O Tannenbaum

Externsteine Relief - a Benedictine carving at once was the center of German pagan religion in the Teutoburger Wald. It portrays the cutting down of the 'Irminsul' and the rising in its place of the 'Evergreen' Cross of the Conquering Christ.
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

Christmas trees. The origin of our custom in the South, from Virginia : "At about the same time [as Prince Albert's introduction of the Tannenbaum to Windsor Castle], Charles Minnegerode, a German professor at the College of William and Mary, trimmed a small evergreen to delight the children at the St. George Tucker House. Martha Vandergrift, aged 95, recalled the grand occasion, and her story appeared in the Richmond News Leader on December 25, 1928. Presumably Mrs. Vandergrift remembered the tree and who decorated it more clearly than she did the date. The newspaper gave 1845 as the time, three years after Minnegerode's arrival in Williamsburg. Perhaps the first Christmas tree cheered the Tucker household as early as 1842."

This also produced the custom of the 'community Christmas tree' which is an 'outside' tree. The custom spread across the South from Williamsburg in the years before the War. Before the German Christmas tree (which might have been used in the Carolinas amongst the Germans since the early 1700's) there was already the custom of Christmas greenery in Southern households: though primarily Mistletoe and Holly.

Also, the origins with St. Boniface "When St. Boniface chopped down the pagan Thor's oak at Geismar, he claimed that the tiny fir tree growing in its roots as the new Christian symbol. He told the heathen tribes: "This humble tree's wood is used to build your homes - let Christ be at the center of your households. Its leaves remain evergreen in the darkest days - let Christ be your constant light. Its boughs reach out to embrace and its top points to heaven - let Christ be your comfort and your guide." So the fir tree became a sign of Christ among the German peoples, and eventually it became a world-wide symbol of Christmas."

One thing I plead of readers: the Christmas Tree is not an *Advent* custom. Traditionally (and still in Germanic Europe) one should put the tree up on Christmas Eve - as a surprise for the children on Christmas morning before leaving for the 'Christ Mass'. The tree is taken down at Epiphany/Theophany (after the 12 days of Christmas.) Also: St. Nicholas is a good traditional date for the giving of gifts: but it needn't be excessive, or a replacement for providing for family what one should normally provide.

XII. The Blessing

XII. The Blessing
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

XI. Gloria In Excelsis

XI. Gloria In Excelsis
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

X. Prayer of Consecration

X. Prayer of Consecration
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

IX. The General Confession

IX. The General Confession
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

---------------

VIII. The Offertory

VIII. The Offertory
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

VII. The End of the Creed

VII. The End of the Creed
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

VI. The Gospel

VI. The Gospel
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

V. The Epistle

V. The Epistle
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

IV. The Collects

IV. The Collects
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

III. The Decalogue

III. The Decalogue
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

---------------



Not done in our Orthodox Western Rite.

--------

II. Preparation of the Elements in a Chapel

II. Preparation of the Elements in a Chapel
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

I. The End of the Procession

I. The End of the Procession
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

From 'Illustrations of the Liturgy' Alcuin Club Collections XIX by Clement O. Skilbeck with notes and Introduction by Percy Dearmer, D.D. A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. London/Oxford, 1912.

Our Lady of Glastonbury

Our Lady of Glastonbury
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

the second in a three part series
--------------------


"Glastonbury was the most ancient and venerable sanctuary of Our Lady in England. In 530 St. David of Menevia, accompanied by seven of his suffragan bishops, came to Glastonbury, invited thither by the sanctity of the place, and consecrated a Chapel of Our Lady on the east side of the church. As a mark of his devotion to the Queen of Heaven, he adorned the golden superaltar with a sapphire of inestimable value, known as the Great Sapphire of Glastonbury. The Silver Chapel of Our Lady was stored with costly gifts, the value of which, at our present standard, mounted to a prodigious sum. Among the Saxon kings who came hither on pilgrimage may be mentioned Athelstan and Edgar the Peaceable, the latter laying his sceptre on the Blessed Virgin's altar and solemnly placing his kingdom under her patronage." - The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Note: The uncle of St. David of Wales was one Melchinus, called Maelgwyn who wrote of St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, and much more. As the Cornish Archaeologist Charles Thomas pointed out, there has been a direct unbroken continuity of Christian tradition in the 'cradle' of West England, South Wales, and Devonia since the first centuries of Roman-Britain til the present day.

