The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Picture taken of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate at a motorway service station somewhere near Slough on the way back from Cofton Park.

We finally made it to the Abbaye Sainte Madeleine au Barroux after about an hour of trying to get a taxi from Carpentras. Vespers was at 5.30pm so we had a chance to take a good look around the bookshop. I bought a video documentary of the life and work of Jacques Maritain but did not go for the lavender which is a local speciality. (Not my thing, you understand.)

On the journey we drove almost continuously through vineyards which the driver was able to name. There were also some olive groves: Le Barroux had both. Fr Briggs is here standing by some olive trees near the Monastery:


There were about forty people at the back of the Church for Wednesday ferial Vespers. These ranged in age from 0 to about 80 with several young families and a group of young men with a priest. Here is one family going into the Church:


and below is a group gathered afterwards; it was all most edifying. The French Church is by no means dead but you need to know where the life is.


I scarcely need add that Vespe…

You may have heard the news of the forthcoming release of Voices: Chant from Avignon which is to be released on 8 November by Decca Records (here is a link to the Track List.) The above photo shows Dickon Stainer, Managing Director of Decca, passing the contract through the grille in the parlour of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation in France. You may also have seen the promo video which is good. I chose another video which I'll post tomorrow.

If you haven't heard the news, you can look up any one of the 546 stories currently listed on Google News or read any of the 1390 results from the blog search. (The YouTube video has had 38,755 views since it was uploaded last Sunday.) Unfortunately given the massive interest in the new CD, and the fact that most journalists mention the fact that Decca also publishes the songs of someone called "Lady GaGa", it is not a good idea to try to find pictures of the Abbey or the nuns on Google Images.

In an excellent arti…

A little late, I know, but warmest congratulations to Thomas Skeats and Robert Gay who were ordained last Saturday at Blackfriars in Oxford by Bishop Longley, and the internet's finest Catholic photographer, Fra Lawrence Lew who was ordained deacon.

Fra Lawrence has written about his love for photography and you can browse over 7000 photographs in his Flickr photostream. I knew that I was in some of them so I had a look through some of the sets...


On the Godzdogz blog there is also this video from 1964 to promote vocations to the Dominican order. A Dominican priest, ordained ten years, reflects on his own vocation to explore God's truth together with his brothers under Mary's protection. There is some fascinating footage of the Dominican rite of Mass.



It is always encouraging to hear good news and I am delighted that the Dominicans both here and in Ireland are flourishing.

Photo © Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk (from Invocation Flickr set)
Catholic with Attitude has written an enthusiastic personal account of the recent Invocation weekend. (See: Invocation 2010 = Brilliant!) He notes particularly that the heart of the weekend was the communal prayer of the Sacred Liturgy in the Divine Office and Mass, and that there was also plenty of time for private prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. The weekend also offered young people the opportunity to talk informally with priests and religious about their vocation. Congratulations to Fr Langridge and the team for organising this first National Vocations Discernment weekend. May it be the first of many.

The other day, I posted a video of the Commencement Speech given in Latin by Mary Ann Marks. Many thanks to Gillineau in the combox for passing on the news from the Harvard Gazette that Mary Ann is entering the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. It is wonderful to hear this: please say a prayer for Mary Ann. Here is the text from the Harvard Gazette:
Queens, N.Y., native Mary Anne Marks is a classics and English joint concentrator who fell in love with the Latin language by studying Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations. “The links between Latin and Romance languages are fascinating, and, at the same time, Latin has the ability to say things in ways that are not available to Romance languages or to English,” said Marks. “I mused about ideas for the speech for weeks before setting pen to paper, and, once I’d picked a topic, I consulted with friends and acquaintances from various departments to make sure it spoke to their experiences at Harvard.” In the fall, Marks is headed t…

