Septuagesima Sunday 1863

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1 SUNDAY. SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY, semidouble. Second prayers A Cunctis. Third prayers Ad libitum. Violet. First Vespers of the feast of the Purification with commemoration of the Sunday. White. [In diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, Plenary Indulgence.]

2 Monday. FEAST OF DEVOTION. THE PURIFICATION OF THE BVM, double of the second class. Creed. Preface of Christmas. White. Plenary Indulgence.

After Compline, Ave Regina until Maundy Thursday exclusively.

3 Tuesday. St Peter's Chair at Rome, greater double (transferred from 18 January). Second prayers of St Paul, Apostle. Third prayers of St Blase. Creed. Preface of the Apostles. White.

4 Wednesday. St Andrew Corsini, Bishop Confessor, double. White.

5 Thursday. St Agatha, Virgin Martyr, double.  Red.

6 Friday. The Prayer of OUR LORD, greater double. Creed. Preface of the Cross. Red. Plenary Indulgence. Abstinence.

7 Saturday. St Romuald, Abbot Confessor, double. White.

At Septuagesima we begin the pre-Lenten season which lasts for the couple of weeks before Ash Wednesday.  On the three Sundays, the priest wears violet, alleluias have disappeared, and the Tract is said instead of the Gradual.  The Septuagesima season was abolished during the Bugnini reforms which led to the New Mass, along with the distinction between Passiontide and the rest of Lent.  Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday in the new rite.  The Septuagesima season was followed by Lent, which was followed by Passiontide earlier. 

The feast of the Purification is the first Feast of Devotion of the year.  It is one of the Holydays suppressed after the Reformation which are too many to be restored as Holydays of Obligations, but which the faithful are encouraged to treat as such if they can

The feast of St Peter's Chair at Rome finally appears after being displaced from 18 January, but St Ignatius is displaced by Septuagesima (a privileged Sunday), moving from 1 to 9 February, and St Titus from 6 to 11 February.  St Peter's Chair and the commemoration of St Paul means that St Blase (Saint Blaise nowadays) is simply commemorated on his feast day: the blessing of throats will still take place at the altar rails after Mass, however.

At this time, the two feasts of St Peter's Chair at Rome and St Peter's Chair at Antioch were kept as separate feasts.  I suppose it isn't a surprise that they should have been merged under Pope St Pius X: the point that it wasn't Rome where the Petrine Ministry was first exercised but (for however brief a period) Antioch has, or could have, all sorts of implications for the ultramontane Vatican I-nostalgic.  We should remember that de-emphasising historical facts to support present shibboleths isn't just something practised post-Vatican II.

On Friday we celebrate the feast of the Prayer of Our Lord.  On the Friday of each -gesima and each Lenten week, ie from now until Passiontide, we will have a feast of Our Lord which focuses us on an aspect of His Passion. These were abolished during the reforms of Pius X.  (The Friday before Good Friday is the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the BVM.)  The calendar of the next few weeks would have felt as strange to somebody in the 1950s as the 1950s calendar would feel to somebody who only knew the New Mass.

(The order of these Friday feasts varies between different hierarchies: in fact, in Rome (and therefore in Scotland, the Scottish Hierarchy not yet having been re-established) those celebrated in England and Wales on the next two Fridays are celebrated instead on the next two Tuesdays.)

The prayer which is the motive of the feast, by the way, is "Father, if this chalice may not pass me by". Let me know if you can't find the prayers and readings for these Fridays and I will include them.

Monday and Friday being feasts of the BVM and of Our Lord respectively, there is a plenary indulgence available for the souls in Purgatory.

At Crook, near Darlington, the parish of Our Lady Immaculate and St Cuthbert, is served by the Rev Thomas W Wilkinson.  On Sundays and Holydays Mass is at 10.00, and Vespers and Benediction are at 6.00.  On all Holydays, Days of Devotion, Feasts of Patrons, and on every Thursday, Benediction is at 7.00 in winter, and 7.30 in summer.  On weekdays Mass is at 8.30, except for Saturday when it is at 8.00, and there are Devotions every evening.  On the first Sunday of every month at 3.00 pm there is a procession of the Rosary Confraternity.

 

Here is a charity well worth supporting. Click on the picture to see it more clearly.

 

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Blogging

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I had a message asking if all I was going to do this year was post a weekly parish newsletter from 1863.  Well, the answer, at the moment, is "probably" or at least it is for the next couple of months.

The 1863 weekly series is possibly a bit more important than you might think and is therefore worth doing as well as I can.  Three Popes: Pius X, Pius XII and Paul VI: changed the calendar and the Mass utterly during the twentieth century, and I think we all ought to know just how radical that change was.  It doesn't write itself, though, and spare minutes are hard to come by; and because, in each set of reforms, the victors wrote the history as they went along, tracing what was done when and the real reasons why (rather than the reasons given out at the time and subsequently), studying this stuff is more of a task than I'd imagined.

But another reason is thinking about what my subject matter would be if it wasn't this.  I stopped reading Mundabor because of the dreary article by article attack on everything the Pope was saying, and on everything that people were saying in the Pope's name.  When you get to the point of realising that it's the style that's objectionable (and how!), and that on some, maybe just some, maybe quite a few, questions of substance he might have a point, it's time to take sides. 

And I'm taking the side of those who choose not to get publicly involved.

So expect a lot about 1863 from me, but not much more at present.

Third Sunday After Epiphany 1863

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25 SUNDAY. Third after Epiphany. The Conversion of St Paul, Apostle, greater double. Second prayers of St Peter, Apostle. Third prayer and Last Gospel of Sunday. Preface of Apostles. White. [In diocese of Liverpool, fourth prayers for the Bishop.] Second Vespers of the feast with commemorations of St Peter, St Polycarp, and of the Sunday.

26 Monday. St Polycarp, Bishop Martyr, double. Red.

27 Tuesday. St John Chrysostom Bishop Confessor Doctor, double. White.

28 Wednesday. St Raymond of Pennafort, Confessor, semidouble. Second prayers of St Agnes, third prayers of the BVM. White.

29 Thursday. St Francis of Sales, Bishop Confessor, double.  White. [In diocese of Clifton second prayers for the Bishop.]

30 Friday. St Martina Virgin Martyr, double. Red. Abstinence.

31 Saturday. St Peter Nolasco, Confessor, double. Second prayers and last Gospel of the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. Red.

The third Sunday after the Epiphany is outranked this year by the feast of the Conversion of St Paul.  As on any feast of St Paul, the second prayers are of St Peter (as vice versa on any feast of St Peter), it means that the prayers proper to the Sunday are said as third prayers, and its Gospel as the Last Gospel. 

