Peter Kwasniewski's book launch in Oxford: Friday, after 6pm High Mass in SS Gregory & Augustine

All the details are below. We'll have copies of Peter's most recent three books.

On Saturday he will be at the LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford. See here for more details.

More on Peter's latest book here.


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Venerating a relic of the Cure of Ars

On his feast-day, Wedneday.

Support the work of the LMS by becoming an 'Anniversary Supporter'.

'Firmly I Believe and Truly' Ed Fr John Saward et al

Last night was the book launch of 'Firmly I Believe and Truly' edited by Fr John Saward, John Morrill, and Michael Tomko. Fr Saward is familiar to readers of this blog as a great friend of Tradition in Oxford; his small parish church of SS Gregory & Augustine in North Oxford sees a great many traditional Masses, many of them sung. He is the author of many books, and the translator of the English edition of Pope Benedict's The Spirit of the Liturgy.

This new book is an anthology of English Catholic writers, and it sounds fascinating. It demonstrates the continuity, breadth and depth of English Catholicism, and the absurdity of the idea that Catholicism is somehow foreign to England, or not English enough ever to be the religion of this nation once more, as it was for a millenium.

I paste in below some of the publisher's blurb; HERE is where to buy it: at a discount!

'Firmly I Believe and Truly'

• Brings together a diverse array of writers from the last five hundred years to celebrate the English Roman Catholic tradition
• Includes authors who maintain a high profile today and reintroduces key figures whose writings have recently been neglected
• Provides authoritative introductions to each author
• Chronologically ordered with a clear three part structure to aid navigation
• Thoughtfully illustrated with images relevant to each part of the anthology

An Anthology of Writings from 1483 to 1999

Firmly I Believe and Truly celebrates the depth and breadth of the spiritual, literary, and intellectual heritage of the Post-Reformation English Roman Catholic tradition in an anthology of writings that span a five hundred year period between William Caxton and Cardinal Hume. Intended as a rich resource for all with an interest in Roman Catholicism, the writings have been carefully selected and edited by a team of scholars with historical, theological, and literary expertise. Each author is introduced to provide context for the included extracts and the chronological arrangement of the anthology makes the volume easy to use whilst creating a fascinating overview of the modern era in English Catholic thought. The extracts comprise a wide variety writing genres; sermons, prayers, poetry, diaries, novels, theology, apologetics, works of controversy, devotional literature, biographies, drama, and essays. Includes writings by:
John Colet, John Fisher, Thomas More, Robert Southwell, Philip Howard, Anne Askew, Edmund Campion, John Gother, John Dryden, Mary Barker, Alexander Pope, Richard Challoner, Alban Butler, John Milner, Elizabeth Inchbald, Nicholas Wiseman, Margaret Mary Hallahan, A. W. N. Pugin, John Henry Newman, Henry Edward Manning, Frederick William Faber, Bertrand Wilberforce, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vincent McNabb, Hilaire Belloc, Maurice Baring, G. K. Chesterton, R. A. Knox, J. R. R. Tolkien, Caryll Houselander, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Bradburne, Cardinal Hume

Readership: People of all Christian traditions who want to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of the Catholic faith and heritage. Scholars in the fields of theology, history, and literature.

Inflamed by the Sacred Heart

An odd thing happened at Mass in Oxford not long ago, and I've not had the chance to blog about it. The thurible caught fire.

I was videoing the Mass because the Schola Abelis was singing and I like to capture the chant. (You can listen to parts of the Mass on the Schola's blog.) I point the camera at the sanctuary, however, since no one wants to look at the singers, do they? So here you can hear us finishing the Kyrie (Mass IV, since you ask) and after Fr Saward added more incense to the thurible flames started licking out of it. I don't think anyone noticed for a while. The thurifer was able to extinguish it without much trouble when he got it back to the sacristy.

I have actually seen this happen once before, at Ampleforth. They had at that time a peculiar thurible which was supposed to be set down on the floor in front of the altar; it just smoked away there, and was nicknamed 'the volcano'. Without anyone doing anything at all to it the incense smoke turned black and flames emerged. One monk grabbed it and took it outside; another hurried after him with a fire extinguisher.

Why does this happen? The explanation offered at Ampleforth was the use of inflammable cleaning fluid. In this recent case it must have had something to do with the incense being added.


Many congratulations to the young man who received his First Communion on this unusually dramatic occasion.

There are more photos of this and Mass for SS Peter and Paul in the same church here.

Corpus Christi at SS Gregory & Augustine

Some pictures: more here. We had polyphony for the Ordinary, including a polyphonic Credo: I'll try to get some videos up soon, with the help of a new external hard disk: videos take up so much room!

Mass was followed by a procesion (inside the church) and Benediction.

Photos of SS Gregory & Augustine

I've finally taken some photos of a splendid new monstrance at SS Gregory & Augustine, so I thought I'd put them up here.

Fr John Saward was giving Benediction.

This was the day before the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima; the one side altar in the church is dedicated to her: here is her altar on her feast.


Sadly I will miss the Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury coming up this Thursday, but the Schola Abelis will be accompanying a Traditional Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine in honour of their secondary patron, with their customary Renaissance Polyphony. So please come along:

Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury, 26th May, 6pm, Missa Cantata.

