CONVENTUAL CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM - ORATORY OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

LA VIRGEN DEL ROSARIO

2012-01-27T13:57:00.012Z

Many of our readers will have seen articles on this elsewhere in recent days, we make no apologies, however, for posting something so relevant to our shared Faith and to the glorious history of our beloved Order.

The image above is of a recently rediscovered statue of the Virgin of the Rosary, which was borne upon his flagship, the Galera Real, by Don John of Austria, Admiral of the Fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

It is upon this beautiful face, now scarred by time and the weather, that many of our brethren in the Order of Malta would have looked on the last day of their life and work for the Order, and before whom they uttered their last prayers. For them and for countless others, it was this sacred image which inspired them to one of the greatest naval victories against the mohammedan forces. The Victory was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the feast instituted by Pope St Pius V that same year in commemoration.

For many recent years this statue has been lost, but has now been found, and is displayed in the Spanish Naval Museum. Now she is to be restored. See the article in Spanish HERE.

The statue, of exquisite craftsmanship, delicately painted, with glass eyes, in the finest tradition of the high period of Spanish religious statuary (as seen in the London National Gallery exhibition last year), was almost certainly made in Spain, and was the gift to Don John by the Venetian Republic, as a votive offering. After the battle she was in the care of the Brotherhood of the Galleys in the church of St John de Lebron in Puerto de Santa Maria near Cadiz in southern Spain. Later she was in the possession of the Spanish Royal Naval College, where the weather took a further toll.

For over four hundred years, her sad expression has retained the awful memories of the dreadful battle; the single glass eye which now stares out at us once surveyed all the bloody horror of war. May her pious regard continue to inspire all Christians in our own generation in our battle for the Catholic Faith.

The Battle of Lepanto. The Admiral's galley is in the centre foreground, one row back.
It is on the quarterdeck that the statue stood during the battle, sadly unseen in this painting.
(Click to enlarge painting)

HOLY VIRGIN OF THE ROSARY, PRAY FOR US

(H/T to WDTPRS and Hermeneutic of Continuity)

REPORT - WEDNESDAY'S CONVENTUAL MASS

2012-01-26T20:37:00.007Z

The Conventual Mass on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul was celebrated by Father David Irwin as a sung Mass in the (rather crowded) Lady Chapel of St James's Spanish Place, in the presence of the Grand Prior. A schola of members of the Order and Companions was led by the Chancellor, Fra' Duncan Gallie.

The Mass was said for the intention of the repose of the soul of Fra' Richard Cheffins, and the intention for the living for a friend of a member of the Order in great distress. Your prayers are requested for both.

As this feast closes the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, a cause so very dear to the heart of the Sovereign Pontiff, the Octave prayers for all those Christians outside Holy Mother Church were said after the Mass, before the singing of the Inviolata.

In the oecumenical spirit which befits this glorious Feast, it is worth recording that at the customary Papal Vespers on this day at the basilica of St Paul without the Walls, the Anglican representative was a member of our separated brothers in the Venerable Order of Saint John, Canon Richardson, who attended in his Order choir dress, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury. Vatican television has a recording of Vesper available HERE.

Canon Richardson sits below the papal throne at the left, while on the far right is
His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios, representing the Oecumenical Patriarch.

It is worth noting that Vespers was sung entirely to the traditional gregorian chant, and the Faithful joined in throughout singing alternatim with the choir. No patronising concessions were made to congregational singing, for instance the very complex tone of the office hymn was sung by everyone, and it was thus proven how well the Faithful will sing even unfamiliar tones when encouraged to do so. It is a joy for the Grand Priory of England to have such a noble lead to follow in the excellence of the Sacred Liturgy and music!

FOR UNITY

Let us pray: O God, in Thy mercy thou dost set aright those who have gone astray and Thou dost save those whom Thou hast gathered together. We beseech Thee to pour down upon all Christian people the grace of union with Thee, so that putting aside disunion and attaching themselves to the true shepherd of Thy Church, they may be able to serve Thee humbly and lovingly. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

FRA' RICHARD CHEFFINS RIP - YEAR'S MIND

2012-01-23T17:29:00.000Z

The Mass at Spanish Place this Wednesday 25th January at 6.45pm will be celebrated for the intention of Fra' Richard Cheffins, who died on the 26th January, 2011. Please pray for the repose of his soul. Even if you are unable to attend the Mass, please remember him in your prayer intentions on that day.

Requiescat in Pace

NEXT WEDNESDAY 25TH JAN - CHANGE TO MONTHLY MASSES

2012-01-19T10:50:00.005Z

The Conventual Masses of the Order in London, which have recently been taking place weekly at St James’s Spanish Place on Thursdays, will be replaced with a monthly Mass on the last Wednesday of the Month, at Spanish Place, starting next Wednesday, the 25th January 2012.

The Masses will begin at 6.45pm. They will be a sung Mass, and will be followed by a short drinks reception in the Presbytery, by courtesy of the Rector.

The dates for the Year 2012 are as follows:

January 25th – Conversion of St Paul

February 29th – Feria of Lent

March 28th – Wednesday in Passion Week

April 25h – St Mark the Evangelist

May 30th – Wednesday in the Octave of Pentecost

June 27th – Votive Mass “Contra Paganos”

July 25th – The Feast of St James. As this is the Patronal Feast of the Parish we shall join their Mass at 6pm.

August 29th – Beheading of St John the Baptist

September 26th – SS Zachary and Elizabeth, Parents of St John the Baptist (anticipated)

October 31st – Votive Mass for Vocations

November 28th – Votive Mass for the intentions of the Grand Master

December 26th – St Stephen (Boxing Day) No Mass

EPIPHANY HOUSE BLESSING

2012-01-06T15:29:00.009Z

The Church offers us many means to acquire the graces we need for our salvation, among these today is the blessing of our houses on the Epiphany.

This blessing is recommended for all Catholic houses, to help resist all the usual temptations under which we live, but particularly for those which are the family home of children and young people, who can benefit from these additional aids to combat the difficulties of growing up. It is also a fun way of teaching the young children.

The traditional prayers may be found HERE in English, or in a copy of the Roman Ritual, or in some old hand-missals. These blessings do not need a priest, but are frequently and traditionally said by the father of the household. If you have holy water at home, this may be sprinkled by him on his family and in the main rooms.

After the blessing, the doorpost or lintol of the front door is marked as below, without additional words, with a piece of ordinary white chalk. In some countries of central Europe and in parts of the USA, it is customary for the chalk to be blessed by the Parish Priest at the morning Mass, but unblessed chalk may be used just as well if none other is available.

20+C+M+B+12

Between the numerals of the year, the letters stand for Christus Mansionem Benedicat (Christ bless this house) and correspond happily with the traditional names of the Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Baltahzar, who visited the dwelling of the Holy Family on this day.

As this Feast is transferred to Sunday in many countries, and now also for the time being in England, this Blessing could sensibly be done after Mass this Sunday. For those who visit our houses and see it, it is also a simple piece of Tuitio Fidei, and Catholic witness.

TUITIO FIDEI - POVERTY CHASTITY AND OBEDIENCE - THE TRUE FREEDOM

2012-01-05T09:09:00.013Z

For the benefit of members of the Order we post below a short interview with a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Sainte Madeleine at Le Barroux in southern France, in which he explains the three evangelical cousels of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience which constitute the vows of life of most of the religious orders and societies in the Catholic Church. They are called 'evangelical counsels' or the 'counsels of Perfection' as these precepts come from our Our Lord's own teaching in the Gospels.

We should not forget that all Christians are called by Him to this way of living as often as they can, not just those formally set apart as 'religious'. Each counsel opposes one of the three great hindrances to the spiritual life: the love of material goods, the pleasures of the flesh, and the desire for worldly honour and power. These counsels are not of merit or virtue in themselves, but only when they are practiced for the love of God, and in perfect submission to His will for us.

Within the Order of Malta, the professed knights (knights of Justice) take these three vows, in common with all the ancient religious orders, for whom they form a perpetual obligation.

As in the modern age knights live within the material world, and not in community as once they did, it is helpful to understand the Order's interpretation of the vow of Poverty in this context, which differs from that of the enclosed monk or priest in community who literally owns neither his clothes nor his books. By ancient tradition it is also known as the vow of 'perfect Charity', and it is in this understanding that it is best understood for the knight of Malta. It is fulfilled by using only that minimum which is necessarily to maintaining our life in the world, without causing scandal of ostentatious denial or of excessive consumption, and submitting obediently to one's superior's will for the use of the surplus for charitable purposes. Each knight will determine the balance with his superior and his spiritual director. Canonically, regardless of how this may be interpreted in practice of local fiscal laws, all the goods of the solemnly professed knight are the property of his priory for his lifetime.

The other two vows of Chastity and Obedience are much more clearly understood for the knight within their context in the monastic life, and are very beautifully expounded by the monk in this video.

For those not living in a life of celibacy, the life of Chastity is still required of all of us. Especially for those of us living in Marriage, we should not forget that if forms part of the marriage vows. Secular priests too take the vows of Chasity and Obedience, but not of Poverty. It is wrong, as is so often done, to see these three states of life as being somehow in opposition, but rather they are different ways for us each to follow the same goal of personal sanctification, within fidelity to our chosen life. Christian Charity requires us to support and pray for each other's vocation.

Obedience, as we know, has a very special, and indeed unusual, place within the life of the Order of Malta, and our monk's explanation cannot be bettered for the knight in Obedience, uncomfortable as it may sound to many ears.

This video will be of benefit to all Christians in all walks of life. They are not easy paths, but their rewards are beyond our imagination.

Please pray for this monk and his community.

(H/T : NLM)

TUITIO FIDEI - H. M. THE QUEEN'S CHRISTMAS BROADCAST

2011-12-25T21:38:00.016Z

Our Christian Sovereign meditates upon our charitable duty to our neighbour, on tolerance, on bonds of fraternity, family and community, on Christian love and hope, and on examination of conscience and forgiveness, both on the world stage and also in our lives together, as a response to the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour.

With her, we pray:

"O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.

"It is my prayer that on this Christmas Day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God, through Christ our Lord."

Elizabeth R .

CHRISTMAS PRESENT!

2011-12-17T18:04:00.002Z

For those who still have last minute presents to buy, this collection of Maltese sacred music from the archives of the cathedral in Mdina may be ordered online from New College Oxford. Click anywhere.

THE GREATER O ANTIPHONS

2011-12-17T17:58:00.008Z

Today the Church gives us the beginning of the final preparation for Christmas, in the greater O Antiphons of the Magnificat, the gospel canticle at Vespers.

Each one highlights a title for the Messiah; also, each refers to the one of the prophecies of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah.

O Sapientia: “O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.”

O Adonai: “O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.”

O Radix Jesse: “O Flower of Jesse’s stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.”

O Clavis David: “O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of Heaven: Come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death; and lead your captive people into freedom.”

O Oriens: “O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.”

O Rex Gentium: “O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man, come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.”

O Emmanuel: “O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Saviour of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.”

The words of the antiphons are an acrostic, the initial letter of each name, starting with the last, spell:

ERO CRAS - "Tomorrow I shall be here!"

The combox is open to allow pedantic corrections of the translation of "ero cras", together with other contributions and spiritual reflections on these sacred days.

JOHN RALEIGH CHICHESTER-CONSTABLE RIP

2011-12-16T00:11:00.003Z

______________________________________________________________________________

The Conventual Mass at Spanish Place this evening was offered by Father David Irwin for the repose of the soul of John Raleigh Chichester-Constable, knight of Honour and Devotion, who died on 7th December, at the age of 84.

John Chichester-Constable joined the Order in 1981, a man of deep and private piety and committed to charitable work, he was a very good friend and an amiable and unassuming host to many members of the Order at Burton Constable, his family house in Yorkshire which he spent much of his life restoring with his late wife Gay. He will be much missed. He is survived by his daughter Rodrica, dame of Honour and devotion of the Order, and grandson Jack.

Requiescat in Pace

______________________________________________________________________________

FATHER HEMER'S ADVENT RECOLLECTION

2011-12-12T11:01:00.006Z

We are deeply grateful to Father John Hemer MHM for his most inspiring talks, and for allowing us the reproduce his notes here.

Click the "read more" link below for the full texts. These are lecture notes, rather than finished texts to be read aloud, and are thus useful aids for private study and mediation.

There are two talks, both of which were nearly an hour long, so we are attaching below links to two PDF files, so they may conveniently be downloaded and printed for leisurely study.

Click here for PDF of first talk on St John the Baptist.
Click here for PDF of second talk on the Prologue of St John's Gospel.

John The Baptist.

In Mt. 311-12 John presents a picture of the coming Messiah – for him Jesus - where the lines are very sharply drawn: His winnowing fan is in his hand, he will clear the threshing floor his wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that never goes out.

A popular idea at his time. This is what it will be like. Once we thought all of us were the chosen people but some of us behave so badly that they must have to face retribution. And there were different definitions of who was right and wrong. People haven’t stopped being moralistic, they are just moralistic in a different way.

John’s God is not harsh or angry but just and consistent. He will not leave goodness unrewarded nor wickedness punished. He expects Jesus to follow on from here. He also believes that the ‘Day of the Lord’ has arrived, that God is intervening in a special way.

Because of the manifest evil around him John does expect something frightening, dramatic like fundamentalists, Catholic; Protestant who wait for great portents and signs and disasters which will make everybody believe.

Perhaps Jesus’ coming gives him the courage to finally face Herod, the collaborator, fox, and that leads very quickly to his arrest. John Baptises Jesus, Jesus goes off into the desert for 40 days. John thinks “well it’s only a matter of time before Herod and all his party get their come-uppance so I can say what I want to say”. He’s not too worried when he gets arrested, Jesus the Messiah will soon sort things out. He’s spent plenty of time as a hermit in the desert so apart from the confinement prison is probably no harder and possibly easier than the life he’s led. He just sits and waits for the fireworks to begin. But they don’t.

His visitors tell him that rather than sort out good and bad, Jesus has gone soft. Tax collectors, prostitutes who have betrayed the nation, who have led to its moral decay are his friends. Synagogue officials are scandalised – he breaks the Sabbath. John saw things so lax that he could no longer work with it, so withdraws to the desert. Jesus seems to be making things more lax. No wonder John’s confused.

Everyone said the church would get better after Vat II and all the lapsed would come back. Some say it’s got much worse, that we’ve sold out to the world. That’s what John feels. Turn to Mt. 11:1-11

So he sends and asks Jesus: Are you the one to come, or are wee to expect someone else? Surely there’s more to God’s intervention than this! So He reminds john that there is more than one way to think about the coming of the Messiah, this great judge idea is the one currently popular. John defines himself in terms of the prophesy of Isaiah: a voice crying in the wilderness So Jesus reminds him of things Isaiah said about ‘the Day of the Lord’

Your dead will come back to life,

your corpses will rise again.

Wake up and sing you dwellers in the dust! (26:19)

That day the deaf will hear the words of a book

And, delivered from shadow and darkness

The eyes of the blind will see.

The lowly will find ever more joy in Yahweh

And the poorest of people will delight in the Holy One of Israel (29:18-19)

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

the ears of the deaf unsealed,

then the lame will leap like a deer

and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. (35:5-6)

The spirit of the lord has been given to me,

For the Lord has anointed me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,

to soothe the broken hearted (61:1)

Isaiah was Israel’s greatest spokesman for God, if this is how he spoke of God’s coming then John has no cause for alarm at all, this is the salvation he’s been waiting for. And: Blessed is he who takes no offence at me. John could become bitter and cynical at this stage: “Have I spent my life just for this?” but blessed is he if he does not, if he has the courage to think again. Jesus does not tell John that he’s wrong, just that there is more to it than he thought.

John is the summit of what people can do for themselves when they take life and God seriously. Of all children born to women there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist. (Mt:11:11) But Jesus knows that isn’t enough. There is no grace in John, there is no such thing as a free lunch. God is not vindictive but he is strictly just. Jesus goes far beyond this, to a God who is really compassionate and merciful. People who have got themselves into a mess through their own fault don’t have to ‘pay everything back’. Many of us have received a version of Christianity which is more the religion of John the Baptist than Jesus. Priests have been very good at preaching repentance and condemning evil but often not daring to preach grace. And even when you do, people don’t always like it, and they accuse you of watering the gospel down. A religion of “tell me what to do and I’ll do it, no matter how hard” is much easier than “Love God and love your neighbour” when they won’t even tell me who my neighbour is, or more important who my neighbour isn’t.

It is not a case of John is right and Jesus is wrong. Clearly Jesus admires John’s purity and integrity and the evangelists are unanimous in saying that Jesus’ encounter with him was decisive. But the difference is between “what shall we do” and “what can we become?” People are attracted to John and Jesus likes what he does but realises that it’s not enough and that is john’s movement really takes root people will end up the victims of just another type of moralism, albeit more refined and with the borders drawn a little wider. So it’s the time for Jesus to act. Without being disciples of John we can probably never become disciples of Jesus. We can never follow him without desiring the good and shunning evil, but if we never get beyond that, we will never really get the point of the gospel.

Luke 3:10-14. John is very practical and quite understanding of the fact that human beings are often trapped in situations they can’t just get out of. Instead of telling the tax collectors to stop collaborating with the imperialist Roman swine, he just tells them to take no more than they have to, likewise with the soldiers and tells the ordinary punters to help someone who is poor. To do something which is in their grasp. Sometimes I’ve heard people talking about how we have to change our whole lifestyle and stop participating in global exploitation. Fair enough, that may well be true but that sort of talk often leaves people high and dry about what they can do practically to help others.

So John’s suggestions are full of practical common sense, but they are an exercise in damage limitation. His word to tax collectors is: “Take less”. Jesus word is “Come down Zacchaeus, hurry, because I am going to stay at your house today” To the soldiers who torture him his word is not a lecture about human decency, but Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus is not interested in damage limitation, but in transformation. John is like a policeman who wants to stop two warring factions battering each other. Jesus wants to get them to sit down and talk to each other and learn about each other. Sometimes all we can manage realistically is the first, but we can never just stop there.

Jesus says of him in Jn. 5: He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John;

What Jesus offers is so much more.

In the run up to the year 2000 there was a lot of talk about the millennium, some religious groups expected dramatic things to happen and there was even a secular version of millennial fear in all the Y2K computer worries.

It’s significant that the Catholic Church had nothing to do with any of that balmy religious speculation. We did not celebrate the millennium; we celebrated a Jubilee, a Holy Year exactly what Jesus talked about.

What Jesus offers is not judgment, but jubilee

The Beatitudes. 5:3-12.

It was often suggested that while the Ten Commandments were a good guide to ordinary Christian life, for those who wanted to be really perfect, to really excel, there were the beatitudes. To see them as counsels for a higher degree of perfection is to misunderstand them. They are rather a gospel of golden opportunities, saying to people that if they find themselves in these situations, then they have a chance to meet God and enter the kingdom. Some of them - poverty of spirit, mourning, hunger, persecution are not so much qualities to be aimed at as starting points for a journey towards God

1. How blessed are the poor in spirit:

the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Many have commented on how this differs from the parallel saying in Lk. 6:20; How blessed are you who are poor, yours is the kingdom of God. It is been suggested that Matthew, shying away from the consequences or the difficulties inherent in the original saying (as probably found in Luke) has deliberately 'spiritualised' this sentence, and in so doing has softened its impact. Was Jesus saying literally that the state of poverty was a happy one? Most unlikely, and even a limited experience will teach one that poor people are not necessarily any more spiritual than the rich, indeed can be every bit as selfish and avaricious as the most unscrupulous of millionaire entrepreneurs. Was Jesus trying to liberate them from their economic situation? Was he being patronising? Was he telling people to submit to the unjust economic system at the time because their poverty made them blessed? Is he saying that poor people are more likely to be good than rich people? All these questions are answered by the expression poor in spirit. Matthew is not spiritualising or toning it down, but is trying to interpret and explain the meaning of a saying that could otherwise be highly ambiguous and open to the grossest of misinterpretation. Matthew's text clearly does not refer to mere material poverty as a blessing. The expression first of all points to insight into one's own condition.

