Wednesday 12 December 2012
The Mystery of Advent (Part Two)
Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com
Originally published 1949.
Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.
Illustrations are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Français : L'adoration des bergers.
English: The Adoration of the Shepherds.
Artist: Georges de La Tour (1593–1652).
Date: circa 1645.
Current location: Louvre Museum, France.
Web-Site: www.louvre.fr
Web-Site: www.louvre.fr
(Wikimedia Commons)
As for the third coming, it is most certain that it will be, most uncertain when it will be; for nothing is more certain than death, and nothing less sure than the hour of death.
When they shall say, peace and security, says the Apostle, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as the pains upon her that is with child, and they shall not escape. So that the first coming was humble and hidden, the second is mysterious and full of love, the third will be majestic and terrible.
In His first coming, Christ was judged by men unjustly; in His second, He renders us just by His grace; in His third, He will judge all things with justice. In His first, a lamb; in His last, a lion; in the one between the two, the tenderest of friends.' [De Adventu. Sermon III. Peter of Blois.]
An Angel with a Lamb as a Symbol of Christ's Sacrifice, by Melozzo da Forli, 1482.
(Taken from the Blog, Ars Orandi, The Art and Beauty of Tradional Catholicism)
Web-Site: http://arsorandi.blogspot.co.uk/
The holy Church, therefore, during Advent, awaits in tears and with ardour the arrival of her Jesus in His first coming. For this, she borrows the fervid expressions of the Prophets, to which she joins her own supplications.
These longings for the Messias, expressed by the Church, are not a mere commemoration of the desires of the ancient Jewish people; they have a reality and efficacy of their own, an influence in the great act of God's munificence, whereby He gave us His own Son.
From all eternity, the prayers of the ancient Jewish people and the prayers of the Christian Church ascended together to the prescient hearing of God; and it was after receiving and granting them, that He sent, in the appointed time, that blessed Dew upon the Earth, which made it bud forth the Saviour.
The Adoration of the Lamb.
From the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck,1429.
(Taken from the Blog, Ars Orandi, The Art and Beauty of Tradional Catholicism)
Web-Site: http://arsorandi.blogspot.co.uk/
[Editor. All within these square brackets is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia: Rorate coeli (or Rorate Caeli), from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 45:8) in the Vulgate, are the opening words of a text used in Catholic and, less frequently, Protestant Liturgy. It is also known as The Advent Prose or, by the first words of its English translation, "Drop down ye heavens from above."
It is frequently sung as Plainsong at Mass and in the Divine Office during Advent, where it gives expression to the longings of Patriarchs and Prophets, and, symbolically of the Church, for the coming of the Messiah. Throughout Advent, it occurs daily as the Versicle and Response after the hymn at Vespers.
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Canterbury Cathedral (Part Four)
Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Canterbury Cathedral Tower's Ceiling.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons).
Monastic Buildings
A bird's-eye view of the Cathedral and its monastic buildings, made in about 1165 and known as the "waterworks plan", is preserved in the Eadwine Psalter in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It shows that Canterbury employed the same general principles of arrangement common to all Benedictine monasteries, although, unusually, the Cloister and monastic buildings were to the North, rather than the South, of the Church. There was a separate Chapter-House.
The buildings formed separate groups around the Church. Adjoining it, on the North side, stood the Cloister and the buildings devoted to the monastic life. To the East and West of these, were those devoted to the exercise of hospitality. To the North, a large open court divided the monastic buildings from menial ones, such as the stables, granaries, barn, bakehouse, brew house and laundries, inhabited by the lay servants of the establishment.
At the greatest possible distance from the Church, beyond the precinct of the monastery, was the eleemosynary department. The Almonry for the relief of the poor, with a great Hall annexed, formed the paupers' hospitium.
Canterbury Cathedral Cloisters.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The group of buildings devoted to monastic life included two Cloisters. The Great Cloister was surrounded by the buildings essentially connected with the daily life of the monks: The Church to the South, with the Refectory placed, as always, on the side opposite; The Dormitory, raised on a vaulted Undercroft, and the Chapter-House adjacent, and the lodgings of the Cellarer, responsible for providing both monks and guests with food, to the West. A passage under the Dormitory lead Eastwards to the smaller, or Infirmary, Cloister, appropriated to sick and infirm monks.
