Saturday 21 November 2009

Requiem At St. Mary's...

This afternoon saw the annual Requiem Mass at St. Mary's, Chislehurst, held for the repose of the souls of all those who are buried in the church graveyard.

Fr. Charles Briggs, the Parish Priest, was the celebrant, Fr. Tim Finigan was the Deacon, and Rev. John Harrison was Sub-Deacon. I appointed myself photo-czar: Fr. Briggs has complained at the lack of photos when I attended previous events, and the church is beautiful, so I was keen to try out my new camera... well, ok, it's four and a half months old! Mindful of the subdued lighting in the church, I brought my monopod along as well.

And then, having so many photos to choose from, I put them all into a slideshow "video" on You Tube...


I figured that the catafalque was absent because the coffins of the departed were actually just outside the church - and, sure enough, there was a procession outside with blessing of the graves after Mass had ended. I wasn't quite sure why there was no humeral veil for the Sub-Deacon, and didn't get a chance to quiz those in the know. I expect that, if no-one enlightens me via the com-box, I shall be able to find out the reason after Mass tomorrow.

8 comments:

Fr. Z said...

The late Michael Davies would have liked that.

Also, the subdeacon doesn't use the humeral veil because he doesn't receive the paten. In the Solemn Requiem it remains under the corporal until needed.

gemoftheocean said...

I expect the reason why the subdeacon doesn't use a humeral veil is because he'd look like Count Dracula standing there if he did. [A BLACK humeral veil? Liebschen!]

Zephyrinus said...

Dear Mulier Fortis. Very powerful stuff. Congratulations and you have included wonderful music. Also, nice vestments. Thank you for these motion pictures. You must be in the running for the Academy Awards this coming year !!!

Mulier Fortis said...

Very nice vestments, Zephyrinus... so nice, indeed, that the owner took great care to make sure he got them back out of Fr. Briggs's clutches...

;-D

John the organist said...

What camera do you use, it seems totake good pictures and not be too complex to work, Liz.

Mulier Fortis said...

John the Organist (aka Liz) - I thought I'd described the camera in a previous post, but obviously I imagined it... very careless of me!
;-P

(Normally I love geeky information!)

Anyway, it's a Canon Digital IXUS 100 IS camera, with 12.1 MP, 3.0x Optical Zoom, and 2.5 inch LCD.

It is almost point-and-click, which makes it pretty much idiot-proof. I deliberately resisted the more recent versions, as they don't have the "manual" viewfinder window, and I am loathe to rely solely on the LCD screen in bright light.

It's a real joy to use!

John the organist said...

Thanks for the info, Liz.

truthfinder said...

So very beautiful. Sigh. Then... to be confronted with THIS in our parish bulletin today: "The liturgy committee met last week and decided on a couple of changes that hopefully will add some features to our Sunday worship. First, Father H__ will invite everyone to introduce themselves to their neighbor before Mass begins...." Need I continue? WHAT happened to PRAYER in silence before Mass begins?!? And I converted to the Catholic Church (in part) because of the beautiful, quiet reverence shown to Our Lord. I could do the "Howdy, neighbor" thing at any Protestant church in the area, or at the supermarket. Please pray for us. --- Rosemary in Missouri

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