Bishop Goss succeeded to the See of Liverpool on 25 January 1856 so fourth prayers are said for him in his diocese (as well as an ad libitum fifth prayer: the number of prayers is always odd).  On Thursday, the diocese of Clifton celebrates Bishop Clifford, though not on the anniversary of his consecration, which will also earn him extra prayers in February: His Lordship the Honourable Doctor William Clifford had been brought up in Rome, the grandson of Cardinal Weld, and would vote against the definition of Papal Infallibility at the Vatican Council, not because of the doctrine, but because of what he saw as the clumsy, Protestant-provoking, drafting of the Decree.

On Saturday, the feast of St Peter Nolasco, the prayers proper to the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany and its Last Gospel are said as second prayers after those of the feast.  There is a fixed number of Sundays in the Missal, and those not used after the Epiphany before Septuagesima are said after the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost until the last Sunday before Advent.  This year, there are only two Sundays fitting that bill, so the fifth and sixth after the Epiphany will be said.  But the prayers and Gospel of the fourth Sunday must be said, so they are recited the day before Septuagesima. 


(After the reforms of St Pius X things become even more complicated, and the Saturday is treated as an anticipated Sunday, I imagine as a result of Pope Pius X's "sanctification" of Sundays but that is the territory of a real expert, The Saint Lawrence Press, not mine. I've no idea what happens in the 1962 Ordo and I can't tell from the online published Ordines, but I bet it's much simpler and tidier than either of the earlier options.)


St Patrick's in Leeds is served by the Revv M O'Donnell and Martin Kelly.  On Sunday, Mass is at 7.00, 8.30, and 10.45, in summer, and at 8.00, 9.00 and 11.00 in winter.  On Holydays, mass is at 8.30 and 10.00. On weekdays Mass is at 8.30.  There is an Exhortation at the first two Sunday Masses, and a Sermon at the third.  Vespers, with a Discourse, is celebrated at 6.30 on Sundays, and at 7.30 on Holydays.  Benediction is on the first Sunday of the month and on all principal festivals.  Confessions are from 6.00 to 10.00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and on the eves of festivals.

Another building appeal: this time from Chester. Click on the image to see it in more detail.

Novena To One's Guardian Angel

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A group of us will be saying this Novena to our guardian angel, starting tomorrow (Wednesday 21 January).  I will be posting a reminder on Twitter every evening so if you want to join in and want a reminder, let me know @themunimentroom.

O holy angel, whom God, through His goodness and His tender regard for my welfare, has charged with the care of my conduct, and who assists me in all my needs and comforts me in all my afflictions, who supports me when I am discouraged and continually obtains for me new favours, I give you profound thanks, and I ask you earnestly, O most amiable protector, to continue your charitable care and defence of me against the malicious attacks of all my enemies.

Keep me away from all occasions of sin.  Obtain for me the grace of listening attentively to your holy inspirations and of faithfully putting them into practice.  In particular, I implore you to obtain for me the favour which I now ask for. (Here mention your petition.)

Protect me in all the temptations and trials of this life, but more especially at the hour of my death; and do not leave me until you have conducted me into the presence of my Creator in the mansions of everlasting happiness. AMEN.
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Second Sunday After Epiphany 18 January 1863

18 SUNDAY. Second after Epiphany THE MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS, double of the second class. Second prayers and last Gospel of the Sunday, third prayers (in Low Mass only) of St Prisca, Virgin and Martyr. Preface of Christmas. White. Second Vespers of the feast with commemoration of St Wolstan, the Sunday, and SS Marius and Companions, Martyrs. Plenary indulgence.

19 Monday. St Wolstan, Bishop Confessor, double. Commemoration of SS Marius, Martha, Audifax and Abacus, Martyrs. White.

20 Tuesday. SS Fabian and Sebastian, Martyrs, double. Red.

21 Wednesday. St Agnes, Virgin Martyr, double. Red.

22 Thursday. SS Vincent and Anastasius, Martyrs, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). Red.

23 Friday. The Espousals of the BVM, greater double. Second prayers of St Erementiara Virgin Martyr. Creed. Preface of the BVM. White. Abstinence. Plenary indulgence.

24 Saturday. St Timothy, Bishop Martyr, double. Red.

Where is the Feast of St Peter's Chair in Rome? Why are we not celebrating it on 18 January? Well, because the feast is a greater double, it has to be celebrated, but as it falls on a feast which is a double of the second class, it has to move to the first available day not already marked as a double or semidouble.  So we won't actually celebrate the feast until 3 February.  There will be a lot of this sort of thing as the year progresses.  (I won't copy out the rules of precedence yet, but if you are really, really, keen, I will at the end of the year.)

I wonder if St Wolstan will be celebrated in Worcester (never mind anywhere else)?  Will the Catholic schools have a celebratory morning and a half holiday?  Will the Archbishop of Birmingham turn up to reverence a great local Saint?

You will remember from last week's notes, that as Thursday's feast is only a semidouble, the options for second and third prayers are prescribed by the rubrics.

Otherwise, this is another quiet week until Friday, when we celebrate the feast of the Espousals of the BVM. This feast disappeared under Pius X and St Raymond of Pennafort was moved into the slot from his original feast day of 28 January.  I suppose there were people who thought that the feast of the Holy Family fits the same bill, but they were wrong.  In the same way as the Circumcision and the Baptism of Our Lord stress His willingness to undergo the same rituals as His people, however unnecessary they were for Him, this feast stresses His being born into a family which has been conformed to God's Law. The Epistle is Proverbs 8:22-35 as on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and the Gospel is Matthew 1:18-21 as on the Vigil of the Nativity.

St Peter's in Gloucester is served by its Missionary Rector, the Very Rev Leonard, Canon Calderbeck. On Sundays, Mass is at 8.30 and 10.30, and on Holydays at 8.00 and 9.15.  Mass on weekdays is at 8.15.  On Sunday evenings at 6.30, there are Night Prayers, a Lecture, and Benediction.  Catechism is at 3.00 pm on Sundays.  On Holydays, there is Rosary and Benediction at 7.30 pm.  A portion of the general cemetery is set apart for Catholic burials.  There is a convent of the Dames of the German Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at 3 Newland-villas on London-road.

All Saints Chapel on New-road in Stourbridge has the Rev Walter Keen as Missionary Rector. Please offer a prayer for the repose of the soul of this holy priest when you read his appeal.

Sunday in the Octave of the Epiphany 1863

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11 SUNDAY. Within the Octave of and first after Epiphany, semidouble. Second prayers of the Octave, third prayers of St Hyginus, Pope and Martyr. White. Vespers of the Sunday with commemoration of the Octave. [Plenary indulgence in diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.]

12 Monday. Of the Octave of the Epiphany, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). White.

13 Tuesday. Octave of the Epiphany, double. White.

14 Wednesday. St Hilary, Bishop Confessor Doctor, double. Second prayers of St Felix martyr. White.

15 Thursday. St Paul the first Hermit, double. Second prayers of St Maur, Abbot. White.

16 Friday. St Marcellus Pope Martyr, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). Red. Abstinence.

17 Saturday. St Anthony, Abbot, double. White.

Before Pius X's reforms, this Sunday was simply the Sunday in the Octave of the Epiphany.  Pius X moved the feast of the Holy Name from next Sunday to last Sunday, and subsequently the Sunday within the Octave was rededicated as the feast of the Holy Family. 

