Oxford Benedictine Oblates - forthcoming meetings

The Sodality of St Benedict of Norcia and St Scholastica will hold its next meetings on the following Wednesdays at the church of SS Gregory and Augustine, 322 Woodstock Road, Oxford: January 13th, February 3rd and March 2nd.

St Benedict and St Scholastica

Image:forallsaints.wordpress.com

The meetings, which last for an hour, begin at 7pm, following on from the 6pm Mass in the church. We are very grateful to Fr John Saward for his welcome and support.

Our aspiration is to be linked to the developing foundation at Norcia, St Benedict's birthplace.


Newcomers will receive a warm Benedictine welcome.

Being a proxy godfather - again

Yesterday I attended the baptism of Eleanor, the second daughter of a couple who are long standing friends from my days at Pusey House and who like me have entered into full peace and communion with Rome. Eleanor was born just before Christmas. Owen and Emily invited me to join them on this happy occasion which followed on from the Morning Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford, the church in which they were married.

The baptism was conducted by Fr John Saward, who conducted their wedding and also baptised their elder daughter. The rite was that of the Extraordinary Form, with its series of exorcisms and associated prayers, and was preceded by Emily's churching at the door and High Altar of the church.

When their elder daughter was baptised I was assigned the role of proxy godfather, the actual godfather being unable to be present as he was out of the country. Yesterday I found myself being tapped on the arm and asked once more to be the proxy as the godfather on this occasion was unable to attend due to his car having broken down the day before. So once more unto the font I went...

The traditional liturgical form of the rite of baptism emphasises to those who are cognisant of what is going on the seriousness of being redeemed from Original Sin and the significance of what is happening. The stress in the responses made on the child's behalf by the godparents is very much of a personal desire for baptism - and  all it entails - rather than on rearing the child within a particular tradition - that is assumed. This I assume reflects the antiquity of the rite, when catacumens were of years of discretion.  A baptism in the traditional form is a very thorough process - nothing gets left out.

Following the ceremonies at the church door with exorcisms and salt and the signing with the cross, the oil of the catacumenate, the actual baptism and the Chrismation we proceeded to the Lady Altar, with Eleanor carried by her godmother Alex Lloyd and me bearing the baptismal candle, where the newly baptised infant was, as is the custom at SS Gregory and Augustine, consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady.

By a happy chance of coincidence in the congregation at Mass beforehand and then invited to the baptism, was the former Anglican clergyman, recently reconciled to the Catholic Church, who had baptised Owen as a schoolboy here in Oxford and prepared him for confirmation as an Anglican.

Afterwards I was one of those at a most enjoyable lunch party to celebrate the baptism with grandparents and other family members, and an occasion to toast the by now very sleepy centre of attention in her pram. 

Please pray for Eleanor Clare Olwen Curry, for Owen and Emily and their other daughter Alice, and for their families.

Oxford Benedictine Oblates

Last night we held the first meeting of our revived Benedictine Oblates group here in Oxford. For the last couple of years we have languished somewhat but over the summer we made plans to revive it, and have resumed meetings. Our aspiration is to be linked to the developing foundation at Norcia, St Benedict's birthplace.

St Benedict and St Scholastica

Image:forallsaints.wordpress.com

Under the name of the Sodality of St Benedict and St Scholastica we aim to meet initially on the first Wednesday of each month at 7pm in the church of SS Gregory and Augustine; the meeting follows on from the 6pm Mass, and is designed to last for an hour. We are very grateful to Fr John Saward for his welcome and support.

Although only some of us were able to meet last night we found it a suitable, indeed successful format, and certainly achieved a prayerful quiet that to my mind savoured very much of the Benedictine ideal and spirit.

