Dear Friends,
I have returned to New York bringing many good wishes and prayers for you all from all the people I met with last week in London. I had a fascinating meeting with The Rev. Dr. Sam Wells, the Vicar of St. Martin in the Fields with whom we are twinned. Like us, the pandemic has affected them hugely but it has not dampened their enthusiasm to reach out to many people through different ways. Their Autumn lecture series is titled “We are Such Stuff as Dreams are Made on.” Sam explained the background to the series: “After the ravages of the pandemic, it’s time for church and society to learn to dream again. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, had a dream of racial equality and social justice. Inspired by his dream, we’re gathering a chorus of dreamers from different walks of life to inform and shape our dreams for the years to come.” The next lecture (available via livestream) looks fascinating: “Theatre and the Imagination” by theatre director, film director, and film producer Sir Nicholas Hytner. He speaks about why the theatre and the arts are so essential to national life and our own humanity. “How can theatre help us to transcend boundaries, expand truth, deepen empathy and set free both the imagination and our own creativity? How does theatre make word flesh?” The lecture is scheduled for Monday, November 1, at 2pm ET.
I also met with the Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal who, prior to the pandemic, had been planning a choir tour from St. James’s Palace to New York. He now plans to bring the choir to coincide with our parish bicentennial celebrations.
I also met with the Director of Development of the Historic Royal Palaces at Hampton Court. Again, before the pandemic, we were planning collaborations and exhibitions here in New York involving the Royal Collections Trust (which is responsible for the Queen’s huge collection of art, and her library and archive). We have been visited before by the Queen’s Librarian and the Director of the Trust and these reconnections will allow us to plan for fascinating collaboration going forward. While I was there, I visited with the chaplain of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court and he had a little treat prepared for me; he allowed me to examine and handle Queen Elizabeth I’s personal Book of Common Prayer (1552 edition). This particular edition was printed in 1594.
What was particularly interesting were the hand-written amendments. One caught my eye – a handwritten prayer that the chaplain, Father Anthony, believes to be the original prayer ‘Touching for the King’s Evil.’ The King’s Evil was a euphemism for tuberculosis. If you have ever watched the coronation, you will have noticed that, after the anointings, the monarch is vested in sacred vestments including a stole and dalmatic. In many European countries, there had long been a belief that the monarch had healing powers and, each year, would lay hands on the sick. The first English monarch to do this was St. Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) who first introduced the ritual in England. After the laying on of hands, a gold coin with an angel stamped on it was hung around the neck of the person seeking healing. Queen Elizabeth I decided to stop the tradition until the Pope excommunicated her and said that she had lost her healing power – she promptly took it up again with gusto, making the sign of the cross over the sick person’s head. Shakespeare mentions ‘the King’s Evil’ in Macbeth:
‘Tis called the Evil:
A most miraculous work in this good King,
Which often, since my here-remain in England
I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven
Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people,
All swollen and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
The mere despair of surgery, he cures
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers: and ‘tis spoken
To the succeeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction. With this strange virtue
He has a heavenly gift of prophecy,
And sundry blessings have about his throne
That speak him full of grace.’(Macbeth, IV:3, lines 146-158)
I was welcomed so warmly in my various meetings at Westminster Abbey. I mentioned St. Edward’s Day last week and my visit to the Abbey Choir School. The Headmaster, Peter Roberts, and the Organist and Master of the Choristers, James O’Donnell, are keen to re-establish links between our respective choral foundations. I hope that Mr. Seeley will soon be able to visit the Abbey School. I have preached at the Abbey before, but only at Evensong, so it was an honor to be afforded the chance to preach at their major Feast of Dedication on Sunday morning. The music was glorious – Langlais and Messiaen – and at the offertory, we had a procession to cense the Nave Altar, the Shrine of St. Edward and its altar, and the High Altar, while the choir sang the thrilling anthem by Parry – ‘I was glad!’
After the mass, I went to say good bye to the choristers and give Mr. O’Donnell some gifts from Saint Thomas Church, including a copy of Dr. Filsell’s mass Missa Sancti Thomae in tempore enim pestilencia. The choristers had fun translating the Latin with a few prompts from the Headmaster about grammar, and Mr. O’Donnell pointed out the use of the reed at the end of the Gloria with the discordant chord which I described to the boys as “That’s the germ!” The Abbey choristers recorded a greeting for our own choristers which I sent quickly to Mother Turner to share with them. The Headmaster hopes that the boys on both sides of the pond will start contacting each other and deepen our sense of fellowship. Mother Turner is going to ask some of our boys to make a short film to share with them our own school and church, and Mr. Roberts said his boys would reciprocate.
Affectionately,
Your Priest and Pastor,
Carl