The poor in spirit seem to be those who have a relentlessly honest view of themselves and their own helplessness. This corresponds very closely to what we mean in English by humility, i.e. being in touch with the soil, not being subject to flights of fancy about oneself. The word used here, ptwcoi, does mean destitute, beggars. This is not a counsel just to have enough, it is not “blessed are the frugal!”

This realisation of one's condition, one's helplessness is not something that we can engineer ourselves. It simply assails people who are truly honest about their life. Many people spend a lifetime running away from poverty of spirit, and all of us resist it to some extent. Most of us would like to believe that we are self-sufficient, that we can call the shots, even where our religion is concerned. The opposite of this poverty is security. Whenever someone looks on his money, his position, his reputation, his possessions, his image as the thing which really makes him secure in the world he is relying on something which is not God. The one who is poor in spirit does not just turn to God out of some sense of piety, some vague religiosity. He realises in his incompleteness that he needs God desperately, he is like someone whose head is held under water gasping for air. At the moment he realises that, he has a chance to enter the kingdom of God. He has a chance to grasp that reality which Jesus struggled so hard to put into words. The kingdom is not a reward for goodness, it is the possession of those who learn to depend ultimately on God and nothing else.

This beatitude is about detachment from anything which will give a false sense of security, but it is also about attachment to the only one who can give any kind of security. Luke's parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Lk 18:9-14) is probably the clearest illustration of what this beatitude means.

2. Blessed are those who mourn:

they shall be comforted.

If poverty characterised the human condition in general, then grief is the most likely response to that. This may be mourning over personal loss, lament over Israel, the state of the world or even one's own sins. Mourning had also become a common metaphor to describe faithful Jews, in stark contrast to frivolous and cynical people who do not care about the state of the nation. Whatever the reason for the mourning, it is always a chance either to simply cling to the past or to make a new start. When people cling to the past, they are not really mourning, they are in fact refusing to accept their loss and until they do that they cannot move on. I once knew a couple in London whose eight year old son had one day just bowed his head and died. Destroyed by grief, for several years the kept the boy's bedroom exactly as it was the day he died. The grief did not abate, they remained stuck until the husband's job forced him to move house and so dismantle the room. After that they were able to really admit the boy's death and get on with their lives. The opposite of mourning is not laughter or rejoicing, but denial, numbness, repression of feelings. "Big boys don't cry". This leads to blockage, and the mourner cannot be comforted. People who are unable to mourn, to feel and admit their pain, cannot really rejoice either, they can only amuse themselves.

For Israel the greatest mourning in her history had been at the exile, when her whole world was destroyed, and every hope she had was taken away. But she was able to mourn her loss: By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept, at the memory of Sion. (Ps. 137:1) When she came home again after fifty years, she was changed forever. The majestic poetry of Deutero-Isaiah was the result of the exile. The incredible depth of insight found in the servant songs of Isaiah would have been impossible before the exile. Here she realised in her pain that God could and did accomplish his purpose even through a broken, demoralised people. One way of coping with such enormous change is simply to pretend it never happened, to keep talking about how wonderful everything was in the past. Israel did not fall into this trap, and so grew through her pain.

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Is. 53:2-6)

The giving of consolation is a matter of divine justice. People who honestly weep for their situation will be comforted by God The willingness and ability to mourn is no longer taken simply as a part of life, but it is for the believer the result of a special insight into the human condition before God. So this beatitude is a consequence of the previous one. Those who know how deep and total their poverty is, accept it, mourn for it and in that receive new life.

Session Two. John’s Prologue 1:1-18.

John starts with something very familiar to Jews – God’s word. Not exactly what Genesis says, but near enough to get people to hear similarity. God’s word is powerful and active. It Gives life: Take all these words to heart… for the Law is your life and by its means you will live long..(Deut 32:46-47.) It can heal people He sent out his word and it cured them. (Ps. 107:20.) According to Psalm 119 Your Word is my hope (81) Your word is planted firm in heaven (89) Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path (105) As your word unfolds it gives light and even the simple understand (130) If we equate God’s word with his Law or commandments, which the OT does. It is the most treasured thing there is (Feast of Shimchat Torah) In Genesis it is the agent of creation: And God said: “Let there be light” and there was light. John says: Through him all things came into being, a deeper reflection on what we are told in Genesis.

It is also the prophetic word which is always contending against hardness of heart, speaking on behalf of those who are wronged (see Isaiah 1.) It breaks the silence that no one knew existed, it causes those who did not notice the widow, the orphan etc to see them. On the other hand it causes those who bear it to suffer – think of Jeremiah’s confessions. For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. (Jer. 20:8) In other words: “Because I speak on behalf of those left out, I have become left out.” All this is incarnated by Christ the crucified one.

The word was made flesh = the entire biblical revelation is contained in life, death & resurrection of this one human being. Bible is true history of the world.

All this is thoroughly Jewish, but how to express it for Greek converts who have never read OT? In Greek Philosophy the Lord, Logos is the eternal principle of order in the universe. For some it was the mind of God, guiding, controlling & directing everything. Later it was considered to be the by which God created and ordered the world. Some have translated the word Logos as ‘creative energy’.

Heraclitus stumbled on the truth when he said that the Logos is violence, i.e. violence is the organising principle of the world. There are two logoi operating in the world – two forms of coherence, two ways of making meaning. Heraclitus offered a view of origins different from the myths of his time. He sensed that violence behaved with a logic of its own that he called logos. He said: “Violence is the father & king of all things. He has shown some to be gods & some mortal (it creates distinction between sacred & profane) He has shown some to be slaves & some to be free (i.e it creates social differentiation) violence is justice & all things come to pass and perish through violence”

The sacred is violence transfigured in a way that must not be approached or recognised or touched. If this seems bizarre, think of honour killings in Islam. Typically a female member of the family will decide to marry someone who for one reason or another is ‘not right’. Her family will, without a qualm of conscience kill her. This is necessary to maintain social order and to give a message to others who may be tempted to do the same. The family would not consider this to be violence but justice and necessary. Violence creates order, and order is the will of God. So such a killing is a holy act. The controlling Logos of such a society and of any ancient society is violence.

So many myths begin with violence but they are unconscious. Heraclitus is the first to conceptualise the phenomenon of generative violence. Once this logos is in play it turns destructive violence into something that can keep society together. He saw that however random it is, collective violence develops according to certain patterns.

As John lays out his stall, we see through people’s reaction to Jesus that this is indeed the case, and the reader is asked to choose between the Logos of this world and Jesus who is the Logos from above. (You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.) (8:23.)

Through the Logos all things came to be – it’s only this logos is creative. The violent Logos produces structures and order and camaraderie and culture but it does not actually create any thing. It’s important to see that there is logos rather than chaos. The modern view that the universe is a purely random set of events with no intelligence behind it is flatly contradicted by the statement that in the beginning there was Logos – reason.

A good way to understand this is: “In the beginning God expressed himself. Today people talk about ‘the force’, New agers about ‘cosmic energy’ or ‘the Life principle’ John tells his gentile readers that this force or power that they have always known about is not just something vague and abstract, but actually became visible in a real man. New agers tend to like their god rather vague and woolly, floating around in the atmosphere and you can get in touch with him (or her) by chanting or hugging a tree. God can be anything you want it to be. John agrees with them that there is such a force, but challenges them by saying that this force entered history in the form of a man. So word means much more to John’s readers than to us.

The verb for overpower is katalamba,nw this can also mean to understand, to comprehend. The Vulgate has: et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt and the Douai has and the darkness did not comprehend it. In other words the forces of this world can’t understand it any more than they can really fight it. We have seen that happening with the Papal visit

In Mk 4:41 Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him. By the end of Mk we know that this is The son of God. Early church realises that when they met Jesus they met God, but the consequences of that not worked out in synoptics. With more time to reflect John comes to understand that if this is true, then this person must have existed since the beginning. This is not yet the full-blown doctrine of the Trinity, but a recognition that belief in One God is not as simple as we thought. Soon, John will make the connection between this pre-existent word and the earthly Jesus. The power which was instrumental in creation, which inspired all the great OT figures and all the philosophers takes on visible human form in Jesus

In case we start dreaming and get stuck in eternity (as sometimes religious people do) We are brought down to earth. A man came sent by God. His name was John. This book will tell us eternal truths, but we can only know them by being here on earth, in history with real people. (People woffle on about love, we can only touch it and know it by loving real individuals.) The author takes us out of eternity which is all beautiful and inspiring, and into history which is often messy and difficult.

Quickly we are told that this Word does not just float around in the ether, but becomes flesh, becomes concretely visible. This has many effects.

All decent people are on the side of light and truth and goodness – theoretically. But when that involves concrete choices, many fight shy. If this truth and light of God take on real visible form in Jesus we are faced with real choice. Many people like their religion and morality vague, general, universal. If the incarnation is true then that position is untenable. I can only show I’m on the side of universal truth by throwing in my lot with a very particular man. The incarnation, the Word coming into the world forces that choice.

“This ‘world’ does not mean our planet; rather it represents the planet’s people, especially in its officialdom, who stand opposed to God. As in the time of Jesus, when religion was embedded in all societal structures, this officialdom often is connected to recalcitrant religious leaders organised in a group. Those members who have come under the power of the group’s ideology stand in need of conversion.”

Walter Wink has made the helpful suggestion that we can get a sense of the force of ‘world’ in John if we substitute the word ‘system’ referring to the domination system, the unjust world order which privileges a few and marginalises and dehumanises many. You are of this system, I am not of this system (8:23) gives the sense of what Jesus meant here and avoids the danger of Gnostic dualism

Becoming Children of God is a central issue in John. We tend to say glibly: “we are all God’s children.” In a certain sense that’s true but this is not what John means. Being a ‘son’ of England or wherever means that my nationality informs to a great extent who I understand myself to be. Likewise when we say: “He’s his father’s son” we mean that he takes after his father and probably consciously tries to emulate him. But says John, that understanding of ourselves is not enough. To be a child of God means that my self-understanding must come from God and not from something in this world. That which we are born of is perhaps: ‘that which makes us tick’, the world in which we live. Nicodemus comes to Jesus as a child of Abraham, he has a great pedigree. The thing which gives him his sense of identity is his ancestry. Being Jewish is what makes him tick. Jesus tells him in effect that even that counts for nothing and that he has to be born again to even be able to see the kingdom of God. When people have had the experience of being born again, or a conversion experience, they bear witness to the fact that something else makes them tick, the whole basis of their lives and well-being changes. St Francis said that a Christian is a citizen of no country but the kingdom of heaven. Here he speaks with the profound insight contained in John’s prologue

John says that authority to become children of God is given to those who: are born not of blood nor will of the flesh nor will of man but of God (Jn 1:13, my trans.) The first expression has puzzled scholars for centuries. The Greek evx ai`ma,twn ex haimaton means literally ‘of bloods’. If we translate this back into Hebrew the plural, damim is quite an ordinary way of talking about ‘bloodshed’ and maybe this is what John has in mind here. Unfortunately, the fervent defence of propagation of religion has often gone together with bloodshed in the history of the world. Jesus himself said: The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy service to God. (Jn. 16:2) Those guided by such religious principles cannot become children of God. (As we shall see whenever John talks about birth or parentage, his is hardly ever talking about the process of human generation) In many societies, both ancient and modern, the ability to shed blood without qualms was taken as the sign of a real man. There are still whole societies who think like this. “If bloodshed is the price we have to pay in order to do what we want, then we are proud of the fact that we are not afraid to pay it.” And all too often people assume that God is on their side in all this. John is saying emphatically that this cannot be the case. So John is saying that the people who can become children of God are those who are not guided by principles of bloodshed or mere human systems or desires.

Living at a time when we are rediscovering the goodness of the body, we are often disturbed by John’s distinctions between flesh and spirit, so it’s important to understand what he means. If we simplify the distinction between flesh and spirit to something bodily and sexual (as opposed to the things of God which have nothing to do with the body) we side-step the import of the NT. Flesh is every human system of behaviour, even of thought or religion which is opposed to God, which is not enlivened by the spirit of the true God. Remember that pride, which takes place only in the mind, has always been considered a sin of the flesh. When Jesus says to the Jews in Jn. 8:15 You judge according to the flesh, The NJB translates this as You judge by human standards. Note they are judging him on the criteria of their religion, which they claim was revealed to Moses. So although their standards are religious and have a very good pedigree and have served people well for 1000 years, they are of the flesh. This is so simply because now they oppose the work of God’s spirit which is being revealed in Jesus Christ. Perhaps a parallel would be the very belligerent forms of Catholic traditionalism which oppose Vatican II, judge most of their hierarchy to be unrepentant heretics and do this in the name of true Catholicism. The issues are complex but what is often at stake is an attachment to a certain form of catholic culture rather than the true spirit of Catholicism. There is a denial that any change or development can be good or of the Spirit. In that sense traditionalism, even though it espouses a form of religion which seems to be very ‘spiritual’ is often in fact a work of the flesh in the NT sense. It’s an attachment to a certain human way of understanding which was once embodied the truth, but now resists the work of the spirit, sets itself up in opposition to it, denies that it is the spirit.

In a similar way, biblical fundamentalism which claims the ‘spiritual high ground’ is often very at home with extreme right wing politics. And so while the fundamentalist would claim to be influenced not by the world but only by the spirit of God, his literalist approach to the text means he is closed to any meaning beyond the one he sees. The people who marched to war in the US to defend the right to keep slaves did so with the Bible in their hand and their Bible reading was a major part of the ideological underpinning of the pro-slavery movement. This kind of Bible reading is clearly a work of the flesh in NT terms. The vocabulary is very spiritual but it resists what God’s Spirit is doing.

Conversely, Paul says: in Ephesians 5:28-33

28. In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies; for a man to love his wife is for him to love himself. 29. A man never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks after it; and that is the way Christ treats the Church, 30. because we are parts of his Body. 31. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and the two become one flesh. 32. This mystery has great significance, but I am applying it to Christ and the Church. 33. To sum up: you also, each one of you, must love his wife as he loves himself; and let every wife respect her husband.

So the most carnal of unions, the marital union, Paul considers to be something spiritual, something which reflects the union of Christ and the Church. So if we insist on understanding ‘flesh’ merely as pertaining to the body and the sexual, we close ourselves off to much of what the NT is saying. Of course over-attachment to the things of the body can keep us attached to the flesh, but conversely it is possible for people who are very ascetic still to be living according to the flesh, still to be guided by human concerns rather than the life-giving spirit of God.

To be born of will of the flesh means to understand one’s self in purely worldly terms. In American churches there is often a flag in the sanctuary. Perhaps the question John would put is: “If you had to choose between the cross and the Stars and Stripes (or the Union Jack or the Tricolour) which would you choose?” If it’s the flag then I am still born of the flesh. If I say: “My God and my country are the same thing”, then I am still thinking according to the flesh.

To be born of the will of man seems to have a specific meaning. Here, John does not use the ordinary word for man, a;nqrwpoj( but he says ouvde. evk qelh,matoj avndro.j This is the technical word for a biological male, not the generic term for a human being. Of course for Jews, their natural birth through Jewish fathers did make them people of God, John says here that this is not the case, this in fact can get in the way.

The Word became flesh. John takes a risk using this word, and elsewhere in the gospel it will have a negative meaning, something which is base and only earthly, and in opposition to the work of God: It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. (6:63) John could have softened this by saying: “The word took on a body” or: “The word assumed a physical form” but he wants us to face the scandal of the incarnation – that the majestic force who makes and sustains the universe limits himself to living in a backward village in a backward province. There were strands in Greek thought which said that the physical world is only a shadow of the real spiritual world, that our bodies are really just cages in which the soul is trapped. The Gnostics believed that the physical world was evil and the spiritual is good. (Genesis 1 contradicts this. Everything God makes he sees that it is good). Christians have often inherited this un-biblical view. God shows how much he loves the world by becoming a part of it. For the Greeks and millions of modern people – Hindus, Buddhists, new agers of various kinds, salvation, ultimate liberation is being released from the world. They subscribe to the idea that we can only encounter God in the spiritual and that salvation means that God rescues us from the nasty physical world with all its problems and brings us into his nice ‘spiritual’ world.. Instead of doing that for us God gets involved in history and human life. A lot of bad religion concentrates only on the spiritual and ignores people’s physical needs. Or tries to pretend that we can reach God if we by-pass the body. The central, most important fact about Jesus is not his teaching, or what he does, but he becomes one like us. Islam cannot cope with this idea. For Muslims, God is all- transcendent and if he takes flesh he looses that. The risk is that Jesus, becoming flesh will not be recognised as God, just a man. Many saw only the man. But God does take that risk. Flesh is earth bound and perishable, does not seem to be a fitting vessel for God’s mighty purpose. But that’s all we have. We are beautifully human.

For Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not his

To the father through the features of men’s faces

One of the reasons Protestantism has such problems with the sacraments and the very physicality of Catholicism is they can’t really believe the full truth of the incarnation, that the physical is a way to God, and the way God chose to reveal himself. The word became flesh, and the reformation turned it into word again. The problem with Catholicism is the other extreme. Physical things – candles, bread, water are some of the ways we make our relationship with God. But Catholics can get stuck at the physical thing. Religion can become mechanical and therefore superstitious. People will light a candle in church without saying a prayer and without realising that the candle itself is only a symbol of the prayer being offered. People can use holy things without any relationship with the holy.

Muslims and many Protestants see God as one who simply sends his instructions without really getting involved. That is the nature of the Koran and the way many people think about the Bible – a set of heavenly instructions. New agers like to see Jesus as a wisdom teacher (John’s gospel very vulnerable to that). People want to see religion a collection of beautiful sayings and ideas. Incarnation confounds all that.

“I need someone with skin on”

The Greek of John 1:14 really means And the word became flesh and pitched his tent among us. Israel has a strong tradition of talking about God’s presence among his people as ‘God’s tenting’. Make me a sanctuary so that I can reside among them (Ex. 25:8-9) I am the Lord your God who makes his dwelling (pitches his tent) in Zion. (Joel 3:17) After exile, during rebuilding of Temple; Sing and rejoice O daughter of Zion, for look I come and I will make my dwelling (pitch my tent) in your midst. (Zechariah 2:10.) Jesus is now what the Temple was for Israel. If we want to meet God we do that not in a special building, but in Jesus. It was in the Temple that God’s glory was seen, so now We have seen his glory. The glory of God shines in what Jesus does. (There is no account of the Transfiguration in John because Jesus’ glory is visible from the wedding at Cana onwards.)

Moses gives the Law – a set of instructions, Jesus gives unsolicited free gift of grace, God giving himself. The heart of the gospel and the thing we have such trouble understanding.

And Finally…………

A Thought on the Incarnation.

My first Christmas as a priest in Africa didn’t start well. I went into the sacristy at 6a.m. to prepare for the three Masses I had in different outstations and realised to my dismay that I was completely alone. Normally two or three of the altar servers would accompany me, set up the altar, serve the Mass and pack everything away. But on this the busiest day of the year, when at each Mass there would be well over a thousand people, I would have to do everything myself. I was angry with the servers for not thinking of me. I was angry with myself, because I should have reminded a few of them that I’d be setting off very early and would need extra help. I was angry that all these people would be having Christmas and enjoying it with their families and here was I…alone. I had worked hard on my sermon that year and was pleased with it, so although I had Christmas well worked out in my head, it certainly was not there in my heart. So, sulking I got all the things together for the Masses, hundreds of hosts, vestments, all the right books, and with a heavy heart walked to the car not looking forward to the long, lonely task ahead. Leaning on the car were Edward and Michael, two lads in their late teens, good lads. “Happy Christmas Father, we’ve come to help you!” Jet black faces, Colgate-white teeth, big beaming smiles. My heart lifted. I wasn’t alone. It was at that moment my Christmas began. They were the best present I could hope for. We set off, chatting and singing carols and had three very long, very crowded masses, at the end of which I came home tired and satisfied and quite happy to be alone for the rest of the day. For me there was a great lesson there: Despite all my preparations and all my theology, I needed the presence of these two young men to make me feel it was Christmas, to make it real, to make me feel God’s presence. God knew that. All the words in the Old Testament, wonderful as they are, could not give us what we really need to feel the touch of God. He had to send us another human being. He had to come as one of us. For there is a child born to us, a son given to us. We didn’t need more words, we needed a baby.

