Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

29 October, 2026

Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice.



Stalls of the Choir of the Friars, Venice, by Marco Cozzi.
Les stalles du chœur des Frères par Marco Cozzi.
Gli stalli del coro dei frati da Marco Cozzi.
Photo: 30 May 2016.
Source: Own work.
Permission: (Reusing this file)
 
This File is Copyrighted and has been released under a
Licence which is incompatible with Facebook's licensing terms. It is not permitted to upload this file at Facebook.
This File is licensed under the
(Wikimedia Commons)




120 Stalls of the Choir of the Friars by Marco Cozzi. 
Fifty High Stalls, decorated with Reliefs of Saints. 
Here, Saint Nicolas, Saint Helena, Saint Laurent.
Les 120 stalles du chœur des Frères par Marco Cozzi. 
Les cinquante stalles hautes, décorée de bas-reliefs de saints. Ici Saint Nicolas , sainte Hélène et saint Laurent.
Gli 120 stalli del coro dei frati da Marco Cozzi. 
Cinquanta alti stalli, decorati con rilievi di santi. 
Qui Saint Nicolas, St. Helena e St. Laurent.
Photo: 30 May 2016.
Source: Own work.
Permission
 
This File is Copyrighted and has been released under a
Licence which is incompatible with Facebook's licensing terms. It is not permitted to upload this File at Facebook.
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(Wikimedia Commons)


Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The entrance in Istrian Stone to the Choir of the Brothers. Dated to 1475, this work is from the workshop of Pietro Lombardo. In frames, bas-reliefs, representing Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament. The last frame on the bottom right is the sponsor, Giacomo Morosini. On the top, eight Statues of Apostles by Vittore Gambello, also called Camelio. He is credited with the Statues of The Virgin and Saint John on either side of the Crucifix. The Crucifix is attributed to Andrea del Verrocchio.

La basilique Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. L’entrée, en pierre d’Istrie, du chœur des frères. Oeuvre de 1475 de l’atelier de Pietro Lombardo. Dans les cadres des bas-reliefs représentent les patriarche et prophètes de l’ancien testament. Le dernier en bas à droit étant le commanditaire Giacomo Morosini. Sur le couronnement huit statues d’apôtres pas Vittore Gambello dit Camelio. On lui doit aussi les statues 
de la vierge et de saint Jean de part et d’autre du crucifix. 
Le crucifix est attribué à Andrea del Verrocchio.

La Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. L’ingresso in pietra d'Istria, il coro dei fratelli. È un lavoro della bottega di Pietro Lombardo, che risale al 1475. Nelle cornici, bassorilievi, che rappresenta il Patriarca e profeti del Vecchio Testamento. L'ultima in basso a destra è lo sponsor Giacomo Morosini. Sui primi otto statue di apostoli di Vittore Gambello anche chiamato Camelio. Egli è accreditato come le statue della Vergine e San Giovanni su entrambi i lati del crocifisso. 
Il crocifisso è attribuito ad Andrea del Verrocchio.

Photo: 30 May 2016.
Source: Own work.
Permission
 
This File is Copyrighted and has been released under a 
Licence which is incompatible with Facebook's licensing terms. It is not permitted to upload this File at Facebook.
This File is licensed under the
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, commonly abbreviated to “The Frari”, is a Church located in the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district of Venice, Italy. 

It is one of the largest Churches in the City and it has the status of a Minor Basilica. The Church is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.

The imposing edifice is built of brick and is one of the three notable Churches in the City that retain most of their Venetian Gothic appearance. 


In common with many Franciscan Churches, the exterior is rather plain, even on the front façade. The exterior features a Bell Tower that was repaired in the early 2000s for structural problems.

The interior is notable for many tombs and works of art that accumulated in the Centuries after it was built. 

It contains many very grand Wall Monuments to distinguished Venetians buried in the Church, including a number of Doges. 

Many of these are important works in the history of Venetian sculpture, including that by Donatello. Paintings “in situ” include two large and important Altarpieces by Titian:  “The Assumption Of The Virgin”, on The High Altar, and “The Pesaro Madonna” in a Side Chapel. 

The Basilica also contains the only Rood Screen still 
in place in a Church in Venice, a vestige of the Venetian Gothic architecture that preceded Venetian Renaissance architecture.
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“Missæ Defunctorum” (Mass For The Dead). Have You Recently Asked Your Pastor Or Parish Priest To Say A Mass For Your Deceased Family, Relatives, And Friends ? Black Vestments.