In Apologia St. Joseph Arimathea

Above link to an article on an ACA parish homepage included for interest.
---------

St. Joseph Arimathea
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

In the Litany of Dunkeld we have the 'Naming of the Holy Martyrs - beginning with the first martyr of the Church Universal, and then the martyrs of the Brittanic Isle, St. Joseph of Arimathea and St. Aristibule. The list continues with Ss. Alban and Amphibalous, then the local martyrs of Alba (Scotland) beginning with St. Kilian and his kindred (and Ss. Colman, Duncan, Colonach, King Constantine, etc.)

What is interesting about this is the date of the Litany - in its present form, no later than AD 889. The Litany prays for the King Gregory of Scotland as he still rules (being Giric, known as 'King Gregory the Great', murdered in AD 889.) What makes this interesting is that the beginning point for those who denounce the claims of St. Joseph of Arimathea (and St. Aristobulus) mission to Brittania stand upon the late 19th c. claim that William of Malmesbury 'invented' the story around 1125... 235 years after the Litany of Dunkeld took its final form.

The early Church in Britain centered around the Silurian capital at Caerleon (near present day Cardiff) which was at the time a new Roman fort. The site of Glastonbury was important as being where the Gospel is supposed have first been preached in the 'Extreme Occident' and the foundation of what would become the basis of Celtic/Saxon monasticism. (Note - St. Joseph of Arimathea by tradition was only presbyter, not episcopus.)

The list of those who attest to the Apostolic origin of the Church in Britain includes Eusebius of Caesarea 3rd - 4th c., St. Hilary of Poitiers 4th c., St. Gildas the Wise 5th - 6th c. , St. Augustine of Canterbury 7th c., St. Nicephorus of Constantinople 8th - 9th c., Blessed Maurus Rabanus of Mainz 8th - 9th c. (and other documents of lesser mention.)

Those who attest to St. Joseph of Arimathea as the first father in Britain, include the later western 'Father of Ecclesiastical History' the Venerable Cardinal Cesare Baronius of Naples 16th - 17th c., and the Jesuit Melchior Inchofer 16th - 17th c., and the earlier St. Gregory of Tours 6th c, St. Isidore of Seville 7th c., as well as various Welsh and English medieval documents*, or the claims of John of Glastonbury 14th c. and John Capgrave 14th c. as to seeing the same claims from the Holy Emperor Theodosius 4th c.

* As with the Fathers, many documents are quoted by various authors, but no longer are extant - though a copy might exist somewhere. According to various authorities, there are still thousands of untranslated documents in various medieval and ancient languages in the monasteries, libraries, and private collections of Europe.

Plan for a Modern Chancel and Chapel

Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

An appropriate design, one can see the plan of the chancel and choir within the rood screen easily.

_____________

Index to Plan

(The first bay only of the Nave is shown. A Transept room is suggested at the south transept, as a subsidiary church room, suitable for general purposes, for a tea-room, for classes or other meetings, and suitable also for Sunday Kindergarten -- when the Nave would be occupied by the Great, and the Choir Vestry by the Little Catechism, or their equivalants. The Choir Vestry, with its Platform and Aisle, would be used for the Easter Vestry and other large meetings.)

Numbers represent steps.
1,2,3. (Under Rood Screen) Chancel steps.
4. (In Sanctuary) Communion step.
x. x. Standard candlesticks.
T,T. Usual position of Taperers (o o, their candlesticks.)

The below figures show the usual position of the ministers.
---
5. Subdeacon's step.
6. Deacon's step.
CL. Position of Clerk.
7. Foot-pace.
L. Lectern.
P. Pulpit.
CC. Cupboard for children's material.
a,b,c. Servers' cupboards for Albes, &c.
d. Sacristan's store cupboard.
f. Churchwardens' cupboard for books.
V. Verger's cupboard.
e. Parson's cupboard for Cassocks, &c.
g. CUpboard for Surplices and Albes.

In Priest's Vestry, a press, with drawers, under the window.
3. In Chapel, foot-pace.
N. In Chapel, normal position of Server.
2. In Chapel, communion step.
h. In Chapel, Credence.
S. In Chapel, Sedile for minister.


From "The Parson's Handbook" 12th edition, Percy Dearmer, Oxford University Press, London, 1932.

An English Chancel - Inside the Rood Screen

Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

The inside of the Altar, behind the Rood Screen, in an English parish church. The decorated roof is the canopy over the altar - note the East window as well. On the northern wall is the aumbry (tabernacle). The long English altar, three steps up, riddel and dossal curtains with iconographic work (probably emroidered) four candles on the riddel posts, two candles on the altar according to the Medieval Roman use. The Sedalia (seats for the ministers) is on the south wall. The two candlesticks upon the pavement are called 'Standards'.

A very appropriate and simply space designed for the worship of the True God.

