In practice this means…

Recorded, streamed or Zoom Services only until Sunday 7 March, Lent III.

Tuesdays, 6pm Plainsong Vespers still only on “Friends of St Michael’s” Facebook group.

Resume Public Worship in St Michael’s Church. 

Wed 10 Mar. Worshipers may attend 9.30 Matins, 10am Mass in St Michael’s Church.

 Sun 14 Mar in St Michael’s, 11am Mass for Laetare & Mothering Sunday, Lent IV. Communion wafer will be brought to you in the Pews.

 Wed 17 Mar, St Patrick, 9.30 Matins, 10am Mass in Church.

 Sun 21 Mar, in Church, 11am Mass for Passion Sunday, Lent V.

 Wed 24 Mar, Eve of Annunciation, 9.40 Matins, 10am Mass in Church.

 Sun 28 Mar, in Church, 11am Mass for Palm Sunday. Blessing of Palms but no Procession. Sung Passion Gospel.

 HOLY WEEK – reduced to allow approx. 48 hours between Services in each Church.

 Tue 30 Mar, 6pm Plainsong Vespers on Facebook group

 Wed 31 Mar, NO Stations of the Cross. 9.30Matins, 10am Mass in Church.

 Thu 1 Apr, 7.30pm Mass for Maundy Thursday at St Michael’s. Probably NO Foot-washing. Stripping of Altar and Altar of Repose, to be decided.

 Fri 2 Apr, Good Friday, NO Liturgy of Presanctified or Veneration of the Cross.

Service of Good Friday Readings and Reflections at St David’s Church.

NO Evening Tenebrae Service – there is a recording available.

 Sat 3 Apr, Holy Saturday, 8pm Easter Vigil Mass – Ceremonies of the New Fire, Paschal Candle, Exultet, Renewal of Baptismal Vows. At St Michael’s.

 Sun 4 Apr, Easter Day, NO Mass at St Michael’s.

9.30am Easter Eucharist at St David’s Church.

The provision of Music for Sundays and Feast Days will depend on Resources and Church of England Rules. Currently Organ music and up to 3 Cantors are allowed. Congregational singing is not allowed.

The post Lent & Holy Week 2021 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

All Church Buildings are now also CLOSED until further notice. Please DO NOT COME to St Michael’s, but continue to pray, and mark Holy Week & Easter at home.

Fr Nigel will pray the Daily Office at the Vaicarage, and some Prayers & Reflections will be put on Facebook & Twitter accounts, as time permits.

This is what would have happened, but all events from 17th March are CANCELLED.

Wed 26 Feb, 7.30pm. Lent starts with Sung Mass for Ash Wednesday with Imposition of Ashes. Hymns: 84: 70: 67. Missa Brevis, Lotti. Miserere Mei, Lassus.

Thurs 27 Feb, 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture. Oliver Nicholson on The First English Christians: Four ways of reading Bede - introducing the book for this year’s Lent reading group, which will meet 7-8pm on subsequent Thursdays in Lent (see Poster/Pewsheet).

Sat 29 Feb, 9.30am. Men’s Breakfast at the Farmers’ Union.

Sun 1 March, Lent I, also St David’s Day. 11am Sung Mass. Litany, Hymns 383: 406. Missa de Angelis, Plainsong. Motet: Nolo mortem tecatoris, by Morley. N.B. NO Bountiful Table today.
6pm Sun 1 Mar, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Responses: Byrd. Psalm 50:1-15 Hymn 377. Canticles: Walmisley in D minor. Anthem: If ye love me, by Wilby. O salutaris, Tantum Ergo.

Wed 4 Mar, 9.30am Matins/Low Mass. 6pm Stations of the Cross.

Thu 5 Mar, 7-8pm, Lent Reading Group in Church on Bede’s History of the Earliest English Christians, led by Oliver Nicholson.

Sun 8 Mar, Lent II, 11am Sung Mass. Hymns 238, 378, 64. Mass in Phrygian Mode, Wood. I will lift up mine eyes, Walker. Bountiful Table today – Bakes, Preserves & Produce for Church Funds.

Wed 11 Mar, 9.30am Matins/Low Mass. 6pm Stations of the Cross.

Thu 12 Mar, 7-8pm, Lent Reading Group on Bede’s History, led by Oliver Nicholson.

Sun 15 Mar, Lent III, 11am Sung Mass. Hymns 67, 65, 74. Mass in Dorian Mode, Cabina. Like as the hart, Howells.

