September at St Michael’s

With the new academic year, activities are resuming at St Michael’s too; do come and visit us if you can. A special mention for Sunday 13th Sept, when Deacons are ordained at the Cathedral in the morning and we will welcome Chris Durrant as our new Curate in the evening. Also Michaelmas at the end of the month; Feast Day or ordinary, in person or on-line, you are always welcome.

Tuesday 1st September at 6pm. CBS Mass for the Feast of St Giles of Provence (710), Hermit, with Hymns and Plainsong Propers. All welcome. N.B. No Choir Practice this Tuesday; please be prompt on Sunday.

Each Wednesday morning there is Prayer Book Matins at 9.30 and Low Mass is said at 10am.
Tuesday & Thursday Vespers & Meditation at 6pm resume on Thursday 3rd September.

Sunday 6th September, Trinity XIV, 10.45am Sung Mass. Setting: Mass for Three Voices, Byrd. Motet: Sicut Cervus, Palestrina. Some beautiful a cappella Byrd and a motet from Psalm 42; Like as the deer desires springs of water.

Sun 6 Sept, 6pm, Evensong and Benediction.
Responses: Reading. Psalm: 119 vv 41-56. Office Hymn: 241. Canticles: Noble in B minor.
Anthem: Verleih Uns Frieden, Mendelssohn. O salutaris: Elgar. Tantum Ergo: Fauré (G flat).
A Romantic Choral Evensong pretty much all the way. The German text is Luther’s translation of a Latin Response which Cranmer renders as “Give peace in our time, O Lord: because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God.”

Wed 9 Sept, remember Father Charles Fuge Lowder (1820-80), Founder of the Society of the Holy Cross and pioneering Anglo-Catholic priest in Wapping & London Docks.

Saturday 12th September, Heritage Open Day 8am-6pm, and Devon Historic Churches Trust Ride & Stride. Also, Installation of Rt Revd Sarah Mullally as our new Bishop of Crediton in Exeter Cathedral at 4pm.

Sunday 13th September, Eve of Exultation of the Holy Cross.
Heritage Open Day 10am-6pm, Guided Tour of Mount Dinham & our Church at 2.30pm with Richard Parker.
10am in Exeter Cathedral, Ordination of Deacons, including Chris Durrant and Stephen Martin.
No choir for 10.45am Low Mass.
6pm Parish Sung Mass and Bring & Share Party at St Michael’s to Welcome Chris Durrant (and his wife Jenny) as our newly Ordained Deacon and Curate. All welcome, from St David’s, St James’ and further afield.
Hymns include Lift High the Cross. Setting: Missa Super Dixit Maria, Hans Leo Hassler.
Motet: Salvator Mundi, Thomas Tallis. O Saviour of the world, save us, who by thy cross and blood hast redeemed us, help us, we pray thee, our God.

Tuesday 15th September at 7pm. Open Choir Practice, for anyone wanting to sing a wide variety of sacred choral music in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with the rather good choir at St Mike’s. We hope to appoint three Junior Choral Scholars following an audition. This could be of particular interest to anyone considering applying for a University or College Choral Scholarship and looking to gain experience. Please contact Erika Borley, Director of Music, if you know of anyone interested in this.

Wed 16 Sept, remember Ninian, Bishop of Galloway (432) and Edward Bouverie Pusey, one of the founders of the Oxford Movement (1882).

Thur 17 Sept, remember Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary and Musician (1179).

Sunday 20th September, Trinity XVI, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Mass in A minor, Casciolini. Motet: Ubi Caritas, Duruflé. Where Care and Love are, there God is. Gregorian chant beautifully re-imagined in 1960 Paris.

Tuesday 22nd September at 7pm. Another Open Choir Practice at St Mike’s. We hope to appoint an Ouseley Trust Scholar and two Senior Choral Scholars from Exeter University students following auditions.

Sunday 27th September, Trinity XVII, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Mass in the Phrygian Mode, Wood. Motet: View Me Lord, Lloyd. Two 20th century composers looking back to medieval sacred music and an Elizabethan poem by Thomas Campion.

