Look Down in Mercy Upon England thy Dowry

Former Anglo-Catholics now in the communion of the Catholic Church are no strangers to Marian devotion.  What has changed is that this practice, which in our Anglican days was felt to be extreme, and was seen as something indulged in by a minority group, is now conducted in union with the whole Church, as part of the mainstream.

That is in no way to denigrate the devotion to Our Lady which existed, and in many circles still does exist, in the Church of England.  One year ago, the Facebook group page of our former Anglican parish contained a link to exactly the same youtube video as we now include below (you may have noted on this blog a weakness for Frank Patterson's performances of Catholic hymns, for example here, co-incidentally the hymn sung after Mass at St James's last Sunday).  All people have recourse to Our Lady and to the power of her intercession on our behalf, and is that not indeed one of the most wonderful things about her.



Yet in those days, it was something that we knew was not widespread in our ecclesial environment.  Other parishes and other clergy would view the May Procession at Bourne St as something eccentric, as something unfamiliar and exotic.  In all honesty, it must be admitted that some of the congregation were rather bewildered by it too: although there, all credit must be given to those who were, and are, so determined to carry on with this longstanding tradition, something which tells so powerfully, so visually and so audibly of the solid Catholic tradition of devotion to Our Lady.

One of the first large scale public events to occur involving the Ordinariate after our reception into the Catholic Church was the annual Rosary Crusade of Reparation.  If anything showed our new place in the order of things, and the solidity of the welcome given to us in the Catholic Church as Ordinariate members, that early event did, with Monsignor Newton leading the long procession from Westminster Cathedral to the London Oratory.  Photos of that great day can be seen here on our group's Flickr site and here on the Flickr site of the Ordinariate itself.  We are no longer at the edge of things, we are very much part of the core.

Much credit has been given to the Holy Father for his vision in bringing about the Ordinariates now springing up around the world.  We must give thanks not only for this, but also for the intercession of Blessed John Henry Newman and of Our Most Blessed Lady, since Anglicanorum Coetibus has allowed us and well over a thousand like us in England alone, to work together in Unity. 

We have said before that Ordinariate members should take Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman to their hearts, a wise Prince of the Church who showed great favour to Anglicans joining the Catholic Church.  We have also exhausted the airwaves by posting his hymn Full in the Panting Heart of Rome more than a few times.   On this the eve of Mary's month of May, perhaps his prayer for the Conversion of England is the most suitable way to conclude the opening blogpost of this special month.

O BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,
Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother,
look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry"
and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee.
By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world;
and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more.
Plead for us thy children,
whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross,
O sorrowful Mother.
Intercede for our separated brethren,
that with us in the one true fold
they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.
Pray for us all, dear Mother,
that by faith fruitful in good works
we may all deserve to see and praise God,
together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen. 

Rosary Crusade Photos, and Blessed John Henry Newman

Yesterday's Rosary Crusade of Reparation, led by Monsignor Keith Newton, was a great success.  A wonderful work of public witness and devotion.  Those who were there consider that the numbers were truly excellent, even by the usual high standards of this annual event.

There are two photostreams of yesterday on Flickr that we would like to bring to your attention.  The first is on  Marylebone Ordinariate Group's Flickr page.   The second was brought to our attention by Fr Ray Blake, and can found at this link, belonging to Joseph Shaw.

Joseph Shaw's photos show the impressive size of the procession, whereas our photos also show the glorious scenes in the Oratory, as well as one or two "behind the scenes" shots. 

Having looked at the photos and noticed the impact that the event probably had on road users, I feel I can hardly complain that my plans to get to St James's this morning, and then as a back up plan to the Oratory, were totally obstructed by the closure of Hyde Park Corner and the resultant traffic chaos.  Still, in Central London, we are well served with afternoon and even early evening masses, so I shall find a way to fulfil the Sunday obligation.

On today of all days, it is most appropriate that a member of the Ordinariate should indeed make every effort to hear mass.  Although the celebration of Sunday displaces it (and so the day was properly observed yesterday), in our hearts we also note that today would ordinarily be the day when we celebrate Blessed John Henry Newman. 

In honour of this great man, here is one of his much loved hymns.  Praise to the Holiest in the Height is almost the anthem of the Ordinariate, but instead of doing the predictable thing and linking to that, here is Lead Kindly Light.



There is some information on Blessed John Henry Newman in the blog of the Sevenoaks Ordinariate Group.  However, for members of the Ordinariate, Blessed John Henry Newman is not only a source of spiritual inspiration, but also a practical example of someone who left familiar surroundings, following his faith and his convictions, and came into the full communion of the Catholic Church. 

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us and for the Ordinariate of which you are patron.

Go to Westminster Cathedral!

A short post today, directed mainly at encouraging you to join the Rosary Crusade of Reparation that will be heading from Westminster Cathedral to the Brompton Oratory this afternoon.  The procession will be led by Monsignor Keith Newton, so the organisers are particularly hopeful that members of the Ordinariate will participate in today's event.

To encourage you, we have now started a Flickr account for the Marylebone Ordinariate Group, and on it you will find some rather good pictures of the 2008 event, kindly supplied by Eoghain Murphy.  The sky may be greyer today than in 2008, but let us counteract that by ensuring that the procession is well attended and the singing is loud.

Here is a link to the Flickr photostream.

Finally, footage of the Creed being sung before the Rosary Crusade set off in 2010.  Again the weather looks better than today, but let us not be discouraged!



To help you all rehearse for this afternoon :



Immaculate Mary, Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

Our Lady of Victories, Our Lady of the Rosary and the Battle of Lepanto

When it comes to wars, battles, acts of violence of any kind, we must always pray for peace.  We must pray that these things do not happen and that peace will prevail.  However, sometimes, indeed quite often, peace does not reign: in these cases, we must pray for a return to peace through victory.

