Solemn Mass for the Immaculate Conception at the Oxford Oratory

Yesterday evening there was the Solemn High Mass for the Immaculate Conception at the Oxford Oratory. The preacher was Fr Richard Ounsworth O.P. from Blackfriars here in Oxford.

The Elevation:

The Ecce Agnus Dei:

Photography by Hannah Chegwyn.

Images: Oxford Oratory website

Solemn First Vespers of the Immaculate Conception

Last night the Oxford Oratory began its celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the  Blessed Virgin Mary - under whose patronage both the English Oratory and the Archdiocese of Birmingham lie - with Solemn First Vespers and Benediction. 

The Lady Altar is incensed:

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament:

Photographs by Hannah Chegwyn.
Images: Oxford Oratory website

Some topical anniversary posts from around the Blogosphere

Here are some posts from other blogs which may interest readers - I would commend each of them in their own right to others.

First there are some fine pictures from the New Liturgical Movement of the Solemn Pontifical Mass at the London Oratory last night. The celebrant was Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. They can be seen at Pontifical Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception at the London Oratory

New Catholic at Rorate Caeli has a piece by Bishop Ullathorne, first Catholic Bishop of Birmingham, in the post On the 160th Anniversary of the Dogmatic Definition of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX

Peter Kwasniewski at Rorate Caeli has a post with links to the relevant texts of both the Papal encyclical Quanta Cura and the Syllabus itself in The 150th Anniversary of Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors. Reading the texts makes one realise how little has changed in terms of the issues, however much we may think the circumstances have changed.

Finally The Mad Monarchist has a post about the Greek political and constitutional catastrophe of forty years ago with the referendum on the monarchy there. It can be read at Anniversary of a Greek Tragedy

The Meeting at the Golden Gate

In the middle ages the standard representation of the fact of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was the meeting of St Anne and St Joachim at the Golden Gate.

Here are some depictions of that event in medieval stained glass, posted by the Rev Gordon Plumb on the Medieval Religion discussion group; all of them date from the end of the fifteenth or the very beginning of the sixteenth century:

A few medieval, some of them restored, images of the Meeting or Kiss at the Golden Gate:

Elland, St Mary the Virgin, West Yorkshire, East window, 3a:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/15218851455

Rouen, St Ouen, Bay 30:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/15491062969

Great Malvern Priory, Worcestershire, NII:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/15317572766

Gresford, Denbighshire:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/15243404958

There are more views, posted by Dr Madeleine Gray, of the glass in this window at:
http://stainedglass.llgc.org.uk/image/6335
Click below the photo for the larger version - and scroll down for thumbnails of the rest of the sequence.

The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. 

The Immaculate Conception
by José Claudio Antolinez (1635-1675)

Image: Catholicism Pure and Simple blog

At the Oxford Oratory we have been preparing with the usual Novena in church, but this year, unfortunately, I was only free to attend on a few of those days. Yesterday evening we had a very fine celebration of Solemn Vespers and Benediction.

This lunchtime I attended the Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the church and this evening I shall return for the Solemn Mass, at which the preacher will bre Fr Richard Biggerstaff of the St Barnabas Society. At the same time there will be another Extraordinary Form Mass celebrated for the feast at SS Gregory and Augustine here in Oxford

Not only is the Oratory under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady but so also is the Archdiocese of Birmingham, so it has a double significance for us.

There is a useful account of the historical development of the dogma underlying the celebration  here. My post from last year Celebrating the Immaculate Conception has a link to an online article about western and eastern traditions regarding the celebration of the feast and, also from last year, St Anselm on the Immaculate Conception provides the beautiful Breviary reading for today from the works of a former Archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the Church.

There is another, less well-known, painting by Antolinez of the Immaculate Conception at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, dating from circa 1670, and is, I assure readers, quite breath-taking to see:

Image: Wikimedia

The painting is, in my opinion, quite lovely - one that stays in the memory with its charm and delicacy and joyful exuberance. Well worth a visit to the Museum for that alone.

José Claudio Antolinez (1635-75) spent most of his painting career working in his home city of Madrid. He commonly painted depictions of the Immaculate Conception, done in a colourful and gentle style, yet also possessing that joyful and exuberant sense. By contrast, Antonlinez himself was known for having a bad temper and a considerable ego. His "haughty character and sarcastic personality gained him many enemies among his contemporaries", and he played maddening jokes on his colleagues. In addition to religious paintings, he also produced several portraits and genre scenes. He died in Madrid from a fever in 1675 after suffering a number of wounds during a fencing match.

Deep night hath come down on this rough-spoken world

And the banners of darkness are boldly unfurled;

And the tempest-tossed Church - all her eyes are on thee,

They look to thy shining, Sweet Star of the Sea.

Fr Faber

Celebrating the Immaculate Conception

  The Immaculate Conception

Jose Antolinez, 1650

Image:Catholicism Pure& Simple

The New Liturgical Movement has a very interersting article today by Gregory Di Pippo about the history of the liturgical observation of the Immaculate Conception by the Church, both in the West and in the East, about monastic customs and significantly, how the observance of the feast in a year such as this, when the calendar date falls on a Sunday has varied. It can be read at Liturgical Notes on the Immaculate Conception.