REPORT - DAY OF RECOLLECTION - ST EDMUND'S COLLEGE, WARE

2011-12-12T10:45:00.003Z

Last Saturday some 30 members of the Grand Priory, BASMOM and Companions attended the Day of recollection in the glorious setting of St Edmund's College. Sung Mass (in the Ordinary Form) and the Offices were celebrated in Pugin's glorious chapel, and the talks given by Father John Hemer MHM in the Shrine Chapel of St Edmund.

The texts of Fr Hemers talks will follow in the next post. These are given for the benefit of those unable to attend, but there was much to take in, and those present will surely welcome the opportunity to study them more closely.

Before Mass, Richard Berkley-Matthews made his Promise of Obedience to the Grand Prior, Fra’ Ian Scott of Ardross, supported by Fra’ Julian Chadwick and the Lady Talbot of Malahide (Vice-President of BASMOM); and during Mass the Grand Prior renewed his own vows, supported by Fra’ John Eidinow and Fra’ Paul Sutherland. We offer them both, on behalf of all members of the Order, the assurance of our prayers.

Fra' Duncan Gallie gave a most inspiring tour of the College and the quite wonderful Douai museum of recusant history, and the day concluded with veneration of the relic of Saint Edmund, the miraculous power of which had been described to us by Fra' Duncan, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

BLESSING OF THE SCAPULAR FOR THE HABIT OF OBEDIENCE
Lord Jesus Christ, who in becoming man for our salvation deigned to assume our vesture of flesh, bless + this scapular, for your servant is to wear it in thanksgiving to you and in veneration of the blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint John the Baptist. Pour out on him, we pray, your holy blessing, so that when he first puts on this vesture, which is like unto a religious habit, he may obtain, through the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint John the Baptist, your grace to protect him from every evil of mind or body. We ask this of you who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

THE PROMISE OF OBEDIENCE
I, NN, calling on the name of God, promise faithfully to observe the laws of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta; to carry our the duties proper to Knights and Dames in Obedience; and to render due obedience to whichever superior may be given to me. So help me God, the Immaculate Virgin, Saint John the Baptist our glorious patron, Blessed Fra’ Gerard our holy founder and all the Saints of the Order.

REPORT - FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000Z

Members of the Order sat in choir for the sung Mass of this Feast at St James's Spanish Place. The celebrant was our Chaplain, Father David Irwin.

The music at Mass was: Missa Quarti toni by Victoria, Ave Maria by Victoria, Fuga supra il Magnificat (BWV 733) by J.S. Bach

The Grand Priory's new Marian chasuble, the gift of a generous benefactor, was worn at this Mass for the first time, and can be seen in the above photograph.

MISSAL FOR ST JAMES'S SPANISH PLACE

2011-12-06T13:24:00.000Z

Before Mass last Friday, the feast of Our Lady of Liesse, the Grand Prior, Fra' Ian Scott of Ardross, along with members of the Grand Priory and our Chaplain Father David Irwin, presented a copy of the new English translation of the altar Missal to The Rector of Spanish Place, Father Christopher Colven, on behalf of the Grand Priory. This book was given in gratitude for the hospitality and support offered to the Order over the last year. This donation had been the wish of the late Grand Prior, Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, at whose instruction the book had been ordered, and in whose memory it was made.

REPORT - ADVENT RECOLLECTION - MEDITATION BY FATHER DOMINIC ROBINSON SJ

2011-12-05T21:35:00.004Z

We are greatly privileged to be able to publish the meditation given by Fr Robinson, for the benefit of members of the Order unable to attend last Friday's evening on the feast of our Lady of Liesse. The evening began with sung Mass in Latin in the Ordinary Form, in the presence of the Grand Prior, and finished with Last Friday devotions and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

‘A favourable time for the rediscovery of a hope that is not vague and deceptive but certain and reliable, because it is "anchored" in Christ’. Pope Benedict at his homily for 1st Vespers of the 1st Sunday of Advent in 2007. For me it encapsulates what Advent is all about. Advent, explains the Pope as he goes on in the Homily, is a time of expectation, characterised by ‘a movement of the human heart reaching out to the God who responds in the incarnation with that incomparable gift of which we are certain, the gift of hope itself fulfilled in the coming of Christ’.

What did the Pope mean? The Pope’s inspiring words reflected the message of his recently released Spe Salvi (‘Saved by Hope’), Benedict’s second Encyclical, in which he called us back to recognize the treasure we have in the gift of Christian hope. Here he called Christian hope the virtue of all virtues. Without it, said Pope Benedict, the Christian cannot move anywhere.

It is, however, in his first seminal encyclical Deus Caritas Est, on Christian love, that we find the basis for his vision of hope. The hope of the Christian is grounded in the relationship between God and us. And what does this mean? In the incarnation the God-man beckons us out of our longing to find our hope completed in the gift of the Son. It is where our desire – what the Pope calls eros love and God’s agape love meet.

Let’s place these theological ideas in the context of our current liturgical season. As we recommence the liturgical narrative at Advent we are embarking also on a theological journey and cycle. The opening acts are played out on a stage which connects with humanity’s original quest and God’s definitive answer to this. We are reliving the drama of human desire and of unconditional love, or as the Pope terms it in Deus Caritas Est of eros and agape. This is why Advent for Pope Benedict is ‘the primordial season of the human heart’.

Reflecting on this we might wonder too at the overall gift of a fresh Liturgical Year. Advent gives us a fresh start as our hearts set out on a new journey. Once again, although we know for certain that God will come, will die for us, and rise again at Easter, we are called to see our need of God, to long for our salvation, and to celebrate that as a free gift which not only completes who we are as human beings, but also tells us all about the longing of God to reveal himself to us.

In Deus Caritas Est Benedict reflects on the nature of our eros love, of our longing, of desire for God’s coming as Beloved. The Pope plays with this word eros and places it in a drama of Christian love which is completed in the Easter event, the culmination of the drama of human hope, expressed infinitely in the agape love with which the Christ we long for gifts our world which in all its raggedness yearns for the embrace of such a God.

In Deus Caritas Est agape and eros come together in a new way. We might think that eros is egoistical, a selfish grasping loving. Benedict, however, rehabilitates eros as part of the God-human dynamic as he speaks of how this love of ardent desire is also, in a certain sense, within the very being of God himself in Christ. The love of desire, says the Pope, is the love of the Logos, ‘a lover with all the passion of a true love’, yet this love, finding its fulfilment in God’s becoming one like us in Jesus Christ, ‘is so purified as to become one with agape’.

God in Christ knows the yearnings of the human heart, of our desire for completion. Our Advent hope is thus assured and joyful. It is a favourable season of true hope because Christ is truly to be one with us. For the Pope this graced time when we celebrate our human yearning for God’s coming is integral to life’s Christian pilgrimage. Perhaps, we might say, this liturgical time which might seem to celebrate more eros than agape is, through God’s definitive answer to our quest in the gift of the incarnation which will be sealed in the sacrificial feast of the Lamb at Easter, a lived expression of the mutuality of agape and eros love. Both eros and agape, says Pope Benedict, ‘-ascending love and descending love- can never be completely separated. The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the nature of love in general is realized.’

These reflections, however, are not just for Advent. For the Pope this theme of agape and eros is clearly chosen as one which can speak profoundly to the contemporary world of what is at the very heart of a proper understanding and living out of the dignity of the human vocation rooted in Christ. He intends to bring us back to Christ’s love for us so we may look at ourselves, loved infinitely by him, and called forward to reconnect with our desire for what is on our infinite horizon, the hope of glory.

As we turn our hearts and minds once more to the God who will come again as one of us and as we set out again on our liturgical pilgrimage towards Christmas and Easter we might reflect on how the grand narrative of desire and gift, of ascent and descent, of nature and grace, which the Liturgical Year expresses with such eternal beauty, is a vibrant treasure of our Catholic life. Moreover, contemporary theological discourse needs a similar dynamic to be played out in its own theatres. The narrative of hope, the incarnation, and journey towards the point of it all – the cross, the tomb, and the resurrection, show us in itself how the lover and the beloved are called to be in a mutual relationship in which the beloved is called to be actively engaged and so gradually discover his true destiny.

So in Advent we place ourselves in the drama played out in the encounter of our desire for transcendence with Christ who meets us and gives to us the inestimable gift of certain hope. As Pope Benedict assures us ‘[R]edemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey’ (Spe Salvi, Introduction).

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at Solemn Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent 2007.
[1] Ibid.
[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2007).
[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2006).
[1] Ibid., # 26.
[1] Ibid., # 7.

NOTICE - FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

2011-12-05T21:14:00.005Z

Members of the Grand Priory and BASMOM will be attending the Parish Mass at St James's, Spanish Place at 6pm on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, by kind invitation of the Rector. Knights are invited to robe and sit in choir.

All members and Companions are very warmly invited to attend on this great Feast of our Blessed Lady.

NOTICE - SATURDAY 10th DECEMBER - MONTHLY DAY OF RECOLLECTION - ST EDMUND'S COLLEGE WARE

2011-12-05T20:54:00.003Z

The next day of recollection will take place on Saturday 10th December. We are fortunate that this will take place at St Edmund’s College, Old Hall Green, Ware, SG11 1DS. The Conferences will be given by Father John Hemer MHM of Allen Hall, the Westminster Diocesan Seminary. During the Mass, Richard Berkley-Matthews will be making the Promise of Obedience. Mass will be sung in the fine Pugin chapel.

The day will include a visit to the College's museum of recusant Catholic history.

A charge of £20 per head will be made, payable in cash on the day, to cover the costs including a three-course lunch in the College. Those attending are asked, please, to park near the front door of the College.

Please notify the Chancellery if you are able to attend: BASMOM@btconnect.com. As ever, everyone is welcome: ALL members of the Grand Priory and BASMOM, other members of the Order in Britain, Companions and guests.

HORARIUM

SATURDAY, 10^th December 2011

10.00am Arrival, coffee and introductory talk

10.30am Lauds

11.00am First Conference-followed by opportunity for Confession/recitation of the Rosary

12.00noon Holy Mass

1.15pm Lunch

2.30pm Tour of the College and the Douay Museum

3.15pm Second Conference

4.00pm Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

4.45pm Tea and departure

ADVENT PREPARATION - ABSTINENCE FROM MEAT ON FRIDAYS!

2011-12-01T14:16:00.003Z

We are reminded, during this season of preparation for the coming of Our Lord and Saviour to earth, in the humility of the Manger in Bethlehem, when the secular and materialist world feasts and carouses at every turn, that we, as Catholics, are called upon by the Church, and particularly here in England and Wales by our Bishops, to observe this as a season of joyful preparation.

We are reminded particularly of the obligation to abstain from meat on Fridays (see here). This obligation, of course, walks with us every week of the year, and should be a joy as we avail ourselves of the graces it offers, but at this holy time, when social pressures are so great to join the party and to set aside our duties to God and to our own dignity as Catholic souls, we should not be afraid to stand out from the crowd.

As Pope Benedict teaches us, we have a duty to make present the Church in the secular world:

"Despite attempts to still the Church’s voice in the public square, many people of good will continue to look to her for wisdom, insight and sound guidance." (Address to US Bishops' "Ad limina" November 2011)

To those of us in the Order this is part of our Tuitio Fidei, a part of our charism which we should learn to practice daily, just as we do with Osequium Pauperum. Our Lords the Poor and Sick need both.

HOMILY FOR THE REQUIEM OF THE LATE GRAND PRIOR

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000Z

We are privileged to be able to publish below the very moving homily delivered at the Brompton Oratory by Father Ronald Creighton-Jobe, Conventual Chaplain ad honorem of the British Association, at the Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Fra' Fredrick Crichton-Stuart on 12th October.

Most of you will have your own particular memories of Fra' Freddy. Mine is one that somehow captures the very essence of Freddy’s life. The last time he came to Lourdes, Freddy was not well, but, as always, he had served my Mass with great devotion and aplomb. When I left the sacristy I found him seated with his eyes closed with no apparent movement at all. I am afraid that my first thought was:
“Good heavens, Freddy has died!”
and my second thought was:
“What a nuisance it will be, since no one is meant to die in Lourdes because it is a bad advertisement.”
At that moment Freddy opened his eyes, looked at the tabernacle and the statue of Our Lady and said:
“THAT is what it is all about. THAT is why we are here in Lourdes.”
He was right, of course. All of us must live each day in God’s presence, aware that prayer is not a thing of the moment but an habitual attitude of the mind and the heart. Freddy was pre-eminently a man of prayer and an example to us all of our primary duty, as members of the Order, to give glory to God by acknowledging his loving and sustaining presence.

But we must remember that Fra' Freddy Crichton-Stuart was also a man of practical, charitable, action. His work for the sick, the poor and the elderly, often done almost secretly, was a hallmark of his dedication to our secondary task in the Order of obsequium pauperum – tuitio fidei and obsequium pauperum always go together. Freddy also had a charming sense of humour. Who else would always greet me with “Cher cousin”?

After his love for his natural family, to whom we express our deepest sympathy at their loss, Freddy loved the Order of Malta. It was his second family, and his fatherly concern for the Professed was a moving tribute to his devotion to the Order.

Freddy’s manner of living his Profession was very much his own. It was not everyone’s way, but he gave an example of poverty of spirit that was notable: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God.” We must never forget that, as Christians, and particularly as members of the Order of Malta, the beatitudes are our indispensible charter of life. Freddy worked untiringly to create a sense of family in the Grand Priory based upon the Sermon on the Mount. That is what our cross reminds us. Freddy’s life is also a reminder, and a challenge, to live our lives of faith with greater integrity, to give us peace and serenity before God.

At this Requiem Mass, we are praying for the eternal rest of, and peace for, his soul; and may I use this opportunity to make a heartfelt plea. Let this Mass mark a moment of healing and peace in the life of the Order in this country, so that we can go forward to discharge our twin duties of safeguarding the Faith and service of Our Lord’s the poor and the sick with greater efficacy. This would be a most suitable monument to Freddy’s memory and one for which he fervently prayed.

The day he called the ambulance, Freddy did die. He died as he lived, praying. May we all be given such a grace.

Some have said how sad it is that Freddy died alone. No one dies alone, we all die when God calls us and at the moment when He wills it. There is a pious belief that the angel who is given to look after us in this world – and Freddy’s Guardian Angel sometimes had to work overtime – takes us into the presence of our Saviour. If we are as prepared as Freddy was to meet his Maker we might consider ourselves fortunate indeed.

Cher cousin, beloved Confrere, dear Freddy, may the angels lead you into Paradise; may Our Lady under her titles of Our Lady of Lourdes and of Philermo, take you by the hand to her Divine Son.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”

NOTICE - ADVENT EVENING OF RECOLLECTION - FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER

2011-11-27T16:10:00.000Z

As in previous years, there will be an Advent Evening of Recollection, which this year will be on Friday 2nd December at St James’s Church Spanish Place, London W1. It is the Feast of Our Lady of Liesse (Causa nostrae laetitiae - Cause of our joy), the primary Marian shrine in Valetta, and the second Marian devotion of the Order after Our Lady of Philermo.

The Evening will begin with Mass at 6.45pm in the Lady Chapel followed by a conference and First-Friday Devotions concluding with Benediction. The Evening will be led by our good friend Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, presently resident at Farm Street and a teacher at Heythrop College.

There will be refreshments afterwards for which a charge of £5 will be made and taken up on the night. Confreres are extremely welcome to bring guests. Companions are also warmly encouraged to attend.

If you intend to come, please could you contact the Chancellery - e-mail: basmom@btconnect.com; telephone: 020 7286 1414. It would be helpful if replies could be received by Thursday 1st December.

ANNE TUNNEY RIP

2011-11-25T14:08:00.002Z

______________________________________________________________________________

It is with great sadness that we report the recent death of Anne Tunney, who was for a long period assistant sacristan of the Conventual Church in the days of Matron Ann Fagan, and an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion until only a few years ago, when her health forced her to retire. A woman of deep and unassuming Faith, she had attended Mass in the Conventual Church, and been involved with the Hospital, for much of adult her life.

Please pray for the repose of her soul, and for her daughter, who cared for her so lovingly in her years of illness since her stroke.

Requiem aeternam dona ei Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Requiescat in pace.

______________________________________________________________________________

REPORT - ANNUAL REQUIEM OF THE ORDER OF MALTA

2011-11-24T22:18:00.001Z

This evening, Thursday 24th November, the Grand Priory and British Association annual Mass of Requiem for deceased members of the Order took place in the Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem.

This has been particularly poignant year, with the tragic loss of the late Grand Prior, Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, which followed shortly after the untimely death of Henry Lorimer, Delegate for Scotland and the Northern Marches. Earlier in the year we lost Fra' Richard Cheffins, among many other much beloved members.

This evening we were joined by members of the family of Thomas Anthony Ely, a founder member of the Saint John Care Home Trust, who died on All Saint's Day this year.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

The very moving homily was preached by Monsignor Antony Conlon, Chaplain of the Grand Priory. The text is given below.

REQUIESCANT IN PACE

"One of the principal signs of genuine religion is charity. The very last command that Our Lord gave to His disciples on the night before his death on the cross was “Love one another as I have loved you… By this love you have for one another everyone will know that you are my disciples”. (John 13: 34-35). Regarding charity shown to those most in need Christ also said “…insofar as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” (Matt. 25: 40). The basis of God’s judgement of us and the measure of our reward will be decided upon our response to these words of our Saviour. That is what He has told us. This is one reason why Christians have sought and found ways through the centuries to put this teaching into practice. It can be seen in individuals and in groups where the love of God is the primary motive for working with and for others to bring about the relief of suffering and to see Christ especially in those who are most vulnerable and in need. Our service to them will be what mostly counts to our credit at the end of our lives. This kindness extends not only to the material help we give to others but also to the spiritual support of our prayers, through life and in death.

"One of the most consoling aspects of our Catholic faith is that charity towards each other does not end with death. The soul cherished by the community and loved by family, friends and fellows can benefit from their prayers in its journey to God after death. This is what we mean when we consider and engage in prayer for the deceased. We want that love and respect which we felt for them in life to carry on bringing them support and comfort beyond the grave. In the sadness of our bereavement it also comforts us to know that any loosening of the ties of love in this life can be mended by prayer directed to God for the departed. No opportunity to pray for the dead should be neglected. Few writers have been able to express this so movingly and eloquently as Blessed John Henry Newman. His spiritual legacy is one of deep faith and intellectual conviction of the most elevated kind. He never tired of explaining and teaching the faith. During his life he was part of a religious fraternity and was able to correspond with so many on matters of faith. He also wrote poetry with religion as its theme. Probably his most famous work, later set to music by Sir Edward Elgar, is the “Dream of Gerontius”. It is the story of a soul’s passing from this earth to judgement and its realisation that though redeemed and longing to live in the blessed sight of God it must undergo a process of further purification in order to be completely at home in heaven.

"Newman’s poem is in the form of a dialogue between Gerontius and the Angel who conducts him through and beyond the gateway from earthly life to a world of spiritual intensity unfamiliar until the moment of death. The soul travels but is aware of those left behind; especially their prayers for the departed. “I hear the voices that I left on earth…the friends… who say the Subvenite with the priest”. In the final verses of the poem the Angel comforts Gerontius with the reminder that his time of waiting will not be a lonely one for “Angels to whom the willing task is given, shall tend and nurse and lull thee as thou liest: and Masses on the earth and prayers in heaven, shall aid thee at the throne of the most Highest”.

