Saints Parish Paper Margaret Street, London W.1
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All Saints Parish Paper MARGARET STREET, LONDON W.1 OCTOBER 2008 £1.00 VICAR’s LETTER seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The origins of the feast of the Holy Cross which we have just been celebrating are As we do most years, we spent our something of a historical curiosity. When the summer holiday in a small hamlet near Emperor Constantine ordered the erection Poitiers. That city was an important centre of a complex of buildings in Jerusalem of early Christianity in France. St Hilary, “on a scale of imperial magnificence” to Bishop of Poitiers, was one of the great set forth as “an object of attraction and theologians of the early western Church. veneration to all, the blessed place of our St Martin of Tours, that soldier-turned Saviour’s resurrection”, he entrusted the monk and missionary bishop, was a monk supervision of his work to his mother the at Liguge which is a few miles outside the Empress Helena. city and where there is still a Benedictine monastery. Less well-known outside the The hill of Calvary had been covered with area is St Radegunde. She was a princess rubble after the destruction of Jerusalem by of the Merovingian royal house in the 6th the Romans. While this was being excavated, century. She retired to a convent at Poitiers, wood was found which was thought to be becoming its abbess. Her royal connections the true cross. The shrine which St Helena led to the Emperor in Constantinople built included two principal buildings: one sending her a relic of the true cross. She a large basilica for the Liturgy of the Word; commissioned the Bishop of Poitiers the other, a circular church, known as “The and court poet Venantius Fortunatus to Resurrection”, with its altar over the site of compose hymns for the solemn procession the holy sepulchre, which was used for the to welcome this relic. They have come Liturgy of the Sacrament and the singing down to us as two of the treasures of the of the Daily Office. Toward one side of the western liturgy of Holy Week. One is courtyard, through which the faithful had to Vexilla Regis — “The Royal Banners”, the pass on their way from Word to Sacrament, office hymn for Passiontide which we sang the exposed top of Calvary’s hill was visible. at Evensong on Holy Cross Day; the other There, the veneration of the cross took place is Pange Lingua — “Sing my tongue the on Good Friday. glorious battle” which is sung during the The dedication of these buildings took Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday; place on September 4th, the seventh month with its haunting refrain: of the Roman calendar, in 335; echoing the “Faithful cross! above all other, consecration of Solomon’s Temple in the One and only noble tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, All this might sound rather wearing, not None in fruit thy peer may be; least for those of us who live here, but our Sweetest wood and sweetest iron! experience the last time was that not only Sweetest weight is hung on thee.” did we manage to maintain our daily round of worship, but that much good came from So, however sceptical we might be of it. We appreciated both the intimacy of the authenticity of St Helena’s discovery, worship in the Parish Room and our return something of enduring worth came out of to the church. While we may not discover that relic sent to St Radegund’s monastery any relics during the process, I am sure that all those centuries ago. we will know the presence of God, because we will have Christ’s presence in Word and Here at All Saints, while the magnificence Sacrament and Congregation in the midst of our building may not be on “an imperial of it all. While the work of restoring the scale”, it is, as one correspondent says in church building is proceeding, the work of this issue, “one of the supreme buildings building the church as people of God must of the nineteenth century”. continue. We are soon going to find ourselves A century ago, Fr Mackay recorded that surrounded, if not by rubble, then certainly no sooner had he mentioned the need for by scaffolding, when the first phase of our a Lady Altar, than someone had offered to internal restoration programme begins in pay for it. He was also hoping for someone the New Year. In the meantime, a great to pay for a new organ too! He invited deal of work needs to be undertaken on the friends of All Saints from all over the accommodation in No 8 Margaret Street country to come up for the eight days of the which has not had much attention since its Festival; meaning, we must suppose, those transformation into flats on the closure of of independent means who did not have the choir school in 968. These need to be to work for a living. The majority of the up-graded to meet current legislation and people of All Saints these days are of more this is not going to be cheap. This work will modest means. commence in October and the plan is for it to be finished by Christmas. That will allow That does not mean that people have not us to use the Parish Room as our weekday been generous. We have raised considerable chapel, as we did some years ago during the sums to fund the re-roofing of the church, restoration of the organ. This will allow the the rebuilding of the organ, the replacement maximum amount of uninterrupted working of the chairs, and now for the restoration time on the church and this means that the of the interior, over the last dozen or so programme can be completed in the shortest years. Much of this has come from the possible time. We will still be using the congregation. At the same time, we have church on Sundays, although surrounded by increased the level of giving to the general scaffolding. Part of my holiday reading this funds of the congregation, so that the parish year was Philip Ball’s “Universe of Stone”, has been able to carry out these works while a fascinating account of the building of that increasing its commitment of funding to the triumph of Gothic architecture, Chartres diocese and the wider Church. We begin Cathedral. It’s clear that worship in the this month, on our Dedication Festival, with midst of a building site is nothing new. the renewal of our financial commitment to All Saints. The finances of All Saints have emblematic of Andy’s professionalism. If been on a healthier footing in recent years the preparation and preaching of sermons than at any time in its history. We call this is 0% inspiration and 90% perspiration, “A Sacrament of Seriousness” because we the same is true of musicianship. Those believe that our sacramental religion, our who are around All Saints during the week, Eucharistic worship, needs to be expressed know the thoroughness of Andy’s practice in our consecration of the gifts we enjoy and preparation for the music which all from God to his service in the worship and of us enjoy on Sundays. Fr Alan recalled mission of the Church. the story he had told after the Buxtehude Yours in Christ, marathon, of Bach walking hundreds of miles from Leipzig to Lubeck just to hear Alan Moses Buxtehude play. Andy’s feet must have travelled many hundreds of miles across PARISH NOTES the pedals of our organ. Congratulations The Vicar was joined by Paul Brough in To Clive and Joy Wright on their Golden paying tribute to Andy as a colleague and Wedding Anniversary. in congratulating him on being elected to a fellowship at Trinity Hall, a tribute to his To Gillian Dare, who as well as being musical scholarship, and on his engagement awarded the Cross of St Augustine by to Charlotte. the Archbishop of Canterbury was also awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Gifts and mementos of All Saints were Honours List. presented on behalf of congregation and choir. Farewells In reply Andy spoke of what being part On Sunday September 7th we bade of All Saints and its choir had meant to farewell to Andrew Arthur who has him over these years and how inspiring been our Assistant Director of Music for it had been to be able to make music in a 8 years. He goes to be Director of Music context where the whole act of worship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. After the organ and everything connected with it was taken recital which Andy played after Mass, the seriously. Vicar paid tribute to all that Andy had done for the parish. He said that the division of Fr Neil Bunker labour in our music department meant that As many of you know, Fr Neil Bunker has Andy’s rôle had primarily been behind the been experiencing a period of ill health for scenes in the organ chamber, emerging a number of months now. We have missed only occasionally to conduct, as he had having him around. After consultation done at Mass that morning for the Bach with his doctors, he has decided that the offertory anthem. wisest course is for him to find somewhere to minister which is nearer to his home Andy’s most memorable contribution and thus avoid the strain of travel. We was probably his 9 hour performance of are grateful beyond measure to Fr Neil the collected organ works of Buxtehude.