St Bede on Candlemas

Following on from my post yesterday for Candlemas I see that Christopher Howse wrote about the feast on its eve in his regular Saturday column Sacred Mysteries in the Daily Telegraph. 

In it, as he so often does, he links the celebration of the feast to its place in the history of the Church. In particular he highlights the writings of St Bede and the great age of Northumbrian Christianity in the seventh and eighth centuries. Thus he links the universally applicable theology of the only British Doctor of the Church, St Bede, to a surviving codex in the form of a spectacular and expensive copy of the Bible made in that Northumbrian monastic world and sent as a gift to the Pope. That in turn is an indicator of the fact that the Christians of Northumbria were very conscious of, and loyal to, their Catholic heritage.

The article can be seen at Sacred Mysteries: Candlemas as the homecoming of Jesus

Candlemas - Oriel and the English Oratory

Today is the Feast of Candlemas, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is also the ceremonial conclusion to Christmastide and its imagery of light in midwinter.

Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I have posted nearly every year about Candlemas, about its traditions and depiction over the centuries and also about two special, personal links to the day based on my life in Oxford.

Candlemas is the annual feast of my college Oriel, as it falls only a few days after the anniversary of the establishment of the college or House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford by King Edward II in January 1326, and is the first feast of Our Lady to occur after that date. This year marks the 699th anniversary of the foundation and next year will see the celebration of the septuacentenary. 

The other link is that today is the 177th anniversary of the establishment of the Oratorians in England by St John Henry Newman in 1848. Not only did he place his new foundation under the patronage of Our Lady but it is surely a conscious homage to his time as a Fellow of Oriel and that was attracted him to the Oratorian pattern of life was it similarity to the Senior Common Room in the college.

So today is an especially good one upon which to pray for Oriel and for the English Oratorians.

Rather than attempt to re-write previous pieces I will give links to my previous posts for this day.

They can be seen at Candlemas, from 2011, Candlemas, from 2012, Candlemas, from 2013, Candlemas Day and Celebrating Candlemas from 2014, Candlemas, Candlemas at the Oxford Oratory, and Medieval Images of Candlemas from 2015, Candlemas, from 2016, The Ceremonies of Candlemas from 2021, Candlemas from 2022, Candlemas from 2023, and, with continuing originality, Candlemas from last year.

I regret that in some of the older posts the images will no longer display, due, I assume to copyright reasons, but readers should be able to find the images online from the titles. There are still a fine selection of images of the Presentation and Purification which repay careful study.

May I wish a joyful Candlemas to all my readers and fraternal good wishes to my fellow Orielenses and Oratorians.

Candlemas

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

Candlemas 

Master of the Life of the Virgin, c.1460-75

National Gallery, London

Image: Wikipedia

There is more about the painter at Master of the Life of the Virgin and on the National Gallery website at Master of the Life of the Virgin

I may well post his other seven scenes from the life of Our Lady, which are in Munich, as we go through the liturgical year.

A happy Candlemas to all readers 

Medieval Images of Candlemas

Here, thanks to the post by the Rev. Gordon Plumb on the Medieval Religion discussion group, are some medieval images of Candlemas in stained glass and in other artists' mediums:

Canterbury Cathedral, nXV, c.1178-80:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/13202500733

Ashbourne, St Oswald, Derbyshire, nXVII, 4a, c.1240:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/15959572071

York Minster, nXXVIII, 2b-3b, c.1335 :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/5036457663/in

East Harling, St Peter & St Paul, Norfolk, East window, 3b, c.1463-80:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2480753195
and detail:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2480750319

Leicester, Jewry Wall Museum, roundel, late 15th century:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/2480750319

Apse of Santa Maria Maggiore,Rome, mosaic of 13th century.
http://www.christianiconography.info/staMariaMaggiore/presentationMosaic.html

Bodleian Library, Oxford, manuscript leaves from Franciscan Antiphoners, Pisa,
mid to late 14th century:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/jpegs/don/a/011/1500/01100346.jpg

Pierpont Morgan Library,New York,  MS M.302., f.2r, English, c1300-10:
http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/single_image2.cfm?imagename=m302.002r.jpg&page=ICA000107021#A3

Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York, Byzantine icon, c.1400-1500:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah.67.8

Candlemas at the Oxford Oratory

I was helping as a porter at the Oratory this lunchtime and so unable to attend the EF Low Mass at lunchtime, but earlier this evening did attend the main celebration of Candlemas, a Solemn Mass at 6 pm.