"Dear confreres and brethren gathered here this evening, this is the holy and charitable enterprise in which we are all engaged. In our thoughts and prayers are individuals whom we have known and loved in life. Each of us will have a particular memory that is most personal to us alone and by which the flame of affection is kindled in our minds and hearts. In a wider sense we may also be aware of the contribution to the general good made by those for whom we are praying. Especially within the traditions and purposes of our Order, founded for the relief of the misery of poverty and sickness and the defence of the Catholic faith, our deceased members have played their part both by their practical support and their prayers. Like the devoted servants praised in the Gospel, they have used their talents for the benefit of others and to enhance the good name of the Order. In this connection we call to mind the late Tom Ely whose widow, Rachel and family members and friends we are glad to welcome among us this evening. Tom was instrumental in setting up and became a trustee of the Order of St John Care Trust in Lincoln and later worked for ten years as clerk to the Trustees. The benefits to the community of the care homes administered by it will be an enduring tribute to his initiatives and a memorial of which his family and the Order can be justly proud.

"The form of the Mass we follow is the more ancient rite, which since the very foundation of our Order has accompanied the funeral rites of so many of its members. The chants and prayers are meant to be an aid to serious reflection upon the transitory quality of life and the solemnity and mystery of death. As the Mass is the source of all sanctity it is also the sign of our corporate solidarity with, in and through Christ. May all here present derive both consolation and comfort from these rites and the souls of those for whom they are offered, be blessed with pardon from God and in His providential care for them, with joy in the life that never ends. May those souls in turn, who achieve the heavenly reward for which we pray, be mindful of us in their future blessed state and aid us to reach that redemption for which Christ died once upon the Cross."

17th NOVEMBER - FEAST OF ST ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, PATRONESS OF THE HOSPITAL

2011-11-17T22:54:00.001Z

Today was the feast of of our holy Patroness of the Hospital, Saint Elizabeth, widow, and Queen of Hungary.

Holy Mass was offered in the Lady Chapel of St James's Spanish Place this evening for the medical work of the Hospital, and the intentions of the all the Patients and Staff.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for Our Lords the Sick

PROGRESS ON LIBEL REFORM

2011-10-20T17:26:00.000+01:00

Following our post of last November on this subject (see here) we can now report further on this issue, below is an extract from the publicity issued earlier by the Libel reform Campaign.

Today a prestigious Parliamentary committee endorsed our call that the libel laws need to be redrawn. Their voice adds to the condemnation of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, and President Barack Obama who signed into law the US Speech Act to protect Americans from the effects of our archaic libel laws.

Now – just one click from you, HERE, will tell your MP to make sure the government acts on libel reform as soon as possible.

Campaigners will be lobbing Parliament on Wednesday 9th November at 6 pm. There are more details about this meeting on www.libelreform.org.

It has been the incredible level of support that has got the campaign to where we are now.

Today the Parliamentary committee outlined what they think needs to be done to get the laws into shape. They took on board many of Libel Reform Campaign's recommendations but we still need a stronger public interest defense and to make these concerns and act – you can see what we think about the committee’s report here.

Over the last two years libel reform has risen to the top of the political agenda. Now it is time to tell the government that a bill must go through parliament as soon as possible. Lord Lester's draft bill may be seen here.

NOTICE - 29th OCTOBER - DAY OF RECOLLECTION - NEW ENGLISH MISSAL

2011-10-19T19:04:00.003+01:00

The tomb of Cardinal Wiseman, founder of our Hospital,
in the crypt of the Cathedral

The next Day of Recollection will take place on Saturday 29th October, 2011. Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, Magistral Chaplain, who is the Executive Director of the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) will be leading a Study Day about the new English translations of the Missal. We could have no one better to lead us in this, as Monsignor Wadsworth has been responsible for overseeing the introduction of the new ICEL translation throughout the world. The Sung Mass will be celebrated using texts and chants from the new translation.

By kind permission of the Administrator of the Cathedral, this event will be held at Westminster Cathedral, using the Crypt Chapel and the Hinsley Meeting Room. Participants should gather in the Crypt Chapel before 9.30am – entrance is via Ambrosden Avenue, by going through the gates leading into the Choir School at the back of the Cathedral. (Ambrosden Avenue is the street which runs down the side of the Cathedral.)

If you wish to attend, please let e-mail BASMOM@btconnect.com, and please state "DAY OF RECOLLECTION" in the subject box, by Wednesday 26th October. We have reserved places at a local Italian restaurant for lunch.

Members of the Order are welcome to bring friends. Companions and members of OMV are also welcome.

HORARIUM

Participants gather in the Crypt Chapel of Westminster Cathedral for:

9.30am Lauds

After this: First Conference, in the Hinsley Meeting Room

11.30am Sung Mass in English, for the Feast of the Douay Martyrs

followed by lunch in local Italian Restaurant

After lunch: Second Conference in the Hinsley Meeting Room

Then: Vespers, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, in the Crypt.

Tea and departure.

For those who wish to do a bit of background study, Monsignor Wadsworth has recorded a lecture as a podcast on the subject of the new translations for Christendom College, which may be heard on iTunes (free). Click HERE, then just click on the track called "The making of the Missal", and it will begin. For some reason it cannot be embedded. If you do not yet have iTunes, click HERE instead.

REPORT - REQUIEM FOR THE LATE GRAND PRIOR

2011-10-14T11:51:00.009+01:00

On Wednesday 12th October, the whole of the British Association of the Order and Grand Priory of England came together with the family of Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart at the Brompton Oratory in London for a Mass of Requiem for the soul of the late Grand Prior.

It was attended by Fra' Freddy's wife and children; by the Marquess of Bute; representatives of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Papal knights; the President of the British Association HE Mr Charles Weld; Vice-President the Lady Talbot of Malahide; the Grand Prior elect Ian Scott of Ardross; the Chancellor of the Grand Priory; and Bishop Alan Hopes, Conventual Chaplain, among other dignitaries.

The Mass was celebrated, following the wishes of the late Grand Prior, in the Extraordinary Form by Monsignor Antony Conlon, Chaplain of the Grand Priory, and the majestic homily was preached by Father Ronald Creighton-Jobe of the London Oratory, a copy of which we have been promised for later publication here. The Oratory Choir sang the Requiem by Tomás Luis de Victoria.

A reception organised by the British Association was held in Saint Wilfrid's Hall after the Mass, which allowed the conviviality and meeting of friends which the late Grand Prior had so encouraged as part of the fraternal life of the Order.

It was very fitting that this Requiem should take place on the eve of the installation of Fra' Freddy's successor as Grand Prior, of which joyous occasion a report will be posted on these pages in due course.

Further photographs of the Mass may be seen here.

The Grand Prior elect leads the Prayers of the Order

REPORT - ROSARY CRUSADE OF REPARATION

2011-10-14T11:16:00.001+01:00

The Rosary Crusade of Reparation this year, through the streets of London from Westminster Cathedral to the Brompton Oratory, was attended by record numbers, the Oratory Church being filled with the Faithful standing in the main aisle for the final Benediction.

The celebrant for the closing devotions was Monsignor Keith Newton, Protonotary Apostolic, Superior of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who thus for the first time very publicly united the great Marian devotion of the Anglo-Catholic tradition with their ancient living roots in the Church, truly a sign of Our Lady's tireless work of imploring God's graces for her Dowry.

This joyful event was as ever attended by a good crowd of members of the Order, both the aforementioned facts attested to by the photograph above.

Photographs courtesy of the Ordinariate

NOTICE - WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12th - MEMORIAL REQUIEM FOR FRA' FREDRIK CRICHTON-STUART R. I. P.

2011-10-03T23:08:00.014+01:00

A Sung Mass of Requiem in the extraordinary form, for the repose of the soul of the late Grand Prior of England, H E Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, will be held at 11am on Wednesday 12th October at the Brompton Oratory, attended by members of the Family, members of the Order of Malta, the pontifical Orders, official guests and friends.

The celebrant will be the Chaplain to the Grand Priory of England, Monsignor Antony Conlon, and the homily will be preached by Father Ronald Creighton-Jobe of the London Oratory.

All are warmly invited to attend. Those wishing to attend officially are asked to inform Caroline de la Force at the Chancellery of the British Association of the Order of Malta at basmom@btconnect.com.

The Mass will be followed by a Reception in St Wilfrid's Hall at the Oratory.

REQUIESCAT IN PACE

Beate Ioanne Baptista, ora pro eo.

Beata Maria de Philereme, ora pro eo.

Beate Gerardo, ora pro eo.

Beate Hadriane Fortescue, ora pro eo.

NOTICE - 13 OCTOBER - FEAST OF BLESSED GERARD - INSTALLATION OF NEW GRAND PRIOR

2011-09-30T19:45:00.012+01:00

An important event will take place on 13th October when the 57th Grand Prior of England, Ian Scott of Ardross, will make his vows of office during solemn Mass in the 12th century crypt chapel of the former Priory Church of St John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, now the seat of the Venerable Order of St John. The last such ceremony took place in 1558 in the reign of Queen Mary I, when Thomas Tresham, the last Grand Prior of the Order before the Reformation, was installed in the Priory Church. We are grateful to the Venerable Order for permitting the use of the Crypt and other facilities.

As this is the feast day of our blessed founder Gerard, the relic of his jawbone, brought to England by Sir George Bowyer in 1830, one of the great treasures of the Order of Malta in England, will be venerated and used to give the final blessing, the first visit of the relics to this historic church, making the occasion a double celebration.

All members of the Order, Companions and members of the OMV are cordially invited to attend.

The mass will begin at 7pm; members of the Order intending to robe should arrive at 6.30pm.

The ceremony will be followed by a drinks reception in the Museum annexe, and if fine, in the priory garden.

Names of those who wish to attend should be given to Caroline de la Force by Thursday 6th October, by email if possible to basmom@btconnect.com or to telephone number 020 7286 1414. The address of the church is Saint John's Square (to the north of Clerkenwell Road) EC1M 4DA. The nearest tube station is Farringdon.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for him

Blessed Gerard, pray for him

Blessed Adrian Fortescue, pray for him

NOTICE - REQUIEM MASS FOR FRA' FREDRIK IN PARIS

2011-09-30T14:49:00.004+01:00

The late Grand Prior with Fra' Matthew Festing carry out
hospitaller work for the pilgrims of Notre-Dame-de-Philerme
on the Chartres pilgrimage in 2001

We have been sent the following notice from France, about a Requiem Mass for the late Grand Prior organised by those responsible for the Order's pilgrim chapter on the Chartres Pilgrimage. Should anyone be travelling through or near Paris on that day they are warmly encouraged to attend. We are very grateful to our French friends for this very generous act of charity.

Chers amis et pèlerins de Notre-Dame de Philerme,

Le 14 juin dernier, au lendemain de l'arrivée de notre chapitre sur le parvis de la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, un ancien pèlerin du chapitre a été rappelé à Dieu.

S.E. Fra' Fredrik CRICHTON-STUART, chevalier Grand-Croix de Justice de l'Ordre de Malte, Grand Prieur d'Angleterre de l'Ordre. Il était aussi un fidèle pèlerin sur la route de Chartres au sein de notre chapitre et certains d'entre nous ont marché avec lui.

En sa mémoire :

Nous vous invitons à la messe de requiem qui sera célébrée selon la forme extraordinaire du rite romain par Monsieur l'abbé Guilhem LECOCQ, f.s.s.p., ancien aumônier général de Notre-Dame de Chrétienté,

à la mémoire de Fra' Fredrik CRICHTON-STUART,

le lundi 17 octobre prochain à 20 heures

en l'église Sainte-Elisabeth de Hongrie.

195 rue du Temple 75003 PARIS (accès par la petite porte à gauche de la façade de l’église).

En union de prières.

TUITIO FIDEI - POPE BENEDICT XVI

2011-09-22T14:43:00.001+01:00

Photo copyright Osservatore Romano.

On arrival is Germany today, the Holy Father has expressed words on relativism which fit pefectly with the charism of the Order of Malta, in our duty to others in respect both of promoting the Faith and our Hospitaller work.

In human coexistence, freedom is impossible without solidarity. What I do at the expense of others is not freedom but a culpable way of acting which is harmful to others and also to myself. I can truly develop as a free person only by using my powers also for the welfare of others. This holds true not only in private matters but also for society as a whole.

Benedict XVI

THE SACRED LITURGY - A SACRED POEM - Tuitio Fidei by a Blessed of the Order

2011-09-21T17:03:00.008+01:00

Cardinal Schuster, wearing the ornaments to the
alb used in the Ambrosian rite,
which is in fact now attached to the cincture.

The following text is an article written by Blessed Ildefonso Cardinal Schuster OSB, Blessed of the Order of Malta, who was Archbishop of Milan in the 1920's, a most learned scholar of liturgy.

The Sacred Liturgy in its widest meaning, has as its object, the religious and supernatural culture of Christianity in its various sacramentary, euchological, ritualistic, literary and artistic manifestations, embracing thus, as in a vast synthesis, all that which is most sublime which has been created in the world, in order to grasp and express the indescribable and the Divine. Nor is that all.

As children of the Catholic Church and heirs of the dogmatic revelation made to the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets of Israel, our religious culture not only pre-exists, in its fundamental elements, the very coming of the Son of God to the world, but it is present many centuries prior to the most ancient cultures which record history, establishing itself, for that reason, to be respected and venerated by the learned. Moreover, it is not possible to speak of a purely natural and human origin, both because the dogmatic element of Christianity originates from direct and positive Divine Revelation and also because the life and activity itself of the Church are derived from the Spirit of Jesus Who lives in Her.

Therefore we are speaking of a sacred poem, to which Heaven and earth have truly placed their hand, and in which humanity, redeemed in the Blood of the Spotless Lamb, on the wings of the spirit, soars on high, thrusting itself up to the throne of God. This is something more than a simple elevation; since the Sacred Liturgy does not only express that which is ineffable and Divine, but through the Sacraments and its euchological formulae, produces it, so to say, and fulfills it in the souls of the Faithful to whom it communicates the grace of Redemption. One may also say that the very source of the holiness of the Church is wholly comprised in Her Liturgy, so that without the Divine Sacraments, the Passion of the Saviour, in the present economy instituted by God, would not have any efficacy for us, due to the lack of instruments able to transmit its treasures to us.

The sphere of the Liturgy is unsurpassed by that of any other science, since it embraces the first origins of humanity, its essential relations with the Creator, the Redemption, the Sacraments, Grace, Christian eschatology, in other words, all that there is which is most sublime, most aesthetically perfect, most necessary and important to the world.

As for science, the Sacred Liturgy has its canons, its laws, its subdivisions, the same as all other sciences and particularly of positive theology, which is similar both in its method and its aim. One of its purposes, in fact, is the systematic study of Christian worship, distinguishing and classifying the various liturgical formulae according to the basic structure characteristic of each family, ordering them by date of compilation and instituting examinations and comparisons between the various forms, with a view to tracing elements of common origin in them.

It is only thus that apparently irreducible liturgies, such as the Roman, the Gallican and Hispanic liturgies can be traced to a common source. If such were not the case, it would be difficult to see how the unity of the Symbol of Faith (The Creed) failed to lead(as an immediate consequence of its unity) to primitive unity in its liturgical expression. Instead, recent studies and detailed and patient investigation have uncovered in all the liturgies, even the most dissimilar, a common substratum.

At times an identical concept is expressed using quite different ritual formulae and language. Nevertheless, it can now no longer be doubted that eastern and western liturgies all derive from an identical, very ancient form, which provides a foundation for Catholic unity in ecclesiastical worship.

[From: De vita Contemplativa, Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, Italy - Contributor and translator: Francesca Romana.]

Our heartfelt gratitude to Rorate Caeli blog for first posting this wonderful paper. UPDATE. Rorate Caeli are seemingly continuing a series of papers on the Liturgy, today 'The Sacred Liturgy and Mary Most Holy' has been posted, so we encourage our readers to visit that site.

DOWNLOADS WORKING AGAIN...

2011-09-19T15:03:00.002+01:00

We are glad to report that following a technological hiatus over a period of a few months, the 'Downloads' section is now up and working again, thanks to the kindness of a Companion of the Order. It may be accessed through the sidebar, as shown in the image above.

There you will find the Ordo for the current year's liturgical celebrations for the Order of Malta, the Order prayer, and other files for download in PDF format. These will open in most web-browsers, and may be saved to your computer and opened in Acrobat or other suitable document-reader software.

Informative documents will be uploaded there from time to time, it will also permit the downloading of homilies and other papers posted on this site.

ABSTINENCE FROM MEAT ON FRIDAY - FROM TODAY

2011-09-16T01:37:00.030+01:00

Today, the Bishops of England and Wales have determined that in future we must refrain from eating meat or flesh products on Friday as a necessary part of our weekly penitence.

They have provided a very instructive 'Question and Answer' document, in the format of a simple catechism, which may be downloaded here.

This obligation carries the same moral force as the Sunday Mass obligation and other disciplines of the Church, and applies to all those between their 15th and 60th birthdays.

We should also bearing in mind when preparing food for other people that we have a duty to avoid tempting them into breaking their obligation.

As an amusing aside, we have noticed that many of the more popular Catholic websites and blogs have pages of suggestions for meatless recipes, so there will be culinary as well as spiritual benefits to observing this discipline. We shall not be posting any here.

THE SEVEN SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - ROSARY REQUEST

2011-09-15T10:27:00.007+01:00

Altarpiece of the Seven Dolours in the Royal Abbey of Brou,
near Bourg-en-Bresse, early 17th Century

On this Feast we would earnestly ask all our readers to offer a Holy Rosary for unity within the Church, in accordance with the will of the Holy Father, and especially for the present initiatives for reconciliation of the Society of Saint Pius X, but also for the numerous other divisions within the Church and her organisations.

Holy Mass will be offered by Fr Dominic Robinson SJ at 6.45 this evening at Spanish Place for this intention, as also for the weekly intentions of the Order of Malta and St John's Hospice.

At the cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful mother weeping,
close to Jesus at the last,
Through her soul, of joy bereavèd,
bowed with anguish, deeply grievèd,
now at length the sword hath passed.

(Sequence of the Mass for the Feast)

14th SEPTEMBER - EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

2011-09-14T10:03:00.000+01:00

O CRUX AVE, SPEC UNICA

THURSDAY MASSES - LEARNING THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTS AND MUSIC

2011-09-13T12:02:00.009+01:00

from The Roman Missal Copyright ICEL 2010

To assist in learning the texts of the new English translations of Mass, the Thursday 6.45pm Masses in the Lady Chapel at Spanish Place, from now until the first Sunday of Advent, will be celebrated in English.

In order to promote the sung form of Mass, as expressly encouraged by our Holy Father Pope Benedict and the English Bishops, the Masses will be sung as often as numbers attending allow.

Booklets with all the texts and music contained in the new Missal have been specially prepared.

This project was begun at the instigation of Fra' Freddy, the late Grand Prior, who would have encouraged you all to come along to these Masses, not only for the opportunity they afford member of the Order, Companions and friends to attend Mass regularly together, but also to learn the new texts.

Fr Dominic Robinson SJ will be celebrant this first week, 15th September. Thereafter our Chaplain Father David Irwin will preside.

ARCHBISHOP NICHOLS - FREEMAN OF LONDON

2011-09-12T16:47:00.002+01:00

Our congratulations to His Grace the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Monsignor Vincent Nichols, who received the Freedom of the City of London at the Guildhall last Wednesday. His Grace was proposed by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London Alderman Michael Bear, and Miss Catherine McGuiness, Common Councilman.

Ad multos annos.

THE GRAND MASTER ON RADIO

2011-09-11T19:15:00.001+01:00

His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Matthew Festing, has given an interview to "The Catholic Café", the evangelising internet radio station of the Order of Malta Federal Association, USA.

