First of April, Third of May

We normally have a Sunday evening Missa cantata here in Launceston on the second Sunday of each month; however, as next Sunday is Palm Sunday, a day of great liturgical exertions, our chaplain drove up from Hobart a week earlier, so we could celebrate Passion Sunday on the first Sunday, which was yesterday, the 2nd of April. Next month, something similar obtains: to avoid clashing with parish missions, the Missa cantata will be celebrated on the third Sunday, the 21st of May. As April has five Sundays this year, this means that six Sundays will intervene between our two Missæ cantatæ. I do hope those who weren't present at Mass yesterday evening hadn't missed out through their own fault by not reading the schedule! I didn't send any reminder messages as I have in the past. And people will have to pay attention to find out when the next Mass occurs, given this latest change to our schedule.

Consecration to Our Lady Queen of Angels

The Latin Mass Community of the Archdiocese of Hobart was this day consecrated to its newly-chosen Patroness, Our Lady, Queen of Angels. After the usual Sunday morning Mass in Hobart, and after this evening's second-Sunday-of-the-month Missa cantata in Launceston, one and all recited the Act of Consecration, entrusting the whole Community, and each member thereof, to her maternal care.

This evening, during the Last Gospel, the choir sang the Ave Regina cælorum (using the Dominican version); after that came the following versicle, collect and the Act of Consecration itself, followed by the recessional hymn, "Help of Christians, guard this land":

V. Ave María, Regína Angelórum.

R. Ora pro nobis servis tuis. 

Orémus. 

Supplicatiónem servórum tuórum, Deus miserátor, exáudi: ut qui in Communitáte Regínæ Angelórum congregámur, ejus intercessiónibus, a te de instántibus perículis eruámur. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. R. Amen. 

Holy Virgin, Sovereign of the heavenly hierarchies, who by the august title of Mother of God have been raised to the dignity of Queen of Angels, we unite ourselves today to those blessed spirits to render to you our duty and our profound homage; we come to consecrate ourselves forever to your service. We already belong, it is true, to your beloved Congregation; however, permit us to declare loudly, O Mary, that we are and will always be your children. Immaculate Virgin, who have never been invoked in vain, show that you are truly our mother; we beseech you, show to us, especially during these rejoicings, that we are passing through the midst of a corrupt world that will strive to deceive us; show the enemies of our salvation that you are more powerful to save us than they are to destroy us; govern us by the good offices of our Celestial Guardians. We must fight the infernal legions, an evil and seductive world, and especially our passions and evil inclinations; who will defend us against such formidable enemies if you do not come to our rescue? You are terrible as an army in battle array: it is for you to support us in these battles. O Mary, bright star of the sea, guide us in the midst of this stormy sea, so full of pitfalls that many of the virtuous have been wrecked! You are beautiful as the lily among thorns: preserve us in an inviolable purity in the midst of universal corruption. We entrust to you the precious deposit of our innocence, which will be safer in your hands, O Virgin of virgins, whose purity exceeds that of the same Angels. O Mother most amiable, enlarge your heart, open to us a refuge against the fury and dangerous seductions of the infernal dragon whose head you crushed. You are all powerful with the Almighty: gain for us, we beseech you, all relief that we need to overcome the devil, the world and ourselves. Finally, obtain for us the grace to lead an angelic life, that we may deserve to be assisted and strengthened at the hour of death, by you and by our holy angels, and be rewarded in heaven. Amen.

Our Best Yet

Attendance at our monthly 6 pm Missa cantata in Launceston was the best yet, and yesterday evening was marked also by the use and presentation to our nascent community of a new altar missal, recently purchased, in place of the battered old edition that we have previously used. This morning, despite being a public holiday, I had to rise well before dawn in order to get to St Francis again to serve the 7 am Low Mass. There is something so beautiful about the sacred silence.

Launceston Latin Mass Update

Tonight, Fr Rowe – my former parish priest in Perth, W.A., who is visiting again, having been in Hobart for a conference – offered our monthly Missa cantata. The attendance was good, with several new faces present who promised to return, and afterward we shared a cuppa and a chinwag.

I have just learnt from Fr Suresh, who is chaplain to the Latin Mass community in this Archdiocese, that from our next Mass in August onwards, our monthly Latin Mass in Launceston will be held on the second Sunday, which will be more convenient for many.

