Yesterday, Sunday 25th November, Mass was celebrated according to the Latin Use of Salisbury with the setting Missa Puer natus est nobis by Thomas Tallis – sung by the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal. The Mass itself was that of Christmas Day (odd) rather than the Sunday Next before Advent.
I would have loved to go to it, but it was impossible due to distance and cost. Unfortunately, filming the liturgy was not allowed, so all we have is a few discreetly taken photos.
The splendid vestments were lent for the occasion by Fr Percy Dearmer’s church, St Mary’s Primrose Hill in London.
The final one here is the most “iconic”, the priest holding his arms in the form of the cross at the Unde et memores, a feature shared with the rites of Paris, Rouen, Lyon, the Dominican Order, most monasteries not using the Roman rite, etc.
I have done a couple of videos myself, but only of low Mass.
There is also a famous celebration in the 1990’s by the Roman Catholic priest Fr Sean Finnigan.
The Blue Flower 
This was an Anglican service, I presume.
Yes, celebrated by the chaplain of the establishment Canon Anthony Howe, with Fr Allan Barton as deacon and Fr Max Bayliss as subdeacon. It was all organised by Fr Allan Barton. See Fr Barton’s Facebook page.
I wish I could have attended, but I am lucky at least to live in a diocese where the bishop is a former Vicar of St Mary’s Primrose Hill ( and also a former Benedictine monk!)
Many thanks – it’s good for those like me who eschew Facebook to be able to see this much, too! Was it (if that is not an impossibly ignorant question) in Latin or an English translation? And, was audio recording (of whatever extent) permitted – and, if so, carried out?
I was just thinking of St. Osmund, whose Feast is a week from today, and whom I have read was the last English Saint canonized before the English Reformation. Was it celebrated according to this Use for several decades in this very Chapel before as it were ‘the liturgical fullness of the English Reformation’?
One thing I have discovered about Facebook is the groups feature which if well moderated can host valuable discussions and sharing of knowledge. The “Timeline” mostly contains drivel, but it can be well used.
This Sarum Mass was a “real Mass”, not a play, because it involved a priest “intending to do what the Church does”. It was celebrated in Latin. Photos were taken, but no recordings or videos were made, unfortunately. I was not present myself because of distance and cost.
The Sarum Use spread out across the south of England because it was better organised than most diocesan uses of the time, and became the uniform use under Henry VIII. It was abolished with all the other pre-Reformation Uses under Edward VI with the 1549 Prayer Book. I find it highly significant being used in an Anglican context as well as the various times it has been celebrated by Roman Catholic priests.
During one of my visits to to England i’ve noticed that anglican churches have those metal plates on the altar. What is their purpose?
They would seem to be alms dishes, usually very ornate in the 17th century. The symbolism of the collection of money at the Offertory is strong in Anglicanism and is offered at the altar with the elements of bread and wine. The offered money is thus a liturgical participation of the people in the Eucharist.
I remember in my youth once attending a very low Anglican celebration of the Communion service, in which there was no real offering of the elements or respect paid even to the consecrated species, but when the offering was presented to the presiding minister, on heavy brass plates, he turned around and held them high over his head as an offering with prayers of thanksgiving. I find it all very strange.
Indeed, it shows where some people have their priorities!
I see. Makes sense. Thank you 🙂
We did a complete Sarum vespers in the cathedral in Albany, New York in 1980 on the anniversary of St. Benedict.
Why do Anglicans (in this chapel anyways) display silver flagons and other items on the altar instead of keeping them stored until needed?
I don’t actually know the answer, but it might be something like the Welsh dresser that shows off a household’s best plates.
Here is Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, in 1831: