Westminster. Rouen. Chinon. Poitiers. The Four Centres Of Power For Henry II Plantagenet. Mediæval King Of England, 1154 – 1189. Friend And Foe Of Thomas à Becket. (Part One).

Soundtrack from Simon Schama’s

“A History of Britain”,

which included King Henry II's reign.

Sung by Emma Kirkby (Soprano)

Music by John Harle.

Available on YouTube

HERE

An excerpt from folio 100r of Royal MS 14 C VII 

(Historia Anglorum). The Coat-of-Arms is that of 

Henry III, King of England.

Date: 13th-Century.

Source:

British Library Web-Site (Royal MS 14 C VII).

Author: Matthew Paris (1200–1259).

(Wikimedia Commons)

“Three lions passants guardants or”.

Coat-of-Arms of the Plantagenets.

The Blazon of the Arms of Plantagenet is: “Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or armed and langued azure”,[18][19] signifying three identical Gold Lions (also 

known as Leopards) with Blue Tongues and Claws, 

walking past but facing the observer, arranged in a column 

on a Red background.

Although the tincture Azure of Tongue and Claws is not 

cited in many Blazons, they are historically a distinguishing feature of the Arms of England.

This Coat-of-Arms, designed in the High Middle Ages, 

has been variously combined with those of the Kings of 

France, Scotland, a symbol of Ireland, the House of Nassau and the Kingdom of Hanover, according to dynastic and other political changes occurring in England, but has not altered since it took a fixed form in the reign of King Richard I of England (1189 – 1199), the second Plantagenet King.

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (French: Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress or Henry Plantagenet, ruled as Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, King of England (1154–1189) and Lord of Ireland. At various times, he also controlled Wales, Scotland and Brittany.

Henry was the son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother's efforts to claim the throne of England, then occupied by Stephen of Blois, and was made Duke of Normandy at 17. 

He inherited Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Louis VII of France had recently been annulled. Stephen of Blois agreed to a Peace Treaty after Henry’s military expedition to England in 1153. Henry inherited the Kingdom on Stephen’s death a year later.

PART TWO FOLLOWS.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany. King Ludwig II Of Bavaria’s Creation. (Part Two).

Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau,

Bavaria, Germany.

Neuschwanstein kastély Schwangauban,

Bajorország, Németország.

Schloss Neuschwanstein, Schwangau,

Bayern, Deutschland.

Photo: 31 July 2013.

Source: Own work.

This File is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 3.0 Germany Licence.

Attribution:

© Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de

(CC BY-SA 3.0 DE).

Author: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de

(Wikipedia)

The Throne Hall, Neuschwanstein Castle.

Photograph by Joseph Albert 1886. 

Postcard published 1890 - 1900. 

Detroit Publishing Co. Print No. 17479.

Date: 1886.

Source:

Photochrom from Photoglob AG Zürich (PZ, 17479); Views of Germany in the Photochrom Print Collection. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.00180.

Author: Josef Albert (1825–1886).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Neuschwanstein embodies both the contemporaneous architectural fashion known as “Castle Romanticism” (German: Burgenromantik) and King Ludwig II’s enthusiasm for the Operas of Richard Wagner. 

In the 19th-Century, many Castles were constructed or reconstructed, often with significant changes, to make them more picturesque. 

Palace-building projects similar to Neuschwanstein had been undertaken earlier in several of the German States and included Hohenschwangau Castle, Lichtenstein Castle, Hohenzollern Castle, and numerous buildings on the Rhine, such as Stolzenfels Castle.[10] Marienburg Castle, begun in 1858 for the King of Hanover, was completed in 1867. 

Neuschwanstein Castle: The Bower is still missing, Rectangular Tower under construction.

Schloss Neuschwanstein während der Bauarbeiten.

Date: 1882 — 1885.

Source: http://images.zeno.org/

Fotografien/I/big/PHO02532.jpg 

(Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH).

