To Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,
All of the signers of this petition have experienced, like everyone else, the separation from our loved ones… but also the separation from places of worship as part of the COVID lockdown imposed on our country.
On 11th May the government published a 50 page roadmap outlining the steps which will be taken in order to alleviate some of the restrictions placed on the population. We respectfully ask you to also pay attention to the needs of Christians, the UK’s largest aggregate community and to consider our need to celebrate our faith. In particular, we ask you to prioritise the immediate reopening of churches as places of private prayer along with the swift resumption of weekly worship services, Masses, wedding ceremonies, funerals and baptisms.
Places of worship will know how to organize adequate instruments of social distancing within their facilities, and you should trust people of faith to be smart about protecting themselves and others. Please take a step forward to protect the right to believers to freely profess one’s religious faith and practice its worship, as recognized by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Men’s Talk this evening (Wed 6th May 2020 8pm) on LiveMass.net (Warrington live) will be given by Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP.
In response to interest expressed after a Lenten sermon on this topic, Fr de Malleray will offer a two-part commentary on the celebrated Marian hymn.
While the Stabat Mater fits with Lent rather than Eastertide, its spirituality can benefit Catholic souls at all times, especially in the present sacramental dearth.
This is part of St Mary’s weekly Men’s Group (but surely Our Lady won’t object to women attending remotely). Litany of St Joseph and Sung Compline will follow as usual.
We recommend this sober and evocative renddition of the sung Stabat Mater with subtitles.
Stabat Mater dolorosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosa Dum pendebat Filius.
The grieving Mother stood weeping beside the cross where her Son was hanging.
Cuius animam gementem Contristatam et dolentem Pertransivit gladius.
O quam tristis et afflicta Fuit illa benedicta Mater unigeniti!
Through her weeping soul, compassionate and grieving, a sword passed.
O how sad and afflicted was that blessed Mother of the only-begotten,
Quae moerebat et dolebat, Pia Mater, dum videbat Nati poenas incliti.
who mourned and grieved, seeing and bearing the torment of her glorious child.
Quis est homo qui non fleret, Matrem Christi si videret In tanto supplicio?
Quis non posset contristari, Christi Matrem contemplari Dolentem cum Filio?
Who is it that would not weep, seeing Christ’s Mother in such agony?
Who could not feel compassion on beholding the Holy Mother suffering with her Son?
Pro peccatis suae gentis Vidit Iesum in tormentis, Et flagellis subditum.
Vidit suum dulcem natum Moriendo desolatum Dum emisit spiritum.
For the sake of his peoples’ sins, she saw Jesus tormented, and subjected to whips.
She saw her sweet child die desolate, as he gave up His spirit.
Eja Mater, fons amoris Me sentire vim doloris Fac, ut tecum lugeam.
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum In amando Christum Deum Ut sibi complaceam.
Sancta Mater, istud agas, Crucifixi fige plagas Cordi meo valide.
O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you.
Grant that my heart may burn in the love of Christ my God, that I may greatly please Him.
Holy Mother, make the wounds of the Crucifixion in my own heart.
Tui nati vulnerati, Tam dignati pro me pati, Poenas mecum divide.
Let me share the pain of your own wounded Son who chose to suffer so much for me.
Fac me tecum, pie, flere, Crucifixo condolere, Donec ego vixero.
Let me weep with you, O pious one, and show compassion for the crucified as long as I live.
Juxta crucem tecum stare, Et me tibi sociare In planctu desidero.
I wish to stand with you next to the Cross and to be your companion in lamentation.
Virgo virginum praeclara, Mihi jam non sis amara Fac me tecum plangere.
Most illustrious virgin of virgins, Do not be harsh with me, allow me to weep with you.
Fac, ut portem Christi mortem Passionis fac consortem, Et plagas recolere.
Grant that I might bear the suffering and death of Christ, and receive his wounds.
Fac me plagis vulnerari, Fac me cruce inebriari, Et cruore Filii. Flammis ne urar succensus, per te virgo sim defensus, in die judicii.
