Confirmation According To The Usus Antiquior

A couple of the Confirmation candidates in my class this year had opted to go to St. James', Spanish Place, to be confirmed in the Traditional Rite. As catechist, I wanted to "see them done" and so I went along: it was another "first" for me.

The church is beautiful, with more statues and stained glass than you can shake a stick at...

Fr. Tim was either deacon or sub-deacon, I'm not sure which, and rather a lot of the servers seemed to be from Blackfen - eight or nine, I think. Their families came along too, and so we formed quite a respectable group!

I had problems keeping the camera still (I forgot my trusty monopod) and so messed up more than my usual number of photos. Still, I managed to get a reasonable selection to show...

Bishop George Stack, one of the Auxiliary Bishops in the Westminster Diocese, conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation (I think that is the correct term), and gave Benediction afterwards. Fr. Andrew Southwell was either deacon or sub-deacon (whatever Fr. Tim wasn't!)

Another new experience for me, and I think it will have to be a regular feature of my own personal calendar... hopefully I'll get better photos next year!