A sad day today as word came of the death, at the age of 99, of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip was, for 69 years, the faithful strength and stay of our Queen as consort; a man whose life embodied service, loyalty, duty, and whose interests and passions - academic, spiritual, educational, environmental - were serious and often beyond their time. His loss will be sorely felt in Britain, the Commonwealth, and beyond, and we do well to pray for the repose of his soul, and for the comfort of his widow, our Sovereign Lady. A Solemn Requiem will follow at St John Henry’s in due course.

On the occasion of the 99th birthday of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, some poignant words from The Coronation Service, 2 June 1953.

‘I, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks. So help me God’.

The Queen has recorded a few words of encouragement and hope on this Easter Eve. ‘Easter isn’t cancelled’, says Her Majesty, and she is right to remind us of this as we prepare to enter into this great feast. ‘We need Easter as much as ever. The discovery of the Risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave his followers new hope and fresh purpose, and we can all take heart from this... May the living flame of the Easter hope be a steady guide as we face the future’. Amen to that, and a very blessed Easter!

‘In this final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to celebrate the Lord Jesus as King of the Universe. She calls us to look to the future, or more properly into the depths, to the ultimate goal of history, which will be the definitive and eternal kingdom of Christ. He was with the Father in the beginning, when the world was created, and he will fully manifest his lordship at the end of time, when he will judge all mankind. Today’s three readings speak to us of this kingdom. In the Gospel passage which we have just heard, drawn from the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus appears in humiliating circumstances – he stands accused – before the might of Rome. He had been arrested, insulted, mocked, and now his enemies hope to obtain his condemnation to death by crucifixion. They had presented him to Pilate as one who sought political power, as the self-proclaimed King of the Jews. The Roman procurator conducts his enquiry and asks Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Jn 18:33). In reply to this question, Jesus clarifies the nature of his kingship and his messiahship itself, which is no worldly power but a love which serves. He states that his kingdom is in no way to be confused with a political reign: “My kingship is not of this world… is not from the world”.
​
Jesus clearly had no political ambitions. After the multiplication of the loaves, the people, enthralled by the miracle, wanted to take him away and make him their king, in order to overthrow the power of Rome and thus establish a new political kingdom which would be considered the long-awaited kingdom of God. But Jesus knows that God’s kingdom is of a completely different kind; it is not built on arms and violence. The multiplication of the loaves itself becomes both the sign that he is the Messiah and a watershed in his activity: henceforth the path to the Cross becomes ever clearer; there, in the supreme act of love, the promised kingdom, the kingdom of God, will shine forth. But the crowd does not understand this; they are disappointed and Jesus retires to the mountain to pray in solitude, to pray with the Father. In the Passion narrative we see how even the disciples, though they had shared Jesus’ life and listened to his words, were still thinking of a political kingdom, brought about also by force. In Gethsemane, Peter had unsheathed his sword and began to fight, but Jesus stopped him. He does not wish to be defended by arms, but to accomplish the Father’s will to the end, and to establish his kingdom not by armed conflict, but by the apparent weakness of life-giving love. The kingdom of God is a kingdom utterly different from earthly kingdoms’.

​Pope Benedict XVI

‘Stephen introduced into Hungary both the faith of Christ and the regal dignity. He obtained his royal crown from the Roman Pontiff; and having been, by his command, anointed king, offered his kingdom to the Apostolic See. He built several houses of charity at Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople: and with a wonderfully munificent spirit of religion, he founded the archiepiscopal See of Gran and ten other bishoprics. His love for the poor was equalled only by his generosity towards them; for, seeing in them Christ himself, he never sent anyone away sad or empty-handed. So great indeed was his charity that, to relieve their necessities, after expending large sums of money, he often bestowed upon them his household goods. It was his custom to wash the feet of the poor with his own hands, and to visit the hospitals at night, alone and unknown, serving the sick and showing them every charity. As a reward for these good deeds his right hand remained incorrupt after death, when the rest of his body had returned to dust.
 
He was much given to prayer; and would spend almost entire nights without sleep, rapt in heavenly contemplation; at times he was seen ravished out of his senses, and raised in the air. By the help of prayer, he more than once escaped in a wonderful manner from treasonable conspiracies and from the attacks of powerful enemies. Having married Ghisella of Bavaria, sister of the emperor St Henry, he had by her a son Emeric, whom he brought up in such regularity and piety as to form him into a saint. He summoned wise and holy men from all parts to aid him in the government of his kingdom, and undertook nothing without their advice. In sackcloth and ashes, he besought God with most humble prayer, that he might not depart this life without seeing the whole kingdom of Hungary Catholic. So great indeed was his zeal for the propagation of the Faith, that he was called the Apostle of his nation, and he received from the Roman Pontiff, both for himself and for his successors, the privilege of having the Cross borne before them.
 
