Porta Caeli

Morning- Westminster

2012-01-28T22:19:00.003Z

A view of the nave of Westminster Cathedral- taken after the 7a.m. mass on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, 25th January 2012. The mass was actually celebrated in St Paul's chapel - off the south aisle. It is usually my custom, when visiting London, to go to the early mass at Westminster in thanksgiving for a safe journey to the big city and, quite simply, because it is one of my favourite places...the House of God...the Gate of Heaven...

Elgar's Church

2012-01-22T23:21:00.003Z

Fr John Abberton of Stella Maris has an interesting post on "Elgar and other Catholics"
which has given me an excuse to post this snap of St George's, Worcester which I took in October 2010. Elgar was organist at St George's from 1885 until 1889- although he had deputised for his father, who preceded him in the post, from 1872. At his leaving the parish priest, Fr Knight, presented him with a copy of Blessed John Henry Newman's poem "The Dream of Gerontius" as a wedding present. The rest is, as they say, history!

St Wulstan

2012-01-19T21:59:00.005Z

A view of the crypt of Worcester Cathedral with its elegant Romanesque columns and groined vaulting.
Today is the feast day of St Wulstan who was bishop of Worcester from 1062-95 and who was canonised by Pope Innocent III in 1203. The crypt, shown here, is the most complete survival of the rebuilding of the cathedral undertaken by St Wulstan who, nevertheless, is said to have shed tears at the necessary demolition of the work of his holy predecessors. He was renowned for his pastoral solicitude no less than for his personal holiness. Distracted while celebrating mass by the delicious smell of roasting meat wafting from the monastery kitchen, he resolved never to eat meat again. He was assiduous in visiting his diocese which extended as far south as Bristol- where he intervened to stop the slave trade.

Quote of the day!

2012-01-15T10:25:00.002Z

"To be Catholic, we must always remain in continuity with the living tradition we have inherited."

Fr. John Boyle of Caritas in Veritate.

Holding fast to hand on

2012-01-11T23:09:00.003Z

I was recently struck by the very active sense of tradition in the new translation of the Eucharistic Prayer I - the Roman Canon. Consider the old translation here:

"We offer them for your holy catholic Church, watch over it, Lord, and guide it; grant it peace and unity throughout the world. We offer them for Benedict, our Pope, for N. our bishop, and all who hold and teach the catholic faith that comes to us from the apostles."

The new translation of the same part goes thus:

"...which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church. Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world together with your servant Benedict our Pope and N. our Bishop, and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith."

I do not think that there is anything glaringly wrong with the old version and there is certainly nothing amiss with praying for "all who hold and teach the catholic faith that comes to us from the apostles" but in the new translation it is made quite clear that the faith- the "catholic and apostolic faith"- is something which is "handed on" by those who "hold... to the truth".
In other words the faith is seen as not just something vaguely floating down to us "from the apostles" but something particular and almost concrete and, as such, dependent upon those intermediate persons- i.e. between the apostles and ourselves- actually holding (on to) the truth.

To speak in these terms is to recognise both the active nature of tradition in the Church- "handed on" being the literal meaning of "tradition"- and the particularity of the faith. That the truth is, necessarily, conceived as something to be "held to" for the purpose of the handing on of the faith is also remarkable. Indeed it is a ringing declaration of the fact that the catholic and apostolic faith is something altogether different from what most people in contemporary society would conceive of as "a faith"- namely belief in a set of more or less improbable fancies. Rather is it anchored in the truth.

To blase the rising of this glorious sunne...

2012-01-08T11:24:00.003Z

The Epiphanye

To blase the rising of this glorious sunne

A gltteringe starre appeareth in the Easte

Whose sight to Pilgrimm toyles three sages wunne

To seek the light they long had in requeste

And by this starre to nobler starr they pace

Whose armes did their desired sunne embrace

Stall was the skye wherein these planets shynde

And want the cloud that did eclipse their rayes

Yet through this cloud their light did passage finde

And perc’d these sages harts by secret waies

Which made them knowe the ruler of the skyes

By infant tongue and lookes of babish eyes

Heaven at her light, earth blusheth at her pride

And of their pompe these Peeres ashamed bee

Their Crownes, their robes their trayne they sett aside

When Gods poore cotage clouts and crewe they see

All glorious thinges their glory now dispise

Sith God contempt doth more than glory prize

Three giftes they bringe three giftes they beare awaye

For incense myrrhe and gould , faith hope and love

And with their gifts the givers hartes do staye

Their mynde from Christ no parting can remove

His humble state, his stall his poor retynewe

They phancie more then all their ritch revenewe

St Robert Southwell S.J. (1561-95)

Wise men...or just lucky?

2012-01-07T00:51:00.002Z

Nearly twenty years ago I saw a television programme details of which had a profound impact upon me. I think the subject of the broadcast was the fraught relationship between the Chinese Communist government and Tibetan Buddhism and how the Chinese rulers were attempting to control the selection of a high-ranking lama. Such lamas are each believed to be a reincarnation of a previous lama and it was the method of divining or determining the "correct" individual which struck me most vividly. Two or three monks set off on a journey through the kingdom carrying some of the deceased lama's personal possessions which appeared to be easily portable items. These were, in turn, presented to young boys- largely toddlers if I remember rightly- whose reactions to the objects were then carefully observed. On the basis of the appropriate reaction of apparent familiarity or interest the individual was deemed to be the reincarnated lama. He was subsequently taken away to train for the post.

It seemed to me at once bizarrely strange but also curiously "familiar". As the saffron-robed searchers reverently laid out the treasures before each little boy I felt myself witnessing something remarkably similar to events in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago. Of course there are people who argue that the Infancy narratives in the Gospels are merely the Evangelists mythologising!

