A friend of mine in England, Fr. Charles Briggs, P.P. of mighty Chislehurst in Kent, just celebrated his 25th Jubilee. I met Fr. Briggs through His Hermeneuticalness, Fr. Finigan.
On the site of another friend, Fr. John Boyle, I saw pictures of the celebration at Fr. Briggs’ parish.
First, here is a shot of Holy Mass in the Ordinary Form. Ordinary Form.
A group shot… but there is an interesting little fact about this.
What you might not know is that a small part of the parish cemetery is just behind the right side of the group. There you will find the grave Michael Davies, a long time apologist for the Extraordinary Form and a real gentleman. I met him a few times in life and he was cheerful and fair-minded, a good defender of his positions but willing to change his mind if presented with evidence. RIP.
I am sure we will all congratulate Fr. Briggs! Ad multos annos, friend.
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An inspiring post, FrZ!
Our men’s gregorian chant group recently asked our brand new parochial vicar about offering the OF Mass ad orientem and in Latin. He jumped at the opportunity. This photo gives me high hopes for what may be possible.
As for meeting Michael Davies, I am a big fan of his. I came into the Traditionalist movement shortly after he died, and I was very disappointed that I did not get to meet him in person. His talks are by-far my favorite because he is so proper as a Brit, and he would try to keep things humorous when it would be so easy to get depressed. I would love to read a blogpost from you describing your encounters with him.
I can be nearly certain that Fr. Briggs is a distant cousin. Sorry, I know that it is pointless to point this out but it still intrigues me.
This is the second picture in a few days where I have found it difficult, if not impossible, to tell which form of the Roman Rite is being celebrated from the Pictures alone. I find that very comforting, and indeed a great sign for the future.
Congrats to Fr Briggs, we were at Lourdes with him recently. I along with my late father met Michael Davies breifly on two occasions and have read many of his articles, so will have to make our way to Chislehurst some time and pray at his grave.
Well done Fr Briggs if only we had more like you.
Is that a Bishop acting as a deacon? It appears that the Bishop is in a dalmatic and is holding the chasuble at the elevation.
JohnW: Shhhh! I think that may be a bald spot. Don’t tell anyone.
When will someone write a biography of Michael Davies and his work? Besides Archbishop Lefebvre, he was the most important figure in the Traditionalist movement and, humanly speaking, the person most responsible for the return of the Latin Mass.
I don’t know, but it seems to me as if the vestments of the group shot are different from the vestments at Mass in the first pic. Could it be that the photo with His Excellency were taken after another Mass or celebration with Fr. Biggs?
diffal says:
This is the second picture in a few days where I have found it difficult, if not impossible, to tell which form of the Roman Rite is being celebrated from the Pictures alone. I find that very comforting, and indeed a great sign for the future.
In the picture the subdeacon is lifting the the celebrant’s chasuble at the elevation. At this point in the Extraordinary Form the subdeacon would be kneeling on the bottom step holding the paten in the humeral veil.
Christophe – I too cannot say enough good things about Michael Davies. He was tremendously important. But don’t forget Hamish Fraser, and his son, Anthony. Michael Davies would be the first to point out Hamish, especially. There are many others, as well, but I think these men were at the forefront in the fight to preserve what is now called the Extraordinary Rite. I find it interesting in listening to their talks which were done anywhere from the 1970’s to the early 2000’s, that they often speak of Cardinal Ratzinger, before anyone even suspected he would be pope, and how supportive he always was of the Tradionalist movement.