Author: Johannes Bernhard.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The more detailed inspiration for the construction of Neuschwanstein came from two journeys that Ludwig took in 1867: One in May 1867 to the reconstructed Wartburg, near Eisenach[11], site of the mythical Sängerkrieg and thus the setting of Wagner’s Opera “Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg”, and another in July 1867 to the Château de Pierrefonds, which Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was transforming from a ruined Castle into a historical Palace for Emperor Napoleon III.[12][nb 3]

Ludwig believed both buildings represented a Romanticist interpretation of the Middle Ages, as well as the musical mythology of his friend Wagner, whose Operas “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin” had made a lasting impression on him.[13]

In February 1868, Ludwig’s grandfather, King Ludwig I, died, freeing the considerable sums that were previously spent on the abdicated King’s “Appanage”.[8][nb 4]

[Editor: An “Appanage” is the grant of an Estate, Title, Office, or other thing of value, to a younger child of a Monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest child inherits). It was common in much of Europe].

Painting of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Artist: Hubert Sattler (1817 - 1904).

Date: Before 1904.

Source: Dorotheum.

(Wikimedia Commons)

This allowed Ludwig II to start the architectural project of building a private refuge in the familiar landscape far from the capital, Munich, so that he could live out his idea of the Middle Ages.

PART THREE FOLLOWS.

Winchester Cathedral. Dedicated To The Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, And, Before The Reformation, Saint Swithun.

The Nave and Ceiling.

Winchester Cathedral.

Photo: 27 May 2018.

Source: Own work.

Author: Cc364

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text is from Wikimedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Winchester Cathedral is a Cathedral of The Church of England, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest Cathedrals in Europe, with the greatest overall length of any Gothic Cathedral.[2]

Dedicated to The Holy Trinity,[3] Saint Peter, Saint Paul and, before The Reformation, Saint Swithun,[4] it is the Seat of The Bishop of Winchester and centre of The Diocese of Winchester. The Cathedral is a Grade I Listed Building.[3]

The Cathedral was founded in 642 A.D. on a site immediately to the North of the present site. This building became known as The Old Minster. It became part of a Monastic Settlement in 971 A.D.

Winchester Cathedral Choir Stalls.

Photo: 8 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution: “Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0”.

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Swithun was buried near The Old Minster, and then in it, before being moved to the new Norman Cathedral. So-called[5] Mortuary Chests, said to contain the remains of Saxon Kings, such as King Eadwig of England and his wife Ælfgifu, first buried in The Old Minster, are in the present Cathedral.

The Old Minster was demolished in 1093, immediately after the Consecration of its successor.[6] In 1079, Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester, began work on a completely new Cathedral.[6] Much of the Limestone used to build the structure was brought across from quarries around Binstead, Isle of Wight. Nearby Quarr Abbey [Editor: On The Isle of Wight] draws its name from these workings, as do several nearby places such as Stonelands and Stonepitts.

The remains of the Roman trackway, used to transport the blocks of Limestone, are still evident across the fairways of The Ryde Golf Club, where the Stone was hauled from the quarries to the Hythe at the mouth of Binstead Creek, and thence by barge across The Solent and up to Winchester.

Winchester Cathedral.

The UK’s second-longest Cathedral Nave

(after Saint Alban's Cathedral).

Date: 2006.

Source: http://www.wyrdlight.com

Attribution: 

File licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.

WyrdLight.com

Author: Antony McCallum.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The building was Consecrated in 1093. On 8 April of that year, according to the Annals of Winchester, “in the presence of almost all the Bishops and Abbots of England, the Monks came with the highest exultation and glory from The Old Minster to The New Minster: On The Feast of Saint Swithun, they went in Procession from The New Minster to The Old Minster and brought thence Saint Swithun’s Shrine and placed it with honour in the new buildings, and, on the following day, Bishop Walkelin’s men began to pull down The Old Minster.”[6]

A substantial amount of the fabric of Bishop Walkelin’s building, including Crypt, Transepts and the basic structure of the Nave, survives.[7] The original Crossing Tower, however, collapsed in 1107, an accident blamed by the Cathedral’s Mediæval Chroniclers on the burial of the dissolute William Rufus [Editor: King William II] beneath it in 1100.[6]

Its replacement, which survives today, is still in the Norman Style, with Round-Headed Windows. It is a squat, square structure, 50 feet (15 m) wide, but rising only 35 feet (11 m) above the ridge of the Transept Roof.[8] The Tower is 150 feet (46 m) tall.[9]

Winchester Cathedral Nave.

Photo: 8 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution: “Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0”.