Tuesday's Octave of the Epiphany has also been rededicated as the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, though with no change to the readings, which commemorated His Baptism already.  There is a nice symmetry in the Octave of Christ's birth being marked by his circumcision and the Octave of his Epiphany being marked by his baptism, that has been completely lost by the designation of 1 January as the new date for the feast of the Motherhood of Mary and the abolition of the Octave of the Epiphany, but, as I'm sure the reformers thought, what use is symmetry?

(In a few years time, the diocese of Salford would begin to celebrate as a feast the Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple on this Sunday, adding something further to the sequence of Jesus's early life, but that is yet to come.)

The second and third prayers we have seen during the Octave will still be said after the Octave until Candlemas on all days except those whose feasts are doubles: the first is on Friday.

Otherwise, this is a quiet week.

St David's in Swansea has the Rev Peter Lewis as its Missionary Rector and the Rev Edmund Madden is his curate.  Mass on Sundays at 8.30 and 11.00. Evening service at 6.30 with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.  Mass on weekdays is at 8.00 and 8.30.  There are some 3,000 Catholics in the parish.

In Dowlais, St Iltutus (St Illtyd) is served by the Rev Patrick Millea.  Mass on Sundays is at 9.00 and 11.00. Catechism is at 2.00 pm. Vespers with instruction at 6.00 pm. On Holydays Mass is at 9.00 and Evening Prayers at 7.00. On weekdays Mass is at 8.00. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is on the first Sunday of the month. Rosary on Tuesday and Thursday at 7.00 pm. On Friday Stations of the Cross at 7.00 pm. There are some 1,900 Catholics in the parish.

Week of the Sunday before the Epiphany 1863

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4 SUNDAY. (Vacant.) The Octave of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs, double, commemoration of Octave of St Thomas.  Red. At Vespers, second Vespers of the Octave Day to the little Chapter, thence of the first Vespers of St Thomas, with commemoration of the Holy Innocents, the Vigil of the Epiphany and of St Telesphorus Bishop and Martyr (antiphon Qui odit, versicle Justus).  [Plenary indulgence in diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, and as on all Sundays (so I won't mention it specifically again) in the diocese of Liverpool.]

5 Monday. Vigil. Octave of St Thomas of Canterbury, Bishop Martyr, double. Commemoration of Vigil of the Epiphany and of St Telesphorus. Last Gospel of the Vigil.

6 Tuesday. (Holyday of Obligation) EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD, double of the first class with an Octave during which Preface of the Epiphany is said. White. Second Vespers of the Feast. Plenary Indulgence.

The Indulgence ends

7 Wednesday. Of the Octave of the Epiphany, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). White.

8 Thursday. Of the Octave of the Epiphany, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). White.

9 Friday. Of the Octave of the Epiphany, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). White. Abstinence.

10 Saturday. Of the Octave of the Epiphany, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM (Deus qui salutis), third prayers for the Church (Ecclesiae) or for the Pope (Deus omnium). White.

I said last week that last Sunday and this were different: well, here's how.  The Sunday after the Sunday in the Octave of the Nativity and the feast of the Epiphany is simply vacant.  Not moveable, or temporarily superseded, but vacant.

As it happens, this Sunday is busy enough anyway: it is the Octave of the Holy Innocents, and by Vespers, a commemoration is made of Monday's Vigil of the Epiphany. The Epiphany is celebrated on Tuesday and its Octave, like those of Easter and Whit, imposes its character the weekdays following it, though as the Epiphany's date is fixed, it doesn't displace any feasts (as there are no important feasts during the period). On each day Mass is the same (though the priest can choose whether to say the third prayers for the Pope or for the Church).

The Christmas Indulgence comes to an end after the second Vespers of the Epiphany.

The parish of St Chad on Cheetham-road (not Cheetham Hill Road yet) in Manchester has as its Missionary Rector the Rev William J Sheehan, and the Revv Seth Henry Clarkson and Thomas Hayes also serve the parish.  (A Missionary Rector serves a parish which has no endowments: "A Burden, not a Benefice", as the priests are dependent either on private means or the generosity of others.) On Sundays, Mass is at 8.00, 9.00, 10.00, with High Mass and a sermon at 11.00. Baptisms are at 4.00 pm.  Vespers, Sermon and Benediction are at 6.30.  Mass is said in the Workhouse at 9.00.  On Holydays, Mass is at 7.00, 8.30 and 10.00, and there is a sermon and Benediction at 7.30 pm.  Weekday Masses are at 7.30, and 8.15.  catechetical instruction and Benediction are on Thursday evenings at 7.30.  Confessions on Mondays and Fridays from 4.30 pm to 11.00, on Saturdays from 3.30 pm to 11.00, and on the eve of Holydays from 4.00 pm to 11.00. Churching of women is on Mondays at 8.30 am. On Friday evenings in Advent and Lent there are Stations of the Cross.  There are Confraternities of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Living Rosary, as well as a Purgatorian Society, a branch of the Society of St Vincent of Paul, and a Young Men's Society.  Within the parish there are also two large schools conducted by the Nuns of Notre Dame and the Xaverian Brothers.

I hadn't realised that there was an English College in Bruges.

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Just A Thought ...

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As "Midnight" Mass at Christmas  moves backwards to become earlier and earlier on Christmas Eve (6.00 pm is the earliest I know of this year: any advance ... err ... retreat?) why do we have to have the Easter Vigil so late?  Could we not start moving it backwards too?  Give it a few years and a bit of elastic thinking that seems to fit the current Vatican mood if the subject under discussion has to do with modern marriage habits, we could be back to pre-1955 in no time!
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Sunday in the Octave of the Nativity 1862

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28 SUNDAY. (Vacant.) The HOLY INNOCENTS, Martyrs, double of the second class with an Octave, during which sixth prayers are of the Octave.  Red. At Vespers, second Vespers of Christmas to the little Chapter, thence of St Thomas of Canterbury, Bishop Martyr, commemoration of Holy Innocents and Octave of Christmas only.

29 Monday. (Feast of Devotion.) St THOMAS of Canterbury, Bishop Martyr, double of the first class with an Octave, during which third prayers are of the Octave and the Creed is said. Commemoration of Christmas only today. Red. [In the dioceses of Westminster, Hexham and Newcastle, Liverpool, and Southwark, Plenary Indulgence.  In the dioceses of the North, the Plenary Indulgence is available during the Octave.]

30 Tuesday. Mass of the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, semidouble, with Commemoration of the Octaves of Christmas, St Stephen, the Holy Innocents, and St Thomas. White.