He covers subjects ranging from the history and nature of the Order's sovereignty to the work of Tuitio Fidei and the religious life, the rule of Blessed Raymond du Puy, and the relevance of Hospitaller work to the religious vocation of the knight.

The interview was recorded in Lourdes earlier this year, and lasts about half an hour.

The interview may be heard by clicking HERE.

MALTA DAY - WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

2011-09-11T19:11:00.006+01:00

The statue of Il Bambina carried into the Cathedral piazza after Mass.

Our congratulations to the people of the island of Malta, and to the Maltese community in Britain, who yesterday celebrated their second national day after Independence Day, called Malta Day, kept on the Saturday nearest to Our Lady's Birthday. It is also called Victory Day, as they share with the Order the joy of the lifting of the siege in 1565. They also celebrate this day the lifting of the second great siege in 1942, equally attributed to Our Lady's intercession.

Mass was celebrated in Westminster Cathedral by Monsignor Carmello Scerri, delegate of the Archbishop of Malta, assisted among others by our chaplain Father David Irwin, who is also Diocesan chaplain for foreign missions, in the presence of the President of Malta, His Excellency Dr George Abela, and Mrs Abela, and His Excellency Joseph Zammit Tabona, High Commissioner, and many local dignitaries. The music was provided by the Saint Paul's Choral Society of Malta who are on a concert tour of London. Some twenty knights and dames of the Order were present in choir.

The Mass was followed by a procession through the streets of Westminster to The Sacred Heart Horseferry Road of Il Bambina - the Child Mary - to celebrate our Lady of Victories, accompanied by the St Sebastian's Wokingham Brass Band, and firework displays at the beginning and end of the procession.

In the evening the High Commissioner hosted a Reception at the new and very luxurious Corinthia Hotel in Northumberland Avenue, to which members of the Order were most graciously invited.

Photo thanks to Catholic-LOVEvolution.blog

REPORT AND HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF PHILERMO

2011-09-09T13:17:00.010+01:00

The vestments bearing the arms of the late Grand Prior, Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart,
which were worn for the first time at this Mass. They were the presented to him just before his death
by Monsieur Arthur van der Straeten. They were made in Lyons.

THE FEAST was kept with splendour in the Conventual Church, in the presence, for the first time, of the Grand Prior elect, Ian Scott of Ardross, with the propers of the Mass sung to the setting from Byrd's Gradualia, and the Gloria and Incarnatus from Mozart's Coronation Mass. The President of BASMOM, HE Mr Charles Weld was also present. During the solemn censing of the Icon of Our Lady of Philermo, the antiphon Inviolata was sung to chant, following the ancient practice of the Knights in Malta, where it was sung at the end of every Conventual Mass on Sundays and major feasts.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for us.

Monsignor ANTONY CONLON, Chaplain of the Grand Priory of England, delivered the homily at the Victory Mass in the Conventual Church. The text is given below, click "read more" for the full text.

Nature has endowed the sea-harbour around Malta with contours and depth that make it one of the best naturally-sheltered inlets in the world. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V may not have known this when he decided to grant the island to the Knights of Malta in 1527 but he must have been aware of its strategic position, close to Sicily and Africa and at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. What he did expect – and he was to be proved right – was that the new defenders would be tenacious, courageous and resourceful in its defence. Above all these virtues they would also demonstrate an unshakeable attachment to the ancient faith, at that time being assailed across parts of Europe by new and variously subjective religious theories. Unable to undertake the task of defence of the extremities of the Mediterranean because of hostilities against his own dominions from the French King and the German Protestant princes, the Emperor saw the Knights as the only possible reliable and consistent means of resistance to the Ottoman ambitions to encircle Europe from the east. In many respects the island was a most inhospitable outpost with poor cultivation prospects and uncertain sources of fresh water. Yet, due to the determination and character and ability of its Grand Masters, the Order transformed this mostly barren, almost treeless outcrop of islands into an almost impregnable fortress for the defence Christian Europe that survived assault for nearly 300 years. That was not necessarily the outcome anticipated by the Order when it first arrived in Malta. Already in his 70’s when he took possession of the new territory, the then Grand Master de L’Isle Adam, considered the move temporary and in his remaining few years in office he longed always to return to Rhodes, whose loss he never considered permanent although it tuned out to be so.

In the early decades, while the Knights continued to develop and fortify the island, both their task and their recruitment was adversely affected by the religious divisions now dislodging whole areas of the continent from the Roman obedience. Nevertheless, in the twenty-seven years between their first arrival and the election of La Valette as Grand Master in 1557, there were many significant changes to the island. But not enough to satisfy this unique and single-minded leader, who, anticipating the long-term strategy of the Turks, immediately set about enlarging the existing defences and constructing new ones. La Valette was that sometimes rare species of religious person for his or any other epoch, who from his first joining the Order at the age of 20 was wholly dedicated to its aims and interests. It is recorded of him that he never left the Convent except to carry out his duties towards the Order. Fluent in five languages –Turkish and Arabic being two acquired by him during a year spent as a galley slave until the Order arranged his exchange for corsair prisoners in 1542 – he was intelligent as well as imaginative. Later coming to hold nearly all the important positions that existed, both in mind and character he was to prove the ideal leader for the ordeal that challenged and threatened the security of Mediterranean Europe and the existence of the Knights principal domain in the fateful year of 1565.

The story of that history-changing siege that stalled the advance of the Ottomans cannot be told in detail this evening. It would be long in the telling and its ending is already well-known to us and is one part of the reason for today’s Feast. The significance of the other part is rooted as much in the traditional devotion and fidelity to the Mother of God as to her providential intercession in those fateful months of epic struggle with vastly superior forces. This devotion within the Order had been for a long time focused on an icon which came to be known in Rhodes as Our Lady of Philermo and was brought by it as one of its chief treasures to Malta. The exemplary courage and heroism manifested by those Knights who withstood the siege was not just the result of natural tenacity and physical endurance. Yes, that did play a part but there were many times during the siege when it appeared to them that only divine intervention could same them from being overrun.

The raising of the siege after three months at the sight of an approaching Christian fleet on almost the day of our Lady’s Nativity was accepted by them as a sign of deliverance that was miraculous. The chronicler of the siege, Franceso Balbi, later wrote that on that day the bells which had normally summoned the defenders to battle now “ summoned us to a Pontifical High Mass, sung very early, to thank God and His Blessed Mother for the mercies they had bestowed upon us.” These memories of victories achieved and hostile forces overcome should be remembered as rallying calls to us today in our united efforts to be equally determined in defence of the faith and similarly devout in our confidence that the intercession of Our Lady and our other Patrons will not fail us in the hour of need. Heaven sometimes appears slow to respond and often tests our patience and our sincerity. But when the answer comes and the struggle is over the appearance of delay often produces its own rationale. Put simply by Our Lord Himself, God’s ways are not our ways. We are especially blessed in now having among our images of devotion an inspiring copy of the original icon, which will be blessed this evening and will serve to link us with our glorious past as well as providing us with an impulse to imitate its fidelity and fruitfulness. May we continue to derive joy in our annual commemoration of this Day and hope in its example of prayers answered and victory to the religious truth for which the Order has always stood firm.

Saint John's Wood,

The Nativity of Our Lady, 2011.

Detail of the coat-of-arms on the Chasuble. (Click to enlarge)

MORE FOR THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF PHILERMO

2011-09-08T12:48:00.004+01:00

In celebration of the Feast, we offer below images from Marian shrines connected to the Order of Malta around the world.

The Altar of Our Lady of Philermo in St John's Valetta, Malta
showing the solid silver gates. It is here that the true icon was
housed until the destruction by Napoleon. Pray for him.

The image of Our Lady with Our Lord and Saint John the Baptist
on the altar of the Grand Master's chapel
of Santa Maria del' Priorato, on the Aventine, Rome.

The Priory Church of Our-Lady-under-the-Chains, Prague

The shrine of the Immacolata in the Order's church
of San Michele Arcangelo, Naples

The shrine of Our Lady in the Order's church of St Elizabeth of Hungary, Paris
Please pray also for our Hospital which shares this dedication.

Beata Maria de Phileremo, ora pra nobis

SETPEMBER 8th - OUR LADY OF PHILERMO, VICTORY MASS

2011-09-08T01:01:00.030+01:00

TODAY, the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, is, throughout the Order, the Feast of Our Blessed Lady of Philermo.

On this day, by the gracious intercession of our beloved Mother, the island of Malta was freed from the Ottoman siege in 1565, and thus the merciful work of the Order was continued to the glory of God and of His Church.

We beseech her at this time to overcome the powers of darkness which are raised against the Church and against the Order, and to stay the hand of all those who might attack or frustrate the mission of the Order in our own day, that we may continue to serve her Divine Son in Our Lords the Poor and the Sick in their need.

The Icon in the festal dress of Grand Master de l'Isle Adam

Nativitas tua, Dei Genitrix Virgo, gaudium annuntiavit universo mundo : ex te enim ortus est sol iustitiae, Christus Deus noster : qui solvens maledictionem, dedit benedictionem, et confudens mortem, donavit nobis vitam sempiternam. Antiphon of the Magnificat of II Vespers.

Your Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God, announced joy to the whole world, for out of you arose the Sun of Justice, Christ our God; who taking off the curse, bestowed blessing; and defeating death, gave us new life.

Let us pray.
Bestow upon your servants, we beseech you O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that, as the child-bearing of the Blessed Virgin stood for the beginning of our salvation, so may the solemn feast of her Nativity bring about an increase of peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Mass will be celebrated solemnly in the Conventual Church at 6.30pm. The celebrant will be Monsignor Antony Conlon, who will also preach.

To read more of the history of the devotion, click here.

BIRTHDAY OF THE LATE FRA' FREDRIK CRICHTON-STUART

2011-09-06T09:20:00.002+01:00

Fra' Freddy at his beloved Torphichen,
the ancient seat of the Order in Scotland.

Today, 6th September 2011, is the 71st birthday of the late Grand Prior of England, who was born in Edinburgh at Bute House, a short walk from St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, whence he was buried last June.

Of your charity please pray for his soul this day.

REQUIEM AETERNAM DONA EI DOMINE, ET LUX PERPETUA LUCET EI.

REQUIESCAT IN PACE

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for him

Saint John the Baptist, pray for him

Saint Andrew, pray for him

Blessed Gerard, pray for him

Blessed Adrian Fortescue, pray for him

All holy Saints and Virgins of the Order, pray for him

BISHOP HUGH GILBERT ON THE NEW TRANSLATIONS

2011-09-05T14:37:00.009+01:00

With thanks to Fr Tim Finigan for finding this, we offer below an excerpt from the first pastoral letter (click for full text) from the close friend of the late Grand Prior, Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB, the new bishop of Aberdeen.

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ In Christ, the Son of God takes on everything human, except sin, and transforms it. And in the Liturgy this mystery of the Incarnation – the Word becoming flesh – lives on among us. Everything speaks of it. When we gather to worship we come together in a building – not usually in any building, though, but in a church, a building dedicated for worship. The ministers who lead our prayer don’t wear just ordinary clothes, but vestments. We stand, sit or kneel, but each of these postures now has a special meaning. We come together to listen to readings – not any readings though, but words inspired by the Holy Spirit, words that are now the word of God. We gather round a table – but not any table, rather a holy table, an altar. We eat and drink – but not any food or drink, rather bread and wine which have become that holiest of things, the Body and Blood of the Lord, his very Self. In the Liturgy, ordinary things are taken up by Christ and the Church and become vehicles of something greater than themselves. And so it is too with the words, the language, we use in prayer. Christianity has always, to some extent, created its own language. It took the words of ancient Israel or the Greco-Roman world and filled them with a new meaning. And so, in the Liturgy, we use words that carry the resonances of a long tradition, words that express our faith, and are rich with many centuries of experience of the God who has spoken to us in Christ. The new translation of the Missal is very aware of this and tries to be loyal to it. And, once again, when these words are sung, they can lift our hearts even more.

These reflections upon the sacredness of the liturgical texts, as of all that we touch and do in connexion with the liturgy, will serve us well, and we wish Bishop Gilbert every blessing in his new ministry.

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO LISTEN TO THE NEW MASS TEXTS AND MUSIC, FOR THIS WEEK ONLY, THEY MAY BE HEARD ON THE BBC iPLAYER, FROM THIS SUNDAY'S MASS FROM THE CHURCH OF OUR-LADY-AND-THE-ENGLISH-MARTYRS, CAMBRIDGE. Somewhat lacking in availing of the possible occasions to sing, but most instructive nonetheless. A fine homily from Fr Alexander Master, Precentor of Westminster Cathedral, which touches upon the themes of Bishop Gilbert's letter. Click anywhere on this paragraph.

USING THE NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MISSAL

2011-09-03T09:25:00.023+01:00

In Advent this year the new corrected translations of the Roman Missal will come into effect. Before this, starting on the first Sunday in September, this week, the unchanging parts of the Mass, those prayers and responses we say week by week, will be used of the first time.

In addition to the changes to the texts, the Bishops have included much more music in the new books, and whereas in the past many of us have been unfamiliar with singing many parts of the English Mass, from now on this will become a very much more usual part of our Sunday Liturgy; as Saint Augustine says, "he who sings prays twice."

Information from ICEL, the editors, including texts and music, may been seen and downloaded from links on the page available here.

Here is a commentary on the English Bishops' Conference website by our august chaplain Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of ICEL, including a podcast.

The Bishops of Ireland have prepared three excellent short videos, which are posted below, to help explain the theology behind some of the changes, which bring the English-speaking world into line not only with the official Latin texts, but also with most of the other languages of the world. The translations are also intended to be much more beautiful, to help us raise our hearts and minds to God.

From Thursday 15th September, at the specific wish of the late Grand Prior, the Order of Malta's 6.45pm Mass at the Lady Chapel at Spanish Place will begin using the new texts, and when we are numerous enough, the Mass will be sung, to assist us to learn the new responses and their music. This will continue until Advent. Everyone is encouraged to make use of these opportunities.

Introducing the new Missal Part 1:

Introducing the new Missal Part 2:

Introducing the new Missal Part 3:

NOTICE - VICTORY MASS - THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8th

2011-09-01T10:30:00.002+01:00

The uncovered face of the true icon of Our Lady of Philermo

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated in the Order as Our Lady of Philermo, and commonly known as the Victory Mass, in celebration of the lifting of the Seige of Malta in 1565 at her intercession, will be celebrated in the Conventual Church at 6.30pm on Thursday 8th September.

The celebrant will be the Chaplain to the Grand Priory, Monsignor Antony Conlon, and the Mass will be followed by a Reception in Fortescue House.

All members of the Order, Companions, and their friends and guests are warmly encouraged to attend this the principal Marian Feast in the Order's calendar.

Beata Maria de Phileremo, ora pro nobis.

REPORT ON DAY OF RECOLLECTION AT WARDOUR CASTLE

2011-08-31T10:17:00.008+01:00

HE The Chancellor at the Wardour organ keyboard

Last Saturday some two dozen members of the Order, Companions and guests gather at All Saints Chapel, Wardour Castle, where we were made very welcome by Lord and Lady Talbot of Malahide.

The day begin with Rosary, followed by Fr Gerard Deighan's first conference, on the subject of Temptation, based upon the text of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Sung Mass of the feast of the day, St Joseph Calasanctius, and Sext followed, and then everyone repaired to the delightful setting of Pythouse Kitchen Garden for lunch, accompanied by the Order's wines from Magione.

The second conference was on the Sacrifice of the Mass, and based upon the same text as the morning conference, Fr Deighan developed the connection bewteen these two seemingly separate aspects of our Faith. Afterwards Lord Talbot gave a talk on the history of his Chapel.

Exposition and Benediction concluded the day, before we were invited to afternoon tea in her garden by Lady Talbot.

We are extremely grateful to our hosts, to Fr Deighan for coming from Dublin for our edification, and to those who organised this most fruitful day.

Some excellent photographs may be seen by clicking this link, or the picture above.

MONDAY 29th AUGUST - BEHEADING OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

2011-08-29T11:04:00.001+01:00

Beheading of St John by Sano di Pietro

Today is the feast of the Decollation of our Blessed Patron.

"Since the memory of blessed John the Baptist is not to be passed over cursorily, it is important that we should note who he was, and by whom, and for what cause, and how, and when he was slain. A just man is slain by adulterers, and the guilty passed sentence of death upon the judge. Further, the death of the Prophet was the reward of a dancing-girl. Lastly (which all the barbarians even would be likely to shudder at) the order to consummate the cruelty went forth amid feasting and conviviality; and from the banquet to the Prison, from the prison to the banquet, the obedient agents of this death-dealing and disgraceful act went to and fro. How great are the crimes confined in this single infamy!" (Homily of St Ambrose, Lesson iii from Matins.)

O God, of those that fought Thy fight,
Portion, and prize, and crown of light,
Break every bond of sin and shame
As now we praise Thy Martyr's name.

He recked not of the world's allure,
But sin and pomp of sin forswore:
Knew all their gall, and passed them by,
And reached the throne prepared on high.

Bravely the course of pain he ran,
And bare his torments as a man;
For love of Thee his blood outpoured,
And thus obtained the great reward.

With humble voice and suppliant word
We pray Thee therefore, holy Lord,
While we Thy Martyr's feast-day keep,
Forgive Thy loved and erring sheep.

Glory and praise for aye be done
To God the Father, and the Son,
And Holy Ghost, Who reign on high,
One God, to all eternity. Amen.
(Hymn for Vespers, St Peter of Verona 6th century, trans A McDougall)

BECAUSE IT'S AUGUST - II - CHAPEL ROYAL AT VERSAILLES

2011-08-24T21:05:00.012+01:00

To continue the pleasures of the holiday season, and remembering fondly our friends in the French Association of the Order who celebrate Saint John's Day in the Chapelle du Roi in the Palace of Versailles, we would encourage you to look at this splendid new 'virtual tour' of the Chapel, which merits several long minutes of your time.

The presentation, including panoramas and detailed photographs of the building, its collection and plate, among them items loaned by the Custodians of the Holy Land, having been donated to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by King Louis XIV in 1664, has been prepared by the Administrators of the Chateau de Versailles to celebrate the Tercentenary of the Royal Chapel of the Roi-Soleil.

Do not miss looking at the wonderful ceiling, painted by Antoine Coypel and Charles de la Fosse, and especially the vault over the Royal pew, painted with the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

The 'virtual tour' concludes with a short concert of sacred music composed for the Chapel, from Charpentier's Te Deum. Click on the photograph to begin.

Tomorrow is, of course, the Feast of Saint Louis IX, King of France.

O Saint Louis, priez pour nous.

THE REVEREND JAMES BRADLEY

2011-08-22T16:03:00.003+01:00

It is with great pleasure that we learn that our friend James Bradley, who is now a deacon in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, was privileged to be chosen by the Holy Father to function as deacon of the Gospel for the opening Mass of World Youth Day in Madrid last week. This is a great honour for England, and a great encouragement for our friends in the Ordinariate.

Photo courtesy Diocese of Arundel and Brighton

Readers of this blog will recall that the Reverend Mr Bradley was the photographer for the Meeting of the Professed of the Order in Merton College (click here) last year.

We wish him well in his continuing studies and forthcoming ordination to the Sacred Priesthood in the Ordinariate.

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for him.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for him.

BECAUSE IT'S AUGUST

2011-08-21T00:40:00.021+01:00

We encourage our readers to look at this charming video of the Holy Father, in Madrid for World Youth Day. Sadly the BBC does not permit the embedding of its clips. CLICK ON THE PICTURE.

NOTICE - AUGUST GRAND PRIORY DAY OF RECOLLECTION

2011-08-19T22:08:00.006+01:00

The August day of Recollection will be given by The Very Reverend Gerard Deighan, of St. Kevin's Church, Dublin, on Saturday 27th August, at All Saints Chapel at Wardour Castle, through the kindness of the Lord Talbot of Malahide.