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

After the Consecration of Godfrey de Luci as Bishop in 1189, a Retro-Choir was added in The Early-English Style. The next major phase of rebuilding was not until the Mid-14th-Century, under Bishop Edington and Bishop Wykeham [Editor: The name for former pupils of Winchester School is Old Wykehamists].[10] Bishop Edington (1346–1366)[11] removed the two Western Bays of the Nave, built a new West Front and began the remodelling of the Nave.[12]

Under William of Wykeham (1367–1404), the Romanesque Nave was transformed, re-cased in Caen Stone and remodelled in The Perpendicular Style,[13] with its Internal Elevation divided into two, rather than the previous three, Storeys.[14] The Wooden Ceilings were replaced with Stone Vaults.[13]

Wykeham’s successor, Henry of Beaufort (1405–1447) carried out fewer alterations, adding only a Chantry on the South Side of the Retro-Choir, although work on the Nave may have continued through his Episcopy.[15]

His successor, William of Waynflete (1447–1486), built another Chantry in a corresponding position on the North Side. Under Peter Courtenay (Bishop 1486–1492) and Thomas Langton (1493–1500), there was more work. De Luci’s Lady Chapel was lengthened, and the Norman Side Aisles of the Presbytery replaced.

In 1525, Richard Foxe (Bishop 1500–1528) added the Side Screens of the Presbytery, which he also gave a Wooden Vault.[10] With its progressive extensions, the East End is now about 110 feet (34 m) beyond that of Bishop Walkelin’s building.[16]

King Henry VIII seized control of The Catholic Church in England and declared himself Head of the new Church of England. The Benedictine Foundation, the Priory of Saint Swithun, was Dissolved. The Priory surrendered to the King in 1539. The next year, a new Chapter was formed, and the last Prior, William Basyng, was appointed Dean.[17] The Monastic buildings, including the Cloister and Chapter House, were later demolished, mostly during the 1560–1580 tenure of the reformist Bishop, Robert Horne.[18][19]

Winchester Cathedral.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

The Norman Choir Screen, having fallen into a state of decay, was replaced in 1637 – 1640 by a new one designed by Inigo Jones. It was in a Classical Style, with Bronze figures by Hubert le Sueur of King James I and King Charles I in Niches.

It was removed in the 1820s, by when its style was felt inappropriate in an otherwise Mediæval building. The Central Bay, with its Archway, is now in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge;[20] it was replaced by a Gothic Screen by William Garbett, the Surveyor to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral, along with other repairs conducted by him, its design based on The Great West Doorway of the Nave.[21]

This Stone Structure was removed in the 1870s to make way for a Wooden one, designed by George Gilbert Scott,[22] who modelled it on the Canopies of the Choir Stalls of the Monks (dating from around 1308).[23]

Scott’s West-facing Screen has been much criticised, although the carving is of superlative workmanship and virtually replicates the earlier, albeit finer, carving of the Early-14th-Century East-facing Return Stalls on to which it backs. The displaced Bronze Statues of the Stuart Kings were moved to the West End of the Cathedral, standing in Niches on each side of the Central Door.

Scott’s work was otherwise conservative. He moved the Lectern to the North Side of the Quire, beside the Pulpit, facing West, where it remained for a Century before returning to its present central position, now facing East.

Restoration work was carried out by T. G. Jackson in 1905 – 1912. Waterlogged foundations on the South and East Walls were reinforced by the Diver, William Walker, packing the foundations with more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks. Walker worked six hours a day from 1906 to 1912 in total darkness at depths up to 20 feet (6 m), and is credited with saving the Cathedral from total collapse.[24] For this he was awarded the MVO.[25]

Breast Star of Knights/Dames Grand Cross of 

The Royal Victorian Order. Awarded by the 

Monarch of The United Kingdom and The Dominions 

(1896–1952), Commonwealth Realms (since 1952). 

This Decoration was awarded to the Diver, William Walker (see, above), who was credited with saving 

Winchester Cathedral from collapse

in the years 1906 - 1912.

Date: 31 January 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Robert Prummel.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1931, the new Dean, E. Gordon Selwyn, founded The Friends of Winchester Cathedral. A key element of The Friends’ policy was to “undertake schemes of repair which the Dean and Chapter consider necessary.” Dean Selwyn identified the need to install Electric Light and improve the Cathedral’s Heating and Sound System.