A timely poem!

2012-01-05T10:05:00.005Z

Euthanasia

The law's been passed and I am lying low
Hoping to hide from those who think they are
Kindly, compassionate. My step is slow.
I hurry. Will the executioner
Be watching how I go?

Others about me clearly feel the same.
The deafest one pretends that she can hear.
The blindest hides her white stick while the lame
Attempt to stride. Life has become so dear.
Last time the doctor came,

All who could speak said they felt very well.
Did we imagine he was watching with
A new deep scrutiny? We could not tell.
Each minute now we think the stranger Death
Will take us from each cell

For that is what our little rooms now seem
To be. We are prepared to bear much pain,
Terror attacks us wakeful, every dream
Is now a nightmare. Doctor's due again.
We hold on to the gleam

Of sight, a word to hear. We act, we act,
And doing so we wear our weak selves out.
We said, "We want to die" once when we lacked
The chance of it. We wait in fear and doubt.
O life, you are so packed

With possibility. Old age seems good.
The ache, the anguish - we could bear them we
Declare. The ones who pray plead with their God
To turn the murdering ministers away,
But they come softly shod.

Elizabeth Jennings

Thanks to Ben Trovato

Update: An ideal doctor?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Harold_Shipman_mug_shot.jpg

Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

2012-01-01T20:45:00.000Z

For benefits received...

2011-12-31T18:50:00.000Z

St Thomas Becket

2011-12-29T00:17:00.005Z

(Click to enlarge) Chasuble of St Thomas Becket preserved in the treasury of the Cathedral of Sens, France.
Today being the feast of St Thomas Becket it seemed appropriate to post this photograph of the chasuble which I took on my visit on 13th July this year. In spite of the reflections from the surface of the glass case in which the vestment is displayed its main features- most notably the distinctive orphrey- are fairly clear.

The murder of St Thomas in his cathedral church by agents of King Henry II on this day in the year 1170 shocked Christendom. It happened during the period which is often referred to as "the age of faith" when throughout western Europe the great gothic churches were being built and may perhaps serve as a reminder that there has hardly ever been a time when the Church has been entirely free of persecution.

There is an interesting post regarding the depiction of St Thomas at Chartres on "Once I was a Clever Boy".

Update: I made the mistake of going to mass in Wales today - St Thomas Becket was ignored.

Holy Innocents

2011-12-28T17:21:00.000Z

A Christmas Poem

2011-12-24T22:18:00.003Z

THE BURNING BABE

As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow ;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear ;
Who, scorchëd with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed
As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.
Alas, quoth he, but newly born in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I !
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns ;
The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defilëd souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.
With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I callëd unto mind that it was Christmas day.

St Robert Southwell S.J. (c1561-95)

An Early Christmas Present

2011-12-22T22:20:00.002Z

Yesterday there arrived to my door all the way from Solesmes in French France the copy of "Singing the Mass" I ordered three weeks ago. It has the order of Mass in English (new translation) and Latin with all the chants in proper plainsong notation. Fuller details are available at the link above but one or two things are worth a mention.
The English and Latin texts and music are printed on facing pages which enable one to switch from one to another with ease and to make comparisons regarding the setting of theEnglish texts with the Latin originals.
The work appears to have originated in Australia and carries the imprimatur of Cardinal Pell. Two interesting British inclusions appear to be an alternative setting of the Lord's Prayer courtesy of Westminster Cathedral and an Alleluia by Dom Gregory MurrayO.S.B.. This last piece I have used for many years having first heard it sung in Clifton Cathedral about thirty years ago. It also features on a disc of chant I got last year but this is the first time I have seen its source acknowledged. I have particularly favoured it as a means of giving the well-known Easter triple alleluia a break.

The Dog Scrap

2011-12-17T22:42:00.004Z

I wonder if I am alone in being irritated by reports about the goings on at Cern. What really grates are the blasphemous references to a "God particle".

This is the so-called Higgs' Bosun which should, in my opinion, be called the dog particle. Anyone who has listened to Radio Four's "The Archers" of a certain vintage will know what I mean.

Higgs was one of the most interesting characters in the programme not least because, to the best of my knowledge, he never spoke. He seems to have been some kind of personal assistant or odd job man to Jack Woolley, erstwhile owner of the posh hotel, Grey Gables. The great love of Jack Woolley's life was his dog, Captain. As a busy businessman- who isn't?- Mr Woolley would often ask Higgs to take Captain for walkies. Now, I haven't concrete proof of this yet, you understand, but it is very likely that even if I don't have the evidence soon there is every likelihood that, barring the odd mishap and- all things being equal- I might have potential sighting of something which may or may not prove what I've been saying for sometime- that Higgs also may have had a dog of his own. This dog, if it really existed- in so much as any characters in a radio soap may be said to "exist" -would in all probability have a name inspired by the naval theme employed in the naming of his master's dog. It would be called "Bosun" or "Bo'sun"( written "Boatswain"). If you have managed to follow all this (and you really do have to be clever to believe what some scientists believe!) you will experience the "Eureka" moment when it dawns upon you that since this creature belonged to Mr Higgs it will have been known, not as "Woolley's Captain", but as "Higgs's Bosun".

And what if we find conclusive proof that Higgs's dog had another name?
Wel...l yes... that just goes to show how endlessly fascinating Science is because we would have to change all our theories. Either way, it's a job for life!

Thoughts on the new translation 2

2011-12-09T22:30:00.007Z

It has been a tremendous privilege for me to be able to attend mass on an almost daily basis since the new translation was introduced in our parish just over two months ago.

