Images of Holy Week from S. Magnus

The High Altar before the Mass of Palm Sunday. Note the table of palms on the Epistle Side, draped in violet.

The ministers before the ceremonial re-rentry into the Church after the Palm Sunday Procession.

The ministers after the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified on Good Friday

The High Altar after Vespers on Good Friday

The Blessing of Incense at the Easter Vigil

The Deacon carrying the Reed (three pointed candle) into the Church for the Lumen Christi Procession, Holy Saturday

The Deacon lights the Paschal candle during the singing of the Exsultet. The Reed has carries the flame of the New Fire into the Church.

The Celebrant dips the Paschal Candle into the Font to fructify the Baptismal Waters during the Paschal Vigil.

S. Magnus Day 2011

Just sharing some photos (taken on a mobile phone) from this year's S. Magnus day (April 16th). It is very rare that the feast falls in Lent, and I understand that in the Old Calender this would never have happened at all. Therefore, the propers for S. Magnus are based on those for a Martyr in Paschaltide, and in the Trondheim Use (the Archdiocese in which the cult of S. Magnus grew up), the Gospel is introduced by, not only a proper Alleluia, but also the Pascha nostrum immolatus est of Easter Day! This was extended to all Celebrations of S. Magnus day, even if the day strictly fell outside of Eastertide. But, this year we found ourselves celebrating our Patronal Feast in a veiled Church in Passiontide. Above you can see the Deacon and Subdeacon making their Confession, and then censing the Celebrant at the Introit.

The Celebrant and Ministers read the Introit and Kyrie. As you can see, a tunicled crucifer is in attendance, and adds solemnity to the occasion. The Lenten office was also commemorated: the second Collect etc and the Last Gospel being proper to the Saturday.


Here the Deacon takes the cruet of wine from the Subdeacon at the Offertory. It might interest you to know that the Vestments worn at Saturday's Celebration once belonged to Nashdom Abbey, and are part of a Pontifical set in the Spanish style. Although not visible here, the maniples are fringed with tassels. I wonder if the tunicle and dalmatic had even bigger ones which were deemed too excessive and removed.

The Shrine of S. Magnus, unveiled for our devotion. The flags in the flower arrangement are the old flag of Orkney. The red cross on a gold ground was supposed to be based on S. Magnus Erlendsson's own standard and bore his name as the unofficial flag of Orkney since the Islands came under Scottish rule. It was also used by the Kalmar Union of Scandinavian kingdoms until 1523. The unofficial flag was superseded in 2007 by a new version, approved by the Court of the Lord Lyon, which was designed by a man with his grandchildren's crayons. It is red with yellow and blue crosses and looks from a distance like the Norwegian flag.

Readers

Recently, at a Solemn Celebration of Mass on an occasion when it was not possible to procure a Deacon, one of the servers was sent out as a lector to chant the Epistle of the Mass instead of the Priest. In accordance with Liturgical tradition, at a Missa Cantata, any "tonsured cleric" may chant the Epistle, but he does not receive the Celebrant's blessing afterwards as the Subdeacon does, and he carries out this office wearing a cassock and surplice.

This got me to thinking about the text of the Apostolic Letter which supressed the ancient order of Readers in the Roman Catholic Church, and redefined it as one of many "ministries" which may be carried out by lay people. Ministeria Quaedam:

2. What up to now were called minor orders are henceforth to be called ministries.

3. Ministries may be assigned to lay Christians; hence they are no longer to be considered as reserved to candidates for the sacrament of orders.

4. Two ministries, adapted to present-day needs, are to be preserved in the whole Latin Church, namely, those of reader and acolyte. The functions heretofore assigned to the subdeacon are entrusted to the reader and the acolyte...

5. The reader is appointed for a function proper to him, that of reading the word of God in the liturgical assembly. Accordingly, he is to proclaim the readings from sacred Scripture, except for the gospel in the Mass and other sacred celebrations; he is to recite the psalm between the readings when there is no psalmist; he is to present the intentions for the general intercessions in the absence of a deacon or cantor; he is to direct the singing and the participation by the faithful; he is to instruct the faithful for the worthy reception of the sacraments. He may also, insofar as may be necessary, take care of preparing other faithful who are appointed on a temporary basis to read the Scriptures in liturgical celebrations. That he may more fittingly and perfectly fulfill these functions, he is to meditate assiduously on sacred Scripture. Aware of the office he has undertaken, the reader is to make every effort and employ suitable means to acquire that increasingly warm and living love and knowledge of Scripture that will make him a more perfect disciple of the Lord.