The total estimated cost of Heating and Lighting was £10,000, and the works programme ran until 1938. A local firm, Dicks and Sons, was appointed to undertake the work. It was headed by Miss Jeanie Dicks, the first female member of The Electrical Contractors Association.[26] It was discovered that replacing the Gas Lights in the Choir-Stalls with Electrical Lights involved running cables through the Crypt. Some Coffins had to be removed and were reverently reburied. Jane Austen’s Coffin was moved gently to one side.[27]

1869 Engraving showing an idealised, young, 

Jane Austen, based on a sketch by Cassandra Austen.

Jane Austen’s Coffin, located in Winchester Cathedral, 

had to be moved to one side when Electrical Cables 

were laid in the 1930s (see, above).

Date: 1870.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jane_Austen_1870_cropped.jpg

Author: James Andrews.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In July 1934, a “Festival of Music and Drama” was held, supported by the new Friends Organisation, with the aim of “helping the effort which the Dean and Chapter are making to raise £6,000 this year for the purpose of lighting and heating the Cathedral.”

The Festival included a Play, “The Marriage of King Henry IV”, written for the occasion, musical programmes, an exhibition “The Work of The Broderers”, and viewings of the Cathedral Library treasures. Dean Selwyn’s book, “The Story of Winchester Cathedral”, was published in the same year.[27]

Funerals, Coronations, and Marriages, that took place in Winchester Cathedral.

The Funeral of King Harthacanute (1042);
The Funeral of King William II of England (1100);
The Coronation of Henry the Young King and his Queen, Marguerite (1172);

The Second Coronation of King Richard I of England (1194);
The Marriage of King Henry IV of England and Joanna of Navarre (1403);
The Marriage of Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain (1554).

Memorials and Artworks in Winchester Cathedral.

In the South Transept, there is a “Fishermen’s Chapel”, which is the burial place of Izaak Walton. Walton, who died in 1683, was the author of The Compleat Angler and a friend of John Donne. In the Nave Sanctuary, is the Ship’s Bell from HMS Iron Duke, which was The Flagship of Admiral John Jellicoe at The Battle of Jutland in 1916.[28]

“HMS Iron Duke”.

The Flagship of Admiral John Jellicoe at The Battle of Jutland (1916). The Ship’s Bell is in The Nave Sanctuary of

Winchester Cathedral (see, above).

This File: 22 March 2012.

User: Parsecboy

Source: “Journal of The United States Artillery”, 

Volume 41 (1914).

(Wikipedia)

A statue of Joan of Arc was erected when she was Canonised as a Saint by Pope Pius XI in 1923. The statue diagonally faces the Chancery Chapel of Cardinal Beaufort, who was an influential figure in English Politics at the time of her trial and execution in Rouen in 1431. He is sometimes incorrectly represented as presiding over her trial, but she was actually interrogated by Pierre Cauchon. [29]

The Crypt, which frequently floods, houses a statue by Antony Gormley, called Sound II, installed in 1986, and a modern Shrine to Saint Swithun. There is also a statue in the Retro-Choir of William Walker, the Deep-Sea Diver (see, above) who worked underwater in the Crypt between 1906 and 1912 underpinning the Nave and shoring up the walls, along with a bust of him in the Cathedral Grounds near the Refectory.[25]

A series of nine Icons were installed between 1992 and 1996 in the Retro-Choir Screen, which, for a short time, protected the Relics of Saint Swithun that were destroyed by King Henry VIII in 1538. These Icons, influenced by the Russian Orthodox Tradition, were created by Sergei Fyodorov and Dedicated in 1997. They include the local Religious figures Saint Swithun and Saint Birinus.

The Stained-Glass Windows in Winchester Cathedral.

The Cathedral’s huge Mediæval Stained-Glass Great West Window was deliberately smashed by Cromwell’s Forces 

after the outbreak of The Civil War in 1642.[30][31] 

After The Restoration of The Monarchy in 1660, the Broken Glass was gathered up and assembled randomly, in a manner something like Pique Assiette Mosaic Work.

There was little attempt to reconstruct the original pictures, although some small sections do have less abstract images. Some surviving fragments are on display at the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology in Australia,[32] including examples of the signature Blue Colour found only in Winchester Stained-Glass.