The Hall and Chapel of the Infirmary extended East of this Cloister, resembling in form and arrangement the Nave and Chancel of an aisled Church. Beneath the Dormitory, overlooking the green court or herbarium, lay the "pisalis" or "calefactory," the Common Room of the monks. At its North-East corner, access was given from the Dormitory to the necessarium, a building in the form of a Norman Hall, 145 ft long by 25 ft broad (44.2 m × 7.6 m), containing fifty-five seats. It was constructed with careful regard to hygiene, with a stream of water running through it from end to end.
A second, smaller, Dormitory, for the Conventual Officers, ran from East to West. Close to the Refectory, but outside the Cloisters, were the domestic offices connected with it: to the North, the Kitchen, 47 ft (14 m) square, with a pyramidal Roof, and the Kitchen Court; to the West, the Butteries, Pantries, etc. The Infirmary had a small Kitchen of its own. Opposite the Refectory Door, in the Cloister, were two Lavatories, where the monks washed before and after eating.
Canterbury Cathedral Stained Glass Windows.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons)
PART FIVE FOLLOWS
The Mystery of Advent (Part One)
Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com
Originally published 1949.
Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.
Illustrations are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Advent wreath. First Sunday of Advent.
Photo: November 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Micha L. Rieser.
(Wikimedia Commons)
CHAPTER THE SECOND
The Mystery of Advent
If, now that we have described the characteristic features of Advent which distinguish it from the rest of the Liturgical Year, we would penetrate into the profound mystery which occupies the mind of the Church during this Season, we find that this mystery of the coming, or Advent, of Jesus is at once simple and threefold.
It is simple, for it is the one same Son of God that is coming; it is threefold, because He comes at three different times and in three different ways.
'In the first coming,' says Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 'He comes in the flesh and in weakness; in the second, He comes in spirit and in power; in the third, He comes in glory and in majesty; and the second coming is the means whereby we pass from the first to the third.' [Fifth sermon for Advent.]
Deutsch: Weihnachtsbeleuchtung der Hauptstraße
in Remshalden-Geradstetten, Deutschland; Nachtaufnahme.
English: Christmas lighting
in Remshalden-Geradstetten, Germany; night photograph.
Photo: January 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Wildfeuer.
(Wikimedia Commons)
This, then, is the mystery of Advent. Let us now listen to the explanation of this threefold visit of Christ, given to us by Peter of Blois, in his third Sermon de Adventu: 'There are three comings of Our Lord; the first in the flesh; the second in the Soul; the third at the Judgement.
The first was at midnight, according to those words of the Gospel: At midnight there was a cry made, Lo the Bridegroom cometh ! But this first coming is long since past, for Christ has been seen on the Earth and has conversed with men.
English: Illuminated Christmas tree for the “Quiet Advent” on the Johannes-Brahms-Promenade, Western Bay in Pörtschach am Wörthersee, district Klagenfurt Land, Carinthia, Austria
Deutsch: Erleuchteter Weihnachtsbaum für „Stiller Advent“ an der Johannes-Brahms-Promenade, West-Bucht in Pörtschach am Wörthersee, Bezirk Klagenfurt Land, Kärnten, Österreich
Photo: December 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Johann Jaritz.
(Wikimedia Commons)
We are now in the second coming, provided only we are such as that He may thus come to us; for He has said that if we love Him, He will come unto us and will take up His abode with us. So that this second coming is full of uncertainty to us: for who, save the Spirit of God, knows them that are of God?
They that are raised out of themselves by the desire of heavenly things, know indeed when He comes; but whence He cometh, or whither He goeth, they know not.
PART TWO FOLLOWS
Monday 10 December 2012
Canterbury Cathedral (Part Three)
Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Canterbury Cathedral's Nave and Ceiling.
Photo: August 2007.
