Corpus Christi 2023 Photopost (Part 4): Special London Edition

This fourth part of our annual Corpus Christi photopost series shows only one city, London, which celebrates the great feast in a truly exemplary fashion that our bishops in the United States would do well to imitate as part of the Eucharistic revival. The Central London Eucharistic procession, which was instituted ten years ago, is the culmination of the London Eucharistic Octave, a week of Adoration, sung Masses in various western Rites, and the Quarant’ore devotion at the church of Corpus Christi Maiden Lane in Covent Garden, which His Eminence Vincent Cardinal Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, established as the diocesan Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament five years ago. The octave has grown in scope and popularity, and now attracts many hundreds of faithful to crowded Masses, culminating in a procession attended by some 2,000 people.

In the mean time, there will be a fifth post in this series, so if you would like to add your own photos of recent feasts such as the Sacred Heart, St John the Baptist or Ss Peter and Paul, send them in to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org, and remember to include the name and location of the church. Keep up the good work of evanglizing through beauty!

Pontifical Mass at Corpus Christi Maiden Lane

Celebrated by His Eminence Vincent Cardinal Nichols, Abp of Westminster.  

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Corpus Christi Procession in London, June 11

All are warmly invited to attend the annual Corpus Christi Procession in London, England, which takes place on Sunday, June 11th. It commences at the church of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick St, Soho, at 3pm, and will finish with Benediction at St James’s Church, Spanish Place, 22 George St just before 6pm. Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, the Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family, will lead prayers at a station outside the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral on Duke Street for an end to the sufferings of the Ukrainian people.

Eucharistic Octave in London, June 11-19

We are very glad to share this press release from the Shrine of Corpus Christ Maiden Lane in London, England.

Following on from the success of the 2021 Eucharistic Octave, we once again gather together in the heart of the nation’s capital to honour Our Eucharistic Lord, celebrate the richness of the Catholic Faith, and take to the streets of London to share the message that Christus Vincit!

The week will begin on Saturday 11th June - the vigil of the Most Holy Trinity - at 6pm at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden - and culminate in a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of central London on Sunday 19th June, starting at 11 am.

Each evening during this week of prayer and adoration, Holy Mass will be celebrated in a different form at 6.30pm at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane.

On Monday 13th June Mass will be offered in the Dominican Rite, uniting the Diocesan Shrine of the Holy Rosary, under the care of the Dominicans, with the Diocesan Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Tuesday, Mar Joseph Srampickal, Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy in Great Britain, will offer the Holy Qurbana of their Rite.

On Wednesday there will be a Divine Liturgy of Ukrainian Catholic Church by Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski of the Ukrainian Cathedral in London.

On Thursday, the traditional feast of Corpus Christi, there will be a sung Mass in Latin, which will open the annual Quarant’Ore Devotions. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed from 7am until Midnight on the following days.

On Friday, there will be a Solemn Mass for peace, offered in the Ordinariate Use of the Roman Rite, and the preacher will be Mgr Michael Nazir-Ali.

Quarant’Ore will close with a sung Mass on Saturday 18th at 6pm.

On Sunday 19th June, the feast of Corpus Christi in England and Wales, there will be a Pontifical Sung Mass offered by His Excellency, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, who is the Papal Nuncio to Great Britain. He will then lead a Procession of the Blessed Sacrament around the streets of London, before returning to Maiden Lane for Benediction.

Those unable to attend in person will be able to join the live stream at maidenlane.org.uk/live There is also the opportunity to submit your own prayer intentions and buy candles to burn before Our Lord during the Quarant’Ore by visiting maidenlane.org.uk/forty

The rector of Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane, Fr Alan Robinson, said: “Visiting the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, waiting for us in the tabernacle of the church and the celebration of Holy Mass, must be the beating heart of the life of every Catholic. For this is the Bread which has come down from Heaven, and is the precious gift of God Himself to us. During this Eucharistic Octave, let us open our hearts and draw ever closer to Him.”

Fr Mark Elliott-Smith, Rector of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, said: “Our Lord’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament is a beautiful mystery: the Octave is a wonderful opportunity to renew our love for our Eucharistic Lord, and to let the eyes of faith look lovingly upon Jesus, Saviour and Redeemer of the world.”

Parishes, religious orders and Catholic organisations are invited to publicise this important event on social media and come in great numbers!

Further details of the programme can be found here: www.catholiclondon.org.

Eucharistic Octave in London, Sept. 11-19

This Saturday, the church of Corpus Christi in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London, in tandem with several other churches, will begin a special series of celebrations in honor of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, lasting until Sunday the 19th. The week will begin with a Pontifical Votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament celebrated by His Eminence Vincent Cardinal Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, at noon on Saturday, September 11th, at Corpus Christi, and culminate in a procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of central London on Sunday, September 19th, starting at 3.30pm.

From our fourth Corpus Christi photopost of 2018, some images of the Eucharistic procession held in Covent Garden that year.

