Monthly Archives: April 2013

Rites and Wrongs – The Mass & the English Reformation
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The Devil is in the detail…….Gardiner versus Cranmer    “ Hail for evermore, Thou most Holy Flesh of Christ; sweet to me before and beyond all things beside. To me a sinner may the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ be the Way and the Life.”  These were … Continue reading

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G.F.Handel: Esther, an Oratorium……performed at Wigmore Hall, London
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Wigmore Hall 25th April:   G. F. Handel:  Esther (c.1720) Dunedin Consort   John Butt – Director   Soloists:   Mhairi Lawson- Esther James Gilchrist – Assuerus Matthew Brook – Haman Nicholas Mulroy – Mordecai Thomas Hobbs – Officer Tim Med – Priest   I knew of Esther … Continue reading

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Mass Observations: Stephen Gardiner & the Eucharist
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Bishop Stephen Gardiner & the Reformation: The doctrine of the Mass Once the regular clergy and chantry priests were stripped of office and from the clerical estate; once images, statues, rood screens and side-altars were stripped from the churches; the … Continue reading

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Feet of Clay
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Murray drops back to world Number 3 Andy Murray stumbled into the clay court season. He was defeated badly in the Monte Carlo Clay Court Championship. He crashed out of the Masters tournament after a straight-sets defeat to his nemesis Stanislas Wawrinka, losing in … Continue reading

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Detecting the Devil’s spohistry…..Bishop Gardiner (1546)
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A Detection of the Devils Sophistry…… ……..wherewith he robbeth the unlearned people of the true belief in the most blessed Sacrament of the altar.  …….By 1546 few were older; fewer still wiser; and none more unsettled than the king-made-pope, Henry … Continue reading

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James Shirley’s last Word on the State occasions….
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       The Glories of our Blood and State The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings. Sceptre and crown Must tumble … Continue reading

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Wily Winchester – the original thinking of Bishop Stephen Gardiner
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Defining terms: Gardiner’s Theology of the Supremacy De Vere Obedentia is much more than a clever piece of rhetoric – although there is plenty of rhetorical argument contained therein.  It was written between 1534 and 1535 and was published in … Continue reading

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Epitaphs: the last word said of the Great & the Good….
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  Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em – Malvolio – Twelfth Night   Margaret Thatcher’s death can hardly be regarded as a surprise. What has come to me as a surprise is … Continue reading

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Margaret Hilda Thatcher 1925-2013
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Mrs Thatcher was a year younger than my mother Creena. Although brought up in conservative, Catholic Ireland; although in many ways mum was as much a striver as Mrs Thatcher; although mum embraced the home-owning values of post war Britain, … Continue reading

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La Resurrezione, Wigmore Hall April 1st 2013
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Handel:  La Resurrezione ( Rome, 1708) 1st April, 2013 at the Wigmore Hall Julia Doyle soprano Stefanie True soprano Anna Starushkevych mezzo sporano Alexander Sprague tenor Lukas Jakobski bass Adrian Butterfield conductor London Handel Orchestra A work by Handel hardly comes earlier than this little gem from his time in … Continue reading

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