Choir Habit of a Degreed English Priest

Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

Another example - the Choir Habit of the English old Catholic / Anglo-Catholic / Orthodox Anglican tradition. The Hood and Tippet are actually part of one garment - the appropriate hood is worn according to the degree held (BTh, MDiv, MTh, DD, DMin, etc.) One can see the ecclesiastical origin of the Western Academic dress here clearly as the original universities, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh were all Seminaries.

The Sarum Cassock is not clear in this case. However, one can see the wide sleeves of the Surplice which is variously called Old English, Medieval, or Warham Guild style. It is thought by some to be a type of alb, possibly from the old Gallican Alb of the early Western church (an unbelted voluminous white linen garment) - a more abbreviated form is variously called Anglican or Benedictine, and the extremely abbreviated form with lace is the Roman style (with a square yoke, and extreme abbreviation, one has the Cotta .. a similar garment.)

This is what a priest would wear praying the Divine Office or Hours (Morningsong, Evensong - Matins, Lauds, Prime, Vespers, Compline, etc.)

English Clergy Habit

Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

An example of the priest's street clothes in the tradition of the Anglo-Catholic or English old Catholic (Orthodox Anglican) tradition. The Sarum cassock is similar to the Byzantine, the Anglo-Saxon gown rather like the Ryassa, the Canterbury cap the older form of clerical headgear somewhat like a skophia or kamilavki. The tippet is a scarf, a portion of the 'hood' and not a stole of any sort. The cincture in this case is of a sash-type, leather belts are also worn.

The First Known Christian Martyr in the Americas

From the book "West Vikings" by Farley Mowat:

"In 1059 there may have been a deliberate attempt to revisit Vinland - perhaps sparked by Gudleif's experiences. There is a record of a Celtic or Saxon priest named Jon, who had at one time worked in Iceland, having gone to Vinland or Vendland on a missionary voyage. He was subsequently reported to have been murdered by the natives there.

...

Assuming that Jon was sent to Vinland, his death should have reinforced the belief that no settlement could be established in the New World in the face of the opposition of the natives. Yet, oddly enough, the next chronological reference to the new lands is also to a missionary expedition. This one seems to have taken place in 1121 when Erik, Bishop of Greenland, is reported to have sailed for Vinland. Nothing further is known about him except that he was succeeded by a new bishop in 1124, from which we draw the conclusion that his luck was no better than Jon's.

The Vinland here referred to here was not Leif's Vinland, which was apparently never rediscovered, but was the later Vinland of the Stefansson map -- the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. It is an ironic thought that if Leif's original Vinland had been rediscovered by Karlsefni or later voyagers (with or without Leif's aid) the Norse might very well have succeeded in establishing a settlement in the New World."

Of course, Greenland is 'North America' as Great Britain is 'Europe', Japan 'Asia', or Madagascar 'Africa'. Leif's settlement in Greenland was a missionary activity of St. Olaf of Norway began in 1000 AD.

The Epiclesis in the West

Quotes from Western Fathers on the epiclesis in the West:

"Justin Martyr (Rome, m. between 163 and 167)
Apol. l. Ixvi:
For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Saviour was made flesh by a word of God (διὰ λόγου Θεοῦ - dia logou Theou) and had flesh and blood for our salvation, so we have been taught that the food which is made Eucharist through a word of prayer that comes from Him (τὴν δι’ εὐχῆς λόγου τοῦ παρ’ αὐτοῦ εὐχαριστηθεῖσαν τροφήν - ten di euches logou tou par autou eucharistetheisan trophen), from which by change [κατὰ μεταβολὴν - kata metabolen, i.e. by metabolism.] our blood and flesh are nourished, are the flesh and blood of the same incarnate Jesus Christ.

Irenaeus (Lyons, d. 202-3)
Haer. i. xiii. 2:
Pretending to make Eucharist of cups mixed with wine, and extending to a great length the word of invocation, he (i.e. the heretic Marcus) makes them appear purple and red, so that it seems as if Charis [One of the emanations in the Valentinian Gnostic system.], one of those beings who are above all things, distilled its blood into that cup at his invocation.
Ibid. iv. xviii. 5:
For as bread from the earth, on receiving the invocation of God, is no longer ordinary bread, but Eucharist, &c.
Ibid. v. ii. 2:
When therefore the mixed cup and the bread that is made receives the word of God, and becomes the Eucharist of Christ's blood and body, &c.
Ibid. v. ii. 3:
(These fruits of the earth) by God's wisdom become fit for man's food, and now, receiving the word of God, become a Eucharist, which is Christ's body and blood.