Each evening during this week of prayer and adoration, Holy Mass will be celebrated in a different form at 6.30 pm at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane: on Monday September 13th, in the Usus Antiquior of the Roman Rite, on Tuesday, in the Ordinariate Use; on Wednesday in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite; on Thursday, the Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church; on Friday, there will be a Solemn Requiem Mass with Absolutions for all those who have died of Covid-19.

On Sunday, September 19th, a procession through Soho, Mayfair and Marylebone will commence at 3.30 pm, starting at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, and end with Pontifical Benediction at the church of St James, Spanish Place. En route there will be Stations at the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, and at the Ukrainian Cathedral of the Holy Family, Duke Street. The Procession will be jointly led by the Rt. Revd. Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Eparch of the Ukrainian Eparchy of the Holy Family and by the Rt. Revd. Mgr. Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

The rector of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, Fr Alan Robinson, said, “Many of us were looking forward to going to Budapest this September, for the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress; an event transferred from last September due to the COVID situation. Large numbers travelling from England to Hungary hasn’t really proved possible at the present time, and so we thought we could do something here in London. We wish to add our support to the Congress in Budapest, and to give witness to our love for the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It’s a great opportunity for us all to experience different expressions of Catholic liturgy here in this land. With the liturgies and the procession of the Most Blessed Sacrament, there is a wonderful opportunity for us to take part in Eucharistic evangelisation with those we encounter. There are many Catholics who have not yet returned to the Church since lockdown; during this octave we pray especially for them. And we help Our Blessed Lord to reach out to them, and to all those who do not yet know Him. Please pray for the strengthening of the Eucharistic Heart of the Church in this land and in our own hearts too.”

Fr. Christopher Colven, rector of St James’s Church, Spanish Place, said, “Living in central London one grows used to demonstrators taking over the streets and disrupting the traffic. On this occasion it will be good to see Catholics doing just those things in honour of Jesus Christ the King and Centre of all hearts as in his Eucharistic Presence he moves among those he has redeemed.”

Parishes, religious orders and Catholic organizations are invited to publicize this important event on social media and come in great numbers! Further details of the programme can be found here: www.catholiclondon.org. A PDF poster for the ‘Eucharistic Octave’ can be found here: bit.ly/2XSTUck For further information please contact Peter Sefton-Williams at: peter@seftonwilliams.com

Corpus Christi Events in London

The church of Corpus Christi in Maiden Lane, London, is holding a special series of events for its titular feast. On Thursday, June 20th, the traditional date for the feast, His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze will celebrate a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form, opening the Forty Hours devotion, which will continue through the next day. On Saturday the 22nd, the Forty Hours will close with a Pontifical Mass in the Ordinary Form, celebrated by His Excellency Michael Campbell, Bishop Emeritus of Lancaster. On Sunday the 23rd, the date of the OF Solemnity, Mass will be celebrated in the morning, followed by the Eucharistic Procession.

Last year, after a major restoration of the church, His Eminence Vincent Card. Nichols officially established Corpus Christi as a diocesan shrine of the Blessed Sacrament; on the Sunday feast, he celebrated Mass and led the church’s Eucharistic Procession in the Covent Garden. (From our fourth Corpus Christi photopost of last year.)

Evangelizing Through Beauty - Follow-Ups on Some Recent Articles

Last Thursday, we published the last of our four Corpus Christi photoposts for this year, which all together included over 220 photos! (This is after the painful process of going through each submission and making a selection of the better photos.) The first set within that post came from the recent celebrations for the reopening of the church of Corpus Christi in Maiden Lane, London, which His Eminence Card. Vincent Nichols officially established as a diocesan shrine dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament, after a major restoration. At the Catholic Herald, columnist Tim Stanley writes about the event as follows:

“...the English church has been through two iconoclastic periods: the 16th-century Protestant one and the liberal revolution of the Seventies, which did just as much to strip our altars and degrade our churches. The latter reforms were sadder because the Catholics inflicted them on themselves. There was no glorious martyrdom this time around. Just self-harm.

Today, however, a new spirit is stirring. Popular devotions are back; confessions are on the up; and a new generation of priests is reviving beauty and the Old Rite. It’s a restoration. In 10 years’ time, the Corpus Christi procession will be a feature of many local churches – and the English unbelievers will watch and think, ‘Ooo, that looks interesting. How do I join in?’ That’s the way you convert. With magnificence.”

We also had a special post for the particularly outstanding celebration of Corpus Christi in Rome by the FSSP parish, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini. Pursuant to that, and to our recent post of a video by Brian Holdsworth on why good music is essential to Catholic worship, here is a brief but very powerful reflection from a blog called The Classical Contrarians on one young man’s experience of the beauty of the traditional Mass, which he first encountered there. (Our thanks to the author, Mr Nicholas Bonds.)

