In an unprecedented 48 minute interview with EWTN: Great Britain, reporter James McCullough speaks with the Three Ordinaries Bishop Steven Lopes (my own bishop) of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in North America, Monsignor Harry Entwistle of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in the West Pacific, and Monsignor Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom:
[#12 in the series This Week in English Catholic History: Week of November 18 – 24]
HIS week, on November 20, the Ordinariates honor King St. Edmund, Martyr. St. Edmund was born in Nuremburg, Germany in 841. He was crowned the King of East Anglia on Christmas Day, 855 at the age of 14 by Bishop St. Humbert of Elmham. He was a model king who treated his subjects with justice. He spent an entire year memorizing all 150 Psalms by heart. He was martyred by the Vikings when they invaded East Anglia in 869.
The story of St. Edmund’s martyrdom comes from Abbo of Fleury in 986, writing on behalf of St. Dunstan, who heard it from an old man that had been St. Edmund’s shield-bearer:
King Edmund, against whom Ivar advanced, stood inside his hall, and mindful of the Saviour, threw out his weapons. He wanted to match the example of Christ, who forbade Peter to win the cruel Jews with weapons. Lo! the impious one then bound Edmund and insulted him ignominiously, and beat him with rods, and afterwards led the devout king to a firm living tree, and tied him there with strong bonds, and beat him with whips. In between the whip lashes, Edmund called out with true belief in the Saviour Christ. Because of his belief, because he called to Christ to aid him, the heathens became furiously angry. They then shot spears at him, as if it was a game, until he was entirely covered with their missiles, like the bristles of a hedgehog (just like St. Sebastian was). When Ivar the impious pirate saw that the noble king would not forsake Christ, but with resolute faith called after Him, he ordered Edmund beheaded, and the heathens did so. While Edmund still called out to Christ, the heathen dragged the holy man to his death, and with one stroke struck off his head, and his soul journeyed happily to Christ…
It was also a great miracle that a wolf was sent, through the guidance of God, to protect that head both day and night from the other animals. The people went searching and also calling out, just as the custom is among those who often go into the wood: “Where are you now, friend?” And the head answered them: “Here, here, here,” and called out the answer to them as often as any of them called out, until they came to it as a result of the calling. There lay the grey wolf who watched over that head, and had the head clasped between his two paws. The wolf was greedy and hungry, but because of God he dared not eat the head, but protected it against animals. The people were astonished at the wolf’s guardianship and carried home with them the holy head, thanking almighty God for all His miracles.
After killing St. Edmund, the Great Heathen Army invaded in 870, where they fought King Ethelred and his brother, the future King St. Alfred the Great. The place of St. Edmund’s death became known as Bury St. Edmunds. Over time, St. Edmund became known as the patron saint of England, and different churches, abbeys, and shrines grew up around Bury St. Edmunds. It grew very prosperous from the gifts of pilgrims.
King Canute, the Viking King of England, converted to Christianity and rebuilt the shrine that his Viking ancestors had destroyed. In 1010, he visited the shrine and laid his crown on the shrine in atonement for the sins of his forefathers.
In 1539, King Henry VIII destroyed the shrine, confiscated its silver and gold, expelled its monks, and dissolved the Abbey.
Collect for the Feast of St. Edmund the Martyr:
“O God of inexpressible mercy, who gloriously enabled the most blessed king Edmund to overcome the enemy by dying for your name, grant, in your mercy, to us your servants that by his intercession we may overcome and extinguish the temptations of the old enemy, through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
For a weekly dose of English Catholic Patrimony, if your Ordinariate parish or parochial community would like to receive This Week in English Catholic History in advance in single page black-and-white pdf form (perhaps inserted in the bulletin), please contact us at <foster1452@gmail.com>, and we will be happy to oblige, gratis.
Written by Mr. John Burford, IV and Dr. Foster Lerner of Incarnation Catholic Church in Orlando, Florida; a parish of The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter © 2018.
John (wearing purple tie, above) is the founder and owner of Magnolia Prep, an SAT and ACT tutoring business with branches in several major US cities. Foster (wearing golden tie, above) holds a Doctorate in Medicine from Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, and is currently pursuing post-graduate studies in medicine.
I had posted earlier about plans for a Symposium in Rome Nov. 4-8, 2019 in Rome to mark the 10th Anniversary of Anglicanorum coetibus.
Plans have changed.
There is a strong likelihood Blessed John Henry Newman will be canonized next year—there has been a second miracle I hear—but we will not know for sure until June and, if it happens, it is likely he will be canonized in October 2019. October in Rome is a lot nicer than November, but the late notice in June would give little opportunity to plan anything large scale.
The Ordinaries will be discussing an alternative plan, perhaps something like a pilgrimage in the spring of 2020 that would possibly include spots in England as well as a trip to Rome.
This is the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica where we had hoped to celebrate one of three Divine Worship liturgies during that week.
I apologize for posting on this earlier, then taking the post down, as some key people had not been notified yet of the decision, thus my posting here was precipitous.
I do not know much yet, but I will keep you posted as I learn more.
[#11 in the series This Week in English Catholic History: Week of November 11 – 17]
AINT Hugh was actually born in Avalon, France, to a wealthy noble named William, Lord of Avalon, and his wife Anna. His English connections come later. He was the first canonized Carthusian. His feast day is November 17th.
Hugh’s mother died when Hugh was only eight years old. After Anna’s death, William retired from the world to a monastery and brought his son Hugh with him. Hugh’s older brother, also named William, carried on the affairs of the family while father and son sought God in holy contemplation as professed religious. Hugh made his perpetual vows at the age of fifteen. Continue reading
The Anglican liturgy in the Catholic Church is to be the subject of a new research focus of the Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Vienna, it was announced this week.