He had the most ardent devotion towards the Mother of God, in whose honour he built a magnificent church, solemnly declaring her patroness of Hungary. In return the Blessed Virgin received him into heaven on the very day of her Assumption, which the Hungarians, by the appointment of their holy king, call “the day of the Great Lady”. His sacred body, exhaling a most fragrant odour and distilling a heavenly liquor, was, by order of the Roman Pontiff, translated, amidst many and divers miracles, to a more worthy resting place, and buried with great honour. Pope Innocent IX commanded his feast to be celebrated on the fourth of the Nones of September; on which day Leopold I, emperor elect of the Romans and king of Hungary, had, by the divine assistance, gained a remarkable victory over the Turks at the siege of Buda’.
​
from the Roman Breviary

‘Oswald not only learned to hope for the kingdom of heaven, which has been unknown to his ancestors, but was also granted by Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, an earthly kingdom greater than they enjoyed. For at length he brought under his sceptre all the peoples and provinces of Britain speaking the four languages, British, Pictish, Scottish, and English.
 
Although he reached such a height of powers, Oswald was always wonderfully humble, kindly, and generous to the poor and strangers. The story is told how on the Feast of Easter one year, Oswald sat down to dine with Bishop Aidan. A silver dish of food was set before him, and they were on the point of raising their hands to bless the food, when the servant who was appointed to relieve the needs of the poor came in and informed the king that a great crowd of needy folk were sitting in the road outside begging alms of the king. Oswald at once ordered his own food to be taken out to the poor, and the silver dish to be broken up and distributed among them. The bishop, who was sitting beside him, was deeply moved to see such generosity, and taking hold of the king’s right hand, exclaimed, “May this hand never wither with age”. Later events proved that his prayer was heard; for when Oswald was killed in battle, his hand and arm were severed from his body, and they remain uncorrupted to this day. They are preserved as venerated relics in a silver casket at the church of Saint Peter in the royal city, which is called after a former queen named Bebba (Bebbanburh, now Bamburgh).
 
Through King Oswald’s diplomacy the provinces of Deira and Bernicia, formerly hostile to each other, were peacefully united and became one people. Oswald was nephew to King Edwin by his sister Acha; and it is fitting that so great a predecessor should have so worthy a man of his own blood to maintain his religion and his throne’.

​from The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, c.731, by St Bede the Venerable, 672-735

​‘Henry, surnamed the Pious, Duke of Bavaria, became successively King of Germany and Emperor of the Romans; but not satisfied with a mere temporal principality, he strove to gain an immortal crown, by paying zealous service to the eternal King. As emperor, he devoted himself earnestly to spreading religion, and rebuilt with great magnificence the churches which had been destroyed by the infidels, endowing them generously both with money and lands. He built monasteries and other pious establishments, and increased the income of others; the bishopric of Bamberg, which he had founded out of his family possessions, he made tributary to St Peter and the Roman Pontiff. When Benedict VIII, who had crowned him emperor, was obliged to seek safety in flight, Henry received him and restored him to his see.
 
Once when he was suffering from a severe illness in the monastery of Monte Cassino, St Benedict cured him by a wonderful miracle. He endowed the Roman Church with a most copious grant, undertook in her defence a war against the Greeks, and gained possession of Apulia, which they had held for some time. It was his custom to undertake nothing without prayer, and at times he saw the angel of the Lord, or the holy martyrs, his patrons, fighting for him at the head of his army. Aided thus by the divine protection, he overcame barbarous nations more by prayer than by arms. Hungary was still pagan; but Henry having given his sister in marriage to its King Stephen, the latter was baptised, and thus the whole nation was brought to the faith of Christ. He set the rare example of preserving virginity in the married state, and at his death restored his wife, St Cunigund, a virgin to her family.
 
He arranged everything relating to the glory or advantage of his empire with the greatest prudence, and left scattered throughout Gaul, Italy, and Germany, traces of his munificence towards religion. The sweet odour of his heroic virtue spread far and wide, till he was more celebrated for his holiness than for his imperial dignity. At length his life’s work was accomplished, and he was called by our Lord to the rewards of the heavenly kingdom, in the year of salvation 1024. His body was buried in the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul at Bamberg. God wished to glorify His servant, and many miracles were worked at his tomb. These being afterwards proved and certified, Eugenius III inscribed his name upon the catalogue of the saints’.