Initially I made the effort because I knew it would take some time to take the new responses to heart. One doesn't overcome the habits of the best part of a lifetime overnight and so I am still picking up my laminated card as I enter the church and following the words very carefully. Although those words, which we laity use, are important they are by no means the only, or indeed the most striking, of the changes.

I have been bowled over by the beauty of the Eucharistic Prayers. First up was the Second Eucharistic Prayer with its reference to the "dewfall" of the Holy Spirit evoking one of my favourite prayers- the Veni Sancte Spiritus. Then I heard the Third Eucharistic Prayer with its mention of "the rising of the sun to its setting". Neither, however, quite prepares one for the sheer grandeur of the First Eucharistic Prayer- the Roman Canon! Here we have not only all those apostles and martyrs crowding in but also "Abel the just, Abraham...Melchisedech..." And it is quite clear too that it is God Himself who is being addressed.
The tone is reverential and, as I have perhaps said before, it is not the new translation that requires justifying or explaining. Rather is it why we have had to bear with something so strikingly inferior for so long when many of its defects were obvious from day one. But I begin to digress.

Perhaps, in my view, the strongest argument for the new translation is the extent of the scriptural resonance which it has revealed. One of the most obvious examples of this in the people's responses is seen in the Domine non sum dignus...Lord, I am not worthy...". The way in which the words are patterned after the Centurion's statement in the Gospel takes us into that event so that what on one level is a bald statement of fact ("I am not worthy") is also both a reminder of our need of faith and humility like that of the centurion and a prayer for the healing we need. Nor is the meaning exhausted there. Like so much of scripture it is like a deep well from which one can continue to draw without it ever becoming exhausted. Nor, as I have begun to appreciate, is this quality of scriptural resonance restricted to the Ordinary of the Mass.

This morning, it being an Advent weekday, the Collect, Prayer over the Offerings and Post Communion Prayer conveyed the Advent theme appropriately. I cannot now recall which of them it was- perhaps the Collect- which asked that we might be ready to greet the Lord at His coming "with lamps alight". At once one was reminded of the Wise and foolish virgins (or "bridesmaids" as the Jerusalem Bible calls them) of the parable! Please, please, please! Will someone just wake up to the fact that this is not just "flowery" or arbitrary, or "poetic" language for the sake of it! It is poetic, of course- but poetic in the sense that true poetry involves real communication - truth- expressed with economy and elegance. It is language that "touches the nerve" and sparks off a whole network of connections. In short it is "live".

Perhaps, then, noone will be surprised if I say that I cannot take seriously those who criticise the new translation. Perhaps there may be the odd infelicity or inelegant phrase but it is surely as nothing to the loose paraphrase which has served these last nearly forty years. It is as if the true meanings have been veiled all this time like the crucifix in Passiontide. Of course the point of that veiling is that it allows an unveiling- the effect of which is the enabling of a clearer view of what was always available to plain sight....

An interesting post!

2011-12-06T00:36:00.000Z

http://vultus.stblogs.org/2011/12/the-blessed-virgin-mary-gate-o.html

Advent

2011-11-26T23:47:00.000Z

New Missal

2011-11-25T21:53:00.005Z

Our new Sunday Missals arrived today and I am delighted. I am particularly pleased that, as with the missals of my youth, English and Latin are printed side by side both for the Ordinary of the Mass and for the proper antiphons and prayers. Another attractive feature is the way in which the main chants of the mass- both Latin and English- are incorporated in this people's edition. It sends out a clear message that both Latin and Chant (in both languages) are "standard" and to be expected. In short it even looks more like the kind of missal envisaged by the fathers of the Council than those seen hitherto.

And a special treat- illustrations from the Psalter of Ingeborg of Denmark. This medieval manuscript is housed in the Musee Conde at the Chateau of Chantilly near Senlis which it (the chateau) was my privilege to view, but not yet visit, back in September.

Truly amazing!

2011-11-24T18:01:00.004Z

Thanks to the Sisters of the Gospel of Life http://gospeloflifesisters.wordpress.com/

Update: a better view of this film may be had at http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/23/astounding-video-depicts-unborn-babys-full-development/

Watch this!

2011-11-22T13:22:00.001Z

Thanks to John Smeatonhttp://spuc-director.blogspot.com/

(More words would be superfluous)

Senlis

2011-11-10T23:54:00.003Z

Bonfire Night!

2011-11-05T22:52:00.005Z

The burning of the Houses of Parliament in 1834 was the occasion of some rejoicing! A large crowd, gathered on Westminster Bridge to enjoy the sight, cheered as the roofs caved in and JMW Turner painted some memorable images of the scene. This historical episode perhaps allows us to imagine how the Gunpowder Plot of two centuries earlier might have been received had it succeeded. Another interesting, and topical, snippet is provided by the fate of several of the Plotters who were hanged, drawn and quartered in St Paul's Churchyard ! Clearly, Health and Safety was not a major concern of the Dean and Chapter in those days!

St Winefride

2011-11-03T12:58:00.002Z

(Click to enlarge) For the feast of St Winefride (Gwenffrewi in Welsh) - a view of her well chapel in its grounds at Holywell in Flintshire.

All Souls

2011-11-02T23:03:00.002Z

All Saints

2011-11-01T14:03:00.002Z

O Quam Gloriosum est Regnum - Victoria
A concert performance I found on You-Tube
Happy All Hallows!

Message from Shadowlands

2011-10-29T16:29:00.002+01:00

I received the following message which will be of interest to all who follow the Shadowlands blog.