Many will recall that Fr Deighan was subdeacon at the Funeral Mass of the late Grand Prior in Edinburgh.

The programme for the day is as follows:

10.30am - Lauds

11am - First Conference, followed by opportunity for Confession/recitation of the Rosary

12 noon - Missa Cantata (Feast of S Joseph Calasanctius.)

Lunch

2.30pm - Second Conference

3.15pm - Vespers, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

There will be a brief talk about the church given by our host during the day.

Lunch is arranged at Pythouse Kitchen Garden, a local restaurant, (postcode SP3 6PA), at the cost of approximately £15 per head. It is absolutely imperative that anyone wishing to attend should email his intention to avoid complications and embarrassment. Please email: basmom@btconnect.com

The postcode for Wardour Castle is SP3 6RH. The 08.20am train from Waterloo will be met at Tisbury if you indicate by email that you so wish.

A additional levy of £10 per head will be taken to cover the costs of the day.

As ever, everyone is welcome, all members of BASMOM, other members of the Order, Companions and guests.

ARCHIVE - RESTORATION MASS OF PLUSCARDEN ABBEY

2011-08-17T15:56:00.036+01:00

At this joyful time when the monks of Pluscarden Abbey celebrate the election of their new Abbot, Father Alselm Atkinson, to whom we extend out most sincere good wishes and prayers, and as the Church in Scotland celebrates the consecration and installation on the Feast of the Assumption of Abbot Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., until now Abbot of Pluscarden, as the fifty-first and eleventh bishop of Aberdeen on 15th August 2011, it seems a good moment to air a short piece of historical footage, the consecration of Pluscarden Abbey on the 8th September, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, (Victory Day to the Order) in 1958.

The abbey, a ruin for 500 years, had been bought and given to the Benedictine Order by Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart, a noted Scottish Catholic layman, son of the 3rd Marquess of Bute, and therefore a cousin of our beloved and late Grand Prior, Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart. The community was founded by Benedictine monks from Prinknash Abbey.

Fra' Freddy had a great and long-standing love of Pluscarden (he joined the Order of Malta when the restored Abbey was only five years old!) and made the great majority of his retreats there. Abbot Gilbert attended his funeral in Edinburgh.

Lovers of the Sacred Liturgy will be entranced by the simple beauty of the monastic vestments, and the grace and ease which attend these complex ceremonies, despite the fact that they were being undertaken in the setting of a ruin, and by people who had come together for the first time form many disparate places. Therein lies both the wonder and the benefit of our Catholic tradition. What we see here represents, in a way, Fra' Freddy's liturgical ideal, an unmannered and masculine religion; it shows the tradition from which he came, and the direction in which he had wished to lead the spiritual life of his Grand Priory.

We are indebted to Mr Martin Gardner, of A Wandering Oblate blog, for uploading this footage, and to the Abbot and community of Pluscarden for permitting it to be copied from their archive.

NOTICE - THURSDAY MASSES IN AUGUST

2011-08-15T22:00:00.007+01:00

Due to the large number of people who are away on holiday, it has been decided that the Thursday evening Mass at Spanish Place will be cancelled for the next two weeks in August. The 6pm Parish Mass is available to those members of the Order and Companions who might wish to attend.

The Masses will resume on Thursday 1st September.

Please note however, that the following week, 8th September, is the Nativity of Our Lady, the Victory Mass in the Order, and will be celebrated at the Conventual Church at 6.30. There will consequently be no evening Mass at Spanish Place on that day.

Thereafter Masses will continue as normal at 6.45pm every week in the Lady Chapel at Spanish Place, followed by a reception in the Presbytery dining room.

15th AUGUST - SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY

2011-08-14T18:58:00.002+01:00

"This day the spotless Virgin, who was defiled with no earthly sensuality, but trained to thoughts of heaven, returned not to dust, but, being herself a living heaven, took her place in the heavenly mansions. For from her the true life had flowed for all men, and how should she taste of death?" - from the Sermon of St John Damascene, taken from Matins of the feast.

Masses at St James's Spanish Place are celebrated at 7.15am, 11am (Tridentine), 12.30 and 6pm.

Our Lady Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

FRIDAY ABSTINENCE - 16th SEPTEMBER

2011-07-26T23:26:00.003+01:00

The late Grand Prior was insistent that full catechesis be given to the impending Friday abstinence in preparation for the date upon which it becomes an obligation, 16th September 2011; it is thus a great pleasure to be able to reprint below the excellent exposition upon this discipline given on the Oxford Oratory website earlier this month.

FRIDAY ABSTINENCE - WHY?

As from the 16th September this year, which will be the anniversary of the Papal Visit, the bishops of England and Wales have decided to restore the practice of Friday abstinence from meat as binding on all Catholics in this country.

Why?

Because it was the day on which Our Lord rose from the dead the first Christians celebrated Sunday, the first day of the week, as the principal Christian day of worship rather than the Jewish Sabbath (Acts 20:7). From that time each Sunday has always been viewed as a mini Easter Sunday. Correspondingly, each Friday has been viewed as a mini Good Friday on which we observe the Passion and death of Our Lord on the Cross. From the earliest days of the Church, Catholics have abstained from flesh meat as part of this observance for two reasons: first, to do homage to Christ who died in the flesh on Good Friday and, second, as an act of penance for our sins.

Although many thought this practice had been abolished in recent years, in fact it has continued to be the norm in the Catholic Church throughout the 20th century and down to the present day. However, in some places, including in England and Wales, the bishops were given authority by the Pope to allow people to substitute some other act of penance instead.

The bishops of England and Wales have decided that abstaining from meat on Fridays should become the norm once again for both of the reasons given above but also for a third reason. When he visited Britain, Pope Benedict called for all Catholics to have the courage and the confidence to take their Faith into the public square. Abstaining from flesh meat on Fridays is a way of marking our Catholic identity and proclaiming, in just one small but distinctive way, that the death of Christ on the Cross is the most important event in human history along with His resurrection on Easter Sunday. We already mark His resurrection by going to Mass on Sunday. Now, once more, we can share a common practice as we mark His Passion and death.

This practice does not mean that we have to eat fish; there are many alternatives to non-meat dishes these days. And if we are already vegetarian we can offer our existing practice up as a penance or undertake some other form of penance instead.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes penance as a repentance and a conversion of the heart, an "interior conversion, [which] urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance" (CCC 1430). It is not that we are parading our good works before men; rather, we are worshipping the living and true God with our whole being, body as well as soul, just as the prophet Joel urges us to do in the readings on Ash Wednesday (Joel 2:12-18), and as Our Lord himself teaches us to do, whilst not showing off, in Matthew's Gospel (Mt 6:1-6).

Let us respond generously, then, to this call from our holy Mother, the Church, to give witness to the Passion and death of our Saviour who died for us that we might live with Him.

SECOND CONFERENCE - DORCHESTER DAY OF RECOLLECTION

2011-07-23T22:14:00.002+01:00

ON THE MEANING OF OBEDIENCE

Most of us present here are familiar with the Triduum Office of Tenebrae. One of the most poignant and instructive moments comes towards the end of Lauds when the whole congregation kneels and sings the chant “Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem”. Christ became for us obedient, even unto death. These words, first written by St Paul to the Phillipians (2:8), summarises two absolutely primary truths of revelation, that obedience was what rendered Christ’s death the most perfect sacrifice and that it reversed humanity’s previous disastrous original refusal to obey recorded in the Book of Genesis(3:1-19). The death of Jesus, as explained by St Paul teaches us that the virtue of obedience, supremely demonstrated in the willingness to submit to death on the Cross, was in itself an essential solution that removed the stain and shame of mankind’s first turning away from God. Likewise it restored the broken links of direct communication with God that had resulted from man’s first disobedience. Just as we can be assured of that, we should also be in no doubt that the disobedience evident in man’s first experiment with freedom to do as he pleased was the main cause of the fall from grace. The theme of obedience and its opposite is examined and exhibited right through the Bible story of salvation. Beyond Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, King David, the Prophets, the story of Jonah, all are asked by God to undertake specific tasks and prove their willingness by their fulfilment. In the initial chapters of the New Testament, Zecahriah, John the Baptist and pre-eminently the Blessed Virgin Mary are all asked to co-operate with God’s plan of Redemption. None of us should be in any doubt that the virtue of obedience is what decides who is acting in God’s name. Correspondingly it is clear from Biblical revelation that disobedience is the hallmark of satanic influence and is alien to faith and charity.

It stands to reason then that all of us – and especially those bound to religious vows or promises of obedience ought to both understand what is required by them and have that intention as our constant aim. So, what is meant by obedience in the context of our religion and the Order? Canon 601 of the modern Code expresses it thus: “The evangelical counsel of obedience, undertaken in the spirit of faith and love in the following of Christ, who was obedient unto death, obliges submission of one’s will to lawful Superiors who act in the place of God when they give commands that are in accordance with each institute’s own constitutions.” From this, it follows that those who have taken vows or promises are much more strictly engaged with the practice of direct obedience to a superior than those who are members of the Order without having committed themselves by a solemn, signed contract. Nevertheless, we are all bound by the general expectation of obedience to lawful religious superiors when they are acting within their sphere of responsibility and not manifestly commanding or enforcing regulations or restrictions which are sinful in themselves; infringe the legitimate rights of those in their charge; contradict the expressed intention of more general law and custom, or oblige against conscience. One can see immediately here that it sometimes requires a good deal of enquiry and counsel to be sure of one’s ground for not obeying and perhaps even more of courage to persist with it.

Relying once more on Mgr Dimech for a summary of what obedience means to those who are of that category in the Order, he records that the question is often asked “So, what do I have to do”? The answer he gives is that the obligations are deceptively simple. It is not so much a matter of what is done but how it is done. It represents a desire to enter into a more contemplative branch of the Order; but that contemplation is undertaken without the support system available to cloistered religious. To live this kind of vocation is equally as demanding for those in Obedience as for those who are Knights of Justice. It is amazing that until the 1970’s, there was a very small number of Professed Knights, all of whom lived in some kind of community within their Grand Priories. It was from England that the first stirrings emerged of vocations to this category from candidates destined to live it in a more solitary manner. As we all very much aware, that small initiative has spread to other branches of the Order and is still a vital and flourishing component of its profile in England. For those who take it on, both inside and outside of community life, obedience to a lawful Superior can be a for a religious the greatest trial in life but once a person has willingly and solemnly promised such an undertaking it must inform every action and decision relating to the welfare of the Order and its work that the candidate expects to contribute.

Years ago, when dear old Tony Furness had the time and substance to dwell almost daily on these issues, he once told me in conversation that the most important singular discretion which the Order possessed was the power of dispensation, which could be usefully invoked in almost every situation –except gender alteration. Individual persons may be dispensed from particular rules or customs as and when it may be deemed appropriate. That said, nobody may be dispensed from obedience to the Commandments of God or of the legitimate ordinances of universal and episcopal authority. It should not be a matter of dispute by anyone calling themselves Catholic that the teaching authority of the Supreme Pontiff proclaimed and published as such, may ever be legitimately disobeyed or set aside. All the popes of recent centuries have had the wisdom and the sensitivity to make it clear when their statements reflected a personal view of a matter under consideration. Equally, they have also made it abundantly clear when their decisions have been solemn and binding. There is little excuse nowadays, when information is available online and in bookshops for any literate person to claim that they do not know what Papal teaching is on any aspect of faith or morals. It used to be said in the past that the Italian monopoly of the Papacy for 450 years rather weakened the urge to pay much heed to it. Those who did were sometimes dismissed as Ultramontane. For a short time under John XXIII (1958-1963)it became fashionable among the liberals to idolize the Papacy. His successor Paul VI had a variety of approval ratings. Then, in 1978, we had a Polish Pope and the pundits said he was naturally autocratic and limited by having lived under a dictatorship for all of his life, so was also narrow-minded. More recently the first German Pope for 1,000 years has been elected. The Britain on occasions and in some media reporting, the ecclesiastical equivalent of the 1966 World Cup final and of the TV comedy “Allo, Allo”, has been deployed in much of the commentaries on his suitability and character. Caricaturing the Papacy is an old English pastime and nobody should be taken in by it, least of all people who also claim to champion fair play. The more serious side to this exhortation is that we must make sure that our obedient response to our vocation is mature and based on sound reason and informed conscience. Today, members of the Grand Priory have elected a new Superior. His task is an unenviable one but I am certain that he will be more than equal to it. He should be assured of the prayers and support of all of us who have the welfare and prosperity of the Order uppermost in our minds. Beyond that, he will be comforted to know that where God has guided a person into a special office He also endows the willing suppliant with all the graces necessary for that calling. May the obedient example of Blessed Gerard, St John the Baptist, Our Blessed Lady, and above all of Christ the Lord inform our counsels and inspire all our endeavours.

FIRST CONFERENCE - DORCHESTER DAY OF RECOLLECTION

2011-07-23T22:12:00.002+01:00

ON THE TRUE DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN AND OF THE KNIGHT

Every Christian who takes his or her religion seriously should seek to live in the shadow of the Cross and to embrace the vicissitudes of life implied by that metaphor with equanimity and even abandonment. This acceptance of the reality of human weakness and capacity for error is not just blind faith. It is grounded in our complete confidence that a benevolent power immensely greater than our own guides our destinies. It also derives fundamentally from the knowledge through God’s own revelation that the evils and adversities that assail us are not positive energies but are the negative consequences of original sin. This means that we have a divinely-sanctioned explanation for all that is arbitrary and discordant in human nature. At the same time, the biblical wisdom which helps us to understand the source of human folly and its effects also reveals its remedy. Secular wisdom does not understand either the poisonous consequences of sin and the pain it causes or their antidote. As a consequence, humanists offer seductive and at times very convincing therapies and treatments for the alleviation of suffering and the anxiety resulting from it. None of us is immune from the temptation to credit such worldly solutions to the problems which beset us and we delude ourselves greatly if we think that we are. In our age, global misfortune combines with global communication to produce a consensus among many of the developed nations of the world contradicting the wisdom of faith in favour of expediency and utility. We stand against this trend. As members of a Catholic religious Order, we must be clear that our tradition and raison d’etre is always to place the supremacy of God at the heart of every strategy for the alleviation of human suffering.

Facing the problems and setbacks of every kind in life, frequently seen by stoics and spiritual writers as spurs to deeper self-knowledge, is not an experience that is exclusive to religious people. It is a challenge that is common to all. It is precisely how misfortune is explained and dealt with by different sets of people that fundamentally distinguishes traditional Christianity from other religious movements and from the world of agnosticism and atheism. Even within the context of Christianity there are often varieties of theories regarding right and wrong, good and bad that are attractive to the unwary and easily masquerade as authentic. They frequently offer what appear to the proud intellect as more rational and convenient answers, ruling out apparently old-fashioned notions of sin, guilt and responsibility. Awkward biblical references and even the explicit testimony of the words of our Lord Himself are set aside in an effort to render everything acceptable to contemporary ignorance and to a European and Western society which has largely distanced itself from the religious concepts of obedience, honesty, fidelity, shame and –most seriously- life after death. There are soit-disant Catholics who sadly embrace in part many of these erroneous opinions, imagining themselves to be at the cutting edge of a modern approach to religion which they believe speaks more directly to the enlightened times in which we live. Even more regrettably, they seek to mislead the young with these false notions of free-range interpretations of our Faith, thus disabling them spiritually from being able combat their own understandable weaknesses or to defend their faith convincingly against the rising tide of assault upon the Church and its teaching. Dear confreres, our Order is in places affected by this malaise and we must neither be blind to it or indifferent to it. Our duty is to oppose it. That does not and cannot mean that in doing so we depart from all charity and lose all sense of chivalry and confraternity. On the contrary we must recognise falsehood where it exists but challenge it with the example of Christ and His Saints before us. The weapons of choice in this conflict must be personal integrity, public charity and private intercession for unity and concord.

No badge or emblem is more appropriate to our unique character of militant charity as the Cross. Its white colour, signifying purity; its eight-pointed shape, recalling the Beatitudes, and its position when worn above our hearts are all reminders that the honour we both exhibit and that is conferred upon us is rooted in the humble dedication of our bodies and our wills to the service of Christ in His poor and in obedience to the Church. We not only live in the shadow of the Cross which is the vocation of every Christian, we also undertake to be its champions. If this means what it should, we must learn the lesson of total resignation to the will of our Heavenly Father, in union with Christ, His Son and in acceptance of whatever His will shall ask of us or wherever it may lead us. In such a vocation, there is no room for self-promotion or self-interest. There must also be a positive attitude to the apparent promotion of others against what may be lack of recognition of our own abilities. This has got to be one of the most difficult of burdens for all who labour voluntarily in the service of Christ and the Church. Resentment of favour shown to others impairs initiative and corrupts charitable endeavour. We should harbour no envy or jealousy. We should desire no greater good than that of others whom we serve and no greater glory than that of Almighty God. These and other virtues that we should aspire to possess are only attainable through co-operation with the grace of God. Persistent and regular recourse to prayer, spiritual direction, reflection and the use of the Sacraments of Penance and the Most Holy Eucharist are indispensible. The prayer should be both official, personal (in the sense of the common heritage of Catholic prayers in daily use) and as far as possible at regular hours. We seek to create as it were a spiritual fortress in our lives to which we may retreat for rest and recuperation from the heat of battle. In his marvellous book on the Spirituality and Formation of Members, the late Mgr Dimech, proposes that there are “Three bastions for Perseverance”. They are: Meditation upon The Crucifix; Mass & Holy Communion and prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary. No one who aspires to be a Knight of Malta in the true sense of that vocation should be under any illusion that anyone who neglects to meditate upon and take part in any of these essential spiritual activities is inadequately armed.

As the cross is the symbol of all that is Christian so its real manifestation in earthly sorrows are an inevitable and necessary part of discipleship. Some of the crosses which come to us are largely of our own making. We need to be able to distinguish between those and other trials which are entirely heaven-sent. The Lord permits us sometimes to be weak in some way (as He did with St Paul in his mysterious “thorn in the flesh” and St Peter in his tendency to evade responsibility), so that we may not be tempted to attribute our good deeds to our own virtue. Nevertheless, the cross of our own moral weaknesses is just as valuable in teaching us humility and reliance upon the grace of God as the major disability of sudden ill-health or unexpected misfortune where we had anticipated success and benefit. Apart from meditating at convenient moments upon the crucifix and its impact upon our lives, each time we place the Cross of the Order around our necks, we should think of it as the yoke which both links us to Christ as well as to the whole army of Hospitallers, both living and dead, of which we are privileged to be members. Those who wear the scapular as part of their habit are encouraged to regard that in much the same way. For all of us, the cross we wear is a light and easily-worn sign. Yet the cross has behind it weight of generations of piety, service and witness which –if we are wearing it in the correct spirit of religion- ought to be seen as vastly more significant than a badge of nobility or an award for good behaviour. It is a direct call to arms; a commission which can only be taken on with absolute faith in God and a total belief in His power to effect more than we can hope for or imagine. Lastly, and just as importantly, it should only be worn and rest above the hearts of those who are motivated to serve not for reasons of human respect or pride, but by an abiding love to do good to all, so that they and the knight himself may all be inexorably drawn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the fount of all charity and goodness.

ELECTION OF NEW GRAND PRIOR OF ENGLAND

2011-07-23T22:08:00.002+01:00

At the Grand Priory Day of Recollection which was held to day at Saint Birinus Dorchester-on-Thames courtesy of our chaplain Fr John Osman, the Chapter elected Ian Scott of Ardross as the 57th Grand Prior of England. His election will now be submitted to Sovereign Council for confirmation.

The Recollection was attended by some 20 members of the Order and Companions (who provide sterling domestic service at lunch far beyond the call of duty), and was preached by Monsignor Antony Conlon, Chaplain to the Grand Priory. Mass of Saint Appolinaris was sung in the morning, and the day concluded after Vespers with a 'Te Deum' coram sanctissimo for the election of the new Grand Prior, and Benediction. Monsignor Conlon's two most inspiring talks will be given in the immediately following posts.

