Oxford Events

Merton Priests' Training Conference

2008-08-07T18:10:00.002+01:00

I couldn't attend this myself because, as I explain below, I was at the St Catherine's Trust Summer School, but there are lots of pictures, and commentary, on the New Liturgical Movement blog, here, here and here. A lot more can be found on Fr Tim Finigan's blog here. Here's one of Fr Finigan's photos.

Mass at Mapledurham House

2008-08-07T12:50:00.008+01:00

This took place on Saturday 31st May, but so much has been happening since then it is only now that I am getting round to posting the pictures.

It was a glorious day, the chapel was full of Catholic families from Oxford, Reading, Abingdon, and points in between, and, the feast being the Queenship of Our Lady, the celebrant, Fr John Saward of SS Gregory and Augustine, preached beutifully on Our Lady. The Oxford Gregorian Chant Society provided the music, under the direction of our professional coach, Mr Adrian Taylor. Afterwards the schola and a number of others had lunch in a nearby pub, the Pack Saddle, and then returned with the general public for a tour of this fascinating house, where Catholicism was preserved throughout penal times.

The chapel itself is an important example of the chapels which served as de facto parish churches in the 18 and 19th Centuries. Surprisingly, formal parishes were not established in England until after the First World War. Mapledurham's secret attic chapel served the local population until the Catholic Relief Act of 1791 made it possible to build a publicly recognised chapel, albeit with neither a steeple nor a bell - it was consecrated in 1797. Unlike the chapel in the nearby Catholic houses of Milton Manor, there is a public entrance to the chapel from the outside, as well as a door from the main house for the family. Nevertheless it discreetly blends in with the rest of the house. As it happens the Anglican parish church is only a hundred yards from this side of the house.

I very much hope to establish a sung Traditional Mass at Mapledurham as at least an annual event. The chapels of the Recusant Catholic houses of the Oxford area are of such significance for the preservation of the Faith, and above all the Traditional Mass, from the 16th Century right into the 20th, it is appropriate for us not only to pay our respects to them but to assist, in a small way, with their upkeep, which is often a headache for the extraordinarily dedicated families who live in them.

St Catherine's Trust Summer School 2008

2008-08-06T13:59:00.006+01:00

As usual a number of people from the Oxford Traditional community were involved in the St Catherine's Trust Summer School, including me! It was our biggest ever Summer School, and as always a unique opportunity for children (ages 11-18) to spend a week learning about the faith: Catholic history, art, music, philosophy and social teaching, as well as catechesis from our Chaplain, Fr Andrew Southwell, with daily Traditional Sung Mass and Compline. There were also outdoors activities, drawing and sewing, and an opportunity for the boys to learn to serve Low Mass, Sung Mass and Benediction. A large group learned to sing a polyphonic motet, Elgar's Ave Verum Corpus, for the last Mass; a smaller group joined the liturgical schola to sing the Gregorian Chant propers.

The first picture shows us singing Compline, with two cantors in cassock and cotta and Fr Southwell sitting on the right, in Ardingly College's large chapel.

The second photograph shows two Summer School students who will be familiar to Oxford traditionalists; the third shows an Oxford undergraduate teaching a class. The Summer School is unique not only in what it provides academically, but also in bringing together students and staff from all over the country, united in their devotion to the Church's traditions, and the project of passing these on to the next generation.

More photos and commentary is available on the New Liturgical Movement and the TCFA Ware blogs.
More and better photos will be available in due course, and will be published in the Newsletter, which will be downloadable from the SCT website here.

Support Papa Stronsay!

2008-07-21T13:07:00.005+01:00

This remote traditional community includes a young man from Oxford (in the pictures: the last of the three novices, and below, the one on the left), and we have been watching the process of their reconciliation with Rome with great joy. They need our support! Please say a prayer for them and take out a subscription to their newspaper, The Catholic, formerly distributed through SSPX chapels.

The SSPX don't want to be friends with them any more, so we must show them the best possible welcome!

See Cornell Society and their own blog (where the picture comes from).

Pro-Life Witness June

2008-07-07T12:10:00.002+01:00

The monthly Prayer Witness against abortion, outside the John Radcliffe Hospital, took place on June 24th, with 15 people.

The next Witness will be
26th July;
after the August break, we'll be back on
30th September.

Please join us!

Fr Simon Henry to be PP of a Traditional Parish in Liverpool

2008-07-02T15:12:00.005+01:00

This has now been called off! A very sad bit of news. See here.

Fr Henry took part in the Oxford Gregorian Chant Training Day. He has been given the church of St Vincent de Paul's (whose un-wrecked altar is pictured), in Liverpool (Toxteth), which is to be specially set aside to serve the needs of Catholics attached to the 'former liturgical tradition': a first in the British Isles, and an extremely important precedent. Fr Henry will take up residence in September. Please pray for the success of this exciting project!