Hippolytus (Rome, d. 235) quotes in Philosophumena, vi. 39 the first passage of Irenaeus.

Ambrose (Milan, d. 397)
De Sp. Sanct. in. xvi. 112:
He who with the Father and the Son is by the priests named in baptism, and invoked in the oblations.

Optatus (Africa, d. 400)
De schism. Donat. vi. i: ...
the altars of God, on which you (the Donatists when Catholics) at one time offered, on which the vows of the people and the members of Christ were borne, where God Almighty was invoked, where the Holy Ghost descended in answer to prayer; whence the pledge of everlasting salvation and the safeguard of faith and the hope of the resurrection was received by many, &c.

Augustine (Africa, d. 430)
De Trin. in. iv. 10:
That which is taken from the fruit of the earth and consecrated by the mystical prayer we duly receive for our spiritual health in remembrance of the passion of our Lord on our behalf. When this is by the hands of men made to assume that visible form, it is not consecrated so as to become so great a sacrament except by the invisible operation of the Spirit of God.

Isidore (Spain, c. 636)
De eccles. officiis, i. 15 (describing the seven prayers of the liturgy):
Then comes the sixth, the 'Conformation' of the sacrament, that the oblation which is offered to God, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, may be conformed to the body and blood of Christ.
Ibid. i. 18:
But these (bread and wine), while they are visible, having nevertheless been sanctified by the Holy Ghost, pass into the sacrament of the divine body.
The following, generally attributed to St. Isidore, is probably much later.
Etym. vi, 19:
We call it the body and blood of Christ be cause, though it is of the fruit of the earth, it is sanctified and made a sacrament, by the invisible operation of the Holy Ghost.

Gelasius (Rome, d. 496)
Ep. ad Elpidium:
For how shall the heavenly Spirit, on being invoked, come to the consecration of the divine mystery, if the priest, even he who prays Him to be present, is found to be full of guilty actions?

Fulgentius (Africa, d. 533)
Ex Frag. xxviii ex Lib. viii contra Fdbianum:
When at the time of the sacrifice we make commemoration of his death, we ask that love be given to us through the coming of the Holy Spirit, &c.
Ad Monimum, ii. 6:
Why then, if the sacrifice is offered to the whole Trinity is the sending down of the Holy Spirit alone asked for to sanctify our oblation, as if, so to speak. God the Father, from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds, cannot sanctify a sacrifice offered to him, &c. ... And so when the Church asks that the Holy Spirit should be sent upon itself from heaven, it is asking that the gifts of love and unanimity should be given to it by God; but when can the holy Church, which is the body of Christ, more fittingly ask for the coming of the Holy Spirit than for the consecration of the sacrifice of the body of Christ?"

From Appendix C, Handbook to the Christian Liturgy, James Norman MA, 1944 (SPCK)

The Survival of the English Use

Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

A nice picture, from "A Server's Manual for the Holy Communion"

Details to notice: the East Window, the altar with dossal and riddel curtains. Two candles on the altar, an altar cross, a frontal on the altar - cushions for the Missal, the Corporals covered Chalice and Paten. The priest in appareled alb, appareled amice, full Gothic chasuble, thin stole, maniple. The server in Cassock and the slit opening variation of the English surplice (I've most often seen this worn by Choirs and Organ masters.) See also the Aumbrey (English version of the Tabernacle - the cruet there probably contains Holy Oil) the Credence table with the vials and instruments for Lavabo, and the Sedalia (those are the 'seats' that look like windows with cushions on the sill.) How Church was done openly for probably over 1000 years, til the Reformation (when it was done secretly for 200 more years), and as recovered in the 19th c. first by Emancipated English Catholics, then by Anglo-Catholics (and finally in the 20th c. by Western Rite Orthodox.)

For guideposts towards that history, I would suggest Stanley Morrison's "English Prayer Books" for a start. The Tichborn estate (a Recusant family) had a Sarum Manuale all the way through and was the basis of the 19th c. Sarum translations by the Wordsworths. Sarum books were still being printed in England up til 1557, the Sarum at the English exiles in France up til 1576 (Rome til 1569). The last Sarum book printed was in 1611 (Kellam-Douai 12mo.)

The Jesuits, beginning in 1623, carried special books printed just for their mission that were "pro Sacerdotibus in Anglia, Scotia, et Ibernia", which were full of Sarum customs (and, the full Sarum marriage service, for instance.)

Morrison sees the Tridentine only supplanting the Sarum in the colleges abroad - and that besides the Jesuit books, the Platin books of Antwerp were in use - as well as Sarum books (such as at Tichborn.)