Our next Missa cantata, therefore, will be held at 6 pm on Sunday the 9th of August, at St Francis Church, Riverside.

Thank you, St Patrick

It struck me on St Patrick's feast day that I really ought thank him, that truly noble Apostle of Ireland and Patron of Tasmania – since the prayers made to the Lord through his intercession (see side bar), that the Traditional Latin Mass, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, be available in Tasmania, at least on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, have been answered: His Grace Archbishop Porteous appointed Fr Suresh as Chaplain to the Archdiocese of Hobart Latin Mass Community earlier this year, and we have had weekly EF Masses ever since the end of January, thanks to him and Fr Quinn.

First Friday EF Masses have begun; this week, those in Hobart can attend a sung 6 pm Mass for the Annunciation; and again this year, we will have Fr Mannes visiting from Sydney in order to celebrate the sacred rites of the Paschal Triduum. As if that were not enough, since March, on the first Sunday of each month, there is a Missa cantata in Launceston – Truly, my cup runneth over!

I discovered an old posting of mine from December 2012: how much has changed in so little time! And to my surprise, the prayer to St Patrick asking for Latin Masses in this State I found I put together back in October 2008, before I moved back to Tasmania from Western Australia (together with some rather verbose additions unused for years). (I also again thank Fr Hunwicke for assisting me with Latinizing part of it – and for suggesting the addition of "at least".) So it took only 6 years and a quarter for this prayer to be answered: Deo gratias et Patricio.

Launceston Missa Cantata

For the first time in a long time, I won't be M.C. at the first Sunday of the month Hobart Missa cantata, for the excellent reason that, instead, I will be serving at our new first Sunday of the month Launceston Missa cantata, at 6 pm at St Francis' Church, Riverside.

In Hobart, since January this year, the Traditional Latin Mass is offered every Sunday – the venue and time has recently changed to 11:00 am at Sacred Heart Church, New Town. Fr Quinn continues to say that Mass on the first Sunday of each month, but otherwise Fr Suresh says it. As on the first Sundays, Fr Suresh is free, he will henceforth drive north to offer an Extraordinary Mass in Launceston.

I feel sorry that I won't be M.C. for Fr Quinn henceforth, but it will be good both for me and for those others here in the North who wish to attend the traditional form of the Roman Rite, without having to drive to Hobart.

Thanks be to God!

To Hobart

I'm almost better from a nasty cold (or bronchitis almost) that's been plaguing me for eight days.

I didn't make it to Hobart last Sunday, but did manage to MC our special Launceston Mass, which was very well attended, with all present very moved and rapt in the sublime worship, God be praised. All thanks to our visiting priest, Fr Rowe, the marvellous choir – Byrd in three, plus the chant propers and several motets – and servers! I also served his private Low Mass on Monday morning, which was very special.

I head down to Hobart this afternoon, as Fr Rowe will again celebrate Mass for our community at Sacred Heart, New Town, at 10:30 am tomorrow, Sunday the 20th of July, before he concludes his visit to Tasmania and returns to the West on Monday.

As he has recently celebrated his 20th anniversary of ordination, do pray that he be ever more and more a priest after the Heart of Christ. And please offer prayers for Mother Stephanie, at our Launceston Carmel, as she is very frail and aged, and her long life appears to be drawing to that end which we all must face ere long.

Off to Sydney and Melbourne

It's been a while since I last posted, but various matters have taken up my time.

To-night, I'm off to Sydney for the weekend, then I'll fly down to Melbourne for the week, and be back here on Saturday, before driving to Hobart, where I'll stay the night, then MC morning Mass there, before driving myself and Fr Rowe (who'll be visiting Tasmania that week) back to Launceston, where I'll MC the special 6 pm Missa cantata at St Francis, Riverside, on Sunday 13th July. Please do come if you can!

Some matters are too serious to trust to the internet, but do keep me in your prayers.

Brrrr: It's Cold

It isn't even 1°C yet, and it's nearly eleven o'clock in the morning!  The city is obscured by a thick blanket of fog.

Launceston in winter, especially due to the fog that hangs in the river valley, can be chill.

Even I've taken to wearing a jumper.

Walking up around the Gorge, deep in shade, with tendrils of mist hanging about, has been quite atmospheric...

Monday's temperature range was 0.3°C to 9.1°C; and Tuesday's: -1.1°C to 9.0°C (it only passed zero at 10am).