The Irish Dominicans have sent me news of a great event that took place recently: the solemn profession of Sr Niamh Muireann as a Dominican nun at the Monastery of St Catherine of Siena at Drogheda. The Dominican nuns also run a Dominican Nuns Ireland blog. The Rite of Profession can be found at this post. Here is a photo of Sr Niamh making her profession into the hands of her Prioress:


The priest blesses the veil which Sister wears, using the following prayer:Lord, bless + this veil which Sr N.N. wears for love of you and your blessed Mother Mary, ever Virgin, as a sign of her consecration to you. Through your help and protection may she always preserve the purity of heart that it mystically signifies. In wearing it may she be recognised as a house of prayer and a temple of intercession for all people. Clothe with your grace her entire being, so that she may love you with all her heart. May she always live in this love and be introduced one day to the joy of your kingdom, through Ch…

Thanks to Berenike for this lovely story posted on her blog Laodicea: Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb. This is a small contemplative Benedictine community called Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb. There are seven sisters, five of whom have Downs syndrome. They have recently moved to a new location "near a large Benedictine Monastery". (That would be Fontgombault.)

90% of children with Downs Syndrome are killed before seeing the light of day. Small as it is, this community's charming and gentle example deserves to echo around the globe as a testament that people are not worthless just because they have trisomy.

Another video for you: the Dominican Sisters of Mary from Ann Arbor, Michigan, appearing on Oprah. The treatment of the religious life is positive, respectful and informative; the sisters are interviewed sensibly, allowing them to explain their way of life. This is an amazing community: there are just under 100 sisters. Average age is 26.



The above video is the first in a series: you can get the others from YouTube.

Photo by Travis Dove
National Geographic has an illustrated article Called to the Holy Mountain. The Monks of Mount Athos which takes a sympathetic look at the life of the monks on the holy peninsula. there are also some stunning photos by Travis Dove.

H/T @lukecoppen on Twitter

H/T to the Monstrous Regiment of Women for this trailer to a new film about Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta;



And just by way of serendipity, I would like to mention that the Sr Amada, Regional Superior of the Missionaries of Charity, and Sr Inocencia from the M.C.’s Edinburgh house visited the Sisters of the Gospel of Life recently.

I just received news that on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Irish Dominicans celebrated the reception of thirteen new novices at Saint Mary's in Popes Quay, Cork. This is excellent news - congratulations to the Irish Dominicans.

See the post at the Irish Dominican Vocations blog: Reception of Novices. Saint Mary's Priory, Cork. There was also a solemn profession in Dublin the day before, and two simple professions in Limerick the day after.

Congratulations to the Sisters of the Gospel of Life and to Sr Amanda Brennan (above: centre) who has joined them as a new postulant.

The Sisters do great work in helping mothers who are tempted to abort their unborn child, offering compassion, kindness, and spiritual and material support. Their work is very worthy of your almsgiving - see the sidebar of their website to donate via paypal.

At the National Conference of the US Resource Center for Religious Institutes, to be held at the Atlanta Georgia Hilton hotel this October, one of the workshops is described as follows:Workshop #28: Going Non-Canonical
Neal Smith, Mary David Walgenbach, OSB & Dan Ward, OSB
The story of a small Benedictine community’s journey of becoming non-canonical. The content includes their ecumenical ministry, visioning process, development of an ecumenical board, relationship with the Federation of St. Gertrude and canonical and civil procedures for the transfer of assets.Mary David Walgenbach is indeed a good speaker for the topic since she and her fellow former Benedictine sister, Joanne Kollasch, have left their order but spent several years sewing up a legal arrangement whereby they could keep the assets and build a new property in Madison, Wisconsin.