It should be noted that the 1686 Ordo published in England by James II's printers was Sarum based (after the Jesuit usage "pro Anglia, Hibernia, et Scotia." And, though Morrison doesn't have that information, I have elsewhere reference to the use surviving in two parishes in Cornwall.

As for the revival of Sarum in full, it was accomplished with the Roman Catholics in England with Ambrose Phillips de Lisle at Grace Dieu (and, Pugin's wife was baptised according to Sarum Use by Dr. Daniel Rock at Lord Shrewsbury's private chapel in 1839 - the same year De Lisle asked for the Roman bishops to reinstate full Sarum.)

From all the histories I've checked over the past few months on the Recusants, there is agreement that the Irish invading England were definitely using different customs and traditions than the English old Catholics were used to (ie, Sarum/'pro Anglia, Hibernia, et Scotia') and it remained a major sticking point. As the Irish pushed the English use out of the RCC in England, the Anglo-Catholics picked it up (primarily through Williams, Seager and Bloxam - who first learned ritual and ceremony from De Lisle's Grace Dieu chapel.) The first Latin Breviary printed in England after the Emancipation was an 1830 Sarum Breviary by Husenbeth.

For that matter, though *some* Tridentine books were used in England during that period, it was more likely to be the Parisian books (which had their own local elements - this is during the 'Neo-Gallican' period), or the Antwerp books (again, with local elements after Utrecht).

The Jesuits aforementioned were using a local use based upon Sarum (not Tridentine), as acculturation was their method in those few centuries. The Irish themselves had lost their own usage (which was like the Sarum) though the Jesuits and Dominicans were using liturgy like the old Irish liturgy. It was the Franciscans who brought about the change in Irish Catholic life and worship, which was later to be imposed upon Britain and America through migration.

It should also be pointed out (from Denis Gwyn, J.C.H. Aveling, J. Bossy, and E. Norman) that the English old Catholics were being served not only by the Jesuits, but by larger numbers of secular clergy who were private chaplains, chosen by and trained for the Recusant families: the idea of some newly indoctrinated Tridentine-purist Continental Seminarians overturning a tradition in England overnight (or even in a generation) and importing loads of new books is simple hogwash... it fits with neither of the facts that the clergy for the most part were *untrained* (the private chaplains) or Jesuit trained (and thus, using not Tridentine books, but special books for Britain and Ireland based upon Sarum). That: and the stress over ceremonial and tradition after the Irish migration was due to the new Irish (Franciscan) clergy imposing a new practice (Tridentine ceremonial and books) unlike the Jesuit/Secular practices current with English Catholics.

Did the Normans change the English rites?

One of the charges made by certain un-canonical groups, and a few uneducated or belligerent parties in the Church, has been that the Divine Liturgy of the West was dramatically changed by the Normans after the invasion of Britain. I found this description from one of the major scholars of that representative Western rite of the Middle Ages (upon which the English services originate), Daniel Rock D.D., from his work "The Church of Our Fathers: As seen in St. Osmund's Rite for the Cathedral of Salisbury with dissertations on the belief and ritual in England before and after the coming of the Normans." 1849. A Catholic work - it has strong consonances with Orthodoxy. Dr. Daniel Rock was one of the English old Catholics (those who preserved the old English customs and tradition after the Reformation, contrary both to the Establishment - which was often Calvinist and Puritan, and contrary to the Jesuit missionary activity which sought to 'remake' Catholicism in that country into a new thing.)

"Protestant writers upon the history and antiquities of the Church in this country, have often allowed themselves to be easily misled into no small error concerning changes imagined to have been wrought by St. Osmund in our national ecclesiastical services.

Not for a moment must it be thought that this holy man either took away one smallest jot from the text of the liturgy for offering up the sacrifice of the mass, or altered a word of the ritual of administering any of the seven sacraments. Both the Sacrifice and the Sacraments were hallowed things, which the Normans looked upon with the like deep reverence and holy feeling as the Anglo-Saxons: for each nation's belief upon these articles of Christian faith was identical, flowing as it did out of the self-same well-spring of truth -- the apostolic see, the chair of St. Peter."

....

