Inaugurating the Year of Faith in Cambridge - October 10th

On Wednesday October 10th  at 7 pm Mgr Andrew Burnham from the Ordinariate will preach at Solemn Evensong and Benediction for the beginning of the Year of Faith in the marvellous Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge. Not only will this be a service worth attending in itself but it is an opportunity or excuse to go to the church, which was built in 1885-90. If you have visited OLEM before you will know what to expect. If you have not, then visiting this spectacular church is a treat in store.

 

The interior of Our Lady and the English Martyrs

Image: Lawrence Lew OP on Gloria TV

Ordinariate Evensong at Blackfriars

Last night I attended the Ordinariate Solemn Evensong for Whitsuntide at Blackfriars here in Oxford which I publicised the other week.

The Newman Consort were once again in good voice, and sang the early sixteenth century Magnificat Regale by Robert Fayrfax; Msgr Burnham said in his words of thanks that this was rather rarely performed - I think its length may inhibit its use on other than grand festal occasions - and as something wrtten for the Court had been chosen to mark the Jubilee. The Monseigneur also made the point that such music is part of that patrimony the Ordinariate is seeking to recover and share with other Catholics. The Anglican choral tradition is indeed well suited to use such splendid pre-Reformation music which is very much part of a common patrimony for Catholics and Anglicans.

The church at Blackfriars is a very dignified setting for such services, and it was good to see the very handsome red cope and stole, together with the matching humeral veil, all decorated with fine gold embroidery, which belongs to the Priory being used.
 

Celebrating the Annunciation with the Ordinariate

Having attended and communicated at the lunchtime EF Mass at the Oxford Oratory yesterday I decided to attend also the Solemn Mass offered by my friends at the Oxford Ordinariate Group at the church of the Holy Rood in the evening. I had been unable to join them last week for a similar Mass for St Joseph, but I made the (relative) effort to go and was impressed by what I found.

This was a Mass celebrated in a style Mgr Burnham and his group are developing which appeals to a wider congregation than just the members of the Ordinariate as such. So we had the novus ordo in English, but with the Latin propers from the Gradual sung by the members of the Newman Consort, and with congregational participation in the Missa de Angelis.

This worked very well as a liturgical style, and coincides with my sense that Anglican patrimony is more about how you do things than sticking to the BCP or specific, legitimised, Anglican forms, and that such developments can assist the wider Church.

It also worked well in the spare, austere interior of Holy Rood. In many ways it is far too plain as a church for my taste, but it has in that austerity and in the relief behind the altar of Christ in Majesty, a hint of the Romanesque. Add to that plainsong and lashings of incense, and you have a very prayerful setting for dignified, serious, liturgy.

With that in mind, and as it was the Mass Rorate, it seems not inappropriate to illustrate this post with this illustration and accompanying description, courtesy of John Dillon and the Medieval Religion discussion group:

The Initial R, with the Annunciation, from a Gradual, ca. 1300
German. Probably made at the convent of Sankt Katharinenthal, Lake Constance.

4 x 3 1/16 in. (10.2 x 7.8 cm) Tempera and gold leaf on parchment

Metropolitan Museum of Art :Purchase, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by exchange, 1982 (1982.175)

Protected by the arching curve of the blue-and-white letter R, the standing figures of the archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary are set against a burnished gold background.

The barefoot Archangel wears a simple salmon-colored tunic, belted at the waist, and holds a staff. His right hand raised and his wings outstretched, he addresses the Virgin Mary, who stands before him and lifts both hands as the dove of the Holy Ghost whispers in her ear.

The letter R is the opening of the Introit Rorate caeli de super (Drop down dew, you heavens, from above), sung on the Feast of the Annunciation, to celebrate the Archangel Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus.

The cutting was once part of a gradual, a book containing the choral parts of the Mass. It was probably painted about 1300 by the Dominican nuns at the convent of Sankt Katharinenthal on Lake Constance.

Ordinariate Evensong in Oxford next week

Next Wednesday evening the Oxford Ordinariate Group will celebrate Solemn Evensong and Benediction at Blackfriars at 7.30 by kind permission of the Prior and Community. The officiant will be Mgr Andrew Burnham and the preacher his deacon, the Rev. Daniel Lloyd. The music will, I understand, be mainly by Tallis and Purcell and will be sung by the Newman Consort. If you are able to get along I would recommend it as an opportunity to see the Ordinariate's concept of a continuing Patrimony in action. The previous such Evensongs at Blackfriars have been very successful and well attended.

Solemn Evensong with the Ordinariate

Yesterday evening I attended the second of the Solemn Evensongs held at Blackfriars by the Oxford Ordinariate group. As last time this was well attended, the congregation including Ordinariate members, other relatively recent converts like myself, cradle Catholics and some who are still within the Church of England.

The service was to celebrate the feast of St Fridewide, and the form of service now has the Vatican recognitio, rather than using the version from the US Book of Common Order - thus the suffrage for The Queen was in its proper place.

The music was provided by The Newman Consort, the officiant was Mgr. Andrew Burnham and the preacher Dom Aidan Bellenger OSB, Abbot of Downside.

