POPE BENEDICT XVI PRESS PACK 18 September 2010

WestVotive of the Precious Blood with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at Westminster Cathedral

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 18 September at 10am on the third day of his visit to the United Kingdom. As well as celebrating Mass, the Pope will address a crowd of young people gathered outside the Cathedral and address the people of .

Mass will be celebrated with Catholic bishops from England, Wales and Scotland. 240 priests will concelebrate the Mass. The congregation will be made up of 1739 people from the Catholic dioceses of England and Wales.

The Mass Westminster Cathedral, the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the of the in England and Wales.

The Mass that will be celebrated on Saturday 18 September will be the Votive Mass of the Precious Blood rather than the regular Mass of the day - this is because the Cathedral is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood. Westminster Cathedral celebrated the 100th anniversary of its centenary in June 2010. A special Mass has been chosen to mark the occasion of the Papal Visit.

A gift from the Holy Father After the Introductory Rite and before the Penitential Rite, will receive a gift from the Holy Father.

The Vestments Because the Holy Father is celebrating the Votive Mass of the Precious Blood, he and all the Bishops will wear red vestments. In the Catholic Church, red is worn for the feast days of martyrs (signifying blood), including the Apostles (except John), and also on days focused on ’ death on the cross (e.g. Palm Sunday and Good Friday), and when the focus is the Holy Spirit (Pentecost Sunday, confirmation masses) signifying the fire of the Holy Spirit.

The vestments that the Pope and the four assisting deacons will wear come from the Vatican. The Pope will wear his own chasuble, which is the outermost garment.

1 Music

Papal Procession: MacMillan Tu es Petrus

Mass setting: Byrd Mass for five voices

Offertory: Bruckner Christus factus est

Communion: Hassler O sacrum convivium (with Brass)

Procession to West Door: Hymn Love Divine

Procession to St David’s , Bruckner Ecce sacerdos

Much of the music is ’s Mass for five voices. This means that the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and the Agnus Dei are all by William Byrd. William Byrd was an English composer of the and lived from 1540-1623.

The Offertory sung after the Creed is by Anton Bruckner, an Austrian composer who lived from 1824- 1896 and is thought to be one of the Holy Father’s favourite composers.

Colin Mawby, an ex-Master of Music at the Cathedral, has written a fanfare intro for brass for the final hymn, Love Divine. This hymn is a famous Welsh tune, Blaenwern, and reflects the fact that the Pope will address Wales at the end of the Mass and bless a new mosaic of St David in the Cathedral.

Westminster Cathedral will in places be accompanied by Brass Orchestra. London Brass will accompany the Choir particularly in a new commission by James MacMillan, entitled Tu es Petrus, for Pope’s arrival into the Cathedral.

Readings The first reading will be read by Mr Neil McLaughan, the Head Master of Westminster Cathedral Choir School. The Gospel will be read by Revd Andrew Gallagher, a deacon in the Diocese of Westminster. Andrew was ordained as a deacon in Westminster Cathedral in June 2010 and is currently in his final year of study at Allen Hall, the Diocese of Westminster seminary. The Bidding Prayers will be read by Toyin Odunuga, a regular reader at Westminster Cathedral.

Latin Some parts of the Mass will be said in . Each day at the Solemn Mass at 5.30pm, some Latin is used and so the Mass on Saturday 18 September reflects the life of the Cathedral well. The Eucharistic Prayer (where the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and ) is usually said in Latin at Papal Masses.

Greeting the Young Adults After Mass the Pope will walk down the nave of Westminster Cathedral and to the steps on the Piazza where he will greet 2135 young people. These young adults will have been participating in the Mass via a large TV screen outside in the Piazza.

2 There will be a young adult from every parish in England and Wales, young adults from Scotland, and groups of active young volunteers from CAFOD; YCW, Youth 2000, Pax Christi, Catholic Scouting, HCPT, Sion, the Salesians, Jesuit Young Adult Ministries, Just Youth, and Youth SVP.

A new national symbol of youth ministry will be presented to the Holy Father by 31 of the young adults. These young adults represent all the Diocese of England and Wales and some youth organisations. The Pope will then bless the youth symbol and address the young adults.

