Fr Hunwicke's First Mass

Yesterday was one of the most special days we have yet had as members of the Ordinariate.  Three of our group had the honour, joy and privilege to be able to attend Fr Hunwicke's First Mass, which as we reported earlier, was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form at the London Oratory.

We will be reporting on our visit to Fr Hunwicke's priestly ordination at the Oxford Oratory on Wednesday evening shortly, but since this post is ready to go, there is no reason to hold it up.

The liturgical photos in this blogpost were sourced from the famous New Liturgical Movement blog and from the Papa Stronsay blog.  Fr Hunwicke has long had a strong connection with this community of Transalpine Redemptorists, and all Ordinariate members were delighted that several of the community travelled all the way from Orkney to Oxford and London to share in their priestly friend's special events. 

We also have a couple of photos of our own, as you will see below.  None of us felt able to take pictures during the mass itself, so caught up were we by the beauty of a very expert celebration of this ancient and powerful form of offering the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  The depth of one's sense of participation in the rite was incredible, the feeling of immediacy and indeed of intimacy quite overwhelming.  All three of us from our group who attended have attended masses in the Extraordinary Form before, but this one surely had a very particular importance for us.

Some travelled from Orkney to be there, others from Hythe, Brighton, Balham and indeed I travelled from Paris via Pimlico.    As I walked from home in Pimlico towards the Oratory, I passed by St Mary's Bourne St, our former home in our Anglican days.  In the bright sunshine of the morning, I reflected on so many very happy days there, not least (as I was on my way to an 1130am mass) of many Saturday morning 1130 services at St Mary's, and of friends of many years who were still Bournestreeters.  While we have left friends behind there, we have also found many new friends in the Catholic Church, both inside and and outside the Ordinariate, and so there was a certain symbolism as I thought of leaving the small but lovely St Mary's in my wake on my journey up to the much larger, utterly spectacular and definitely no less lovely London Oratory.  Dr Robin Ward's phrase of "a larger room" was very much in my thoughts.

Arriving in the empty Oratory was sensational in itself.  On previous visits to the Oratory, it has been a matter of waiting for the 10am mass congregation to leave before joining in with the throng waiting to enter for the 11am Solemn Latin Mass, or of joining the crowds filing in for a big event (such as the thanksgiving mass celebrated by Archbishop Vincent Nichols at the Oratory for the Beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman).  Not this time.

When I arrived, there were but a few people in that most beautiful of buildings, scattered around, each in silent prayer.  I moved to near the front, where I recognised Fr Ray Blake (who has posted extremely interestingly on yesterday on his own blog), and armed with the Oratory's mass book for the Extraordinary Form, I said some suitable preparatory prayers.

Mass itself was wonderful, witnessed by a congregation of around 45-50.  Celebrated at the side chapel of Our Lady of Victories, it was the perfect way to welcome such an eminently gifted, learned and holy man into the priesthood of the Catholic Church.  Some of the Papa Stronsay photos capture members of the Marylebone group preparing to receive the Host from Fr Hunwicke.

After mass, Fr Hunwicke offered first blessings at the main altar rail.  It truly was one of those "tingle down the spine" moments to kneel there, to hear Fr Hunwicke pronounce the blessing in Latin (included a very suitable reference to Blessed John Henry Newman), to kiss those priestly hands and, in thanksgiving and indeed in awe, to contemplate the journey we have made together into the Catholic Church, answering the Gospel call to Unity. 

The author of the Supertradmum blog, who very kindly introduced herself to us after mass, has posted that the congregation included what seemed like a mini-convention of Catholic bloggers.  The links provided from this blogpost prove her correct.   She also wrote (as did Fr Ray Blake) of the beauty of the vestments, and indeed of the entire celebration of mass.  How wonderful that on this quiet Thursday morning, we were able to mark such a special occasion in what truly was the beauty of holiness.

Another Ordinariate blogger, Monsignor Barnes, with his RAF background, would have appreciated the flyover by a Lancaster bomber that went almost directly overhead as we stood outside talking after mass.  While the flyover was related to the nearby opening of the memorial to Bomber Command, it certainly added even more of a sense of a special occasion to our day.

Perhaps one Sunday we shall be able to persuade Fr Colven to invite Fr Hunwicke to say the 0930 Extraordinary Form mass at Spanish Place, and then to stay on to preach at the 1030 Solemn Latin Mass.  As former Bournestreeters know very well, Fr Hunwicke is a marvellous preacher, and we rejoice that we in the Catholic Church now have him with us in full priestly orders, able to celebrate the sacraments for us and to preach the Gospel with his characteristic insight, erudition, holiness, charm and humour.

Introibo ad altare Dei

As previously posted, we are now expectantly looking forward to the coming ordination of Deacon John Hunwicke to the Priesthood at the Oxford Oratory on Wednesday 27th June at 19:00. And with even greater joy and gladness we are able to relay news that Fr Hunwicke's First Mass will be celebrated according to the Extraordinary Form at the London Oratory the following day at 11:30.