​from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB, 1805-1875

The above photograph of a statue of St Elizabeth, Queen Consort of Portugal, was taken during a pilgrimage to the country in April last year. It stands tall outside the former monastery of Santa-Clara-a-Nova at Coimbra, where her remains lie in a tomb above the high altar.

‘O blessed Elizabeth! we praise God for thy holy works, as the Church this day invites all her sons to do. More valiant than those princes in whose midst thou didst appear as the angel of thy fatherland, thou didst exhibit in thy private life a heroism which could equal theirs, when need was, even on the battlefield. God’s grace was the motive-power of thy actions, and His glory their sole end. Often does God gain more glory by abnegations hidden from all eyes but His, than by great works justly admired by a whole people. It is because the power of His grace shines forth the more; and it is generally the way of His Providence to cause the most remarkable blessings bestowed on nations, to spring from these hidden sources. How many battles celebrated in history have first been fought and won in the sight of the Blessed Trinity, in some hidden spot of that supernatural world, where the elect are ever at war with hell, nay, struggle at times even with God Himself; how many famous treaties with peace have first been concluded between heaven and earth in the secret of a single soul, as a reward for those giant struggles which men misunderstand and despise! Let the fashion of this world pass away; and those deep-thinking politicians, who are said to rule the course of events, the proud negotiators and warriors of renown, all, when judged by the light of eternity, will appear for what they are: mere deceptions screening from the sight of men the only names truly worthy of immortality.
 
Glory then be to thee, through whom the Lord has deigned to lift a corner of the veil that hides from the world the true rulers of its destinies. In the golden book of the elect, thy nobility rests on better titles than those of birth. Daughter and mother of kings, thyself a queen, thou didst rule over a glorious land; but far more glorious is the family throne in heaven, where thou reignest with the first Elizabeth, with Margaret and with Hedwige, and where others will come to join thee, doing honour to the same noble blood which flowed in thy veins’.

​from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB, 1805-1875

Today marks the sixty-sixth anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which I mark by sharing some words on a spiritual aspect to the coronation - beyond the ceremony and rite itself - in a letter by the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, to George V, following the King’s coronation in June 1911; words that are as applicable to our Queen now as they were a hundred years ago.

‘If our Coronation Service means anything, it means the promise of that help [from God], a promise accompanied by the knowledge of the King’s part that his people are in almost every English-speaking home praying for him and expecting that their prayers will be answered, and that God will indeed grant them as their head a “consecrated” man, not in any pedantic or over-wrought sense of the word – but a man who deliberately means, by the help of God, to lead a life of “service”, a life of straightforward devotion to some of the most important duties on Earth, a life of manly purity and justice and truth’.

Randall Davidson, Lord Davidson of Lambeth, GCVO PC, 1848-1930
Archbishop of Canterbury, 1903-1928

67 years ago today the late King George VI died at his estate at Sandringham in Norfolk at the age of 56. His daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, was in Kenya at the time, en route for a tour of Australia. Though it was to be another sixteen months before her Coronation in Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth had become Queen. She was 25 years old. For the whole of her adult life Elizabeth has been Sovereign. She has surpassed Queen Victoria’s long reign of 63 years, and on the 31st January we learned that Elizabeth II passed Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine’s 66 year and 358 day reign to become the longest-reigning female ruler in history. It is a remarkable milestone, but one which is notable for the quality of service and dedication rendered by this Christian monarch to God on behalf the many peoples of her realms and territories throughout the world.

Today, then, is marked as Accession Day in those places where the Queen remains Head of State (the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, etc.). It was first marked during the reign of Elizabeth I, and later a ​‘Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving’ was first published in 1576, and was renewed during the reign of James II in 1685. A collect in Divine Worship: The Missal is provided for use in the Commonwealth realms where the Ordinariate is present, and follows below. 

​‘I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do. I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it’.

on the occasion of her 21st birthday, as Princess Elizabeth, 1947

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Monsignor Edwin Barnes, who died today, following a short illness, on this his 84th birthday. Pray also for his widow, Jane. Mgr Barnes served as Prinicpal of St Stephen’s House, Oxford, from 1987 to 1995, and served as the first Bishop of Richborough, a provinical episcopal visitor in the Province of Canterbury, from 1995 to 2002. He and his wife were received into full communion in 2011, after which he was ordained priest for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. In 2012 he was appointed a Chaplain of His Holiness. ​Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Jesu, mercy. Mary, pray. 