St Anselm on the Immaculate Conception

I was struck by the beauty and by the especially rich theological nature of the second Reading at the Office of Readings for today's transferred Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and I thought I would share it with readers who do not perhaps follow the Divine Office.

From a sermon by St Anselm:

O Virgin, by whose blessing all nature is blessed!

 

Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night – everything that is subject to the power or use of man – rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace. All creatures were dead, as it were, useless for men or for the praise of God, who made them. The world, contrary to its true destiny, was corrupted and tainted by the acts of men who served idols. Now all creation has been restored to life and rejoices that it is controlled and given splendour by men who believe in God.

  

The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness. Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy. These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.

  

Through the fullness of the grace that was given you, dead things rejoice in their freedom, and those in heaven are glad to be made new. Through the Son who was the glorious fruit of your virgin womb, just souls who died before his life-giving death rejoice as they are freed from captivity, and the angels are glad at the restoration of their shattered domain.

  

Lady, full and overflowing with grace, all creation receives new life from your abundance. Virgin, blessed above all creatures, through your blessing all creation is blessed, not only creation from its Creator, but the Creator himself has been blessed by creation.

  

To Mary God gave his only-begotten Son, whom he loved as himself. Through Mary God made himself a Son, not different but the same, by nature Son of God and Son of Mary. The whole universe was created by God, and God was born of Mary. God created all things, and Mary gave birth to God. The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary.

  

God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the mother of the re-created world. God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the mother through whom all things were given new life. For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Saviour of the world. Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.

  

Truly the Lord is with you, to whom the Lord granted that all nature should owe as much to you as to himself.

  

Translation by Universalis

Celebrating the Immaculate Conception at the Oxford Oratory

Our Lady conceived without sin is the patroness both of the Congregation of the Oratory and of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It was therefore fitting and proper that the Solemnity of her Immaculate Conception was celebrated once again in style at the Oxford Oratory.

We prepared, as usual,  with a Novena and Benediction following the evening Mass at the Oratory from a week last Wednesday.

Last night on there was Solemn First Vespers sung by the Oratorians and the choir, followed once again by Benediction. This was the first occasion on which a very handsome Gothic style monstrance which is currently in the care of the Oxford Oratory was used on such an occasion here, and it was a fine addition to the ceremonial.

Image: Oxford Oratory

This morning there was a Solemn Mass at 10 which drew a good congregation. The celebrant and preacher was Bishop Paul Hendricks, an assisatnt in the Archdiocese of Southwark. For the Mass Bishop Hendricks used the chalice presented to the parish by Blessed Pope Pius IX, who defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854.

The following photographs from the Oratory website, show the Bishop entering the church in procession at the beginning of the Mass and at the reception afterwards. There is another reason for including them, and that is, well, I have to be honest, a type of vanity - by mischance I have got on to the right hand side of both photographs - but never mind that.

Image: Oxford Oratory

Image: Oxford Oratory

Immaculate Conception - an Antolinez in England

I have now found an image of the other version by José Antolinez of the Immaculate Conception.

It is in the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle in county Durham, which has the largest number of Spanish paintings in Britain outside London in addition to its other collections - notably of French eighteenth and nineteenth century art and furnishings. The Bowes is very well worth visiting if you are in the area - it is quite a surprise to find a collection similar in nature to the Wallace Collection in London on the edge of a small northern market town. The website of the museum is here.

Image: Wikimedia

The painting is, in my opinion, quite lovely - one that stays in the memory with its charm and delicacy and joyful exhuberance. Worth a visit to the Museum for that alone.

José Claudio Antolinez (1635-75) spent most of his painting career working in his home city of Madrid. He commonly painted depictions of the Immaculate Conception, done in a colourful and gentle style. By contrast, Antonlinez himself was known for having a bad temper and a considerable ego. His '"haughty character and sarcastic personality gained him many enemies among his contemporaries", and he played maddening jokes on his colleagues. In addition to religious paintings, he also produced several portraits and genre scenes. He died in Madrid from a fever in 1675 after suffering a number of wounds during a fencing match.

Immaculate Conception

We have been preparing for today's Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception here at the Oxford Oratory with the usual Novena in church - I have managed to attend most days, but not, alas, all - and had Solemn Vespers and Benediction yesterday evening. This evening there will be a Solemn Mass. Not only is the Oratory under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady but also the Archdiocese of Birmingham, so it has a double significance for us.

There is a useful account of the historical development of this dogma here.

The Immaculate Conception
by José Claudio Antolinez (1635-1675)

Image: Catholicism Pure and Simple blog

There is another version of this painting by Antolinez at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, and is quite breath-taking to see.

Deep night hath come down on this rough-spoken world

And the banners of darkness are boldly unfurled;

And the tempest-tossed Church - all her eyes are on thee,

They look to thy shining, Sweet Star of the Sea.

Fr Faber