Tuesday 29th September, Michaelmas is celebrated with 7.30pm Sung Mass, followed by a Bring & Share Party – please join us. Our Guest Preacher is Ven David Gunn-Johnson.
Setting: Mass in F, Josef Rheinberger – Liechtenstein’s famous contemporary of Queen Victoria. Motet: Faire is the Heaven, Sir William Harris – A high point of 20th century Anglican music from an Organist of Sr George’s Chapel, Windsor, setting a 16th century poem by Edmund Spenser.

While we often shorten our church’s title to St Michael’s, it’s good also to let the “and All” Angels remind us that God values us all as his children, wherever we are on the pilgrimage of faith; and all are welcome here, quiet, confident or questioning.

Wednesday 30th September, 7.30pm, St Michael’s Lecture. The Venerable David Gunn-Johnson considers Crusader Spirituality, 11th Century Radicalisation, and whether there be any lessons for or parallels with our times.

South Aisle Window commemorating Rev John Inckson Woollcott who died in Rangoon 1931

Sunday 4th October, we will celebrate St Francis of Assisi, 10.45am Mass. Hymns include Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: Laudans Exsultet Gaudio, Croce. A double choir celebration of Beati Sancti Francisci.

Sun 4 Oct, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.
Responses: Smith. Psalm: 125, 126. Office Hymn: 242. Canticles: Walmisley in D minor. Anthem: O Lord the Maker of All Thing, Mundy. O salutaris: 269, Tantum Ergo: 268.

Richard Barnes.

August at St Michael’s

Whether you’re a Summer visitor or a Devon resident, we would love to welcome you to worship with us at St Michael’s – traditional services, fine music, a diverse fellowship. It’s a fairly quiet month – activities will resume in September. A reminder that Tuesday & Thursday Plainsong Vespers have a break during August. Please check the website/twitter for updates.

Our Choir Tour to Germany was a joyful farewell celebration with Alex West of our Anglican Choral tradition from 16th to 21st century, and a time to hand-over to Erika Borley as our Choir Director. We also thank Sabrina for organising the Tour and the host families in her home town of Wolfenbuettel for their hospitality. See http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/choir-tour-blog/ for pictures and a write-up from the Tour.

Other farewells were to Rebecca and Vicki as they graduated in Maths and move away to jobs – come back and visit, and keep singing. We’re glad that Saffron will be returning, but that leaves us looking for several new scholars to join us in September. We are grateful to the Ouseley Trust for funding one of our Scholarships, and to Julian and Sabrina for their work securing such funding.

As well as auditioning for new Choral Scholars from the University in September, Erika is also looking to appoint 2 or 3 Junior Scholars, 16-18 year olds who might want experience before applying for University or College Choral Scholarships, or who just love singing church music – if you know of anyone who may be interested, see http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/music/scholarships/ and contact Erika.

So, here’s a summary of Music for August, and a few saints to remember. Firstly an all 16th century Sunday, and just a sprinkling of Bruckner, Darke & Sumsion later in the month.

Sun 2 August, Trinity IX, Sung Mass, 10.45am. Missa O Quam Gloriosum by Victoria. Ave Verum Corpus by Byrd.

Sun 2 Aug, 6pm, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses, Morley Fauxbourdon Canticles, Te Lucis Ante Terminum by Tallis.

Fri 7 Aug. John Mason Neale, Priest, Hymn Writer, 1866, best known for enriching our worship with many ancient and medieval hymns translated from Greek and Latin.

Sun 9 August, Trinity X, Sung Mass, 10.45am. Mass in F Darke. Verily, verily I say unto you, Tallis.

Fulda Cathedral High Altar – Assumption of Mary
Dom zu Fulda Hochaltar – Mariä Himmelfahrt

Sun 16 August, Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of BVM (transferred), 10.45am. Mass for Four Voices Byrd. Ave Maria Arcadelt.

Sun 23 August, Trinity XII, Mass, 10.45am. Mass in the Dorian Mode and If Ye Love Me, both by Thomas Tallis.

Mon 24 Aug. Bartholomew the Apostle, worth a mention for the street and cemetery named after him across the valley from St Michael’s.

Thurs 27 and Fri 28 Aug. Monica, 387, and her son Augustine of Hippo, 420, a great thinker and teacher of the faith.

Sun 30 August, Trinity XIII, Mass, 10.45am. Mass in F Sumsion. Locus Iste Bruckner.

Tues 1 September, at 6pm, CBS Mass for St Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710, with Hymns and Plainsong Propers.