‘That the First Charles does here in triumph ride,
See his son reign where he a martyr died,
And people pay that reverence as they pass,
(Which then he wanted!) to the sacred brass,
Is not the effect of gratitude alone,
To which we owe the statue and the stone;
But Heaven this lasting monument has wrought,
That mortals may eternally be taught
Rebellion, though successful, is but vain,
And kings so killed rise conquerors again.
This truth the royal image does proclaim,
Loud as the trumpet of surviving Fame’.

‘On the Statue of King Charles I at Charing Cross in the Year 1674’
by Edmund Waller, 1606-1687

‘If We ordain that the whole Catholic world shall revere Christ as King, We shall minister to the need of the present day, and at the same time provide an excellent remedy for the plague which now infects society. We refer to the plague of anti-clericalism, its errors and impious activities. This evil spirit, as you are well aware, Venerable Brethren, has not come into being in one day; it has long lurked beneath the surface. The empire of Christ over all nations was rejected. The right which the Church has from Christ himself, to teach mankind, to make laws, to govern peoples in all that pertains to their eternal salvation, that right was denied. Then gradually the religion of Christ came to be likened to false religions and to be placed ignominiously on the same level with them. It was then put under the power of the state and tolerated more or less at the whim of princes and rulers. Some men went even further, and wished to set up in the place of God’s religion a natural religion consisting in some instinctive affection of the heart. There were even some nations who thought they could dispense with God, and that their religion should consist in impiety and the neglect of God. The rebellion of individuals and states against the authority of Christ has produced deplorable consequences. We lamented these in the Encyclical Ubi arcano; we lament them today: the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder so much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin. We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Saviour. It would be the duty of Catholics to do all they can to bring about this happy result. Many of these, however, have neither the station in society nor the authority which should belong to those who bear the torch of truth. This state of things may perhaps be attributed to a certain slowness and timidity in good people, who are reluctant to engage in conflict or oppose but a weak resistance; thus the enemies of the Church become bolder in their attacks. But if the faithful were generally to understand that it behooves them ever to fight courageously under the banner of Christ their King, then, fired with apostolic zeal, they would strive to win over to their Lord those hearts that are bitter and estranged from him, and would valiantly defend his rights’.

from the encyclical Quas Primas: On the Feast of Christ the King, 11 December 1925
​by Pope Pius XI, 1857-1939

‘We need not wonder that Queen Margaret governed herself and her household wisely when we know that she herself acted always under the wisest of masters, the guidance of the holy scriptures. I myself have had frequent opportunities of admiring in her how, even amidst the distractions of lawsuits, amidst the countless cares of state, she devoted herself with wonderful assiduity to the word of God. Journeying thus onwards towards the heavenly country in thought and word and deed, this devout and God-worthy Queen called on others to accompany her in the undefiled way, so that they with her might attain true happiness. Thus it came to pass that this venerable Queen, who (by God’s help) had been so desirous to cleanse his house from all filth and error, was found day by day worthier of becoming his temple, as the Holy Spirit, shone ever brighter in her heart. When she spoke with me about the salvation of the souls and the sweetness of the life which is eternal, every word she uttered was so filled with grace that the Holy Spirit, who truly dwelt within her breast, evidently spoke by her lips, so deep was her contrition that whilst she was talking she seemed as if she could melt away in tears, so that my soul, pierced like her own, wept also. Of all living persons whom I know or have known she was the most devoted to prayer and fasting, to works of mercy and almsgiving’.

from the Life of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland by Turgot, Bishop of St Andrews, c.1048-1115

Here Edward king, lord of the English,
sent his soul strong in truth to Christ,
in God’s safekeeping, his holy spirit,
He in this world dwelt for a time
in kingly power and wise counsel.
Freely the king for twenty-four
winter-times shared out wealth
and prosperous times, ruler of men,
graciously governed Welsh and Scots,
And Britons also, Aethelred’s son,
with Angles and Saxons, and their warriors,
Clasped round by cold waves,
all obeyed Edward, noble king;
they heard him faithfully, his young retainers.
The blameless king was ever happy in spirit, 
though he long had been deprived of land,
walked the outcast’s ways wide on the earth,
after Cnut overcame Aethelred’s kin,
And Danes ruled over the dear kingdom
of the English land, sharing its wealth
for twenty-eight winter-times.
After he came forth freely bearing armour,
the best of good kings, pure and mild,
Edward the atheling defended his home,
land and people, until suddenly came
death and bitter, and took the dear one,
the atheling from the earth; the angels accompanied him, 
his soul strong in truth, into the sky’s light,
The wise one therefore committed the kingdom
to one high in rank, Harold himself,
noble eorl, who at all times
faithfully obeyed his lord
in words and deeds, holding back nothing
at the need of the king of the people. 