Wound me with his wounds, make me drunk with the Cross and the blood of your son. Burning and on fire, let me be defended by you, O Virgin, on the Day of Judgment. May I be guarded by the cross, protected by Christ’s death, nurtured by grace.
Quando corpus morietur, Fac, ut animae donetur Paradisi gloria. Amen.
When my body dies, let my soul be given the glory of paradise. Amen.
The Men’s Talk this evening (Wed 29 April 2020 8pm) on LiveMass.net (Warrington live) will be given by Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP.
In response to interest expressed after a Lenten sermon on this topic, Fr de Malleray will offer a two-part commentary on the celebrated Marian hymn.
While the Stabat Mater fits with Lent rather than Eastertide, its spirituality can benefit Catholic souls at all times, especially in the present sacramental dearth.
This is part of St Mary’s weekly Men’s Group (but surely Our Lady won’t object to women attending remotely). Litany of St Joseph and Sung Compline will follow as usual.
We recommend this sober and evocative renddition of the sung Stabat Mater with subtitles.
Stabat Mater dolorosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosa Dum pendebat Filius.
The grieving Mother stood weeping beside the cross where her Son was hanging.
Cuius animam gementem Contristatam et dolentem Pertransivit gladius.
O quam tristis et afflicta Fuit illa benedicta Mater unigeniti!
Through her weeping soul, compassionate and grieving, a sword passed.
O how sad and afflicted was that blessed Mother of the only-begotten,
Quae moerebat et dolebat, Pia Mater, dum videbat Nati poenas incliti.
who mourned and grieved, seeing and bearing the torment of her glorious child.
Quis est homo qui non fleret, Matrem Christi si videret In tanto supplicio?
Quis non posset contristari, Christi Matrem contemplari Dolentem cum Filio?
Who is it that would not weep, seeing Christ’s Mother in such agony?
Who could not feel compassion on beholding the Holy Mother suffering with her Son?
Pro peccatis suae gentis Vidit Iesum in tormentis, Et flagellis subditum.
Vidit suum dulcem natum Moriendo desolatum Dum emisit spiritum.
For the sake of his peoples’ sins, she saw Jesus tormented, and subjected to whips.
She saw her sweet child die desolate, as he gave up His spirit.
Eja Mater, fons amoris Me sentire vim doloris Fac, ut tecum lugeam.
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum In amando Christum Deum Ut sibi complaceam.
Sancta Mater, istud agas, Crucifixi fige plagas Cordi meo valide.
O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you.
Grant that my heart may burn in the love of Christ my God, that I may greatly please Him.
Holy Mother, make the wounds of the Crucifixion in my own heart.
Tui nati vulnerati, Tam dignati pro me pati, Poenas mecum divide.
Let me share the pain of your own wounded Son who chose to suffer so much for me.
Fac me tecum, pie, flere, Crucifixo condolere, Donec ego vixero.
Let me weep with you, O pious one, and show compassion for the crucified as long as I live.
Juxta crucem tecum stare, Et me tibi sociare In planctu desidero.
I wish to stand with you next to the Cross and to be your companion in lamentation.
Virgo virginum praeclara, Mihi jam non sis amara Fac me tecum plangere.
Most illustrious virgin of virgins, Do not be harsh with me, allow me to weep with you.
Fac, ut portem Christi mortem Passionis fac consortem, Et plagas recolere.
Grant that I might bear the suffering and death of Christ, and receive his wounds.
Fac me plagis vulnerari, Fac me cruce inebriari, Et cruore Filii. Flammis ne urar succensus, per te virgo sim defensus, in die judicii.
Wound me with his wounds, make me drunk with the Cross and the blood of your son. Burning and on fire, let me be defended by you, O Virgin, on the Day of Judgment. May I be guarded by the cross, protected by Christ’s death, nurtured by grace.
Quando corpus morietur, Fac, ut animae donetur Paradisi gloria. Amen.