The Epiphany Chapel has a series of Pre-Raphaelite Stained-Glass Windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made in William Morris’s workshop. The foliage decoration above and below each pictorial panel is unmistakably by William Morris, and at least one of the figures bears a striking resemblance to Morris’s wife Jane, who frequently posed for Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Ceiling Fan-Vaulting,

Winchester Cathedral.

Source: Own work.

Author: Josep Renalias

This file is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 

3.0 Unported Licence.

This File: 8 February 2008.

User: Lohen11

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Knowles’ Cross in Winchester Cathedral.

The Guardian Angels’ Chapel had a new Cross Dedicated during a Service of Sung Eucharist at 11:00 hrs on 13 July 2001. The Cross, by Justin Knowles, sits in a Sandstone Niche. The Cross was made from Cerulean Blue Glass (Cerulean meaning “Sky-Blue”) by the Czech Glass Artist, Jan Frydrych. It sits on a Plinth of Black Granite, with White flecks.

The Bells in Winchester Cathedral.

The Cathedral possesses the only Diatonic Ring of fourteen Church Bells in the World, with a Tenor Bell (the heaviest Bell) weighing thirty-six long hundredweight (4,000 lb; 1,800 kg).[33] The back Twelve Bells were all cast by John Taylor and Company in 1937. They were augmented to fourteen Bells when two new Trebles and a 4♯ (Sharp 4th) were added in 1992 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.[34] Also, there is an 8♭ (Flat 8th) which was Cast by Anthony Bond in 1621.

Cultural Connections in Winchester Cathedral.

Nowadays, the Cathedral draws many tourists as a result of its association with Jane Austen, who died in Winchester on 18 July 1817. Her funeral was held in the Cathedral, and she was buried in the North Aisle. The inscription on her Tombstone makes no mention of her novels, but a later Brass Tablet, paid for from the proceeds of her first biography, describes her as “known to many by her writings”.[35] There is also a Memorial Window in her honour by C. E. Kempe.[36]

Saint Dominic (1170 - 1221). Confessor And Founder Of The Dominican Order. Feast Day, Today, 4 August. White Vestments.

  

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

Saint Dominic.
   Confessor.
   Feast Day 4 August.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Dominic receives The Holy Rosary

from The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Stained-Glass Window, by Franz Mayer, 

in Carlow Cathedral, Ireland.

Photo: 3 September 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Andreas F. Borchert

(Wikimedia Commons)

Seal of the Dominican Order.

Date: 3 August 2023.

Source: Own work based on: EscOrdendePredicadores2Wikipedia.png

This File is licensed under the 

Creative Commons Attribution 

4.0 International Licence.

Author: Unknown.

Vectorised by ReneeWrites

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Dominic.

Artist: Claudio Coello (1642 to 1693).

Dates: Approximately 1685.

Current location: Prado Museum , Madrid, Spain.

Source: 

http://www.museodelprado.es/en/

the-collection/online-gallery / online-gallery 

/ obra / saint-dominic-of-guzman /

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church of France was ravaged by the heresy of The Albigenses, who, not satisfied with teaching false Doctrine, pillaged the Churches and massacred the Priests. In 1215, Pope Innocent III saw in a dream the tottering walls of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome, held up by the powerful shoulders of a Friar. This Friar was Saint Dominic, whose Preaching defended Catholic Doctrine against the new heresies (Epistle).

Before his birth, his mother saw in a vision, her child in the shape of a little dog, holding a lighted beacon in its mouth, which was "To Set The World On Fire".

Called "Dominic", because his parents attributed his birth to the Prayers of the Holy Benedictine Abbot, Dominic of Silos, he truly belonged to The Lord, as his name suggests.

Born in Spain, of the noble family of Gusman, he distinguished himself by his purity, as is signified by the Lily that he holds (Alleluia) and his White Habit.

Saint Dominic.

Artist: René de Cramer.

"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".

Used with Permission.

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Having witnessed many evils caused by the heretics in the South of France, he Founded, opposed to them, The Order of The Friars Preachers (Communion), whom he armed with The Shield of Truth, to teach Doctrine, and The Sword of The Word, to Preach it.

The Dominicans number many Saints of both sexes, who, like their Founder, ardently studied The Word of God in the Gospel, which, as Saint Dominic says, is The Book of Truth and The Book of Charity.