Meanwhile, high above, volcanic ash clouds from Chile are preventing most flights from reaching Tasmania.

Spare many prayers, moreover, for the people of Christchurch, again reeling after yet another powerful earthquake.  I mourn for that beautiful city.

******

P.S. The fog gradually cleared by noon, although the sky remained clouded over; at least, about three o'clock, the sun shone through for a time.  It reached just  8.0°C at four o'clock.  What a miserable chilly day!

Snowy Mountains

One pleasure of the austral winter is the sight of snow on the high peaks: flying back into Launceston on Thursday I was able to catch a glimpse of snow on the Great Western Tiers (the escarpment descending from the Central Plateau), and, the last few days having been mainly fine, cool and clear, the sight of white snows shining from afar on two of the three eastern heights visible from home, Mount Barrow and Ben Lomond (the latter an alpine plateau containing the second-highest peak in the State) has been delightful – apparently, it's been one of the best start-of-season snowfalls in decades, and the skiing should soon begin.  Only Mount Arthur, northernmost and lowest at 1188 metres, showed but a tiny scatter of snow.

I drove up to the top of Trevallyn Hill on Friday, and took these (rather poor) images of the two snowclad giants:

Mount Barrow, 1413 m high and about 46 km away

Ben Lomond, maximum height 1570 m and about 50 km away

Because of snowfall in the highlands, and down to lower altitudes in the North-east (dusting Scottsdale and other towns), there are floodwaters from snowmelt coming down some of the rivers, and so the Cataract Gorge is in flood again already, as the Trevallyn dam's impoundment is reduced to its minimum level to cope with this influx.  I had a pleasant walk through the Gorge yester-day, and a coffee, enjoying the spectacle of the onrushing torrent.

Shortest Day

This year, the shortest day falls to-day, the 21st of June: the sun rose here in Launceston this morning at 7:38 am, and will soon set, at only 4:48 pm – only just over nine hours of daylight.  To-day's weather: partly cloudy, 0 to 13 degrees.  I am minded to see what my friend up in Edinburgh is experiencing, since for him this is the summer solstice, and so I'll quickly look up details (pause for googling): it appears he can expect some showers, and a range from 11 to 19 degrees (sounds like spring weather here).  Scotland's capital being further north than Launceston is south, the sun will rise there at 4:26 am and set very late, at 10:06 pm – imagine that! nearly eighteen hours' daylight, twice what we have now.  Given the lengthy twilight also, Edinburgh (were it not for cloud) would presumably have the "White Nights" of St Petersburg...

As good Christian folk will recall, the nearness of this event – the winter solstice in the Southern, but the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere – to the feast of the Nativity of the Baptist, and therefore the truth that from this feast onward, for those north of the equator, the days shorten, is considered significant by such worthies as St Augustine, mindful of St John's own words to Christ, the true Sun Who enlightens all men born into this world: "He must increase, I must decrease" – the lesson being that the Baptist came to herald Christ, Who must grow in us evermore.  Our Lord's Nativity, occurring in the North in darkest winter drear, thus symbolizes Christ coming "to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death", enlightening hearts more and more, just as, after Christmas in northern climes, the days grow longer daily thereafter.

Litany of St Cuthbert Mayne

St Cuthbert Mayne, protomartyr of the seminary priests, suffered at Launceston, Cornwall, in late 1577, during the persecution of Elizabeth Tudor.  I regard him as patron of my hometown, the antipodean Launceston, also.  While a relic of him was kept at the Church of the Apostles here for many years, shortly after it was enshrined beneath the new marble forward altar within the last decade, it was stolen by person or persons unknown, and has not been recovered.  When paying a visit to the church, I often look to the now-empty reliquary.

Imagine my pleasure, therefore, when I read that the estimable Fr Hunwicke, he of Liturgical Notes fame (who so kindly shewed a friend and me round his church in Oxford, and even entertained us two rather naive and zealous R.C.'s to a cuppa), has been at Lanherne (once a Recusant stronghold, and latterly a female religious house), where Reservation of the Bl Sacrament has been continuous since the Reformation, and was there permitted by Reverend Mother to venerate their second greatest treasure: a relic of St Cuthbert Mayne.