This was the third annual visit to Dorchester and we are immensely grateful to Fr Osman for his hospitality, unmeasured hospitality and kindness.

Please pray for Ian Scott as he begins his service as Grand Prior.

Beata Maria de Phileremo, ora pro eo,

Beate Joanne Baptista, ora pro eo.

Beate Hadriane Fortescue, ora pro eo.

This post will be updated with photographs when they are received.

FUNERAL OF ARCHDUKE OTTO VON HABSBURG

2011-07-17T01:15:00.004+01:00

______________________________________________________________________________

The funeral took place today in St Stephen's Cathedral Vienna of HIS IMPERIAL AND ROYAL HIGHNESS ARCHDUKE FRANZ JOSEPH OTTO ROBERT MARIA ANTON KARL MAX HEINRICH SIXTUS XAVIER FELIX RENATUS LUDWIG GAETAN PIUS IGNATIUS by the Grace of God and hereditary right Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

The funeral, presided over by His Eminence Christoph Cardinal Count von Schönborn, was attended by His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master Fra' Matthew Festing, and many members of the order in Austria and throughout the world. The Chancellor of the Grand Priory of England, His Excellency Fra' Duncan Gallie, was in attendance upon the Grand Master.

The funeral Mass was followed by a procession through the Innere Stadt of Vienna and the entombment of Archduke Otto and his late wife, Archduchess Regina who died last year, in the Habsburg Imperial Crypt of the Imperial Capuchin Church of Vienna. Archduke Otto's heart will be interred in Pannonhalma Archabbey.

Our condolences are extended to all the Imperial Family, especially to those who are members of the British Association of the Order of Malta.

Knights of Malta stand guard around the coffin during the Requiem Mass (photo Reuters, courtesy BBC)

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Requiescant in pace.

______________________________________________________________________________

TUESDAY 12th JULY - BLESSED DAVID GUNSTON

2011-07-11T17:01:00.004+01:00

The Order in England is blessed with many English saints, who act both as intercessors and examples to people living and working in our own troubled age. Blessed David is one of them.

Icon by Sacred Mural Studios, St Petersburg

Sir David Gunston was a member of an English naval family who was received into the Order at the Auberge of England in Valetta on 20 October 1533.

He served on the ships of the Order in the Mediterranean until 1540 when he returned to England, by which time Henry VIII had suppressed the Order in his kingdom by an Act of Parliament of 10 May 1540. David Gunston was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1540 and was condemned to death by an Act of Parliament in 1541 for denying the authority of the King in spiritual matters.

He was hanged, drawn and quartered at St. Thomas' Waterings, Southwark on 12 July 1541. Pius XI declared him Blessed on 15 December 1929.

Blessed Fra' David, pray for the unity of the Church, for religious freedom

for all persons, and for our Order and its members.

Collect of the Mass.

O God, who made of blessed David a notable champion of the Catholic faith whose martyrdom shed glory on our Order, grant that he may stimulate us to defend the unity of your holy Church. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

NOTICE - CHANGE OF TIME - AND CONCERT - THURSDAY 14th JULY

2011-07-10T19:18:00.002+01:00

This coming Thursday, 14th July, is the Feast of Saint Toscana, Virgin of our Order.

The normal 6.45 Mass will exceptionally (this week only) be cancelled, and we shall join the Parish Mass at 6pm. Please let people you think might come know about this change.

At 7.30 pm, there will be a concert of sacred music in the church, performed by the St James's Choir, under the direction of Terry Worroll. Members of the Order and Companions are encouraged to come along and support our very generous hosts at Spanish Place. Here is an except from the Parish Newsletter:

This Thursday (14th July) the Choir of Saint James will be giving a concert of some of the best Renaissance polyphony to have come from Spain at the hands of Victoria and his contemporaries. The concert begins at 7.30pm and tickets will be available on the door at £12 (£10 concessions). Here is an opportunity to hear some excellent music and to bring others along with you to introduce them to Saint James’s.

REQUIEM MASS FOR THE GRAND PRIOR

2011-07-08T17:58:00.001+01:00

______________________________________________________________________________

Our chaplain, Fr David Irwin, celebrated a Requiem Mass for the month's mind of the late Grand Prior on Thursday evening in the Lady Chapel at Spanish Place, attended by members of the Order and Companions, especially those who had been unable to attend the funeral. The Chancellor, H E Fra' Duncan Gallie, was in attendance. The music of the Mass was sung by a schola of Companions of the Order (to one of whom we are indebted for the photograph above) which was led by Count de Evora, the former honorary Master of the Music to the Grand Priory.

Following the Mass there was an opportunity to venerate the relic of Blessed Adrian Fortescue, whose feast fell the next day; a tertiary relic from the Book of Hours of our Patron currently in the care of the Grand Master. As with so many Reformation martyrs, there are no primary relics of Blessed Adrian.

A reception was then held in the Rectory dining-room, by kind permission of the Rector, Fr Christopher Colven.

Requiem aeternam dona ei Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Requiescat in pace.

Beate Hadriane Fortescue, ora pro eo.

______________________________________________________________________________

FEAST OF BLESSED ADRIAN FORTESCUE MARTYR ON. PATRON OF THE GRAND PRIORY OF ENGLAND

2011-07-08T09:04:00.013+01:00

Painting of Blessed Adrian Fortescue by Andrew Festing, brother of the Grand Master,
in the possession of the Order in London, and based upon the portrait in Rabat, Malta

Adrian Fortescue was born around 1480, the son of Sir John Fortescue of Punsborne, Hertfordshire. He was made a Knight of the Bath in 1503 and was high in the favour of King Henry VIII, taking part in the Wars of England against France in 1513 and 1523. His personal piety is attested by his Book of Hours which survives with devotional maxims in his own hand. As a cousin of Anne Boleyn, he was present when she was crowned as Queen in 1533. Sir Adrian was twice married and had seven children. He became a confrater of the Dominicans of Oxford in 1533. In 1539 he was attainted of High Treason without trial, by an Act of Parliament which condemned fifty persons opposed to Henry VIII's ecclesiastical policies. Adrian Fortescue was beheaded on Tower Hill, London on Wednesday 9 July 1539, together with the Venerable Sir Thomas Dingley, a Knight of the Order. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem has considered Sir Adrian as a martyr and has promoted devotion to him at least since the early seventeenth century as a member of the Order. Leo XIII declared him Blessed on 13 May 1895.

For more information click here, including a translation of Mgr Ducaud-Bourget's biography of Bl. Adrain.

COLLECT OF THE MASS

O God, since all things are within your power, grant through the prayers of blessed Adrian, your martyr, that we who keep his feast today may become stronger in the love of your name and hold to your holy Church even at the cost of our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

VIDEO OF GRAND PRIOR'S REQUIEM

2011-07-06T17:14:00.004+01:00

______________________________________________________________________________

The following short video of the funeral of the late Grand Prior shows the recessional procession, during the singing of the In Paradisum. The full videos, posted by Mr Martin Gardner, of A Wandering Oblate blog, may be seen here.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli;
in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem.
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into paradise;
upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem.
May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, the poor man, may you have eternal rest.

______________________________________________________________________________

CARDINAL PELL'S HOMILY TO THE ORDER FOR CORPUS CHRISTI

2011-07-06T09:00:00.000+01:00

It is a privilege to be able to offer here, for the spiritual advancement of our readers, the Homily delivered to members of the Order of Malta by Cardinal Pell in Saint Mary's Cathedral Sydney, upon the feast of Corpus Christi.

Homily by George Cardinal Pell

Archbishop of Sydney

Bailiff Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion

and Conventual Chaplain ad honorem

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

ON THIS FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI it is appropriate that we welcome here the Knights and Dames of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem gathered from across Australia for their biennial meeting. Both the feast and the Order come from the Middle Ages. We know them as the Knights of Malta, but at an earlier stage for two hundred years they were known as the Knights of Rhodes, until their honourable defeat there by Sultan Suleiman II in 1522.

We know that Christ celebrated the first Eucharist on Holy Thursday the night before he died and that many of his followers had left him earlier when he promised to give them his flesh to eat. We have clear evidence from the Scriptures and the Church writings of the Fathers of the first Christians' belief that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist.

But this feast on the earliest free Thursday after Easter to celebrate the institution of the Eucharist only developed around 1230 in Liége under the influence of Blessed Juliana a devout nun. In other words this feast is a medieval development used to oppose those, like the eleventh century Berengar of Tours, who denied Jesus was really present in the Eucharist.

The Order of Malta will celebrate the 900th anniversary of its approval as a religious order by Pope Paschal II in 1113. It was then a low point in papal history with a number of anti-popes, a weak papacy in confrontation with the Holy Roman Emperor and one of the few bright spots had been the recapture of Jerusalem by the First Crusade in 1099 after Muslim rule since 638.

The Crusades are regularly denounced in anti-Catholic circles and in the movies; but they must be seen more broadly as an imperfect and belated military response to centuries of Islamic military expansion and the closure of the Holy Places to Christian pilgrims.

The knights were probably founded by Master Gerard from Scala, near Amalfi in Southern Italy, who set up a hospital, mainly for wounded soldiers to add to their work of caring for pilgrims in Jerusalem. For centuries the knights were also formidable soldiers, sometimes with their own navy and their most famous military victory was the successful defence of Malta against the Turks in 1565.

The days of military struggle by members of a religious order are long gone and the knights now have a magnificent network of charitable works in many countries of the world including Australia. The Australian association of the order is actively involved in disaster relief, here and overseas and serves overseas in six countries especially East Timor. But they also have another equally important challenge.

For the sake of our regular parishioners and visitors I should explain that at the Order's dinner last night we heard a remarkable speech by the Vice-Chancellor of Australian Catholic University calling the order again to the public defence of the Catholic Church and Christian values in Australian life against the regular attacks in every form of the media.

He pointed out that this task cannot be left to the Bishops or clergy alone. He claimed that aircraft carriers need to be defended by a flotilla of destroyers and I would point out that the need is greater when we are talking of old, slow battleships. In other words I heartily endorse the Vice-Chancellor's metaphorical call to arms, to public witness to Christian values. While it is the task of all believers, the members of the Order of Malta have a unique capacity for wide influence. And young Catholics will respond to your leadership. They will not feel so isolated, or old fashioned, or simply "daggy" and step up to join you in these cultural battles.

It would be a betrayal of the proudest traditions of the Order if you abandoned your positions of forward defence for the Catholic Church and for Catholic truths. These are under attack from within our society and from violent elements outside it. The cultural struggle is real. We see its effects in every age group, in our families and especially the middle aged and the young. We cannot pretend that such a struggle is not occurring nor should we pretend that we are not suffering extensive losses. I endorse the call to action.

A proper love for the Mass, a deep conviction that Christ is really present in the consecrated species of bread and wine and the practice of regular prayer will sustain us in our daily struggles to believe and to be good, will protect us from self indulgence and mistakes in our work and conflict and enable us to develop wisdom and perseverance.

Recently I stumbled upon Albert of Brescia, who died around 1251 and he was originally a soldier, who remained a layman, became a writer and public figure and somehow managed to deliver four sermons to local confraternities like the Knights. In those days lay people were not supposed to preach, but could give moral exhortations!

Naturally because we belong to the same Church much of his teaching is predictable. Those who want to shine their light on others, should have light within themselves. God should be seen as a consuming fire, for he consumes all our sins. (Hebrews 12:29). Albert was quite ascetic urging his listeners to afflict their bodies with "vigils and fasts and other good works".

Some of his teaching struck new notes for me. One phrase was particularly evocative as we remember the call to participate in public discussion and debate. "He who fears God, all things fear him; but he who does not fear God, fears everything". We find more than a grain of truth here and I believe the thought explains a deal of the hostility we face in the struggle for life and family and even something of the alarmist hysteria on climate change.

Albert begins his approach to the bread of life differently from us, because the bread of life and understanding is the bread of tears and compunction about sin. Today we can be heavily influenced by those around us, who have fallen silent on the concept of sin, or rejected it as an explanation for evil, preferring to cite ignorance or heredity. Through our sorrow for sin we arrive at the true Bread of Life, who is Christ, according to Albert.

Similarly through the wine of compunction for our sins, we come to the true wine, the heavenly mystery of Christ's blood which fills the chalice in the hand of the Lord and which is present at every celebration of Mass.

Corpus Christi is a beautiful feast. I remember the processions from my youth in country Victoria and it is good that this public procession through the streets of Sydney has been revived. In a different but important way our walking through the streets of Sydney this afternoon is a public witness to faith, like the many beautiful works of service performed by the Order and their members' contribution to public discussion and debate.

Let me conclude with the last verse translation of St. Thomas Aquinas' hymn Lauda Sion.

"O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,

Our present food, our future rest,

Come, make us each thy chosen guest,

Co-heirs of thine and comrades blest

With saints whose dwelling is with thee".

We make this prayer through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen

NOTICE OF REQUIEM MASS

2011-07-04T11:30:00.004+01:00

Fra' Fredrik at his installation as Grand Prior on 21st April 2008

The weekly Thursday Mass this week, on 7th July at 6.45pm in the Lady Chapel of Saint James's Spanish Place, will be celebrated as a Requiem for the repose of the soul of Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, late Grand Prior of England. It will be observed as the month's mind, which occurs a few days later.

The Mass will be followed by the veneration of the relic of Blessed Adrian Fortescue, Martyr and Patron of the Grand Priory, whose feast falls the following day. It is a happy coincidence that this should be the case, as the Grand Priory's relic has been recently furnished in May this year at Fra' Freddy's behest. It is a tertiary relic from the only extant relic of Blessed Adrian, his Book of Hours, currently in the care of the Grand Master.

Requiescat in pace.

Beate Hadriane Fortescue, ora pro illo.

REPORT ON THE FUNERAL OF THE GRAND PRIOR

2011-07-02T14:49:00.063+01:00

______________________________________________________________________________

The Funeral Rites of FRATER FREDRIK JOHN PATRICK CRICHTON-STUART, 56th GRAND PRIOR OF ENGLAND, the first Grand Prior to die since the Tudors occupied the throne of England, and the first Scotsman in this Office, were held in Edinburgh on the 27th and 28th June. The irony of this would not be lost upon Fra' Freddy, himself descended in the direct line from Robert the Bruce, and the Stuart Kings of Scotland. How fitting therefore that for the first time in over 850 years of the history of the Order in Britain the funeral of a Grand Prior of England should be held in Scotland.

The body was received solemnly into St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, the coffin preceded by the Sword of the Grand Priory, at 5 o'clock on Monday evening, and Vespers of the Dead were sung by visiting members of the Sovereign Council of the Order, and members of the British Association in choir, in the presence of Fra' Freddy's family. The Office was followed by the Absolutions over the body, given by Monsignor Michael Regan, Magistral Chaplain, Provost of the Cathedral. The Grand Master's legate, His Excellency Fra' Gherardo Hercolani, Grand Commander of the Order, presided in choir.

By ancient tradition of the Order of Malta, dating from crusader times, the coffin of a knight of Malta lies on the floor, surrounded by fallen candlesticks. The coffin is surmounted by the 'stola' of solemn profession, or perpetual religious vows, decorated with the symbols of Our Lord's Passion.

On Tuesday morning the immediate family and members of the Order, together with visiting Knights of St Gregory and members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, sang the Office of Lauds of the Dead around the body, again presided over by Fra' Gherardo Hercolani.

At 11.15am the High Mass of Requiem was sung in the presence of His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O'Brien, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, who presided from the throne, and similarly of the Grand Master's legate. Also present were members of Sovereign Council, Their Excellencies Fra' Carlo d'Ippolito and Fra' Duncan Gallie, who is also Chancellor of the Grand Priory of England; His Excellency Fra' Carl Paar, Prince Grand Prior of Bohemia; His Grace Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow, Grand Cross Conventual Chaplain 'ad honorem', Principal Chaplain of the British Association; and Father Hugh Gilbert, Bishop-elect of Aberdeen, former Abbot of Pluscarden. A large number of members of the Order were present including the Lieutenant of the Grand Priory, Ian Scott of Ardross, and His Excellency the President of the British Association, Charles Weld, and the Lady Talbot of Malahide, Vice-President. The Papal Knights, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Venerable Order of Saint John (of which the late Grand Prior was a member) were also represented. Fra' Freddy's widow Jane, and children Rhidian, Edward, Amanda, and Ione-Jane, brother Niall and sister Margot were all present.

Among the mourners were Lord Gill, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, and Lady Gill; Ninian Crichton-Stuart, Hereditary Keeper of Falkland Palace; Miss Elizabeth Roads, Lyon Clerk, Court of the Lord Lyon; Richard Waller, of the Venerable Order of St John in Scoltand, and other representatives; Captain Jim Reid 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland; and Frederick Stone, Chairman, with other representatives of Una Voce Scotland. Members of the family were assisted by the knights and some of the Companions (who of course were founded in Scotland) as ushers.

The Mass was celebrated by Father John Emerson FSSP, Fra' Freddy's spiritual director, whose daily Mass he had attended for several years until his death; and assisted by Father Gerard Deighan, chaplain of the Irish Association of the Order, and Father Brendan Gerard, both of whom had regularly said Holy Mass in Edinburgh attended by Fra' Freddy in recent years. The Mass was sung to gregorian chant by the schola of St Andrew's Ravelston, and served by Scottish friends of Fra' Freddy, with whom he had frequently served at the altar until very recently.

The Homily was preached most movingly by Cardinal O'Brien, a very close friend of the Grand Prior, who stressed the total unity in Christ between Fra' Freddy's life with his family, his religious and charitable work within the Order, the strength he derived from the liturgy of the Church, and his interior life of prayer. He ended with words of the psalm, which though so familiar, sounded as for the first time with this holy man, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Requiescat in pace."

The state anthem of the Order, "Ave Crux Alba" was played after the Absolutions. In the procession leaving the church, Fra' Freddy's banner, stola and decorations were carried behind the coffin by his two sons and brother. The sword again preceded the coffin, carried inverted by one of the novice knights of Justice.

Following the Mass, guests gathered for a brief reception, and then proceeded to Mount Vernon Catholic Cemetery, where Fra' Freddy was interred among the Religious of the Diocese. Echoing the strain of the Salve Regina sung at the graveside, Pipe-Major David Waterton-Anderson KSG, also a friend of many years of Fra' Freddy, played his own tune, "The Little Flower", which had been dedicated to Fra' Freddy in 2009 on the occasion of the visit of the relics of St Therese of Lisieux to the Conventual Church in London.

A large set of photographs of the funeral may be seen HERE, courtesy of Mr Martin Gardner, to whom we are very grateful.

At the Family's request, donations in memory of Fra' Fredrik may be made to Order of Malta Dial-a-Journey, 3 Cunningham Road, Springkerse Industrial Estate, Stirling FK7 7SW. Charity No. SC 018831. Tel: 01786 46535

Other Masses offered for Fra' Freddy on Tuesday morning.

We have been notified that Holy Mass has been offered simultaneously with the Funeral Mass, for the repose of the Grand Prior's soul, as follows:

in the Conventual Church, London, by the Hospital Chaplain, Fr Richard Sloan,
at the London Oratory by Fr Ronald Creighton-Jobe, Conventual Chaplain 'ad honorem',
at St James's Spanish Place by Fr David Irwin, Magistral Chaplain,
in Burgundy by Fr Anthony Robbie, Magistral Chaplain,
at Gricigliano, five Masses stipended by a member of the Grand Priory,
in the Oxford Oratory, stipended by a member of the Grand Priory,
in Malta, two Masses stipended by the nieces of the late Colonel Tommy Pac.

UPDATE

We have been informed that 5 five Masses have been stipended at the London Oratory.

Please notify additional Masses which were offered at this time, of which we are unaware, in the comments box below.

Exceptionally, we shall leave the comments open for this post, for tributes and notifications of prayers offered. Requiescat in pace.