St David’s Mosaic After addressing the young people, Pope Benedict will return inside Westminster Cathedral and bless a new mosaic. The Pope is not visiting Wales during this visit, but he will now be greeted in the name of the Church in Wales and pray for its people. A new mosaic of St David, the Patron of Wales, has been installed in Westminster Cathedral to mark this occasion.

The mosaic was designed by Welsh artist Ivor Davies and depicts St David preaching on a mound of earth. The mosaic contains a stone from the spot where the ground is said to have raised St David up so that the crowds he was preaching to could hear him better. The Pope will also bless the mosaic with water from St Nonn’s well in Wales. St Nonn was the mother of St David. It is believed that St David lived c. 500AD-589.

The Pope will then go to the side chapel of St Paul and will be greeted by The , the Right Reverend Edwin Regan. The Pope will then address the people of Wales live on TV before praying before the Statue of Our Lady of the Taper which is the Welsh National Shrine to Our Lady and has been brought from Cardigan for this occasion. This prayer will conclude the Mass and celebrations at the Cathedral.

History of Westminster Cathedral The site that Westminster Cathedral is now built on was originally known as Bulinga Fen and formed part of the marsh around Westminster. It was reclaimed by the Benedictine monks, who were the builders and owners of , and subsequently used as a market and fairground. After the reformation the land was used, in turn, as a maze, a pleasure garden and as a ring for bull-baiting but it remained largely waste ground.

In the 17th century a part of the land was sold by the Abbey for the construction of the Tothill Fields’ Bridewell prison which was demolished and replaced by an enlarged prison complex in 1834.

After the re-establishment of the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales by Pope Pius IX in 1850, the newly emancipated Catholics wanted to build a suitable place of worship in London. The prison site was acquired by the Catholic Church in 1884 by the second Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal . After two false starts in 1867 (under architect Henry Clutton) and 1892 (with architect Baron von Herstel) respectively, construction started in 1895 under Manning’s successor, the third Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal with John Francis Bentley as architect.

John Francis Bentley was considered the most influential 19th Century Roman Catholic architect in Britain after A. W. N. Pugin. He trained in the office of Henry Clutton, who made the first designs for Westminster Cathedral for Cardinal Manning. Bentley spent five months in Italy working on Westminster Cathedral’s design, which was to be completed in the early Christian Byzantine style, drawing on St Mark in Venice, St Sophia in Constantinople and San Vitale in Ravenna for inspiration.

3 The foundation stone of the Cathedral Church of Westminster, which is dedicated to The Most Precious Blood, was laid in 1895 and the fabric of the building was completed eight years later.

Westminster Cathedral opened fully in 1903, almost 2 years after Bentley’s death. For reasons of economy, the decoration of the interior had hardly been started and, even today, much remains to be completed.

Under the laws of the Catholic Church at the time, no place of worship could be consecrated unless free from debt and having its fabric completed, so the consecration ceremony did not take place until 28 June, 1910.

The interior of the Cathedral, although incomplete, contains fine marble-work and .

The fourteen which were produced by the sculptor , and unveiled in 1918, are world renowned.

The 30-meter wide piazza outside the front entrance of Westminster Cathedral was created by a re- development of the area in the early 1970s. Before, the façade of the Cathedral had been hidden behind rows of shops on the main road in front of it, Victoria Street. For special occasions, such as the visit of the of St Therese of Lisieux to London, the piazza acts as an area of overspill for the congregation. Westminster Council, which is responsible for maintaining the piazza, is currently drawing up designs for a revamp of the area.

On 30 November 1995, at the invitation of Cardinal , Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Westminster Cathedral to attend an ecumenical service. Her Majesty’s visit was highly symbolic because it was the first time a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom had stepped inside a Catholic Church in Britain since the Reformation.

In 2005, the body of Cardinal Herbert Vaughan – the Cardinal who saw out the designing and building of the Cathedral – was re-interred in the Chapel of St Thomas.

Today, Westminster Cathedral is a Grade 1 listed building where Mass is celebrated over 40 times a week.