31 Wednesday. St Sylvester, Bishop Confessor, double, with commemoration of the Octaves of Christmas, St Stephen, the Holy Innocents, and St Thomas. White.

1 Thursday. The CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD, double of the second class. The Creed is said today and every day until the Octave of the Epiphany. White. Second Vespers of the Feast, and with commemoration of St Stephen only. Plenary Indulgence from first Vespers until sunset.

2 Friday. Octave of St Stephen, Proto-martyr, double. Commemoration of the Octaves of St Thomas, St John and the Holy Innocents. Red. Abstinence.

3 Saturday. Octave of St John, Apostle and Evangelist, double. Commemoration of the Octaves of St Thomas and the Holy Innocents.  Preface of the Apostles.  White. [In the dioceses of Clifton, St David's and Newport, and of Plymouth, principal Mass of the BVM with Gloria, one prayer, and Creed. White.]

Perhaps the biggest change the twenty-first century Catholic following this series will have to get used to is the fact that Sundays do not usually take precedence over other feasts, but this Sunday and next are rarer yet!  The Sunday between Christmas and New Year's Day is rarely celebrated on Sunday.  It is transferred to 30 December if any of 25-28 December falls on a Sunday, such as this year. (If 29 December is a Sunday, then Sunday's Mass is said and St Thomas is transferred to the thirtieth. If 30 December is a Saturday, the Mass of the Sunday is said and Mass on the Sunday is of St Sylvester with a commemoration of the Sunday (as well as all of the Octaves)).

Apart from the wandering Sunday, this week is relatively straightforward, though there are a lot of commemorations to keep up with.  Of note is the fact that Thursday, New Year's Day, the feast of the Circumcision, is a Holyday of Obligation, one of seven in the year (the Epiphany, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, SS Peter and Paul, The Assumption and Christmas Day are the others).

Most dioceses honour the feast of St Thomas of Canterbury with a Plenary Indulgence, available in the North throughout his Octave.  There is a plenary Indulgence on the feast of the Circumcision applicable to the Holy Souls (as there was on Christmas Day and will be on all feasts of Our Lord and Our Lady). In the diocese of Liverpool, a Plenary Indulgence is available every Sunday.

In the South West of England and in South Wales the first free Saturday of each quarter (January, April, July and October) is celebrated as Our Lady's Saturday, though if there is more than one Mass, the feast of the day will be celebrated:  this week  the Octave of St John.

The Pro-cathedral of the Westminster Archdiocese was St Mary's in Moorfields.  It opened in 1820, and had cost £26,000 to build and furnish.  It served as Pro-Cathedral until 1869, when the episcopal see moved, as the area had become denuded of parishioners.  The church was demolished in 1899, the site being sold for £200,000. (Another church with the same name was built nearby and stands to this day, the only Catholic church in the City of London.)

 

The church was served by the Revv Daniel Gilbert DD, J L Patterson, Thomas Cahill, Leo Pycke, and James Hussey.

 

Mass on Sundays and Holy Days was a 7.00, 8.00, 9.00 and 10.00, with High Mass at 11.00.  Catechism at 3.00 pm, accompanied on the Third Sunday of the month by Benediction.  Baptisms at 3.00 pm (and on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11.00 am).  Vespers, Sermon and Benediction at 7.00 pm. On weekdays, Mass at 7.30, 8.00 and 10.00. On Thursday, Rosary, Sermon and Benediction at 8.00, and on other weekdays Rosary and Night Prayers at 8.00.  First Friday of each month Sermon and Benediction in honour of the Sacred Heart.  Second Friday of each month the Way of the Cross.  Confessions daily except Monday and Tuesday from 8.00 to 11.00 am, and on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 6.00 pm.  Confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacred Heart, Holy Angels for children, and Christian Doctrine.  Socieities: Holy Trinity Total Abstinence Society, Benevolent Society of the Relief of the Aged and Infirm Poor, and the Night refuge for Homeless Women of Good Character.

 

The priests also served Newgate Prison; the Old Bailey; the Debtors' Prison, Lower Whitecross St; St Bartholomew's Hospital, Smithfield; Metropolitan Free Hospital, Devonshire Sq, Bishopsgate; Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Blomfield St.

 

The Cardinal Archbishop, the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Nicholas Wiseman, had his residence at 8 York Place, Portman Square.  When in town he was at home every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 11.00 and 2.00, Tuesday being especially devoted to the clergy.  The Vicar-general, the Very Rev Dr Hearn would be in attendance at Archbishop's House on Tuesdays from 12.00 to 2.00.

 

 



Fourth Sunday of Advent 1862

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21 Sunday, 4th of Advent, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM, third prayers for the Church or Pope. Violet. First Vespers of St Thomas the Apostle with commemoration of Sunday. Antiphon O Oriens. Red.

22 Monday, St Thomas the Apostle, double of second class (transferred from yesterday). Red.

23 Tuesday, Feria. Violet.

24 Wednesday, Vigil of the Nativity. Violet. FAST.

The Indulgence begins.

25 Thursday, THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, double of the first class with an Octave, during which second prayers are of the Octave, the Creed is recited in each Mass and the Preface of Christmas is said.  Three Masses, in the second of which there is a commemoration of St Anastasia.  The third Mass has as the last Gospel the Gospel of the feast of the Epiphany.  Vespers are Second Vespers of the feast, with commemoration of St Stephen. Plenary Indulgence.

26 Friday, (Feast of Devotion) St STEPHEN, Proto-Martyr, double of second class with an Octave during which fourth prayers are of the Octave. Red. Abstinence.

27 Saturday, (Feast of Devotion) St JOHN, Apostle and Evangelist, double of second class with an Octave during which fifth prayers are of the Octave. White.

The preparation for Christmas is completed by the fourth Sunday, which displaces the feast of St Thomas the Apostle to Monday (which should be a feria). Tuesday is another feria (so priests will say a votive Mass), and on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, there is a mass for the Vigil of the Nativity.  This is a very simple Mass, with only one prayer.  The Nativity is a feast on whose Vigil we are obliged to fast, but as it is a Wednesday in Advent, it is a day of fasting, anyway.

The Indulgence begins: there are eight periods in the year during which plenary indulgences can be obtained as long as certain conditions are met.  This was a way of encouraging people to receive Holy Communion more than once a year.  The conditions always include Confession and Holy Communion, but the other conditions fall into three categories according to the grant of the Indulgence.  The Christmas indulgence, which lasts until the Epiphany is one of four granted by Pope Benedict XIV (Fr Hunwicke's ghostly counsellor): Christmas, Easter, the Assumption and St Michael: whose third condition is to visit a Church or Chapel in which Mass is celebrated to pray for the peace of God's Church; and fourth, to assist the poor with alms, or to attend catechism or sermons as often as possible, or to assist the sick or those who are near to their end. (The fourth condition doesn't have to be met on the same day as Communion is received, but Communion must be received by somebody disposed to fulfil the condition if the Indulgence is to be obtained.)