Here is a litany I composed in his honour; for more expedition, the latter parts (after the invocations to "pray for us" are completed) may be omitted and only the first collect used:

LITANY OF SAINT CUTHBERT MAYNE

Assembled from various sources

(For private use only.)

Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us.  Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, pray for us.

Queen of the English, pray for us.

Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.

Saint Cuthbert Mayne, pray for us.

Who wast of mild nature and sweet behaviour, pray for us.

Who didst repent of the trappings of false religion, pray for us.

Who didst at length embrace the True Faith, pray for us.

Who didst flee abroad to be priested, pray for us.

Who didst study for the priesthood at Douai, pray for us.

Who wast desirous as a priest to honour God, pray for us.

Who wast desirous to offer reparation for sin, pray for us.

Who wast inflamed with zeal to save souls, pray for us.

Who wast sent in secret to England, pray for us.

Who didst labour in Cornwall, enduring danger and peril, pray for us.

Who didst reconcile so many to the Church, pray for us.

Who wast seized by evil men, pray for us.

Who wast cruelly imprisoned, pray for us.

Who wast wrongfully tried, pray for us.

Who wast unjustly convicted, pray for us.

Who didst refuse to swear the unlawful oath, pray for us.

Who wast condemned to death, pray for us.

Who didst pray so earnestly, pray for us.

Who wast illumined by a great light, pray for us.

Who wast hung, drawn, and quartered, pray for us.

Protomartyr of Launceston, pray for us.

Protomartyr of Douai, pray for us.

Protomartyr of Oxford, pray for us.

Protomartyr of the seminary priests, pray for us.

Of whose converts none ever recanted, pray for us.

Whose relics work miracles, pray for us.

Who dost reign with Christ for ever, pray for us.

All ye holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray ye for us.

Be merciful, spare us, O Lord.

Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Lord.

From all evil, deliver us, O Lord.

From all sin, deliver us, O Lord.

From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Lord.

From anger, and hatred, and all ill will, deliver us, O Lord.

From error, dissension, and division, deliver us, O Lord.

From heresy and schism, deliver us, O Lord.

From everlasting death, deliver us, O Lord.

By thine eternal priesthood, deliver us, O Lord.

By that ministry whereby thou didst glorify thy Father upon earth, deliver us, O Lord.

By thine institution of the most holy Eucharist, deliver us, O Lord.

By thy bloody immolation of thyself made once upon the cross, deliver us, O Lord.

By that same sacrifice daily renewed on the altar, deliver us, O Lord.

By that divine power, which thou, the one and invisible priest, dost exercise in thy priests, deliver us, O Lord.

By the triumph of thy grace in all thy holy martyrs, deliver us, O Lord.

We sinners, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to rule and preserve thy holy Church, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to preserve the Apostolic See, and all ecclesiastical orders, in holy religion, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to humble the enemies of holy Church, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to grant peace and unity to all Christian people, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to recall all the erring to the unity of the Church, and to lead all unbelievers to the light of the Gospel, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to send faithful and unshakeable workers into thy harvest, we beseech thee, hear us.

That thou wouldst deign to deliver us from all heresy, faithlessness, and blindness of heart, we beseech thee, hear us.

Son of God, we beseech thee, hear us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.  Christ, graciously hear us.

Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.

Our Father… (in secret until)

V/. And lead us not into temptation.

R/. But deliver us from evil.

Ant.  Under the altar of God I heard the voice of the slain saying: Why dost thou not avenge our blood?  And they received the divine response: Wait yet a little while, until the number of your brethren be fulfilled.  (P.T.  Alleluia.)

V/. What torments were suffered by all the saints.

R/. That they might securely come to the palm of martyrdom.

V/. The bodies of the saints are buried in peace.

R/. And their names shall live for evermore.

V/. Precious in the sight of the Lord.

R/. Is the death of his saints.

V/. The saints have entered the kingdom with palms.

R/. They have merited crowns of beauty from the hand of God.

V/. O ye Martyrs of the Lord, bless ye the Lord for ever.

R/. O ye choir of Martyrs, praise ye the Lord in the highest.

V/. Thee the white-robed army of Martyrs praise, O Lord.

R/. Thee the holy Church throughout the world doth confess.

V/. Make us to be numbered with thy saints.

R/. In glory everlasting.

V/. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R/. And let my cry come unto thee.

Let us pray.