Source: Canterbury Cathedral
(Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de)
Author: Hideyuki KAMON
(Wikimedia Commons)
In September 1174, the Choir was severely damaged by fire, necessitating a major reconstruction, the progress of which was recorded in detail by a monk named Gervase. The Crypt survived the fire intact, and it was found possible to retain the outer walls of the Choir, which were increased in height by 12 feet (3.7 m) in the course of the rebuilding, but with the round-headed form of their windows left unchanged.
Everything else was replaced in the new Gothic style, with pointed arches, rib vaulting and flying buttresses. The limestone used was imported from Caen in Normandy, and Purbeck marble was used for the shafting. The Choir was back in use by 1180, and in that year the remains of Saint Dunstan and Saint Alphege were moved there from the Crypt.
Stained glass windows in the Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Master-Mason, appointed to rebuild the choir, was a Frenchman, William of Sens. Following his injury in a fall from the scaffolding in 1179, he was replaced by one of his former assistants, known as "William the Englishman.
A further Chapel, circular in plan, was added beyond that, which housed further relics of Becket, widely believed to have included the top of his skull, struck off in the course of his assassination. This latter Chapel became known as the "Corona" or "Becket's Crown".
Canterbury Cathedral.
These new parts, East of the Choir Transepts, were raised on a higher Crypt than Ernulf's Choir, necessitating flights of steps between the two levels. Work on the Chapel was completed in 1184, but Becket's remains were not moved from his tomb in the Crypt until 1220. Further significant interments in the Trinity Chapel included those of Edward Plantagenet (The "Black Prince") and King Henry IV.
The Shrine, in the Trinity Chapel, was placed directly above Becket's original tomb in the Crypt. A marble plinth, raised on columns, supported what an early visitor, Walter of Coventry, described as "a coffin wonderfully wrought of gold and silver, and marvellously adorned with precious gems".
Other accounts make clear that the gold was laid over a wooden chest, which in turn contained an iron-bound box holding Becket's remains. Further votive treasures were added to the adornments of the chest over the years, while others were placed on pedestals or beams nearby, or attached to hanging drapery.
Canterbury Cathedral.
For much of the time, the chest (or "ferotory") was kept concealed by a wooden cover, which would be theatrically raised by ropes once a crowd of pilgrims had gathered. Erasmus, who visited in 1512–1514, recorded that, once the cover was raised, "the Prior ... pointed out each jewel, telling its name in French, its value, and the name of its donor; for the principal of them were offerings sent by sovereign princes."
The income from pilgrims (such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer's [Canterbury Tales]) who visited Becket's Shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the Cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the profits from the sale of pilgrim badges, depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his Shrine.
The Shrine was removed in 1538. Henry VIII summoned the dead Saint to Court, to face charges of Treason. Having failed to appear, he was found guilty in his absence and the treasures of his Shrine were confiscated, carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts.
The income from pilgrims (such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer's [Canterbury Tales]) who visited Becket's Shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the Cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the profits from the sale of pilgrim badges, depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his Shrine.
The Shrine was removed in 1538. Henry VIII summoned the dead Saint to Court, to face charges of Treason. Having failed to appear, he was found guilty in his absence and the treasures of his Shrine were confiscated, carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts.
PART FOUR FOLLOWS
Sunday 9 December 2012
Advent (Part Six)
Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com
Originally published 1949.
Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.
Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from
Una Voce of Orange County web-site at http://uvoc.org/,
Una Voce of Orange County web-site at http://uvoc.org/,
which reproduced them, with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press, from
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.
The Virgin in Prayer
by Giovanni Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato",
Jungfrun i bön (1640-1650).
(between 1640 and 1650).
(Wikimedia Commons)
(Wikimedia Commons)
Mother of God.
Queen of Heaven.
Mother of the Church.
Mediatrix.
Co-Redemptrix.
Our Lady.
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ora Pro Nobis.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
"The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."
From that time, the Roman Church has always observed this arrangement of Advent, which gives it four weeks, the fourth being that in which Christmas Day falls, unless 25 December be a Sunday.