“On a study abroad trip, a professor took us to a Latin Mass ... It was, I feel no shame in saying, magnificent. I cried as the smoky incense rose in the domed pilgrim church in downtown Rome, just blocks away from the Vatican and Piazza Navona. Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini would forever become my spiritual parish church. It was a surreal moment for me. The faith I feigned for so long had become solidified and real. I felt the pangs of regret I am sure my uncle must have felt, finally understanding the time spent away from such beauty. I felt love and devotion that I had never known. The frustration and sorrow I carried since my uncle’s passing began, although I did not know it, to heal. The Latin prayers offered to God gave a glimpse of the eternal. The parishioners, offering their gratitude in prayer, sang in a homogenous union. As I wept on my knees, I, too, was grateful.”

Corpus Christi Events and a New Shrine in London

The church of Corpus Christi in the Covent Garden district of London is planning a week-long series of celebrations to mark its official ‘re-opening’, culminating in a Pontifical High Mass of Corpus Christi celebrated by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, on Sunday, June 3rd, at 11 am, at which he will officially proclaim the church a Diocesan Shrine dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. The Mass will be followed by a Procession of the Blessed Sacrament in Covent Garden.

When the church was opened in 1874, Cardinal Henry Manning, the then Archbishop of Westminster, said Corpus Christi would be “specifically devoted to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” As the first Catholic church in England to be named Corpus Christi since the Reformation, its construction was intended as reparation for the offences against the Blessed Sacrament committed in England since the 16th century.

The church has lately undergone extensive renovation and restoration work over the course of five years at the request of Cardinal Nichols. The building work has been complemented by the establishment of a Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament, a Confraternity with hundreds of members worldwide.

Fr. Alan Robinson, Parish Priest, said, “This is an important day in the life of the Diocese of Westminster and the Parish. I hope that Corpus Christi will become a place of pilgrimage, drawing people ever closer to our Eucharistic Lord. The Adoremus Eucharistic Congress in Liverpool this year will help to rejuvenate Eucharistic adoration in our country and we will keep that flame burning in the heart of the nation’s capital.”

The traditional 40 Hours Devotion will begin on the preceding Tuesday, May 29th at 6:30 pm, and will close with a Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by Abbot Hugh Allan, O. Praem., on Thursday, May 31st, at 7:00pm.

In addition, the new Stations of the Cross will be solemnly erected on Friday, June 1st, at 6:30 pm according to the traditional rites of the Church. The stations were sculpted by the artist Arthur Fleischmann and kindly donated in his memory by his widow, Joy, who will be present at this celebration.

On Saturday 2nd June, there will be a Pontifical First Vespers of Corpus Christi, celebrated by Bishop Robert Byrne, Cong.Orat., Auxiliary in Birmingham, starting at 3:30 pm, followed by a Pontifical Vigil Mass at 6:00 pm.

To find out more about Corpus Christi visit www.maidenlane.org.uk
To find out more and join the Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament visit www.sodality.co.uk

The Restoration of a Hidden Gem

Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane

An ambitious restoration project is underway in one of London’s most beautiful churches. Often referred to as the ‘hidden gem’ of the West End, Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, in the Archdiocese of Westminster, was founded in 1873 and consecrated on the 20th of October 1874. During his homily at the opening Mass, the Archbishop of Westminster, Henry Cardinal Manning, declared that ‘a sanctuary has been opened to be specifically devoted to the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament’.

The restoration project is being led by the Parish Priest, Father Alan Robinson and the architect Anthony Delarue. The plans include a new floor for the nave, the cleaning of the roof timbers and the restoration of the entire fabric of the church interior. Some work has already been completed, such as the Sacred Heart Chapel and its newly-cleaned stained glass windows (pictured below). This work, and the restoration of the Narthex, has been generously supported by Viridor Credits Environmental Company. Work yet to take place includes redesigning and decorating the Sanctuary and Lady Chapel and installing new altar rails. The Lady Chapel (see architect's drawing at the bottom of the post) is based on the Holy House of Loreto and will contain a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Sacred Heart Chapel

This was the first church in England to be dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament after the Reformation. The famous hymns Sweet Sacrament Divine and O Sacred Heart were written by the Parish Priest Father Francis Stanfield (1835-1914). It is also known as ‘The Actors' Church’ and is the home of the Catholic Association of the Performing Arts (formerly, the Catholic Stage Guild). For decades the Latin Mass Society has also celebrated Mass here.

A famous visitor to the parish over many years was Monsignor Ronald Knox. He first preached his Forty Hours Sermon at Corpus Christi in 1926, at the invitation of Father Kearney. This became a regular feature in Monsignor Knox's diary from 1926 until 1956. These sermons were published by Burns & Oates in 1956 under the title ‘The Window in the Wall’, and the charming and touching dedication of this book is, ‘To the memory of Father Kearney and to his successors.’

If you are able to donate to this wonderful restoration project, please click here.

Architect's drawing of the new Lady Altar