My understanding of bells during Mass is that churches were multi-purpose in medieval times. No pews and people milling round chatting, doing deals etc.
Bells were used to let people know that a) Mass has started, b) here's the consecration so shut up and c) time for communion.
Well, the bits that I know about such matters are:
- in the High Middle Ages the Church tried to enforce a minimum of one communion per year upon the faithful. Owing to the veneration and awe with which the Host was held, this minimum was also often a maximum.
- there were plentiful exemptions to the obligation to work one's lord's land over the course of the year, which included plenty of feast days.
Medieval and early- modern labour might have been arduous, and I'm sure exceptions to the exemptions were plentiful. But the notion of a time-keeping manager keeping a beady eye on his villeins' time spent at Mass seems to me anachronistic.
I would never have thought of people leaving church to go and work on the lord's land but I do remember as a child that the priest at the 8 o'clock Mass preached his sermon after Communion so that those working on Sundays in nearby factories could get to work earlier by missing out on the sermon.
A pragmatic, and pastorally-sensitive, approach, especially if preaching wasn't his forte!
Re bells, it was often the case (certainly in larger churches) that two or more Masses were being said, at separate altars, at the same time, but not co-ordinated, IYSWIM.
I think it's Eamon Duffy who records that people who were anxious to 'see their Lord' (i.e. in the elevated Host, at the consecration) would rush from one side of the church to the other when the consecration bell rang, even if they happened to be listening to a sermon elsewhere in the building at the time...
George Herbert used to ring the church bell for the midday Angelus to let the farmers in the surrounding fields know that he was praying for them. There are some nice village traditions around church bell ringing. At weddings a bell would toll the age of the bride. And at funerals it would toll the age of the deceased so that everyone in the community would realise who was being buried.
George Herbert ringing the Angelus? Link, and/or citation, please...
Most unlikely during his time, but I stand to be corrected. AIUI, he said Matins at 10am, and Evensong at 4pm, so presumably rang the bell before those daily Offices.
As regards tolling the bell for a deceased parishioner, may I refer you all to Dorothy L Sayer's classic mystery novel The Nine Tailors ?
I rang the nine tailors (actually three times three) plus seventy-two at the last funeral we had at St Oddballs. The shoulders knew about it afterwards as our bell is about 1200lbs!
I'm quoting my SD on George Herbert - I couldn't find any reference to it online but perhaps it's from one of his biographies. He was commenting that ringing the bell for the Angelus was a way for a priest to let their parishoners know that he was praying for them. And he told me that he did the same thing in his church.
Hmm. Given the anti-Catholic atmosphere in England during Herbert's brief three years' incumbency at Bemerton, I think it's rather more likely that he duly (and in obedience to the rubrics) rang the church bell for Matins and Evensong.
With the same laudable intention, of course, of letting the parishioners know that he was praying for them at the time...
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
Hmm. Given the anti-Catholic atmosphere in England during Herbert's brief three years' incumbency at Bemerton, I think it's rather more likely that he duly (and in obedience to the rubrics) rang the church bell for Matins and Evensong.
With the same laudable intention, of course, of letting the parishioners know that he was praying for them at the time...
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
You mean it hasn't just had a piece of blue nylon rope tied on to the broken end? What kind of church is this?!
Hmm. Given the anti-Catholic atmosphere in England during Herbert's brief three years' incumbency at Bemerton, I think it's rather more likely that he duly (and in obedience to the rubrics) rang the church bell for Matins and Evensong.
With the same laudable intention, of course, of letting the parishioners know that he was praying for them at the time...
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
You mean it hasn't just had a piece of blue nylon rope tied on to the broken end? What kind of church is this?!
Could the blue nylon rope be Marian blue ?
Blue of any hue suits the Blessed Virgin though I do remember some consternation in the town where I was brought up when someone entered the local Catholic church and tied a red, white and blue (Glasgow Rangers) scarf round the statue of the Blessed Virgin.