We may therefore consider the present discipline of the observance of Advent as having lasted a thousand years, at least as far as the Church in France kept up the number of five Sundays as late as the 13th-Century.
The Ambrosian Liturgy, even to this day, has six weeks of Advent; so has the Gothic or Mozarabic missal. As regards the Gallican Liturgy, the fragments collected by Dom Mabillon give us no information; but it is natural to suppose with this learned man, whose opinion has been confirmed by Dom Martene, that the Church of God adopted, in this as in so many other points, the usages of the Gothic Church, that is to say, that its Advent consisted of six Sundays and six weeks.
Photo: 1917.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Shortly before her death at age 9,
Blessed Jacinta Marto of Fátima asked that everyone consecrate themselves
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
They have no proper Office for Advent, neither do they celebrate during this time the Mass of the Pre-sanctified, as they do in Lent.
There are only in the Offices for the Saints, whose Feasts occur between 14 November and the Sunday nearest Christmas, frequent allusions to the birth of the Saviour, to the Maternity of Mary, to the cave of Bethlehem, etc.
On the Sunday preceding Christmas, in order to celebrate the expected coming of the Messias, they keep what they call the Feast of the Holy Fathers, that is the Commemoration of the Saints of the Old Law.
They give the name of Ante-Feast of the Nativity to 20, 21, 22, 23 December; and, although they say the Office of several Saints on these four days, yet the mystery of the birth of Jesus pervades the whole Liturgy.
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal is obtainable from Carmel Books, Blackford House, Andover Road, Highclere, Newbury, Berkshire, England RG20 9PF. Tel: (01635 255340).
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com
THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON THE HISTORY OF ADVENT.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
This Article is taken from the October 2012 issue of " The Catholic Illustrated", the Newspaper of the Papa Stronsay community, known as The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer at www.papastronsay.blogspot.com
Subscriptions for "The Catholic Illustrated" can be obtained from www.papastronsay.blogspot.com
or from E-Mail at contact@the-sons.org
or write to: "Catholic Subscriptions", Golgotha, Monastery Island, Papa Stronsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom KW17 2AR.
Telephone: [ + 44] (0) 1857 616210.
+ ALMA REDEMPTORIS MATER +
To most readers, this would be of limited interest, bar one very interesting detail in the life of this, by all accounts, very intellectually gifted and ascetic monk.
Schema-Archbishop Anthony Abashidze.
Photo taken from Mystagogy,
The Weblog of John Sanidopoulos,
at http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com.
The Weblog of John Sanidopoulos,
at http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com.
It was Schema-Archbishop Anthony who, as Inspector of the Tbilisi theological seminary in Georgia, EXPELLED Joseph Dzhugashvili, better known as Joseph Stalin, from the seminary.
Schema-Archbishop Anthony suffered persecution and exile under Communist rule, but, interestingly, he died in peace.
Unlike so many whom Stalin sent to their deaths.
This ends the Article, as taken from the October 2012 issue of " The Catholic Illustrated", the Newspaper of the Papa Stronsay community, known as The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer at www.papastronsay.blogspot.com
The following is an observation from Zephyrinus.
What happened to it ?
Why didn't it go on, and on, and on, and on. and on. . ?
What was wrong with it ?
How come the All-Mighty Stalin died ?
Where is he, now ?
Saturday 8 December 2012
Advent (Part Five)
Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com
Originally published 1949.
Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.
Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from
Una Voce of Orange County web-site at http://uvoc.org/,
Una Voce of Orange County web-site at http://uvoc.org/,
which reproduced them, with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press, from
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.
The Nativity.
The Nativity.
But, if the exterior practices of penance which formerly sanctified the Season of Advent, have been, in the Western Church, so gradually relaxed as to have become now quite obsolete except in monasteries, [our recent (late-19th-Century) English observance of Fast and Abstinence on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent, may, in some sense, be regarded as a remnant of the ancient discipline. Note of the Translator.] the general character of the Liturgy of this holy time has not changed; and it is by their zeal in following its spirit, that the faithful will prove their earnestness in preparing for Christmas.
