“To Autumn” A Poem By John Keats. The Autumnal Equinox Is 23 September 2026. “Season Of Mists And Mellow Fruitfulness”.

Harvested Field, Hampshire, England.

Photo: 19 November 2005.

Source: From geograph.org.uk

Attribution:

Peter Jordan / Sparsholt Road / CC BY-SA 2.0

This File is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence.

Author: Peter Jordan

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text and Illustrations: WIKIPEDIA

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

First page of John Keats autograph

manuscript of his poem “To Autumn”.

Date: 1819.

Source: Harvard Library

Author: John Keats (1795 – 1821).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Illustration for “To Autumn”

by William James Neatby, from “A Day with Keats”.

Artist: W. J. Neatby.

Date: 1899.

Source/Photographer: “A Day with Keats”: With numerous coloured illustrations by May Clarissa Gillington Byron and illustrations by W. J. Neatby. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1913. Probably obtained, and now updated from archive.org daywithjohnkeats00byrouoft

(Wikimedia Commons)

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.[10]

“The Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs”. By: Henryk Górecki. Symphony No. 3. Dawn Upshaw (Soprano). David Zinman And London Sinfonietta.

 

Henryk Górecki Symphony No. 3.

Dawn Upshaw (Soprano).

David Zinman and London Sinfonietta.

Available On YouTube

HERE

“The Parting Glass”.

Illustration: SCOTTISH FUNERAL PIPERS

“The Parting Glass”.

Sung By: The High Kings.

Available On YouTube

HERE

Of all the money that e’er I had

I spent it in good company

And all the harm I’ve ever done

Alas it was to none but me

And all I’ve done for want of wit

To mem’ry now I can't recall

So fill to me the parting glass

Good night and joy be to you all

So fill to me the parting glass

And drink a health whate'er befall,

And gently rise and softly call

Good night and joy be to you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had

They're sorry for my going away

And all the sweethearts that e'er I had

They'd wish me one more day to stay

But since it falls unto my lot

That I should rise and you should not

I gently rise and softly call

Good night and joy be to you all

If I had money enough to spend

And leisure time to sit awhile

There is a fair maid in this town

That sorely has my heart beguiled.

Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips

I own she has my heart in thrall

Then fill to me the parting glass

Good night and joy be with you all.

A man may drink and not be drunk

A man may fight and not be slain

A man may court a pretty girl

And perhaps be welcomed back again

But since it has so ought to be

By a time to rise and a time to fall

Come fill to me the parting glass

Good night and joy be with you all

Good night and joy be with you all

Absurd Victorian Occupations.

Pope Saint Linus (The Second Pope). Martyr. Saint Thecla. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 23 September. Red Vestments.

Pope Linus (♰ 79 A.D.)

Date: Copied from en: to he: by he:User:Ches

Source: http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Linus2.jpg

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Thecla.

Virgin and Martyr.

Illustration:

CATHOLIC HARBOR OF FAITH AND MORALS

Saint Thecla of Iconium.

Feast Day 23 September.

From: Butler’s Lives of the Saints.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Text is from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
      Volume 14.
      Time After Pentecost.
      Book V.

The lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity; just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view.

Let us leave the learned to discuss certain points in the following short legend; as for ourselves, we will rejoice with The Church on this Feast Day, and pay our loving Veneration to the humble and gentle Pontiff, who was the first laid to rest beside Saint Peter in the Vatican Crypts. And, in addition, to the Holy Virgin and Martyr, Saint Thecla.

Pope Saint Linus was born at Volterra, Tuscany, and was the first to succeed Saint Peter in the government of The Church.

His Faith and holiness were so great , that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the Acts of Blessed Peter, and, in particular, what he had done against Simon Magus.

Pope Linus decreed that no woman should enter a Church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian Faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-Consul, whose daughter Pope Linus had delivered from the tyranny of the devils.

He was buried on the Vatican, near the sepulchre of The Prince of The Apostles, on the ninth of the Kalends of October. He governed The Church eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days.

In two Ordinations in the month of December, he Consecrated fifteen Bishops and eighteen Priests.