This was a splendid and beautiful conclusion to the Christmas season as well as a celebration of the specific themes of the day.

There was a sizeable congregation of all ages who processed around the church bearing our candles to Ellerton's "Hail to the Lord who to his Temple comes ", Newman's " The Angel lights of Christmas morn " and Prudentius' " Of the Father's love begotten" before the main liturgy.

The homily from Fr Jerome explored the meaning of Our Lady's Purification, drawing out the concept of returning the holy to the normal world, as in the purification of the chalice after Mass.

A lovely end to the extended period of Christmastide and, being now in the 'gesimas, Bl John Henry's hymn was, as ever, an apt reminder not only of the calendric proximity of Lent and Easter but also of the purpose and object of Our Lord's Incarnation.

Candlemas

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

The Master of St Severin Cologne 1465-1515

Painted circa 1490

The Louvre

Image: Wikimedia

As regular readers will realise I am particularly fond of late medieval northern gothic art and its representation of  Biblical scenes in what was for the artist and patron a contemporary context, and all the delightful details of pre-reformation liturgical amd pious practise.

Candlemas has always had agreat appeal to me, and that has been reinfovced in Oxford by two things concerning institutions close to my heart. Today is the College Feast of Oriel, my college, and teh dtae of the foundation of the Oratory in england by that great Orielensis Bl. John Henry Newman in 1848. It ios therefore very much aday of festival in my personal calendar.

Celebrating Candlemas

With Candlemas falling at the weekend I, and indeed all the faithful,  had more opportunity than usual to join in celebrations of this lovely feast.

The collects and other prayers as well as the antiphons and other propers are particularly rich and apposite in symbolism - a re-statement of the themes of Christmas and Epiphany at the end of the season of forty days, and full of things to reflect upon.

On Saturday evening I went to the vigil Mass of the Oxford Ordinariate group at Holy Rood. We began with the blessing of candle sin the vestibule - narthex if you will -  of the church and then entered the darkened building in procession as the Newman Consort sang. The Mass was in the Ordinariate Use, which the community here are using at all these Masses until Easter preparatory to an assessment of which forms of the Rite to use on a regular basis.

Talking afterwards some of use reflected whether the ceremonies of Candlemas originate in a dawn

liturgy following a vigil - this would make sense of the bearing of lights, although this was done as a mark of honour at all times in the ancient world. Something I ought to look up in the expert literature.

On Sunday I was at the Oxford Oratory for the 11 am Solemn Mass. This is a special day for the Oratory in that in addition to being Candlemas it is also the anniversary of the foundation in 1848 by Bl. John Henry Newman of the English Oratory. As the Provost, Fr Daniel, and I were agreeing after the Mass it looks as if  Newman chose this feast as it was also the feast day of Oriel, his former college, and he had chosen the Oratorian model as being close in structure to the life of an SCR in an Oxford college.

Following the blessing of the candles we went in procession round the inside of the  church, which was a bit difficult as there was briefly a traffic-jam of the altar party and the faithful at the back of church for a period - the church is not big enough for us all - which is a good sign really.

In the evening we had Solemn Vespers sung by the choir, and more processing - although this time by the officiants and servers only - to have the incensing of the Lady Altar. This was followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

Afterwards I was talking to two friends who had been to the FSSP Mass at St William of York in Reading in the morning. There they had enjoyed a celebration of Candlemas according to the 1962 Missal with all the ceremonies, including a procession round the outside of the church. As Fr Armand de Malleray had pointed to in his sermon - when the candles had guttered or blown out it was like our difficulties in attempting to live the Christian life, but that the important thing was to continue to do so through the adverse times. A good image of the pilgrim Church. 

All in all this was a very good celebration of Candlemas, rounded off by dinner with a fellow Orielensis and saying the College grace together. 