The above Text is from 2 Maccabees 12:46
in The Douay-Rheims Bible.

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
LITURGICAL ARTS JOURNAL


All Souls’ Day Liturgy.
Celebrated at The Church of All Saints,
Minneapolis, by Fr. Gerard Saguto, FSSP.
Photo: Tracy Fallaschek Dunne.
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Hereford Cathedral (Cathedral Of Saint Mary The Virgin And Saint Ethelbert The King). (Part Three).



Hereford Cathedral.
Photo: 3 January 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Peter of Aigueblanche, also known as Aquablanca,was one of the most notable of the pre-reformation Bishops of Hereford, who left his mark upon the Cathedral and the Diocese.

Aquablanca came to England in the train of Eleanor of Provence. He was a man of energy and resource; though he lavished money upon the Cathedral and made a handsome bequest to the Poor, it cannot be pretended that his qualifications for the Office, to which King Henry III appointed him, included piety. He was a nepotist who occasionally practised gross fraud.[4]

When Prince Edward came to Hereford to deal with Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd, Aquablanca was away in Ireland on a tithe-collecting expedition, and the Dean and Canons were also absent. Not long after Aquablanca’s return, which was probably expedited by the stern rebuke which the King administered, he and all his relatives from Savoy were seized within the Cathedral by a party of Barons, who deprived him of the money which he had extorted from the Irish.[4]


The Reredos on The Lady Altar,
Hereford Cathedral.
Photo: 3 January 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana
(Wikimedia Commons)


In the first half of the 14th-Century, the rebuilding of the Central Tower, which is embellished with Ball-Flower ornaments, was carried out. At about the same time the Chapter House and its Vestibule were built, then Thomas Trevenant, who was Bishop from 1389 to 1404, rebuilt the South End and Groining of the Transept.

Around the middle of the 15th-Century, a Tower was added to the Western End of the Nave, and, in the second half of the 15th-Century, Bishops John Stanberry and Edmund Audley built three Chantries, the former on the North Side of the Presbytery, the latter on the South Side of The Lady Chapel.

Later Bishops Richard Mayew and Booth, who between them ruled the Diocese from 1504 to 1535, made the last additions to the Cathedral by erecting the North Porch, now forming the principal Northern Entrance. The building of the present edifice therefore extended over a period of 440 years.


Stained-Glass Windows,
Hereford Cathedral.
Photo: 3 January 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana
(Wikimedia Commons)

Thomas de Cantilupe was the next but one Bishop of Hereford, after Aquablanca. He had faults not uncommon in men who held high Ecclesiastical Office in his day, however he was a strenuous administrator of his See, and an unbending champion of its rights.

For assaulting some of the episcopal tenants and raiding their cattle, Lord Clifford was condemned to walk barefoot through the Cathedral to The High Altar, and Cantilupe, himself, applied the rod to his back.

Cantilupe also wrung from the Welsh King, Llewellyn, some Manors which he had seized, and Cantilupe, after a successful lawsuit against the Earl of Gloucester to determine the possession of a Chase near the Forest of Malvern, dug the dyke which can still be traced on the crest of The Malvern Hills.

PART FOUR TO FOLLOW.
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Cornwall (“Kernow”). Cornish Paintings. Cornish Pilchards. Cornish Pasties. Cornish Language. Cornish Rugby. Cornish Flag.



“The Greeting”.
Artist: Walter Langley (1852–1922).
Date: 1904.
(Wikimedia Commons)


A Story Of The Cornish Language.
Available on YouTube

Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Walter Langley (8 June 1852 – 21 March 1922) was an English Painter and Founder of the Newlyn School of “Plein Air” Artists.

In 1884, Langley was elected a Member of the RBSA and continued to exhibit widely throughout the U.K, and abroad. Later in his career, his reputation grew. 

One of Langley’s paintings was singled out as “a beautiful and true work of art” by Leo Tolstoy, in his book “What is Art ?”, while, in 1895, Langley was invited by The Uffizi to contribute a self-portrait to hang alongside those of Raphael, Rubens and Rembrandt in their collection of portraits of great artists.

Today, his work is considered “vital to the image of the Newlyn School” and, “alongside Stanhope Forbes . . . the most consistent in style and substantial in output”.

Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow), is a Ceremonial County and Unitary Authority area of England within the United Kingdom. 

Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the North and West by the Celtic Sea, to the South by the English Channel, and to the East by the County of Devon, over the River Tamar.

Cornwall has a population of 536,000 and covers an area of 3,563 km2 (1,376 sq mi). The Administrative Centre, and only City in Cornwall, is Truro, although the Town of Saint Austell has the largest population.


Still retaining their traditional character, the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, in Cornwall, situated on the Rame Peninsula, are popular with tourists. They are untouched by time with a fascinating smuggling and fishing past.


The Sound Of The Cornish Language.
Available on YouTube


Cornish Pilchards.
Delicious.
Illustration: AMAZON


Cornish Pilchard
(Sardina Pilchardus).
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Attribution: © Citron / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Author: Citron/ CC-BY-SA-3.0.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Cornish Rugby.
Available on YouTube


"Between The Tides".
Artist: Walter Langley (1852–1922).
Date: 1901.
(Wikimedia Commons)


" The Waif ".
Artist: Walter Langley (1852–1922).
Date: 1889.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The area is noted for its wild moorland landscapes, its long and varied coastline, its attractive villages, its many place-names derived from the Cornish language, and its very mild climate. Extensive stretches of Cornwall’s coastline, and Bodmin Moor, are protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.


Flag of Cornwall.
Date: 15 August 2024.
Source: 
Own work based on Corwall. The Flag Institute
This file is made available under the 
Author: EuropeanV
(Wikimedia Commons)


The County of Cornwall.
Shown within England.
Date: 16 November 2010.
Source: Ordnance Survey OpenData: County boundaries
and GB coastline. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Irish, French, and Isle of Man coastlines, 
Lough Neagh and Irish border.
This File is licensed under the 
Author: Nilfanion
(Wikimedia Commons)


Cornish Pasty.
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Busy Pope Gets Another Nuisance Call From Eccles Asking For Insider Information On The Synod Thingy.



“Eccles. I’m a bit busy at the moment.
Call me back later”.


The excellent Blog that Eccles publishes, 
“ECCLES IS SAVED”, can be read HERE
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The Patronage Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Dominican Feast Day. White Vestments.



Illustration: BREVIARIUM S.O.P.



Pope Honorius III approves 
The Rule of Saint Dominic (1216).
Illustration: BREVIARIUM S.O.P.


Seal of The Dominican Order.
Date: 3 August 2023.
Source: Own work based on:
Author: Original author unknown.
Vectorised by: ReneeWrites
(Wikimedia Commons)



The following Text is from BREVIARIUM S.O.P.
unless stated otherwise.

22 December:
The Patronage Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

I truly enjoy this Feast Day. As a member of The Order, it brings me great joy to know that I am part of a family that is nearly 800 years old, and which has been endowed by Almighty God with so many holy men and women.

It is also a great joy to me that there is a specific date which serves as the birthday, so to speak, for The Order.

Traditionally, this Feast Day was Celebrated in November. Today, it is celebrated in May. But, for a brief period of time in the Early-20th-Century, it was Celebrated on 22 December, to coincide with the anniversary of the approval of The Order by Pope Honorius III in 1216. 



Personally, I like the 22 December date, and I think this is the perfect place for this Feast. Our Lady was, no doubt, instrumental in the Founding of this most favoured of her Religious Orders. 

The Collect Prayer even speaks to her role in the institution of The Order. For me, to Celebrate Our Lady’s Patronage over our Order and the anniversary of the Founding of The Order, all during the Holy Season of Advent, seems like a wonderful combination.


The following Text is from:
“Short Lives of the Dominican Saints”. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1901).

The Festival kept throughout The Dominican Order on [the 2nd Sunday of November] is a family Feast, kept by the children of Saint Dominic in memory of, and in gratitude for, the countless benefits they have received through the virginal hands of Her whom their Constitutions call “our special Advocate and our most tender Mother and Patroness, who ever intercedes for us with God.” 

On that day they beg of Her, with renewed sentiments of confidence and gratitude, to continue to show herself a Mother to them, and to protect and deliver them in all their troubles and distresses, as she has ever done from the Foundation of The Order, even to our own day.

To Saint Dominic and his sons, she entrusted the Preaching of Her Rosary, the special birthright and heritage of The Order. 



“Salve Regina”.
Available on YouTube

She has often shown herself in vision to Her children, during the singing of the Salve Regina, prostrating at the feet of Her Divine Son, and pleading for The Order, so dear to Her heart.