We Pray: “Obtain by thy Prayers, that the shadows of Earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience; and that hereafter we may merit, with thee, to contemplate our Divine Head in The Light of Eternal Day”.

While honouring the first successor of Saint Peter, Rome Commemorates the Proto-Martyr of the female sex. Together with Holy Church, then, let us unite in the concert of praise unanimously lavished upon Saint Thecla by the Fathers of East and West.

When the Martyr, Bishop Methodius, gave his “Banquet of Virgins” to The Church, about the end of the 3rd-Century A.D., it is on the brow of The Virgin of Iconium that he placed the fairest of the Crowns distributed at the banquet of The Spouse.

And justly so; for had not Thecla been trained by Saint Paul, who had made her more learned in the Gospel than she was before in philosophy and every science ?

Heroism in her kept pace with knowledge; her magnanimity of purpose was equalled by her courage; while, strong in the virginal purity of her Soul and body, she triumphed over fire, wild beasts, and sea monsters, and won the glory of a triple Martyrdom.

A fresh triumph is hers at the mysterious banquet. Wisdom has taken possession of her, and, like a divine harp, makes music in her Soul, which is echoed on her lips in words of wondrous eloquence and sublime poetry.

When the Feast is over, and the Virgins rise to give thanks to The Lord, Thecla leads the chorus, singing: 

“For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee.

“Having escaped the enchanting wiles of the serpent, and triumphed over the flaming fire and the attacks of wild beasts, I await Thee from Heaven.

“For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet Thee”. [Editor: Methodius: Conviv. dec. virg. vii, viii, xi.]

PRAYER.

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who Celebrate the Festival of Blessed Thecla, Thy Virgin and Martyr, may rejoice in her annual Solemnity, and make progress by the example of such great Faith.

Through Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of The Holy Ghost, One God, World without end.

Amen.

Earl Of Shrewsbury. Earl Of Waterford. Earl Talbot. (Part Seven).

Arms of Talbot-Chetwynd.

Quarterly: 

1st and 4th: Gules, a Lion Rampant 

within a Bordure Engrailed Or (for Talbot).

2nd and 3rd: Azure, a Chevron 

between three Mullets Or (for Chetwynd).

Date: 25 June 2017.

Source: Own work.

This File is licensed under the 

Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 4.0 International Licence.

Author: Wikimandia.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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

The Seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury was once Alton Towers, until it was sold in 1924 by the infant 21st Earl’s Trustees. The family Seat is still in Staffordshire, near Ashbourne and Uttoxeter.

The family Crypt is the Shrewsbury Chapel in Sheffield Cathedral. In 2013, it was discovered that the majority of the Shrewsbury coffins had gone missing from the burial chamber.[6] 

The current Earl has been appointed High Steward of Sheffield Cathedral. The other family Crypt – that of the Chetwynd-Talbot Earls of Shrewsbury – is at the Church of Saint Mary The Virgin, Ingestre, Stafford.

Three other members of the Talbot family may also be mentioned:

The Hon. John Talbot, son of the first Earl of Shrewsbury by his second wife Margaret Beauchamp, was created Viscount Lisle in 1451;

Admiral the Hon. Walter Carpenter (who assumed the surname of Carpenter in lieu of his patronymic Chetwynd-Talbot), second son of the eighteenth Earl, was a Naval Commander and Member of Parliament;

Major-General the Hon. Sir Reginald Talbot, third son of the eighteenth Earl, was a Soldier, Politician and Colonial Governor.

Title-Holders.

Earls of Shrewsbury. First Creation (1074):

Roger de Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (died 1094);

Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury (died 1098);

Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury (1052–1113) (forfeit 1102).

Earls of Shrewsbury. Second Creation (1442):

John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, 1st Earl of Waterford, 7th Baron Talbot, 10th Baron Strange of Blackmere (1387–1453);

John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, 2nd Earl of Waterford, 8th Baron Talbot, 11th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 7th Baron Furnivall (1413–1460);

John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, 3rd Earl of Waterford, 9th Baron Talbot, 12th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 8th Baron Furnivall (1448–1473);

George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, 4th Earl of Waterford, 10th Baron Talbot, 13th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 9th Baron Furnivall (1468–1538);

Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, 5th Earl of Waterford, 11th Baron Talbot, 14th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 10th Baron Furnivall (1500–1560);

George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 6th Earl of Waterford, 12th Baron Talbot, 15th Baron Strange of Blackmere, 11th Baron Furnivall (1528–1590);

PART EIGHT FOLLOWS.