The new non-canonical, ecumenical foundation is called the Holy Wisdom Monastery. Bishop Morlino has forbidden priests from celebrating Mass …

Jane Teresa, who writes the blog "My heart was restless" has been visiting the convent of the contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate at Lanhearne in Cornwall. She mentioned that she would have the opportunity to speak about her vocation with Fr Stefano Manelli, the founder and superior of the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Last Tuesday, during her stay, two of the sisters were solemnly professed and Jane Teresa has a set of photographs with commentary. The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate tend to go to the usus antiquior (some now come regularly to the 10.30am Mass at Blackfen on Sunday) and the solemn profession was celebrated according to the older form of the Roman-Seraphic Rite. Many thanks indeed to Jane Teresa for capturing some of the solemn moments and providing some texts from the ceremonies.

I have never been able to attend a solemn religious profession and was really quite thrilled by this response from the celebrant to the formula of professionEt eg…

In the hotel where I am staying, there is a engraving with a guide to the various religious habits. Since it was made, many have disappeared and many new ones have been invented. I don't know either the above congregation or the one below but I am sure someone will.

Lourdes is always like a "New Pentecost" with people from every nation, race and language. These two ladies have applied a custom of their own which will ensure that they do not have aching arms from carrying large containers of Lourdes water.

Last year in Rome, I posted a couple of photos showing how the shop windows of liturgical suppliers can show changes in popularity of vestments. So I had to take this photo of the Notre Dame du Perpetuel Secours shop in the Avenue Mgr Schoepfer:

Here is a close-up of the chasuble:

I just came across the website of the Dominican Nuns of Summit, New Jersey which is well worth a visit.

They have a "Gift Shoppe" selling books, medals, soap, lotions and balms etc. so you could support them with an order.

H/T The Anchoress

Celebrating the Sacred Liturgy in a Benedictine house is always a little intimidating for a rough-edged secular such as myself. Everything is so perfect that I tremble in case I commit some liturgical solecism and mess things up. Sr Sacristan had all the books prepared for me and I think I managed OK. God has mercifully given me the ability to sing and provided me with good tuition in Latin so those are two obstacles removed, but I did try to pay careful attention to the rubrics of the Missal of Pope Paul VI.

Above you can see a view of the beautiful choir which is seen by the celebrant. It is filled with sisters of all ages, from young postulants, novices, and simply professed, to those venerable long-standing members of the community who still give so much from their experience.

Here is a photo from Vespers in the afternoon: the incensing of the altar at the Magnificat:

At recreation after None, there was a gathering of all the community to celebrate Sr Claire's jubilee with songs …

At St Cecilia's Abbey in Ryde, Isle of Wight, today, there was the celebration of Sr Claire's silver jubilee of profession. I was celebrant at Mass (Latin, newer form) chanted beautifully by the sisters for the feast of Sts John Fisher and Thomas More with Mass VI and all the chants from the Graduale Romanum. Sister's family were there except for her father who is ill at home. He was able to listen to the celebration via a telephone linkup.

After Mass, the large parlour was open at various times during the day until Vespers and Benediction. After None, the sisters and the family took it in turns to sing songs and play various musical instruments at an extended recreation. It was great to be able to meet many of the sisters whom I have seen over the years in choir during various visits as well as recent newcomers to this thriving contemplative community. Some readers from the Netherlands will perhaps recognise the young lady in the centre of the photo above dressed in blue, …

Veilleurs Dans La Nuit ("Watchmen of the night") is a film showing a day in the life of the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux from Matins at 3.30am to compline at 7.45pm. There are many vids, clips and photos around of lovely monasteries, glorious chant, and atmospheric photos of the consecration. "Veilleurs Dans La Nuit" has all these in abundance but also offers simple but outstandingly effective teaching on the monastic life in particular, much of it applicable to the Christian life in general.

For example, there is footage of a monk at his solemn profession singing the Suscipe:Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum et vivam;
et non confundas me ab expectatione mea.

Accept me, O Lord, according to your word, and I shall live; and do not disappoint me in my hope. (Ps 119:116)This is followed by a monk explaining:"What he sings then is a commitment for his entire future. Man's greatness and nobility lies in his being able to pledge himself by a word, to…