Public Liturgies at the LMS Merton Conference 2008

2008-06-24T16:05:00.003+01:00

As last year, Mass and Vespers will be open to the public during the Latin Mass Society's 'Summer School' for the training of priests in the traditional liturgy (usus antiquior).

It starts on Monday 28th July and finishes with lunch on Friday 1st August. In simple terms, there is
Mass Mon-Fri in Merton College chapel at 11.45am, and Vespers Mon-Thurs there at 6pm.

But it is worth noting the different forms of the Masses and Vespers:

Monday 28th July: Solemn High Mass 11.45; Vespers 6pm
Tuesday 29th July: Sung Mass, solemn form: 11.45; Vespers 6pm
Wednesday 30th July: Sung Mass, simple form: 11.45; Vespers 6pm
Thursday 31sr July: Solemn High Mass 11.45; Pontifical Vespers 6pm
Friday 1st July: Pontifical High Mass 11.45.

Hoyos: Traditional Mass for ALL parishes

2008-06-15T19:13:00.004+01:00

Prior to the wonderful Pontifical High Mass in Westminster Cathedral celebrated by Cardinal Hoyos, he had a session with some journalists and made this and other important statments: see Damian Thompson's blog here.

A Plaque for the Catholic Martyrs of 1589

2008-06-13T17:45:00.005+01:00

Update: The Oxford Pilgrimage will take place on Saturday 25th October.

Solemn High Mass, 11am Blackfriars

2pm Procession and unveiling of the plaque, led by Bishop Kenney.

3.30pm Benediction, Blackfriars

On 5th July 1589 four men, two priests and two laymen, died for the Catholic faith in what is now a quiet and unremarked Oxford street. It is always important to honour God in his martyrs, but it seems especially so in a city which has so much Catholic history, little, if any of it, marked in its public monuments.

Permission has been granted by the owner of 100 Holywell Street (Merton College) and Oxford City Council for a plaque of this design (see picture). This almost exactly the site of the Town Gallows in the 16th Century, where the martyrs were executed.

THE MARTYRS
The martyrs of 1589 were beatified on 22nd November 1987. Bl George Nichols and Bl. Richard Yaxley were both secular priests, who had been trained at Rheims. Nichols had studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, and became famous as the priest who was smuggled in to Oxford Castle to reconcile a highwayman to the Church on the eve of the latter’s execution. Bl. Thomas Belson was a layman, a member of a Catholic land-owning family based in the county (at Ixhill, over the county border in Buckinghamshire); Bl Humphrey Prichard was a Welshman, an employee of the Catherine Wheel Inn, which was situated on the corner of Broad Street and Magdalen Street (where part of Balliol College now stands) opposite the church of St Mary Magdalene.

They were captured in in that inn, which appears to have been an established safe house for Catholic priests, in a raid on the 18th May 1589. Prichard was the man who reluctantly opened the door. All of them were taken to London for questioning; the priests were tortured. They were brought back to Oxford for trial, at which they were condemned to death under the law of the time, either for returning to England after receiving ordination overseas, or for assisting priests. They were executed on 5th July 1589. Only Prichard, the last to be hanged, was allowed to speak, and in a brief dialogue with a Protestant minister he declared ‘I believe all that the Holy Roman Church believes, and what I cannot explain by mouth, I am ready and prepared to explain and testify to you at the cost of my blood.’

THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY OXFORD PILGRIMAGE & PROCESSION
In 2005 the first Oxford Pilgrimage took place. Under the auspices of the Latin Mass Society, a Traditional missa cantata in St Aloysius was followed by a procession and Benediction. The procession followed the route taken by the martyrs from the Bocardo prison, next to St Michael’s church in Cornmarket, to the place of execution, which was marked by a large mock-up gallows. In 2006 the pilgrimage focused on Bl. George Napier, Oxford’s other Catholic martyr, who died in 1610, and in 2007 it was the turn of the four martyrs of 1589 once more. By this time the Mass had become a Solemn High Mass, with Fr Dominic Jacob of the Oratory as the celebrant; the procession was led by his fellow Oratorian Fr Anton Webb. Sixty people joined the procession.
These processions are important in the context of the plaque as they emphasise the significance of the actual site of martyrdom. The sites of martyrdoms have been the object of pilgrimage since the times of the early Christian martyrs, since offering prayers at the site of a martyrdom is a particularly fitting way to honour God in His martyrs. The plaque is a permanent, albeit relatively discreet, way of honouring the martyrs, just as the processions are an occasional, very visible way of doing so. Each also serves as a public witness to the martyrs and the Faith for which they gave their lives.

