Like yesterday’s celebration, today’s was a small, simple and prayerful gathering. Musically we kept things very similar to yesterday, with a few changes among the psalm tones, and a different hymn tune (Westminster Abbey, this time) for part two of the hymn, beginning at Faithful Cross. I’m sure this will become a regular fixture in our Holy Week celebrations.
| Psalm | Father, into your hands (chant, arr. Geoffrey Boulton Smith) |
| Gospel Acclamation | Christus factus est (Felice Anerio, c.1560-1614) |
| Adoration of the Cross | Behold the wood of the Cross (Missal tone) Praise to the Holiest The Reproaches (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611, & chant) listen Jesus, remember me (Taizé) |
| Communion | Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, 1540-1623) Soul of my Saviour |
A new departure for us this year was a sung celebration of the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The psalms were sung antiphonally to psalm tones in the style of Laurence Bévenot, taken either from the various collections of Responsorial Psalms, or written by me in the same idiom. Numbers were small: today we had ten in the choir and fourteen in the congregation, plus our celebrant Fr Michael and Anthony on the organ, but in the more enclosed space of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel this worked very nicely, and the two halves of the singing assembly joined in gamely with the two halves of the choir in singing the psalms. We sang the opening hymn (part one of Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle) to the tune St. Thomas, and the Benedictus in Bernadette Farrell’s setting of the text versified by Owen Alstott.
Sung Prayer of the Church has hardly featured in the life of the Cathedral, over recent years at least – I can remember it twice in the last 25 years – but today’s celebration worked well, and felt like something we should do more often.
| Opening Hymn | The Glory of the Cross (John Ainslie) |
| Kyrie | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Gloria | Psallite |
| Responsorial Psalm | The Blessing Cup (Christopher Walker) |
| Gospel Acclamation | Glory and Praise (mcb) |
| Washing of Feet | If there is this love among you (Martin Barry & Diane Murden) listen |
| Preparation of the Gifts | Ubi Caritas (Maurice Duruflé, 1902-1986) listen |
| Sanctus | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Memorial Acclamation B | Missal Tone: When we eat this Bread |
| Agnus Dei | Missa Orbis Factor & Missa super Laudate Dominum (Orlande de Lassus, 1532-1594) listen |
| Communion | Take and Eat (Michael Joncas) |
| Procession | Pange Lingua (plainchant) Stay with me (Taizé) |
The Altar of Repose tonight was situated in the Cathedral’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the south transept. To the best of my knowledge this was the first time this part of the building had been used as a liturgical space in many years, but it felt highly appropriate. We used the same space over the next two days for the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer, which made for a nice connection as we watched and waited in different ways over the course of the three days.
Earlier, Bishop John had followed Pope Francis’s lead in washing women’s feet as well as men’s. It wasn’t the first time at the Cathedral – I remember it from a dozen or so years ago when Fr John Dale was Dean – and it felt for all the world like it had always been done this way.
Choral scholar Seb Marshall conducted us in the Duruflé with sensitivity and skill.
| Opening Hymn | O praise ye the Lord listen |
| Kyrie | Kyrie 2 from A Community Mass (Richard Proulx) |
| Gloria | Glory to God (Peter Jones) |
| Responsorial Psalm | O Lord, I will sing of your constant love (Christopher Walker) |
| Gospel Acclamation | Glory and Praise (mcb) |
| Procession of the Oils | O Redeemer (Paul Ford/mcb) |
| Preparation of the Gifts | Crucifixus (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740) listen |
| Sanctus, Acclamation C, Amen | Missal tone in English |
| Agnus Dei | Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone) |
| Communion | Where two or three are gathered (Liam Lawton) Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, c.1540-1623) listen |
| Recessional Hymn | Now thank we all our God listen |
The sun shone on our processions along Chapel Street, as the priests and people of the Diocese gathered for the first time under Bishop John for our annual Holy Thursday celebration. Click on the links above to hear some of the music.
| Entrance | (i) Hosanna to the Son of David (Chris Mueller) (ii) All Glory, Laud and Honour |
| Psalm | Ps 21 (John Ainslie) |
| Gospel Acclamation | Glory and Praise (mcb) |
| Prayers of Intercession | Stay with us, Lord (mcb) |
| Preparation of the Gifts | Crucifixus (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740) |
| Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Agnus Dei | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Communion | (i) In Monte Oliveti (Anton Bruckner, 1824-1896) (ii) Father, if this cup (Stephen Dean) |
| Postcommunion | (silence) |
| Recessional | My song is love unknown |
Heavy rain meant having to assemble for the blessing of palms in the north transept. (‘Liturgical North’, that is; it’s actually on the west side of the building.) It made for a splendidly reverberant acoustic for Chris Mueller’s setting of the Entrance Antiphon, and the procession around the church interior recovered from temporary gridlock when some kind souls made way to let the choir get to their seats. Later, we were conducted in the Bruckner by choral scholar Richard Platt, making his (very competent) choral conducting debut.
| Entrance | Praise to the holiest |
| Kyrie | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Psalm | Ps 50 (Tony Barr) |
| Gospel Acclamation | Glory and Praise (mcb) |
| Prayers of Intercession | Stay with us, Lord (mcb) |
| Preparation of the Gifts | Averte faciem tuam from Miserere Mei (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740) |
| Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Agnus Dei | Missa Orbis Factor |
| Communion | Unless a grain of wheat (Bernadette Farrell) |
| Postcommunion | (silence) |
| Recessional | Lift high the cross |