When my body dies, let my soul be given the glory of paradise. Amen.
Please join us. If you hear about it later than those dates, please join anyway. This novena petitions Our Lord, the Good Shepherd, that it may be safe to re-open Churches and restore public Masses as soon as possible.
The Litany of the Sacred Heart
For the Intention that it may be safe to re-open the Churches and restore public Masses as soon as possible, we pray:
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Formed by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mother,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Substantially united to the Word of God,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Of Infinite Majesty,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Most High,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Burning Furnace of charity,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Vessel of Justice and love,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Full of goodness and love,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Abyss of all virtues,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Most worthy of all praises,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, King and centre of all hearts,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, In Whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, In Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Divinity,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, in Whom the Father is well pleased,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Of Whose fullness we have all received,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Desire of the everlasting hills,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Patient and abounding in mercy,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Rich unto all who call upon Thee,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Fountain of life and holiness,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Atonement for our sins,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Filled with reproaches,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Bruised for our offenses,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Made obedient unto death,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Pierced with a lance,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Source of all consolation,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Our Life and Resurrection,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Our Peace and Reconciliation,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Victim for our sins,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Salvation of those who hope in Thee,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Hope of those who die in Thee,
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, Delight of all the Saints,
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
Make our hearts like unto Thine.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Thine most-beloved Son, and upon the praises and satisfaction He offers Thee in the name of sinners; and appeased by worthy homage, pardon those who implore Thy mercy, in Thy Great Goodness in the name of the same Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
Thanks to our dedicated LiveMass team, we can now watch online permanently the entire Maundy Thursday liturgy 2020 filmed at St Mary’s Shrine, with Fr Alex Stewart, FSSP as celebrant and homilist.
(The last hour or so is adoration at the Altar of Repose.)
Our FSSP Warrington weekly Men’s Group will meet via LiveMass this evening, Wednesday 22nd April, at 8:00pm (Warrington UK time), for a meditation by Fr Henry Whisenant followed by choral singing of Compline. 😇 https://www.livemass.net/
Presentation given on the National Consecration of England to the Blessed Virgin – March 29th 2020, by Fr Henry Whisenant, Assistant Priest at St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington, England
What a blessing that because of the LiveMass facilities in this church, those of you watching at home can join us in these devotions for the national consecration of England to Our Lady, even if we cannot be united in person.
This
consecration, taking place across our country today, is to renew the offering
of England to the Blessed Virgin under its privileged title of Dos Mariae, the Dowry of Mary.
It’s difficult
to know when such a title was first in use – perhaps by the time of St Edward
the Confessor – but there are at least clear, indisputable references to it by
the 14th century. Already in 1350, one preacher was able to state: “it is
commonly said that the land of England is the Virgin’s Dowry”. And on the eve
of the Battle of Agincourt, priests in England prayed to Our Lady under the title,
“Protectress of her dower”.
What does the
term mean: Our Lady’s Dowry or Our Lady’s Dower? It refers to the custom in
marriages of old, that when a woman was married, the bride’s family provided
certain possessions or property to be given with her to her husband. This
property, this “dowry”, could not simply be liquidated by the husband – rather
it was a conditional gift that was still in some way attached to the bride, so
that if the husband were to die, the widow would have some financial security
for herself and her children. It was also customary in certain cultures for the
husband himself to provide a “dower”, a gift of wealth of property to his bride
upon their wedding, for this same purpose.
England then
was seen to be Our Lady’s Dowry, or Our Lady’s Dower, in this sense: that the
Lord God, the Divine Spouse of her immaculate soul, entrusted to her this small
island country to be her portion, to be under her custody and at her disposal.
Throughout the centuries, from its evangelisation until the wanton destruction
of the country’s faith under the Protestant revolution, the people of this land
felt a great affection for the Mother of Christ as their mistress and
protector, and they had a devotion to her that was famed in Europe.