The plaque will cost £2,626, including VAT: this includes the materials, letter cutting, and fixing it to the wall. To make tax-deductible donations possible, the plaque appeal is being organised through St Catherine’s Trust, Registered Charity number 1110417

Cheques should be payable to St Catherine’s Trust (Plaque Appeal)
John Tennant, Secretary,
St Catherine’s Trust,
58 Thornton Road,
London SW12 0LF
or you can make a donation online here. Please specify what the donation is for.

Petition for the Traditional Mass

2008-06-10T17:16:00.001+01:00

This petition will be presented to Cardinal Hoyos when he visits England on Saturday. Please take a moment to sign it.

The petition is being promoted by Damian Thompson, whose blog also reports an extraordinary attempt by opponents of the Traditional Mass to sabotage the petition.

Newman Society Mass this Thursday

2008-06-10T17:11:00.001+01:00

From the Newman Society:

Solemn Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Pembroke College, Thursday, 12June, 6pm. Celebrant: Rev Fr Dominic Jacob CongOrat. Preacher: Rev DrLawrence Hemming. All welcome.

CIEL Pilgrimage to Salisbury

2008-06-02T12:32:00.001+01:00

Saturday 2nd August 2008

12.30pm Low Mass, St Osmund Church, Salisbury

2.30pm Conference on the Sarum Rite, Salisbury Cathedral

Further details concerning the pilgrimage will be published in due course.

Life Walk Sat 31st at 12noon

2008-05-26T12:15:00.002+01:00

An important annual event.

It will start at the War Memorial near St Giles' church, which is where the Woodstock and Banbury roads begin to split. Look out for people wearing animal suits and carrying a sign saying "Save the humans!"

See last year's walk here.

Oxford Chant Day

2008-05-26T09:18:00.005+01:00

This took place on Saturday, and was a great success. It was attended by twenty people, including four priests (not including our host, Fr John Saward), from as far away as Liverpool and Leeds. It was led, as last year, by Mr Philip Duffy, formerly Director of Music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

Mass was a votive Mass of Our Lady. Here's video showing the repeated verse of the Introit (Salve Sancta Parens); the Kyrie and the beginning of the Gloria (Mass IX).

Here's the Offertory, Ave Maria

Here is part of the sermon, preached by Fr Saward:

Here is the consecration:

Corpus Christi at the Oratory

2008-05-24T07:00:00.003+01:00

More pictures from the Oxford Gregorian Chant Society, which provided the singers. The Mass was very well attended. The latest news on the question of celebrating Corpus Christi, Ascension and Epiphany on their traditional days is that Rome is telling enquirers that this is NOT forbidden. The force of the decision of the Bishops of England and Wales is that these feasts are no longer obligatory, and that on the following Sunday the Mass of the feast should be repeated as an external solemnity.

May Procession at SS Gregory & Augustine

2008-05-23T18:48:00.002+01:00

Saturday 31st May

2008-05-21T08:45:00.005+01:00

Traditional Sung Mass in Mapledurham House 11.30am

Assist at Sung Mass for the Queenship of Our Lady in the private chapel of this historic hosue, where the Faith was kept alive during the years of persecution. The house is on the 'Oxford side' of Reading.

Pro-Life Witness 3-4pm

The Rosary is said by the entrance to the John Radcliffe Hospital, next to the Catholic Church of St Anthony of Padua, Headley Way, where meanwhile the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. The JR is the only place in Oxford where abortions take place. See Streetmap.co.uk here.

Yes! You can do both.

Chant Day Saturday 24th May

2008-05-19T11:51:00.004+01:00

Places still available. Programme confirmed.

Gregorian Chant Training Day
with Mr Phillip Duffy,
formerly Director of Music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

sponsored by the Latin Mass Society
and St Catherine’s Trust

Saturday 24th May 2008,
Church of SS Gregory & Augustine,
322, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 7NS

PROGRAMME

9.00 Registration
9.30 First Session in hall
11.00 Traditional Latin Benediction in the Church
11.15 Coffee in hall
11.15-11.45: Priests only session, Presbytery
11.45 Second Session in hall
13.00 Lunch (provided)
13.30-14.00: Priests only session, Presbytery
14.00 Third Session in hall
15.30 Missa Cantata: Votive Mass of Our Lady
16.45 Tea and departures

Booking is required, as spaces are limited:
Fee: £15; students: £7.50; free for those in Holy Orders

Please send cheques,
special dietary requirements,
and contact details to:

Joseph Shaw (Oxford LMS Rep)

96 Oxford Road, Cumnor, OXON OX2 9PQ

joseph.shaw@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

Mass in Milton Manor this Sunday, 18th May

2008-05-15T14:48:00.002+01:00

Please support this Mass in a historic Catholic house. It has been in Catholic hands since 1764; the Chapel was consecrated by Bishops Challoner in 1771. A number of Challoner's possessions are kept in the house.

