An Antiphon from the Church of the Beatitudes

When in the Holy Land on pilgrimage a few years ago, I visited the Church of the Beatitudes, and in the adjoining gift shop I bought a postcard-sized reproduction of a piece of Gregorian chant whose text was, of course, the Beatitudes - the whole text thereof. I assume it is an antiphon, and from the range of notes and its final, it must be in mode IV; but I have been unable to locate its source. Just today I got around to typesetting it: here it is.

The odd-numbered beatitudes each share the same basic melody, as does part of the last beatitude - but in reverse: quoniam ipsorum est regnum cælorum has the tune of the first half-verse of each of those odd-numbered beatitudes, Beati qui persecutionem the same as their second halves, while patiuntur propter justitiam seems instead to have the same tune as that shared by the even-numbered beatitudes.

Can anyone identify its source? Could it be Franciscan?

The Other Chants of the Mass of St Philip Neri

Having in my last post identified the musical source for the chant setting of the Offertory for the feast of St Philip Neri, I thought next to mention the melodic origins of the rest of the Proper of his Mass. 

To begin with, the Introit, Caritas Dei, is self-evidently taken from the Mass of Whit Saturday, omitting the first, internal alleluia (and the last two, except in Eastertide), raising the first note of per by a tone and replacing the Whit Saturday melody for the last word, nobis, with that of the last two syllables of the first (itself identical with the corresponding part of the last) Whit Saturday alleluia. 

Likewise, the Gradual Venite is taken without change from the Mass of the 7th Sunday after Pentecost.

The Alleluia and verse De excelso is set to the same melody as the first Eastertide Alleluia and verse for the feast of St Irenaeus (28th June), but it is unclear to me as to which is the original.

I have not yet found a source for the music of the second Eastertide Alleluia and its verse Concaluit.

Most interestingly, the Communion Cor meum is set to a very prominent chant – that of the Communion Viderunt of the Mass of Christmas Day. Doubtlessly this conveys something of the joy whereby the heart and flesh of such a saint do ever exult in the living God.

Musical Source of the Offertory for St Philip Neri

Having checked through the Offertoriale, it is clear that the chant for the Offertory for the feast of St Philip Neri is taken from that of the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Si ambulavero, thus: 

1Viam1 2man2-3datorum tuorum cucurri3, 4cum dilatasti4  5cor meum.5 (T. P. Alleluja.) 

1Si am1-bulavero in medio tribulationis, 4vivificabis4 me, Domine: et super 2i2-ram ini-3micorum meorum extendes3 manum tuam, et salvum me faciet 5dextera tua.5 

Cistercian Elevation Chants

UPDATE: I have made a more accurate transcription of all three elevation chants.

The Cistercian Rite retained down to the liturgical changes of the 1960's the mediæval practice of singing an elevation motet after the elevation of the Host; and presumably all EF Masses in the Cistercian Rite still retain this laudable and pious custom. At Mass, after the chanted Sanctus, but before the Benedictus, the O salutaris Hostia is sung after the elevation; however, if it be Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin, the Sanctus and Benedictus are sung first, and then the Ave verum after the elevation. The Cistercian version of the Ave verum includes a slight change in wording (fudit aquam cum, not fluxit aquam et), an additional last phrase (Tu nobis miserere, set to the same notes as fili Mariæ) and a few minor variants in the assignment of notes to syllables (for in exa- and …li Mari…).

At Requiem Masses, the Sanctus and Benedictus are sung first, then the Pie Jesu after the elevation. This last chant is particularly interesting, as it is clearly based on a variant tune for the last lines of the Sequence Dies iræ, which is not sung in the Cistercian liturgy. The invocation Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem is sung thrice, then sempiternam (from the Agnus Dei melody) is appended, with a final Amen. 

Herewith, the Cistercian O salutaris Hostia (whose melody is a slightly more elaborate variant of the Roman), Ave verum, and Pie Jesu:

At present, I like to silently pray these three in succession after the Elevation, during the silent Canon of the Mass.

