It was a red letter day at Wonersh today as Rev Shaju Varkey (left) and Rev Tom Dubois (right) were ordained deacons by the Bishop of Clifton, the Rt Rev Declan Lang. Both have been in my sacramental theology class and I was delighted to see them take ascend this final gradus before their ordination to the sacred priesthood.The Mass was expertly arranged as are all such functions at Wonersh. The Mass setting used was the Missa Orbis Factor. Immediately after Mass, the procession moved into the Ambulacrum, the central corridor of the building, along which there is a frieze with the text in Latin of the opening verses of the prologue of St John's Gospel: the seminary is dedicated to St John. In the centre of the ambulacrum there is an altar in honour of Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, set up in by students and colleagues in memory of Canon Hallett, a former rector. The procession stopped there to sing the Salve Regina.
Among the various diocesan concelebration vestments and the seminary's Sorgente collection, two priests of Clifton Diocese, Frs Bede Rowe and Alex Redman added a touch of Romanità:
9 comments:
Ummmm was this an old photo? Or is there a reason the crib is still out?
;-)
Ordained today - wearing dalmatics in the photo... (not old)
Crib stays there at Wonersh until 2 February.
Nice to see Bishop Lang getting good press. Not so long ago, on another UK blog, he was criticised for not allowing anything to be sung in his presence that was pre 1970-ish.
It's nice to see Bede in the picture - I remember him from his Oxford days (second time round) when we were both at Oriel.
Hola, soy Raúl Miguel de Argentina y quiero dejar mis saludos y darles la dirección de mi blog "Restauración Católica", http://restauracioncatolica.blogspot.com
Sin más me despido recordandole en mis oraciones.
en Cristo,
Raúl
It was lovely to see them standing round the crib. It's still up in the church we attend, and in our house!! Good to see Fr Redmond in glorious technicolour detail!!!
I am very jealous! Here in the U.S. my diocese's deaconate ordination takes place in an out-of-the-way parish. The music is restricted to Marty Haugan and company. Finally, if anyone even thought of showing up with any kind of chasuble they would be laughed out of the building.
As you might be able to tell, I an really looking forward to my ordination next year!
There is hope, however, among us younger guys...
All the best for your preparation for ordination, Charles. I will remember you at my Mass tomorrow. Yes indeed, the hope is with your generation of clergy.
The ambulacrum shrine was built actually when the Seminary was built, which is to say 1889-91. When I was there (1980s), it was still the custom to sing the Compline Salve there on Saturday nights, and throughout May and October.
Originally the shrine doubled as a porch but was, as you write, remodelled in memory of Mgr Hallett (he was never a canon) after he died in 1948.
I quite realize that you may find this too unutterably tedious to want to post, but the history of St John's is one of my pedanteries……
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