Christmas Day is the only day on which priests can say three Masses: there are three proper Masses, of midnight, of dawn and of daytime. (The concession for All Souls' Day dates from 1915.)  In a parish or foundation with many priests, they can be said by each priest one after the other, with special rubrics associated with eg purification of the chalice, or they can be said at the appropriate times.  St Anastasia, whose feast is today, is commemorated at the Dawn mass.  As the Gospel for the daytime Mass is the first part of the first chapter of St John's Gospel, which is the default Last Gospel, the Last Gospel at this Mass is the Gospel of the Epiphany.

Christmas has its own Octave, but unlike the Octaves of the Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost, which are (figuratively) weeks on which the principal feast is relived on each day, the Christmas Octave has various major feasts each of which carries its own Octave. These would all have been Holydays prior to the Reformation and are marked as Feasts of devotion so that those who are able should treat them as such.  As they are Octaves, they are commemorated each day: this means that the nativity will be commemorated every day until 1 January, St Stephen until 2 January, etc.  Already by Saturday this means that there are five sets of prayers, and next week will be busier still!

Separate from the period of indulgence, there is a plenary indulgence available on Christmas Day itself applicable to the Holy Souls to all who confess, receive Communion, and pray for the Pope's intentions.

Remember that Friday is still a day of Abstinence, and that means no eggs as well as no meat.  Next year we will see the only occasion on which the rule of Friday abstinence is abrogated: when Christmas Day fall on a Friday.  (Remember that I'm talking about the immemorial customs of the Church here, not about the Catholic Church in England and Wales in 2014.)

St Mary Magdalene, Mortlake is served by the Missionary Rector, Rev J G Wenham, and the Rev Sylvester Donnelly. Mass on Sundays is at 8.00 and 10.30, on weekdays at 7.30 and 8.00.  Vespers, Catechism and Benediction on Sundays at 6.30.  On Thursdays and Feasts of Devotion, Benediction at 7.30 pm.  Exposition on Sunday in the Octave of the Epiphany, on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, and the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.  There is a Catholic Boarding School for Young Gentlemen in the parish, as well as a cemetery. (Click on the image to view the school's prospectus if it isn't clear otherwise.)

 

 

Though there is no information about Mortlake Cemetery, the two public Catholic cemeteries in London, St Mary's Kensal-green and St Patrick's at Leyton, have chaplains in attendance for interments between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm every day.  Single interments, all fees included, are a guinea (£1.05) for adults, and 15/- (75p) for children under 10.

 

(I offered a few weeks ago to include such details as are available for any parish which was open in 1862 or 1863: let me know if there's one you are interested in.)

Third Sunday of Advent 1862

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14 SUNDAY, 3rd Sunday of Advent, semidouble. Violet. Vespers of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception (the First Vespers of the Feast are used) with commemoration of Sunday. White. [In diocese of Hexham and Newcastle Plenary Indulgence.]

15 Monday, The Octave of the Immaculate Conception, double. White.

16 Tuesday, St Eusebius, Bishop Martyr, semidouble. Second prayers of 3rd Sunday of Advent, third prayers of the BVM. Red.

17 Ember-Wednesday, feria. Second prayers for the dead (Fidelium), third prayers of the BVM. Violet. FAST.

18 Thursday, The Expectation of the BVM, greater double. Creed. Preface of the BVM. White. Plenary Indulgence.

19 Ember-Friday, feria. Second prayers for the dead (Fidelium), third prayers of the BVM. Violet. FAST.

20 Ember-Saturday, Vigil of St Thomas Apostle. Mass of Ember-day. Second prayers of Vigil, third prayers of the BVM. Violet. FAST.

It is instructive that as we go into the third Sunday of Lent there is no mention of rose coloured vestments, of flowers being allowed on the altar, or any other of the small signs which would be indicated rubrically a century later. This is because the ornate Italianate style is still a novelty, indeed a dangerous novelty in the eyes of many, and most priests would still be suspicious of it.

This is an Ember Week, one of four weeks in the year where the faithful fast and implore blessings of God in the new season.  Fasting should also prepare by penance those who are about to be ordained, because ordinations would normally take place on the Ember Days.  Our fasting will help us pray more reverently for good priests.

We celebrate the Octave of the Immaculate Conception from first Vespers on Sunday until the end of Monday: this means that there are liturgical prayers to Our Lady every day this week, and two feasts: the Octave, and, on Thursday, a week before the feast of Christ's birth, we celebrate the Expectation of the BVM. 

This is one of the most affecting and human feasts of the year.  It is hard to imagine a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, who cannot sympathise with the discomfort of a mother a week away from giving birth, especially a mother who is journeying and who has nothing to sustain her but the love of her husband and the promise made to her by an archangel nearly nine months previously. The Mass is Rorate, except for the last verse of the Gradual, which is "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, Jesus Christ, Alleluia".

This feast is celebrated pretty well everywhere, but an American visitor to England and Wales might have felt the lack of Wednesday's feast of St Lazarus Born Again to Life, which was particular (in the English-speaking world at least) to the United States.  I can't help feeling that the American dioceses are on to something here, much as the diocese of Salford's celebration of the feast of the Good Thief struck me as being particularly apposite.

Finally, on Saturday, we will celebrate the Vigil of St Thomas the Apostle (though for the third Sunday in a row the Sunday of Advent displaces the feast itself).  Because it is an Ember-day, the Vigil is only commemorated.  There are  five collects, lessons and graduals (and a hymn) which are proper to this Ember-Saturday, and precede the prayers listed above.

Ember Days are ancient: they date from the time of (if not personally from) Pope Callistus (217-223) and were probably instituted as Christian alternatives to the seasonal agricultural festivals celebrated by pagans. For some centuries they were observed only in Rome, but came to England with St Augustine, and were then taken by Anglo-Saxon missionaries to Germany and Gaul in the eighth and ninth centuries, from where they spread to Spain only in the tenth and eleventh centuries: they never were adopted in the East.  The celebration of all of the propers of Ember-Saturday seems to have become optional during the reforms of either Pius XII or John XXIII.

According to Bugnini: "The Ember Days are to be celebrated at times and on days to be determined by the episcopal conferences, provided that that they are in harmony with the seasons and thus truly correspond to the purposes for which they are established." Pope Paul VI insisted that prayers for vocations to the priesthood should be part of the replacement.  It is sad that 1750 years of tradition could have been tossed aside, unnoticed, such that few Catholics under the age of sixty will have any idea what the term "Ember Days" refers to.  I have no idea when the "not Ember Days" are celebrated in England and Wales: surely nobody was so cloth-earedly aliturgically illiterate as to offer us Family Fast Days in their place? That CAFOD rather than vocations should become their object? Surely, surely, not!

