Still sometimes heard in the the Church of England, although not nearly as much as it was a generation ago, is Mgr R A Knox's rendering into Anglican liturgical English of Holy Week texts. My own view is that we should treat them as part of the Patrimony.
Here is a section of his Exsultet:
The night is come, wherein, when our fathers, the children of Israel, were led forth from Egypt, thou dividedst the Sea and madest them pass over as on dry land. Yea, the night is come, that with the fiery pillar hath purged away the darkness of our condemnation. The night is come, whereby all that believe in Christ on all the face of the earth, delivered from this naughty world and out of the shadow of death, are renewed unto grace and are made partakers of eternal life. The night is come, wherein the bonds of death are loosed, and Christ harrowing Hell rose again in triumph. For wherefore should man be born into this world, save that being born he might be redeemed? How wonderful then, O God, is thy loving-kindness unto us thy children! Behold, what manner of love he hath bestowed upon us: who, to redeem a servant, delivered up his only Son! O wonderful providence of Adam's transgression, that by such a death sin might be done away! O blessed iniquity, for whose redemption such a price was paid by such a Saviour! ...
Fr John Hunwicke
was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Now incardinated into the Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham, he has his base within the Oxford Ordinariate Group. This blog now replaces the Blog Father Hunwicke's Liturgical Notes. Its main purpose is to explore, ad mentem Summi Pontificis, the possibilitiesfor mutual enrichment between three forms of the Roman Rite: the Extraordinary Form, the Ordinary Form, and the Anglican Use. I have been told that my previous blog was disliked because of some the comments on the 'thread'. I take the point. In this blog, all comments will be moderated, and anything which is even implicitly critical of the English Hierarchy or of any member of it, will not be published.
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Raffaello's Madonna di Foligno
The original once graced the high altar of the church of Sancta Maria in Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill. A fine copy is at the centre of the great baroque reredos at S Thomas the Martyr, Oxford.
4 comments:
Wonderful. Magnificent. I baulked at the word 'naughty' and would have preferred 'Evil'. But words do change their meanings over time. e.g. nice and gay.
In keeping with returning to the old days, my church is conducting all the Easter Services according to the Missal of 1862. Three Tenebrae so far. The congregation are 'loving it' and will be truly blessed. Good Friday service lasted 3 and one half hours. Beat that!
That version is included in the Cowley missal (which is full of good things) and also in the very useful CLA Holy Week book of 1965. Will the Ordinariate be allowed to use either of those?
Fr H, you might one day be placed alongside St Jude. I have never used Knox's Exsultet and I don't know any parish priest who does, although I don't doubt that there are a few. Despite your repeated attempts to breath life into it I really think it is passing away. To my mind the most important element is 'happy fault/necessary sin of Adam' and anything else is either an intro to or a conclusion of just that. Although you might think me apostate now there was a time when I was well and truly in your theological stable in the Church of England. I still enjoy your blog, most of the time, and it has been a source of sermon inspiration on more than one occasion. It's 11:30pm on Saturday here right now and Christ is well and truly risen in this part of the world although you are still watching and waiting. Happy Easter.
At St. Athanasius in Boston (Anglican Use) we used this text, which is found in the Anglican Use Sacramentary, put together by David Burt, using the text of the BDW, with a few additions. There it is set with the Gregorian tone. The book is available from Lulu.com.
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