"I am not posting since the 22nd. Someone has compromised my blog address, I don't know how to fix this, would you please advise people to remove their link to me, re a post perhaps. I will try and start another blog but scared now because of this."

I hope Ros manages to sort it out and look forward to her return to Blogland!

Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

2011-10-25T22:34:00.002+01:00

When I was in Primary School we were joined briefly by a Scottish girl who was under the impression that we English Catholics sought the intercession of "four tomatoes"! I remember our teacher- who clearly had a better handle on her accent than many of us had- patiently explaining that we were not addressing fruit! This memory came to mind on account of the above image, a copy of which hung outside the classroom in which I spent the last two years of Junior School. A few years later some men landed on the moon and the following year saw Pope Paul VI canonise the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

At school we were occasionally reminded of the martyrs and that the literal meaning of the word was "witness". We were remined too that our Christian calling involved being "witnesses for Christ" and therefore, in a sense, "martyrs". This reminder was invariably qualified by "Of course it is most unlikely that we will be required to actually die for the faith" - a qualification naturally occasioning some relief! Forty years on I am not sure one could speak quite so confidently about the unlikelihood of real persecution if not in the immediate future then somewhere not so far away.

How must have things looked in the early years of Henry VIII's reign? Over three hundred years had passed since the exceptional martyrdom of St Thomas Becket while large scale persecution had belonged to the earliest days of the Churches history before Constantine. Who could have imagined the great deluge so soon to come? Yet come it did -like storms after a long dry summer.

Chantilly

2011-10-24T22:47:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Following our visit to St Denis we headed north on the first leg of our journey home, stopping near the banks of the Oise. The following morning we had gone only a couple of miles when we caught sight of the Chateau of Chantilly - an almost fairy-tale vision- through a break in the hedge. A convenient lay-by allowed a stop and a few moments to drink in the scene before going on to Senlis.

"Many"? Thoughts on the new translation 1

2011-10-22T21:26:00.004+01:00

I gather that in some circles disquiet has been expressed regarding the word "many" in the new translation of the words of consecration of the chalice. The objection is generally based upon the argument that Our Blessed Lord died for all people.
True as that may be, it has seemed a poor argument to me since it is quite clear from St Matthew's Gospel that "many" is precisely the word Christ himself used. To suggest the Church should use a different expression does seem rather like saying "Look, Lord, what you really meant to say was...." which is not very different from making a god in our own image.
Returning to the Gospel account it seems not unreasonable to ask why Our Lord used that particular term.
Here context seems significant. The term "many" appears paired with "you". The "you" refers to the disciples present. The "many" refers to an unspecified number of additional others but I suspect that Our Lord was also thereby enlarging upon the significance of his sacrifice as seen in the passage about the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.

"By his sufferings shall my servant justify many,
taking their faults upon himself.

Hence I will grant whole hordes for his tribute,
he shall divide the spoil with the mighty,
for surrendering himself to death
and letting himself be taken for a sinner,
while he was bearing the faults of many
and praying all the time for sinners." (my emphasis)

Those words from Isaiah (Ch.53) have long made a deep impression on me- coming, as they do, at the end of the first reading at the solemn liturgy of the Passion on Good Friday.

It is impossible, surely, to read Our Lord's words in the Gospels and not to be struck by their lapidary quality. There is nothing superfluous or wasted. There is at once an elegance, a richness and a depth about them, almost as if- one might say- he were incapable of speaking mere prose! As Blessed John Henry Newman wrote,
"In all his words most wonderful!
Most sure in all his ways!"

I think it was Saint Jerome who said "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ". The curious fact here is that he was referring neither to the Gospels nor to any other part of the New Testament but to the Prophecy of Isaiah.
Here as elsewhere the new translation is showing its worth and we are being led to a deeper appreciation of how intensely scriptural the mass is.

Saint Denis 10

2011-10-18T23:48:00.004+01:00

(Click to enlarge) The Jesse Tree window. I think the actual window is being restored and that what we see here is some kind of transparent photographic reproduction in place for the duration of the restoration work. The original, if I am not mistaken, may well be the earliest representation in glass of this theme which graphically combines the imagery of Isaiah's prophecy with the depiction of the ancestors of Christ.

Saint Denis 9

2011-10-14T23:44:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge) The renaissance tombs of St Denis are quite elaborate structures and are believed to be based upon the funeray decorations with which the monarchs were honoured. In the example above the canopy over the tomb proper is surmounted by the king and queen shown kneeling at prie-dieux crowned in full costume. Underneath these figures and inside the architectural canopy they are shown lying nude - although modestly draped and largely masked from view by virtue of their height and the architectural features. Nevertheless their bare feet are detailed with a remarkable and appealing realism- a striking reminder of the common humanity under the trppings of royalty.

Saint Denis 8

2011-10-13T23:32:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge) A selection of royal tombs in Saint Denis. No. 4 is the tomb of King Dagobert, the left-hand or eastern corner of which can be clearly seen in the painting of "The Mass of St Giles" by the Master of St Giles (National Gallery). In no.3 may be seen the tombs of several early Frankish monarchs which were commisioned by Saint Louis IX in the thirteenth century .

Saint Denis 7

2011-10-12T23:08:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge images) A selection of altars and retables from the ambulatory chapels of Saint Denis. Most of these appear medieval. Unfortunately I cannot say with certainty. Abbot Suger wrote of a "symphony of masses" following the consecration and it is not difficult to imagine these altars being used, however, much restoration is said to have taken place under Viollet le duc in the nineteenth century.
I am always delighted to see the altar stone set into the mensa as in the above examples. Marked with five crosses recalling the five wounds they serve to seal in the relics. The tradition of setting the relics of martyrs in the altar is very ancient, recalling the passage in the Apocalypse where the voices of the martyrs are heard from beneath the altar.
At the recent exhibition about relics and reliquaries (at the British Museum) I learned that the Second Council of Nicaea (787) decreed that no altar should be consecrated without relics.