O God, who didst grant to blessed Cuthbert before the other seminary priests to run the road of torments for the salvation of souls: grant to us in thy mercy, that inflamed with the same zeal for souls, we may not hesitate to lay down our lives for others.

Increase in us, O Lord, faith in the resurrection, who dost work wonders by the relics of thy Saints: and make us partakers of that immortal glory, a pledge of which we venerate in their ashes.

Stir up in us, O Lord, the Spirit that the blessed Martyrs of Douai obeyed: that being filled with the same, we may study to love what they loved, and to do the works that they taught.

O God, who didst strengthen thy blessed Martyrs Cuthbert and his companions with unconquerable courage, that they might fight for the true faith and the primacy of the Apostolic See: by hearkening unto their prayers, we beseech thee to help our frailty, that, strong in faith, we may be able to resist the enemy even to the end.

O God, who didst raise up thy blessed Martyrs Bishop John, Thomas, and their companions from every walk of life to be champions of the true faith and of the Supreme Pontiff: by their merits and prayers, grant that, by profession of the same faith, all may be made and remain one, as thine own Son prayed.

We beseech thee, O Lord, mercifully to receive the prayers of thy Church: that, all adversities and errors being destroyed, she may serve thee in secure freedom.

O God, who dost correct those who have erred, and dost gather those who were scatttered, and dost preserve those who have been gathered together: we beseech thee, clemently pour forth upon Christian people the grace of union with thee, that, rejecting division, and joining themselves to the true shepherd of thy Church, they may be able to worthily serve thee.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  

R/. Amen.

V/. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R/. And let my cry come unto thee.

V/. By the intercession of blessed Cuthbert, may almighty God bless us, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

R/. Amen.

V/. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

R/. Amen.

The Gorge in Flood

(This small clip gives the sound, but doesn't do the full spectacle justice.)

No photos yet, but a description at least demands writing: after work, in the late afternoon grading to twilight, I did as many good burghers of Launceston, and stopped half-way home, parked the car, then walked up the cliffside path from the King's Bridge to the First Basin, up through the Cataract Gorge, the raging flood-waters of the South Esk spilling down the descent in a magnificent, thundering spectacle of churning silt-laden water, the very air tasting of earth and salt, as the surging waters shot down from further upstream, through the deep-chiselled defile, roaring over the huge boulders normally seen below, but for now submerged in the sudden maelstrom...

Casting an eye over the ferocious scene, I read again the following verses (3b-5) of Psalm 123:

Cum irasceretur furor eorum in nos, * fortisan aqua absorbuisset nos.

Torrentem pertransivit anima nostra: * fortisan pertransisset anima nostra aquam intolerabilem.

When their fury was enkindled against us, * perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.

Our soul hath passed through a torrent: * perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable.

How glorious to be safe and secure, calmly beholding the raging torrent from an eyrie of security! Heaven must be like that.

And again, from Psalm 92, the opening of festal Lauds (verses 3-4):

Elevaverunt flumina, Domine, * elevaverunt flumina vocem suam.

Elevaverunt flumina fluctus suos, * a vocibus aquarum multarum.

Mirabiles elationes maris: * mirabilis in altis Dominus.

The floods have lifted up, O Lord: * the floods have lifted up their voice.

The floods have lifted up their waves, * with the noise of many waters.

Wonderful are the surges of the sea: * wonderful is the Lord on high.

The very euphony of these words paints a picture of the billowing waves, and of the voices of the many waters. Blessed be the Lord Who made them, orders them and ever makes them be. May all His wondrous works praise Him:

Benedicite, maria et flumina, Domino: laudate et superexaltate eum in sæcula.

O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.

(Daniel iii, 78)

While the Trevallyn Dam further upstream has been shedding water over the spillway on and off for some weeks now (and the level of water in the Gorge has risen, fallen, and risen again), now, with all the runoff from the past days of flooding rains in the upcountry gathering and coming through, a prodigious display of nature's strength is underway. The green grassy sward around the swimming pool by the First Basin is now almost wholly submerged, the pool itself far underwater, and I walked in the dimming light by the water's edge as it foamed and churned and threw waves toward my feet, while all along this strange new shore huge driftwood piles built up. Out in the Basin itself (which even at its usual level is a lake over 200m deep), enormous logs, whole trees, could be seen being carried by on tremendous waves.

