Saturday, September 05, 2009

Stripping of the Altar


I had a telephone call from Fr Mark Elvins this evening, before becoming a Capuchin friar he was a curate here. He is the author of Catholic Trivia.

One piece of trivia he told me was that Gladstone's sister was received into the Church here. She was somewhat eccentric and so caught up in the liturgy that she wore the colour of the day. Her enthusiasm for liturgical imitation apparently overcame her on Holy Thursday when at the stripping of the altar, she had to be restrained from removing more than her coat!
Now that is active participation!

6 comments:

pelerin said...

What a great story! After a tiring three days in London I needed a laugh - thank you Father!

pelerin said...

Googling Gladstone's sister I am now feeling guilty at having found this story so comical! Apparently she was very unstable with erratic behavour and suffered from opium addiction.

Gladstone was able to tolerate all her shortcomings except one - the final straw for him was her conversion to Roman Catholicism!

Zephyrinus said...

Dear Fr. Your comment that Gladstone's sister "was so caught up in the liturgy that she wore the colour of the day" rang a few bells with me. Through an unlikely set of circumstances, I have had to purchase three cars this year. As a result, on several major feasts, I have turned up for Mass at Blackfen, Kent, driving a different coloured car. Yes, you've guessed it. . . each time it was the colour of the day !!! When quizzed about the occurrence by the altar servers, I said, with a dead-pan face, that I was merely following instructions as detailed in "Fortescue" !!!

Unknown said...

Zephyrinus:
Perhaps this explains why there are so few black cars around these days? If car manufacturers brought back blacks cars perhaps churches would re-introduce black vestments for Requiems? Or vice-versa? I do hope so; one side or the other should try it!!!

Jackie Parkes MJ said...

Opium hey? Sounds good...

Zephyrinus said...

Malcolm Kemp: Excellent point, reference black cars, etc, and Requiems. May I suggest you have a quick look at THE HERMENEUTIC OF CONTINUITY http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/ See the Post for Wednesday, 2 September. Also, MULIER FORTIS http://mulier-fortis.blogspot.com/
for the same date. P.S. I'm now looking for a BLUE car (for when I go to a Habsburg country).

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