Nativitas tua Dei Genitrix Virgo

The Magnificat antiphon for the Feast of Our Lady's Nativity, Nativitas tua Dei Genitrix Virgo, is a translation of the Apolytikion of the Feast in the Byzantine Liturgy (Ἡ γέννησίς σου Θεοτόκε, χαρὰν ἐμήνυσε πάσῃ τῇ οικουμένῃ, ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ ἀνέτειλεν ὁ Ἥλιος τῆς δικαιοσύνης, Χριστὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ λύσας τὴν κατάραν, ἔδωκε τὴν εὐλογίαν, καὶ καταργήσας τὸν θάνατον, ἐδωρήσατο ἡμῖν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον.).

Its Gregorian chant melody is interesting to me because it resembles a very ornate psalm-tone (rather in the style of that of the Ambrosian Transitorium Te laudamus Domine omnipotens), which I transcribe as follows, breaking the chant into sense-lines to reveal the repeated motifs:

Note that the first and fourth lines are all but identical as regards the chant, while the second, third and fifth lines are the same from the climacus (five descending notes) onwards, and after the quarter bar are all but the same as the first and fourth lines, just as the beginnings of the first and fourth (but for the climacus) resemble that of the second and to a lesser extent the fifth, while at the same time the beginnings of the third line is quite different in melody.

In the Dominican Rite, this antiphon is (or was) used also for Our Lady's Visitation and Presentation, as well as for other Marian feasts, in each case changing the word Nativitas into, respectively, Visitatio,  Præsentatio, and Solemnitas. Likewise, in the Monastic Breviary, the same is done for the feast of Our Lady's Maternity, changing Nativitas into Maternitas (and ending the chant at Christus Deus noster).

We had a lovely OF parish Mass in the evening of the Feast yesterday; perhaps next year our schola can learn this chant and sing it either at Mass or Benediction.

Longest and Shortest Ordinaries

Thanks to dear friends, our first Launceston Missa cantata since Vatican II was graced with Byrd's Mass for three voices. Before their most generous offer, I had initially planned on our own humble schola singing the so-called Missa primitiva, which consists of the oldest and shortest and easiest settings of the Ordinary: Kyrie XVI, Gloria XV, Credo I (though I was planning on using III), Sanctus XVIII and Agnus Dei XVIII. They are syllabic, with only one note per syllable in the main.

According to a handy website giving the texts and sound files of all the settings of the Kyriale, these would indeed be quite short and easy to sing, and in total would take a bit over 9 minutes (nearly half of that for the Creed). One can fruitfully compare them to that mainstay of times past, Mass VIII De Angelis with Credo III, which the same site indicates would take nearly 12 minutes to sing. (The website only gives the Kyrie in the modern sixfold form; I estimated the length of the traditional ninefold form.)

But I began to wonder, what would be the longest composite Ordinarium Missæ? Having spent some time looking over the chants of the eighteen Mass Ordinaries, with their variants and extra chants ad libitum, it seems to me that the following (with performance times in brackets, supplied from the above website) would constitute the longest Ordinary, taking nearly 17 and a half minutes to sing:

• Kyrie II (3:06)
• Gloria III ad libitum (5:01)
• Credo VI (5:56)
• Sanctus VII (1:33)
• Agnus Dei V (1:47)

All of these are neumatic chants, including long melismas on some syllables. It is interesting to compare the length of these to that of Byrd's polyphonic setting: unusually for polyphony, Byrd's setting of the Kyrie is only threefold, and very short (thus usually supplemented, as at our Mass, with six plainsong invocations); his Gloria and Credo are quite similar in length to the above lengthiest plainchant settings; but even his three-voice settings of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei are twice as long as those of the longest Gregorian ones.

All things being equal, I do prefer a Sanctus (with its Benedictus) that is long enough to occupy the time taken for the silent recitation of the Canon of the Mass – which is only possible if it is sung in polyphony. At the same time, many polyphonic Agnus Dei's are too long, being evidently intended for use at Masses where only the priest communicates, and no one else.

Speaking as an M.C., the Agnus Dei should ideally fill up the time between the priest singing Pax Domini and, after his preparatory prayers and reception of Communion, his turning to the congregation holding the Host and saying Ecce Agnus Dei. At least it should last until the bell is run thrice at his triple Domine non sum dignus, immediately prior to his Communion. Depending on the speed or otherwise of the celebrant, some plainchant settings are too short.