The other interesting feature in each of these pictures is the retable. The retable, reredos or, elsewhere, altarpiece painting are the varied forms of what appears to be a twelfth century development.

Saint Denis 6

2011-10-11T23:47:00.001+01:00

(click to enlarge) The reliquary of St Denis viewed from the ambulatory.

Saint Denis 5

2011-10-09T22:36:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge) The reliquary of St Denis and his companion martyrs above the altar in the chevet. Behind may be seen some of the windows of the ambulatory chapels which are the great achievement of Abbot Suger .

Saint Denis 4

2011-10-08T21:36:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Here we see the present arrangement of the sanctuary of St Denis. Traditionalists will no doubt be pleased to see altar rails in place and, given the perverse French predilection for asymmetry in these matters the arrangement of the six tall candles behind the high altar is impressive but, sadly, all is not well- and I am not referring to the small size of the altar. Behind the altar on the step where an altar formerly stood is a row of chairs clearly in the place of honour. By contrast the tabernacle is placed over on the left hand side of the sanctuary- as if Our Lord were to take His place among the assisting clergy or altar servers. I am not joking! The tall white rectangular structure with a smaller dark panel in it directly to the left of the altar and between the red-upholstered stools is in fact the tabernacle. They have obligingly placed a red lamp before it but that is as far as it goes. Evidently, the Lord here plays second fiddle to the bishop or "presiding" celebrant! How else can one understand this?

And also with you...r spirit!

2011-10-06T23:48:00.002+01:00

Yes! I am afraid that was me.

Yesterday at mass I was asked to read. I did so taking great care at the end to omit the words "This is"which still appear in the Lectionary before "the Word of the Lord". The Responsorial Psalm over, I sang the Alleluia being careful not to push my voice, which can be a bit croaky these days, and then descended from the sanctuary mindful of every step so as to avoid tripping and got safely back to my seat. Job done! Phew!

At this point the priest at the lectern declared "The Lord be with you". Before I knew what was happening I found myself responding, "And also with yooour spirit." and managing just to correct myself at the very end.

Today I was very determined I wasn't going to fall at that hurdle!
I didn't!
No indeed! All went well until just before the blessing! And this time it was all out before I could correct it.
It's not that easy to change the habit of some forty years or so- even when one is as enthusiastic about the new translation as I am. And I am grateful. I have started to notice details...like how the proper prayers such as the Collect actually sound like prayers- there is a mindfulness about Who is being addressed.

Now. If only I could be a bit more mindful!

Saint Denis 3

2011-10-05T23:07:00.004+01:00

Views of the Chancel and chevet.
It was not as the shrine of France's patron saint nor, still less, as the burial place of the kings of France that St Denis drew me but as the reputed birthplace of the Gothic and, as such, as arguably one of the most influential buildings in the history of the world- nevertheless all these facts are related.

Interestingly the term "gothic", slanderously associating the style with a race of barbarians, was coined during the renaissance and replaced the original " Opus Francigenum" - French Work. While various features of the gothic style- pointed arches, flying buttresses, clustered columns and rib vaulting- appear to have disparate sources all were brought together here at St Denis under Abbot Suger in the service of a light-filled interior during the 1140s. The dissolution of solid walls in favour of pointed arches framing expansive stained glass windows is particularly striking as one walks around the ambulatory with its radiating "glass-walled" chapels. Indeed, until this visit I had regarded talk of the gothic "dissolution of solid walls" as mere hyperbole. Here it is real.

Saint Denis 2

2011-10-04T22:30:00.003+01:00

Interior view.
The abbey church of Saint Denis was raised over the Gallo-Roman cemetery which included the tombs of St Denis and his companions. St Denis, the third century bishop of Paris, who was martyred in the Decian persecution of c250A.D. at Montmartre where he was beheaded. He was said to have carried his head the six miles or so to the site of his burial! It is likely that there is some confusion here as later French writers also claimed that he was the author of texts now ascribed to the Pseudo-Dionysius who was mistaken for Dionysius the Areopagite.
The Abbey was greatly favoured by the kings of France for whom it became a necropolis. The nave and aisles are open to the public but a charge is made for admission to the east end, transepts and crypt which include the royal tombs and the most significant architecture.

Part of the Gallo-Roman burial ground has been exposed by archaeologists in the crypt but relics of St Denis and his companions are preserved in a reliquary behind the high altar in the chevet.

Saint Denis 1

2011-10-03T22:52:00.006+01:00

First impressions of the west front of Saint Denis are somewhat disappointing; some of the stonework, particularly around the three doorways, appears to need some serious cleaning. Nevertheless the model for subsequent French gothic churches is here in the threefold division of the facade and the twin towers. Here the northwestern tower has been removed but one may yet see the origin of the west fronts of the later cathedrals of Chartres, Laon, Paris and Rheims. Above the facade the crenellations are indeed suggestive of a fortified city gate... " an awesome place... the house of God and the gate of heaven...."

Travels

2011-10-01T19:33:00.004+01:00

I have had an extraordinary couple of weeks with much travelling. Last week it was three days in France enabling me to make my delayed visit to the ancient abbey of St Denis on the northern edge of Paris while on Wednesday of this week I was in London.
The (now) Cathedral Basilica of St Denis is famed as the birthplace- in the 1140s- of the Gothic style under the celebrated Abbot Suger and, being the site of the burial of France's patron saint, was, for many years, the necropolis of the kings of France. I was also keen to visit owing to the church providing a realistic setting for the painting of "The Mass of St Giles" by the unknown "Master of St Giles" of around 1500 which is in the National Gallery in London, seen above. I hope to share some of my French snaps in the next week or so.