Wed 18 Mar, 9.30am Matins/Low Mass. 7pm Stations of the Cross.

Thu 19 Mar, 7-8pm, Lent Reading Group on the Venerable Bede, led by Oliver Nicholson.

Sat 21 Mar 7.30pm at St David’s Church. Exeter Chamber Choir, St John’s Passion by J S Bach. Tickets £18 on the door, £15 in advance.

Sun 22 Mar Laetare/Mothering Sunday, 11am. Hymns 186, 451, 63. Missa super Dixit Maria, Hassler. Ave Maria, Parsons.

Wed 25 Mar, Feast of the Annunciation, 7.30pm Sung Mass. Hymns 188, 185, 161. Mass for 4 voices, Byrd. The Angel Gabriel, trad. Basque.

Thu 26 Mar, 7-8pm, Lent Reading Group on the Venerable Bede.

Sat 28 Mar, 9.30am. Men’s Breakfast at the Farmers’ Union.

Sun 29 Mar, Lent V, 11am. Hymns 79, 137, 83. Mass for 4 voices, Byrd. God so loved the world, Stainer.

Wed 1 Apr, 9.30am Matins/Low Mass. 7pm Stations of the Cross.

Thu 2 Apr, 7-8pm, Lent Reading Group on the Venerable Bede.

Sun 5 Apr, Palm Sunday, N.B. 10.30am start for Blessing & Procession of Palms, and Passion Gospel according to Matthew. Verily I say unto you, Tallis.6pm Palm Sunday Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses, Gibbons Short Service. Solus ad Victimam, by Leighton.

Holy Week
Wed 8 Apr, Spy Wednesday, 7pm. Stations of the Cross, sung “Stabat Mater”.

Thu 9 Apr, Maundy Thursday, 7.30pm Sung Mass with Foot-washing. Missa brevis, Lotti. Ubi caritas et amor, Mealor. Ave verum corpus, Byrd.

Fri 10 Apr, Good Friday, 10.30am Veneration of the Cross. The Reproaches. Crux Fidelis.
Good Friday, 8pm Tenebrae sung from the Gallery, Plainsong & Polyphony.

Sat 11 Apr, Holy Saturday, 8pm Easter Vigil Mass with New Fire & Paschal Candle. Stanford in C&F. Unicorni captivator, by Ola Gjeilo

Sun 12 Apr, Easter Day, 11am Festal Sung Mass. Mozart in D. Billings, Easter Anthem.

The post Lent & Holy Week 2020 at St Michael’s appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

2018 is our 150th Anniversary. If you have special memories or photos of St Michael’s over the years, please let us know. It would be good to compile some articles and a display for our Sesquicentenary celebrations at Michaelmas.

Fri 2 Mar at St David’s Church. 7.30pm Exeter College Choral Society conducted by Alfie Pugh, accompanied by John Draisey. Mozart, Kodaly & Rachmaninov. £12 (£5 students).

Sun 4 Mar, Lent III. 11am Sung Mass. Missa Brevis, Lotti. Motet: God so loved the world, Sir John Stainer. Celebrant: Fr Nigel Guthrie. Followed by the Bountiful Table.

Sun 4 Mar, 3pm. Trumpet, Organ & Piano Recital, Will Palmer & Peter Adcock. Fundraiser for St Peter’s School Malawi Project.

Sun 4 Mar at 6pm, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses. Psalms 11,12. Hymn: 67. Canticles: Dorian Service, Tallis. Anthem: Wash Me Throughly, SSWesley.

In his Ash Wednesday Sermon, Fr Christopher encouraged us to spend more time in prayer in Church, and to study to broaden our imagination. We could use one or more Wednesdays in Lent (28 Feb, 7,14,21 Mar) for this. There is Stations of the Cross at 6pm – a prayerful 45min meditation on Jesus’ way to the Cross. And the Lent Reading Group at 7pm for an hour or so exploring the life and thoughts of St Antony, the founder of desert monasticism.

Sun 11 Mar, Laetare & Mothering Sunday, 11am. Mass in F, Harold Darke. The Lord bless you & keep you, John Rutter. Ven David Gunn-Johnson. Rose Vestments, flower posies & simnel cake.

Thurs 15 Mar. Parish Lunch, 12 noon, at Exeter College’s @34 Restaurant – please sign up in Church.

Sat 17 Mar at 7.30pm, Exeter Chamber Choir Concert. Music for Lent including MacMillan Miserere & Lotti Crucifixus. Admission £10.