The longest composite Ordinary, assembled above, would also be suitable for a celebration of the Extraordinary Form in Eastern Rite lands, where the sensibility of local Uniates and Orthodox persons of good will would demand a lengthy Mass – one in which the Introit would be sung with several psalm verses if need be, the Gradual would have its response repeated after the verse, the Offertory would be sung with all its ancient verses, and the Communion chanted with selected psalm verses also…

UPDATE: The postconciliar Kyriale simplex contains an assemblage of simpler settings of the Ordinary, some from among the Masses and ad libitum chants otherwise given in the Liber, etc., plus a few simple forms of the Kyrie and Agnus Dei taken from chant settings of several litanies; the most noteworthy, however, is what is given as Credo "IV" more ambrosiano, which ought really be called Credo VIII (as the older books contain Credo's I to VI, plus Credo VII as an insert, as I have in my Liber) – it is the Ambrosian chant setting of the Creed (simply replacing the Ambrosian variant words ad cælos with the standard Roman in cælum), a simple note per syllable setting, with the only flourishes at all being at the very end: two notes on the first syllable of sæculi and nine for the Amen. I calculate that this should take about 3:20 to sing; and a recording of Ambrosian chant that I possess includes it, the elapsed time for chanting it proving to be 3:36 in fact.

So the very shortest Ordinary would be the Missa primitiva referenced above, but with Credo "VIII" more ambrosiano.

Compline and Benediction

Evening devotions and Benediction for the second day in a row – it reminds me of Hobart, or happy days in Melbourne; I could get used to this.

To-night, we had the last celebration for this year for our Gregorian chant choir, which was also a chance to fondly farewell Fr Allan, our devoted and good priest, who first established the choir at St Francis and ever since has nurtured it until now. Fr Allan is retiring in early January; we are quietly confident that the good work he has done in building up our parish, especially as regards the proper celebration of the sacred liturgy and fit music therefor, will continue to flourish and abound, given that our Archbishop is sending us a new priest.

But this evening – before the lengthy fraternal supper afterward – we first practised, then sung Compline, followed by a particularly elaborate Benediction, with the Christus vincit in procession beforehand, and, looking towards Advent, the Rorate cæli at exposition, and also another favourite, Jesu Redemptor omnium (verses extracted from the Christmas Vespers hymn) before reposition. Having left home at twenty past seven, I got back at twenty to eleven! God bless our priest, and our choir.

Our Participation in Angelic Worship

"God... by the Incarnation brought together the heavenly and earthly realm" (Solemn Blessing of Christmas).

Fr Paul, O.P., the visiting priest at the Launceston Carmel and an old friend of mine, preached at the Dawn Mass on sacred music as our share in angelic worship. He noted that the Gospel of the Midnight Mass ended with a great throng of the heavenly host singing Gloria in excelsis (St Luke ii, 14), while the Dawn Gospel began by speaking of what the shepherds next did, the angels having gone back to heaven (ibid., verse 15): it thus appears that the celestial choirs were engaged in chanting hymns of adoration all the night long.  Indeed, ceaseless is their worship; many a Preface makes reference to this fact: how appropriate, therefore, to take us this liturgical hint and contemplate it in the new light of Christmas morn.

God the Word having taken on our mortal flesh, heaven is joined to earth; so, too, we men of earth may lift our voices in company with the angels, and join – here and now in foretaste, in all liturgical worship and, above all, at Mass; one day, please God, in endless fulfilment in the kingdom of heaven – in their unending praise of the Most High and Thrice-Holy.  They sing, fundamentally, in adoration of God as He Is, Triune, a Communion of infinite Love, Three Persons in One God evermore; they sing in praise of His mighty work of Creation; they sing, having beheld the Christmas Mystery and its completion at Easter, of God's still more prodigious work whereby the Almighty united heaven to earth for the salvation of mankind, that on earth there may be pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis.  In the words of the eschatocol of the first, the traditional Christmas Preface:

And so, with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominions, and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven, we sing the hymn of [God's] glory, as without end we acclaim...