At the height
of this devotion, in 1381, around the Feast of Corpus Christi, King Richard II
took the step of formally consecrating the country to Our Lady, in front of her
image in Westminster Abbey, an event which is famously commemorated in the
Wilton Diptych, which you can go see (but not right now, alas!) in the National
Gallery in London.
On this
Passion Sunday, in 2020, we gather, if not in body then in spirit, to renew
this same consecration to Our Lady once again.
We might be
forgiven for regretting the timing of
this renewal, with all this happening around us. We might be forgiven for
hankering after the solemn ceremony of 1381, and for thinking that – with the
current virus doing the rounds, and everything cancelled and everyone in
lockdown – we are, by contrast, in the very worst
possible circumstances – the most dispiriting, the most underwhelming – for
a renewal of that national consecration today!
But I suggest
we look again at that first consecration of 1381… For we will find that, in
reality, even more than ours today, that historic event took place in the midst
of terrible pestilence and disease, social disruption and national anxiety.
To see this,
we must go back 33 years before that
consecration to the Black Death. The Black Death, the Plague, was a disease
that also began in China, and was carried to Europe in 1348 by infected rats
along prominent trade routes from East to West.
Between 1348
to 1349, the Black Death swept through England, and wiped out as much as 40-60%
of the population. To get a sense of the magnitude of this, compare it to the
coronavirus today. To this date, roughly 20,000 people in the UK are said to
have tested positive with the virus: that’s 0.3% of the population. And just
over 1,000 deaths have been attributed to the virus: that’s less than 0.002% of
the current population… And now imagine a disease that claimed 40-60% of the
populace! Not only this, but the plague returned every dozen years or so until the end of the century… For
example, from autumn 1379 to 1380, it carried off up to another20% of England’s population!
The country,
in terror, came to a standstill. Parliament was postponed. The King’s court was
dismissed from Easter until midsummer. The London Guildhall was closed.
Keep in mind
that this was less than a year before
King Richard’s consecration of the country to Our Lady. The consecration took
place in a country that was struggling to function normally after such a great
atrocity – a plague significantly more crippling than anything we are yet
facing today.
And not only
this…
Because of the
dramatic and sudden loss of life, England under Richard II was also
experiencing profound social unrest. With the drastic shortage of labourers, those
who were left to do the work demanded a greater salary for the increased work
that was left to them. But the landowners, the employers, were reluctant to do
this, and the ongoing tension led finally to the Peasants’ Revolt in June of
1381, when thousands of workers marched on London, killed anyone they found
connected to the Royal Court (including the chancellor and the treasurer), and
forced King Richard to meet with them and accede to their demands. It wasn’t
until the end of June that this riot was largely quelled, and the rebels killed
or dispersed.
Now bear in
mind that this was the very same month
when the Dowry Consecration took place. In other words, the King was not
consecrating England to Our Lady simply as a nice and pleasant thing to do…!
He was consecrating it to her, as her Dowry, as a way of saying: “Help! I don’t
know what to do about all this! I don’t know how to manage all this chaos in my
country! Come and be the mistress and protector and ruler of this land, your
possession.” The consecration of 1381 was a plea to Our Lady in a time of great
confusion and need.
It is in that
same spirit that we present England to Our Lady on this day. “Mary, come to the
aid of this country! Protect us from calamity, but protect us also from fear!”
Let us not be paralysed by the daily media updates of new cases and
hypothetical outcomes calculated to keep us in constant suspense and anxiety.
Let us not have that fickle spirit of the world, that one day appears so
confident and secure, even invincible, in its emancipation from God and in its
freedom to sin, and then when the first threat comes along is paralysed by a
terror mixed with morbid fascination. Such is not the spirit of the followers
of Jesus Christ, who are called, rather, to live by the words of the Psalmist:
“Those who put their trust in the Lord are like Mount Sion – they shall never
be moved”.
