The other day I took the train down to Salisbury for a quiet day and to view the magnificent Cathedral which was built very rapidly by medieval standards. The spire (the tallest decorated Gothic spire in Europe) was added later and still leans significantly about 30 inches to the South West. The Tower weighs about 6400 tons. Apparently, present day structural engineers would be allowed to use the columns to support only about a tenth of that weight.
In the photo above, you can see how different such Churches look from different angles. From the West door, the Cathedral looks squat and massive whereas from almost any other angle it is graceful and perfectly proportioned.
Inside, the limestone is contrasted with the slender Purbeck marble shafts creating an austere beauty uplifting the gaze.
The odd living-water style font in the centre of the nave shows that no matter how beautiful a Cathedral may be, the 20th century would find something to disrupt it. 
In the south aisle, there is a magnificent cope chest. Sadly, we haven't room for such an item of furniture at Blackfen so the copes have to be hung in a wardrobe.
In the market square, I took the above photo for the benefit of North American readers from the Salisburys in North Carolina and Maryland. Apologies for the concession to Euro-correctness. We don't think in Kilometres here either.I attended Choral Evensong in the Cathedral, particularly attracted by the promise of the Byrd responses, and the Tallis Nunc Dimittis. In a distraction I began to muse on what our Sacred Liturgy would be like if the Reformation had not effectively extinguished the Sarum Use. Perhaps it would be a good project to get permission for a High Mass in the Sarum Use at Salisbury itself...
22 comments:
Why not at Blackfen?
What was once holy in the church is always holy
The font is horrendous. I am sure something more befitting and aesthetically pleasing could have been placed there to hold the Water of Life, in such a magnificent Cathedral.
Father, hope you had a good day out and enjoyed the Cathedral. Can I introduce you to a small apostolate (seeking/waiting for Papal approval). The Society of Saint Justin.
Our function is to pray in Pre-Reformation (former Catholic) places of worship, to pray for the restoration of these places to the Catholic hierarchy, for the repose of the sould of those who laboured and worshipped there in years gone by. More detail to bve found on ouir website: http://www.justinmartyr.org.uk/
Thank you for this wonderful, pictorial reminder of where I used to sit and eat my sandwiches during lunchtime whilst looking in awe at the beauty of the cathedral. Ah, such nostalgia!
A Sarum Rite High Mass in Salisbury Cathedral - now there's a proper ecumenical gesture!
(I assume the entrance procession would not have to paddle through the font on the way to the High Altar...)
;-)
I'm all in favour of reviving Sarum, notwithstanding the slightly fusty and dilettante air that currently hovers around it (the miasma of liturgico-fetishists?). The great Vincent McNabb OP wrote an article on the Sarum Ritual of Marriage for The Catholic Times (1 May 1931) in which he expresses some regret at consequences of the decision not to restore the Sarum Rite in the late nineteenth century, even when Rome was (apparently) encouraging (or at least suggesting) such a restoration.
Beautiful building. A shame about that font. It would be beautiful in a park or museum, just not a Catholic Church.
My college chapel now has a fountain - I think it's temporary.
I had a visit to Winchester 2 weeks ago, also exquisitely beautiful,-the ceiling decoration is stupendous.Such a depth of Christian history, King Canute, John of Gaunt,Prince Arthur,etc..Queen Mary married Philip of Spain there.They keep a 12th century black marble font, still in use. So different from the adapted chamber pots of our modern Catholic churches.Dont revisit the font where you were baptised 50 years later...' O that!, someone dropped it years ago..'
In the Winchester Lady chapel a series of wall paintings survived the Deformation, they show Our Lady intervening in all sorts of ways to help people.She still does today if we ask her. At heart England is a Christian nation, despite the Ed Balls that are here today, gone tomorrow.
Everyone in the vicinity would be absolutely drenched if there were to be a full-immersion baptism using that font !
When was that installed, Father ? I haven't been to Salisbury for at least 14 years......
Do they still charge admission fees to the Cathedral ?
I visited (and sang one of the informal noon-time concerts at) Salisbury Cathedral in 1998. I always recommend the tower tour to people, it's pretty incredible. There's a great view of the close and the surrounding area.
http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/visitor.tours.php
Actually I love the font!!! I sang there for a week in the October half term, snow and all. Our big choir have a concert there in July. Liz.
"Perhaps it would be a good project to get permission for a High Mass in the Sarum Use at Salisbury itself..."
Good idea Father. Winchester Cathedral set a precedent last year with a beautiful EF Solemn High Mass to commemorate St Swithin and which I was privileged to attend.
Great post, Fr. Tim. And the photos are awesome.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out a couple of things I noticed in the photos that I thought were interesting. First, the photo of the West entrance immediately brought to mind the cathedral Ken Follett envisioned in the writing of his novels "The Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End." And "massive" is definitely a word I would use to describe it also, just by looking at that photo.
Second, the seating arrangement made me think of monastery choir stalls. And I agree with your comment about the font - what is that doing there, anyway?
Third, the planners in Salisbury - when they put up the signage - forgot Salisbury, Massachusetts. Approximately 30 miles (50km) north of Boston. Sits on the Atlantic Ocean. Home of part of the fishing fleet, although most of it is in either nearby Gloucester and Newburyport, or about 20 miles north in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Sorry - I couldn't resist the third comment.
Thanks, Walt - fancy them missing Salisbury Massachusetts!
Elizabeth - to be fair no, there are no admission charges. It actually all works quite well with strong encouragement to tourists to donate but without pressure on those who want to come in and pray. There is a very enthusiastic team of guides there all day who help the tourists to understand the Cathedral. I was impressed by the care that was shown for both the Christian heritage and the present use of the building as a living "House of God".
That font surely contravenes some disability equal ops policy or other... I mean, imagine the effect of the trickling water if someone had a weak bladder!
;-)
Mac, funny what you say about the trickling water. Some 15+ years ago or so when our parish was undergoing a big retrofit to make it more earthquake resistant, the diocese sicced a bunch of would-be-reckovators in for "meetings and discussion about what else we want you to do. One of the wreckovators suggested one of those running fountains and we more or less told him Father-high-horse-muckety-muck that he could go chase himself, because we weren't putting in anything that would make our elderly folks constantly want to get up and use the restroom. That's exactly what we told him and he was so stunned he couldn't say anything. We did not mince words!
I quite like that water thingy!!!
Hope you read the article on the architecture in that Grove link I gave you, Father (plug for author... !)
And here I was hoping that the use of fountain-fonts was a bona fide liturgical abuse... rats. Now I'll never get a particularly loud one kicked out of a chapel that I often attend...
There was a High Mass in the Sarum Rite sung there about fifteen years ago - chant and all!
That's funny, I was last at Salisbury Cathedral on Christmas 2007 and did not notice that font.
Aside from Durham, Salisbury is quite possibly my favorite cathedral in England.
I think it would be possible to celebrate the Sarum use---from what I understand, it has been licitly celebrated by Catholic priests a handful of times in the last 20 years. I recall one Scottish bishop who celebrated it himself.
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