Inter alia, I was amused that Fr Paul mentioned Pope Telesphorus as the Supreme Pontiff to whom is attributed the command to sing Gloria in excelsis at Christmas.  For I recall only one other priest who ever mentioned Telesphorus – it was my old parish priest Fr Jarrett, now a bishop, who, when years ago I, yes, too pedantically, queried why there had been no Gloria at Mass that Sunday, replied, firmly tongue in cheek (having been momentarily forgetful at Mass, and begun the Collect directly the choir finished the Kyrie that day), that I ought really recall that Pope Telesphorus had died on that day, and therefore Holy Mother Church sings no Gloria on his anniversary!

The Gloria in excelsis, the Angelic Hymn or Greater Doxology, begins of course by making our own the song of the angels recorded in Holy Writ, and then adds many phrases drawn from Sacred Scripture and Tradition.  At Mass at Carmel (as always when it is sung, and likewise the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei) the Gloria had been chanted in the age-old Latin; Fr Paul reminded us that it is good and proper to value highly and rediscover the Church's patrimony of sacred music, especially in this Year of Faith, for Vatican II, fifty years ago, by no means called for a neglect of what it itself named and lauded as a great treasure; he reminded us that the Supreme Pontiff now gloriously reigning, no less than the Zeitgeist active among younger Catholics, seeks to cultivate and reconnect with these immemorial harmonies as a most fitting mode wherein to praise God, Who inspires all beauty.

Most of both Masses at Midnight and Dawn – certainly the Collect, the Preface, and so forth, but also the Gospel itself – were chanted by priest and people, thus singing to the Lord, in consonance with our morning homily.  Hearing the Nativity Gospels sung made one listen more carefully to each phrase; the texts' solemnity impressed on the mind by their ceremonial presentation as itself a ritual act, a principal part of Divine service. Worship is a lifting of the whole person to God by His grace, and this necessarily involves our minds, our hearts, our voices, our bodies and all that is ours, for we are both flesh and spirit in complex unity.

At the end of Mass, the Solemn Blessing reminded us that "God... by the Incarnation brought together the heavenly and earthly realm".  Last night, driving home after Midnight Mass, I spontaneously sang over the words of the recessional hymn, "O little town of Bethlehem", with its quiet assurance of salvation for those who receive the Christ Child in faith and truth:

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. 

For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above,

While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.

O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth,

And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth! 

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.

No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in. 

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

Chant Practice for Advent

At chant practice this evening, it being the last week of November and the week before Advent, we first sang through the Lux æterna, the Communion chant of the Requiem Mass (praying especially for my dear friend Ben, God rest him, at my request) and then turned our thoughts to the coming Advent.  To prepare for Advent, we began by singing “O come, O come, Emmanuel” – Neale’s masterly Englishing of the Veni, veni, Emmanuel, itself a versification of the ancient O Antiphons, which contain (affirms Dom Guéranger) “the very marrow” of Advent – and then concluded by practising the marvellous Advent Prose, the Rorate cæli desuper, with its plaintive pleas for salvation preceding God’s answering promise of consolation, foreshadowing the coming Messias.

Father was unable to be with us (having visitors to entertain), but with Mary’s help in playing our new church organ to give us the note, all went well.  As we did not sing Compline nor have Benediction, we had a chance to look more into the meaning and signifcance of that which we sang, which seemed a useful course to pursue. After more than the usual hour, we then repaired next door for nibbles, wine and good conversation, we happy seven. “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your truth in the watches of the night” (Ps 91(92):2-3).

Singalong

Fr Allan being away on holiday, it was just a little group of five parishioners that gathered for our fortnightly chant practice last night – but I think we enjoyed ourselves.  It being Eastertide, but also the eve of ANZAC Day, we added both the Regina cæli and the Introit of the Requiem Mass to our usual repertoire; we sang Compline as usual, then knelt to sing the Requiem for all our fallen soldiers.  Afterward, a good chat and something to drink...

Compline and Benediction for Christian Unity

To-night, our parish Compline and Benediction was graced by the attendance of Bp Robarts of the TAC, together with his wife and one of his parishioners.  My parish priest had very kindly invited him to attend, in the cause of promoting Christian Unity and more particularly the success in Australia of Anglicanorum cœtibus.