The painting also featured as part of my London visit this week. It was in the "Devotion by Design" exhibition at the National Gallery about Medieval and Renaissance altarpieces which closes this weekend. As will become clear, these two subjects are closely related. My London visit also enabled me to attend mass in the new translation at Westminster Cathedral- I only slipped up once!- and to see the British Museum exhibition about relics and reliquaries. This too is nearing the end of its run with just one week to go.

"For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,

Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green."

Ss Cosmas and Damian

2011-09-26T23:10:00.002+01:00

Fra Angelico c1395-1455

Some thoughts on Liturgical Music

2011-09-18T22:58:00.000+01:00

Collective Amnesia ?

2011-09-15T20:35:00.008+01:00

Now here's a curious thing. In much of what I've read regarding the re-introduction of the meatless Friday in England and Wales, including the odd pastoral letter, the impression is given that the situation the bishops are attempting to reform- i.e. the failure on the part of large numbers of the faithful to perform any act of self-denial on Fridays- dates to 1984 or thereabouts. This is an error. The loosening of the law on Friday abstinence actually came about in around 1970. I clearly remember being in school when the change occurred. I also recall my difficulty, soon afterwards, of trying to explain to the priest in confession that I had failed to perform any (alternative) act of self-denial on the previous Friday. Within a few short years, however, I came to the view that sticking with the tradition of going without meat was the easiest way of ensuring that I did something rather than nothing. It isn't a particularly maccho penance, I grant, but, as I have long told myself, it can be added to and one of these days I may just do that. It is interesting to see that the bishops appear to have come to something like the same view. But what about circa 1984?

As I've mentioned the law on abstinence- and its application in England and Wales- changed back around 1970.
What happened in the eighties was an attempt by the bishops not wholly unlike what is happening at present. Someone seems either to have twigged that the looser interpretation of the law, brought in a decade or so earlier, had resulted in most of the faithful not performing any Friday penance at all or else had been shaken up by the publication of the new code of Canon Law. At any rate the bishops issued an instruction insisting upon the necessity of Friday penance. It was one of those documents that was bound to stick in the memory owing to a most curious- and, I felt, unsatisfactory turn of phrase. Their graces and lordships while insisting upon the duty of Friday penance said that failure to perform the chosen penance on a particular Friday was not to be seen "in the light(sic) of sin". Now, I could see the point they were making but the use of the term "light" as applied to sin seemed regrettable at least and evidence, I felt, of a collective"brain disorder". Schizophrenia, perhaps...or dementia?

Given the collective amnesia regarding the earlier instruction, the latter begins to look more likely!

Auxerre 4

2011-09-09T00:22:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
Some of the sights of Auxerre.
I had previously visited Auxerre in 2000 when, early on a Sunday morning, while heading south on our way to Rome, I had pulled off the autoroute and rolled into the car parking on the square in front of the cathedral with the aim of getting to mass. That I had done so with a caravan in tow now seemed hardly credible given the narrowness of streets and the busy traffic however it had been much quieter on that occasion. Indeed in spite of the proximity of the cathedral we were not to get mass there but had to seek out another church. The scarcity of masses in this once Catholic nation never ceases to surprise me! On our search, however, we encountered some of the amusing statuary of the town and on this later visit we determined to re-aquaint ourselves with one that bore a passing resemblance to Mary Poppins. It was not in fact Mary Poppins but a likeness of Marie Noel! Marie Noel is not a French Christmas greeting but, as I subsequently discovered, a former inhabitant of Auxerre who is regarded as having been the best female French poet of the twentieth century. Not being used to classifying poets according to their sex, it is a concept I have struggled with. One wonders if it is code for "she wasn't really any good at all"- or, "She was o.k. for a woman," with the unspoken implication that as everyone knows women just don't cut the custard when it comes to real poetry. On the other hand it may be just the French obsession with sex. This was a source of puzzlement to me when I was at school. Why, I wondered, must all French nouns be either masculine or feminine? Why can't they just leave off thinking about sex for long enough for a table to be neuter?

Auxerre 3

2011-09-06T23:42:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Auxerre Cathedral Crypt and details of frescoes. Surviving imagery includes several illustrations from the Apocalypse.

Auxerre 2

2011-08-31T00:07:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
Top: Items in the Cathedral Treasury including an ivory ciborium
Second: South Choir Aisle looking towards Ambulatory
Third: Modern Statue of St Germanus of Auxerre
Bottom: Reliquary in Limoges enamel cloissone work in the cathedral treasury (13th century)

Auxerre 1

2011-08-25T23:28:00.005+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Note: these images are not in their intended order.
Views of the west front of Auxerre Cathedral.
Although never completed, the west facade of Auxerre Cathedral has an impressive array of sculpture from the high relief of the archivolt figures (top) to the bas relief imagery seen in the bottom illustration with its details of the fall and expulsion of Adam and Eve at the top to Noah's Ark in the bottom right hand panels.

Pontigny 2

2011-08-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
The Reliquary/Tomb of St Edmund of Abingdon in the former abbey church of Pontigny and, bottom, modern altar in the church.