Candlemas Day

Today is Candlemas, the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

An illumination depicting the Presentation of Christ in the Temple,
in a manuscript used by the Carmelite Friars in London c.1375
  
From the Reconstructed Carmelite Missal now in the British Library

Image:carmelite.org

There is a fine selection of other depictions of the Presentation in the Temple dating from the about the year 1000 until the end of the fifteenth century here.

As I have written before Candlemas has long been one of my favourite feasts of the Church year, and it was delight to find when I came to Oriel that it is the College feast. It is an occasion rich in symbolism and imagery, a link between the two greatest seasons of the Church's year at Christmas and Easter.

Looking back I see that since I started blogging I have posted quite a few pieces about Candlemas, and these posts can be viewed, in chronological order, at Candlemas, St Sophronius on Candlemas, Candlemas liturgy, Candlemas images, Candlemas, St Anselm on Candlemas, A personal reflection on Candlemas, Newman on Candlemas, The development of the Candlemas liturgy and Candlemas. Despite the similarity in their titles they do cover arange of ideas and images.

A happy and joyful Candlemas to you all.

Candlemas

Today is Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple and of  the Purification of Our Lady.

The Presentation in the Temple
Ambrogip Lorenzetti, 1342
The San Crescenzio Altarpiece, now in the Uffizzi

Image:shafe.co.uk

Candlemas has long been one of my favourite feasts, and since coming to Oxford I have found two additional reasons to enjoy it. It is  the college feast of Oriel - the House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford commonly called Oriel College, to give it its proper name - and Candlemas is the only major feast of Our lady to fall in Full Term. Today is also the anniversary of the founding of the English Oratory by Bl. John Henry Newman in 1848.

The Presentation in the Temple

Stefan Lochner, 1447

Image:sightswithin.com

These two facts are not, I think, unrelated. Newman was attracted to the Oratory of St Philip by its similarity to the life of an Oxford college, and at Oriel, where he had been a Fellow from 1822 until 1845 he would have been familar with Candlemas as the college feast and from its depiction in the eighteenth century stained glass in the old east window of the chapel - that glass is now in the sourh west window of the chapel.

The Presentation in the Temple

Hans Memling,1463

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Image: friendsofart.com

Our Lady is the patroness of the Oratory - indeed St Philip saw the Blessed Virgin as the true foundress of his community - so Candlemas was an eminently suitable day on which Newman was to begin the life of the Oratorian community in England 165 years ago.

The Presentation in the Temple
Hans Holbein the elder

Image:saviorsite.com

I attended the beautiful Solemn Mass at the Oxford Oratory this morning and during the opening procession round the church we sang Newman's charming and perceptive hymn for the feast:

The Angel-lights of Christmas morn,

Which shot across the sky,

Away they pass at Candlemas,

They sparkle and they die.

Comfort of earth is brief at best,

Although it be divine;

Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,

Old Simeon's tapers shine.

And then for eight long weeks and more,

We wait in twilight grey,

Till the high candle sheds a beam

On Holy Saturday.

We wait along the penance-tide

Of solemn fast and prayer;

While song is hush'd, and lights grow dim

In the sin-laden air.

And while the sword in Mary's soul

Is driven home, we hide

In our own hearts, and count the wounds

Of passion and of pride.

And still, though Candlemas be spent

And Alleluias o'er,

Mary is music in our need,

And Jesus light in store.

The Oratory. 1849.

I appreciate the way Bl. John Henry so links the images of Christmas, Lent and Easter with the ceremonies of Candlemas. This idea struck me quite independently many years ago when i was still living in Ponteefract, and it is always good to find one's ideas to have been anticipated and confirmed by the truely wise.

This evening I shall go to support the Oxford Ordinariate in their celebration of Candlemas at Holy Rood, where we are promised music not only from the regular Newman Consort but also from visiting plansong chant singers. A Feast indeed of good things, pressed down and running over.