After Compline (sung in Gregorian chant), Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed, while we sang Ave verum, and Gaudeamus omnes in honour of St Cecilia, patroness of music, whose feast it is this day.  Bp Robarts then led us all in prayer before Our Lord truly present in the Eucharist, concluding very feelingly with the Prayer for Christian Unity.  Benediction was given by our priest with the usual Tantum ergo &c., then the Sacrament was reposed in the tabernacle while we chanted Jesu Redemptor omnium.  Our worship concluded with that most ecumenical hymn "Let all mortal flesh keep silence" – translated by an Anglican from an Eastern liturgy, set to a French tune.

After our foretaste of the joys of full communion in Eucharistic worship, we had a little agape - wine, savouries, cake...

It was a very blessed occasion in every respect.  Forward the Australian Ordinariate!

Ditans Cantu Guttura

Fr Allan being prevented from officiating, instead of Compline and Benediction last night we held an informal chant practice session instead, which was quite handy.  It was good to go over a number of items, and a happy presage of Advent to begin with singing through the whole of "O come, O come, Emmanuel", with its plainsong melody – since it is the practice in the parish to use this every Sunday of Advent, most appropriately.  We also ran through Richard Proulx's settings of the Alleluia, Memorial Acclamation and Great Amen to this melody, which will be used at ordinary Mass in the parish this Advent.  

That done as a good vocal warm-up, we sang through the Lord's Prayer in both Latin and English, and then tackled a number of other familiar chants, paying attention to phrasing and meaning and all the little details that are good to reinforce, such as quietening and ending each phrase with a slight rallantando.  What better than to sing the Ave verum – in organum, with yours truly singing a fifth below the others (well, trying to), producing that barbarous sound?  If it can be done properly, the resonance and unusual sound it gives can be quite decent... when perfected.

We sang through the Salve Regina also, again paying attention to phrasing and expression, before tackling what we really needed to revise: the Nunc dimittis from Compline, since fitting its words to its proper Gospel canticle tone can be tricky.  This done, we ended with Kyrie eleison, as our prayer to the Lord in closing.  A good practice, and then farewell, with belated best wishes for the feast of St Cecilia, among whose clients we count ourselves and our little inchoate schola.

St Francis, pray for Suzie

Crisis!  Having been home this morning looking after one of our dogs, Suzie, who's had an operation and is now looking most wobegone, with big shaved patches displaying ugly looking stitched-up cuts (think "Frankenstein's dog"), I was called away from our fortnightly chant practice to help take her in to see the vet after hours, since there was some bleeding from her wounds.  I don't do blood.  I don't do suffering in dumb animals.  Well, some bandaging later, we've settled her down for the night, and will take her in to the vet again in the morning...

Dear Father was most understanding when my mobile went off in church (!), and suggested, good Franciscan that he was, that we pray St Francis to intercede for Suzie.  I must admit, I would have thought it otherwise somehow inappropriate to pray God for a sick dog, but realize now that that is quite wrong: God made all creatures, "beasts in their thousands on My hills", "all that moves in the field belongs to Me"; and the Missal does after all contain prayers against cattle plague.

St Francis, pray for all God's creatures, particularly Suzie.

Compline & Benediction

What a good idea, what a blessing, and a spiritual consolation: singing Compline and then singing at Benediction.  Our fortnightly Gregorian chant session at St Francis was, as always, most beneficial to weary body and soul.

Spiritual Recharge: Compline and Benediction

We few, we happy few: just the nucleus of our Gregorian chant choir, our priest and a faithful parishioner, coming together to practise, to learn and then to offer our sacrifice of praise to God, singing Compline and then Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

We sang a chant new to us, one in honour of the Immaculate Conception, and customarily sung by Franciscans on Saturdays: Tota pulchra es.

V/. Tota pulchra es, Maria.
R/. Tota pulchra es, Maria.
V/. Et macula originalis non est in te.
R/. Et macula originalis non est in te.
V/. Tu gloria Jerusalem.
R/. Tu laetitia Israel.
V/. Tu honorificentia populi nostri.
R/. Tu advocata peccatorum.
V/. O Maria.
R/. O Maria.
V/. Virgo prudentissima.
R/. Mater clementissima.
V/. Ora pro nobis.
R/. Intercede pro nobis ad Dominum Jesum Christum.