The Letter, having supressed the order of Reader, and re-conceived its functions as a ministry, goes on to describe at length the functions and qualities of an individual who might take on that ministry. In effect, the list of functions above preserves substantially the office of Reader while supressing the order: essentially, Readers still have an office to perform, but they do not require ordination to do so. The notion that the office can be stripped entire from the order rather flies in the face of a traditional understanding of orders that is common to both East and West, namely that an individual is set aside by ordination conferred by the Ordinary and placed in the order and hierarchy of clergy, and in special cases where an individual fulfills an office pertaining to an order to which he has not been ordained, the office is curtailed or adjusted in some way to show this. A cleric not-a-Subdeacon who acts as Subdeacon at Mass may not, for instance, wear the maniple or re-build the Chalice at the Ablutions, and I understand that Byzantine readers who receive a blessing to act as Subdeacons by the Bishop receive Communion outisde of the Altar.

In most modern Liturgies to which I've been subjected, it seems that the assumption that Readers appointed from the laity would be trained has been entirely lost. The readings from scripture at Mass or the Office have been reconceived as a valuable opportunity for "active lay involvement" in the liturgy and as such are treated as a commodity which should be gifted to an individual deemed to be in need of validation, regardless of how good they are at actually reading so as to be heard and understood. This commodification of the Sacred Liturgy as an opportunity for pushy lay people to perform is absolutely detrimental to Parish life.

Anglicans took a step in the right direction by instituting the office of Lay Reader. These individuals vest in choir dress and wear a distinctive blue scarf, and as such are clearly identifiable to the congregations they serve. They train for a number of years and receive the blessing and license of the Bishop....but why not ordination? Last time I checked they trained for three years and received weekly pastoral instruction, why are they still "Lay"?

Again, I wonder if it is slowly dawning on the Church in the 21st century that Christians in the early days actually knew what they were doing by ordaining doormen, readers, exorcists and acolytes. Our reader at the Solemn Mass described above was chosen because he could sing in tune and has no problems reading. It was not the performance of an individual, there was no hiatus while someone shuffled from a pew, trampling people en route. The reading was sung by a person able to do so, which is why we call it a Sung Mass in the first place. It was orderly and edifying and contributed to the greater act of worship that we were involved in. Do we still really think we don't need minor orders?

Two Events...

THE ANNUNCIATION
On Friday, March 25th we shall mark The Annunciation with a High Mass at 6.30 pm when the music will be Missa de Beata Virgine by the 16th century Spanish composer Cristobal de Morales and William Byrd’s Propers for this feast. If you are not celebrating this occasion in your own church, you would be most welcome to join us at St Magnus the Martyr.

ST MAGNUS DAY
This year our Patronal Festival (April 16th) falls on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, and although this is a busy liturgical time for us all, we shall celebrate the day with a High Mass at 12.30 p.m. to which we hope you can come. The mass setting will be by the French composer Marc de Ranse (1881 – 1951), his Messe en l’honneur du pieux Roi Saint Louis (1924)

Both these celebrations will be followed by quality refreshments, to which all are welcome.

Please have a look at our website for details of our Holy Week Liturgies (www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk)

Blessing of the Thames 2011

The Blessing of the Waters that is performed on the Feast of the Theophany in the East is well known. In the Old Roman rite, water was also blessed by dipping a cross into it (symbolic of Christ's Baptism) on the Eve of the Epiphany. At S. Magnus the Martyr, this ancient practice manifests itself as the Blessing of the Thames on the Sunday after the Epiphany, celebrated as the "satellite" Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, using the propers of the Epiphany Octave.

Above, you can see the Procession to the bridge forming outside S. Magnus.

Here, the Ministers leave the Church. Celebrant, Assistant Priest and an acting Subdeacon.

I have included this photo to illustrate that the Celebrant's cope features an image of the Holy Family. In the pre-Pius XII calender, this Sunday would have been the Feast of the Holy Family. All of these Liturgical observances, however, are inextricably linked in the history of the celebration of the Epiphany, and historically many different "epiphanies" or "manifestations" of Christ have been celebrated around this feast; the nativity, the angeli ad pastores episode in the Gospel, the coming of the Magi (as has developed in the West), the Baptism of Christ and finally the Wedding at Cana. While in the West these epiphanies have, to varying degrees, split off into different observances, the Armenians keep the Feast of the Theophany as the Nativity and the "Epiphanies" in one.