Sun 18 Mar, Passion Sunday, 11am. Sarum Plainsong Mass. O große Lieb, JSBach. Fr Nigel Guthrie.

Sun 18 Mar, 4pm in Exeter Cathedral. Farewell Service for Bishop Sarah Mullally, who will be installed as Bishop of London in May.

Sat 24 Mar, 9.30am Men’s Breakfast at the Imperial. Details from Ian Smith at St David’s.

Sun 25 Mar, Palm Sunday, 11am. N.B. BST starts. Blessing of Palms & Procession. Sung Gospel. This Mass will finish a little later than usual.

Summary of Holy Week at St Michael’s

28th Spy Wednesday, Stations of the Cross at 6pm, Liszt Via Crucis.

29th Maundy Thursday, Sung Mass with Foot-washing at 7.30pm, Casciolini & Elgar.

30th Good Friday Liturgy & Veneration of the Cross at 10.30am and the moving Office of Tenebrae sung from the Gallery at 8pm, Plainsong, Lassus & Palestrina.

31st Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil Mass with New Fire & Lighting of Paschal Candle at 8pm, Stanford & Handel.

Sun 1 Apr, Easter Day, 11am Festal Sung Mass. This Joyful Eastertide. Mozart Mass in D. Hallelujah Chorus. Ven David Gunn-Johnson.
NO Choral Evensong & Benediction today – Choir & Clergy serviced out!

A Happy & Joyful Easter to & from all at St Michael’s. Christ is Risen; He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!

Richard Barnes.

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Sunday 20th March, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B. earlier start) Sung Mass with Blessing and Procession of Palms around Mount Dinham. Sung Passion Gospel. Mass in F by Harold Darke. Motet: When I survey the wondrous Cross, by Wilby. Celebrant is Ven David Gunn-Johnson.

Monday in Holy Week, 21st March, 10am, Low Mass said by Ven David Gunn-Johnson with short Homily by Br Michael Jerome.

Tuesday in Holy Week, 22nd March, 10am, Low Mass said by Canon Tom Honey with short Homily by Br Michael Jerome.

Tuesday in Holy Week, 6pm, Plainsong Vespers and Meditation. Choir Practice at 7pm.

Spy Wednesday, 23rd March, Morning Prayer at 9.30am, Low Mass at 10am.

Spy Wednesday 23rd March at 6pm, when Judas arranged to betray Jesus, the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross are prayed, with the singing of the devotional poem Stabat Mater Dolorosa to music by Charpentier for upper voices.

Maundy Thursday, 24th March, 6pm, Plainsong Vespers and Meditation.

Maundy Thursday, 24th March, 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 by Charles Wood in F, 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 25th March at 10.30am, Good Friday Liturgy. Reproaches, by former St Michael’s member, Chris Upton. Veneration of the Cross. Crux Fidelis, attr. King John IV of Portugal.

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 26th March, 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: Mass in C&F by Charles Villiers Stanford. Anthem: Out of the Stillness, by Richard Shephard to a poem by Jonathan Draper, Dean of Exeter.

Out of the stillness of dark before dawn,
In the still and the quiet and the damp of the night,
The morning star glimmers alone in the sky:
Signal of day, herald of light.

Deep in the stillness of anguish and fear
Lie hopes that were shattered by death and by doubt,
The husk of a dream lies empty and crushed,
Mind seeks for meaning, heart flickers out.

Out of the stillness the dawn comes again
Darkness is vanquished and hope is renewed
The sun has arisen, never to set,
A new day is dawning with heaven suffused.

Death with its terrors at last overcome
By one burst of light, by one gift of love.
Wholeness and healing and hope in his arms,
The sun has arisen with life for the world.

Easter Sunday, 27th March at 10.45am. (N.B. clocks will have gone forward one hour overnight!) 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: Sing out this Eastertide, by Graham Keitch.
Setting: Mass in G, Franz Schubert.
Motet: Haec Dies, by William Byrd.
This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Low Sunday, 3rd April, Sung Mass at 10.45am – it remains to be seen whether we can repeat the excitement of last year’s Easter Bonnet Parade, but please come and enjoy Spring worship and Easter Hymns with us anyway. Music is Darke in E Mass Setting and Easter Anthem by William Billings.