George Herbert used to ring the church bell for the midday Angelus to let the farmers in the surrounding fields know that he was praying for them. There are some nice village traditions around church bell ringing. At weddings a bell would toll the age of the bride. And at funerals it would toll the age of the deceased so that everyone in the community would realise who was being buried.
So never send to know for whom the bell tolls...
I think that custom pre-dates Herbert. My only source is Nancy Mitford but from that it seems that the practice persisted into at least early post-WW II France, perhaps elsewhere. I'd rather not use "nice" - too many nasty connotations there - but certainly pleasant and worth preserving. The practice here at the non-Sydney parishes is for the bell to be rung at the start for the time of the funeral - ie 10 for a 10 am, 14 for a 2 pm. Then after the Nunc, the ringing starts again with once for each year of the life of the deceased.
Hmm. Given the anti-Catholic atmosphere in England during Herbert's brief three years' incumbency at Bemerton, I think it's rather more likely that he duly (and in obedience to the rubrics) rang the church bell for Matins and Evensong.
With the same laudable intention, of course, of letting the parishioners know that he was praying for them at the time...
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
You mean it hasn't just had a piece of blue nylon rope tied on to the broken end? What kind of church is this?!
Clearly a wasteful and substandard one!
Oi!
Though the idea of some nice blue rope is attractive....
Alas, the rope (actually a wire rope) broke off where it joined the bell - quite a few feet above ground level, on top of the west gable end! It broke off once before, and ladders were used to get to it, but that is no longer allowed by Elf and Safe Tea.
We are hoping to eventually restore the bell to action, but even the simplest repair is going to cost £££, which in our case we have not got (well, not enough, probably, given that other building repair work needs doing).
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
You mean it hasn't just had a piece of blue nylon rope tied on to the broken end? What kind of church is this?!
Depends whereabouts it broke. We had a similar problem some years ago when it snapped very high up near the roof. We had to wait until we could persuade the rock-climbing husband of one of the congregation to climb up and fix it.
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
You mean it hasn't just had a piece of blue nylon rope tied on to the broken end? What kind of church is this?!
Depends whereabouts it broke. We had a similar problem some years ago when it snapped very high up near the roof. We had to wait until we could persuade the rock-climbing husband of one of the congregation to climb up and fix it.
When the parish where I grew up built a new church they installed the bell from the old one in an external tower and a local factory rigged up a revolving solenoid to ring it via a push button by the vestry door. The only downside was that any repairs involved said (huge) factory bringing over a cherry-picker to reach the bell.
When using the CofE's Common Worship: Daily Prayer for MP or EP, are the Collect of the Day and Lord's Prayer generally supposed to be the very last things before "The Conclusion"?
When using the CofE's Common Worship: Daily Prayer for MP or EP, are the Collect of the Day and Lord's Prayer generally supposed to be the very last things before "The Conclusion"?
That sounds correct, mainly because what struck me about the CW:DP was that the collect and Lord's Prayer were reversed to what I am used to in the Monastic Breviary.
Why is the liturgical colour for most of the church's year green? I can see the link with the other colours, but this isn't so obvious. (In the past, when asked, I've said green is for growth, but that's me being creative.)
For British history I would say 600AD to 1500AD is the Middle Ages. The Dark Ages thing has been out of favour - except perhaps as a description of the era we are currently living in - for about the last 30 years. We were told very firmly that the period 600 to 1000AD was to be referred to as the Early Middle Ages. 400 to 600 was up for grabs.
Liturgical colours come along in Britain about 1200 and there is a large degree of local variation at first. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say the familiar white-red-violet-green scheme is a late 19th century innovation in Anglican circles. Mediaeval uses were far less disciplined!
I have recently started partaking of the Holy Mysteries at 8am in a MoR CofE establishment. The locally printed service booklet is entitled "Common Worship Order Two - A service of Holy Communion according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer", presumably in a spirit of comprise and/or camouflage .