The collect was translated from the Sarum Missal as published in Antwerp in 1527, just before all the trouble began, and a worthy reminder of patrimony:

Almighty and eternal God, source of truth and lover of virginity, grant us, we beseech thee, that the merits of St Frideswide, thy virgin so pleasing to thee, may be as a commendation of us to thess whose life by its chastity gave to thee such satisfaction. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and regneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Afterwards there was Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and with those two superb twelfth century hymns indicative of thec Benedictine, indeed Cluniac, spirituality of the age - Peter Abelard's O what their joy and their glory must be and Bernard of Cluny's Jerusalem the golden - and both translated by the incomparable, and Anglican, J.M.Neale.

This was an opportunity for the Anglican patrimony in the use of traditional language and choral music to be made available to the wider Catholic Church.

I have to say that I genuinely prefer the structure of Vespers to Evensong, which of course merges Vespers and Compline, and miss the antiphons to the psalms and canticles, but the combined effect of words, music and ceremonial was very conducive to prayerful reflection.

I am in such matters inclined to the view that patrimony is more about the way things are done rather than the specific forms of Anglican liturgy - that has, after all, been debatable territory since very early in the Oxford Movement - but that is in no way to fault what was offered last night.

Afterwards there was a reception in the Aula at Blackfriars and an opportunity to catch up with friends old and new, and the prospect of another such Evensong next term.

Ordinariate Liturgical Patrimony lecture on October 15th

From Fr Ray Blake's blog:

Mgr Andrew Burnham of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the former Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet, is visiting this parish on 15th October and will celebrate a Solemn Mass at 12 noon.


This event is organised by the “Association for Latin Liturgy”. He will also speak on “The Liturgical Patrimony of the Ordinariate and the Reform of the Reform” at 2.15pm. Later he will celebrate First Vespers.

Making liturgical history with the Ordinariate

Earlier this evening I attended the first Mass offered by the Oxford group of the Ordinariate at Pusey House. Following the reception of members in Holy Week this was the first independent liturgical celebration, and along with a number of other supporters I went along to support the group and to participate in the Mass.

The celebrant was Mgr Andrew Burnham, and this was the first opportunity to really enable one to see what the liturgical character of the Ordinariate may be. Whilst faithfully adhering to the Missal the Mass, rather as at the reception Mass the previous week at the Oratory, had more congregational hymns and also sung propers that drew upon the older traditions of the Church. If "patrimony" was what one was seeking to identify then yes, it was present - present as a particular, reverential, style that used good music to ornament the liturgical action.

In this Mgr Burnham, who used to teach liturgical studies, and his team of servers and musicians are to be congratulated in producing a fine liturgy that reflected the Anglican inheritance that the Ordinariate can bring to the established Catholic books.

It was slightly curious for several of us, old Pusey hands that we are, to be back in the church and able to communicate as part of the Universal as well as the local Church. As was said the stones of the building were doubtless happy to see us back. The congregation was welcomed by the Principal of Pusey House, who sat in choir for the Mass.

The Ordinariate group's Mass will be celebrated at Pusey House at 6.30 (doors open at 6.15) on Saturdays this term with the exception of Pentecost eve and in Eighth Week, when another venue will be used.

Ordinariate reception

Yesterday evening I attended the Mass of reception for members of the Oxford group of the Ordinariate which was celebrated by Mgr Burnham at the Oxford Oratory.

I have been going along to the preparatory meetings on Saturdays, and here is a picture taken the other week of members of the group together with Mgr Burnham and several of us who were there in support:

I was asked to act as pro-sponsor for a couple, Arthur and Sylvia, from the Derby group who are currently staying near Oxford and were also received last night at the Mass. This was a great privilege which I was happy to fulfill. Mgr Burnham had explained last weekend that hev sought to have a liturgy that conveyed a sense of what the Ordinariate can both share with and bring to the wider Church. So there was more than might be usual of the Anglican tradition of congregational singing with an offertory hymn, but also beautifully sung Gregorian chant for the Kyries, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei - which bodes well for their Saturday evening Vigil mass at Pusey House after Easter. Amongst those being received were several friends from St Thomas here in Oxford, and James Bradley was on hand to take photographs, which will doubtless appear when he has time from his own hectic schedule of receptions, on his Flickr website. There is more information about the Group and its liturgical programme for the next few months here. Please continue to pray for all those received last night or over this Easter, and for the success of this significant Papal initiative.

The Ordinariate in Oxford

Last Saturday I again attended as a supporter the catechumenate meeting for the Oxford group entering the Ordinariate this Easter. The speaker was Fr Jerome Bertram of the Oxford Oratory, who prepared me for reception in 2005, and who delivered a really excellent talk on the practise and practicalities of prayer as well as giving good practical advice about confession.

It seemed to me that the group of candidates attending had moved on a significant stage, going from people who wanted to enter the new structure of the Ordinariate but were still a little unsure as to what it involved, to being committed and confident in what they are about to do.

As if to underline this we assembled at the end for a group photograph which included those of us who are going along as supporters.

Please keep those being received into the Church in your prayers, and especially the Oxford candidates who are being received on Spy Wednesday at the 6 pm Mass at the Oratory.

Mgr Burnham has forwarded the news that the Fathers of the Oxford Oratory have readily agreed to designate the weekly Wednesday 10am Mass at the Oratory as an Ordinariate Mass.

This means that Ordinariate Priests would also be on the roster of those who celebrate that Mass and, should there be sufficient interest, lay members of the Ordinariate might read the first reading and psalm. He says that he hopes that this both responds imaginatively to the suggestion of the Archbishop of Birmingham that there be an abiding link between the Oratory and the Oxford Ordinariate Group and gives a regular midweek place where members can meet and support one another.