Tenth Sung Mass (“Missa Cantata”) In The Last 488 Years In This Mediæval Church (Since 1538).

Saint Augustine’s Church, Snave, Ashford, Kent.

A Sung Mass (“Missa Cantata”) will be Celebrated here

on Saturday, 26 September 2026, 1200 hrs.

Travel Directions are given, below.

It is possible that a small private Chapel stood on this site before the present building was commenced in the

Late-13th-Century.

The East End is unusual in that the Lady Chapel

(more recently used as a School Room)

vies for importance with the Chancel.

Declared redundant in 1983,

Saint Augustine’s Church is now entirely maintained

by The Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.

Text: © 2014 Joan Campbell.

Photograph: © 2014 John Hendy.

Illustration:

THE ROMNEY MARCH HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST

Missa Cantata at Saint Augustine’s,

Snave (near Ashford, Kent), September 2015.

That was the first time in 477 years that a Sung Mass

(Missa Cantata) had been Celebrated in this beautiful Mediæval Church on Romney Marsh, Kent, England.

On Saturday, 26 September 2026, 1200 hrs, there will be Celebrated another Missa Cantata in this lovely Church.

Illustration: LATIN MASS SOCIETY

The Latin Mass Society returns to Snave

for a Missa Cantata, at 12 Noon,

Saturday, 26 September 2026.

Saint Augustine’s Church is one of the Mediæval Churches in the care of the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, who have given permission for us to Celebrate this Divine Mass.

Light refreshments will be served after Mass.

Missa Cantata.

Saint Augustine’s Church,

Snave, Ashford, Kent TN26 2QJ.

Saturday, 26 September 2026,

1200 hrs.

The Missa Cantata Mass on Saturday, 26 September 2026, 1200 hrs, will be offered for the repose of the Soul of Mrs. Marygold Turner (R.I.P.), who instigated this wonderful devotion and worked tirelessly to ensure it continued.

Marygold died on 29 June 2026.

May she rest in peace.

Requiescat in pace.

Travel Directions to Saint Augustine’s Church,

Snave (near Ashford), Kent TN26 2QJ.

By Road.

Leave the M20 at Junction 10.

Follow the A2070 towards Hastings.

After, approx, 9.3 miles, take the Slip Road

to the LEFT (signposted “SNAVE”).

After about 800 metres (half a mile),

at the small Post-Box (on a column) (on your LEFT),

TURN LEFT,

and you have arrived at the Church.

(N.B. Google Maps mark the destination

as “Manor Farm”).

By Rail.

Frequent Trains to ASHFORD INTERNATIONAL.

Then take a Taxi to SNAVE.

Permission for this Mass at Saint Augustine’s Church,

Snave, Ashford, Kent, has been kindly given by

THE ROMNEY MARSH HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST

Snave Church is one of a group of Mediæval Churches built

to serve very small communities on Romney Marsh, in Kent.

Now redundant, they are in the care of the

Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust,

who have given permission for us to Celebrate Mass

on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at 1200 hrs.

Missa Cantata.

Saint Augustine’s Church,

Snave, Ashford, Kent TN26 2QJ.

Saturday, 26 September 2026, 1200 hrs.

Permission for this Mass at Saint Augustine’s Church,

Snave, Ashford, Kent, has been kindly given by

THE ROMNEY MARSH HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST

“I’ll Sing A Hymn To Mary”.

“I’ll Sing A Hymn To Mary”.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“I’ll Sing A Hymn To Mary”.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Saint Maurice And His Companions. Martyrs. Feast Day 22 September. Red Vestments.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Maurice And His Companions.
   Martyrs.
   Feast Day 22 September.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

Meeting of Saint Erasmus and Saint Maurice.

Artist: Mathias Grünewald.