Those familiar with Fr Hunwicke during his time in the Church of England, not least the many many devoted fans of his wonderful and informative blog (which has helped more than a few Ordinariate members, both laity and clergy, to find their way to Holy Mother Church), will recall his ardent devotion to the liturgy, particularly in its most traditional forms, and as such it comes as little surprise that he will celebrate his First Mass according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, a form regarded by the Holy Father himself as an 'venerable and ancient usage'.

Yet again, the Ordinariate continues to show itself as fiercely loyal not only to the patrimony of centuries of separated yet worthy practice and belief developed during its members' former days, but also to the inheritance of the wider Latin Church. That which countless generations before have held as sacred continues to be proclaimed by those individuals who, through the generosity and grace of the Holy Father, find themselves as heirs to that age-old tradition.

The wonderful diversity of the Church Catholic, even in the Latin Rite, is proclaimed by Fr Hunwicke celebrating his second Mass in the Ordinary Form of that same Rite, at the Church of the Holy Rood in Oxford. He is scheduled to celebrate that Mass as the Ordinariate Group in Oxford's usual Saturday evening Mass at 18:00 on 30th June, when the setting of the ordinary of the mass will be Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli.

Certainly members of the Marylebone Group (having good reason to be particular fans of Fr Hunwicke) will be in attendance at these wonderful occasions to which all are invited, and reports on this 'blog will follow in due course.  What is about to unfold is something for which Ordinariate members have been praying ardently, and we rejoice that our prayers have been answered.

In these days leading up to this most significant week in the life of the Ordinariate and the Church in England, we renew our commitment of prayer for Fr Hunwicke as he prepares for ordination to Christ's Priesthood, and ask the intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham and Blessed John Henry Newman, but also of S. John Vianney that his fidelity and love for the Sacred Heart of Our Lord may be all the more imprinted on our ordinand too.

The Extraordinary Form in Hong Kong

In today's post, we leave the reports of activities in London W1 behind us and focus instead on a report from a friend of the Marylebone Ordinariate Group (another former member of the congregation of St Mary's Bourne St), who lives in Hong Kong and who this weekend attended the Easter Day Solemn Pontifical High Mass celebrated in the Extraordinary Form by the Bishop of Hong Kong, newly elevated to being a Cardinal. 

Our correspondent has previously reported in from Hong Kong (in a blogpost containing some very fine vintage 1930s footage of Catholic processions there) and from the National Shrine of St Francis in San Francisco.  This was, however, his first glimpse of the Extraordinary Form. 

It does some good to show that we in the Ordinariate are not obsessed with our canonical entity, our little corner of the Catholic world, our Anglican Patrimony.   We are very much part of the wider Catholic Church, and we have an awareness of what is going on around the world in the Catholic Church and of the riches of the various forms of liturgy and music that can be found in the Catholic Church.  We signed up because we wanted to be part of the one Universal Church: and now we are.

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Although usually more at home on Hong Kong island, your correspondent made a special trip over to Kowloon on Easter Day.  Just one road south of Boundary Street (the original limit of British control until the lease of the New Territories was granted in 1898) is St Teresa's Church on Prince Edward Road.  This was the venue for a Solemn Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite celebrated by His Eminence John Cardinal Tong, the Bishop of Hong Kong.  This Easter Day event was organised in thanksgiving upon the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Tridentine Liturgy Community of Hong Kong. 

The Mass was advertised as starting at 3pm.  When I arrived at 2.40pm, the church was already very nearly full.  As this was my first Extraordinary Form Mass, and since my GCSE Latin is almost as rusty as my singing, I very much appreciated both the glossy souvenir booklet containing the text of the entire service (in Latin, English and Chinese) and the opportunity to practise some of the hymns along with the choirs before the service began.  For those unfamiliar with the Mass of the Ages, page numbers from the Mass booklet were helpfully displayed on an electronic board to the left of the sanctuary (and you thought that such things could only be used for bouncing balls and choruses....).

The Cardinal processed in, as I understand is correct, twice.  First of all in choir dress, before his formal vesting, and then again properly attired to offer the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The entire Mass was, of course, in Latin, save that the Gospel was repeated in Cantonese and then in English.  The Homily was delivered first in Cantonese and then in English, although my Cantonese is not up to my being able to be sure that it was exactly the same homily being delivered twice. 

While many in the congregation were members of the Tridentine Liturgy Community, there also seemed to be a large number who were not familiar with the Extraordinary Form at all, but were nonetheless enthusiastic participants.  Events such as this, especially when supported by Cardinal Tong (exactly as similar events were supported by his predecessor Cardinal Zen), will doubtless encourage more people to encounter the traditional liturgy.

The best part of two hours after we began, Cardinal Tong processed out.  It was a thrilling experience to witness this form of the liturgy generating such enthusiasm and interest.

Since writing this report, I am pleased to note that the New Liturgical Movement website has published some excellent photos of the same Mass.  It was a great occasion. 

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To conclude, and to prove that the Extraordinary Form is growing in popularity in Hong Kong, here is the last segment of a youtube recording of Cardinal Zen celebrating at a similar, though smaller, event a couple of years ago.