More pictures from the Resurrection...

...the Church, that is. I've been sent some more lovely pictures from our sister Parish in the States of their Altar of Repose and shrine of Our Lady of Joy.

I have often wondered why S. Magnus, a small church comparatively, hasn't been filled to the brim with statues and shrines over the years. One of the answers is that we lack low window sills. In churches where such space is available, it's not uncommon to see a plethora of shrines; a S. Anthony of Padua here, a Holy Infant of Prague there. This shrine to Our Lady of Joy at the Resurrection is a wonderful use of such space, wonderfully capturing the joy of the season.

Regina caeli
V. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia. R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia. V. Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia. R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia. R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.
Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus; ut per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Here the Regina Caeli sung here.

S. Magnus the Martyr, Earl of Orkney

"0 Magnus of my love, thou it is who would guide us; thou fragrant body of grace, remember us, though saint of power, who didst encompass and protect the people ... Lift our flocks to the hills, quell the fox, ward from us spectre, giant, fury and oppression." (From an ancient prayer to St. Magnus.)

Today is the feast day of the patron saint of my parish church, S. Magnus the Martyr. He is a little known saint - more can be discovered about him here and here - whose mythological vita is contained in various Nordic sagas, and his decidedly dodgy claim to martyrdom has never really worked in his favour. His principal shrine is up in Kirkwall on Orkney, where his holy relics are guarded by Presbyterians and, I assume, a weekly floral display.

Unfortunately, this year we won't be keeping his feast at church. The parish priest is taking a post-Easter holiday, and Easter Sunday was pretty much this year's patronal. As the new peal of twelve bells was rung from the tower of S. Magnus for the first time, a few hundred people passed through the church in the course of the day: a hospitality situation that makes anyone's patronal seem like a walk in the park.

Still, by way of observance, I do have this one story to tell, which ought to be added to the list of our patron's glorious works:

A while ago, my housemates and I noticed a putrid smell coming from the sink in the kitchen, and even from the washing machine and dishwasher. Having olefactorily investigated the source of the odour along the length of the street, we decided that either the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles had committed mass suicide and were rotting in our sewer, or some other object was blocking the pipes. Anyway, back home, I got to thinking what I could realistically do, having no plumbing experience to my name. Then I remembered the prayer to S. Magnus above, recalling his "fragrant body of grace". I called out to the Holy Martyr, whose intercession has been trusted for years and whose work is associated with a powerful smell of flowers, and lo, within 24 hours, the smell was gone.

I cordially invite every reader of this blog to visit the martyr's church near London Bridge, and to light a votive candle at his shrine. See you there!

Palm Sunday and a thought

I suppose many of us are already in the swing of the Triduum (the tri- is a bit misleading when you plan weeks in advance), but here are some pictures from the Palm Sunday procession. We began the service at the monument where the palms and palm crosses were blessed, lustrated and censed and then distributed to a number of people. The procession then wove down to Lower Thames Street singing All Glory, Laud and Honour and into the church, where the choir struck up the anthem. After a quick costume change out of red and into purple, we began the Mass with the introit.

All this got me thinking, according to the Extraordinary Form rubrics, the communion service during penitential times is always celebrated in purple. So in the 1962 missal, after the blessing of palms and procession in red, the Mass is purple. Likewise on Good Friday according to the revised rite, the rites of Good Friday are performed in black and then purple is worn for the communion of the pre-sanctified. On Holy Saturday, the vigil is in purple before the Mass is celebrated in white.

But what about this colour purple anyway? Why do we use it right up until the end of Lent? Well, a reminder about the ceremonies of the Jewish Seder meal today got me thinking about this. Each of the Ritual foods on the Seder plate has a specific symbolism. The three different types of vegetation, the Maror, Khazeret and the Karpas are all bitter herbs, and remind the Jews of the bitterness of bondage. At one point in the ritual meal, the Karpas is dipped into salt water or vinegar to evoke the tears the Jews shed in captivity. But dipping is an act that symbolises luxury and freedom, and this is performed while the Four Cups of sweet wine are drunk in a reclining position, the posture of free men. Similarly, the Matzah (unleavened bread) which is called Poor Man's Bread and symbolises the poverty of the Jews as well as the unleavend bread eaten on the night of the first Passover. At one point, the Matzah is used to make a sandwich filled with the Kharoset, which is a mixture of fruit and nuts sweetened with wine and honey. The Kharoset symbolises both the mortar made by the Jews to build Egyptian monuments for their masters, as well as the sweetness of freedom. In making the sandwich, these two symbols of poverty, bondage and freedom are literally pressed together. The Seder is replete with symbolism that flips between salvery and freedom, poverty and luxury, the past and the present.

