Customary Readings

My copy of the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham arrived this morning, thanks be; after using it for Morning Prayer and Sext – for as a layman, I am free to use such devotions as I list, please God, moved by His Spirit – I have spent a happy few hours making an index of the post-biblical readings included within it (since the volume itself does not possess such).  

What riches! thus is spread before the reader and hearer that Anglican Patrimony which our Pope rightly calls a gift to be shared with the wider Church.  There are post-Biblical readings provided for all Sundays and Feasts, as well as for celebrations of those Saints either found in the Ordinariate calendar, or specially connected with the British Isles.

Having made this index, I note that, after the great convert Newman himself (who contributes 29 readings,  almost one fifth of the total, especially those for some of the holiest days in the Christian year, such as Advent Sunday, Christmas Day, Epiphany, Candlemas, the First Sunday in Lent, Easter Sunday, Ascension Day, the Annunciation, the Immaculate Conception, Mary Mother of God, the Transfiguration, and Christ the King), the largest number of readings are taken from the saintly but ever-Anglican John Keble (20 such, including many for Sundays and feasts of Apostles), while in third place lies good old St Bede the Venerable (with 14: for Ash Wednesday, All Saints, and sundry Anglo-Saxon saints). In fourth place, with six readings, is Lancelot Andrewes...

Of the lifelong Anglicans from whose works selections have been made for the Customary, eight Caroline Divines provide 21 readings, four Tractarians (not counting those who became Catholics) supply 26 readings (Keble the great majority of these), and five twentieth century Anglican writers – among them, T. S. Eliot - provide five readings.

The full list of readings – divided at my decision into Catholic Writers, Mediæval Writers of the British Isles, Recusants, Converts, and (lastly) lifelong Anglicans – is as follows:

Readings (158)

Catholic Writers (4)

Anonymous mediæval Icelandic

St Magnus of Orkney 568

St Gregory the Great (Pope, Apostle of the English; c. 540 – 604)

St Mellitus      575

Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)

The English Martyrs  577

Socrates Scholasticus (b. c. 380; Armenian adaptation)*

St Helena         582

[*I would prefer Evelyn Waugh…]

Mediæval Writers of the British Isles (37 writers, 65 readings)

[Alphabetized by Christian name, with Anon. first]

Anonymous, A Meditation of the Five Wounds of Jesu Christ

Sacred Heart    383

Anonymous, Life of St Frideswide

St Frideswide  634

Anonymous, Life of St Osmund

St Osmund      602

Anonymous, Life of St Swithun

St Swithun      600

Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing

15^th Sunday after Trinity        424

St Abbo of Fleury (O.S.B.; in England, 986-7; c. 945 – 1004)

St Edmund      651

Adam of Evesham (O.S.B.; † 1191)

St Hugh of Lincoln

St Adomnán of Iona (627/8-704)

St Columba of Iona     591

St Ælred of Rievaulx (O.Cist.; 1110-1167)

Bidding at Advent Procession            185

St Ælred of Rievaulx   552

St Ninian         616

Alcuin of York († 804)

St Willibrord   640

St Aldhelm (Bishop of Sherbourne, c. 639 – 709)

St Piran           565

St Petroc         585

St Aldhelm      586

St Anselm of Canterbury (1093-1109)

Trinity Sunday           371

Our Lady of Walsingham        621

St Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735)

Ash Wednesday          269

All Saints        542

St Benedict Biscop     554

St Augustine of Canterbury    589

St Etheldreda (Audrey)           598

St Oswald, King & Martyr     605

St Aidan & SS of Lindisfarne  610

St Gregory the Great, Pope, Apostle of the English  612

St Cuthbert     614

St Theodore of Canterbury     619

St Paulinus of York     628

St Ethelburga   630

SS Chad & Cedd         636

St Hilda           649

Cogitosus (fl. c. 650)

St Brigid of Kildare     560

Eadmer (c. 1060 – c. 1126)

St Alphege      570

St Dunstan      580

Eddius Stephanus (8^th C.)

St Wilfrid        631

Gilbert of Hoyland (O.Cist.; † c. 1172)

4^th Sunday of Easter[tide]       335

St Gilbert of Sempringham (c. 1083 - 1190)

St Gilbert of Sempringham     561

Goscelin (b. Flanders, moved to England; fl. c. 1058-1106)

St Edith of Wilton       618

Hugh le Barber (fl. 1307)

St Thomas of Hereford           624

Bl Isaac of Stella (O.Cist.; b. England; † c. 1169)

2^nd Sunday after Epiphany     241

St John Baptist           498

Jocelyn of Furness (fl. 1175-1214)

St Kentigern (Mungo) 556

St John Fisher (Bishop of Rochester; 1469-1535)

SS Peter & Paul, Apostles      501

Holy Cross Day         527

SS John Fisher & Thomas More        596

John of Ford (O.Cist.; c. 1140-1214)

3^rd Sunday after Epiphany     243

Palm Sunday   295

Our Lady’s Birthday  524

Mother Julian of Norwich (c. 1342 – c. 1416)

Assumption    517

Matthew Paris (O.S.B.; c. 1200-1259)

St Edmund of Abingdon         644

Nicholas Love (O.Cart.; † c. 1424)

Holy Family   202

Corpus Christi            377

Ralph Bocking (O.P.; † 1270)

St Richard of Chichester         594

Reginald of Durham (O.S.B.; † c. 1190)

St Godric of Finchale  583

Rhigyfarch (1057-1099)

St David of Wales       563

Richard of St Victor (C.R.S.A.; b. Scotland; † 1173)

3^rd Sunday of Advent             172

Richard Rolle (1290-1349)

Most Holy Name of Jesus     207

3^rd Sunday in Lent      278

18^th Sunday after Trinity        428

Robert Pennant (12^th C.)

