Embassy plans fail to materialise whoever ends up managing the site will open it as a portion of the heritage of London, and particularly of the area around The Tower.