Dewi Sant, Canon Ursell and a Debt to Wales

What could the debt be, that someone of Scottish origin, living in England, could owe to the traditions of the Welsh church and indirectly to the saint whose feast we mark today, St David?  Very simply, my journey into Anglo-Catholicism and from there ultimately into the full communion of the Catholic Church included what one might call a detour into a sphere influenced by the history, if not even then the reality, of the Church in Wales. 

Arriving as an undergraduate at Oxford, I found myself at Pusey House on my first Sunday morning (hence Betjeman's Summoned by Bell having made at least one appearance on this blog before).  Despite having attended Mass occasionally with my Catholic grandmother, I had never seen anything quite like the way in which Pusey House's liturgy was presented.  I rather liked it, and kept coming back, week by week, for the next few years. 

What worked so well on someone to whom that tradition was essentially alien, was that there was liturgical dignity and correctness but no fussiness, uncompromising clarity of catholic teaching but no bombast, friendliness and community without cliques and exclusivity.  It just worked.  It offered a way in to something that an outsider could happily take, the "target audience" if you like was the general population of the University of Oxford with an interest in Christianity, there was no sense of Pusey House being only for committed Anglo-Catholics, although of course those who came in the door often emerged as such.

That approach was down to the Principal in those days, Canon Philip Ursell, then as now the Warden of Ascot Priory.  Canon Ursell had studied and trained in both England and Wales, and served as a curate in Canon Freddy Hood's old parish in Porthcawl, before becoming a University Chaplain at Cardiff and then Chaplain at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

His view was that you could catch the interest of more people if you neither vaunted, but nor indeed hid, some of the more "full throttle" expressions of Anglo-Catholicism, but you let it be known that they were there, and encouraged people to find them in their own time.  For example, the Angelus was said after the Sunday High Mass ended, but only by the clergy and servers in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel : the congregation, listening to the organ voluntary, would be aware only of the sound of distant prayers from the other side of the rood screen. 

Another example : Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was given only twice a year, once at Corpus Christi (from the rood screen indeed), and once at the end of the academic year, following an outdoor procession through the grounds of Ascot Priory.  By the way, the General Thanksgiving, now so much loved and used by the Ordinariate (including at the recent Solemn Evensong, Procession and Benediction at St James's, and even more recently at St Peter's Basilica in Rome), was the prayer at Benediction on those occasions.

The Sacred Triduum was observed, but at Ascot Priory, and with a guest list made up of those of the congregation who would benefit from that most.  Many a new Anglo-Catholic's first confession was made on such occasions.

This confident strategy was born of the same approach that was behind some of the anecdotes of those days, a confidence in some of the Church in Wales of those days, as in some of the Church of England at that time, that it and no other was the Catholic Church in this land.  The Principal told the story of his first Vicar, who in discussion with a young "spike" was challenged as to why he no longer genuflected during the Et Incarnatus :

"By what authority have you stopped genuflecting, Father?"

"The same authority by which you started genuflecting."

Sitting where we sit now, of course, it seems slightly uncomfortable to acknowledge the anecdotes that "converts" from the Catholic Church might very well have been formally "received" upon their arrival in the Church in Wales or the Church of England in those times.  However, that is merely an outward sign of the genuine and sincere belief (whether we agree with it or not, in the context of then or now) that those bodies represented, at least in "sound parishes", the Catholic Church in this Land.

It's all rather different now, of course.  Reports (such as here on Ancient Briton, and here on All Gas and Gaiters) following the untimely death of the Revd Jeremy Winston make that painfully clear.

Let's not be despondent though.  St David's Day has been the perfect opportunity for the Ordinariate to announce the launching of three Ordinariate Exploration Groups in Wales: Cardiff, Swansea and Abergavenny.  There are signs of hope that this wonderful Anglo-Catholic tradition will find itself a new home in which it will be cherished, valued and nurtured.

I owe a lot to that tradition, and see much of it in the Ordinariate.  We must all give thanks for that Anglican Patrimony which Pope Benedict has invited us to bring with us into the Catholic Church.

To conclude, video footage of the Holy Father's visit to Westminster Cathedral in September 2010.  As he processed out, to the joyous accompaniment of Bruckner's Ecce Sacerdos Magnus, he stopped to pray at the new shrine to St David.  The smiles of the congregation just before he arrives at the shrine are very moving, felicitously occurring at the high point of the fortissimo in the setting of the word Deo as the tenor part soars above the others.