St Joseph today, St George tomorrow

I've not been ignoring the Royal Wedding (please pray for them!) or the Beatification of Pope John-Paul II (may he pray for us!); I have just been very busy and suffering from a really dreadful cold.

Before it is too late, I'd like to remind everyone that in the 1962 Calendar St George is celebrated not today but tomorrow - today St Joseph the Workman takes precedence, but St George is too important simply to disapear so he's tomorrow. St Joseph himself has been pushed on the 2nd May, from his usual perch on Mayday, by Low Sunday so it's not just me who has been busy!

It is curious that in the 1962 calendar important feasts which fall on Sunday are often moved to Monday - not the other way around...
For the first time we are actually celebrating St George in Oxford with a Sung EF Mass: do come along to implore the intercession of England's soldier saint patron. Mass will be at 6pm in SS Gregory & Augustine; there will be polyphony and chant provided by the Schola Abelis.

Wearing white for Eastertide

On Wednesday evening I took some photos of Low Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine to catch the Easter decoration of the church. Fr John Saward, Priest in Charge, was as usual saying the Mass.

The church has been substantially refurbished over the last couple of years, and the paintings on the reredos and the saints on either side of the altar are all new, as are the beautifully carved plinths of the statues of Our Lady and St Joseph.






The church is preparing for Divine Mercy Sunday.

Ash Wednesday in SS Gregory & Augustine

As so often, slow posting is the result of too much happening, not too little.

We had a splendid Sung Ash Wednesday Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine at 6pm, accompanied by the Schola Abelis; this was in addition to a Low EF Mass at the Oratory, also with the imposition of ashes. So it was good to see well over 50 people in SS Gregory & Augustine.

We had polyphony with the Mass, Morales, Missa Super fa re ut fa so la. Here is the Chant Introit and Morales' Kyrie.


More photos.

Solemn Nuptial Mass in Oxford

While I was in Caversham for our pilgrimage, there was a Solemn Nuptial Mass in SS Gregory & Augustine, in Oxford. See James Bradley for this and more stunning photographs.


Br Lawrence Lew, who was deacon, has added some commentary on the New Liturgical Movement.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Sunday Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine's, Oxford

A very happy parish Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine's last Sunday at 10.30am.

The parish choir was supported by the Schola Abelis for the occasion.

A few more photos here.

Traditional Sung Mass today at SS Gregory & Augustine's

Fr John Saward continues to celebrate his regular 10.30 am Sunday Mass in the usus antiquior from time to time. The last one was on Remebrance Sunday; one took place today; the next one will be the 4th Sunday After Easter, 25th April. All of these are Sung Masses.

For the first time the Parish Choir was joined by five members of the Schola Abelis - one of whom is a member of the parish choir as well - to help with the chants. We sang the enormously long tract to a Psalm-tone (does anyone sing it in full?), and the Schola Abelis singers did the Graduale on their own, but the other chant propers, Mass XVIII, and Credo III, were done with all the singers. And it was a pretty good result.

These Masses are an interesting experiment, presenting the Traditional Mass to a congregation who are mainly there simply because they always go to the 10.30am Mass. They seemed to enter into the spirit of it.

More photos here.

Ash Wednesday

In SS Gregory & Augustine.

More photos here.

Candlemas and St Blaise

This Christmas season ended with Candlemas (Feb 2nd), and as usual we had a Sung Mass with blessing of candles and procession at SS Gregory & Augustine. The crib was still up.

Fr John Saward preached on the humility shown by the Blessed Virgin Mary in submitting to the Law of Moses.

I love the pictures of the Purification which show Our Lady going up to the priest in a procession with candles - the liturgy commemorating a Gospel event influencing the way the event itself is depicted. This phenomenon is used by Eamonn Duffy, in the Stripping of the Altars, to demonstrate how deeply the Medieval liturgy had penetrated the consciousness of the people before the Reformation.

The following day (Feb 3rd) was the feast (or at least the Commemoration) of St Blaise, and at end of the regular Wednesday evening Mass there was the blessing of throats - always useful at this time of the year!

Two remarkable customs, and associated sacramentals, on successive days. One of the traditional uses of the candles blessed on Candlemas is to burn them during childbirth - this we have always done. I doubt the NHS would take kindly to patients lighting candles but happily all our children were born at home.

More photos here.

Local events

I have some important local events to announce. For the full Mass listings see here.

Oxford Pilgrimage 2010
First and foremost, our new Archbishop, Bernard Longley, has agreed to participate in the annual LMS Oxford Pilgrimage. He will bless a new plaque in honour of Bl George Napier, which Oxford City Council are installing in the newly revamped Castle complex, marking the spot where he died on the Castle gallows in November 1610. The pilgrimage will take place on 23rd October, close to Bl George Napier's fourth Centenary; it will start with a Solemn Mass at Blackfriars, with Archbishop Longley in choir, after which our Archbishop will lead a procession to the site of the martydom.

Other events, in chronological order.