The Presentation in the Temple 
Bergognone(Ambrogio da Foassone) sixteenth century
Probably from the Charterhouse of Pavia, now in The Louvre

Image:lessing-photo.com

The development of the Candlemas liturgy

Before we move into Septuagesima here is one final post for this year relating to Candlemas. The New Liturgical Movement has reposted an article by Shawn Tribe on the development of the liturgy for the feast which can be read at NLM Reprint: Historical Notes on Candlemas.

The article also includes a reproduction this rather fine painting from the late middle ages of the Presentation in the Temple:

Newman on Candlemas

I like this poem by Newman which we sing at the Oxford Oratory as a hymn for Candlemas because of the way it links the images of candles at Christmas through those burning at Candlemas through to the Pascal Candle. In so doing Bl. John Henry draws the sacral year together so as to express its liturgical and theological coherence.

I also like the poem because the same idea struck me many years ago when I was parish clerk at Pontefract, and it is always satisfying when someone agrees with one, especially a beatified Cardinal...

Candlemas

The Angel-lights of Christmas morn,
Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.

Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone
Old Simeon’s tapers shine.

And then for eight long weeks and more,
We wait in twilight grey,
Till the high candle sheds a beam
On Holy Saturday.

We wait along the penance-tide
Of solemn fast and prayer;
While song is hush’d, and lights grow dim
In the sin-laden air.

And while the sword in Mary’s soul
Is driven home, we hide
In our own hearts, and count the wounds
Of passion and of pride.

And still, though Candlemas be spent
And Alleluias o’er,
Mary is music in our need,
And Jesus light in store.

Bl.John Henry Newman, The Oratory. 1849


With acknowledgements to Why I am a Catholic blog

A personal reflection on Candlemas

Thinking about Candlemas it occurs to me that we can understand this feast as being the third disclosure of Our Lord to the world.

If Christmas is His birth and revelation to the Jewish people, represented by the shepherds - as well as the rejection implicit in Herod's seeking to destroy the King of the Jews -, and Epiphany is His revelation to the Gentiles symbolised by the Magi - and its associated commemorations of the Baptism and the miracle at Cana disclosing His Divine commission and power at the start of His active ministry - then Candlemas is the revelation of Christ to God's people - Jew or Gentile - in the Temple, be it the old one of Jerusalem or the new one that is His Body, the Church.

In all three disclosures Our Lady is there as physical mother, as representitive of faithful Judaism, as proto-Church and as Mother of the Church.

So Candlemas is not just the end of the Christmas season, but a vital point of proclaiming the status of the Divine Infant to His world. In St Luke the next time we encounter Our Lord He is back in the Temple, about His father's business. That is where we will find him.

Maybe I should start writing sermons...

St Anselm on Candlemas

Writing of today's feast St Anselm (c.1033-1109) says

"The wax of the candles signifies the virginal flesh of the Divine Infant, the wick figures His soul and the flame His divinity"

St Anselm
Archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the Church

Image: christchurchwindsor.ca

I interpret his comment as indicating when we bear our candles in procession we are like Our Lady carrying the Light of the world in fleshly form into the Temple as we enter our own churches. Here is not only the Lord coming to his own Temple but we express our hermeneutic of continuity with the prophets and the Temple cult as we enter the true enlightenment that is purpose of the Incarnation.


So we conclude the extended Christmas season.

A joyful Candlemas to you all.

Candlemas

Today is Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, and of the Purification of Our Lady.

It is a feast of which I am particularly fond, originally for its symbolism and ceremonial, and then because it is both the feast of my college, Oriel - The House of Blessed Virgin Mary in Oxford commonly called Oriel College to give it the proper nomenclature - and also the anniversary of the establishment of the English Oratory in 1848 by that former Fellow of Oriel, Bl.John Henry Newman.

Image: Hagia Sophis on Flickr

I found this image on the internet, but so far have not discovered the artist or location of this tryptich which links to the Epiphany and the Coronation of Our Lady with its side panels. I assume it is early to mid-fifteenth century German or Netherlandish. I think it may well be by Stefan Lochner or apupil of his as it shows great similarities to the painting by him I posted last year in my post Candlemas. In any case it has delightful details and great charm.