The Procession is led up onto London Bridge by the Verger of the Church. The Parish of S. Magnus, like many English churches, maintains the tradition of the Verger leading processions. An Icon of the Epiphany that is normally venerated in the Baptistery of S. Magnus was also borne in Procession.


The Solemn Blessing of the River has, like many other solemn blessings including that of palms on Palm Sunday, a structure rather like an abbreviated Mass. It starts with readings from the Old and New Testament, followed by a "Gradual" hymn of S. Ephrem, culminating in a Preface, Prayer of Blessing forming the "Canon" of the rite and followed by a Collect-like prayer and dismissal. Above you can see the Cardinal Rector of S. Magnus blessing the River while Canon Andrew Nunn of Southwark Cathedral holds the megaphone. This Blessing is a joint venture with Southwark, and the place of Blessing is the point at which the Parish boundaries of S. Magnus and S. Saviour's (now the Cathedral) meet, pretty much in the middle of the Bridge.


While the Old Roman Rite tamely dips a Cross into the Waters, the S. Magnus version, in common with Eastern Practices, involves a cross being thrown into the River Thames to bless it. Needless to say, no one is expected to jump in and retrieve it, as is common in Russia.....



After the Cross is thrown into the River, the people are aspersed with lustral water. Just as this ceremony of Blessing is a reminder of the sinless Christ submiting himself to Baptism at the hand of the Forerunner, so this sprinkling is a reminder of our Baptism, and our duty to witness to it always.

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino.....beati Thomae Martyris

Today is the Feast of S. Thomas of Canterbury. You may have realised that I have a personal devotion to this Saint, having made a pilgrimage to Canterbury and venerated the Martyrdom and the Site of the Saint's Shrine in the Cathedral.

The Parish & Pilgrimage church of S. Magnus the Martyr is so named partly for its association with pilgrimages to Canterbury and Walsingham. In the case of Canterbury, a chapel of ease was located half-way across London Bridge within the Parish of S. Magnus-the-Martyr and this was traditionally where London pilgrims would say their prayers before setting off to Canterbury. In the Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims convene at the nearby Tabard Inn, just across the bridge in Southwark. The chapel of S. Thomas fell into disuse and was destroyed when the buildings on London Bridge were removed. The chapel can be seen in the scale model of London Bridge which is located at the back of S. Magnus church, and it is also depicted in the stained glass window on the South side of the church beneath an image of our co-Patron S. Thomas.

You may remember back in July I posted pictures of a procession from S. Magnus to the site of the old chapel on the feast of the Translation of the Relics of S. Thomas. I am pleased to report that S. Magnus has gratefully received a primary relic of our very own of S. Thomas, ex ossibus, which means that the Procession can now become an annual event if God wills.

Childermas

Today's feast of the Holy Innocents is known in English as Childermas. This feast is a real liturgical curiosity. Certainly very ancient (going back in the West to at least 485), this feast is pegged in different traditions to either the "Sanctoral" or the "Seasonal" cycle of the year. While the Latin church keeps this feast on the 28th December, the Greeks on the 29th and the Syrians and Assyrians on the 27th, the Armenians on the Monday after the second Sunday of Pentecost, as they maintain that the Holy Innocents were killed fifteen weeks after the Nativity.

Another curiosity is the liturgical colour used for the feast. If the feast falls on a weekday, Violet is used. This stems from the Roman argument that since the Innocents were killed before they were able to attain the beatific vision, they should not be commemorated as other Martyrs, but in honour of the women of Bethlehem, the Gloria and Alleluia are not sung at the Mass. In the Gallican rites of France and parts of Germany, this distinction was not made and Red was used along with the Gloria and Alleluia. Therefore, in the Old Roman Rite, Violet is used if the feast falls on a weekday and Red is used if it falls on a Sunday (and on the Octave day, when the Gloria and Alleluia are also sung), a rare example of compromise between Roman and local uses.

In England, there was a custom of not working on whatever day of the week the feast fell on for the rest of the year until the next Childermas. It would be logical to assume that this custom was only followed by the very wealthy.