Richard Barnes.

Passiontide & Holy Week

…is the hardest but most rewarding time of the Christian Year, especially when we share and observe it together as unworthy but faithful disciples.

Sunday 22nd March, Passion Sunday when the Crosses and Statues are covered. 10.45am. Mass in A minor, by Casciolini and the Anthem, Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, by Lotti.

Wednesday 25th March please try and come to the Feast of the Annunciation. Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hans Leo Hassler. Anthem: Hymn to the Virgin, by Benjamin Britten.

Sunday 29th March, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B. earlier start and the clocks will have gone forward an hour overnight!) Sung Mass with Blessing and Procession of Palms. Sung Passion Gospel. Mass in D by Leighton. Anthem: Pueri Hebraeorum, by Victoria.

Wednesday 1st April at 6pm, Spy Wednesday when Judas arranged to betray Jesus, the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross are prayed along with the singing of the devotional poem Stabat Mater Dolorosa to music by Charpentier.

Stations of the Cross are said weekly during Lent on Wednesdays, except Feast of the Annunciation (25th Mar), but today the prayers and meditation are enhanced by a simple setting of the Stabat Mater.

Maundy Thursday, 2nd April, Sung Mass at 7.30pm. We especially remember Jesus and his Disciples in the Upper Room, the Foot-washing, how the Last Supper became the First Holy Communion, the words of Jesus to his followers, and the Betrayal.
The Mass Setting is Missa Brevis by Lotti, and the Anthems are “Ubi caritas et amor Deus ibi est” by the contemporary composer Paul Mealor and “God so loved the world” from Sir John Stainer’s Victorian meditation, The Crucifixion.

At the end of the service, the High Altar is stripped, the Blessed Sacrament carried to the Altar of Repose in the Lady Chapel, and the Watch is kept there through the night recalling Christ and his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and then before Pontius Pilate.

Friday 3rd April, Good Friday 10.30am Good Friday Liturgy. Reproaches, by Upton. Veneration of the Cross. Crux Fidelis, attr. King John IV of Portugal.

Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis: nulla silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet.

Faithful Cross, among all, the one noble tree; no other forest offers such leaf, flower and seed. Sweet the wood, sweet the nails, sweet the weight it bears.

Part of a 6th century hymn by Venantius Fortunatus written for the procession that brought a part of the true Cross to the Frankish Queen Radegunda in 570. Interestingly, she is a patron saint of Jesus College, Cambridge, which was founded on the site of the 12th century Nunnery, and has a chapel in Exeter Cathedral named after her.

Although King John IV of Portugal (1604-1656) was an accomplished musician and composer, the Crux fidelis attributed to him cannot be traced to earlier than mid-19th century France. His extensive library was destroyed with much else in the tragic Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Good Friday, 8pm Tenebrae. An ancient service sung in Latin and English from the West Gallery to plainsong and polyphony by Lassus (1532-1594) and Palestrina (1525-1594), ending in darkness and silence to symbolise Jesus’ descent to the dead.

Saturday 4th April, Holy Saturday 8pm – The Easter Vigil . We kindle the New Light, prepare and bless the Paschal Candles for St Michael’s and St David’s, hear the Exsultet, the proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection, and renew our Baptismal Vows.
Setting: Fitzwilliam Mass by Alex West. Anthem: Lift up your heads, O ye gates, from Handel’s Messiah.

Easter Sunday, 5th April at 10.45am, Festal Sung Mass and Blessing of the Easter Garden.
All at St Michael’s wish you a Happy and Blessed Easter. Christ is Risen; He is risen indeed!
Introit: Surrexit Christus Dominus, Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) died on his 50th birthday and is buried in Wolfenbuettel.
Setting: Kleine Orgelmesse, Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) prolific Classical composer.
Motet: Easter Anthem, William Billings (1746-1800) of Boston, Massachusetts, is widely regarded as the first American choral composer.
The Lord is ris’n indeed, Hallelujah.
Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
Hallelujah. And did He rise?
Hear, O ye nations, hear it, O ye dead.
He rose, He burst the bars of death, He burst the bars of death and triumph’d o’er the grave.
Then I rose, then first humanity triumphant passed the crystal ports of light, and seiz’d eternal youth.
Man, all immortal hail, hail; Heaven, all lavish of strange gifts to man;
Thine’s all the glory, man’s the boundless bliss.