We followed the structure of an Oblate manual from 1937 which had been provided by one of our group, and are grateful to him for his work in producing a traditional and reflective office. Another member had the excellent idea of our turning the month's calendar of Benedictine saints into a litany, which worked well. We had two readings - one from Bishop Fulton Sheen on the Rosary ( it was, after all, the Feast of the Rosary ) and one from St Gregory the Great on the Gospel in the EF for last Sunday. This included an example from the life of his monastery on the Coelian Hill, which seemed eminently apposite. We ended by saying Compline in the traditional Benedictine form.

We hope this can become a regular part of the devotional life of Oxford, and anyone interested would be most welcome to join us at our next meeting on November 4th.

May Procession at SS Gregory and Augustine

This afternoon, after the presentation at the Oratory to Fr Robert, I went up to north Oxford to the May Procession and Marian devotions at SS Gregory and Augustine. It is a couple of years at least since I managed to get to this event.

There was a good turn out of parishioners plus some occasional visitors such as myself, and, having raided the secondhand bookstall (which had some good bargains) and was there to raise funds for a new Marian frontal for the church, I went inside to await the beginning of the afternoon's events. 

The weather proved benign as we assembled for the procession from the church lawn. After a reading from Bl. John Nenry Newman on the significance of the May Devotion to Mary - the month of promise, of spring moving assuredly into summer, so too Our Lady is the sign of hope for mankind - we processed behind a statue of the Virgin out on to the pavement, along the Woodstock Road for several yards and up the steps into church. We then had prayers, the crowning of the image of Our Lady of Fatima, the recitation of the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, and an act of consecration, plus most of the congregation going up to offer flowers to Our Lady at her altar. After that we had Benediction and the singing of the Regina Coeli. A considerable number of pious images were blessed for members of the congregation as well.

SG Gregory and Augustine is not a large church, so moving numbers of people in it in procession can be a bit awkward, but the rather pretty country style of the church, with plenty of delicate flowers in our bunches to offer to the true Queen of the May, and the innocent charm of this traditional devotion made this a very enjoyable as well as being a devout occasion.

Afterwards there was tea and plenty of home made cakes to consume, rounding off an enjoyable, and very English Catholic afternoon. Then off back to the Oratory to Vespers...

Epiphany

The Epiphany

Fernando Gallego c. 1480-90

National Museum of Catalunya

Image: Wikipedia

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, and as I have said and written in previous years I hope that we shall soon see the decision to transfer it, together with the Ascension and Corpus Christi, to the nearest Sunday rescinded. I was quite happy to have an anticipated celebration of the Epiphany yesterday, but today is the day. Fortunately I was able to observe it in the Extraordinary Form, as well as saying the Office of the Epiphany on the proper day.

As it turned out I did so twice. At lunchtime I attended the Low Mass at the Oxford Oratory celebrated at the High Altar by Fr Jerome Bertram before going off for a light but celebratory lunch with a friend at a new cafe nearby.

Late in the afternoon we went up to the Missa cantata celebrated by Fr John Saward at SS Gregory and Augustine in north Oxford. This had music provided by the Newman Consort and the Schola Abelis, who sang a Palestrina Mass and a motet by Clemens Non Papa. The whole Mass was particularly beautiful in the candlelit church, still splendidly decorated for Christmastide. To one side of the altar was a reliquary containing a fragment of the Manger, empasising our coming as pilgrims with the Magi to the Christ Child.

As my friend and I reflected over dinner we are very fortunate here in Oxford not only to have regular access to the Extrordinary Form , and within the mainstream of the Church, and to celebrations conducted with such care and thoughtfulness, not least in both cases with elegant homilies.

A happy and joyful Epiphany to you all.

Fr Saward's Tenth Anniversary

Yesterday evening I was at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford to act as thurifer at the Extraordinary Form Solemn High Mass celebrated for St Lucy's Day by Fr John Saward to mark the tenth anniversary of his Ordination as a Catholic priest. Although I am sure he would disclaim such publicity there is an online account of his academic career here.