Sunday 3rd April may be Low Sunday but for our 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction we will be in joyful Easter mood. Responses by Smith, Office Hymn 115, Psalm 16, and the Canticles, Mag & Nunc, will be Stanford in C.

Anthem:- Blessed be the God & Father by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (who died 19 April 1876 and is buried across the valley from Mount Dinham just below the Exeter Catacombs). Composed for Easter Sunday evensong at Hereford Cathedral, 1834, when only trebles and a single bass voice were available, hence the unison ATB passages. Words selected from 1st Epistle of Peter, chapter 1.

One of the few Feasts usually to occur within Lent, the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary this year is “transferred” from Holy Week to after the Octave of Easter, and will be celebrated at St Michael’s on Monday 4th April with Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Please note this date, which is also the CBS Mass for April. Setting “Missa Aeterna Christi Munera” by Palestrina; Motet “Ave Maria” by Parsons.

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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.

Richard Barnes.

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These are my highlights.

Stations of the Cross – 6pm Spy Wednesday

Tenebrae candelabrum – 4am Fri 18 Apr

Early in the morning; just as day is dawning.

On Good Friday morning I left St Michael’s to Venerate the Cross without me, and instead took my daughter to the Exeter Passion Perambulation. Arriving too late for the okay Kendrick “Meekness & Majesty” and the dubious theology of a “Jesus bore God’s Wrath” worship song, we left the Cathedral with a crowd of 800+ to see the drama unfold in the city. “When I survey” and “Amazing grace” seemed even fuller of meaning in contrast.

Exeter Passion – Jesus before Pilate & High Priest

Exeter Passion – Crucified on Cathedral Green

Good Friday evening Tenebrae sung from the West Gallery is one of St Michael’s “signature” services, and the congregation of over 50 were not disappointed with Plainsong Psalms and Responds, the Hebrew alphabet illuminated by Lassus, the remarkable set of Readings, by Richard Parker in Latin and Fr Andy Atkins in English, from Lamentations, Wisdom and the Letter to the Hebrews, and the final Miserere Mei (Ps 51) by Palestrina.

Tenebrae – 8pm Good Friday

Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil of Readings, New Fire, Paschal Candles, Exsultet, Renewal of Baptismal Vows and First Mass of Easter was moving as ever, but even more so as the new Pipe Organ (still work in progress, but needing to be run in) was unleashed liturgically for the first time at the Gloria Fanfare while the High Altar candles were lit.

Easter Vigil – New Fire & Paschal Candles

Easter Vigil Mass – Frs Andy, David & Tom

Easter Morning’s Voluntary was the glorious Bach Fantasia in G – the new organ was used again and is sounding very promising and very loud.

Dr Nigel Browne with Estella – Bach’s Fantasia in G on the new HLF Organ

Organ builder, Tim Trenchard, at work before Easter

Happy Easter! RB.

Easter Garden – Empty Tomb
Christ is Risen; He is Risen indeed, Alleluia.

Out attention now turns to the Eggs being incubated by our Peregrine Falcons and due to hatch later this week or next weekend. See them live online at http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/#

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At St Michael’s we try not to anticipate Feasts, so Easter services are listed after the final four Stations.

Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross

Hymn – Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me

Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me,
While he is nailed to the shameful tree,
Scorned and forsaken, derided and curst.
See how his enemies do their worst!
Yet, in the midst of the torture and shame,
Jesus, the Crucified, breathes my name!
Wonder of wonders, oh! How can it be?
Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me!

IV “Verily I say to thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

And one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him, saying, “If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.”

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man has done nothing amiss.”

And he said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.” And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say to thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

Jesus dies upon the cross

V “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” – VI “I thirst.” – VII “It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

There was darkness over all the land. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, saith, “I thirst.”

When Jesus had received the vinegar, he saith, “It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Jesus is laid in the arms of His Mother

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

O come unto me – this awful price, redemption’s tremendous sacrifice – is paid for you. Oh! Why will ye die? O come unto me.

Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre

Hymn – All for Jesus

All for Jesus – all for Jesus,
This our song shall ever be;
For we have no hope, no Saviour,
If we have not hope in thee.

All for Jesus – thou wilt give us
Strength to serve thee hour by hour;
None can move us from thy presence,
While we trust thy love and power.

All for Jesus – at thine altar
Thou wilt give us sweet content;
There, dear Lord, we shall receive thee
In the solemn Sacrament.

All for Jesus – all for Jesus –
This the Church’s song must be;
Till, at last, her sons are gathered
One in love and one in thee.
Amen.