Since it is the first Sunday of April as well as Easter Day, there will also be Festal Choral Evensong and Benediction at 6pm. The music will be Thomas Tallis’s Festal Responses, Canticles by Herbert Brewer in D, and Anthem “This Joyful Eastertide” by Charles Wood. Benediction Hymns to the familiar plainsong.

Lent at St Michael’s

is perhaps the busiest time of the Christian year, but, as Fr David Walford said in a recent Sermon, it is activity that should lead us deeper into prayer, love of Jesus, and the silence and restraint that were our Lord’s strength in his Passion. As Fr David Hastings preached, in our secular world we need to reclaim time and space for the sacred and holy, and that is what St Michael’s offers.

Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, 6pm Vespers & Meditation, 7pm Choir Practice, 8.30pm Pancakes in church.

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, is marked with Matins at 9.30am and Low Mass with Ashes at 10am, and in the evening at 7.30pm by Sung Mass with Imposition of Ashes.
Setting: Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd and Anthem: Versa est in luctum by Alonso Lobo, My harp is tuned for lamentation, and my flute to the voice of weeping. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing.

Sunday 22nd February, Lent 1, 10.45am. Mass features Cranmer’s Litany of 1544 sung in procession, Plainsong Sarum Mass and Farrant’s Hide not thou thy face from me O Lord.

Tuesday 24th February at 6pm, in place of Vespers, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass for St Matthias’ Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns. All welcome.

A reminder that Stations of the Cross are prayed on Wednesdays in Lent at 6pm (except 25 Mar, Annunciation), and Vespers continue to be sung on other Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6pm.

Wednesday 25th Feb at 7.30pm, the St Michael’s Lectures welcome Dr Clare Bryden (Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter) to talk about Particulart: Or the art of knitting, chemistry, meditation and gentle protest.

Sunday 1st March, Lent 2, 10.45am. Mass. The full Anglican Folk Mass by Martin Shaw and O Nata Lux by Thomas Tallis.

Sunday 1st March, 6pm. Evensong and Benediction will be more penitential, with Tallis Responses & Canticles, Allegri’s sublime Miserere and Plainsong Benediction Hymns.

The nest box camera should also be back online on the Peregrine Falcons page of the website at the beginning of March, hoping for egg laying around the Spring equinox.

Sunday 8th March, Lent 3, 10.45am. Plainsong Missa de Angelis and Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, by Henry Purcell.

Friday 13th March at 7.30pm, the Recital@StMichael’s is a Schools’ Recital. A programme of chamber music performed by young musicians from Exeter School and the Maynard School. Tickets: £5/£3.50, please support.

Sunday 15th March, Lent 4 is Laetare or Mothering Sunday using the Rose Vestments, 10.45am. Missa “O quam gloriosum” by Victoria and Ave Maria by Parsons.

Tuesday 17th March at 6pm, in place of Vespers, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass for St Patrick’s Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns. All Welcome.

Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture by Dr Morwenna Ludlow (Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter). On Theological Writing as Art & Craft; Is Writing a Theology Book a bit like Making a Pot?

Sunday 22nd March, Passion Sunday when the Crosses and Statues are covered. 10.45am. Mass in A minor, by Casciolini and the Anthem, Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, by Lotti.

Annunciation Window – St Michael’s Mount Dinham

Wednesday 25th March please try and come to the Feast of the Annunciation. Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hans Leo Hassler. Anthem: Hymn to the Virgin, by Benjamin Britten.

Sunday 29th March, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B. earlier start and the clocks will have gone forward an hour overnight!) Sung Mass with Blessing and Procession of Palms. Sung Passion Gospel. Mass in D by Leighton. Anthem: Pueri Hebraeorum, by Victoria.

As Canon John Thurmer often said, homo sapiens is primarily a story-telling species, so it is always good for us to re-tell and re-enact the story of salvation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Mirrored here may our lives tell your story, one might say.

The website already has details of services for Holy Week and Easter at the start of April.
RB

Epiphanytide

The streetwise Shepherds have returned to their flocks, and the Geeks from the East have arrived at Bethlehem via Jerusalem with their Gifts and had to modify their Theory of Everything somewhat. It’s that inbetween time – the world thinks Christmas is all over.

