St. Mungo Singers: Requiem Mass 2009
March 14, 2009
For several years the St. Mungo Singers have sung a Requiem Mass for St Agnes’ parish in Lambhill, and they have supported the Requiems of most of the priests who have died in the Archdiocese for the past twenty and more years. This year, the choir committee decided that we should have our own Requiem Mass for deceased members, to which relatives and friends of the deceased should be invited. The choir is now in its 38th year and inevitably there have been a number of deaths from John Ballantine in the 1970s to Jimmy Fitzsimmons at the end of 2008.
Click on score for printable version
‘Music of ‘May the souls’ (c) Noel S Donnelly.
The Mass was celebrated in St. Leo the Great Church on Friday 13 March.
It was not a mournful occasion but rather one where the participants took time out to pray with affection for those who have died, with thankfulness for the part they played in their families and in the life and work of the choir and its members, and to take pleasure in the memories.
The concelebrants were Mgr. Gerry Fitzpatrick, the Director of the St. Mungo Singers, and Fr. Noel Colford, who has been linked to the choir over many years and is considered an honorary member. Our life-President, John Limond, was able to be present; the choir was led for the Mass by David Harris and by Jane McKenna, our organist .
During the Mass, as the names of the deceased were read out, four candles (one for each section) were brought to the sanctuary in a simple but moving tribute.
The music for the Mass ranged from the plainsong Introit ‘Requiem Aeternam’ to Noel Donnelly’s setting of “How Blest are Those Who have Died in the Lord,”’May the souls of the faithful’ and the Communion Antiphon ‘Come to me,’ to the beautiful and classic hymn ‘O love that will not let me go,’ Mgr. Gerry’s setting of James Quinn’s ‘Remember those, O Lord, who in your peace have died,’ the ICEL Introit for Mass for the Dead and the sung Eucharistic Prayer. Appropriately the recessional was “Thine be the Glory.”
Everyone then retired to the church hall where the choir’s Social Committee had laid on refreshments, and there was the opportunity for reminiscing and catching up on news.
St. John Ogilvie: A Vespers 2009
March 14, 2009
The service of Light at the shrine of St John Ogilvie
On the vigil of the Feast of St. John Ogilvie, 9th March, the Jesuit community in Glasgow hosted what they hope will be an annual celebration of the Vespers of St. John Ogilvie in St. Aloysius.
Archbishop Conti presided and the music was led by the St. Mungo Singers.
The celebration began with a procession which paused for the lighting of candles at the beautiful shrine of St. John Ogilvie, to the accompaniment of Geoffrey Shaw’s setting of “Hail Gladdening Light”. The congregation then joined in the singing of the well known hymn “On the Battlefields of Scotland” as the procession moved to the sanctuary.
The psalms for the Evening Prayer were Psalms 114 and 115, and the familiar settings by Noel Donnelly with the antiphons for a martyr were used. The canticle was that from the Apocalypse “Worthy are you, Lord” and it was sung to a setting by Fr. Gerry Fitzpatrick, with the response for the occasion: ‘Whoever denies himself for my sake will receive eternal life.’
The St John Ogilvie Vespers 2009. Pic (c) Brian Burns, St Aloysius, Garnethill.
In his reflection, Archbishop Conti addressed the question of why we continue to remember John Ogilvie over 400 years after his birth. In these ecumenical times, would it not be more appropriate to “let sleeping dogs lie”? After touching on the salient points of St. John Ogilvie’s life and death, he answered this question by pointing to the example he gave of fidelity to Christ. He suggested that for today’s Christians in Scotland, the hardships may be of a different order but none of us can expect to go through life without some challenges or suffering. In the maturity of today’s ecumenical movement, we can recognise each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and share our history, and John Ogilvie can be held up as an inspiration to all of Christ’s disciples.
The service continued with the Morar setting of the Magnificat, intercessions which remembered all who had been martyred because of loyalty to their own faith especially in the troubled times which Scotland endured in the 16th-17th centuries.
Those who remembered it were able to join in the singing of the plainsong Salve Regina, before finishing with the new John Ogilvie hymn written by James Quinn S.J and set to music by Noel S. Donnelly. Some 50 of the St Mungo Singers were able to be present on this occasion – and they added in a ‘Taize’ Gloria after the final hymn – just for joy!
The congregation then enjoyed the hospitality of the Jesuit community in the church hall.
The White Mass 2009
March 1, 2009
The second White Mass, for those involved
in the health care professions and the
Preparing for the White Mass 2009
voluntary care sector, was held in St. Andrew’sCathedral in Glasgow on 15th February 2009.
Archbishop Conti was the principal celebrant,
and Cardinal O’Brien and Bishop Logan were
also present. The music of the liturgy was led
by the St. Mungo Singers.
A new setting of Psalm 31 had been written by Fr. Gerry Fitzpatrick for the service. The healthcare theme of the Mass was reflected in Peter McGrail’s “Loving Saviour, Bread of Life”, Noel Donnelly’s “Song of Healing”, used as the Communion Antiphon, and his St. Peregrine Hymn, sung to the tune of “Hail Redeemer, King Divine” as the recessional (available on this site under St Peregrin).
Cardinal O’Brien noted in his homily that the Bishops’ Conference had instituted the White Mass to give the opportunity to all involved in healthcare to gather together annually for Mass, and to give us the chance to celebrate their contribution to Scottish society, at a time when perhaps there had never been so many difficult ethical decisions facing the healthcare professions. He reminded the congregation that those working in healthcare had been identified by Pope John Paul II as the guardians and servants of human life. The Christian response to illness has always been to seek to alleviate suffering.
The challenge to healthcare professionals today was to live and show these Christian values in the face of what he described as the current anti-life culture with its utilitarian approach, where arguments were made for the right to die but not the right to life. What was needed was more palliative care services so that the terminally ill could die with human dignity, rather than the option of assisted suicide.
Consideration should also be given by the Church to the provision of ethical and religious courses tailored for the needs of those in the health services.