Holy Saturday 8pm – The Easter Vigil for the whole Parish. 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.

Out of the stillness – A poem by Jonathan Draper, former Dean of Exeter Cathedral.

Out of the stillness of dark before dawn,
In the still and the quiet and the damp of the night,
The morning star glimmers alone in the sky:
Signal of day, herald of light.

Deep in the stillness of anguish and fear
Lie hopes that were shattered by death and by doubt,
The husk of a dream lies empty and crushed,
Mind seeks for meaning, heart flickers out.

Out of the stillness the dawn comes again
Darkness is vanquished and hope is renewed
The sun has arisen, never to set,
A new day is dawning with heaven suffused.

Death with its terrors at last overcome
By one burst of light, by one gift of love.
Wholeness and healing and hope in his arms,
The sun has arisen with life for the world.

Not in 2020 or 2021 – EASTER DAY 10.30am Festal Mass and Blessing of the Easter Garden.

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Maundy Thursday, 7.30pm Sung Mass with Washing of Feet.

At the end of this service the High Altar is stripped. Then the Watch is kept hourly or longer through the night, recalling Christ and his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and then before Pontius Pilate.

Not in 2020 or 2021 – Good Friday 10.30am Good Friday Liturgy. Reproaches, by Upton. Veneration of the Cross. Crux Fidelis, attr. King John IV of Portugal.

Not in 2020 or 2021 – 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.

Further biblical and poetic extracts from the libretto of Stainer’s 1887 “Crucifixion” for the next 5 Stations (click to enlarge).

The Face of Jesus is wiped by Veronica

How sweet is the grace of his sacred face and lovely beyond compare; though weary and worn with the merciless scorn of a world he has come to spare.

The burden of wrong that earth bears along, past evil and evil to be. All sins of man since the world began, they are laid, dear Lord, on thee.

Jesus falls a second time

Hymn – Holy Jesu, by Thy passion

Holy Jesu, by thy Passion,
By the woes which none can share,
Borne in more than kingly fashion,
By thy love beyond compare.
Crucified, I turn to thee,
Son of Mary, plead for me.

By the path of sorrows dreary,
By the cross, thy dreadful load,
By the pain, when faint and weary,
Thou didst sink upon the road:
Crucified, I turn to thee,
Son of Mary, plead for me.

The Women of Jerusalem mourn for our Lord

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus falls the third time under the cross

Hymn – I adore Thee

I adore thee, I adore thee!
Glorious ere the world began;
Yet more wonderful thou shinest,
Though divine, yet still divinest
In thy dying love for man.

I adore thee, I adore thee!
Born of woman yet divine:
Stained with sins I kneel before thee,
Sweetest Jesu, I implore thee
Make me ever only thine.

Jesus is stripped of his garments

III “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

And when they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right, and the other on the left. Jesus said: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

So thou liftest thy divine petition, pierc’d with cruel anguish through and through;
So thou grievest o’er our lost condition, pleading, “Ah, they know not what they do.”
Oh! ‘Twas love, in love’s divinest feature, passing o’er that dark and murd’rous blot,
finding, e’en for each low fallen creature, though they slay thee – one redeeming spot.
Yes! And still thy patient heart is yearning with a love that mortal scarce can bear;
thou in pity, deep, divine, and burning, liftest e’en for me thy mighty prayer.
So thou pleadest, e’en for my transgression, bidding me look up and trust and live;
so thou murmurest thine intercession, bidding me look up and trust and live;
so thou pleadest, Yea, he knew not – for my sake, forgive.

For the final 4 Stations, click here.

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Our meditation on the Stations of the Cross on Spy Wednesday in Holy Week at 6pm is enhanced by beautiful, devotional music. Last year the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi. The previous year the Via Crucis by Liszt.

Here is a link to our Holy Week Services & Music for 2021.

As Canon Thurmer used to remind us, the Stations are designed as much for prayerful meditation as to tell the story most of us think we know; hence Jesus wears the white robe of martyrdom rather than the bloodied rags of rejection.

Below I have attached some of Rev J Sparrow-Simpson’s words from Sir John Stainer’s oratorio “The Crucifixion” to each image; an experiment, to reduce and re-order Stainer’s music, which I love singing, to illustrate the Stations of the Cross.

The rather sentimental Victorian words and music are not to everyone’s liking, I know, but I offer them as a meditation; for the full audio-visual effect, add a suitable recording of Stainer’s Crucifixion. Click on images to enlarge if you wish. Richard Barnes.