Pontigny 1

2011-08-21T22:56:00.003+01:00

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I discovered the Abbey of Pontigny while towing our caravan from Troyes to Auxerre. Fortunately there is a large car park on the opposite side of the road in the village and so I was able to pull over and explore. And what a discovery! The second daughter house of Citeaux having associations with St Bernard and St Stephen Harding, it was also visited by St Thomas Becket and also St Edmund of Abingdon - also Archbishop of Canterbury. St Edmund is buried there, his relics having been hidden in a place of safety when the Huguenots were attacking during the Wars of Religion and apparently overlooked during the French Revolution.
Another famous Archbishop of Canterbury who visited was Cardinal Stephen Langton- author of the Veni Sancte Spiritus sequence, who features in Magna Carta and is also credited with having divided the books of the Bible into chapters. On a signboard recording important visitors in the monastic buildings he is listed as "Blessed" - which surprised me. I had no idea that he had been beatified.
The Cistercians are long since departed. In the Refectory there was an exhibition about a period when the abbey was in lay ownership who hosted conferences for pretentious intellectuals- of which France has a fine tradition. The church itself is a fine gothic building with a seventeenth century stalls and screen. It has a slight air of musty decay and, as with so many historic French churches, a rather poor looking modern altar.

Troyes 3

2011-08-19T20:15:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
Top: Transept Rose and Lancets
Second: Glass panel flanking entrance to Blessed Sacrament chapel- Angel (etched glass)
Third: Altar, Crossing, view towards apse.
Bottom: Painting in nave - Grisaille: SS. Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great and Ambrose
I remember the Cathedral of Troyes fondly. We were at mass there on Sunday 10th July. The celebrant was the Bishop of Troyes and although Mass was largely in French we were able to add our lusty English voices to the singing of the Latin Gloria VIII (Missa de Angelis) and Credo III.
Kneeling was, however, difficult since only the first few rows of seats were provided with kneelers and the rows of chairs were placed somewhat closely together. Few of the French kneel- but why this is so I do not know.

Troyes 2

2011-08-18T23:50:00.004+01:00

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The Cathedral of Troyes is renowned for its glass as may be seen from the images of the stained glass windows above. Perhaps this is the reasoning behind the rather unusual tabernacle in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel off the south aisle seen in the bottom photo. Just above that may be seen the glass case displaying the model and drawings for the proposed new altar. The proposed design appears to involve a basic stone structure with a free "floating" mensa of clear glass through which the "sepulchre" or container holding the relics may be seen.
It is a- perhaps- novel idea which , nevertheless highlights the place of the relics in the altar. Given the tendecy of dispensing with relics altogether these days this cannot be altogether bad.

Troyes

2011-08-17T23:40:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge)

The Cathedral of Troyes.
Top: Looking up at the vault. The interior of the cathedral of Troyes is light and airy. In addition to the large windows of the clerestory there are also windows lighting the open arcading of the triforium.
From the nave looking into the north transept.
From the nave looking east.
Bottom. Towards the choir, apse and ambulatory.

Saint Remi - Rheims 2

2011-08-15T23:50:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
Top: Shrine of St Remi
Middle: Nave towards high altar
Bottom: Medieval tiles

Saint Remi - Rheims

2011-08-14T21:17:00.002+01:00

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Rheims Cathedral 5

2011-08-13T23:04:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Top: Items from the Cathedral Treasury including an ivory ciborium. The museum also displays several exhibits from the very last coronation (robes,vestments and altar vessels). This was of Charles X in 1825.
Centre: Central doorway of the west facade. At the centre the Virgin and Child. The figures lining the entrance represent- to the right, the Annunciation and Visitation and, to the left, both the Annunciation and the Visitation.
Bottom: Model( in the museum) representing the roofing structure installed during the restoration following the First World War. The cathedral was very badly damaged during the Great War. Restoration, which continued almost until the start of the Second World War, was largely funded by the American Rockefeller family- hence the "Rue Rockefeller" leading to the west front of the cathedral.

An aside on recent disturbances

2011-08-12T20:48:00.003+01:00

Like most respectable Englishmen I have been appalled at all these black youths behaving like members of the Bullingdon Club.

(Messrs Cameron and Johnson, take note!)

Rheims Cathedral 4

2011-08-12T00:22:00.005+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
Top: "The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin" - original medieval figures from west facade now preserved in the museum in former archbishop's palace.
Below: "The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin" replacement sculpture in situ
West Portal details- Here it is interesting to see the treatment of the stone "plinths" below the canopied jamb figures with illusionistic draperies.
Bottom: View of the lower part of the north tower of the west facade. Here it is possible to see through the tower openings towards the flying buttresses against the north wall of the nave- a remarkable example of the "revolution" which occurred in medieval architecture whereby massive masonry walls came to be replaced by an almost lace-like open structure of "lines" in stone.

Rheims Cathedral 3

2011-08-10T23:15:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge)

Rheims Cathedral2

2011-08-09T23:10:00.002+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Some details of Rheims Cathedral.
Top: High Altar
View of nave
Site of Baptism of Clovis (floor of nave)
Bottom: New High Altar

Rheims Cathedral 1

2011-08-05T21:46:00.005+01:00

Three views of the west front of the Cathedral of Rheims/ Reims (Click to enlarge)

Rheims Cathedral, built upon the site of the basilica in which Saint Remi baptised Clovis, the king of the Franks in 496A.D., was the preferred location for the anointing and coronation of most of the French kings.
The design of the west front here is similar to that seen at Amiens and Laon- with twin towers and three doorways each of which has a sculpture programme involving column figures which flank the entrances. A significant difference here, however, is the replacement of the tympanum above each door with tracerey and stained glass windows. In fact there is a very real sense of that gothic tendency towards the dissolution or piercing of solid walls. In place of massive masonry there is a concentration of almost web-like lines streching heavenwards. That the builders were reaching for the heavens is beyond doubt. Looking carefully at the bottom picture here it is possible to make out the very beginnings of the spires that were originally intended to crown both towers. It is a reminder of the fact that, as with so many of these gothic churches, impressive as is the image they convey to us today, it still falls somewhat short of the original vision which the builders had in mind. As I stood in the Rue Rockerfeller gazing towards those twin towers and recalled how the Church was conceived as an image of the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, I was struck by the realisation that, as yet, Christendom remains an unfinished project- a work in progress!