The Immaculate Conception, Hagley Road, Edgbaston, in Birmingham, is served by the Fathers of the Oratory of St Philip Neri.  The Very Rev John Henry Newman DD is Father Superior, and the Rev Fathers Ambrose St John, H Austin Mills, Henry Bittleston, Edward Caswall and William Payne Neville serve as priests.  Masses on Sunday are at 7.00, 8.00, 9.00, and 10.00, with High Mass at 11.00. Benediction is celebrated twice, at 4.00 and 8.00 pm. I imagine they used rose-coloured vestments on the Third Sunday.

Bishops, Priests, Wigs, Powder

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I came across a picture of Bishop Challoner with a full wig recently which I tweeted, never before having seen a picture of a Catholic bishop wearing a wig and a mitre.

A book on the practice of Catholicism in London in 1805 (written in 1905) gives a bit more information:

"The law of shaving was in force, but before the French Revolution the custom was so common that it was not particularly distinctive of the clergy; and when, later on, it became fashionable to let whiskers grow, the priests frequently wore what was called the "clerical inch", which equally prevented any distinctive appearance of their ecclesiastical state. This was in order to save them from being insulted in the streets-no doubt a useful precaution in the eighteenth century, but one which rapidly became unnecessary in the nineteenth. It is curious to note that Dr Milner always dressed in a brown coat and was not recognised as a priest, while the first to adopt a stricter attitude was Rev Joseph Berington, who was a well-known writer of doubtful orthodoxy: he began to dress regularly in black early in the nineteenth century, and was blamed by many for so doing. I need not say that the Roman collar was unknown till some thirty years later. Wigs were getting less common a century ago, though the older clergy still wore them. Dr Douglass is always represented with one of a close-fitting type, quite different from that which Dr Chailoner used to wear; but Dr Poynter never wore a wig, nor did Dr Milner. They would have powdered their hair instead, and this custom of powdering was strictly observed by all those who ministered at the altar almost till Wiseman's time. Dr Weathers, Bishop Auxiliary to Cardinal Manning, who was ordained priest in 1838, is reported to have been the first to discard the custom of powdering before singing Mass."
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Second Sunday Of Advent 1862

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7 SUNDAY, Second of Advent, semidouble. Second prayers of the BVM. Third prayers for the Church or Pope.  Violet. First Vespers of the Immaculate Conception with commemoration of the second Sunday of Advent.  White. [In diocese of Hexham and Newcastle Plenary Indulgence.] [In dioceses of Liverpool and Salford collection for Church-building Fund.]

8 Monday, (Festival of devotion) THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BVM Patron of the Diocese, double of the first class (except in Beverley, Plymouth, Salford  and Shrewsbury where not the Patron so double of the second class) with an Octave, during which commemoration of the Octave, Creed, and Preface of the BVM. White. Plenary Indulgence [and in dioceses of Liverpool, St David's and Newport, and Southwark, throughout the Octave].

9 Tuesday, St Ambrose, Bishop Confessor Doctor, double (transferred from 7 December).  White.

10 Wednesday, Of the Octave, semidouble. Second prayer of the feria, third prayer of St Melchiades, Pope Martyr. White. FAST.

11 Thursday, St Damasus, Bishop Confessor, semidouble.  White.

12 Friday, Of the Octave, semidouble. Second prayer of the feria, third prayer of the Holy Ghost. White. FAST.

13 Saturday, St Lucy, Virgin Martyr. double. Red.

The second week of Advent begins in a straightforward enough way.  There are collections in Liverpool and Salford for new churches, and in Hexham and Newcastle there is a plenary indulgence.

(We will look at plenary indulgences in a separate posting soon: it shouldn't surprise anyone to learn that, as so often, things aren't as simple as they are today.)

Monday's feast of the Immaculate Conception begins at Sunday Vespers.  It is a feast of devotion, so Catholics are encouraged to treat it as though it were a Holyday, as it had been in England from the thirteenth century until the Reformation.  This is a major feast with an Octave throughout England and Wales and there is a plenary indulgence available everywhere today (and, in three of the dioceses who have the BVM as a patron, throughout the Octave).  In fact, there are only four dioceses of which Our Lady is not Patron, but it would be hard to tell the difference between observance of today's feast in those dioceses and elsewhere.

On Tuesday, St Ambrose is celebrated.  He has been displaced by the fact that Sunday was privileged (Sundays in Advent and Lent must be celebrated as Sundays), and as 8 December is the Immaculate Conception, he had to move to the next available day, luckily a feria, so he isn't displacing any other saint. Both the Advent prayers from Sunday and the prayers of the Octave will be said today: the same goes for Thursday's feast of St Damasus, and Saturday's of St Lucy: we will celebrate the feast, and we will celebrate the Octave, all the time remembering that this is Advent.

Even on the two ferias, both of which are fast days, we celebrate the Octave and keep Advent. 

This week's parish is St Augustine in Ramsgate.  It is served by the Revv FF Wilfrid Alcock, Cuthbert Downey, Bede Whiteside, Suithbert Palmer and Isidore Pattlé.  On Sundays and Holydays, Mass is celebrated at 8.00 and 10.30.  Vespers, with Catechism and Benediction, is at 3.00.  Weekday Masses are at 7.15, 8.00 and 8.30.  Benediction is at 4.00 on Thursdays.

Ramsgate also serves the church of Ss Augustine and Gregory in Margate where there is no resident priest.  There is only one Mass on Sundays at 11.00 for most of the year, with an additional Mass at 8.00 in the summer.  At 4.00 pm on Sundays and Holydays, there is Catechism and Benediction.  Mass on weekdays is at 8.00.

First Sunday Of Advent 1862

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Here is this week's calendar

30 SUNDAY. First Sunday of Advent. 2nd prayers of the BVM. 3rd prayers for the Church or Pope. Violet. Vespers: first of the feast of St Andrew with commemoration of the Sunday. Red. After Vespers Alma Redemptoris. [In dioceses of North of England, Collection.]

1 FEAST OF DEVOTION Monday. St ANDREW, Apostle, double of 2nd class (yesterday). Creed, Preface of the Apostles. Red.

2 Tuesday. St Bibiana, Virgin Martyr, semidouble. 3rd prayers of the BVM. Red.

3 Wednesday. St Francis Xavier, Confessor, double. White. FAST.

4 Thursday. St Peter Chrysologus, Bishop Confessor Doctor, double. Creed. White.

5 Friday. St Birinus, Bishop Confessor, double. 3rd prayers of St Sabbas, Apostle. White. Fast.

6 Saturday. St Nicholas, Bishop Confessor, double.  White.

The Sundays of Advent, like the Sundays of Lent, govern the season and give it its character.  They are privileged Sundays, and no other feast is commemorated on them: St Andrew is transferred to Monday.  The first prayers are proper to the first Sunday, but the second and third will be the second and third said on each of the Sundays of Advent: Deus qui, the second prayer is of the BVM; Ecclesiae tuae, the third, is said for the Pope or the universal Church.  (The second postcommunion is familiar to all of us: "Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection." Everything is connected.)

