The Feast of St Peter and St Paul

El Greco. (1590-1600).Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. 

***This is a cross-post from the Life of Christ site.***

Background

This site (The Life of Christ) was established in 2019 to provide a platform for presenting and illustrating the life of Christ. This was in response to an idea which seemed to speak from the last line of the motto I had adopted in the same year (see below and at the end of each post):

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

I have, D.G., so far produced three versions:

• The first Life followed the format of The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the remarkable artist James J Tissot (1897). The posts began on the 14th of October 2019 and concluded on the feast of the Ascension, the 21st of May 2020.
• The second Life followed the work of l'Abbé Constant Fouard:  La Vie de N-S Jésus-Christ (1880). The first post was published on the feast of Corpus Christi (11th of June 2020) and the series concluded on the 4th of October 2020.
• The third Life followed the Gospel of St Mark, making extensive use of a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. This Life opened on the Feast of St Mark (25th April 2022) and concluded on the 26th of June 2022.

St Peter and St Paul

It seems highly propitious that the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul should fall so swiftly after the conclusion of our series based on the Gospel of St Mark, who was so close to St Peter. I pray, accordingly, that the feast will serve as a suitable launching point for a new series on the Acts of the Apostles, in which St Peter and St Paul feature so prominently. Apart from the natural continuity this offers to the series on the Life of Christ Our Lord, I am also keen to explore my patron saint's life after the Ascension; I have, moreover, long felt a desire to look more closely into the life and writings of St Paul.

Exposition in the chancel of Corpus Christi.
Andy Scott. CC BY-SA. 2018.

The image here shows the chancel of Corpus Christi Church in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. The statues of St Peter and St Paul are set in elevated niches on either side of the altar. Like the rest of the interior, these statues have been extensively and richly restored since the days when I first  knew the church.

Following treatment in King’s College Hospital for an injury received in the Brixton riots in April 1981, I was making my way back home across London when I stumbled by chance upon this church. I decided to pop inside and, quite providentially, I was just in time for Mass. There was an almost palpable atmosphere of reverence and I was especially impressed by the solemn demeanour and dignity of the priest, Father Henry Dodd. I was to return many times and the church was to play an important part in my family, albeit for a tragically brief period of time.

Fr Dodd was especially impressive in his sermons where, without any notes, he displayed a powerful eloquence and an effortless erudition - so much so that some of his expressions remain with me to this day. He had a particularly strong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Blessed Lady. One Saturday each month he led devotions which included all the mysteries of the most Holy Rosary, interspersed with readings and hymns, and which finished with Benediction. This devotion was nicknamed the "Mariathon."

In praying that St Peter and St Paul will, on this their feast day, extend their help to this project, I offer the work to our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son so as to heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins against His Most Sacred Heart and against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour

 

On today's great Marian feast, I have posted this image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help taken from a prayer card which recalls the Redemptorist Mission during Lent 1984 to the church of Our Lady and St Joseph (Balls Pond Road, N1).

Please remember in your prayers Fr Kay, the good and holy Parish Priest in that era, as well as the two Redemptorist priests, Fr Creech and Fr Gallagher.

On a personal note, I offer the Memorare to Our Blessed Mother with special intentions for the members of my family:*

MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem præsidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen.

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

*E, E, K, P, T, E & E; E & A

P.S. Ten years ago to this day, I was in the Brompton Oratory and was present when Fr John Hunwicke said Mass at the Lady Altar. This was his first Mass in full communion. For a summary, see his Liturgical Notes blogspot for today's date.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.