The Liturgical form of Advent as it now exists in the Roman Church, has gone through certain modifications. Saint Gregory seems to have been the first to draw up the Office for this Season, which originally included five Sundays, as is evident from the most ancient sacramentaries of this great Pope.
It even appears probable, and the opinion has been adopted by Amalarius of Metz, Berno of Reichnau, Dom Martene, and Benedict XIV, that Saint Gregory originated the ecclesiastical precept of Advent, although the custom of devoting a longer or shorter period to a preparation for Christmas has been observed from time immemorial, and the Abstinence and Fast of this holy season first began in France.
Pope Benedict XIV (1740 - 1758) adopted the opinion that
Saint Gregory originated the ecclesiastical precept of Advent.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Gregory therefore fixed, for the Churches of the Latin Rite, the form of the Office for this Lent-like Season, and sanctioned the Fast which had been established, granting a certain latitude to the several Churches as to the manner of its observance.
The sacramentary of Saint Gelasius has neither Mass nor Office of preparation for Christmas; the first we meet with are in the Gregorian sacramentary, and, as we just observed, these Masses are five in number.
It is remarkable that these Sundays were then counted inversely, that is, the nearest to Christmas was called the First Sunday, and so on with the rest. So far back to the 9th- and 10th-Centuries, these Sundays were reduced to four, as we learn from Amalarius of Metz, Pope Saint Nicholas I, Berno of Reichnau, Ratherius of Verona, etc, and such also is their number in the Gregorian sacramentary of Pamelius, which appears to have been transcribed about this same period.
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal is obtainable from Carmel Books, Blackford House, Andover Road, Highclere, Newbury, Berkshire, England RG20 9PF. Tel: (01635 255340).
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com
PART SIX FOLLOWS
Thursday 6 December 2012
Traditional Masses for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday, 8 December, at Blackfen, Kent, and Ashford, Kent
Our Lady of Help
Sculptor - Karl Hoffman
Ushaw College, Durham, England
The following Churches will offer Traditional Masses
for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this Saturday, 8 December.
Blackfen, Sidcup, Kent
Our Lady of the Rosary
1030 AM Missa Cantata
The Immaculate Conception - Satan's Mighty Foe -
by Piola, Domenico -
from the Church of Santissima Annunziata del Vastato,
Genoa, Italy.
St. Simon Stock
1230 PM Missa Cantata
Traditional Masses for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday, 8 December, in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York
THIS ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND ON THE SOCIETY OF ST. HUGH OF CLUNY BLOG AT
AND WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED BY Stuart Chessman
Savannah Cathedral
Connecticut:
St. Mary, Norwalk
9:00 AM Solemn High Mass
St. Stanislaus, New Haven
7:00 PM Low Mass
Sydney Cathedral
Holy Rosary Church, Jersey City
12:00 noon Missa Cantata
St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange
9:00 AM Low Mass
11:00 AM Missa Cantata
Our Lady of Fatima, Pequannock
7:00 AM Low Mass
9:00 AM Low Mass
11:00 AM Missa Cantata
"I saw a woman clothed with the sun…” – Savannah Cathedral.
Detail, Savannah Cathedral
Church of the Holy Innocents, Manhattan,
Low Mass at 5 AM concluding the First Friday All Night Vigil
Solemn Mass at 1 PM with Fr. James Miara, celebrant.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, East Harlem
10 am Solemn Mass, followed by a Day of Recollection with Fr. John Perricone, details:
St. Eugene’s , Yonkers
12:30 pm, Low Mass
Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow
3:00 PM Low Mass
Published in Masses
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Canterbury Cathedral (Part Two)
Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
The Warrior Chapel,
South Side, Canterbury Cathedral,
commemorates the War Dead and is the site of Regimental Colours.
Photo: July 2005.
Source: Flickr
Author: Heather from Atlanta, US
Reviewer: Shizhao.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1067, a year after the Norman Conquest. Rebuilding began in 1070 under the first Norman Archbishop, Lanfranc (1070–1077). He cleared the ruins and reconstructed the Cathedral to a design based closely on that of the Abbey of St. Etienne in Caen, where he had previously been Abbot, using stone brought from France.