St Anthony of Padua, Thursday 21st Jan, Missa Cantata 7pm
For the second time, there will a Sung Mass in this church thanks to the hospitality of Fr Aldo Tapparo. It is the Feast of St Agnes and will include chant and polyphony provided by the Schola Abelis.

Candlemas, Tuesday 2nd Feb, Missa Cantata SS Gregory & Augustine, 6pm
As has become the pattern there will be a Sung Mass for this important feast: once of the key dates of the Catholic calendar.

Our Lady of Light, Long Crendon, Sat 13th Feb, Missa Cantata, 11.30pm
For the first time there will be a Sung Mass in Our Lady of Light, which is over the diocesan boundary in the diocese of Northhampton. This is the home parish of Bl Thomas Belson, in whose honour the parish priest, Fr Eric Manley-Harris, has recently established a side chapel. The Schola Abelis will be singing Chant and Polyphony at a Votive Mass of the Martyrs of England and Wales in honour of Bl Thomas Belson.

Ash Wednesday, 17th Feb, Missa Cantata SS Gregory & Augustine, 6pm
For the first time there will be a Sung Mass on this important feast.

Our Lady of Caversham, Sat 27th Feb, Missa Cantata 11.45
For the first time there will be a LMS Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham, which is at the southern tip of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, just outside Reading. It is the Ember Saturday of Lent, and it will be accompanied by the Schola Abelis.

Mon 8th March Newman Society Termly Mass: Pontifical Mass with the Abbot of Belmont, Oxford Oratory, 7.15pm
The Schola Abelis will again accompany the Newman Mass, which will take place in the Oxford Oratory. The Mass is being sponsored by the Latin Mass Society.

Friday 12th March, Feast of St Gregory the Great: Missa Cantata SS Gregory & Augustine 6pm
This is the principal patronal feast of the parish church of SS Gregory & Augustine, and it will be marked by a Traditional Sung Mass in the evening, accompanied by the Schola Abelis.

Recent Masses

All Saints fell less Sunday, and on Monday we had All Souls at the Oratory, accompanied by a particularly large group from the Schola Abelis. Fr Dominic Jacob was the celebrant, in a rather fine black chasuble, Fr Joseph Welch preached, and Fr Anton Webb join the singers. The church doesn't look very full, but there were more than sixty people assisting at Mass. See more photos here.

On Friday evening we had as usual a First Friday Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine; since there was no feast of the day we had a Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart. Fr Saward preached a very edifying sermon on the Sacred Heart and the priesthood, which can be seen in this video. It deserves a wider audience.

Videos of some of the Chants can be seen at the Schola's blog.

More photos of the Sacred Heart Mass can be seen here.

Ruth Peyton's funeral

This took place in SS Gregory and Augustine as I noted in advance; it was a beautiful occasion.

'Remember me at the Altar of God'. So said the dying St Monica to her son St Augustine. The offering of the Mass is the greatest thing we can do for the dead.

Ruth Peyton will not be forgotten.

There are more photographs here. Notice the saints either side of the altar: there are more still to come. This is part of the renovation of the church by Fr John Saward, the priest in charge.

Ruth Peyton RIP

Ruth Peynton, a well known and much appreciated member of the Traditional community in Oxford, died on Monday, with her family around her. She was 94, and had just received the sacraments from Fr John Saward.

Her funeral Mass will be on Wednesday 2nd September at 11am in SS Gregory & Augustine's. It will be sung. She will be buried in a village in Gloucestershire.

It was a privilege to know Ruth, who had seen so much come and go. We recently worked out that her father was a rough contemporary of my grandfather as an undergraduate in Oxford, before the First World War. She arranged an invitation for me to give a talk on the Catholic Martyrs of Oxford to the residents of her sheltered housing complex. This was a great success and on the strengh of it I was invited to give another, to another group, and then another and another. I've now given versions of this talk six times, and have another session in my diary. I had no idea there were so many groups of retired people meeting regularly to hear invited speakers, but it seems they swap names of good speakers.

We will all miss her.

Solemn Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine

Yesterday there was celebrated what I believe to have been the first Traditional Solemn Mass celebrated on a Sunday in an Oxford church. This is a tremendous breakthrough for the integregration of the usus antiquior into parish life in Oxford.

The Church was SS Gregory and Augustine, and the occasion was the visit of a touring Polish choir, the Pueri Cantores Plocenses. Fr John Saward, Priest in Charge, was the celebrant; Mr ; the Subdeacon was a visiting Benedictine monk, Dom Bede Price, of the Abbey of St Louis, Missouri.

The Pueri Cantores numbered more than 40, and took up much of one side of the nave. They were supplemented by a small Gregorian Schola for the propers. The choir sant Byrd's Mass for Four Voices quite beutifully.

The church was packed, with many people joining the schola in the choir loft and others standing at the back.

Let us hope this is but the first of many Sung and Solemn Masses in Oxford on Sundays!

I'm sorry that technical mishaps left me only rather inferior photographs.

Chant Training Day

As I've noted on the Gregorian Chant Society blog, we had a training day on Saturday with Philip Duffy, who was for 30 years the Director of Music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.


Here is Fr Saward's sermon, on Mary and the Ascension.