Laon Cathedral 3

2011-08-04T23:48:00.006+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
Details of Laon Cathedral:
Top: Column figures from the west front- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Simeon, St John the Baptist.
Middle- view of arcades and vaulting of the crossing
Bottom: Sanctuary and east end of Cathedral. Unusually, for a French gothic Cathedral, it is square ended- a feature more commonly met with in England.

The town of Laon is set upon a hilltop upon which the cathedral sits as a crown. It is a pleasing if somewhat under-appreciated place.

It has often be said that more stone was quarried in France during the building of the medieval churches and cathedrals than during the entire period of ancient Egypt which saw the building of the pyramids. At Laon there appears to have been a very ready source of stone nevertheless transporting it to the site must have invoved considerable effort.
One interesting feature I noticed (but failed to photograph) was the way in which, at a later period- the sixteenth century- side chapels were cut into the walls of the nave utilising the space between the exterior flying buttresses. The walls thus opened were then provided with pierced decorative stone screens in Northern Renaissance style.

Laon Cathedral 2

2011-08-03T20:35:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge)

Laon Cathedral 1

2011-08-02T22:10:00.008+01:00

(Click to enlarge)
From Amiens we headed eastward towards Reims/Rheims but first took an afternoon to visit Laon where the cathedral has the unusual feature of these stone oxen who appear to look out rather quizzically from high up on the two western towers. There is a famous thirteenth Century drawing of them by Villard d' Honnecourt.

Amiens Cathedral4

2011-08-01T22:39:00.003+01:00

(Click to enlarge images)
As relics go, the head of St John the Baptist has to be one of the most prestigious. Amiens received its relic in December 1206, just two years after the Sack of Constantinople. In the lower picture may be seen the reliquary which is enshrined within the north wall of the choir of the cathedral. At the time of looking at it I was under the impression that a small part of the skull was under the glass but that it was my misfortune not to be able to see it for reflections. Since my return, however, I have consulted Wikipaedia where it is said that the relic was destroyed during the French Revolution.

Amiens Cathedral 3

2011-07-30T22:46:00.005+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Three views of the interior of Amiens Cathedral.

The great height of the interior might give one the impression that the builders started to build upwards, kept on going and only reluctantly stopped their upward progress in order to build the vaulting. What must it have been like! For a few hundred years now- certainly since the Renaissance - we have had professional architects who have drawn up plans and elevations on paper before work was begun. The builders of these great edifices were no less professional but did things differently. For a start, they did not have paper and I suspect that this had a marked effect upon the design and the very appearance of the building. It is surely significant, for instance that, while the semi-circular arches of the earlier Romanesque style rose upon simple circular "drum" columns or piers, following the emergence of rib vaulting the columns or piers develop a (characteristically gothic) clustered form. While aesthetically this clustered form contributes to and enhances the appearance of height it seems also to have been a practical means of preparing for the lines of the ribs of the vault above. In short, the medieval builders were "drawing in space".

Amiens Cathedral 2

2011-07-29T22:30:00.004+01:00

(Click to enlarge)

I took the two photographs above during the son et lumiere show which is given during the summer months after nightfall. Traces of the original polychromy were found during restoration a few years ago and the information used to make a reconstruction using light projection. Neither my photographs- nor any others I have seen- really do justice to the experience.

It has long seemed to me that the column figures flanking the doorways of the French Gothic cathedrals serve as a vivid illustration of the Church as God's temple "built of living stones". As I stood before the west front of Amiens Cathedral on the night of 5th July and the lights came on I, along with many in the crowd, gasped in wonder as this building of seeming living beings sprang into life! I realise I have put that somewhat awkwardly but that is how it was. The whole company of Heaven had come to earth and the living stones not only breathed and spoke but sang!

Amiens Cathedral 1

2011-07-28T22:39:00.007+01:00

(Click to enlarge) Two of the west portals of the Cathedral of Our Lady at Amiens.

Much has been made of the technical developments which are seen as characteristically "Gothic"- the pointed arch, the flying buttress, rib vaulting and so forth. The ambition and spirited competitveness which drove the cathedral builders to build ever higher- Amiens Cathedral, incidentally, is the highest complete cathedral in France- are frequently remarked upon with some wry asides at the apparent vainglory. My own impression, however, in looking at these churches, is of a powerful earnestness- a sense of an over-riding concern to make the very building and its mute stones speak.

The top image which shows the tympanum and archivolts of the south doorway of the west front honours Our Lady, as befits a church dedicated to her. Holding the ChristChild her figure is shown in front of the doorway while column figures depicting the Annunciation and Visitation stand to her left (our right). On the lintel above are shown prophetic figures from the Old Testament, while above to the left we see the death or Dormition of the Virgin while to the right the angels have descended to her tomb in order to assume her body into Heaven.

In the lower photograph can be seen the central doorway where the theme is the Last Judgement. The figure of Christ is central here and the column figures represent the twelve apostles. Dominating the tympanum we see Christ sitting in judgement and displaying His wounds while to His left and right Our Lady and St John intercede for humanity while angels hold up the instruments of the Passion. Underneath we see the dead rising from their graves as the four angels sound their trumpets. Lower still, St Michael is shown weighing souls in the balance.