One very peculiar anomaly for me is the position of the Sermon. After the Creed, an offertory sentence is read, the 'collection' of alms taken in silence, the elements placed upon the Holy Table, the chalice filled and the Lavabo performed. Then the Sermon is preached, and hands are not washed further . The rubric says "A homily (sermon) may be given here or after the Offertory".
Is this a common practice within the BCP tradition?
One very peculiar anomaly for me is the position of the Sermon. After the Creed, an offertory sentence is read, the 'collection' of alms taken in silence, the elements placed upon the Holy Table, the chalice filled and the Lavabo performed. Then the Sermon is preached, and hands are not washed further . The rubric says "A homily (sermon) may be given here or after the Offertory".
Is this a common practice within the BCP tradition?
That is not the official rite. Rite 2 (and 1662) indeed has the Creed immediately after the Gospel. But that is then followed by the Sermon and only then comes the offertory. I don't know where the rubric that you quote comes from but it's not from any official source afaik.
Perhaps this is some strange monastic adaptation? In the Dominican Rite the offertory and lavabo either take place at the beginning of mass, in low masses, or between the reading of the epistle and gospel at high mass. I think was also the case in the Sarum use. Definitely before the creed and sermon, but not quite as Qoheleth describes.
I wonder if a previous Vicar at Qoheleth's church one morning - in the dim and distant past - simply forgot to preach the sermon after the Creed, and proceeded with the Offertory sentence?
Recollecting himself (it's an early morning service, and he may have had a late night the evening beforeIYSWIM), he preached his sermon in the place as described.
If only more clergy would forget to preach 😀 - but a plausible explanation.
I recall a priest who once forget to consecrate the special host necessary for benediction of the MBS - we were treated to the rare experience of 'low' benediction. Though this rite does appear in various liturgical manuals, that was the only time I witnessed it.
The whole thing sounds as odd as a nine bob note! The sermon goes either before the Creed or after the Creed most of the time. My old bishop used to joke that having the sermon after the Creed was to remind the preacher not to preach heresy, and having it before was to correct any heresies that had been preached. However, sermon after the offertory is a new one on me, and muddies the division between the liturgy of the Word, and that of the Table.
Yes, do ask. If you put the question nicely (as I'm sure you will!), the priest should have no reason to object.
I doubt if it's a reference to a monastic rite, but you never know. As it's in the printed service booklet, someone must have established it, at some time.
In Reformed circles, yes it is a common idea. Among Anglicans on this board, no nearly so much.
I got it from my Anglican priest father, if memory serves, but he is a classic broad church Anglican and not fussy about where he takes his theology and practice from.
In an Anglican eucharist is there not always a reading from the scriptures - including the Gospels ? . Is that not a liturgy of the Word ? Does there absolutely need to be a further elucidation of the Word in the form of a sermon ?
The whole thing sounds as odd as a nine bob note! The sermon goes either before the Creed or after the Creed most of the time.
Very true, very true indeed. The lucky days are when there's no sermon.
I vaguely recall being taught that in public worship one should not break the bread without also breaking the word first. Is that not a common idea?
There are the 3 standard readings - OT, NT and Gospel - and 4 if you count the Psalm. That well and truly breaks open the word and in the best possible way
In an Anglican eucharist is there not always a reading from the scriptures - including the Gospels ? . Is that not a liturgy of the Word ? Does there absolutely need to be a further elucidation of the Word in the form of a sermon ?
I seem to recall that in something like "Comic Washup" there is a rubric along the lines of "there shall be at least two readings at the Eucharist of which one shall be taken from the Gospel." There is probably another rubric further on that allows one to get out of that requirement in certain circumstances, but that reflects the general understanding.
Although I am an Anglican I am at the Reformed end of the spectrum (it hasn't always been that way, but I was uncomfortable with Anglo-Catholicism, so I stopped playing along in the end) so I would be uncomfortable with the Sunday Eucharist being celebrated without an adequate ministry of the word - which would include two lessons from Scripture and a sermon.