Now it should be asked: " In What did the Sarum ritual vary from that of Rome, and of the Anglo-Saxons?", the question is readily answered by replying, that the difference was neither much nor important. On comparing the Breviary, the Missal, and the Manual of Salisbury, with such of the service-books as have come down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, and those books now in use at Rome [1849], we shall find that they agree with one another almost word for word; so much so, indeed, as to show that St. Osmund did nothing more than to take the Roman liturgy as he found it at the time, ingraft upon it some slight unimportant insertions, and draw out its rubrics in such a way as to hinder the ordinary chances of falling into any mistakes about them from happening. He seems to have invented nothing of himself in these matters, but to have chosen out of the practices he saw in use around him, among the Anglo-Saxons here, and more especially among his own countrymen in Normandy; and it would appear he undertook nothing more than to arrange the church-offices in such sort that his clergy -- composed as they must have been of Normans and Anglo-Saxons -- might have one known uniform rule to lead them while going through their respective functions within the sanctuary, and their several duties amid their flocks."

....

Such, reader, are the chief though not all the beauties of our dear old Sarum rite, which, after all, was so very Anglo-Saxon in its leading features. To love those olden ways in which our fathers for ages trod, is what has been told us and taught us by some of the highest holiest men who have lived at different times and various places in God's one catholic everlasting Church. How St. Charles Borromeo strove and wrought successfully to keep up the liturgy and ritual as they were left by hid predecessor, the great St. Ambrose; how Cardinal Ximenes preserved, at Toledo, the Mozarabic service - are fact well known. ... The Holy See, nay the Church herself, has always acknowledged the lawfulness of keeping up local rites and praiseworthy customs in different countries. The council of Trent, Sess. XXIV., in its Decretum de Reformatione Matrimonii cap. i., says: - Si quae provinciae aliis, ultra praedictas, laudabilibus consuetudinibus et caeremoniis hac in re utuntur, eas omnino retineri sancta Synodus vehementer optat. For the holy See, and the Roman Congregation of Rites, Gavanti, than whom a more trustworthy witness could not be found, assures us that: - Proprios mores unaquaeque habet ecclesia et laudibiles consuetudines, quas non tolli a caeremoniali Romano, neque a rubricis Breviarii, saepius declaravit Sacra rittum Congregatio.

....

Between the Anglo-Saxon and the Sarum rite there was but small difference: this latter bore about it a strong sister likeness to the first, so that, while looking upon the one, we, after a way, behold both. In its features and its whole stature, we gaze, as it were, upon our fathers in their religious life; we read their ghostly annals, through a thousand years and more, as a Catholic people. It tells us what men and women, old and young, high and low, then did and must have done to have got for this land of England that sweet name, among the nations, of "The island of Saints." When we take a remembrance of this liturgy with us into the tall cathedral and the lowly parish church, those dear old walls that catholic hands built are again quickened into ritual life; we see the lighted tapers round the shrine, or circling about the Blessed Sacrament hung above the altar; we catch the chant, we witness the procession as it halts to kneel and pray beneath the rood-loft; to the inward eye, the bishop with his seven deacons and as many subdeacons, is standing at the altar sacrificing, and as he uplifts our divine Lord in the Eucharist, for the worship of the kneeling throng, we hear the bell toll forth slowly, majestically. From the southern porch-door, to the brackets on the eastern chancel wall for the B.V. Mary's and the patron saint's images, every thing has its own meaning and speaks its especial purpose, as intended by the use of Sarum. Can these rites never again be witnessed in England? They may. Let us hope then - let us pray for their restoration, so that England may once more gaze upon her olden liturgy; let us hope and pray that her children, in looking upon, may all acknowledge their true mother, and love and heed the teaching the while they study the ritual of the Church of our Fathers."

Postscript by W.H. Frere : "If the learned author were alive now and wished to find examples of the old English ways which were so dear to him he would have to go to the Churches of the establishment rather than to those of the Roman Catholic body." 1905.

Post-postscript: AFAIK, the English Sarum Use has only been done intermittently as experiments in our own time by Church of England clergy - and maybe once in Scotland by Roman clergy... and the Sarum pretty much is found only in use with the Western Rite Orthodox under ROCOR (and parts of it, or the heritage thereof amongst the Continuum and the Antiochian Western Rite - and still possibly with a few Anglo-Catholics or High Churchmen of the Church of England, and possibly within other churches in its Communion ?)

A bit more of the Very Rev. Dr. Daniel Rock's writing:

"The Anglo-Saxons were taught never to go beyond the threshold of a church without stirring up within themselves feelings of the deepest awe: for they were then treading hallowed ground: they were within the house of prayer - hard by the spot whereon the body of Christ was about to be consecrated - whereon the mysteries of his body and blood were being wrought; they were made aware that cherubim and seraphim hovered unseen about the altar, in noiseless, but most lowly worship; therefore was it becoming for man to awaken within his heart a reverential dread, and be there before the holy of holies, with eyes cast down to the ground, like the pious woman at the sepulchre, when, on going to seek the body of Jesus, they found it watched by an angel. Hence, too, they were told never to sit down during mass, unless weakness or bad health obliged them; and to hear it fasting.