The Diocese of Westminster The Diocese of Westminster is one of the smallest dioceses in England and Wales in geographical area, but the largest in terms of Catholic population and priests. The diocesan boundaries include the London Boroughs north of the River Thames, between the River Lea to the East, the Borough of Hillingdon to the West, and including the County of Hertfordshire to the North. In what is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, the Diocese includes a wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity amongst its Catholic population. It has an estimated Catholic population of around 500,000, numbers having increased in recent years due to migration to London from predominantly Catholic countries including Poland, the Phillipines and Brasil.

Since the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in 1850, its bishop has traditionally been a Cardinal. Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor was the tenth Archbishop of Westminster, being created Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva on 21 February 2001. Cardinal Cormac retired in 2009 and Archbishop Vincent Nichols was installed on 21 May 2009 as the eleventh Archbishop of Westminster.

4 Archbishop of Westminster: Archbishop Vincent Nichols Vincent Nichols was born in Crosby, Liverpool, on 8 November 1945. He studied for the priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome from 1963 to 1970, gaining licences in philosophy and theology at the Gregorian University. He was ordained priest in Rome on 21 December 1969 for the Archdiocese of Liverpool. He then studied an MA degree in theology at Manchester University between 1970 and 1971. In 1971 he was appointed assistant priest in St Mary’s Parish, Wigan and chaplain to the Sixth Form College and St Peter’s High School. In 1974 he studied at Loyola University in Chicago and was awarded an M.Ed. In 1975 he was appointed to St Anne’s parish in Toxteth, Liverpool with particular responsibility for education. In January 1980 he was appointed director of the Upholland Northern Institute, where he was responsible for the in-service training of the clergy, pastoral and religious education courses. He was also a member of Archbishop’s Council with responsibility for pastoral formation and development in the diocese. In January 1984, he was appointed general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference in England and Wales. From 1989 to 1996 he was moderator of the Steering Committee of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland. Mgr Vincent Nichols was appointed auxiliary bishop to Westminster, with responsibility for North London, on 24 January 1992.

In 1994 he became a member of the Finance Advisory Committee of the National Catholic Fund of the Bishops’ Conference. In 1995 he became a member of the Bishops’ Conference Committee for the Roman Colleges and in 1996 he was appointed Episcopal Liaison of the Bishops’ Conference for the National Conference of Diocesan Financial Secretaries. He has also been a member of the Joint Commission of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences and the Conference of European Churches (Protestant); vice president of the Bible Society and a member of the board of the Christian Academy for European Development at Louvain. In 1998 Bishop Nichols was appointed chair of the Bishops’ Conference department for Catholic Education and Formation and also chair of the Catholic Education Service. He represented the European bishops at the November 1998 Synod of Bishops from Oceania and appointed by the Holy See to the Synod of Bishops for Europe in September 1999 as a special secretary.

In 2000, Bishop Nichols was appointed Archbishop of Birmingham.

In 2001 Archbishop Nichols was appointed chair of the management board of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.

In 2005, he provided the commentary for the worldwide BBC coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II and the Installation of Pope Benedict XVI.

In 2008 he was appointed President of the Commission for Schools, Universities and Catechesis of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE)

He has written two books to date: ‘Promise of Future Glory’, and ‘Missioners’ published in the United Kingdom.

Westminster Cathedral Choir Westminster Cathedral Choir is acclaimed as one of the world’s great choirs. Since its foundation in 1903 it has occupied a unique position at the forefront of English church music, not least because of the ground- breaking work of its first Master of Music, Richard Terry, who revived the great works of the English and continental Renaissance composers.

5 The choir’s fame grew under Terry as it presented this forgotten music, revolutionising attitudes to the repertoire. Innovation continued under George Malcolm who pioneered the development of the choir’s sound along continental lines, resulting in a choir that was revolutionary in both what and how it sang. The choir continues these traditions under its present Master of Music, Martin Baker, and it remains the only Catholic Cathedral choir in the world to sing daily Mass and . More recent holders of the post have included , , David Hill and James O’Donnell.

The choir’s reputation is ever-expanding and it continues to reach new audiences through its series of recordings on the Hyperion label, the two most recent being the Palestrina Lamentations and a sequence of music from Advent to Epiphany featuring music written specially for the choir.