On the other hand, I am somewhat alarmed by Anglicans of a similar theological stripe to me who reduce the liturgy to the bare minimum. That sort of approach is a hangover from the Enlightenment, and really isn't native to the Reformed tradition where the approach was more in the loosely liturgical camp - i.e. the service had the same shape each week, but things like the General Prayer might be variations on a theme, not precise the same each week. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were fully liturgical in the Dutch and German traditions. I don't know much about the Swiss.
Form the RCC Code of Canon Law On Sundays and Holydays of Obligation there is to be a Homily at every Mass that is celebrated with the people attending, and it may not be omitted without a grave reason. On other days it is recommended, especially on the weekdays of Advent, Lent, and Easter Time, as well as on other festive days and occasions when the people come to church in greater numbers.
I stand to be corrected, but I think Cranmer prescribed a sermon to be preached at every celebration of the Lord's Supper, as far back as the original 1549 BCP.
At Our Place, we have a brief (very brief - 2 minutes max) at each weekday Mass, usually (but not invariably) focussing on the Gospel. At Sunday Mass, we have the 3 readings + Psalm as per the C of E version of the lectionary.
Comments
Bells were used to let people know that a) Mass has started, b) here's the consecration so shut up and c) time for communion.
- in the High Middle Ages the Church tried to enforce a minimum of one communion per year upon the faithful. Owing to the veneration and awe with which the Host was held, this minimum was also often a maximum.
- there were plentiful exemptions to the obligation to work one's lord's land over the course of the year, which included plenty of feast days.
Medieval and early- modern labour might have been arduous, and I'm sure exceptions to the exemptions were plentiful. But the notion of a time-keeping manager keeping a beady eye on his villeins' time spent at Mass seems to me anachronistic.
Re bells, it was often the case (certainly in larger churches) that two or more Masses were being said, at separate altars, at the same time, but not co-ordinated, IYSWIM.
I think it's Eamon Duffy who records that people who were anxious to 'see their Lord' (i.e. in the elevated Host, at the consecration) would rush from one side of the church to the other when the consecration bell rang, even if they happened to be listening to a sermon elsewhere in the building at the time...
So never send to know for whom the bell tolls...
Most unlikely during his time, but I stand to be corrected. AIUI, he said Matins at 10am, and Evensong at 4pm, so presumably rang the bell before those daily Offices.
As regards tolling the bell for a deceased parishioner, may I refer you all to Dorothy L Sayer's classic mystery novel The Nine Tailors ?
I'm quoting my SD on George Herbert - I couldn't find any reference to it online but perhaps it's from one of his biographies. He was commenting that ringing the bell for the Angelus was a way for a priest to let their parishoners know that he was praying for them. And he told me that he did the same thing in his church.
With the same laudable intention, of course, of letting the parishioners know that he was praying for them at the time...
In these more enlightened days, there are indeed Anglican churches where the Angelus is regularly rung - Our Place is one of them (or was, till the bell-rope broke - we are presently seeking quotes for replacement!).
You mean it hasn't just had a piece of blue nylon rope tied on to the broken end? What kind of church is this?!
Clearly a wasteful and substandard one!
Blue of any hue suits the Blessed Virgin though I do remember some consternation in the town where I was brought up when someone entered the local Catholic church and tied a red, white and blue (Glasgow Rangers) scarf round the statue of the Blessed Virgin.
There is... very little that's gentle about west coast sectarianism.
I think that custom pre-dates Herbert. My only source is Nancy Mitford but from that it seems that the practice persisted into at least early post-WW II France, perhaps elsewhere. I'd rather not use "nice" - too many nasty connotations there - but certainly pleasant and worth preserving. The practice here at the non-Sydney parishes is for the bell to be rung at the start for the time of the funeral - ie 10 for a 10 am, 14 for a 2 pm. Then after the Nunc, the ringing starts again with once for each year of the life of the deceased.
My tongue was very firmly in my cheek.
Oi!
Though the idea of some nice blue rope is attractive....
Alas, the rope (actually a wire rope) broke off where it joined the bell - quite a few feet above ground level, on top of the west gable end! It broke off once before, and ladders were used to get to it, but that is no longer allowed by Elf and Safe Tea.
