Tuesday 25 December 2007

Midnight Mass - the Strepitus

Taking part myself in Midnight Mass, the best I could do was these shots from the pulpit, taken straight after the Christmas Proclamation. In a moment of eye-blinking drama, the lights of the Cathedral burst into life, the organ thunders, and the young altar servers ring bells (the strepitus) to herald the joy of our Saviour's birth. The eagle-eyed among you will notice the pendants on the metropolitan cross!

The Vigil and Midnight Mass were carried live by BBC radio 4; you can listen to it again here (it is mistakenly headed Sunday 24 December!) follow the link to Radio 4, and scroll down to Midnight Mass. The Proclamation, by the way, is 27 mins 55 seconds in!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Thanks so much for alerting us to the BBC 'listen again' feature. I was blown away (predictably!) by the drama of the moment you describe, Father, as well as the beauty of the choir's singing, as usual. We are truly blessed to have such fine ceremonies in our Cathedral! Although I presume any parish wanting to add a bit of solemnity could sing the Proclamation of the Nativity and have a strepitus... right?

Incidentally, you sang it very well, monsignor. Well done. Very proper. I listened to it three times!!!!!!

Happy Christmas to one and all.

Anonymous said...

As always - beautiful and inspiring. Pity it is only available as an audio stream and not to download for good!

The music was wonderful - both the chanting of the Proclamation and the choir's signing of 'Et incarnatus est..' during the Creed stand out.

The Proclamation doesn't appear in my Sunday Missal - is this attached to the Office, particular to the Cathedral, or available for use in any parish>