Such feelings of awe for the spot on which was offered up the holy sacrifice, did not belong exclusively to our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, but may be seen, much before their time, acting upon other portions of the Church, both in the east and west, and have been fondly cherished ever since; nowhere, however, with more warmth than in our own England, while it was Catholic."

Pax-Brede

Here is a Western 'icon' that was used liturgically from at least the 13th c. (AD 1200's) for the Kiss of Peace.

From Daniel Rock's "The Church of Our Fathers", 1849:

"Instead of the clerk's cheek, the priest kissed the figure of our Blessed Lord, painted on a small piece of wood, or graven on a plate of copper, set in a frame, with a handle behind, as is shown in this cut. So shaped, it could easily be carried about among the people by the clerk, in his left hand; and, after each kiss bestowed upon it, wiped with a little napkin which he held for that purpose in his right hand. The earliest mention anywhere of such a ritual appliance, is to be found among this country's ecclesiastical enactments, in which it is called "osculatorium," "asser pacis," "tabula pacis."28 Its more common name was "pax-brede," which at once told its liturgical purpose, and of what material it happened, at first, to be generally made. Afterwards, gold, silver, ivory, jewels, enamel, and the most beautiful workmanship, were bestowed upon it; though, for poor churches, it still continued to be made of wood, or at most, of copper gilt.

--------------
28 Among other sacred things to be found by the parishioners for their church, according to the statutes of Archbishop Walter Gray, for his province of York (A.D. 1250), was "osculatorium." (Wilkins, Concil., i. 698.) In like manner the synod of Exeter (A. D. 1287) decreed there should be "asser ad pacem" (ibid., ii. 139), and the council of Merton (A.D. 1305), "tabulas pacis ad osculatorium" (ibid., 280). "

The pax-brede, along with the Eulogiae (holy bread) was withheld from hardened sinners first among items barred from those excommunicated. The Gospel was also used as such at High Masses in Cathedrals (like the Gospel at Byzantine Orthros.)

Also from Daniel Rock D.D. Canon of the English Chapter (Roman Catholic):

"In going to meet, for the first time, that pagan king, St. Austin and his holy fellow-labourers went forward carrying for a banner a silver cross and the image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board.... The use of images and pictures in churches, is well defended by this great Anglo-Saxon father [Venerable Bede] in another part of his writings; and he shows that as under the Old, so in the New law, the employment of images is quite allowable: [referring to the Venerable Bede's commentary on Exodus]... Upon the principle that the Church is the teaching-house of holiness, therefore the walls themselves about the earthly building should speak of heaven... upon this principle was it that the Anglo-Saxons strove their best to get the images of Christ, of his ever-virgin mother, of the apostles and of the saints, and to look for artists who might paint subjects from holy writ, to adorn the walls of their churches.... On going, then, into an Anglo-Saxon minster, here and there might be seen, done in bronze, or some one or other of the more valuable metals, representations of the life and miracles of our divine Redeemer. But in those places where it could be procured, the whole inside of the church was covered with paintings of the saints, and illustrations of passages of holy writ. "


See: PaintedChurch.org for surviving examples.

The Healer of Rue d'Alleray

Dom Denis of d'Alleray was known for the miraculous healings that occured from his simple prayers. His monastery was of the Benedictine Rule and Roman Rite, and under the Russian Orthodox Church.
Originally uploaded by Aristibule.

The blog OCCIDENTALIS posted this article, and especially this picture of Dom Denis of d'Alleray of Blessed Memory (which I had been searching for the past 5 years.) He is the first that comes to mind when I think of local Western Rite Orthodox who are candidates for glorification by the Church.

Chivalry and the 21st century.

Charlemagne's Code of Chivalry (Late 700's) :

To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valour and faith
To protect the weak and defenceless
To give succour to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of fellow knights
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe.


There are other lists made at various times in history - this one seems the most ancient, however, and completely applicable (even on the issue of 'liege lord' - for those of us living in democratic societies, a liege lord is the 'hand that feeds', IOW - Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You. For an American Soldier, that 'liege lord' is both the Constitution and the American Public. For the Citizen, it is our employer, our parish priest and bishop, and our community (the common good.)

The English Use

"While you stick to the old Church of England ways you are respectable—it is going by a sort of tradition ; when you profess to return to lost Church of England ways you are rational ;—but when you invent a new ceremonial which never was, when you copy the Roman or other foreign rituals, you are neither respectable nor rational. It is sectarian."—J. H. Newman to Henry Wilberforce. Life of  J. H. Cardinal Newman, by W. Ward. 1912. I. 235.