This got me thinking about how we use the colour purple, or violet, in our tradition. As well as being penitential, is not purple also the colour of royalty in the Bible? In penitential seasons could we not be combining a symbol of penance with an anticipation of the royal Kingdom of God? This could be why in the modern rite, we use purple for the Requiem of an adult. It is a sign both of penitence, which fills the rites of the sick and dying, and of the royal glory of the Kingdom to which we aspire. In the votive Mass pro pace, doesn't purple combine an acknowledgement of the sin of violent discord with a prayer that Divine order will rule?

I would love to know people's thoughts on this because I know that there are minds greater than mine in the Anglo-Catholic blogosphere. Perhaps someone could think of an example to either support or refute the idea that purple has regal smbolism in the liturgy.

Holy Week & Easter at S. Magnus

Dear All,

This is the programme for Holy Week and Easter at S. Magnus. If you can join us for any or all of these services, you will be most welcome. For further information, please view the parish website, linked in the Churches of Interest list to the right of this page.

PALM SUNDAY (5th April)
11.00 a.m.
PALM PROCESSION, SINGING OF THE PASSION, & SOLEMN MASS
Rheinberger Mass in G
Victoria Hosanna to the Son of David
Victoria St Matthew Passion


HOLY THURSDAY (9th April)
6.00 p.m.
MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, Procession to the Altar of repose and watch until 9.00 p.m.
Lassus Missa Octavi Toni
Canniciari Christus Factus est


GOOD FRIDAY(10th April)
12.00 midday
Stations of the Cross

2.00 p.m.
LITURGY OF THE DAY
Victoria St John Passion
Anerio Crux fidelis
Oldroyd Song of the Passion

HOLY SATURDAY (11th April)
7.00 p.m.
EASTER VIGIL
Byrd Mass in 4 parts
Howells Like as the hart

EASTER DAY (12th April)
11.OO a.m.
PROCESSION & HIGH MASS
Schubert Mass in G
Barnby Break forth into joy

Lent IV at the Resurrection - High Mass and Confirmation

Apologies for my tardiness in posting these photographs, which came to me about a week ago from the Church of the Resurrection in NY, in some senses a sister church of S. Magnus (for instance, I enjoy checking the Parish's lush Ordo Kalender, which hangs on my kitchen wall, every day).

These are pictures from the Mass of Lent IV which was sung by the Rt. Rev. E. Don Taylor, who also administered the Sacrament of Confirmation, both rites according to the old formulas contained in the English Missal and and the Pontificale respectively.

The bishop is received at the door of the church. Bishop Taylor is 72, a native of Jamaica, and was formerly Bishop of the Virgin Islands. He has been an auxiliary bishop in New York, where he has area responsibilities in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, since 1989, and is of definite Catholic views and sensibility.

Clearly the good people of the Resurrection know how to behave around a bishop - see them drop to their knees as he blesses them.

More to come later, when I will update the post!!!

Solemn Consecration of Bells at S. Magnus

Tuesday saw the solemn consecration (or "baptism") of a new set of twelve bells at S. Magnus the Martyr, the result of years of hard work by the St Magnus Bell fund, headed by Dickon Love. He managed to raise the £300 000 needed to cast an entirely new set of bells at the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

When the bells are rung on Easter day, this is will be the first time that bells have been heard from the tower of S. Magnus since the Second World War, when the original bells were removed and eventually sold for scrap. Since the consecration of the bells marks such an important milestone, for the church and the City of London as a whole, the consecration ceremonies were conducted with the utmost dignity and solemnity. The Rt Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London blessed the bells according to the traditional formula, assisted by various clergy. The Lord Mayor of London was in attendance, occupying the throne traditionally set aside for him in the church.




Parish priest Fr. Philip Warners inspects the bells before the service. Each bell is named after a Saint and most are dedicated to a particular person chosen by the bell's sponsor. The bells will remain in situ for now, but will be gradually taken up to the tower as their supports are built.

After ranks of City dignitaries and ranks of clergy have processed in to Handel's Zadok the Priest, the Bishop opens proceedings with a long prayer that evokes the use of trumpets in Temple worship, and asks that the present vessels (ie the bells) be for an increase of devotion in all those who here their ring. He then proceeds to wash the bells with Holy Water.

Having washed the bells, the Bishop asks the sponsor by what name the bell should be known, for example, one is called Michael (after one of our patron saints). The Bishop is wearing the famous London cope which depicts the church tower of every church in the City.

He then makes the sign of the cross on the bell with Oil of the Sick, saying "Sancte Michaele, ora pro nobis" while the choir sings an antiphon composed for the occassion: "Sonate supra urbem Londinii et trans flumen Tamesis".

When the bells have been named, the Bishop makes several signs of the cross on them with Holy Chrism.

The Bells are then censed with the thurible. The Assistant Priest is seen following behind with a chaffing dish of incense and herbs which goes under the bells to thoroughly cense the inside. This is followed by another long prayer which speaks of the peel of bells driving away storms and demons, a Gospel reading and a final blessing.

Ash Wednesday

"Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris..."

-Genesis 3:19