Date: Circa 1520.

Current location: Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.

Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project (2002)

10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM),

distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

ISBN: 3936122202.

(Wikimedia Commons)

 

“The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice”.

Artist: Romulo Cincinato (1502–1593).

Cincinnato placed emphasis on the execution scene,

which has been brought into the foreground.

Date: 1583.

Current location: El Escorial, Madrid, Spain.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art

(Wikimedia Commons)

When Emperor Maximian led his Army into Gaul, The Theban Legion, composed of 660 Soldiers under the command of Saint Maurice, refused to take part in the ceremonies in honour of the gods.

The Soldiers were massacred out of hatred for the name of Christ, about 286 A.D., at Agaunum, now called Saint Maurice (Valais, Switzerland).

Mass: Intret.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Saint Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius; Coptic: Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲙⲱⲣⲓⲥ) was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd-Century A.D., and one of the favourite and most-widely Venerated Saints of that group.

He is the Patron Saint of several professions, locales, and Kingdoms. He is also a highly-revered Saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and other Churches of Oriental Orthodoxy.

According to hagiographical material, Maurice was an Egyptian, born in 250 A.D. in Thebes, an ancient City in Upper Egypt that was the Capital of the New Kingdom of Egypt (1575-1069 B.C.).

Maurice became a Soldier in the Roman Army. He was gradually promoted until he became the Commander of the Theban Legion, thus commanding, approximately, a thousand men. He was an acknowledged Christian at a time when Early Christianity was considered to be a threat to The Roman Empire. Yet, he moved easily within the pagan society of his day.

The Legion, entirely composed of Christians, had been called from Thebes, in Egypt, to Gaul, to assist Emperor Maximian in defeating a revolt by the Bagaudae. The Theban Legion was dispatched with orders to clear The Great Saint Bernard Pass across The Alps.

Before going into battle, they were instructed to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods and pay homage to the Emperor. Saint Maurice pledged his men’s military allegiance to Rome. He stated that service to God superseded all else. He said that to engage in wanton slaughter was inconceivable to Christian Soldiers . He and his men refused to worship Roman deities.

However, when Emperor Maximian ordered them to harass some local Christians, they refused. Ordering the Legion to be punished, Maximian had every tenth Soldier killed, a Military punishment known as Decimation. More orders followed; the men refused, as encouraged by Maurice, and a second Decimation was ordered.

In response to the Theban Christians’ refusal to attack fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of his Legion to be executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred, known as Agaunum, is now Saint-Maurice, Switzerland, site of The Abbey of Saint Maurice.

Saint Thomas Of Villanova. Bishop And Confessor. Feast Day 22 September. White Vestments.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Thomas Of Villanova.
   Bishop.
   Confessor.
   Feast Day 22 September.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Thomas of Villanova.

Artist: Simone Cantarini (1612-1648).

Date: First half of the 17th-Century.

Current location: Pinacoteca Civica, Fano, Italy.

Source/Photographer: fondazionecarifano.it/

Progetti/cantarini/fano_per_cantarini_opere.html

(Wikimedia Commons)

Thomas was born in Spain in the 15th-Century. From his earliest childhood he had the tenderest compassion for The Poor. Having entered The Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine, he was soon made Superior, and, after having refused the Archbishopric of Granada, he was forced to accept that of Valencia.

He thus shared in the Eternal Priesthood of Christ (Introit, Epistle, Gradual, Offertory). He spent on The Poor the large revenues of his Church, and, on the day of his death, in 1555, he gave away his last Penny, and died on a bed which did not even belong to him.

The Church, therefore, Celebrates especially in this Pontiff “his extraordinary Charity towards The Poor” (Collect, Antiphon of The Benedictus).

Mass: Státuit.
Secret: Sancti Thomæ.
Postcommunion: Deus fidélium.
Commemoration: Saint Maurice and Companions.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Saint Thomas of Villanova O.S.A. (1488–1555) was a Spanish Friar of the Order of Saint Augustine, who was a noted Preacher, Ascetic and Religious Writer of his day. He became an Archbishop, who was famous for the extent of his care for the Poor of his See.