We ask Mary,
the mistress of her Dowry, to protect us also in these times from a spirit of
bitterness and frustration…
Perhaps many
of you watching these ceremonies today are frustrated that you cannot be here
in the church. You might think, “What kind of consecration is it if I have to
do it in the obscurity of my own home?” You may have had plans to be here, to
be in your local cathedral, to be in the national shrine in Walsingham, before
the lockdown made that impossible.
But let’s
remember what the message of that particular shrine is about. Let’s move our
focus for the last part of this reflection from the Richard II’s consecration in
Westminster Abbey in 1381, to the vision of Richeldis de Faverche in Walsingham
in 1061. When Our Lady appeared to Richeldis, what did she ask? She asked for a
copy of the Holy House of Nazareth to be built in that place – the house where
the angel announced to Our Lady herself the Incarnation of the Lord, and her
vocation as the Virginal Mother of God.
Recall that
event as it happened in the Scriptures. Recall that in the first chapter of St
Luke’s Gospel that mystery of the Annunciation is paralleled with another
announcement: to Zechariah, the father of St John the Baptist. Zechariah, a
priest of Israel, was in the sanctuary of the Temple, offering incense to the
Lord, and the Angel Gabriel appeared to him to tell him that his wife Elisabeth
would, in her old age, conceive a son. Zechariah doubted the angel’s message,
and as punishment for his doubt was struck dumb, until the birth of the
Baptist…
Notice this…
Zechariah is a priest… he is in the Temple… but he is not by virtue of these things alone at one
with God. Rather, he is found wanting.
Then St Luke
recounts the angel’s announcement to Mary. She is called full of grace, she is
told that the Lord is with her, and that she will conceive the Son of the Most
High by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost! And all this took place, where?
Not the Temple in Jerusalem, where Our Lady had spent her girlhood, but in the
obscurity of her parents’ home, in the unremarkable, unimportant town of
Nazareth. It was in the isolation of her own home that Our Lady, by her Fiat,
consecrated herself to the service of Jesus Christ as His mother.
At the same
time, it was in in her womb, under the roof of that ordinary house, and not in
a great stone temple, that Christ was consecrated High Priest of the Human
Race. For at His conception in the womb, the Eternal Son of God took to Himself
a human soul, and flesh and blood, and thereby the priestly power to offer
sacrifice.
Again, it was
not in a Temple, but on a hill of execution, outside the city walls, that the
Lord offered that most sublime priestly sacrifice of Himself to save us from
our sins – not on a richly carved altar, but on a rough wooden cross – a wonder
that we are preparing in this Passiontide soon to commemorate.
And you too,
in whatever place you are, are not hindered from acting under the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, and performing a supernatural and meritorious act, in
consecrating England to Our Lady today. Because, by virtue of our Baptism, each
one of us has become a Temple of the Holy Ghost. Whatever we do, whatever
action we perform and wherever we are, if we are in a state of grace, and
perform our actions for the love of God… then everything we do has a
supernatural character, and becomes a pleasing offering in God’s sight. St Paul
says, “Whether you eat of drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of
God”. So within the walls of your home today you can offer to God a prayer for
this country that will pierce through to the sanctuary of Heaven itself, and
that will increase, in a sense, the glory of God in this land.
So let’s be
undaunted and encouraged as we make this collective consecration of our nation
today. Let’s put England squarely in the hands of Our Lady, and ask her in the
midst of these trying times to be the protectress of her Dowry…
May she
protect England’s people from fear and anxiety, by leading them to place their
security not in temporal prosperity and health, but in the saving sacrifice of
her Son Jesus Christ, and in the eternal life He won for us.
And may she,
the Virgin of the Annunciation, speak to us the words that echo still in her
heart from the announcement of the angel: …the words, “Do not be afraid!”…
and the angel’s greeting: Kaire!
Which we translate as Ave, “Hail”,
but which means – more than this – Rejoice!
Be happy! Rejoice… for we are giving England back to her who is the Cause
of our Joy, and whose Son ever harries and destroys the sadness of the Fall.