Jesus is condemned to death

Could ye not watch with me one brief hour? Could ye not pity my sorest need? Ah! If ye sleep while the tempests lower, surely, my friends, I am lone indeed.

Jesu, Lord Jesu, bowed in bitter anguish, and bearing all the evil we have done, Oh, teach us, teach us how to love thee for thy love; Help us to pray, and watch, and mourn with thee.

And they laid their hands on him and took him, and led him away to the High Priest. And the High Priest asked him and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Then the High Priest rent his clothes and saith: What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy. And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And they bound Jesus and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away.

Jesus receives the Cross

Procession to Calvary.

Fling wide the gates! For the Saviour waits to tread in his royal way; He has come from above, in his power and love, to die on this Passion day.

His cross is the sign of his love divine, his crown is the thorn-wreath of woe, He bears his load on the sorrowful road, and bends ’neath the burden low.

Jesus falls the first time under the Cross

Hymn – Cross of Jesus, Cross of Sorrow

Cross of Jesus, Cross of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed,
Perfect man on thee was tortured,
Perfect God on thee has bled!

Evermore for human failure
By his Passion we can plead;
God has borne all mortal anguish,
Surely he will know our need.

From the “Holy, Holy, Holy,
We adore thee, O most high,”
Down to earth’s blaspheming voices
And the shout of “Crucify!”

Jesus is met by his blessed Mother

I “Woman behold thy son!” – II “Behold thy Mother!”

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, “Woman, behold thy son!” Then saith he to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!”

The cross is laid upon Simon of Cyrene

He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, ev’n the death of the cross.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For the next 5 Stations, click here.

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Wednesday 2nd April, 7.30pm. 21st Anniversary St Michael’s Lecture. Real Bible Study, by Very Rev Jeffrey John, Dean of St Alban’s, chaired by Bp Martin Shaw. Buffet Supper. Free with voluntary donations.
21st Anniversary Lecture

Friday 4th April, 7.30pm. Concert including Music from Handel’s Messiah. We welcome the choir of the Université catholique de Louvain from Belgium. Please support this concert and hear again Handel’s meditation on the Bible story. (Free admission, retiring collection for Exeter Foodbank.)
Passiontide Concert

Sunday 6th April, Passion Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Tallis in the Dorian mode. Motet: Were you there? Trad. arr. David Ogden.

6pm Evensong and Benediction: Responses: Tallis. Psalm 30. Canticles: Weelkes short service. Anthem: Bow thine ear O Lord, Byrd. O Salutaris & Tantum Ergo: Plainsong.

Wednesday 9th April, 7.30pm, St Michael’s Recital. Tim Othen (piano). Entrance free.

Sunday 13th April, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B.) Mass with Procession. The Passion narrative from the Gospel is sung. Setting: Wood in the Phrygian mode. Motet: Drop, drop slow tears, music by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), words by Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650).

Wednesday 16th April, Spy Wednesday, 6pm Stations of the Cross. Including Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) for Soprano and Alto soli.

Composed at the end of his short life while dying of TB, Pergolesi brings his baroque tunefulness and poignant suspensions to the 13th century Latin hymn meditating on the anguish and prayers of the mother of Jesus at the foot of the Cross.

Thursday 17th April, Maundy Thursday, 7.30pm Mass with Washing of Feet. Setting: Missa Brevis by Lotti. Motets: Ego Sum Panis Vivus (I am the living bread) by Byrd, O Vos Omnes (O all ye that pass by) by Victoria.

At the end of this service the High Altar is stripped. Then the Watch is kept hourly or longer through the night, recalling Christ and his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and then before Pontius Pilate.

Sanctuary Window – Eucharist and Passion

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 19th 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. Hymn: Light’s Glittering Morn. Mass in F by Charles Wood. Out of the Stillness, by Richard Shephard.

Sunday 20th April, EASTER DAY 10.45am Mass and Blessing of the Easter Garden. Introit: This Joyful Eastertide, by Charles Wood. Setting: Mass in G, by Franz Schubert. Motet: Haec Dies, by William Byrd.

Sunday 27th April, Low Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Mass for Four Voices, by Byrd. Motet: Easter Anthem, by Billings. William Billings (1746–1800) of Boston, Massachusetts, may be regarded as the first American choral composer. His joyful Easter Anthem has echoes of Handel and was published as part of the Sacred Harp tradition of simple and sincere a cappella music.

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