St Winefride    638

Roger of Byland (O.Cist.; Abbot of Byland, 1142-1196)

2^nd Sunday of Christmas[tide]            208

St Thomas More (1478-1535)

19^th Sunday after Trinity        430

All Souls         544

Walter Hilton (C.R.S.A.; † 1396)

Sunday after Ascension          351

William of Malmesbury (c. 1095/6 - 1143)

St Wulstan      558

Recusants (3)

Anonymous, Acts of Martyrdom of St Edmund Campion

St Edmund Campion   654

John Mush (1551/2-1612/13)

SS Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line, & Margaret Ward          608

Robert Persons (S.J.; 1546-1610)

All SS of England        642

Anglican Converts to Catholicism (3 writers, 34 readings)

[Alphabetized by surname]

Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892; converted 1851)

4^th Sunday after Trinity          407

8^th Sunday after Trinity          413

Chair of St Peter         477

Bl John Henry Newman (1801-1890; converted 1845)

1^st Sunday of Advent 169

Christmas Day            200

Maria Mater Dei         205

Epiphany        227

Candlemas       237

6^th Sunday after Epiphany      247

1^st Sunday in Lent       275

2^nd Sunday in Lent      276

4^th Sunday in Lent       279

Easter Sunday 319

Easter Tuesday           322

Easter Thursday         324

5^th Sunday of Easter[tide]       336

Ascension Day           346

Whit Monday 360

Whit Thursday           364

20^th Sunday after Trinity        431

Christus Rex   451

St Andrew, Apostle    457

Immaculate Conception          460

St Stephen       462

Annunciation (Lady Day)      481

St Mark, Evangelist    484

St Matthias, Apostle  489

Transfiguration           512

St Bartholomew, Apostle       519

SS Simon & Jude, Apostles    538

St George        573

Bl John Henry Newman         625

Robert Isaac Wilberforce (1802-1857; converted 1854)

12^th Sunday after Trinity        420

16^th Sunday after Trinity        426

Anglican Writers (17 writers, 52 readings)

[Alphabetized by surname]

Lancelot Andrewes (Bishop of Winchester; 1555-1626)

Baptism of the Lord   233

Passion Sunday           290

Low Sunday    331

Pentecost (Whitsunday)         352

Whit Tuesday 361

Whit Friday    365

William Beveridge (Bishop of St Asaph; 1637-1708)

22^nd Sunday after Trinity       434

24^th Sunday after Trinity        445

Dom Gregory Dix (1901-1952)

Whit Wednesday        363

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965)

St Thomas à Becket (of Canterbury)  656

Austin Farrer (1904-1968)

Easter Saturday           327

Mark Frank (1613-1664)

2^nd Sunday after Trinity         404

5^th Sunday after Trinity          408

11^th Sunday after Trinity        418

John Keble (1792-1866)

4^th Sunday of Advent 174

4^th Sunday after Epiphany      244

Septuagesima  249

Quinquagesima            252

3^rd Sunday of Easter[tide]       333

1^st Sunday after Trinity          403

7^th Sunday after Trinity          411

13^th Sunday after Trinity        421

17^th Sunday after Trinity        427

St John, Evangelist      465

Holy Innocents           468

Conversion of St Paul 472

St Joseph        479

SS Philip & James, Apostles  487

St Barnabas, Apostle  494

St Thomas, Apostle    504

St James, Apostle       507

St Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist    529

St Luke, Evangelist     526

St John, Apostle, in Eastertide (ante portam Latinam)          578

Thomas Ken (Bishop of Bath & Wells; 1637-1711)

3^rd Sunday after Trinity          405

6^th Sunday after Trinity          410

William Laud (Archbishop of Canterbury; 1573-1645)

23^rd Sunday after Trinity        443

Henry Parry Liddon (1829-1890)

9^th Sunday after Trinity          415

21^st Sunday after Trinity        433

Eric Lionel Mascall (1905-1993)

Visitation        491

John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

Dedication Festival or Dedication of St John Lateran            384

John Pearson (Bishop of Chester; 1612-1686)

2^nd Sunday of Advent             171

Easter Monday           320

SS Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels   533

Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882)

5^th Sunday after Epiphany      246

Sexagesima      250

6^th Sunday of Easter[tide]       338

Arthur Michael Ramsey (Archbishop of Canterbury; 1904-1988)

Easter Wednesday      323

Thomas Traherne (1636/7-1674)

Easter Friday  325

Whit Saturday 367

14^th Sunday after Trinity        423

Thomas Wilson (Bishop of Sodor & Man; 1697-1755) [1]

10^th Sunday after Trinity        416