[The Order of The Friars Preachers (O.P.) has given to The Church, as at 1945:

Four Popes:

   Blessed Innocent V;

   Saint Pius V;

   Benedict XI;

   Benedict XIII.

Numerous Cardinals, Bishops, Doctors, Preachers and illustrious writers.

It numbers eleven Saints and four female Saints, Beatified 268 men and twenty-four Beatified women and 300 Martyrs.

The Census of The Order, in 1935, showed there were 6,000 Friars.

The Dominican Nuns, in The Second Order, and in The Third Order Regular, amount to 40,000.]

This Saint loved Our Lady in a special manner and Preached the Devotion to the Rosary. He died on 6 August 1221.

Mass: Os justi.

“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 Finding Of The Body Of Saint Stephen, The First Martyr. Today, 3 August. Red Vestments.

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

The Finding Of The Body Of Saint Stephen.

   The First Martyr.
   3 August.

Semi-Double.

Red Vestments.

The Stoning of Saint Stephen.

Altarpiece of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore,

Venice, Italy.

Artist: Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto.

Photo: 11 April 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Smeat75

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church Solemnises on 26 December The Feast of Saint Stephen, and, on 2 January, The Octave of this Saint. She holds The Station on Passion Friday in the Church Dedicated to Saint Stephen, on Mount Coelius, at Rome.

On 10 August, she will Celebrate The Feast of Saint Laurence, whose "Remains, more precious," say the writers of The First Centuries A.D., "than Gold and Precious Stones", are with those of The Deacon Stephen, which had been Translated from Palestine to the Capital of The Christian World.

Today's Mass Commemorates the miraculous finding by a Priest of these Relics at Kapher-Gamala, Israel, on 5 December 415 A.D. (Collect).

Except the Collect, it is the same as that on 26 December, the date of the Translation of these remains from Kapher-Gamala to Jerusalem. 

For Gamaliel, the teacher of Saint Paul, so much esteemed among the Doctors of Israel, that, at his death, it was declared that “the glory of Israel had disappeared”, had buried twenty miles from that Town, at his Country House, the Holy Martyr Stephen, Nicodemus, and his own son, Abibas. 

He, himself, was buried there. These precious Relics, long ignored, were miraculously discovered and wrought numerous cures.

The Introit and the Epistle recall how Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, convicted the Jews of error, and how they, hating Christ as their fathers hated Him (Gospel), seized Stephen and stoned him to death.

Let us honour Saint Stephen, and, imitating his Prayers for his Persecutors (Epistle, Communion), let us learn by his example to love our enemies (Collect).

Mass: As on the Feast of Saint Stephen, 26 December, except one word in the Collect: “inventionem”, instead of “natalitia”. We Celebrate “the finding of his body”, instead of “his birthday to immortality”.

Absurd Victorian Occupations.

 

25 August 2026 Is The “Six Years’ Mind” For The Rev. Fr. Charles Briggs (R.I.P.). “Pray For Me, As I Will For Thee, That We May Merrily Meet In Heaven”.

Reverend Fr. Charles Briggs (R.I.P.).

Parish Priest, Saint Mary’s,

Chislehurst, Kent.

25 August 2026 is the “Six Years’ Mind”

for Rev. Fr. Charles Briggs (R.I.P.).

Of your Charity,

please Pray for him and his Parishioners.

A Message From Fr. Charles Briggs

To All His Many Friends And Parishioners.

“Your Prayers would naturally be very much appreciated. 

As a Priest, I am well familiar with The Truths of our Faith concerning the last things of Death, Judgement, Hell, and Heaven, but the end of life here below is a trial for which 

none may presume on being fully prepared to face.

“I will offer up my sufferings; for you, for my dear family, 

and for friends, in reparation for my sins, and in union 

with our dear Saviour’s redeeming Sacrifice on The Cross.

“My apologies if I do not get to say “Goodbye”, personally,

but, as Saint Thomas More said: “Pray for me, as I will 

for thee, that we may merrily meet in Heaven” ”.

Fr. Charles Briggs.

Dear Jesus: Pray for him.

Dear Holy Mother Mary: Pray for him.

Dear Saint Charles Borromeo: Pray for him.