An example of this was the Battle of Lepanto, a five-hour maritime battle fought off the coast of Western Greece on Sunday 7 October 1571.  The Holy League, an alliance of Catholic states, led by Don John of Austria, defeated the Ottoman Empire and thereby prevented them from gaining free access to the Mediterranean.  At the same time, in far away Rome, processions of crowds praying the rosary in St Peter's Square joined their intercession with the faithful across Europe, following the command of Pope St Pius V that the rosary be said for victory at Lepanto.  The victory would come to be seen to be a turning point in the long struggle between Catholic Europe and the Muslim Middle East.

In his Encyclical Supremi Apostolatus Officio, Pope Leo XIII wrote :

And it was to preserve the memory of this great boon thus granted, that the same Most Holy Pontiff [Pope St Pius V] desired that a feast in honour of Our Lady of Victories should celebrate the anniversary of so memorable a struggle, the feast which Gregory XIII dedicated under the title of ‘The Holy Rosary'.

The feast had been celebrated at first only in churches with an altar dedicated to the rosary and then also in the Kingdom of Spain (a key part of the Holy League), but after further victories over the Ottoman Empire (both falling on Marian feast days), Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the whole church in 1716.

To commemorate the great victory, G K Chesterton wrote his poem Lepanto, the opening of which is set out below :

WHITE founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun

A momentous day indeed, and a date on which we now quite rightly celebrate not only a decisive Victory, but the gift to us that is the rosary.  The collect for today from the Extraordinary Form sums it all up beautifully :

O God, whose only-begotten Son by His life, death and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We shouldn't forget the power of prayer, nor the power of the rosary, nor the value of meditating on its mysteries.  Those in or around London on Saturday are reminded that the Rosary Crusade of Reparation, mentioned also in this post, is being held tomorrow 8 October. 

Our friends at St Mary's Bourne St continue to mark today's feast day too, and we look forward to joining our prayers with theirs as we all meditate upon the mysteries of the rosary, and as we ask for the intercession of Our Most Blessed Mother. 

It seems to be agreed that the only known piece of music written to commemorate the great victory at Lepanto was the Canticum Moises composed by the Rome-based Spaniard Fernando de las Infantas.  Sadly, I couldn't find a linkable recording of this, but I did find a setting by the same composer of a version of the Ave Maria, which is eminently appropriate for a great Marian day such as today. 



UPDATE TO THE ORIGINAL BLOGPOST : A friend from St James's Spanish Place and great supporter of the Ordinariate, Eoghain Murphy, who is also a Knight of Magistral Grace in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the Order of Malta was a member of the Holy League) has pointed out that there is another piece by Fernando de las Infantas that is also worth mentioning today.  This motet, Ecce quam bonum, was written in commemoration of the foundation of Holy League in 1570, and takes as its text Psalm 132.  The choice of text was clearly made in order to celebrate Catholic unity among the nations: "Ecce quam bonum... habitare fratres in unum" (Behold, how good it is... for brethren to dwell in unity).  How very appropriate for today, but also how very appropriate for a blog related to the Ordinariate. 



Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.

Processions and Banners

Last week's Procession of the Blessed Sacrament from Westminster Cathedral to St George's Cathedral, Southwark was a great success.  This great act of public witness was carried out to mark in thanksgiving the first anniversary of the Papal Visit and of the Beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman.  Joanna Bogle reports on the day here, here and finally here, including a link to another report with a couple of excellent photos.  Photos of the procession arriving at St George's can be found here, on the Flickr photostream of the Catholic Diocese of Southwark,

Processions are something that those of us in the Marylebone Ordinariate Group are very used to.  They were, and remain, a regular feature of the liturgical year at our former Anglican parish, St Mary's Bourne Street.   We were delighted to see that St James's, Spanish Place marked this year's Assumption with a Procession of Our Lady of Fatima, a rather grainy picture of which is shown below.

Building on the success of last Saturday's procession through London, we wanted to remind everyone once again that this Saturday there will be a Rosary Crusade of Reparation, with a statue of Our Lady being carried in procession from Westminster Cathedral to Brompton Oratory. The event has been run for the past 26 years, with around 2000 people taking part each year.

Members and friends of the Ordinariate should note that this year the procession will be led by Monsignor Newton, and so the organisers are particularly keen for members and friends of the Ordinariate to participate.

People should gather at Westminster Cathedral by 1.45, with the procession concluding at the Oratory with Prayers, Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Benediction. Proceedings will have finished in good time before the 6pm Mass at the Oratory.

This footage of the 2006 Rosary Crusade of Preparation gives some idea of the scale of this event.  What a wonderful example of public witness.



Then this film from 2010 shows the procession at the conclusion of its journey, coming into a very packed Brompton Oratory. 



In all these photos and video extracts, one thing that springs to our mind is that we think there should be more banners!  Perhaps this is an example of Anglican Patrimony, processions should have more banners.  We know that this was a view shared by several Ordinariate members after last Saturday's wonderful procession, and indeed the Ordinariate Portal posted a Facebook update on this very point.  It would not surprise us if bannermakers started to receive orders from Ordinariate groups across the country - no doubt Ordinariate groups will be quite correct in ordering one banner for processions of Our Lady and general processions, and a different one for processions of the Blessed Sacrament (for which, strictly, only images connected to the Blessed Sacrament should be shown).

Check your diaries for Saturday, and please pray for the success of the event whether you can be there or not.  Please link this blogpost to any of your friends who might be interested in attending on Saturday.