Ready in the Sacristy was the best red set of vestments from Blackfriars - a splendid set heavily embroidered in gold, together with apparelled amices lent for the occasion. Fr Saward was assisted by a Deacon fom the Ordinariate and a Dominican Sub-Deacon, reflecting his teaching role at Blackfriars. This aspect was one that was highlighted by Fr Lawrence Lew O.P. in his homily, in which he paid tribute to Fr Saward's career as theologian, tutor and lecturer as well as parish priest and husband and father.

The Mass was well attended by parishioners and friends, and we heard of others who were unavoidably unable to be present. Afterwards in the Parish Hall there was mulled wine and wince pies and an opportunity to drink Fr John's health when a presentation was made to him in behalf of the parish by Mgr Vaughan Morgan, who assists in the celebrations of Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine.

Fr Saward has done a great deal to enhance the church through redecoration and improvements, and has been a leading local exponent of the use of the Extraordinary Form alongside the Novus Ordo, and this has all been combined with both his continuing academic work and also being a faithful parish priest.

Oxford LMS Pilgrimage

Saturday was the day of the annual Latin Mass Society's Pilgrimage to Oxfordand once again Mass was offered in the traditional Dominican Rite at Blackfriars by Fr Richard Conrad. The Deacon was Fr John Saward, the priest of SS Gregory and Augustine, but who is also a Dominican tertiary, as well as a tutor at Blackfriars so very much at home in the priory.

The Dominican form of the Mass has many similarities to the Sarum Use, and, apart from a few post-Tridentine additions, very much what  a medieval Dominican in Oxford or throughout the breadth of Christendom would have celebrated and known.  It is very beautiful and it is a delight to see it being made available again to the faithful.

After Mass I went off for lunch with an old friend from the Birmingham Ortatory who had come for the Pilgrimage, and after catching up on news and ideas, we rejoined the other pilgrims by the tower of St Michael at the Northgate, and on the site of the Bocardo prison over the city's north gate, for the Procession. Here my friend was commandeered to act as crucifer as we set off towards the site of the martyrdom in July 1589 of Bl. George Nichols, Bl.Richard Yaxley, Bl.Thomas Belson and Bl.Humphrey Pritchard. This took us past the site of their arrest, the Catherine Wheel inn - now covered by an eighteenth century extension of Balliol - and along Broad Street.

 

Now not only was this a Saturday but it was also Matriculation Day, so there were many fresher students around in sub fusc, gown and mortar board, and the tourist and general public just took us all in their stride as part of the Oxford scene -  which of course we are. 

As is our custom on this occasion, awaiting us at the end of Holywell Street was a gallows with four nooses dangling from it - a temporary but striking feature which is set up on these occasions near the site of the martyrdoms in 1589. Looking at a friend who had been assigned the task of looking after this another mutual friend pointed out that the other was, after all, a Daily Mail reader...

We returned along Holywell to Broad Street and Blackfriars, where we concluded with Benediction in the priory church, the incense rising through the afternoon sunbeams in the sanctuary, and sang the Salve Regina in the Dominican Tone.

There are a series of pictures, both of the liturgy and of the procession, together with a report on the Pilgrimage, and a link to more photographs, on the LMS Chairman's blog at Oxford Pilgrimage: Procession and Benediction.

Afterwards my friend from Birmingham and I revisited one of our old haunts on St Giles - the Eagle and Child - aka the Bird and Baby - to see if the local ale was still up to standard before he caught his train home.

A fine occasion, pious and beautiful, but also gregarious and cheering.

Celebrating Corpus Christi

Twice yesterday in Oxford I was able to attend celebrations according to the Extraordinary Form of the Feast of Corpus Christi on its traditional day.

At 12.15 I attended the Low Mass at the Oxford Oratory celebrated by the Provost Fr Daniel Seward. He was wearing a particularly fine golden chasuble, in a Roman cut but with orphreys bearing embroidered figures of saints in the  late medieval style. I do not think I have seen this vestment in use before at the Oratory - it is certainly a handsome addition to the collection.

