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.


Sunday, 19 October 2025

The Norbertine Rite


I came by happenstance upon a video that introduces the life of St Norbert of Prémontre and the Order of White Canons he founded and their distinctive Rite for the celebration of Mass. As the video explains after the Council of Trent and the promulgation of the Mass of 1570 the Canons moved towards using that liturgy but some distinctive Norbertine usages survived, notably the distinctive almuce and several of these are described and shown.

Today the Canons are referred to as Norbertines after their founder, but I equally think of them as Premonstratensians, as that is the term used by medievalists to refer to the Order. There were a considerable number of their houses in medieval England, especially in the east and north. Today they still serve several parishes in England, as well as in Europe and the US.

The video can be seen at The Lost Mass of St. Norbert

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