The summer school has wound down and the participants have been wending their way, at various speeds, back to home. My return was direct. The change from a sunny but sweaty Côte d’Azur summer to a grey and cool English summer was not entirely […]
Author: Hugh Somerville Knapman
The Morning After The Night Before: A (Very) Unofficial Report from the Sacra Liturgia Summer School
In the past 36 hours, the solemnity of Our Lady’s Assumption, the Summer School here at La Garde-Freinet has celebrated 3 solemn liturgies, each involving at least one greater prelate. Others took the photos and can offer a better review in detail. What follows […]
A Liturgical Bootcamp in Provence: the Sacra Liturgia Summer School
It was a little embarrassing to tell some brethren that I was off to a liturgical summer school at the monastery of St Benedict in La Garde-Freinet. Inevitably the question would come, where is that? Offering "the south of France" was never satisfying. So […]
The Church and the Darnel
When one gets a little down in the dumps about the state of the Church today’s gospel (well one part of this long and crowded gospel reading) is both consoling and perturbing. To really apprehend the full significance of this parable we must pay […]
The Tablet’s New Editor and Fr Baldovin’s Doctrinaire Assertion
The Tablet is not my favourite read. For me to read it is to experience something similar to those who listen to “shock jocks” on radio, listening precisely in order to be whipped up to a frenzy of outrage at this or that inadequate […]
Corpus Christi—Following Liturgical Change in Hand Missals
Today is traditionally the feast of Corpus Christi, and in many countries the Church keeps to the traditional reckoning of the feast. In England it is transferred to Sunday, unless one attends an Extraordinary Form parish or chapel. The post-conciliar decline in the liturgy, […]
Scraps from a Scrapbook
Recently someone left us a scrapbook. It is an amazing collection of religious trivia, and some of it is not so trivial in some respects. Herewith, in keeping with the recent archival theme, some samples (which, when clicked, will show the full size photo). […]
Missals in the Monastery Cupboard—2
Sorry – another mega missal post, but the last, so—courage. [As usual, if you click the photos they will open in full size.] First from the cloister haul is this example of a missal I had not come across before: a Missal-Vesperal. Many of […]
Missals in the Monastery Cupboard—1
This will verge on a megapost. There was quite the variety of missals in the cupboard. As a great lover of the old hand missals I found these of special interest. If the old missals do nothing for your adrenalin levels then this post […]
O happy fault!
London has been hit by terrorists again, with all the hallmarks of those inspired by the Islamic jihadists of Daesh. The details are gradually becoming clearer now but it seems prudent to withhold comment until we know quite certainly the full nature of the attacks. […]
Even More in a Monastery Cupboard
Some people actually seem interested in this, so herewith the penultimate post about the cloister hoard. **NB In this series, any picture is able to be clicked to reveal the full-sized version.** Today, office books. First is this diurnal, ie the day hours off […]
More in a Monastery Cupboard
Since it is a Friday, it seems fitting to supply some opportunity for penance. Thus, here follows some more discoveries from a cupboard in the monastery’s long cloister. Last time we left off with a taster of a book that you will not have […]
In a monastery cupboard
If you do not like books, you are bound to be bored here. If you are indifferent to liturgical books, you are likely to yawn a little. If books and liturgical history fascinate you, even if presented in a fairly superficial and fleeting way—then read […]
Yesterday’s Junk?
Recently I borrowed a book from our library. If it had been read, it had not been read often. It dated from 1976, an edition under the imprint of Catholic Book Clubs. A couple of bits of paper fell out as I opened it. Someone’s […]