The Mass attracted a reasonable number in the congrgation, with wide selectioon of ages, toddlers through to the elderly, although I think numbers were reduced by the fact of there being the evening Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine, which I was also due to attend.

After a session in the Oratory lodge and shop as a porter, a voluntary activity I always enjoy, I went with a friend for afternoon tea at a nearby restaurant - a civilised way of celebrating the feast we thought.

Thus replenished we got the bus up to SS Gregory and Augustine in north Oxford in good time for the 6pm Mass, to be celebrated by Fr John Saward, and at which I was due to serve.

This, it emerged was to be a Missa cantata, and indeed a Mass in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament Exposed. Much work had been in preparation, with the cghurch handsomely decorated with flowere in the style the church usually adopts - an emphasis on small scale, country flower arrangements. My eye was especially caught, as was no doubt it was intended to be, by the ears of wheat flanking the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament, and above it a crown of thones decorated with tiny red flowers. In front of the altar there was a carpet of flowers representing a host and chalice, and one which managed to survive surprisingly well the passage of the celebrant's feet.

There was a good congregation, making for well filled church, drawn from the parish and from wider afield, and fine music sung from the west gallery.

I was a torch bearer at the Mass and for the procession. The  weather was kind, and so,  unlike last year, we were able to process around part of the grounds of the church, with a station at an altarino set up in the baptistry at the west end.

Oriel was well represented with a member of the SCR as an acolyte, myself from the MCR as a torch bearer and a JCR member as thurifer - a fairly unusual coincidence I should think.

Afterwards there was a reception in the parish hall and an opportunity to catch up on news from friends, before agroup of us returned to the city centre for coffee and further refreshment and talk. All round a very good celebration of this feast day.

The parish website has some pictures of the Mass:

'Ecce Agnus Dei'

Rather unfortunately the Clever Boy is all too prominent on this other photograph, but ignore me and admire the carpet of flowers:

The carpet of flowers for Corpus Christi, and the newly painted Altar Frontal.

Image: SS Gregory and Augustine website

For more photos of the Mass and Procession click here.

There are three Extraordinary Form Masses this coming week at SS Gregory and Augustine: Wednesday June 5th and Friday June 7th at 6 p.m. as usual, and the First Thursday Votive of Our Lord Eternal High Priest at 12 noon on June 6th.  The latter, inspired by the teaching of Pope Pius XI, gives a monthly opportunity to pray for priests.

The following Sunday, June 9th, (this month the second rather than third Sunday) there will be a Sung Extraordinary Form Mass at 12 noon. 

An Extraordinary baptism

On Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending the baptism of Alice Curry, the daughter of my friends Owen and Emily Curry. We all met originally in our Pusey House days, a time which was fruitful for forging lasting friendships. Owen and Emily married in 2011 at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford and according to the Extraordinary Form. It was therefore to that church, and to the Extraordianry Form, and to Fr Saward who conducted their wedding service that they returned for the baptism of their daughter.

Beforehand I met up with another old friend who was here for the occasion and we had a very enjoyable lunch together before travelling up the Woodstock Road to the church.

I was called upon to act as the proxy for the godfather, Fr Martin Stamnestro, who was unable to make the journey from his parish in his native Norway. So it fell to me and to the godmother, Kate Miller, to make the latin renunciations and affirmations the rite required. The older rite does make it very clear that the infant is being well and truly exorcised of Original Sin - and as Mgr Knox used to say, the Devil understand latin.

During the ceremony there was a sudden realisation that the re was no white garment to place on young Alice, and in a moment of inspiration the veil was brought from the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in the Lady Chapel to act as a baptismal covering. We then processed, as planned, to that altar, with Kate carrying Alice and myself bearing the baptismal candle, to place Alice upon the altar and consecrate her to Our Lady. I suspect the use of the Virgin's veil may now become part of the Use of SS Gregory and Augustine...