V/. Thou art all fair, O Mary.
R/. Thou art all fair, O Mary.
V/. And the original stain is not in thee.
R/. And the original stain is not in thee.
V/. Thou glory of Jerusalem.
R/. Thou joy of Israel.
V/. Thou honour of our people.
R/. Thou advocate of sinners.
V/. O Mary.
R/. O Mary.
V/. Virgin most prudent.
R/. Mother most tender.
V/. Pray for us.
R/. Intercede for us with the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I worshipped the Lord present in His true Flesh, while Father censed the Host, it struck me how this is a true act of latria, offering the incense of adoration to Jesus Christ our God – it is only short of the perfect act of latria that is the Mass, when we offer not but earthly incense, but the Divine Victim, Christ Himself, to His Father.

Last night, that was our hour's pastime; as I remarked to Father, it was a spiritual recharge; he smiled and said it was that for him, too.

Chanting is Good for the Soul

Again deputizing for Father, who had a prior commitment, I led our little Gregorian chant group this evening for our fortnightly singalong.  Being in church, a prayer to Our Lord in the Sacrament started us off, then an English hymn, marking the feast day of the holy martyrs John Fisher and Thomas More.  

For the chant itself, we first ran through the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei from Mass XVIII, marking those tiny liquescent notes; then had a good stab at Credo III; and ended with the Agnus Dei, Ite missa est and Kyrie from the Missa de Angelis – observing the lateness of these chants and thus their more "modern" sound, talking a little as we went about the old tropes or farcings of the Kyries that gave de Angelis its name, and looking at the Latin, translating and discussing.  Most enjoyable.

But soft!  A note from Father led us to a thoughtfully-secreted bottle of wine, plus nibbles, in the adjoining parish room... we nattered away till late, when our priest, at last returning from a meeting, caught us still gossiping: "Time, gentlemen, please."

Singing well is praying twice, Augustine says.  What a good pleasure it is.

Resolution: must spend more time in good company.  God grant it!

Chant Practice

There's nothing like a singalong... especially if it be Gregorian chant that's sung.  

Our little coterie gathered at St Francis for a practice led by yours truly, and it all went well: the simple Regina cæli as a start (for to invoke Our Lady's mediation), then the syllabic hymn Jesu dulcis memoria, followed by the Easter Sequence Victimæ Paschali laudes, and finally, launching into the Ordinary of the Mass, the Kyrie, Ite, Agnus Dei and Sanctus of the Missa de Angelis, of course.  A good time was had by all, though I had a dry throat after ninety minutes!  

On the way home, I stopt to buy milk, and also bought a treat my aunt introduced me to after her Scottish sojourn: oatcakes.  Yum.

Chant Practice This Tuesday

In place of dear Fr Allan (who's away at present), I've been asked to lead our Gregorian chant practice at St Francis' Church, Riverside, on Tuesday night at 7.30 pm.  

All welcome!

Compline and Benediction

Last night our new Gregorian schola met again at 7.30 pm, for practice, then sung Compline and Benediction at 8 pm - which is now advertised to all and sundry in the parish bulletin. As always, it was an uplifting occasion, and afterward several of us had a good conversation, despite the cold, rainy weather. (I came early, and took the opportunity of asking Fr to hear my confession: always a good thing to do.)

To Revive My Drooping Spirit

I don't know why the Lord is always sending me consolations...

Having returned to earth with a bump, so to speak, it was a real grace to go along to St Francis for our Gregorian chant group - and to find that we were to first practice, and then sing Compline and Benediction. I love the smell of incense in the evening!

Two English prayers were added at Benediction to the usual: a short litany of the Blessed Sacrament, and an excellent choice for reposition hymn - "Let all mortal flesh keep silence".

Afterward, Fr Allan invited us to join him for supper at the friary, and asked me to tell all about my trip (not realizing just how garrulous I can be). Supper over, he solemnly blessed my new crucifix for me. A good priest.