There is a collection today in dioceses of the North of England, the object of which will be announced by each Bishop.  We will see this announcement at various points during the year, corresponding to today's second collections, though there are far fewer of them (at least fewer than in my parish). 

On ferias in Advent, the Mass of the preceding Sunday is said, and the second prayers will be of the BVM on feasts which do not have their own propers.  Advent is no longer a season in which Our Lady features particularly in the Church's devotional life, but 150 years ago she was a constant presence: we journeyed with her towards Bethlehem.

Vespers on Sunday is the first Vespers of the feast of St Andrew.  He has been separated from his Vigil by the Sunday, but his feast begins after dark on Sunday and continues through Monday.  This is a Feast of Devotion: one which would have been a Holyday if the unpleasantness of the sixteenth century hadn't irrevocably changed England and Wales.  The faithful are enjoined to celebrate it as though it were a Holyday if they can.

On Tuesday, we celebrate St Bibiana: the first prayer will be hers, the second, that of Sunday, the third, that of the BVM.

On Wednesday, apart from celebrating St Francis Xavier, we fast; we fast on all Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent: this means only one meal, and no more than two collations, the sum of which should not be as great as the one meal.  We abstain, of course, on Friday, as well.

On Thursday, apart from St Peter Chrysologus, as well as the BVM, we commemorate the feast of St Barbara.

On Friday, St Birinus has no propers of his own, so the second prayers will be of the BVM, with St Sabbas still being commemorated in third prayers. (Am I remembering correctly that a few years ago we decided that St Birinus might be a good fit as patron for anybody called Brian?)  By the end of the 1930s, St Birinus had been reduced to a commemoration (and only in the dioceses of Birmingham and Portsmouth where he still clings on).

Salford Cathedral can be the first Cathedral whose schedule we shall look at.  Apart from the Right Rev the Lord Bishop, the Very Rev Peter Canon Benoit, and the Revv Richard Brindle, Charles J Gadd and Henry Beswick serve the Cathedral and its parish.  Mass on Sundays is at 8.00, 9.00 and 10.00, with High Mass at 11.00.  Devotions of the Scapular are at 3.00.  Baptisms are at 4.00. Vespers, with a sermon and Benediction are at 6.30.  On Holydays, Mass is at 5.00, 7.30 and 8.30, with High Mass at 10.00.  (My guess is that 5.00 is probably as early as it is licit to say Mass in England and Wales.)  Vespers and Benediction are at 7.30.  On weekdays Mass is at 7.30 and 8.30. 

On Thursday evening at 7.45 there is Rosary, Benediction and Catechism.  On the morning of the first Wednesday Tierce and High Mass are sung by the Chapter at 10.30. On the first Friday each month, and on every Friday in Lent, Stations of the Cross and Benediction are at 8.00 pm. Confessions are daily from 7.30 to 9.00 in the morning, on Mondays from 5.00 pm, on Thursdays from 7.00 pm, and on Saturdays from 3.30pm until 10.00.  During the Indulgences (set periods during the year when plenary indulgences are available) Confessions take place each evening (except Tuesday and Friday) from 5.00 until 10.00 (this is, of course, in addition to normal morning confessions).
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Vespers And Diocesan Difference in 1863

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One of the things shown up by the fact that Sunday Vespers was a commonplace of Catholic parish life in the 1860s is just how different from each other Catholic dioceses were.  I don't want to delve too deeply into the Office, partly because it is too big a subject for me, partly because I want to relate what parish life looked like to lay people, but one aspect of Sunday Vespers is worth noting.

Pre-Pius X, Sunday Vespers regularly included the Suffrages: special prayers of intercession, and these would be typically, of the Cross, the BVM, the Patron and for Peace.

You would have thought that "the Patron" was easy to identify: St George for England, St David for Wales.  But not so: as far as Hexham and Newcastle was concerned, St George was not the patron; St Cuthbert was, and the prayer to St George was not said.  In Northampton and Plymouth, their patrons-St Thomas of Canterbury and St Boniface respectively-were addressed before St George.

This is only a few years after the reestablishment of the Hierarchy: by 1890, a generation later, the diocese of Salford had established additional feasts (ie additional to those of its diocesan patrons and additional to those particular to England and Wales) as follows:

Sunday within the Octave of Epiphany: Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple
13 February: St Kentigern
17 February: The Flight of OLJC into Egypt
26 March: The Good Thief
26 April: Our Lady of Good Counsel
12 May: The Humility of the BVM
15 May: Our Lady of Grace
29 June: Commemoration of all the Holy Apostles
15 July: The Division of the Apostles

Salford is the only diocese I've looked into for this purpose and 1890 is long after what I am aiming for in this series, but I'm sure other dioceses had developed their own calendars too (no doubt also celebrating some of the feasts in the Salford list) and that life in England and Wales was a mosaic of difference. 
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XXIV And Last Sunday After Pentecost 1862

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Let's start our 1862/3 Catholic year today, with the coming week's Ordo for the dioceses of England and Wales, the last week of 1861/62.  (The Scottish hierarchy not yet having been restored, the supplements to the calendar used in the diocese of Rome are used there (as well as "in Australia and other places" as one missal puts it), and there are no particular diocesan feasts, as there are no dioceses, but simply districts administered by Vicars Apostolic.)

23 SUNDAY. 24th and last after Pentecost. St Clement, Pope Martyr, double.  2nd prayers and Last Gospel of Sunday.  3rd prayers of St Felicity, Martyr. Red. Vespers: 2nd of St Clement to the little Chapter, thence forward of tomorrow's feast of St John of the Cross (in the hymn Meruit supremos); commemoration of St Clement and of St Chyrsogonous, martyr. White.

24 Monday. St John of the Cross, Confessor, double. 2nd prayers of St Chrysogonous, Martyr. White.

25 Tuesday. St Catherine, Virgin Martyr, double. Red.

26 Wednesday. St Felix of Valois, Confessor, double. 2nd prayers of St Peter of Alexandria, Bishop, Martyr. White.

27 Thursday. St Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop, Confessor, double.  White.

28 Friday. Feria. 2nd prayers for the Dead (Fidelium). 3rd prayers A cunctis. Green. Abstinence. [In the diocese of Nottingham, St Wencelaus, Martyr, semidouble (transferred from 28 September). 2nd prayers A cunctis. 3rd prayers free choice of priest. Red.]

29 Saturday. Vigil of feast of St Andrew. 2nd prayers of St Saturninus, Martyr. 3rd prayers Concede. Violet. [In the diocese of Nottingham, add 4th prayers for the Dead (Fidelium) and 5th prayers free choice of priest.]