Our Lady keeps a prayerful eye over Alice who is held in her mother's arms, and with her father on the left. Between them is Kate Miller the godmother, and I am standing behind Fr Saward.

Image: Br Andrew Wagstaff C.O.on Flickr

Afterwards most of use made our way to Owen's mother's house for tea in the garden and the drinking of Alice's health, and a general catching up of news and ideas between old friends.

A very happy and enjoyable afternoon, and at its heart the sacramental regeneration of a new Catholic.

First Blessings, First Masses

I now have some pictures of last weekend's first blessings and first Masses of  Fr James Bradley and Fr Daniel Lloyd.

Here they can be seen giving First Blessings in St Patrick's Soho:

 

Father James Bradley

 

Father Daniel Lloyd

Images: Fr Ray Blake blog and Andrew Wagstaff.

There is an illustrated report from the New Liturgical Movement on The First Mass of a Young Ordinariate Priest: Fr. James Bradley which was celebrated on Sunday morning at Balham.

That evening I attended Fr Lloyd's First Mass at Holy Rood here in Oxford. It was well attended, with a well conducted liturgy in the best Ordinariatre style, with excellent music to accompany the liturgical action, and an inspiring and moving sermon from Fr John Saward on the infinite benefits of the Mass and the high calling of the priesthood. The NLM has pictures of the Mass at First Mass of Fr. Daniel Lloyd, Holy Rood, Oxford.

On Monday I attended Fr Lloyd's second Mass, again at Holy Rood, on the Solemnity of St George.

Solemn Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine

Last Monday I went to the Solemn Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford which was for their principal patron Pope St Gregory the Great's feast day in the usus antiquior. This year is the centenary of the building of the church and the Mass was very much a thanksgiving for the last hundred years and a commitment to the future. I have been waiting for photographs (and time) to write about the event, and now, thanks to the LMS Chairman's blog and a few more spare minutes, I can do so.

The church was founded a few years before the re-establishment of the parochial system (in 1918), as a 'mission church', thanks to the efforts of a convert philanthropist Charles Robertson, and was the first church in Oxford to be looked after by the secular clergy. Up to that time Catholic ministry in Oxford lay with the Jesuits, who had run the local mission since the seventeenth century, and they had been joined by the Capuchin Fransciscans and the Benedictines.

The church was packed with more than a hundred people in the congregation, and with another twenty in the choir loft. This was a choir of boys from the Oratory School near Reading, who accompanied the Mass. Their predecessors had sung on the same feast in 1941, and now, seventy one years later, the same programme was sung.

In choir there were local secular clergy, representitives of the Dominicans and Carmelites and of the Ordinariate. The celebrant was Fr Saward, the parish priest, the deacon Fr Antony Conlon and the sub-deacon Fr David Elliott, both from the Oratory School - Fr Conlon is Chaplain and Fr Elliott Head of Theology and priest of the Reading Ordinariate Group.

Fr Richard Duffield of the Oxford Oratory, who has served as parish priest at the church, preached a very elegant sermon about the building of the church, interwound with images from Gerard Manley Hopkins and also speaking of the role of St Gregory as the inspiration of the mission to convert the Angles and the Saxons to Christianity and to adhere to the Rock of Peter. The text of his sermon can be read here.

There are more photographs from Dr Shaw here.

Following the Mass there was a splendid buffet - always important on the occasions - the opportunity to meet up with friends both old and new, and, led by Fr Saward, to drink to the health of the Holy Father, the successor of St Gregory.

Forthcoming EF Masses at SS Gregory and Augustine in Oxford

Fr Saward at the church of SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford has sent me these details of three forthcoming Masses in the usus antiquior at the church:

This coming Sunday, February 19th, Quinquagesima, Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 12 noon

Ash Wednesday, February 22nd Missa Cantata, plus polyphony, in the Extraordinary Form at 6 p.m.