But it’s not all over until the waiting old man and the prophetess see Jesus in the Temple at Candlemas and the old man sings Nunc Dimittis. (Please note that this year we have transferred Candlemas to Sunday 1st February, with both Mass and Evensong sung.)

And not before we have also marked the Conversion of St Paul the previous Sunday, instead of Epiphany 3 or Septuagesima this year. The radical Paul, who may have played on his Roman citizenship and been a bit ambivalent about women, but put Gentile and Jew, slave and free, rich and poor, as equal in the Church, and lived with some sort of chronic illness or disability, his “thorn in the flesh”, from Stephen’s stoning through the Damascus Road to adventurous journeys spreading the Good News of that same Jesus.

The Faith, Hope and Love of St Paul’s famous Letter should be seen mirrored in our Church life as a Worshipping, Witnessing and Caring community, where, as at the Manger, all are welcome.

So our journey to Lent looks like:-
Friday 9th January at 7.30pm. Recitals@StMichael’s will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition. £5/£3.50

Sunday, 11th January, Epiphany I, 10.45am Sung Mass (Baptism of Jesus)
Setting: Missa Brevis, Wills. Anthem: Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes, Palestrina.

Sunday, 18th January, Epiphany II, 10.45am Sung Mass
Setting: Missa “L’Hora Passa”, Viadana. Anthem: Beati quorum via, Stanford.

Sunday, 25th January, Conversion of St Paul, 10.45am Sung Mass
Setting: Mass in F, Harold Darke. Anthem: The Lord is my shepherd, Schubert.

Wednesday 28th January at 7.30pm, St Michael’s “Heritage” Lecture exploring the effects of history and religion on church music in Devon, with West Gallery Singers and St Michael’s choir.

Sunday, 1st February, Candlemas, 10.45am Sung Mass

Sunday, 1st February 6pm Evensong & Benediction

Sunday, 8th February, Sexagesima, 2 before Lent, 10.45am Sung Mass

Friday 13th February at 7.30pm, Recitals@StMichael’s welcomes “The Frizzante Sopranos”, a Devon-based classical duo, Jane Anderson-Brown and Donna-Marie Hughes, to give a song recital.

Sunday, 15th February, Quinquagesima, 1 before Lent, 10.45am Sung Mass

Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, 6pm Vespers & Meditation, 7pm Choir Practice, 8.30pm Pancakes.

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, 7.30pm Mass with Imposition of Ashes

January 25th also marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – The Well is Deep – which has the following interesting commentary on its website:-

“This year’s theme comes to us from the churches of Brazil. Brazilians, who have traditionally been tolerant of their various social classes and ethnic groups, are now living through a time of growing intolerance made manifest in high levels of violence, especially against minorities and the vulnerable. The logic that undergirds this kind of behaviour is competition for the religious market. Increasingly, in Brazil, some Christian groups compete with one another for a place on the mass media, for new members and for public funds. The Brazilian churches have begun to recognise that intolerance should be dealt with in a positive way – respecting diversity and promoting dialogue as a permanent path of reconciliation and peace in fidelity to the gospel. We can share this recognition. Although the competition between churches is less obvious in our islands, we are well aware that competition and violent discrimination lie beneath the surface of our lives together. Jesus challenges us to acknowledge that diversity is part of God’s design, to approach one another in trust and to see the face of God in the face of all men and women.”

And finally…

The really useful Cross-Country train from Exeter to Edinburgh traverses a dozen Dioceses and affords glimpses of several Cathedrals, such as Durham reflecting the late December afternoon light and the elusive Orthogonal Cathedral of St Pythagoras (sorry, St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Jesus, Tyne).

Over Hogmanay, I enjoyed two rather similar stories; the 2013 anti-slavery film “Belle” set in England around 1770, and the hit musical “Wicked” set in the not-so-wonderful world of Oz (now on tour and coming soon to Plymouth and then Bristol). Both revolve around a pair of contrasting girls, having to grow up together through force of circumstances, defying the conventions of their times, and their friendship changing each of them for good and hopefully for the better.

Both seemed to exemplify the Latin maxim used by Lord Mansfield in “Belle”. “Fiat justitia ruat coelum” – Let justice be done, though heaven may fall. And in the event, justice was done, and people coped. Could there be a parable for the Church of England in 2015 too?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

A very Happy and Blessed Christmas season to you, from all at St Michael’s.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3.

