St German's News

No. 431 January 2016 St German’s News COMMUNITY, WORSHIP, CULTURE Suggested Donation—£1 Epiphany What can I give him? The Angelus Painting by Jean-Francois Millet, ‘The Angelus’ 1859 A farming couple stop their work for a moment to pray the Angelus at dusk. The word Angelus is taken form the Latin words of Greeting in Luke 1.26-27: ‘The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary’. The Latin for Angel is Angelus. The Angelus evolved in about the 12th century with the practice of lay people on hearing the bells of a local monastery in the evening stopping work for a moment and reciting three Hail Mary’s (Luke 1.42). By the 16th century the Angelus was also being said at 6am, 12 noon as well as 6pm. The prayer involves knitting together a number of scriptural passages associated with Christ’s birth (his incarnation). The restored Cathedral chimes now incorporate the Angelus at the beginning of morning prayer at 9.02 am, at 12.02pm (when prayers are said when a chaplain is on duty) and at the beginning of evening prayer 5.32pm. The bells sound in a pattern and are said in conjunction with the following prayer: The Angelus– continued The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. 3 bells Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with Thee; Blessed art thou among women And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Your Word. 3 bells Hail Mary, etc… And the Word was made flesh, And dwelt among us. 3 bells Hail Mary, etc… Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray 9 bells Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord, Your Grace into our hearts; That as we have known the incarnation of Christ, Your Son by the message of an angel, So by His passion and cross We may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen. So why not when you hear the bell ring, join with us with a minute or two of your own prayers at that time of the day. There is of course no need to use the Angelus prayer, your own God moments are just a reminder of the real meaning of life. Dean Nigel Godfrey Editor: Christiane Litman [email protected] 271326 The editor is happy to publish articles and photographs from contributors but they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or the Cathedral. Please inform the editor directly if you have any dates to be included in the diary. Please submit articles and images for consideration by the 25th of each month. Music across the Great Festival of Christmas I am often asked - do you really have that much to do at Christmas….? Christmas has been very busy for the Music department, so busy that I thought we ought to report our various ventures across the season: Liturgical- December started with the great festival of Advent, both services were well attended and both services included music newly composed by our organ scholar Jack Oades. The candle-lit procession was particularly poignant and Jack’s beautiful setting of the O Antiphons made a strong impact on the large congregation in attendance. December 5th not only saw the most astonishingly bad weather of rain and very high winds, but also a concert ‘The Cathedral Choir at Christmas’ at the Erin Arts Centre. It was very touch-and-go as to whether the concert went ahead; it did, and I was glad as we had an audience of 70+ people, none of whom I recognised as ever setting foot into the Cathedral for a Choral service! The concert was accompanied by Jack on both the Chamber organ (built by Peter Jones, pictured) and the concert grand piano at the centre. The concert was compèred by Judith Ley and also featured my Mother-in-law, Anne Munding (soprano), who sang pieces by Peter Cornelius and with the choir for Adam’s O Holy Night; as you can imagine it was a stunning performance! On Sunday 6th December, the Feast of St Nicholas, at Evensong we installed Francesca Fairbairn as this year’s Chorister-Bishop in the Cathedral. Francesca led a big part of the service, gave her blessing on the work of the Cathedral and gave out chocolate coins to the children. She did such a great job the Precentor had no hesitation in paying her the customary 2p for candles to light the service. Life then got very busy with Jack playing also for the KWC Carol Services and directing the Tallis Consort along with myself, the music department became ‘ a non-office based institution’ for a week or so, leading to the Choir’s important service on Sunday 13th, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Music across the Great Festival of Christmas- continued An exquisite solo from Mackenzie Brown started the service with his spine-tingling ‘Once in Royal’ –bang in tune! In fact the choir were on excellent form to a very busy Cathedral. Again, the great majority were people we had never seen before. The choir sang a popular mixture of Christmas music interspersed with the Christmas story and the well-loved carols and descants of old. Choir favourites included Andrew Carter’s Make we Merry; Stopford’s Lully, Lulla, Lullay; Huxley’s Of a Rose and Handel’s And the Glory of the Lord. A wonderful occasion, it is great that we can offer such high quality of music making to the island community as a gift, and in this case a very special Christmas gift. Jack played superbly and I compliment all my choristers, children and adults on another excellent festival service. The Cathedral Choir at the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols 2015. Immediately following our own carol service came the usual Peel schools run of services and events which both Jack and I were very involved in. A welcome break in this busy rehearsal schedule was the Mothers’ Union Christmas lunch, where I provided some Christmassy background music and led a few carols. On Thursday 17th, I waved goodbye to Jack as he took his leave for Christmas, slightly nervous at the remaining Christmas services. I spent several days learning how to play the organ again or at least convincing myself I could do a good job in Jack’s absence! Sunday 20th saw a departure from the ‘norm’, the Cathedral Music Group (of which I covered Jack’s part on the piano) had expanded dramatically for the service. The group consisted of piano, guitars, bass guitar, bassoon, ‘cello; oboe, trumpet and flute; but also included a ‘back row’ of singers which sang in 3 parts, accompanying Gill Poole in leading the worship that morning. I have to say (with my official hat on) I thought they did a fantastic job and brought a whole new sense of drive and energy to the service. My thanks to Jack, Chris and Gill for organising this and I hope we can revisit and A few member of the group in rehearsal. encourage the larger group on future occasions. The highlight of the service for me was the brave effort of the voices (unaccompanied) which sang Gaudete, and in 3 parts! Music across the Great Festival of Christmas– continued A bite for lunch and then off to St Stephen’s Church, Sulby, with eight Cathedral Choristers to sing at the village carol service. The Cathedral Choristers (4 boys and 4 girls) contributed 2 of their own pieces to the service: Paul Leddington-Wright’s setting of O Come, O Come Emmanuel and RV Williams This is the truth sent from above. The village church was crowded. Mackenzie Brown was due to sing the solo again, but at the last minute requested not to as his throat was very sore. I looked at the other 7 choristers for a soloist…Lily Bridson has just gained her RSCM Red medal, so I asked her and she said yes! Dad, Mark Bridson was in the congregation and had no idea Lily was to sing until he heard her at the start with that wonderful unaccompanied solo, bang in tune! Having scoffed down a mince-pie, a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, I then was hot-footing it (with the Head Chorister, Peter Boussougou) to Onchan Elim Church, where I was to accompany him in the solo ‘O Holy Night’. Quite a change of scene for me, the service was a refreshing break, there was I and the HC sat in our robes, listening to the most wonderful unaccompanied congregational carols I have heard for a long time, no instruments, no pianos or organs, just voices! It is so much part of our mission in the music department to offer out Cathedral Music as a gift, and by engaging with the schools, villages and even other Christian traditions I hope we are beginning to do this. Besides singing at the Cathedral and Island locations, our wider mission is to take Cathedral Music beyond these shores, and in Summer 2016 we are doing just that! The Cathedral Choir will visit our twin diocese at Cashel and Ossory and sing a weekend at Kilkenny Cathedral. As you can imagine the cost of this is significant and the Choir Parents’ Association have taken it upon themselves to help with these costs.

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