Looking further ahead, on Monday 12th March, there will be High Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 6 p.m. for the patronal feast of St Gregory, with singing provided by the choir of the Oratory School. The preacher will be Fr Richard Duffield C.O. This will be one of the principal events in celebration of the parish centenary.

For those of you who do not know the church it is at 322 Woodstock Road, and on the no.6 Oxford -Wolvercote bus route.

No riot, just a baptism

Yesterday was St Scholastica's day, and, as far as I could see, a considerably more peaceful one than that of 1355 in Oxford. The riot on that occasion was the worst, or at very least the most famous, in the history of Town-Gown conflict in the city. There is a brief account of it here, and a more detailed one here, and there is another essay about it here.

However this year I did witness a happier celebration of the saint's feast when I attended the baptism and first communion of a young lady who, in honour of the feast, took Scholastica as an additional baptismal name. She moved to Oxford some months ago and has been under instruction from Fr Saward at the church of SS Gregory and Augustine. Both the baptism and the Mass which followed it were in the Extraordinary Form. Several of us had not attended the baptismal liturgy in that form before and were impressed by its studied dignity and ceremonies.

Afterwards we celebrated with a reception that was warm and friendly - but not riotous I hasten to add - in the Presbytery and wished the neophyte well on her continuing pilgrimage of faith.

Forthcoming Usus Antiquior Masses in Oxford

There will be Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the church of SS Gregory and Augustine, Woodstock Road, Oxford on the following occasions in the near future:

Wednesday 30th November, St Andrew, 6 p.m. (and, of course, every Wednesday at that time)

Thursday, 1st December, Martyrs of the University of Oxford, 12 noon.

Friday, 2nd December, First Friday, 6 p.m.

Thursday 8th December, The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, 12 noon.

Tuesday 13th December, St Lucy, 6 p.m. This is Fr Saward's ordination anniversary.

Sunday 18th December Advent IV, Sung Mass, 12 noon.

EF Sung Mass last Sunday in Oxford

On the LMS Chairman's blog there are pictures of the Missa cantata celebrated at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford last Sunday by Fr John Saward. This is the first of a plan for a monthy celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary form at 12 noon on the third Sunday of each month. The report and pictures can be viewed at Sunday Missa Cantata in Oxford.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend on this occasion, but hope to do so on other occasions.

SS Gregory and Augustine's has the, literally, valuable advantage of possessing its own parking area, as well as being on a main bus route, so getting there is not difficult if you live within easy travelling distance of Oxford.

The next such celebration will be on Sunday December 18th.

Forthcoming EF Masses at SS Gregory and Augustine

Fr Saward, priest-in-charge of SS Gregory and Augustine, informs me that there will be celebrations of Mass in the Extrordinary Form in the church as follows

This evening, Thursday 20th, at 6 p.m., Low Mass.

Next week the Wednesday evening Mass on 26th October is cancelled, but there will be an additional Mass that week:
Friday 28th October, SS. Simon & Jude, 6 p.m., Low Mass

Sunday 30th October, Rosary Service & Traditional Benediction, 5 p.m.

Tuesday 1st November, All Saints, 6 p.m., Low Mass

Wednesday 2nd November, All Souls, 6 p.m. Sung Requiem Mass

Thursday 3rd November, First Thursday, 12 noon, Low Mass (Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament before and after)

Friday 4th November, First Friday, 6 p.m., Low Mass

On Sunday 20th November there will be Sung Mass at 12 noon, the second in the series of offering the Sunday liturgy in the Extraordinary Form.

Sung Extraordinary Form Mass this Sunday in Oxford

Fr John Saward of SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford will celebrate the first of a series of regular monthly Sunday EF Sung Masses in his church this coming Sunday, October16th, at 12 noon.

If you know anyone who might be interested in attending please pass the information on to them.

If you are visiting Oxford from outside you could combine attendance at the Mass with the Forty Hours Devotion at the Oxford Oratory.