​Anonymous

‘“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (16:24). Without doubt, this is hard language, difficult to accept and put into practice, but the testimony of the saints assures us that it is possible for all who trust and entrust themselves to Christ. Their example encourages those who call themselves Christian to be credible, that is, consistent with the principles and the faith that they profess. It is not enough to appear good and honest: one must truly be so. And the good and honest person is one who does not obscure God’s light with his own ego, does not put himself forward, but allows God to shine through.
 
This is the lesson we can learn from Saint Wenceslaus, who had the courage to prefer the kingdom of heaven to the enticement of worldly power. His gaze never moved away from Jesus Christ, who suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps, as Saint Peter writes in the second reading that we just heard. As an obedient disciple of the Lord, the young prince Wenceslaus remained faithful to the Gospel teachings he had learned from his saintly grandmother, the martyr Ludmila. In observing these, even before committing himself to build peaceful relations within his lands and with neighbouring countries, he took steps to spread the Christian faith, summoning priests and building churches. In the first Old Slavonic “narration”, we read that “he assisted God’s ministers and he also adorned many churches” and that “he was benevolent to the poor, clothed the naked, gave food to the hungry, welcomed pilgrims, just as the Gospel enjoins. He did not allow injustice to be done to widows, he loved all people, whether poor or rich”. He learned from the Lord to be “merciful and gracious”, and animated by the Gospel spirit he was even able to pardon his brother who tried to kill him. Rightly, then, you invoke him as the “heir” of your nation, and in a well-known song, you ask him not to let it perish.
 
Wenceslaus died as a martyr for Christ. It is interesting to note that, by killing him, his brother Boleslaus succeeded in taking possession of the throne of Prague, but the crown placed on the heads of his successors did not bear his name. Rather, it bears the name of Wenceslaus, as a testimony that “the throne of the king who judges the poor in truth will remain firm for ever” (cf. today’s Office of Readings). This fact is judged as a miraculous intervention by God, who does not abandon his faithful: “the conquered innocent defeated the cruel conqueror just as Christ did on the cross” (cf. The Legend of Saint Wenceslaus), and the blood of the martyr did not cry out for hatred or revenge, but rather for pardon and peace’.

from a homily during an Apostolic Visit to the Czech Republic, 28 September 2009
​by Pope Benedict XVI

‘As son, husband, father, ruler and Crusader, Saint Louis strove, in everything, to embody his holding on to God by faith. If we read the account of his daily life, written by Jean de Joinville, who knew the King most personally and fought alongside the King in the Crusades, beginning in 1248, we discover the source of the faith and good works by which Saint Louis held on to God, steadfastly remaining in the company of our Lord. Jean de Joinville writes:
 
“He so arranged the business of governing his country that every day he heard the hours of the Office sung, and a Requiem Mass without chant, and then a sung Mass of the day or the feast, if there was one. Every day after dinner he rested on his bed, and when he had slept and rested he said the Office of the Dead privately in his room with one of his chaplains, before hearing Vespers. In the evening he heard Compline (The Life of St. Louis, p. 36, n. 54)”.
 
Clearly, every day of the life of Saint Louis was centred in the Sacred Liturgy, above all, the Holy Eucharist.
 
When we consider the richness of virtue in the life of Saint Louis, for example, his daily and generous provision for the poor, his establishment of institutions to educate the young and to care for the sick and those in need, and his devotion to the sacred places of our Lord unto the giving of his last energies, we ask how it is possible that so many Christ-like qualities could be embodied in one man, in one lifetime.
 
The answer to our wonderment is the Eucharistic Sacrifice in which Saint Louis participated daily and which transformed him more and more into Christ’s own likeness. When we consider the complexity of his life as father of a large family and as ruler of a nation, we marvel at his wisdom, truly wisdom from God, by which he formed his every activity in daily Mass and praying of the Liturgy of the Hours.
 