Our Lady of Philermo, pray for him

Saint John the Baptist, pray for him
Saint Andrew, pray for him

Saint Therese of Lisieux, pray for him

Blessed Gerard, pray for him

Blessed Adrian Fortescue, pray for him

All holy Saints and Virgins of the Order, pray for him
______________________________________________________________________________

CHARTRES PILGRIMAGE 2011

2011-07-02T13:45:00.016+01:00

Every year a small group of members of the Order join in the Pentecost Chartres pilgrimage, mostly from the French Association, supported by rather more young people from the Oeuvres Hospitallieres, who also provide all the first aid and medical back-up for the 15,000 pilgrims in a seriously impressive operation. Under the banner of Notre-Dame de Philerme, they walk from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris to that of Notre-Dame de Chartres.

For many years a group from the Grand Priory of England and BASMOM have also joined, initially organised by Dudley Heathcote, and, following some years' absence, this year a very small group, including Companions, joined the Chapitre de Notre-Dame de Philerme for the last day of the walk.

For many years our beloved and late Grand Prior, when Chancellor, accompanied the present Grand Master amongst the Order pilgrims, and provided essential support of transport for the halt and lame, and sustenance for the tired. The photograph above shows Fra' Freddy arriving at the lunchtime camp in 2001 with essential supplies. It was indeed on the road to Chartres that the editor of this blog first met him.

This year the weather was ideal for the walk, dry and neither too hot nor too cold, as can be seen from this photograph below of a few members of the Chapitre Notre-Dame de Philerme with the banner on the last day. The spires of Chartres Cathedral may just be made out in the haze on the horizon. Singing is a large feature of the pilgrimage, as it takes ones mind off the passing miles and tired feet. Also important is prayer; all pilgrims are are expected to say a full Rosary together on the walk, and the devotions of the Chapitre were led by Fra' Emmanuel Rousseau, with the recitation of Lauds and Vespers on foot every day (in Latin, new Office) and Compline in the camp, at which all the volunteers and helpers of the First Aid post joined in.

As in every year, the closing Mass in the Cathedral was celebrated as a pontifical High Mass, this year by His Excellency Monseigneur Nicholas Brouwet, auxiliary bishop of Nanterre, in the presence of His Excellency Monseigneur Michel Pansard, Bishop of Chartres, who presided in cope from the throne.

For those who wish, the homily given by Mgr Brouwet (French only) may be read by clicking here. This official site also gives more information about the pilgrimage.

The many banners of the various Chapitres are carried into the Cathedral for the Mass, and this year there is an excellent video of the procession leaving the Cathedral at the end of Mass, to the strains of "Chez nous, soyez Reine" (courtesy of New Liturgical Movement and Gloria TV). The banner of Notre-Dame de Philerme may be clearly seen from 5:41 to 5:52.

It is hoped that in future years more members of the Order in Britain will accept the invitation of our French hosts to join them.

Notre-Dame de Philerme, priez pour nous.

FRA' FREDRIK CRICHTON-STUART RIP

2011-06-28T10:30:00.007+01:00

______________________________________________________________________________

REQUIEM AETERNAM DONA EI DOMINE,

ET LUX PERPETUA LUCEAT EI.

Frater Fredrik

John Patrick

Crichton-Stuart

KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF JUSTICE IN SOLEMN VOWS

OF THE SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA

GRAND CROSS ‘PRO MERITO MELITENSE’

GRAND PRIOR OF ENGLAND

BORN 6th SEPTEMBER 1940 DIED 14th JUNE 2011

REQUIESCAT IN PACE

Beate Ioanne Baptista, ora pro eo.

Beata Maria de Philereme, ora pro eo.

Beate Hadriane Fortescue, ora pro eo.

______________________________________________________________________________

VISIT OF THE GRAND MASTER TO THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF

2011-06-23T08:17:00.005+01:00

It is a pleasure to be able to share a video of the recent official visit of His Most Eminent Highness the Grand Master to Pope Benedict in the Apostolic Palace on 25th June 2011, in connexion with the feast of our Blessed Patron Saint John the Baptist. The Grand Master makes regular less formal visits to His Holiness regularly throughout the year.

Fra' Matthew presented the Pope with, among other gifts, a finely bound copy of the new Regulations and Commentary on the Code and Constitution of the Order.

Ad multos annos!

THURSDAY 23rd JUNE - ST JOHN'S EVE - FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

2011-06-20T10:47:00.000+01:00

On the Vigil of Saint John the Baptist, which falls this year on Thursday which is also the Feast of Corpus Christi, the will be a Sung Mass of Corpus Christi in the Conventual Church at 6.30pm, which will replace the customary First Vespers of our Patronal Feast. The celebrant will the Chaplain of the Grand Priory, Mgr Antony Conlon. The Mass will be followed by a short reception in Fortescue House

All members of the Order, Companions and their friends are warmly encouraged to attend this first celebration of St John's Day.

Please note that exceptionally the Thursday evening Mass at St James's Spanish Place will not be said this week. It will resume as normal next week.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

DEATH OF THE GRAND PRIOR

2011-06-14T17:03:00.003+01:00

______________________________________________________________________________

It is with the greatest sadness that we announce the death of

H. E. FRA’ FREDRIK CRICHTON-STUART
Grand Prior of England
Knight Grand Cross of Justice in Solemn Vows

from a heart attack earlier this morning, Tuesday 14th June, 2011.

Please pray for the repose of his soul.

Details for the Funeral, which will be held in Edinburgh, will be issued when available.

Click here for BASMOM obituary.

Requiescat in Pace.

______________________________________________________________________________

REPORT - ASCENSION THURSDAY

2011-06-03T22:16:00.006+01:00

Our Chaplain, Father David Irwin, celebarted a Missa Cantata of the Feast of the Ascension in the Lady Chapel of Saint James's Spanish Place yesterday evening, with music sung to chant by members of Schola Baptista, attended by professed of the Grand Priory, knights and companions, as well as some parishioners.

The extinguishing of the Paschal candle "et ascendit in caelis"

With the feast of the Ascension we begin the closing days of Eastertide, in preparation for the great Feast of Pentecost, the sealing of the new Covenant of our Redemption by the Holy Spirit. Today marks the beginning of the Novena of Pentecost, which the Church encourages us all to observe.

The Pentecost mosaic in the Sanctuary at St James's

Prayers to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium: et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.
V. Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur.
R. Et renovabis faciem terrae.
Oremus. Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere; et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Long prayers of the Novena may by found by clicking here.

REPORT - LADY JAFFRAY'S MUSICAL EVENING LAST WEEK

2011-06-03T21:45:00.012+01:00

HMEH the Grand Master with Lady Jaffray

It is a renewed pleasure to be able to report upon Anne Lady Jaffray's wonderful concert and dinner which was held last Tuesday, 24th May, in the gracious setting of the Principal's House of Imperial College London, in aid of Saint John's Hospice. The guest of honour was His Most Eminent Highness the Grand Master, Fra' Matthew Festing.

Lady Jaffray embodies all that is good about the Order of Malta; with her customary and consummate ease she manages to bring together people from every walk of life of the Order to produce the most delightful and entertaining evening, which was truly a family event, with the collaboration of the Companions and the fundraising team of the Hospice, whose enthusiasm and cheerfulness our hostess was very quick to honour with well-merited praise.

This evening, sadly the last of Lady Jaffray's many annual fundraising events for St John's Hospice, among the many varied guests who included relatives and former patients of the Hospital and members of the Order and Companions, were the Chancellor of the Grand Priory, as well as the President, Vice-President and Chancellor of the British Association. The Director of the Hospice, the Matron and the Director of Fundraising were also present, a testimony to Lady Jaffray's long-standing contribution.

Lady Jaffray, following the concert, most especially extended her gratitude to Schola Baptista, the choir of the Conventual Church, for their wonderful interpretation of the early music of the Order of Malta, (rightly praised also by Lord Guthrie in his speech, who echoed the view of many present that it was a once-in-a-lifetime pleasure to hear such rare music) for their generous contribution of their talents without remuneration. It was a particular joy that they were able to offer to us, for benefit of the Hospice, several of the pieces which the circumstances of the building works had prevented them singing for their concert in our Church in the Hospital a couple of months ago.

Lord Guthrie, as Chairman of the Hospital, offered fulsome thanks to Lady Jaffray after dinner, which was graciously replied to on her behalf by the Grand Master with his customary brevity and humour, which many of us in England have come to miss. On behalf of us all, we should also like to add our gratitude to our hostess for her many years of contribution to the Hospice, both as a visitor and a tireless fundraiser, and most especially in the last few years as a very active member of the Order of Malta, and also as a friend of so many. We wish her well in her new literary endeavours, which we are sure she will pursue as tirelessly and successfully.

For those of our readers who were unable to attend, and who might still wish to contribute to the Hospice funds, please visit the link HERE for the Hospice secure donations page. A Gift Aid declaration is included for UK taxpayers. You contributions are of inestimable value to the work the Hospice is able to do, both for the resident patients, and for the many dozens of people who are cared for in their homes.

Schola Baptista

REPORT - GRAND PRIORY DAY OF RECOLLECTION AT BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN'S SHRINE IN BIRMINGHAM

2011-05-29T18:04:00.008+01:00

The shrine altar in the Little Oratory

The Feast of our virgin Saint Ubaldeseca saw members of the Grand Priory, joined by other members of the Order and Companions from the Midlands, together in Birmingham for this month's Day of Recollection at the shrine of Blessed John Henry Newman.

After Lauds in the Newman shrine chapel, members of the Order sat in choir in the stunningly beautiful Oratory church for the weekly Pilgrim Mass celebrated by the Provost, Father Richard Duffield, and then joined the other pilgrims and the local community at the Shine for the prayers of thanksgiving for favours granted, for intercessions, and veneration of the relic. The work of the Order worldwide, and the members of the Grand Priory of England and British Association were prayed for, as was Saint John's Hospice.

Father Paul Chavasse preached the conferences, on Newman's journey of Faith, and his attraction to the tradition of the life of the Oratory and to Philippine spirituality, and its applicability to the spiritual life of the religious in the Order of Malta. In the afternoon we were privileged to be led by the Provost in pilgrimage to Blessed John Henry's library and room, where we could venerate the private altar, dedicated to Saint Francis de Sales, where the Beatus said Mass daily as a Cardinal. Both the library and room are exactly as they were in the Cardinal's lifetime and may thus truly be venerated as secondary relics, as they were by the Holy Father last September in the afternoon after the Mass of Beatification.

The day concluded with Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the shrine altar.

Blessed John Henry, Pray for us,

Saint Philip Neri, Pray for us,
Saint Francis de Sales, pray for us.

PASTORAL LETTER ON THE NEW MISSAL TRANSLATION

2011-05-29T10:30:00.009+01:00

In preparation for the new corrected translation of the New Rite of Mass, the Bishops of England and Wales have ordered the following Pastoral Letter to be read at all Masses in the churches and chapels of England and Wales this Sunday, 29th May 2011.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES
NATIONAL PASTORAL LETTER
ON THE
NEW TRANSLATION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL
TO BE READ ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, 29 MAY 2011

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

At the beginning of Advent this year, when we gather for Mass, we shall be using the new translation of the Roman Missal. This will be the case not only in England and Wales but throughout the English‐speaking world. The Mass will remain the same but parts of it will sound different.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has produced three Latin editions of the Roman Missal. At present, we are still using a translation of the first edition which was published in 1973. Although the texts we have been using have served us well, since that time there has been much development in the liturgical texts themselves and in our understanding of them.

We all become very accustomed to the words we hear; and the fact that we have been praying in a certain way for so long has imprinted that style of language and words upon our consciousness and made them very special. The changes in the language now to be introduced, however, do not represent change for change’s sake, but are being made in order to ensure greater fidelity to the liturgical tradition of the Church. In the earlier translation not all the meaning of the original Latin text was fully expressed and a number of the terms that were used to convey the teachings of the faith were lost. This was readily acknowledged by the bishops of the Church, even back in the 1970s, and has become an increasing cause of concern since then.

There is an old adage in Latin which states that the way we pray forms the way we believe. So words and language are important for the teaching and the handing‐on of the faith.

So what does this new translation offer us? First of all, there is a fuller expression of the content of the original texts. Then, there is a closer connection with the Sacred Scriptures which inspire so much of our liturgy. Also, there is a recovery of a vocabulary that enriches our understanding of the mystery we celebrate. All of this requires a unique style of language and expression, one that takes us out of ourselves and draws us into the sacred, the transcendent and the divine.

The publication of the new translation of the Missal is a special moment of grace in the English‐speaking world. It offers an opportunity to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the mystery we celebrate each week. This itself will help us to move towards that fuller and more conscious and active participation in the liturgy to which the Church invites us. It will help us also to examine the dignity with which we celebrate the ‘source and summit’ of the Church’s life.

At the end of his visit last year, Pope Benedict asked us to use this moment for genuine renewal. He said: “I encourage you now to seize the opportunity that the new translation offers for in‐depth catechesis on the Eucharist, and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration. ‘The more lively the Eucharistic faith of the people of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples’” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 6).

In order to achieve this, the bishops have produced resources for all our parishes and, as from September, we will gradually begin to use the new liturgical texts at Mass and hear why certain changes have been made. Each diocese is already preparing its priests and deacons, catechists and liturgical ministers. Programmes for schools are being developed and new musical settings are being composed. From September until Advent everyone will have the opportunity to study the new texts and familiarise themselves with the prayers and chants. In addition, this period of preparation will allow us to pray these new texts.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist is a gift, something we receive from God through the Church. Saint Paul spoke of it as coming from the Lord Jesus himself. Writing to the Church in Corinth, he said, “for I received from the Lord what I in turn also handed on to you” (1 Corinthians 11:23). So Eucharist is not something of our making but a gift received. Like Saint Paul, therefore, let us receive it with reverence and care, knowing that we are being faithful to what the Lord himself passed on to the Apostles, which has been handed on since, in faithfulness, by their successors to every generation of the Church.

Let us welcome the new translation of the Roman Missal as a sign of our unity and a powerful instrument of God’s grace in our lives.

Published by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales
Thursday 12 May 2011
To be read on the Sixth Sunday of Easter, 29 May 2011

photographs copyright CTS, publishers of the Missal

28th MAY - SAINT UBALDESCA V. ON.

2011-05-28T01:00:00.003+01:00

image courtesy of St John's Gate, London

Saint Ubaldesca

Virgin of Our Order

Memorial

She was born in 1136 at Calcinia, near Pisa. At the age of fifteen, she joined the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, and worked for fifty-five years in the infirmary attached to the monastery at Pisa, caring for her neighbour out of love for God. She died on 28 May 1206. Her body was taken back to Calcinia where it is now enshrined. Not only honoured among the saints and blessed of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, she is celebrated also as a patroness of the City of Pisa.

The Collect of the Mass

O God, pride of the humble and lover of virginity,

you called Saint Ubaldesca to the religious life

in the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem :

Grant that through her prayers and example

we may rejoice in being humble

and follow you with pure minds.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Today is the Grand Priory monthly day of Recollection at the shrine of Blessed John Henry Newman at the Birmingham Oratory, a report will follow shortly.

23rd MAY - FEAST OF BL VILMOS APOR, M. ON

2011-05-23T10:22:00.007+01:00

Blessed Vilmos Apor

Chaplain of the Order of Malta, Bishop, Martyr

Memorial

Vilmos (William) Apor, born 1892, was an Hungarian bishop who earned a special reputation for his service to the poor, especially during the months of hardship that came at the end of World War II. Named Bishop of Gÿor in 1941, he chose as his motto: “The Cross strengthens the weak and makes the strong gentle.” During the many air raids he opened his home to those whose houses had been destroyed. When Russian troops entered the city in 1945, many women including religious took refuge in his episcopal residence.

On Good Friday 1945 three Russian soldiers came to the residence and demanded that the women be taken to their barracks. Monsignor Apor refused and placed himself in front of the women. One of the Russians shot and wounded him. Out of fear they then fled, leaving the women unmolested. Bishop Apor lived in great agony for three days and died on 2 April, Easter Monday.

On 9 April 1947, Cardinal Mindszenty wrote to Father Csavossy, the postulator for the cause: 'I can assure you that now is the appropriate time to introduce the canonization procedures. I wish it and officially approve of it, and want the necessary steps to be taken to do the same for all priests who lost their lives when protecting women.' He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 9th November 1997.

Much historical information is given here.

The tomb of Blessed Vilmos in Gyor Cathedral, designed by the Hungarian artist Boldogfai Farkas Sándor

The Collect of the Mass

Almighty and Eternal God,

through your grace, Bishop William,

by courageously shedding his blood for his flock,

earned a martyr’s crown.

Grant that we, despite the difficulties of our daily lives,

may do your will and offer our good works

for the salvation of our brothers and sisters.

We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

DIRECTIVE FROM THE ENGLISH BISHOPS ON THE FRIDAY PENANCE AND ABSTAINING FROM MEAT

2011-05-16T17:48:00.014+01:00

Restoration of mandatory meatless Fridays in England and Wales

Since 1985, in England and Wales abstinence from meat has been mandatory only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; on all other Fridays of the year, including Lenten Fridays, the faithful are allowed to choose between abstaining from meat or doing some other penance. The bishops have now chosen to restore the requirement of meatless Fridays for all Catholics of qualifying age (between the 15th and 60th birthdays). This will come into effect on 16th September.

It should be noted that this applies to all Catholics, not just those who practice regularly Sunday by Sunday, but also those who are in some way lapsed, but still call and consider themselves Catholics. For those many people, therefore, in families where some members do not practice their Faith regularly, the obligation to abstain from meat on Friday applies to all members of the household. In the same way, it is laudable to encourage the young who have not yet reached the age of obligation to perform this duty willingly.

All those responsible for catering for food for other groups which include Catholics, namely schools, hospitals, youth groups etc, should remember they have a duty to observe this obligation and to provide meals which do not contain meat.

Birthdays, and other days of public or private celebration, are not a reason for overlooking this Catholic duty, which is given to us for our sanctification.

Vegetarians and others who for whatever reason do not eat meat normally are to abstain from a chosen food they eat regularly. It would seem very good advice that this decision be taken in conjunction with one's spiritual director.

We are grateful to our bishops for this act of witness to our Faith, please remember to keep them always in your prayers.

Here is the text of the Bishop's document, which makes clear the prescriptions and explains the reasoning behind them.

Catholic Witness - Friday Penance

By the practice of penance every Catholic identifies with Christ in his death on the cross. We do so in prayer, through uniting the sufferings and sacrifices in our lives with those of Christ’s passion; in fasting, by dying to self in order to be close to Christ; in almsgiving, by demonstrating our solidarity with the sufferings of Christ in those in need. All three forms of penance form a vital part of Christian living. When this is visible in the public arena, then it is also an important act of witness.

Every Friday is set aside by the Church as a special day of penance, for it is the day of the death of our Lord. The law of the Church requires Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays, or some other form of food, or to observe some other form of penance laid down by the Bishops’ Conference.

The Bishops wish to re-establish the practice of Friday penance in the lives of the faithful as a clear and distinctive mark of their own Catholic identity. They recognise that the best habits are those which are acquired as part of a common resolve and common witness. It is important that all the faithful be united in a common celebration of Friday penance.

Respectful of this, and in accordance with the mind of the whole Church, the Bishops’ Conference wishes to remind all Catholics in England and Wales of the obligation of Friday Penance. The Bishops have decided to re-establish the practice that this should be fulfilled by abstaining from meat.

Those who cannot or choose not to eat meat as part of their normal diet should abstain from some other food of which they regularly partake. This is to come into effect from Friday 16 September 2011 when we will mark the anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom.

Many may wish to go beyond this simple act of common witness and mark each Friday with a time of prayer and further self-sacrifice. In all these ways we unite our sacrifices to the sacrifice of Christ, who gave up his very life for our salvation.