The new Church was a cruciform building, with an aisled Nave of nine bays, a pair of Towers at the West end, Transepts with apsidal Chapels, a low Crossing Tower, and a short Choir, ending in three Apses. It was dedicated in 1077.
Following the election of Prior Ernulf, in 1096, Lanfranc's inadequate East end was demolished, and replaced with an Eastern arm, 198 feet long, doubling the length of the Cathedral. It was raised above a large and elaborately decorated Crypt. Ernulf was succeeded as Prior in 1107, by Conrad, who completed the work by 1126.
Following the election of Prior Ernulf, in 1096, Lanfranc's inadequate East end was demolished, and replaced with an Eastern arm, 198 feet long, doubling the length of the Cathedral. It was raised above a large and elaborately decorated Crypt. Ernulf was succeeded as Prior in 1107, by Conrad, who completed the work by 1126.
The West Front in 1821, showing the Norman North-West Tower
prior to rebuilding, (coloured engraving).
Canterbury Cathedral, view of the Western Towers, engraved by J. LeKeux,
after a picture by G. Cattermole, 1821.
As with many Romanesque Church buildings, the interior of the Choir was richly embellished. William of Malmesbury wrote: "Nothing like it could be seen in England, either for the light of its glass windows, the gleaming of its marble pavements, or the many-coloured paintings which led the eyes to the panelled Ceiling, above."
Though named after the 6th-Century founding-archbishop, The Chair of St. Augustine may date from the Norman period. Its first recorded use is in 1205.
Cloisters, Canterbury Cathedral.
April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons).
Martyrdom of Thomas Becket
The income from Pilgrims (such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"), who visited Becket's shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the Cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the sale of Pilgrim Badges depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his shrine.
A pivotal moment in the history of Canterbury Cathedral was the murder of Thomas Becket in the North-West Transept (also known as "the Martyrdom") on Tuesday, 29 December 1170, by knights of King Henry II.
The king had frequent conflicts with the strong-willed Becket and is said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" The knights took it literally and murdered Becket in his own Cathedral.
Becket was the second of four Archbishops of Canterbury who were murdered (see also Alphege).
The shrine was removed in 1538. King Henry VIII summoned the dead Saint to Court to face charges of Treason. In his absence, he was found guilty, and the treasures of his shrine confiscated, carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts.
The shrine was removed in 1538. King Henry VIII summoned the dead Saint to Court to face charges of Treason. In his absence, he was found guilty, and the treasures of his shrine confiscated, carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts.
Canterbury Cathedral.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons)
(Wikimedia Commons)
PART THREE FOLLOWS
Sunday 2 December 2012
Advent (Part Four)
Text taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Advent. Volume 1. St. Bonaventure Publications, www.libers.com
Originally published 1949.
Republished by St. Bonaventure Publications, July 2000.
Unless otherwise stated, Illustrations are taken from
Una Voce of Orange County web-site at http://uvoc.org/,
Una Voce of Orange County web-site at http://uvoc.org/,
which reproduced them, with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press, from
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition.
Saint Thomas, Apostle.
Feast Day 21 December.
Double of the Second Class.
Red Vestments.
Saint Thomas, Apostle.
Feast Day 21 December.
Double of the Second Class.
Red Vestments.
This much is certain, that, by degrees, the custom of Fasting so far fell into disuse, that when, in 1362, Pope Urban V endeavoured to prevent the total decay of the Advent penance, all he insisted upon was that all the Clerics of his court should keep Abstinence during Advent, without in any way including others, either Clergy or Laity, in this law.
Saint Charles Borromeo also strove to bring back his people of Milan to the spirit, if not to the letter, of ancient times. In his Fourth Council, he enjoins the Parish Priests to exhort the faithful to go to Communion on the Sundays, at least, of Lent and Advent; and afterwards addressed to the faithful themselves a Pastoral Letter, in which, after having reminded them of the dispositions wherewith they ought to spend this holy time, he strongly urges them to Fast on the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at least, of each week in Advent.