As Sydney Carter (1915-2004) wrote in the 1960s, reflecting the flourishing of diversity and the interest in Time and Space:-

Every star shall sing a carol, Every creature high or low.
Come and praise the King of Heaven, By whatever name you know.

God above man below, Holy is the name I know.

When the king of all creation, Had a cradle on the earth.
Holy was the human body, Holy was the human birth.

Who can tell what other cradle, High above the Milky Way,
Still may rock the King of Heaven, On another Christmas day?

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

On Friday 26th, the Feast of St Stephen, and Saturday 27th, St John the Evangelist, Low Mass will be said at 10am, but those who sing 6pm Vespers will have a well-deserved rest until Tuesday 6th January Vespers for Epiphany.

Sunday 28th Dec, The Holy Innocents, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: The Coventry Carol, Trad. Whether the killing of infants in Bethlehem by King Herod is fact or myth, the Church and the World have continued to abuse and hurt the innocent and childlike for too long, and caused women to grieve. Only the just and gentle rule of Jesus Christ can give us hope.

That was the true Light, which lighteth everyone that cometh into the world. John 1:9.

Sunday 4th January 2015, Christmas II, 10.45am Sung Mass.

Sunday 4th Jan, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.

Tuesday 6th Jan, Epiphany, 6pm Plainsong Vespers, 6.30pm Choir Practice, 7.30pm Sung Mass. Motet: We Three Kings, Hopkins arr. Alex West.

The Recitals @ St Michael’s Series is re-launched in 2015 with a monthly Friday Evening slot. Friday 9th January at 7.30pm will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition, so that promises to be a splendid start to the New Year. Admission £5 (£3).

October Highlights

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it?” Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

So here are a few highlights from October at St Michael’s.

Sunday 5th October; new singers especially welcome. Music for Mass at 10.45am (practice at 10am) is 2 old favourites from our a cappella repertoire, Missa Aeterna Christi Munera (the eternal gifts of Christ) by Palestrina and Locus Iste (this place is made by God) by Bruckner.

The Come&Sing Choral Evensong at 6pm (practice at 4.45pm) on Sun 5th will be our Curate Fr Andy’s final Evensong at St Michael’s before he moves to Milton Abbot. We will sing many musical styles; plainsong, Anglican chant, 16th century Polyphony, Restoration Baroque and some Victorian Stanford romanticism. Check the new music list to work out which is which.

Sunday 12th October is Vision Day at St Michael’s. Bring some Lunch to share after Mass, or return at 1.30pm. Fr David writes, “This is an opportunity for the whole congregation of St Michael’s to come together, reflect and create an action plan for the church’s future.” The afternoon’s discussions will be facilitated by Sabrina Groeschel, experienced friend of St Michael’s.

Wednesday 15th October at 7.30pm. Ed Pawson, Head of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics at the King’s School, Ottery St Mary, asks in our St Michael’s Lecture, “What is the rationale for the teaching of RE in our schools today? Why does it continue to be a relevant subject within the school curriculum? What challenges do teachers of RE face in twenty-first century?” Please advertise this widely.

Owing perhaps to the height of Mount Dinham, Harvest comes a whole 4 weeks later at St Michael’s than at St David’s! Sunday 19th October sees our Harvest Thanksgiving Mass at 10.45am. Gifts suitable for the Food Bank collection would be especially welcome.

At 7.30pm on Wednesday 22nd October, Recitals @ St Michael’s continue with mezzo Margaret Thomson accompanied by John Draisey in a programme of Victorian & Edwardian Songs. Please support this. Tickets £5 (£3 concessions).

Good contemporary music also features at St Mike’s, as well as the best from the past. On Sunday 26th, Grayston Ives’ version of “O for a closer walk with God” is the Motet.

This month’s CBS Mass takes place on Tuesday 28th Ocober at 6pm, the Feast of Saints Simon & Jude Apostles.

Saturday 1st November from 10am onwards, sees our Coffee Morning and Sale in St Stephen’s Church on the High Street, in aid of St Michael’s. Visit St Stephens for a browse and a break, coffee & cake; open till 1.30pm.

