Our resident Peregrine Falcons have laid 3 eggs this year; we hope for chicks to hatch around 10th May.

Sun 7 Apr, Passion Sunday. 11am Sung Mass. Byrd for 4 voices. Verily I say unto you, Tallis. Fr Christopher Durrant.
Sun 7 Apr, 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses. Ps 22:1-13. Gibbons Short Service. Solus ad victimam, Leighton. Fr Nigel Guthrie.

Sun 14 Apr, Palm Sunday. 11am Procession of Palms and Sung Gospel. Tallis in Dorian mode. Byrd, Ave verum corpus. Fr C.

Holy Week at St Michael’s
Mon 15, Tue 16, & Wed 17 Apr. 10am Low Mass.

Wed 17 Apr, Spy Wednesday, 7pm. Stations of the Cross, Pergolesi “Stabat Mater”.

Thu 18 Apr, Maundy Thursday, 7.30pm Sung Mass with Foot-washing. Casciolini in A minor. Durufle, Ubi caritas et amor.Byrd, Ave verum corpus.

Fri 19 Apr, Good Friday, 10.30am Veneration of the Cross. The Reproaches, Upton. Crux Fidelis, King John of Portugal.

Good Friday, 8pm Tenebrae sung from the Gallery, Plainsong, Lassus & Palestrina.

Sat 20 Apr, Holy Saturday, 8pm Easter Vigil Mass with New Fire & Paschal Candle. Darke in E. Ex ore innocentium, Ireland.

Sun 21 Apr, Easter Day, 11am Festal Sung Mass. Ireland in C. Billings, Easter Anthem. Fr C.

Sun 28 Apr, Low Sunday, 11am Sung Mass. Wood in F. This joyful Eastertide. Fr Dominic Cyrus.

Sun 5 May, 11am Sung Mass, 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction.

A Holy Passiontide & a Joyful Eastertide from all at St Michael’s.

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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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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