“Salve Regina”.
Available on YouTube


When Pope Innocent IV published a Bull in 1244, by which the privileges of The Order were taken away and the Brethren left exposed to the unfriendly attacks of their opponents, they had recourse to The Blessed Virgin Mary as their only hope; and when, eleven years later, Pope Alexander IV revoked the Bull of his predecessor and restored all the ancient rights and privileges of The Order, these benefits were recognised to be directly the gift of God, through the intercession of The Blessed Virgin.

Of the favours bestowed by The Mother of God on the Saints of The Order, and of their filial love and devotion towards Her, it is impossible here to speak. She is their helper and consoler in life and their secure refuge at the hour of death. 

Hence, from the first Century of its existence, it has been the universal practice in The Order to sing Her Salve Regina round the deathbed of its members, so that the children of Saint Dominic may pass from this Vale of Tears, their hearts echoing the familiar Prayer whereby they have daily entreated The Mother of Mercy to show them, when this life’s exile is ended, the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus.


Prayer

O God, you willed that under the special patronage of The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, The Order of Preachers should be instituted for salvation of Souls, and that it should be filled with Her unceasing favours, grant to your suppliants that, guarded by Her aid, whose Commemoration we Celebrate today, we may be brought to the heavenly glory. 

Through our Lord . . .



The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

The Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Prædicatorum; abbreviated OP), also known as The Dominican Order, is a Roman Catholic Mendicant Order of Pontifical Right that was Founded in France by a Castilian Priest named Dominic de Guzmán.

It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the Papal Bull “Religiosam vitam” on 22 December 1216. Members of The Order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally display the letters OP after their names, standing for “Ordinis Prædicatorum”, meaning “of The Order of Preachers”.

Membership in The Order includes Friars,[b] Nuns, Active Sisters, and Lay or Secular Dominicans (formerly known as Tertiaries).

More recently, there has been a growing number of Associates of the Religious Sisters, who are unrelated to the Tertiaries.

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28 October, 2026

Nave Of Old Saint Paul’s, London.



Nave of Old Saint Paul’s, London.
Etching by Wenceslaus Hollar.
Date: 1658.
Illustration: THE H FILES BY HELEN CASTOR
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On All Souls’ Day. A Solemn Mass Of Requiem At Our Lady Of Mount Carmel, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Monday, 2 November 2026. At 1900 hrs.



Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish.
230, Bonney Street, New Bedford, MA 02744.
Telephone: 508-993-4704.
Fax: 508-991-5536.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Web-Site can be found
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Zephyrinus Contemplates New Choir Stalls For The Private Chapel In Zephyrinus Mansion. Readers Are Invited To State Their Preference. Perkins (Chauffeur) And Jeeves (Butler) Refuse To Do The Wax Polishing.



Ely Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Illustration: 



Rochester Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Text and Illustration: ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL


Charles Tracy studies the exceptional Early- 13th-Century Choir Stalls and associated timber furniture, with drawings and carpentry notes by Cecil Hewett. Featured in The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1994-1995.

The survival of Choir-Stalls before the 14th-Century in Northern Europe is a great rarity. In Germany, there are 
some 12th-Century Stalls at Ratzeburg, near Lübeck. 

Such survivors from the Early-Gothic period, as there were 
by the 18th-Century in France, Belgium, and Germany, were either replaced with Baroque furniture, or succumbed to the depredations of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. 


Some of the fine Early 13th-Century Choir Stalls from Lausanne Cathedral still huddle inappropriately and uncertainly in the South Nave Aisle. 

In France, one can only point to the Mid-13th-Century 
Choir Stalls in the small Abbey Church of Notra Dame de la Roche, Le Mensil Saint Denis, South of Paris. 

In England, a complete set of Choir Stalls of this period 
survive at Salisbury Cathedral, and three Oak Columns with Stiff-Leaf Foliage, possibly from an Early-Gothic set of 
Choir Stalls at Peterborough Abbey.

A complete set of Choir Stalls, albeit of almost entirely 
18th-Century workmanship, and dating from as early 
as circa 1227, is found at Rochester Cathedral.


Lincoln Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Text and Illustration: FLICKR/AIDAN McRAE THOMSON

Lincoln Cathedral has a strong claim to being England’s 
finest Mediæval building, being one of the most ambitious 
and beautifully designed and adorned Cathedrals in Europe, 
a real masterpiece of Gothic architecture.