Standing on the "swing bridge" as we call it, the pedestrian suspension bridge at the debouchment of the upper reaches of the Gorge into the First Basin, it was astounding to behold without fear the giant rush of speeding waters below, sending up such fine mist that the handrail was damp. Sublime!

Even downstream, where the Gorge empties its waters to swell the Tamar, boats and the rowing club pontoon have been moved out of the way, since the forecast flow of 1200 cubic metres of water a second is well being achieved. (Yet this is only a quarter the size of the Great Flood of 1929!)

Still, the peak isn't expected till mid-day to-morrow. [The eventual peak of 1100 cubic metres per second came early Saturday morning.]

It's been years since the last decent flood.

Chant Practice Resumed

I am a little late in noting this, but on Tuesday night we resumed our Gregorian chant schola-in-formation, and have agreed to continue to meet on Tuesdays (excepting the third Tuesday of each month), at 7.30 pm at St Francis, Riverside, for an hour's practice. Fr Allan has proposed, and we've gladly agreed, that we will work towards singing Benediction, and eventually Compline - which one day perhaps we can do in public on the Saturday evening, ad mirandum populi.

After a few scales, we went over the simple Kyrie (from Mass XVI), plus the Sanctus and Agnus Dei we'd learnt (from Mass XVIII), then the first verses of the Veni Creator, and the start of the Ubi caritas et amor. This done, Fr bade us listen to some recordings of monks singing the Introit Da pacem (with its opening leap of a fifth) of the 18th after Pentecost, and then the famed Gradual Christus factus est from Holy Thursday. This acted to spur us on; we then practised Psalm 133 (Ecce nunc benedicite, from Sunday Compline) and revised the Corpus Christi Magnificat antiphon O quam suavis (which to an experienced ear sounds awfully like both the Sanctus from the Missa de Angelis, and the Dominican anthem O lumen Ecclesiæ).

As we had begun with a prayer, an Our Father and some invocations of the saints, we closed with the Compline Responsory In manus tuas, as our prayer. As usual, we had the meeting after the meeting - some long discussions in the parish carpark afterward. It's good to talk with likeminded folk.

Gregorian Chant Group

Many thanks to Paul, a reader (God help him) of this silly blog, who met me at Carmel at Christmas, and subsequently let me know that at St Francis, which according to the actual borders on the ground is my local parish here in Launceston (though I hardly ever go there!), there was a group of parishioners interested in Gregorian chant about to meet - so I braved the cold and fog and went along...

Fr Allan, a very pleasant Franciscan (new to me, though 14 months in the parish), was there already, at the organ.  Once a half-dozen of us interested persons assembled, and he'd led us in a Glory be, prayer, and a "St Cecilia, pray for us, St Gregory, pray for us" - it's nice to see humble unaffected piety in a priest - we began: fortuitously (or providentially) enough, this evening is the eve of St John Baptist, and Fr explained, from the handout he'd provided, that the familiar sol-fa scale derives from the first verse of the hymn Ut queant laxis, whose words are a supplication to St John that he cleanse sordid lips to sing the wonders of his life.

To begin with, Father had provided us with In manus tuas Domine, the usual form of the Responsory at Compline, the night prayer of the Church: I can't say how good it was to be among those singing the chant again!  In due course we practiced a simple syllabic setting of the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei; and concluded learning for now (the hour having ended) with the first stanza of the Veni Creator Spiritus.  As a final prayer, we sang through In manus tuas once more, said a Glory be and prayed a blessing.  It made for a very gentle meditative closure of our first meeting.

Clearly Father has a lot of knowledge of the chant: and I recognize from his photocopies that some of the chants come from an old edition of the Liber Usualis with English rubrics, while other items from an old-rite Compline book put out only a few years back (the font is distinctive).  

As I mentioned to the others, I was actually baptized there in the church at yon font, only a few metres from where we were practising around the organ: my spiritual birthplace, strange to think!  Please remember, however, poor Fr Anthony, who baptized me, but has left the ministry subsequently.

Afterward, while lingering in the narthex and saying a quick goodbye, to my embarrassment-and-gladness (let's be honest, we all like a bit of attention), it turned out three of my fellow singers knew of me via this blog; Hi, Paul, Mary, and Daniel- it'll be good to see you, Fr, and everyone next week on Tuesday at 7.30 pm.

