• Liturgical calendar
• Monthly requiem
• Monthly services
• Photographs
• Prayers & Devotions
• Rosary
• Sacred Heart
• Sermons
• Silences in the Mass

The Liturgical Calendar in use at Old Saint Martin’s

The rationale behind it:

A great deal of thought has gone into the Calendar in use in our church. This is not just a matter of doing the right thing, but of being faithful to both our Catholic tradition and our Anglican heritage. As both Catholics and Anglicans choices are open to us, choices that need to be made logically and sensibly. We could follow what many others do and use the Roman Calendar in its entirety. To do this would, however, mean that we would not celebrate quite a few local saints whose lives have impinged both on our community and our Church, and we would ignore completely those persons (largely post-Reformation) whom our Church deems worthy of commemoration. On reflection I also considered that the starting point for our calendar should be one produced by those with whom we are in Communion, rather than by those with whom we are not. Furthermore I thought that our Calendar should reflect not just our holy men and women but also something of the traditions of our local, catholic and national Church. For all these reasons I have based our Calendar on the Common Worship Calendar with its vision of 40 days of Christmas (including the extended season of Epiphany) and the custom of naming Sundays after Trinity (a peculiarly English usage which I for one am glad to continue).

Principal Feasts / Solemnities

To the Common Worship list of Principal Feasts (Solemnities) we also add or upgrade the following:

Saint Wulstan (Diocesan Patron), 19 January;
Saint Oswald (Diocesan Patron), 28 February;
Saint Joseph, 19 March;
Saint George (Benefice Patron), 23 April;
Saint Helen (Benefice Patron), 21 May;
Corpus Christi, 11 June 2009;
The Sacred Heart, 19 June 2009;
Saint Alban (Benefice Patron), 22 June;
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, 24 June;
Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Benefice Patron), 29 June;
Saint Swithun (Benefice Patron), 15 July;
Saint Mary Magdalene (Benefice Patron), 22 July;
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August;
Saint Michael (Benefice Patron), 29 September;
All Souls, 2 November;
Saint Martin (Benefice Patron), 11 November;
Saint Andrew (Benefice Patron), 30 November;
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 8 December;
Saint Nicholas (Benefice Patron), 6 December.

Other Holy Days

We observe all Festivals (Festa), and for Lesser Festivals and Commemorations (Memorials and Optional Memorials) we make a choice using informed historical knowledge.

We also follow the traditional Catholic customs of a Monthly Requiem (usually on the first available day), Saturday Masses of Our Lady (whenever possible), a First Friday Mass of the Sacred Heart, the May Devotions to Our Lady, and the public recitation of the Rosary (usually on fourth Saturdays at 11.30am).

I realise that this lays me open to the accusation of being a ‘Little Englander’ but the end result is a broadly based Calendar located firmly in Anglicanism whilst at the same time respecting the integrity of our Catholic theology and usage.

Life here is never boring; may we all learn from the holy men and women of our Church what it means to be both Catholic and Anglican, and benefit from a share in their prayers.

Father Ian Pearson
August, 2008

February 2012