Looking forward to Sunday 2nd November, the Calendar this year means we mark both All Saints at 10.45am and All Souls at 6pm. In place of Evensong we will give a full liturgical performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Faure. Any singers who would like to join us for this are invited to rehearse with us beforehand at 4.30pm, and if possible at the preceding choir practice on Tuesday 28 October.

Finally, October is also a month to remember William Barnes (22 Feb 1801 – 7 Oct 1886) the Dorset poet, priest and philologist. His Autumnal lines:-
“When leaves that leately wer a-springen
Now do feade ‘ithin the copse,
An’ painted birds do hush ther zingen
Up upon the timber’s tops;
An’ brown-leav’d fruit’s a-turnen red,
In cloudless zunsheen, auver head,
Wi’ fruit vor me the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.”
made famous in the song Linden Lea by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

August Weekend – September Services

It was an excellent mid-August weekend, with three dozen communicants at the Feast of the Assumption on Friday 15th, about 40 for Sunday Mass, and a congregation and choir totalling 40 for our extra Evensong at St Martin’s Church on Cathedral Yard. All the music was sung well and with enjoyment.

I particularly liked our Sunday morning motet “O Lord increase our faith” by Henry Loosemore (brother of John Loosemore, builder of the 1665 post-Restoration Exeter Organ), a youthful little piece written in 1627 when he was about 25.

St Michael’s Choir at St Martin’s Exeter

Our singing of the Gibbons Short Service Canticles at Evensong was “cheeky”, as requested by Alex. The congregation joined in the unaccompanied hymns strongly, and passing tourists were attracted in too. Thanks to Revd Sheila Swarbrick for the music-themed Readings and moving Sermon and Prayers. Evensong – over 450 years old and going strong.

Now that the new Website at  www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk  has been launched, with a Blog integral to it, this old WordPress blog may become a bit superfluous going forward. We will try to keep the 2 in step for a few weeks, but thereafter this old blog will remain as an archive of our HLF Project activities over the 18 months or so since February 2013. Please try our new website and consider moving over to it.

St Martin’s, Exeter – C17 Monument

We now look forward to September’s Music List, and hopefully to some new voices and faces joining us, in the choir or in the congregation, in enjoyment of the great church music which enlivens our worship.

Sunday, 7 September Trinity XII, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 390: 449: 366, Setting: Mass in F, Sumsion, Motet: Cantate Domino, Pitoni

Sunday, 7 September, 6pm Evensong and Benediction
Responses: Reading, Psalm: 105 1-15, Office Hymn: 248ii
Canticles: Noble in B minor, Anthem: O Lorde the maker of al thing, Joubert, Tantum Ergo & O Salutaris: Liszt

Sunday, 14 September Holy Cross Day, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 338: 439: 79, Setting: Missa “L’hora passa” Viadana, Motet: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Brahms (from Ein deutsches Requiem)

Sunday, 21 September St Matthew Apostle & Evangelist, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 224t178: 189: 374, Setting: Missa “Lauda Sion” Palestrina, Motet: Almighty and everlasting God, Gibbons

Sunday, 28 September Trinity XV, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 335: 74: 443, Setting: Wood in F, Motet: O thou the central orb, Wood

Monday, 29 September St Michael & All Angels, 7:30pm Mass
Hymns: 205: 296: 206, Setting: Missa “O quam gloriosum” Victoria, Motet: And I saw another angel, Stanford.

Question: Where would you find the above depiction of St Michael? Answer next post.

Thankyou

As the @StMikes_Exeter tweet said after the Requiem for John Hughes, “Even on the saddest occasions it is lovely to see old friends. Thank you to all who came tonight, whether from near or far.”

Flowers by Stephanie

Thank you to well over 100 in the congregation at St Michael’s representing also St David’s, former clergy colleagues, and John’s family and many friends. Welcome visitors augmented the choir to 30, with Jason, Emily and Fiona as soloists, Neil working the large new pipe organ to great effect and Erika returning to conduct fine performances of the Fauré Requiem and Bainton’s anthem “And I saw a new heaven … And I John saw the holy city”. (We wish Erika well and every blessing as she takes up a teaching post in Cheltenham in September.)

The bell was tolled 35 times by Olive. The beautiful and moving service was presided over by Fr David Hastings with Fr David Walford and our Servers. Fr John Henton’s excellent and personal address will be printed in the September Parish Magazine. But there is space here for Canon John Thurmer’s insightful tribute which was printed in the Service booklet.