An Eightieth Anniversary - Missed

I've been idly speculating on what culinary specialities have marked the last days: I have certainly enjoyed hot cross buns at breakfast and/or lunch; and Good Friday marked the reappearance (after no breakfast, two buns only for lunch, and apart from that only cups of tea or coffee) of a family favourite, curiously otherwise only served on Christmas Eve - fish baked in individual ramekins, these having been greased with butter, and then the fish immersed in cream, with almonds and finely chopped onion, salt and much pepper on top. This morning, after Mass and prior to a good long walk around the Cataract Gorge up to Duck Reach and back, I had breakfast out, with coffee and a plate of mushrooms cooked in butter, salt and pepper, plus English muffins and a bit of English spinach (it is Easter Week, after all).

******

But I really meant to blog on an anniversary missed, which I only discovered to-day after reading Health, Wealth and Tribulation: Launceston's Cataract Gorge, a copy of which I bought this morning (at the café). Perhaps my being away to Hobart last Sunday had meant that I missed the significance of the date, but strangely the local papers apparently missed it too, and I certainly read Monday's news.

Of what the eightieth anniversary? Black Saturday, 6th April 1929: the Great Flood. Mention "the Flood" in Launceston, and anyone will know what happened that dismal day.

The rainstorm came on Wednesday 3rd April: such a deluge! 500 mm - 200 inches - of rain fell in the high country over the ensuing three days. Every river and stream in northern Tasmania swelled to bursting. Come Thursday afternoon, the dam above the mining town of Derby broke, and the raging floodwaters drowned fourteen. On Thursday evening, eight were drowned - seven of them children, six of them from one family - when their car plunged into the Gawler River when the driver failed to see in the rain and darkness that the bridge had been destroyed. God rest their souls.

On Friday, Launceston prepared for the oncoming flood down the North and South Esk Rivers; but most of the folk in lowlying Inveresk and Invermay, behind levee banks that enclosed their suburbs (drained swampland, actually below high tide level to this day), refused to evacuate despite warnings. The rivers rose and rose. At 11pm all power failed - the city's pride, its municipal power station at Duck Reach (established 1895) was submerged in the onrushing waters filling up the Gorge. About 4,000 cubic metres a second (140.000 cubic feet per second) was surging downstream. At 1am Saturday, the town clock began to ring continuously, the pre-arranged signal of disaster: the levees were overtopped, the suburbs flooded, and 4000 had to be rescued, first by cars, then by boats. Miraculously, no one perished; but many lost everything, and had no insurance.

Amusingly, in the aftermath, which was well-organized and funded by generous donations both locally and throughout the Commonwealth, many of those whose houses were condemned were temporarily relocated to what was unblushingly called a "concentration camp" at Elphin!

I must say I'm glad my sister has recently sold her home in Invermay and relocated to higher ground: the City Council has been ineffectually squabbling for years about fixing the levee banks, which are so decrepit as to be actually sliding into the river in places, and which one fears would not sustain a new flood threat some eighty years on. When New Orleans was devastated, I think many in Launceston felt vaguely worried. The Council, true to form, sent a fact-finding mission there to see what could be learnt about levee banks and what happens to them!

As it is, the Tamar (the estuary formed where the North and South Esk meet where the city lies) is filling so full of mud that I've never seen it so bad, and I grew up here: it certainly wasn't this bad 2 years ago. It ought be explained that the Tamar is tidal, with a range of over 3 metres, and the rivers bring down about 39,000 tons of silt every year, so without continual dredging it soon becomes a disgusting sight at low tide. Of course, a flood like the 1929 one would at least solve the mud problem...

New Prioress at Carmel

This week's parish newsletter contained the following announcement:

On March 3rd the Carmelite Sisters held their triennial elections.  Mother Elizabeth of the Trinity has been elected as the prioress for the next 3 years.  As she takes up this office for the first time the Sisters ask your prayers for her and for the whole community, very united in this step, which is a major one for the Carmel after having the same prioress for the last 15 years.  Mother Elizabeth and the Sisters assure everyone of their continuing prayers and support for the whole parish community.