Mass is at 6pm.

To find Milton Manor, turn off the A34 for Didcot (etc.), between Newbury and Abingdon, and follow signs for Milton. The village is very near this interchange. Turn left in the middle of the village for the Manor, by the Admiral Benbow pub. You can park in the drive, outside the front of the house.

For more information on the Mass in Milton Manor, please telephone David Joyce on 01635 874101.

Map with pointer to Milton Manor

May procession in parish of SS Gregory and Augustine

2008-05-15T10:40:00.002+01:00

this Sunday, 3pm. All welcome!

'Silent no more' pro-life witness

2008-05-10T20:49:00.004+01:00

British Victims of Abortion, assisted by the Oxford University Pro-Life Society, brought the 'Silent No More' witness to Oxford's Cornmarket today. From 12 noon to 2pm a succession of women spoke about their experiences of abortion, and how it had hurt them and those they loved. It was a very moving witness to the damage done by abortion, and was seen and heard by an enormous number of people in Oxford's busiest shopping street.

Dr Mary Berry's funeral

2008-05-10T20:41:00.003+01:00

Dr Mary Berry's funeral will take place in Dorchester on Thames, with a Traditional Sung Requiem.

The Requiem will be in Dorchester Abbey, at

2pm Monday (12th May).

She will be buried in the graveyard of St Birinus, which is close to the Abbey Church.

Dr Berry was awarded the CBE and a papal medal 'Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice' for her work preserving and promoting Gregorian Chant. She led a Chant Training Day in Oxford in 2006. Her obituary in The Times can be read here.

Traditional Catholic Pilgrimage to Lourdes

2008-05-02T07:45:00.001+01:00

A number of local people are taking the opportunity of the 150 anniversary, and plenary indulgence, to go to Lourdes on this pilgrimage. Places are still available.

From Maria Chang,
65 Lynette Ave, London SW4 9HF

The Pilgrimage will be from the 13th October 2008 to the 19th October 2008 and Our Spiritual Leader is Fr Andrew Southwell. At the heart of each day is the Mass in the Traditional Roman Rite in Latin. There is Daily Rosary, opportunity for Confession and we end the evening with Compline sung in Latin..

We shall be flying by British Airways from Gatwick Airport to Toulouse and the flight leaves at 13.30. From Toulouse we shall proceed to Lourdes by Coach.

We shall be staying at the Hotel Saint Sauveur at Full Board and the hotel is situated within 5 minutes walk to the Sanctuary.

The cost of the Pilgrimage is £525 per person with a supplement of £125 for a single room. This includes the transfers to and from the airport and all travel expenses in Lourdes but NOT Travel Insurance which should be arranged privately. We plan to visit Bartres and Betharam.

If you would like to join the Pilgrimage please complete the enclosed registration form and return it as soon as possible with a deposit of £75.00, cheque made payable to M F Chang.

I sincerely hope you will be able to join us.

God Bless

Maria Chang

Traditional Mass at St Anthony of Padua

2008-04-28T00:24:00.003+01:00

This Mass marked the 40th Anniversary of the coming into effect of the Abortion Act. It was offered in conjuction with the monthly prayer vigil which takes place outside this church, which happens to be by the entrance of the only place in Oxford where abortions take place, the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The Mass and Witness were particularly well-attended this month. Many thanks to the organiser, Amanda Lewin, to the celebrant, Fr John Saward, and the parish priest of St Anthony's, Fr Aldo Tapparo. It is interesting and heartening to see the Traditional Mass in this modern church.

Juventutem retreat at Douai

2008-04-08T14:37:00.002+01:00

During the weekend of the 4th- 6th July Young Catholic Adults will be running a Traditional Retreat at Douai Abbey, the retreat will be led by Br. Christopher Greener who will give a series of talks on St. Benedict. The weekend will be full-board (except for the Sunday lunch). Douai Abbey, situated on high ground in the Berkshire countryside overlooking the beautiful Kennet valley towards the distant Hampshire downs, is within easy reach of London, Reading, Oxford and many places of interest. It provides an ideal setting for quiet reflection, retreats and for conferences.

One of the comments frequently made about Douai is that it offers an environmentand atmosphere of peace and serenity, where the cares of daily life can be left behind.

Places are limited so please book early. YCA will have it’s own area set aside. There will be a social bar available in the evening .

A Marian Procession will take place on Saturday 5th July in the Abbey grounds

Traditional Mass will be celebrated on Sunday 6th July

And see here.