The academic project will be led by Professor Hans-Jürgen Feulner, a specialist in liturgy who has long had a great interest in the Anglican tradition. Prof. Feulner was a member of the Holy See’s Anglicanae Traditiones Commission that compiled the Divine Worship missal and has been further integrating the Anglican tradition into the liturgical life of the Catholic Church.
While this prestigious and ancient university’s deepening focus on our Anglican liturgy is of interest to all Catholics of the Anglican tradition, such academic interest in our rite will prove of particular importance to our priests. In fact, multiple priests from the various ordinariates are just now beginning doctoral-level studies as part of this new program.
It is only fitting that a new academic interest in the Anglican form of the Western Rite kicks off with a liturgical celebration in that rite, and so an Anglican Use Mass will be held this Sunday, November 11th, at 5:30pm in the Vienna Minoritenkirche.
An Austrian Catholic media outlet has reported on the news (German-language), a simple online-translated English version of which can be read below.
A new Anglican-tradition gradual in prayerbook English for Catholic use has been published. “The Saint Peter Gradual: The Chants of the Mass for Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts” has been made specifically for Anglican ordinariate use but is helpful also for celebrations according to the Roman rite (OF). Published by Newman House Press, it was prepared by the Canadian ordinariate Dean, Fr Carl Reid, and is an adaptation of The English Gradual of Francis Burgess.
Dean Reid’s gradual reproduces the essential psalm tones and chants of the Burgess in the same modern notation, and the texts of the propers are presented according to the arrangement as found in Divine Worship: The Missal.
This is only the second gradual ever developed specifically for the Anglican patrimonial liturgy in the Catholic Church, and New Liturgical Movement has already reported on its publication. The first such resource was The Anglican Use Gradual, arranged by C. David Burt and published originally in 2004. That volume remains in use today, but with the changes implicated in the switch from the Book of Divine Worship (2003) to Divine Worship: The Missal (2015), an updated and revised edition has been prepared and awaits publication.
A third new gradual for the Anglican Use is also rumoured to be in development by yet another editor. That third volume, and David Burt’s newly updated Anglican Use Gradual, would both be in traditional plainsong notation. One uses mostly Burgess-style psalm tones and the other the more melismatic Gregorian chants, both adapted to the DWM arrangement of the minor propers. All three of these new graduals will make it easier for ordinariate and other congregations to glorify God in accordance with the Anglican tradition.
These works, while arguably individually incomplete or imperfect, build upon the work of previous generations and make the Anglican patrimony yet more available for the purposes of Catholic worship. Unfortunately, the reticence of The Saint Peter Gradual’s introductory material to properly credit our “Anglican” patrimony will only encourage a growing sense of an inexplicable antagonism towards uttering the a-word, which is odd given how explicit Pope Benedict was. 
(This problem is awkwardly highlighted by the erroneous mention of “Divine Worship: The Roman Missal” in the table of contents.)
This gradual doesn’t identify its own Anglican tradition, but it clearly falls therein. Interestingly, “The English Gradual” on which it is based, being self-evidently Anglican, refers to itself as in relation to the “Western Rite” and as falling within the tradition of the “English Rite”, and its chants have been used in our Anglican Use congregations, both pastoral provision and ordinariate, for years.
In spite of the identical openings of the English Gradual’s Preface and the Saint Peter Gradual’s Editor’s Note, asserting that “These simple settings… are intended for the use of parish choirs…”, there are other statements that seem to touch on the frequently misunderstood post-conciliar call for “actuosa participatio”. At one point, it is suggested that “congregational access to the propers of the Mass” is one of “the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions” of the Anglican Communion that Pope Benedict called “a precious gift”. Later on, in the Bishop’s foreword, it is said that “What is… ‘patrimonial’ about this collection is not only that this Gradual preserves these chants for Catholic worship, but that it makes them available as the property of the people and not simply as a resource for the performance of expert choirs and cantors.”
Of course, most of us will see the simpler fact: What is most patrimonial about this is that these are the same chants many have long used as Anglicans! They are our old Anglican propers and chants re-published for us to continue using as Catholics. This is a continuation of our Anglican tradition for which we can but give thanks, but only if we can first recognize it as such.
Elsewhere, our Anglican patrimony is recognized obliquely as “the noble patrimony of English Christianity” that Anglicanorum Coetibus mandates us to treasure and share, or as “our Ordinariate patrimony”. Never, sadly, is “Anglican patrimony” explicitly identified or credited. This is, of course, a strange hang-up that Anglicanorum Coetibus itself does not suffer from, as the whole Apostolic Constitution is centred on recognizing, preserving, cherishing, and sharing the good, true, beautiful and Catholic essence of the Anglican tradition, and as it explicitly permits us to establish seminary programs for our future priests to form them in the ‘Anglican’ patrimony (cf. Art. VI §5). It never once mentions anything “English”.
Let us not shy away from speaking proudly of this very thing; let us give thanks precisely because this new Catholic volume is a significant preservation of our specifically Anglican patrimony.
#10: Week of November 4 – 10:
T is commonly said there are three medieval theologians who stand above all the rest in contribution: St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, and this week’s Britannic feature, Blessed John Duns Scotus. Blessed John’s feast day is November 8th.
John was born to a wealthy farming family in the town of Duns just North of the Scottish border with England. He was reported to be a beautiful child both in appearance and behavior, and he received a solid moral education from his parents.
Blessed John Duns Scotus attended catechism classes at the Cistercian Melrose Abbey (also appearing in our article on St. Cuthbert) where he gained a deep devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary – for which the Cistercians are well-known – who would later be the subject of Scotus’ most significant theological contribution. Continue reading