An interesting essay which was No. XI of the Alcuin Club Tracts. Defends the English Use against the Anglo-Roman party of the times. Note how the objections some made at the time sound like the 'usual suspects' criticism of the Orthodox English Divine Liturgy.

"English or Roman Use?" by E. G. P. Wyatt, MA [A. R. Mowbray and Co. Ltd. London; Milwaukee, U.S.A.: The Young Churchman Co., 1913] transcribed by Mr Allan R Wylie AD 2000

"Objection 1.—The reproach is made against the upholders of the English Use that they have "divided the Catholic camp" by breaking in upon a tradition which had been held by all within that "camp" for half a century. But this does not agree with the facts. There can be no doubt that those who first accepted Roman usages in the early days of the Church Revival did so in the belief that these were identical with those that prevailed in the English Church before the Reformation, and when the progress of liturgical and ecclesiological learning showed that this belief was mistaken, some, at least, sought a remedy by resorting wholesale to Sarum usages, or what were thought to be such, thirty years ago, or more.

Objection 2. —Then we are told that a "living" use ought to be preferred to a "dead" one. This idea seems to spring from a misunderstanding of what is implied by the English Use. It does not consist in reviving a rite which has passed out of use and become obsolete. On the contrary, it is the living rite of the Prayer Book, and if reference is made on any particular point to a custom which has been disused, it may be, for a very long time, there is no meaning in calling it a "dead" custom. At one time Ascension Day seems to have completely passed out of observance in England: would it have been any answer to those who wished to revive its observance to say that it was "dead" and therefore could not be revived?

Objection 3. —The English Use is "antiquarian" and has its origin in the "British Museum." If these phrases have any meaning they are really complimentary, and not the reverse, for they imply that the English Use is based on sound learning. Those who repeat this little jest seem to be unaware that the British Museum is not a collection of Mediaeval Church antiquities, but is the home of scholars because it contains the largest library in the world. Like everything else in religion, the English Use has its roots in the past, and is based on precedent. Can the secret of the objectors’ reverence for the Papal Congregation of Sacred Rites be that its decisions are thought to be "up-to-date," and based on "common sense" only, and to have nothing to do with either learning or precedent?

Objection 4. —The English Use is "artificial." This apparently means that it starts from the directions in the Prayer Book as a basis, and merely supplements them by the authoritative customs to which the Prayer Book explicitly or implicitly refers us, instead of adopting a whole system bodily from another rite, and omitting only so much of it as is necessitated by the fact of the rite being different from our own.

Objection 5. —The English Use is "uncertain." This sometimes takes the form of asking which of the old English rites abolished by the Prayer Book, Sarum, York, etc., we are to adopt. But the English Use does not imply the wholesale adoption of any rite but that of the Prayer Book. Sometimes, however, the objection is made that there is no certain knowledge about the former customs to which we are referred, contrasting this method with the easy resort to a ready-made system, which every one can find for himself in the Roman books. But, as a matter of fact, owing to the researches of the "antiquarians" in the available records, there is no difficulty at all in getting any information that is necessary with regard to the old customs in question, and wonderfully little difference of opinion about them. And among the English churches that are supposed to follow the Roman Use, is there one that follows it exactly, or any two that are alike?

Objection 6. —It is objected that the English Use sets up "national" against "Catholic" customs. But this has no meaning in the mouth of anybody, but an Ultramontane. It is true that for some centuries the Papacy has, in Western Europe, been endeavouring to abolish national rites and in other ways to introduce a rigid uniformity in rites and ceremonies. But it has never completely succeeded, and even in Roman Catholic countries a good many of the old national customs exist, and of course the Uniat Churches of the East have their own rites. The Eastern Churches have always been national. But formerly in the West there were diocesan rites and ceremonies as well, and there still are at Milan.

Objection 7.—The English Use is "insular"; and it is further objected that the old English customs were themselves foreign in origin. For this objection to have any relevance, it would have to be shown that it was in old times open to any parish priest in England to introduce into a parish church on his own authority any ceremonial that struck his fancy, if he happened to travel abroad. But the whole objection is based on a misunderstanding. The English use is not advocated because it is "English" and not "foreign," but because it is authoritative."

Even more so because of the English Use (based upon English traditions in ROCOR) is authoritative according to the Holy Synods of ROCOR, Russia, and others.

"... the plea practically ignores the existence of the Eastern Churches. The adoption of Roman Catholic customs would certainly not help on Reunion with them; on the contrary, it might be a serious hindrance. And Reunion without the East would not be Reunion at all."