Finally, Pope Benedict XIV, when Archbishop of Bologna, following these illustrious examples, wrote his eleventh Ecclesiastical Institution for the purpose of exciting in the minds of his diocesans the exalted idea which the Christians of former times had of the holy season of Advent, and of removing an erroneous opinion which prevailed in those parts, namely, that Advent concerned Religious only and not the Laity.
Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist.
Feast Day 27 December.
Station at Saint Mary Major.
(Indulgence of 30 years and 30 Quarantines)
Double of the Second Class with Simple Octave.
White Vestments.
He shows them that such an opinion, unless it be limited to the two practices of Fasting and Abstinence, is, strictly speaking, rash and scandalous, since it cannot be denied that, in the laws and usages of the universal Church, there exist special practices, having for their end to prepare the faithful for the great Feast of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Greek Church still continues to observe the Fast of Advent, though with much less rigour that that of Lent. It consists of forty days, beginning with 14 November, the day on which this Church keeps the Feast of the Apostle, Saint Philip. During this entire period, the people abstain from flesh-meat, butter, milk, and eggs; but they are allowed, which they are not during Lent, fish, oil, and wind.
Fasting, in its strict sense, is binding only on seven out of the forty days; and the whole period goes under the name of Saint Philip's Lent. The Greeks justify these relaxations by this distinction: That the Lent before Christmas is, so they say, only an institution of the monks, whereas the Lent before Easter is of Apostolic institution.
The Saint Andrew Daily Missal is obtainable from Carmel Books, Blackford House, Andover Road, Highclere, Newbury, Berkshire, England RG20 9PF. Tel: (01635 255340).
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com
E-Mail: enquiries.carmelbooks@gmail.com
PART FIVE FOLLOWS
New "Personalised Entrance" For Mulier Fortis's Kitties
Mulier Fortis recently Posted that her Kitties, Cardinal Furretti and Monsignor Miaowrini, have had a new "Personalised Entrance" built for them by the Senior MC at Blackfen, Kent, England.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE STORY, ENTITLED "STEPPING OUT IN STYLE".
I did think that the initial pencil-sketch of the "Personalised Entrance" (see, below) was a bit, well, how can I say. . .
over the top ?
Saturday 1 December 2012
The Papa Stronsay Calendar 2013
Papa Stronsay Calendar 2013
The Papa Stronsay Calendar
for the Year of Our Lord 2013
is now available.
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to download zip-filed selection
of pictorial advertisements (similar to the one below)
that we have made for the occasion.
These images displayed and linked to the purchase link,
which is,
http://papastronsay.com/bookshop/product.php?ID=61
would do us a kind service.
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Canterbury Cathedral (Part One)
Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Canterbury Cathedral: West Front, Nave and Central Tower.
Seen from the South. Image assembled from 4 photos.
Photo: September 2005.
Source: Picture taken and post-processed by Hans Musil.
Author: Hans Musil.
Permission: Author is copyright owner.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the Cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.
Founded in 597 A.D., the Cathedral was completely rebuilt 1070-77. The East End was greatly enlarged at the beginning of the 12th-Century, and largely rebuilt in the Gothic Style following a fire in 1174. The Norman Nave and Transepts survived until the late-14th-Century, when they were demolished to make way for the present structures.
Canterbury Cathdral's 12th-Century Choir.
This photo was taken by Nina-no.
Please credit this photo Nina Aldin Thune in the immediate vicinity of the image.
Distribution: Creative Commons
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Cathedral's first Archbishop was Augustine of Canterbury, previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome. He was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 A.D., as a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine founded the Cathedral in 597 A.D., and dedicated it to Jesus Christ, the Holy Saviour.
Augustine also founded the Abbey of St. Peter and Paul outside the city walls. This was later re-dedicated to St. Augustine, himself, and was for many centuries the burial place of the successive Archbishops. The Abbey is part of the World Heritage Site of Canterbury, along with the Cathedral and the ancient Church of St. Martin.
