Breakspeare Mass...

I have just got in from the High Mass of Requiem for Pope Adrian IV at Blackfen. It was a marvellous evening, and I was privileged to serve (as Acolyte). I helped build my first Catafalque too! We only used six benches and four black curtains, but it worked out very well. This is an indication that even the most humble parish can provide a decent and well-ordered Liturgy by using the resources that it has. We also used unbleached candles, for both the High Altar and the Catafalque. Alas, no Papal Tiara though.

Mass was profoundly moving, after the manner of the traditional Requiem Mass in the Church's eternal Tradition. I am always ''shaken'' by the Sequence, the famous Dies Irae. It is very beautiful, and it leaves me with a profound sense of my own sins, my need for God's Grace, and the necessity of prayers for the Holy Souls; it is indeed perilously fair, perilous to listen to. It is, incidentally, my favourite Sequence. I tend to disagree with Fortescue on the subject of Sequences. He lauded the Council of Trent's abolition of many ''superfluous'' and ''inappropriate'' Sequences (and no doubt some did deserve that treatment - particularly the ones about wine and beer!), but they were not all bad, and certainly not all of them deserved curtailment. His chief objection was that they created an unduly long gap between the Epistle and Gospel (when, apparently, the Gradual and Alleluia were long enough), but so what? I would that there were more Sequences. Maybe in his ''reform of the reform'' (although I tend to think that notion doomed to failure), the Holy Father will bring some of the ancestral Sequences back!

Mass over, and after a powerful Homily delivered by Fr Finigan about Adrian IV, and the good and necessity of praying for the Holy Souls (even after 850 years; time in Purgatory not being measured by the rising and setting of the Sun of this world), we proceeded to the Catafalque for Absolutions. The offices of Book-bearer and Aspersory-bearer were provided by two young boys, both under 8 years old! After the Absolutions, we returned in procession to the Sacristy, where the Celebrant read the Si iniquitates and De Profundis. After clearing everything up afterwards (well, I was rather distracted actually, and helped very little), I joined the reception in the Small Hall. It was there that I was introduced to a priest who also loves Tolkien. He asked whether I had brought his latest book (The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún) and I said that no I hadn't (I really ought to actually, when I get time). Our conversation was cut short unfortunately, as I still had things to clear up. It was certainly nice of Fr Finigan to recommend my blog.

I was given a lift home by a friend. The evening went rather rapidly I thought, and Pope Adrian's 850th anniversary won't come again. It's a shame we had no Breakspear ale (it is, in fact, on offer at Morrison's! Although I doubt for reasons of honouring an old English Pope), but I may buy some tomorrow. I am, at any rate, low on beer supply at home...