Last year I posted the reading from the Divine Office for today from St Sophronius (560-638) which eloquently explores the symbolism of the feast, and indicates the use of candles and the procession at that time. It can be read at St Sophronius on Candlemas.

Candlemas images

I wrote last week about serving the Candlemas liturgy at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford. Last night I was shown the Flickr photographs of the Mass, taken by Joseph Shaw, the Chairman of the LMS and I thought I would put in a link to them. The whole set can be viewed here.

The procession moves from the Sanctuary.

Unfortunately I managed to get in the camera's eye once or twice, but otherwise the photographs are very pleasing, and give a good impression of what was a beautiful celebration of the feast.

Candlemas liturgy

There is an interesting post on the New Liturgical Movement about the evolution of the Candlemas liturgy which you can read here.

Last night I was a server for the Mass with the Candlemas ceremonies according to the Extraordinary Form at SS Gregory and Augustine in north Oxford, celebrated by Fr John Saward. This was a beautiful occasion - even if it got a little crowded at times in the Sanctuary with an MC, thurifer, two acolytes and two taperers - and was accompanied with Gregorian chant from the Scola Thomae Abelis.

Fr Blake in Brighton has a post about how he was using the feast day as an occasion to make the congregation more familiar with the traditional form, which you can read here.

St Sophronius on Candlemas

This is the second reading from the Office of Readings for today, and is, I think,  a wonderful exploration of the themes of Candlemas.

It is from a sermon by Saint Sophronius (560-638) who was Patriach of Jerusalem 634-638.

One thing that strikes me is that he is referring very clearly to the established liturgy of the Jerusalem church, something he wrote about with his accounts of the pilgrmages places of the Holy City. In that sense he is like Egeria, an early witness to liturgical practice we can still recognise and participate in. 

Let us receive the light whose brilliance is eternal

" In honour of the divine mystery that we celebrate today, let us all hasten to meet Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession and to carry a light.

Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendour of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.

The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him.

The light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows; the Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God.

The true light has come, the light that enlightens every man who is born into this world. Let all of us, my brethren, be enlightened and made radiant by this light. Let all of us share in its splendour, and be so filled with it that no one remains in the darkness. Let us be shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the aged Simeon the light whose brilliance is eternal. Rejoicing with Simeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Father of the light, who sent the true light to dispel the darkness and to give us all a share in his splendour.

Through Simeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves. As Simeon was released from the bonds of this life when he had seen Christ, so we too were at once freed from our old state of sinfulness.

By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have seen him present among us and have mentally received him into our arms, we are called the new Israel. Never shall we forget this presence; every year we keep a feast in his honour."

Reading St Sophronius and as I reflect on the symbolism of the feast I am struck not by the fact that it is a slightly quaint and charming celebration of the events as recorded by St Luke, but that it very appropriately closes the Christmas season by re-stating in so splendid a way all the ideas and images we have had over the last forty days. It is not an incidental celebration but rather the grand finale to our Christmas celebration.

Candlemas

The Presentation in the Temple
Stefan Lochner
1447
Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt

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

As it marks the fortieth and last day of Christmastide I have decided to mark the day here with another painting by Stefan Lochner, whose works I used at Christmas and Epiphany. It is another delightful example of his style.

Candlemas with its wonderful imagery is one of the feasts I enjoy most in the calendar, and here in Oxford I have found two particular reasons to add to the joyful nature of the day.

It is the feast of my college, Oriel, which will celebrate it with a gaudy tonight. The full name of the college is The House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford commonly called Oriel College, and although the other feasts of Our Lady used to be observed with celebrations I suspect Candlemas became the main one because it is the only feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary to fall in Full Term. The eighteenth century glass from the old east window of the chapel (now on the south side of the organ gallery) depicts the Presentation, which suggests that by the mid-eighteenth century at least it was seen as the college's patronal feast.

The second reason is linked. It was on Candlemas 1848 that Bl. John Henry Newman established the English Oratory. I am not sure if in this he was influenced by the Oriel connection, but he certainly chose the Oratorian model because it resembled in structure the lofe of an Oxford Common Room.

So it is a day to remember with thanksgiving both Oriel and the Oratories, and to pray for their continuing welfare.