During the 9th- or 10th-Century, this Church was replaced by a larger structure (49 metres by 23 metres) with a squared West End. It appears to have had a square Central Tower. The 11th-Century chronicler, Eadmer, who had known the Saxon Cathedral as a boy, wrote that, in its arrangement, it resembled St Peter's in Rome, indicating that it was of Basilican form, with an Eastern Apse.
During the reforms of Archbishop St. Dunstan (circa 909 A.D. - 988 A.D.), a Benedictine Abbey, named Christ Church Priory, was added to the Cathedral. But the formal establishment as a Monastery seems to date to circa 997 A.D., and the community only became fully monastic from Lanfranc's time onwards (with monastic constitutions addressed by him to Prior Henry). St. Dunstan was buried on the South side of the High Altar.
The Cathedral was badly damaged during Danish raids on Canterbury in 1011. The Archbishop, Alphege, was held hostage by the raiders and eventually killed at Greenwich, London, on 19 April 1012, the first of Canterbury's five martyred Archbishops. After this, Lyfing (1013–1020) and Aethelnoth (1020–1038) added a Western Apse as an Oratory of St. Mary.
The 1993 excavations revealed that the Apse was polygonal and flanked by hexagonal towers, forming a westwork. It housed the Archbishop's throne, with an altar of St Mary just to the East. The arcade walls were strengthened and towers added to the Eastern corners at around the time the westwork was built.
PART TWO FOLLOWS
Augustine also founded the Abbey of St. Peter and Paul outside the city walls. This was later re-dedicated to St. Augustine, himself, and was for many centuries the burial place of the successive Archbishops. The Abbey is part of the World Heritage Site of Canterbury, along with the Cathedral and the ancient Church of St. Martin.
Anglo-Saxon Cathedral
Bede recorded that Augustine re-used a former Roman Church. The oldest remains found during excavations beneath the present Nave in 1993 were, however, parts of the foundations of an Anglo-Saxon building, which had been constructed across a Roman road. They indicate that the original Church consisted of a Nave, possibly with a Narthex, and Side-Chapels to the North and South. A smaller subsidiary building was found to the South-West of these foundations.
Bede recorded that Augustine re-used a former Roman Church. The oldest remains found during excavations beneath the present Nave in 1993 were, however, parts of the foundations of an Anglo-Saxon building, which had been constructed across a Roman road. They indicate that the original Church consisted of a Nave, possibly with a Narthex, and Side-Chapels to the North and South. A smaller subsidiary building was found to the South-West of these foundations.
Fulk de Cantelupe and Henry de Cornhill, Sheriff of Kent, are sent by King John
to expel the monks from Christchurch, Canterbury.
Engraving: 1864.
Source: Doyle, James William Edmund (1864)
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, pp. p. 215
Retrieved on 12 November 2010.
Artist: James William Edmund Doyle (1822–92).
Engraver: Edmund Evans (1826 - 1905).
(Wikimedia Commons)
During the 9th- or 10th-Century, this Church was replaced by a larger structure (49 metres by 23 metres) with a squared West End. It appears to have had a square Central Tower. The 11th-Century chronicler, Eadmer, who had known the Saxon Cathedral as a boy, wrote that, in its arrangement, it resembled St Peter's in Rome, indicating that it was of Basilican form, with an Eastern Apse.
During the reforms of Archbishop St. Dunstan (circa 909 A.D. - 988 A.D.), a Benedictine Abbey, named Christ Church Priory, was added to the Cathedral. But the formal establishment as a Monastery seems to date to circa 997 A.D., and the community only became fully monastic from Lanfranc's time onwards (with monastic constitutions addressed by him to Prior Henry). St. Dunstan was buried on the South side of the High Altar.
The Screen, leading to the Choir,
Canterbury Cathedral, England.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The 1993 excavations revealed that the Apse was polygonal and flanked by hexagonal towers, forming a westwork. It housed the Archbishop's throne, with an altar of St Mary just to the East. The arcade walls were strengthened and towers added to the Eastern corners at around the time the westwork was built.
PART TWO FOLLOWS
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