The immediately past prioress, Mother Stephanie, despite now being well into her eighties, has been prioress of the Carmel for as long as I've known the sisters, and had been prioress even before that in an earlier term of office; apparently, though she had previously been reëlected continually - and had had to obtain the necessary dispensation from Rome to continue on past the term limit specified in the Carmelite Constitutions - she has recently made it clear to her sister nuns that she felt herself unwilling to continue to bear the burthen of office, and hoped very much that they would elect a new superior.  The Carmel has half a dozen or so younger sisters, all of whom have joined in the last ten years, of whom Sister - now Mother - Elizabeth is the longest-professed; the older sisters are now very old (in their seventies and eighties), so it is a great blessing for the whole Carmel that they are of one mind and heart in the Lord and now have a new generation of religious coming along, united and strong in the Faith.

******

From the sublime to the less so... at Mass at Carmel this morning we had the rather uninspiring presence of Archbishop Doyle as celebrant.  Coincidentally, I had thought of him, who is rapidly approaching the age of resignation for bishops, while praying None last night (I read the end of Matins and all the Day Hours by aggregation, in bed): Fiant dies ejus pauci: et episcopatum ejus accipiat alter.

Priestless

I was running late for Mass yesterday afternoon - but when I came into the side chapel at the Church of the Apostles, the candles were lit, but Father hadn't yet arrived, so I said some prayers (the end of Prime, as I recall), and waited - and waited...

In the end, no priest shewed up!  (Some parishioners went next door and knocked on the deanery door, but to no avail.)  The regulars conferred among themselves; one old fellow (the congregation of nine, including myself, was rather aged, excluding myself) read the readings, announcing the Gospel rather pathetically as "Since we have no priest to read it, the Gospel is..."; and one old lady, who's an extraordinary minister of holy communion, was prevailed upon by the others to bring forth the ciborium from the tabernacle, all kneeling - then we stood, said an "Our Father", then received the Host.  No other prayer being said, this ad hoc arrangement ended in silence as one by one the confused faithful departed.  (I had felt it would have been rude to the other people there to have got up and left when the absence of Mass was announced, so I stayed for all this.  Afterward, I stayed behind, and prayed the rest of the day Hours.)

I cannot say how depressing and desolating this liturgy of abandonment was.

(Years back, ahem, I was deputed in Melbourne to conduct a liturgy of the word with holy communion at Monash University one Thursday a week, so I am aware of the modern ritual provisions that layfolk ought follow in such a case, which I attempted to fulfil to the letter - but to be honest even then I wasn't quite happy about doing so, and now, no longer having any such authorization, and only going to the Novus Ordo for lack of a Latin Mass, I would and could hardly have attempted to improve yesterday's anomalous situation!)

Apparently the usual 8.15 am Mass this Friday at St Patrick's chapel has also been mysteriously cancelled (at least some warning has been given): I wonder if someone is sick?  (To be uncharitable, this would not have been the first time the priest has simply forgotten to turn up - I recall finding that out for certain in a case of Mass for some old religious sisters in Launceston some years back, who told me that it had happened to them several times.  So much for the priest's fidelity to daily Mass...)

All Records Broken

I had cause to go into town to-day to have lunch with a congenial mate, and then off and around the city, stopping off to note down the times of service at the local Greek Orthodox church (they have Divine Liturgy one Saturday each month; a friend of mine worships with them in Hobart, and Fr Timothy their priest is a friend of a Catholic bishop I know), buying some groceries, looking for the latest copy of an Astronomy magazine I take, etc.

It was hot out in the sun, certainly, but I had no idea that at 3.30pm the temperature broke the all-time record: it reached 38.7°C - the hottest recorded since records began in 1884! That's 101.7°F.  Golly.

(I just noticed - the candle in its candlestick on the sideboard has bent over in the broiling heat.)

Scamander on the coast and Ross in the midlands were both 41.5°C at 3pm (new records for the mainland of Tasmania), Cressy and Launceston Airport inland from Launceston, plus Fingal all broke 40°C, Bushy Park and Ouse (both in the south, up the Derwent Valley) 38°C... extraordinary weather.

(Oh, and in Victoria Melbourne registered 45.1, while in South Australia, Adelaide was 43.1.  Perhaps the whole world is just going to drop into the Sun.)

Hot and Bothered

I have had a very unpleasant night's sleep... at least back in Perth I had an airconditioner in the bedroom, but not here in Launceston, which is going through a very rare patch of being roastingly hot.  I've come downstairs and put on the one airconditioner - in the loungeroom. 

The weather looks to be vile and hot again to-day.