We are hoping to eventually restore the bell to action, but even the simplest repair is going to cost £££, which in our case we have not got (well, not enough, probably, given that other building repair work needs doing).
Depends whereabouts it broke. We had a similar problem some years ago when it snapped very high up near the roof. We had to wait until we could persuade the rock-climbing husband of one of the congregation to climb up and fix it.
When the parish where I grew up built a new church they installed the bell from the old one in an external tower and a local factory rigged up a revolving solenoid to ring it via a push button by the vestry door. The only downside was that any repairs involved said (huge) factory bringing over a cherry-picker to reach the bell.
That sounds correct, mainly because what struck me about the CW:DP was that the collect and Lord's Prayer were reversed to what I am used to in the Monastic Breviary.
IIRC, he also says that some churches simply used the less-posh vestments for ferial weekday Mass, without regard to colour.
I think I'm living in them now.
Liturgical colours come along in Britain about 1200 and there is a large degree of local variation at first. It is not too much of an exaggeration to say the familiar white-red-violet-green scheme is a late 19th century innovation in Anglican circles. Mediaeval uses were far less disciplined!
One very peculiar anomaly for me is the position of the Sermon. After the Creed, an offertory sentence is read, the 'collection' of alms taken in silence, the elements placed upon the Holy Table, the chalice filled and the Lavabo performed. Then the Sermon is preached, and hands are not washed further
Is this a common practice within the BCP tradition?
That is not the official rite. Rite 2 (and 1662) indeed has the Creed immediately after the Gospel. But that is then followed by the Sermon and only then comes the offertory. I don't know where the rubric that you quote comes from but it's not from any official source afaik.
Recollecting himself (it's an early morning service, and he may have had a late night the evening beforeIYSWIM), he preached his sermon in the place as described.
Since then, 'We've Always Done It This Way'...
I recall a priest who once forget to consecrate the special host necessary for benediction of the MBS - we were treated to the rare experience of 'low' benediction. Though this rite does appear in various liturgical manuals, that was the only time I witnessed it.
I doubt if it's a reference to a monastic rite, but you never know. As it's in the printed service booklet, someone must have established it, at some time.
Very true, very true indeed. The lucky days are when there's no sermon.
I vaguely recall being taught that in public worship one should not break the bread without also breaking the word first. Is that not a common idea?
I got it from my Anglican priest father, if memory serves, but he is a classic broad church Anglican and not fussy about where he takes his theology and practice from.
There are the 3 standard readings - OT, NT and Gospel - and 4 if you count the Psalm. That well and truly breaks open the word and in the best possible way
As an Anglican I agree completely with this. Word and Sacrament belong together. It's one of the gifts of the Reformation.
I seem to recall that in something like "Comic Washup" there is a rubric along the lines of "there shall be at least two readings at the Eucharist of which one shall be taken from the Gospel." There is probably another rubric further on that allows one to get out of that requirement in certain circumstances, but that reflects the general understanding.
Although I am an Anglican I am at the Reformed end of the spectrum (it hasn't always been that way, but I was uncomfortable with Anglo-Catholicism, so I stopped playing along in the end) so I would be uncomfortable with the Sunday Eucharist being celebrated without an adequate ministry of the word - which would include two lessons from Scripture and a sermon.
On the other hand, I am somewhat alarmed by Anglicans of a similar theological stripe to me who reduce the liturgy to the bare minimum. That sort of approach is a hangover from the Enlightenment, and really isn't native to the Reformed tradition where the approach was more in the loosely liturgical camp - i.e. the service had the same shape each week, but things like the General Prayer might be variations on a theme, not precise the same each week. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were fully liturgical in the Dutch and German traditions. I don't know much about the Swiss.
At Our Place, we have a brief (very brief - 2 minutes max) at each weekday Mass, usually (but not invariably) focussing on the Gospel. At Sunday Mass, we have the 3 readings + Psalm as per the C of E version of the lectionary.