Recalling the memory of Saint Louis, let us ask him to intercede for us, so that we may become men and women of the Eucharist. May we imitate Saint Louis, finding in the Holy Eucharist the grace to live every moment of our lives in and with Christ for the glory of God the Father and for the good of our neighbour, especially our neighbour who is in most need.
 
Imitating our beloved patron, Saint Louis, let us, each day, lift up our poor, sinful and doubting hearts to the Lord, placing them into His glorious pierced Heart. May we live every moment of our lives in the communion with the Lord, which is ours in the Holy Eucharist’.

from a homily, 2007, by Raymond, Cardinal Burke (Archbishop of St Louis, 2004-2008)

‘My dearest son, if you desire to honour the royal crown, I advise, I counsel, I urge you above all things to maintain the Catholic and apostolic faith with such diligence and care that you may be an example for all those placed under you by God and that all the clergy may rightly call you a man of true Christian profession. Failing to do this, you may be sure that you will not be called a Christian or a son of the Church. Indeed, in the royal palace – after the faith itself – the Church holds second place, first propagated as she was by our head, Christ; then transplanted, firmly constituted and spread through the whole world by his members, the apostles and holy fathers. And though she always produced fresh offspring, nevertheless in certain places she is regarded as ancient.
 
However, dearest son, even now in our kingdom the Church is proclaimed as young and newly planted; and for that reason she needs more prudent and trustworthy guardians lest a benefit which the divine mercy bestowed on us undeservedly should be destroyed and annihilated through your idleness, indolence or neglect.
 
My beloved son, delight of my heart, hope of your posterity, I pray, I command, that at every time and in everything, strengthened by your devotion to me, you may show favour not only to relations and kin, or to the most eminent, be they leaders or rich men or neighbours or fellow-countrymen, but also to foreigners and to all who come to you. By fulfilling your duty in this way you will reach the highest state of happiness. Be merciful to all who are suffering violence, keeping always in your heart the example of the Lord who said: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Be patient with everyone, not only with the powerful, but also with the weak.
 
Finally be strong lest prosperity lift you up too much or adversity cast you down. Be humble in this life that God may raise you up in the next. Be truly moderate and do not punish or condemn anyone immoderately. Be gentle so that you may never oppose justice. Be honourable so that you may never voluntarily bring disgrace upon anyone. Be chaste so that you may avoid all the foulness of lust like the pangs of death.
 
All these virtues I have noted above make up the royal crown and without them no one is fit to rule here on earth or attain to the heavenly kingdom’.

from a letter to his son by St Stephen of Hungary, c.969-1038

Grant thy Church, we pray, Almighty God: that she may have Saint Stephen of Hungary, who fostered her growth while a king on earth, as her glorious defender in heaven, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - ​Divine Worship: The Missal.

Today is the 65th anniversary of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey. The words of the 20th century Anglican liturgical scholar Edward Craddock Ratcliff are especially worthy of reflection as they touch upon the genius of the English Coronation Service, with its distinctive and effective homogenisation of the sacred and the secular. 

​‘The tradition of the English Coronation is not rigid and immutable like that of the Byzantine Imperial ceremony; without losing its individuality, it can adapt itself, or its parts, to new conditions with such signal success that we may not inaptly say of it, Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Borrowing from biblical, Frankish, Roman, Byzantine, German and French sources, arranging and re-arranging these diverse elements from period to period, and adding to them from its own native inspiration, it has presented them, and still presents them to us in a remarkable unity, which is distinctively English in aspect. The Coronation Service is a mirror, as no other institution can be, in which our nation has been formed, and in which we ourselves are living to-day. It reflects the persistent English intertwining of sacred and secular, of civil and ecclesiastical. It reflects particularly the historic English conception of the mutual relations of Sovereign, Church and People, and of all three to God, Whose blessing and protection it invokes. In a word, the English Coronation Service symbolises national continuity considered sub specie Christianitatis’.

E.C. Ratcliff, 1896-1967

No posts last week, partly on account of the fact that I was on pilgrimage with the Manchester Oratory to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, but also because my iPhone app for Weebly wouldn't allow me to make new posts... Normal service now resumes!

Today is the 92nd birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Commemoration of events in the life of the Monarch is naturally instinctive to those of us who are Catholics of the Anglican patrimony within the Commonwealth realms, for which prayers and formulas for commemoration were included within Anglican liturgical and devotional prayer books. So, happy birthday, Your Majesty, long to reign over us!