The choir has a history of commissioning and performing new music, famous examples being Britten’s Missa brevis for boys’ voices, the Mass in G minor by Vaughan Williams and compositions by Wood, Holst and Howells. Within the last decade the choir has commissioned new Masses from James MacMillan, , Judith Bingham, , Matthew Martin and , all of which were first performed in the context of the regular liturgies at Westminster Cathedral.

Westminster Cathedral Choir features frequently on radio and television. When its busy liturgical schedule permits it takes its music further a field. In addition to regular concerts around the UK, recent tours have included , , Germany, , Italy and the USA.

Orchestra, London Brass London Brass Orchestra will be accompanying the Cathedral Choir during the Papal Mass. They are made up of seven brass players and four percussionists. They will be situated in the north and south galleries of the Cathedral.

London Brass was formed in 1986, for the purpose of promoting the virtuosity and sonority of classical chamber brass music. London Brass have a loyal core membership, and over the last two decades they have produced recordings and concerts ranging in repertoire from the 16th century Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli through to Freddie Mercury. In London, they have appeared many times at the Proms, the (where they reside), Westminster Abbey and St Pauls, notably for the Millennium Celebration Concert and the Queens Jubilee.

Facts about the Cathedral • Westminster Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Westminster and is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

• The Cathedral was built on the site of Tothill Fields Prison.

• It was designed in the early Christian Byzantine style by the Victorian architect John Francis Bentley.

• The foundation stone was laid in 1895 and it was opened in 1903.

• The Cathedral was consecrated in 1910 and celebrated the centenary of its consecration in June 2010.

• The first Mass celebrated in the UK by Pope John Paul II during his historic visit was in Westminster Cathedral on 28 May 1982.

6 • The world famous Westminster Cathedral Choir is the only professional Catholic choir in the world to sing daily Mass and Vespers.

• Sir conducted the first London performance of his setting of Cardinal Newman’s poem, , in the Cathedral in 1904.

• The Cathedral can seat up to 2000 people.

• Mass is celebrated in the Cathedral 41 times each week.

• Over 30,000 people visit the Cathedral every month.

• 4000 people attend Mass in the Cathedral every Sunday.

• The Cathedral was paid for by voluntary donations.

• The Cathedral is now a Grade I listed building.

• One hundred and twenty different varieties of marble (from 26 countries) decorate the Cathedral, which is more than in any other building in England.

• It would take 100 million individual pieces of stone and glass to cover the Cathedral in mosaics – so far only 12 million are in place.

• The Cathedral has 12,454,474 bricks.

• The dimensions of the Cathedral are 360 ft x 156 ft

- The height of the tower is 273 feet high (284 feet including the cross)

- The height of domes is 109 ft (inside) and 112 ft (outside)

- The height of brick arches (from floor to base of domes) is 90 ft.

• One hundred and eight double decker buses could fit inside Westminster Cathedral.

• There are 10 tombs in the Cathedral – of 8 former of Westminster, Bishop Challoner, and a former Russian Ambassador to England, Count Alexander Benckendorff.

• Eight Archbishops of Westminster have been installed in the Cathedral.

• President John F. Kennedy visited the Cathedral in 1961 for the baptism of his niece.

• Archbishop Michael Ramsey was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to visit Westminster Cathedral, in 1976 – each of his successors has also visited the Cathedral.

• A reigning monarch attended a Catholic liturgy for the first time in several hundred years when HM Queen Elizabeth II attended Vespers to celebrate the centenary of the Cathedral’s foundation in 1995.

• Westminster Cathedral Parish is twinned with the parish of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

7 Press Contacts

Communications Office of the Diocese of Westminster 020 7 798 9030 [email protected] www.rcdow.org.uk

The Papal Visit News Coordination Centre (NCC) Operation contact details are as follows. The telephone numbers are being monitored from Weds 15 September:

The generic email address which all in the NCC will have access to is: [email protected]

Management Team 020 7276 3300

Press Team 020 7276 5001

Interview Requests, Briefing and Media Monitoring 020 7276 6606

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