“John Mark David Hughes was a Devonian, from Kenton where he is buried. But he rejoiced in his Welsh ancestry and in the dedication of the parish church to St David, his own third name.

This Requiem at St Michael’s recalls not only his memorable ministry here, but also those rather eccentric weekday evening masses of the 1990s, to one of which he came as a schoolboy and reckoned it a turning point in his life.

At his death he was Fellow, Dean and Chaplain of Jesus College Cambridge, where Thomas Cranmer was a Fellow when he was called in 1533 to be Archbishop of Canterbury with momentous results.

John’s chaplaincy at Jesus embraced the whole College, Fellows, undergraduates, college servants and their families, and he had heavy teaching commitments in the Faculty of Divinity. His doctorate thesis on the theology of work was the basis of his book with the teasing title “The End of Work”.

He combined with unforgettable grace the work of the scholar and the loving kindness of the pastor. To each and every one according to need he was son, friend, father and teacher.

Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy Saints where sorrows are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.”

It seems that the love of God first touched John, not through a book or an evangelist, but through the warm welcome of those cleaning and arranging flowers when a curious schoolboy made a detour into Kenton Church on his way home.

We now look forward to Friday 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated at St Michael’s with a Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Music will include the Setting Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) and the Motet Ave Maria by Jacques Arcadelt (1505-1568).

Please join us; whatever your view on the theology of this Feast, the unique place of Mary in the Christian story of salvation is a cause for celebration.

Also Sunday 17th August, 6.30pm Evensong at St Martin’s in the Cathedral Close, EX1 1EZ.
Canticles: Gibbons Short Service. Anthem: Ave Maria, by Arcadelt.

Requiem – August Services

A warm invitation to all, and especially those who knew John Hughes, to come to St Michael’s for a Memorial Requiem Mass on Wednesday 6th August at 7.30pm.

The Preacher will be Fr John Henton, who was John’s training priest for his curacy at St David’s & St Michael’s here in Exeter. The Service will include the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré sung in its liturgical context.

There will be drinks and time for conversation afterwards.

St Michael’s other Services and Music for August are listed below.
N.B. No Tuesday or Thursday Vespers during August, but Wednesday Morning Prayer & Said Mass continue.

Last Sunday, there was strong congregational singing, while the holiday-depleted choir of 9, with Alex doubling as conductor and organist, enjoyed singing William Byrd’s sublime 4-part Mass from 1592, and William Sterndale Bennett’s best known anthem, God is a Spirit, from his 1867 Cantata, The Woman of Samaria.

Sunday 3rd August, Trinity VII, 10.45am Mass. NEH:436:295:368
Setting: Anglican Folk Mass, Shaw. Motet: O taste and see, Vaughan-Williams.

Sunday 3rd August. NO Evensong.

Wednesday 6th August, 7.30pm, Requiem Mass in memory of Fr John Hughes. Music will include the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré and the Preacher will be Fr John Henton.

Sunday 10th August, Trinity VIII, 10.45am Mass. NEH:338:353:464
Setting: Mass in the Dorian mode, Tallis. Motet: How beauteous are their feet, Stanford.

Fulda Cathedral – Assumption of Mary
Dom zu Fulda – Mariä Himmelfahrt

Friday 15th August, Feast of the Assumption, 7:30pm Mass. NEH:188ii:161t385:185
Setting: Missa “Dixit Maria”, Hassler. Motet: Ave Maria, Arcadelt.

Sunday 17th August, Trinity IX, 10.45am Mass. NEH:332:324:480
Setting: Mass in F, Sumsion. Motet: O Lord, increase our faith, Loosemore.

Also Sunday 17th August, 6.30pm Evensong at St Martin’s in the Cathedral Close, EX1 1EZ.
Canticles: Stanford in B flat or Gibbons Short Service, depending on organ availability. Anthem: Ave Maria, by Arcadelt.

Sunday 24th August, St Bartholomew the Apostle, 10.45am Mass. NEH:333:216t433:179t357
Setting: Sarum Mass, Plainsong. Motet: Give us the wings of faith, Bullock.

Sunday 31st August, Trinity XI, 10.45am Mass. NEH:452:408:449
Setting: Mass in A minor, Casciolini. Motet: Christus factus est, Bruckner.