The Cathedral also boasts some of the finest Mediæval woodwork in the Country in its superb Choir Stalls, extensively carved with Canopies with Misericords 
(though, sadly, the latter are rarely on show).



Bristol Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Illustration: HEATHER ON HER TRAVELS
Photo: 13 March 2008.
Source: Own work.
Uploaded by: NotFromUtrecht
Author: 
Heather Cowper from Bristol, U.K.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia.

The three rows of Choir Stalls are mostly from the 
Late-19th-Century, with Flamboyant traceried ends. There 
are also twenty-eight Misericords, dating from 1515 to 1526, installed by Robert Elyot, Abbot of Saint Augustine’s, 
with carvings largely based on Aesop's Fables.[62]



Salisbury Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Illustration: PINTEREST



Durham Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Text and Illustration: DURHAM CATHEDRAL

Bishop John Cosin commissioned the Choir Stalls 
lining the North and South Walls of the Quire (Choir) 
in the Mid-17th-Century.

After a Century of conflict and war, the Cathedral showed signs of damage. Most of the woodwork had been burned by Scottish Prisoners-of-War, trying to keep warm while imprisoned here in 1640.

In 1665, Cosin commissioned architect James Clement of Durham to design new Choir Stalls in a style that was unique to County Durham. 

The design included Gothic Canopies, likely to be inspired 
by the Neville Screen, nearby. The Columns that hold up 
the Canopies are slender and decorated at the top 
with Scroll shapes.


Some of the Stalls in the Quire (Choir) are reserved for senior members of the Cathedral Foundation and Latin inscriptions show where their seats are.

There are also Latin inscriptions along the base of the front rows, based on Psalm 150 and which link praising Godwith music: “Praise him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness . . . Praise him with the timbrel and dance: Praise him with stringed instruments and organs”.

The seats in the back rows have carved Misericords or “Mercy Seats” beneath. These provide a seating ledge, used for a quick rest from standing during lengthy Services.

Underneath the Misericords are detailed carvings, often depicting Religious scenes and stories or mythical creatures.

The only Mediæval Misericord at Durham Cathedral 
dates from the 13th-Century, and shows the Eagle of 
Saint John the Evangelist.



Maulbronn Monastery, Germany.
Text and Illustrations: MAULBRONN MONASTERY

Maulbronn Monastery (Kloster Maulbronn) is one of Europe’s most complete and best preserved Mediæval monasteries. 

It combines a multitude of architectural styles, 
from Romanesque to Late-Gothic.

The Gothic Choir Stalls are directly behind the 
East Choir Screen, offering seating for ninety-two Monks. 


The Abbot’s Seat (in the middle) in the Sedilia.

Elaborate carvings adorn the Stalls, which originated in 
the Mid-15th-Century. The Stalls were disassembled and 
re-assembled during restorations in the 19th-Century.

The reliefs along the sides of the Choir Stalls warrant a closer look. The Master Carver responsible for this work is unknown. 

Perhaps he was one of the Wood Carvers associated with famous Ulm Sculptor, Hans Multscher. There is other Carved artwork to be discovered on the Stalls: Several students from the Evangelical Monastic School have carved their names here.


The Abbot was seated on the Sedilia in the Choir, flanked 
to the Right and Left by Deacons. This prominent Seat was considered part of the Choir Stalls and was reserved 
for the most important members of the Monastery. 

The Late-Gothic Seat is decorated with bands depicting numerous animals and mythical creatures. To either side 
are Coats-of-Arms belonging to the Monastery Founders and the Monastery, itself. The tall Side Panels are adorned 
with Fruit-Bearing Grapevines.



Choir Stalls, Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice.
Stalles de la basilique Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venise.
Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari à Venise.
Photo: 19 August 2014.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)



17th-Century Choir Stalls, Pontigny Abbey, France.
Stalles dans l’abbatiale de Pontigny, France.
Photo: 14 April 2013.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Illustration showing 14th-Century Choir Stalls 
at Andlau Abbey, Alsace, France.
16th Century (1856) by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879).
This File: 13 January 2014.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Choir Stalls, Siena Cathedral, Italy.
Photo: 29 September 2016.
Source: Own work.
Author: José Luiz.
Attribution:
© José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro /
(Wikimedia Commons)
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