St David, pray for us.

Interactive Exchange

Never let it be said that this blog doesn't interact with its readers.  Yesterday's blogpost Processions and Banners seemed to hit the right note with many of you, who must have forwarded the link on to friends, for which many thanks.  That blogpost has raced up the popularity charts and is already the third most read blogpost on our blog.  Given that some posts have been up for almost a month and this one has been up for 24 hours as of now, that is quite impressive.

Please continue in your sterling work of publicising the existence of this blog, and do remind your friends that they can be alerted to new blogposts through our Facebook group.

To expand on the point about Anglican Patrimony and banners, here is a photo taken at St Mary's Bourne Street just under a year ago, when the new Vicar was installed by the Bishop of London.  You will see that the banner cupboard has been well and truly emptied, and all banners have been brought into use.  Four are being carried in procession, two more are hung on pillars around the church.

Once Ordinariate groups have been shopping for banners, perhaps this will be one way in which we can contribute some Anglican Patrimony. 

Another example of interaction with our readers is that the blogpost on the Universal Church, which mentioned St Francis of Assisi and referred to the newly built replica of the Porziuncola that has been built in San Francisco has inspired a friend of the Marylebone Ordinariate Group, currently visiting San Francisco on business, to make a visit to the National Shrine of St Francis.  He has sent us this photo, and comments that the National Shrine is definitely worth a visit, and houses a relic of St Anthony of Padua as well as the marvellous Porziuncola.

Another feature of this blog that we understand appeals to our readers is that many posts are accompanied by a link to some carefully selected music.  Today, when we commemorate St Bruno of Cologne, the founder of the Carthusian order, the music is Os Justi Meditabitur Sapientiam by Anton Bruckner.  The text is taken from the introit set for Mass today.



St Bruno, pray for us.

Pope Benedict XVI at Westminster Cathedral

The last two days of the Pope Benedict's visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010 included two events that very heavily influenced many of those who have joined the Ordinariate and the wider Catholic Church this year. 

The first of those was the Mass celebrated at Westminster Cathedral exactly one year ago today.  The second, of which more tomorrow, was the Beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman.

The Westminster Cathedral Mass created huge interest and was of huge appeal.  Those who watched it were moved by the solemnity, dignity, reverence and beauty of the liturgy, and by the obvious warmth and rapport between the Holy Father and all those gathered inside and outside.   

For some who have joined the Catholic Church recently, it was an occasion that contained so many things with which we were so familiar, and which we loved: yet we were, in one hugely significant way, cut off from it.  We were not in full communion with the Successor of St Peter: with the open invitation seen in Anglicanorum Coetibus and indeed generally, there seemed to some of us to be less and less justification for deliberately allowing that situation to persist.  And so, from that date onwards, a thought process, which had been begun many times before but never concluded, finally started on its way to what became formal Reception.

One of the permanent video links on the right hand sidebar of this blog is of the Holy Father's procession into the Cathedral at the start of Mass, to the truly stunning accompaniment of James Macmillan's setting of Tu es Petrus.  Please take a look at it now if you haven't before (and perhaps even if have).  To complement this, here is the well known Bruckner setting of Ecce Sacerdos Magnus, as sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir as the Holy Father processed out after Mass, and paused for prayer at the new Shrine of St David. 

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

From the Epistle set for Mass today :

Brethren, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

On our group's Facebook page (which can be reached through one of the links on the right), earlier today we posted a link to Anton Bruckner's setting of Christus Factus Est.  The text of this motet comes from the Gradual of the Mass for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which in turn comes from the passage from the Epistle to the Philippians.   It seemed very appropriate to link to this particular performance, as in the link we can hear the music being sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir at Mass on the occasion of the Holy Father's visit almost exactly one year ago. 

Finally, please note that to mark today's Feast, there will be a performance of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood, with music composed by Sharon Jennings and sung by the Fentiman Singers, in the Lady Chapel at St James's, Spanish Place tonight. The dream is of the cross telling Christ its own story of the crucifixion. The performance, given in honour of Holy Cross Day, begins at 7.30pm. Admission will be free, but donations towards the costs will be welcome.