The last week of the year is relatively straightforward. The feast of St Clement outranks the last Sunday after Pentecost and the feast of St Felicity, so takes priority, though the prayers proper to all three are, of course, said.  Sunday Vespers, a normal part of life in most parishes, starts off as Vespers of the feast of St Clement but changes half way through to ensure that Monday's feast of St John of the Cross is suitably honoured, though St Clement, and Monday's secondary feast are also commemorated. The week progresses quietly except that on Friday, the diocese of Nottingham finally has a free day to celebrate St Wenceslaus, which should have been celebrated on 28 September. In fact 28 September fell on a Sunday and was the feast of the Seven Sorrows of the BVM, so St Wenceslaus had to be transferred to 7 October in most dioceses, but Nottingham celebrated the feast of the Finding of St Stephen Protomartyr, which had been transferred from 2 September, on which date in Nottingham the feast of St Aidan was celebrated, itself transferred from 31 August, and which was marked in Nottingham as the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral, a double of the first class with an Octave.

Friday being a feria, priests were at liberty to offer any votive Mass they might choose, but the second and third prayers (ie each of the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion) were to be taken from "Prayers of the Time": here we find A cunctis, to pray for the Church and the Pope, Fidelium, to pray for the dead.  At some point during the year we will explore the plan for their use. (Two of these are hidden in my post-Summorum Pontificum Baronius 1962 hand missal between the 24th Sunday after Pentecost and the Gallican Prefaces, while the rest are nowhere. Equally surprising (to me) is that the propers for Vespers for every Sunday is included.)

The prayers of free choice would be taken from the section of the Missal called "Various Prayers" which range from begging the prayers of the Saints, through prayers in time of famine, of earthquake or of storm, to prayers for our enemies, amongst many more (there are 30 in my 1895 missal, and 33 in 1939: we might at some point do an interesting compare and contrast on what 19th and 20th century missalists thought the intention associated with these prayers was).  Friday is also a day of abstinence from meat (and this includes eggs: meat's way of making more meat).

At St Mary Magdalene in Brighton, the Rev George Oldham said Low Mass at 8.30 on Sundays, and had High Mass at 11.  There was Catechism and Benediction at 3.00 pm, and Devotions, Sermon and Benediction at 7.00.  Mass was said at 8.00 am on weekdays, and there was Benediction at 7.00 pm on Thursdays.  Confessions were on Wednesdays from 12.00 to 1.00, and Thursdays and Saturdays from 7.00 to 9.00 pm.

(Please let me know if there is a parish whose schedule you would be interested in, though bear in mind that the amount of detail will be that which the contemporary PP could be bothered to supply to Messrs Burns and Lambert.)
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The Catholic Parish In 1863

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So what was parish life like, a hundred and fifty years ago?  Closer, I guess, to the experience of the pre-Reformation parish than to today's.  Was it Professor Scarisbrick who reviewed The Stripping of the Altars in The Spectator when it first came out, and, in a rave review, decided that the religion of early modern Catholics was a long way away from ours, with their emphasis on the four last things, the sufferings of those in Purgatory, and the inevitability for many of us of Hell?

Whoever it was, it shows how Catholicism changed in the twentieth century more than demonstrating that the reigns of Henry VII and VIII as some sort of heterodox.  Certainly as we begin to get into the rhythm of parish life, we will see that the awareness of sin and the need for Confession; the need for education and evangelisation; and the place of devotion: are three pillars of the way we all should live.

Let's look at the parish of The Sacred Heart and St Helen in Brentwood.  there are two priests: the Rev John Kyne is the Missionary Rector, and he is supported by the Rev Remigius Debbaudt.  (I wonder sometimes whether J K Rowling had access to a list of priests.)  You will have noted that the priests are Reverend, rather than Father: this is part of the faultline I described last time between the way that English Catholicism had evolved before emancipation and the bold, expressive, Italianate, self-confidence which was beginning to displace it..

They had two Masses each Sunday morning, and had Vespers and Benediction (with a sermon) on Sunday afternoon.  Sunday Vespers is very commonplace in parishes in England and Wales, just as Evensong was for the Anglicans, but only on Sundays.  On Holydays, there would only be a Benediction service in the evening, as there also would be each Thursday evening (preceded in Lent and Advent by Stations of the Cross).  There could be no Mass in the evening, so Vespers and Benediction allowed for further Eucharistic adoration.

In Brentwood, there aren't any of the Confraternities (which have the same role in the parish as the pre-reformation Guilds) which we shall see in other parishes around the country but there are devotions of the Sacred Heart and Benediction after morning Mass on the first Friday, devotions of the Bona Mors on the first Thursday in the afternoon, and devotions to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the conversion of sinners on the third Thursday.

Most importantly, there is Confession.  In Brentwood it is "only" available for an hour and a half each morning and for three hours on Saturday evening: we will see other parishes in which far more hours are devoted to this sacrament.

Although education was not yet compulsory in England and Wales, the vast majority - more than 90% - of children attended some form of schooling, and the imperative need for Catholic children to receive this schooling in a Catholic education system and not from the CofE was paramount in the mind of the Church. (I muse on what the result of a comparative study of a CofE RE syllabus in 1863 and a Catholic RE syllabus in 2014 might be, but somebody else can do that.)  Anywhere where there were enough Catholic children, schools were to be built and maintained, and teachers paid.  We will see special collection days instituted in each diocese for this noble purpose, and the upper- and middle-classes were expected to pay out serious contributions for this purpose.  In particular, parishes which contained non-Catholic residential institutions - workhouses, orphanages, prisons - were expected to look particularly after the religious lives of those who were inmates.

As important was the construction of new churches for the rising number of Catholics.  Perhaps the simple need to build was more important than the need to build well, or build tastefully; perhaps it was not an age in which taste was given much priority against the need to provide somewhere for Catholics to worship, but this was not a period of great architectural merit.

We will regularly see Sunday afternoon services including a lecture or discourse.  Education and evangelisation were not limited to schoolchildren, or to those who weren't churchgoers.  These are listed separately from Sermons, while some form of homily could be expected at Sunday Mass at least.

Finally, the calendar: the year had its own rhythm and Catholics continued to follow it.  Many of the mediaeval feasts which had been abolished during the Reformation were still marked as Days of Devotion, which those Catholics who could would treat as though they were still Holydays.  Fasting and abstinence were taken seriously at their due time, and national and diocesan feasts were marked by the people in whose territory the feasts were celebrated.  Some have disappeared without trace: this Friday, every parish in England and Wales should be celebrating the feast of the Translation of St Erconwald, a great English Bishop and Confessor who seems to have been completely set aside after the reforms of Pope St Pius X (I will be very happy to be corrected).

The parish wasn't yet a place in which Catholicism could be displayed totemically, and was far from being a place for like-minded people to congregate on a Sunday to enjoy each other's company in a warm haze of good intentions: it was a workshop in which priests toiled to make available to poor sinners the opportunities they needed to conform their lives to God's will.  The comparison doesn't necessarily flatter the typical way of things today.
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