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On Wednesday 20th September, our Bethany Group went on a Mini Pilgrimage around our four churches. Starting at Our Mother Church at Liskeard, Saltash, Torpoint and Sclerder Abbey and then returning to Liskeard. We took with us our Peace Dove which had been given to Fr Gilmour on a Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, he had taken with some of our parishioners back in 2019. At each of the churches we were given a warm welcome the peace dove was placed in front of the altar and a prayer for peace was said. At Sclerder Abbey Fr Richard kindly joined us with our prayer for peace and conducted Benediction for us – it was beautiful to sing the ‘Tantum Ergo’ again. The Peace Dove is now doing a tour of the four churches and for November it will be visiting Saltash ‘Our Lady of Angels’.
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As part of Liskeard unlocked 2023 and the Heritage Trail in Liskeard, Our Lady & St Neot church on Saturday 9th September opened its doors. There were photo boards and information on the history of the church, with stewards on hand to guide and give information about the church. Also on display were church vestments, many of which having come from the Holy Land. Also on display upon the altar were the church’s silverware, items used for church celebrations of the Sacraments. Refreshments were available and all donations are to be given to Historic Churches.
Our story begins in the Narthex {porch} with the holy water stoup, just inside the entrance door. This consists of a heavy stone basin, bearing on one side a rudely carved face with a gaping mouth. This basin dates from the 13th century and is said to have been the recipient basin of the water of the Holy Well of St Cleer, given to the church in 1889. It is mounted on a Portland stone column, resting on a granite base bearing the inscription “Iterum Deo Servio”, meaning “Again, I serve God”. Also in the porch on the table is a model of a tin mine and a floral display representing the fiery furnace where the molten tin and copper was melted. This represents the history of our church when our Catholic population grew, needing to enlarge the church in 1863 with designs from Joseph Hansom {the inventor of the Hansom Cab}. Many Irish families fleeing the potato famine in Ireland {The Great Hunger} came seeking employment in the copper mines on Caradon Hill. Every Sunday 200 miners and their families walked from the mining areas around Bolventor, Minions and Pensilva on Bodmin Moor to hear Mass in our church. Walking through the wooden door and reconstructed wooden screen – formerly in the church of St Martin of Tours in Liskeard – this post-Reformation Gothic screen is one of several legacies secured by Fr. George Graham during his incumbency in the 1880s. Entering the church and walking up the aisle to the altar on either side can be seen photo boards displaying photos of the old church, vestments and stoles on display and our Mayer’s of Munich, dated 1886, stained-glass window. This was a gift of remembrance of Joseph Francis Kaupp, a local jeweller and benefactor of the church, residing in Higher Lux Street, and his wife Bridget.  Our window is a fine example of Victorian Gothic and as can be seen in our window broadly speaking, the Munich Pictorial Style; romantic and owed much to the revival of religious painting – especially fresco painting in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance masters especially Masaccio, Raphael, and Michelangelo – in Germany early in the 19th Century. It represents an aesthetic that was evidently prized in its time for its craftsmanship and opulence as well as for its ability to engage the viewer emotionally and spiritually. Our six chasubles displayed are generally a representation of the liturgical calendar’s time of the year. Colours of the church year follow a set pattern as the seasons change through Advent, into Christmas and Epiphany-tide, followed by Ordinary Time then into Lent and Easter and back through Ordinary Time to the beginning of the Church Year in Advent. White represents the pleasure and purity that comes from faith. It is one of the most popular colours in liturgical vestments worn by priests daily, regardless of the liturgical season or celebration. These robes are often worn during Christmas and Easter. They represent Christ’s birth and resurrection. The Pope’s default vestments are white, indicating his position as the closest ally of Christ’s glory. Green, a sign of hope, persistence, and continuing listening, is the most utilized colour at Sunday Masses and weekdays outside of declared festivals. Green is the traditional colour for “Ordinary Time”, the period between Easter and Christmas, and vice versa. It is supposed to express the expectation and hope in Christ’s resurrection. Green represents the optimism and life that each new day brings. Purple is especially popular during Advent and Lent. Purple liturgical garments distinguish the Mass for the Dead, and they can be substituted by black vestments. Purple signifies penance, preparation, and sacrifice when worn during Lent or Advent. Because of its association with mourning, it is frequently worn at funerals. Purple vestments, along with white and black, are worn to encourage funeral attendees to pray for the departed’s penance and absolution. Red represents Christ’s passion and the bloodshed in martyrdom by Him and the Saints. This is used for liturgical vestments on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Pentecost, commemorating the Lord’s Passion and feasts of the Apostles, Evangelists, and Holy Martyrs. Cardinals wear red to demonstrate their loyalty to the Church and the Pope. It is to represent the blood they would bleed for Christ and the Church. Rose vestments are only worn twice a year, on the third Sunday of Advent {Gaudete} and the fourth Sunday of Lent {Laetare} and represents joy and solemnity. Certain colours {pink} are worn on these days to represent Christ’s joy and love. They are intended to remind Catholics of the joy of penance and devotion. It is worn during martyr’s feast days, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, and Pentecost. Blue vestments are only worn once a year, on the Feast of Mary. Blue is used especially for celebrations in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mostly in Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries.
The chasubles and stoles pictured were mainly made by Palestinian women in the refugee camps situated in the Occupied Territories of the region. The Holy Land Benevolent Arts Society – a small charity based in the old city of Jerusalem – runs a small shop in the Via Dolorosa {the traditional Way of the Cross} - tries to find work for the refugees to encourage the learning of traditional needlework skills. Making vestments to be used at Mass allows their beautiful handwork to be sent to different countries and serve as a continuing reminder of the hardship facing refugees. The stole is an item of liturgical clothing worn by priests and deacons as a sign of their office. A stole is always worn when celebrating a church service or administering the sacraments. Often, they are not seen as they will be covered by a cloak or a chasuble, and usually they are the same colour that the liturgy of the day demands. When worn alone they will reflect the celebration, i.e., white for a wedding or baptism and purple for a funeral. Sometimes local craftworkers produce multi-coloured stoles for use on suitable occasions and come in all colours and patterns, and designed for specific uses and occasions including baptism, marriage and death but also for industrial chaplains, chaplains to sea scouts etc. In terms of decoration, only one cross is essential on a stole, at the back of the neck. No rules exist as to design or ornamentation, meaning that all clerical dress stoles show the widest variation of decoration, colour and interpretation as far as design goes, and are frequently highly decorated with figures or patterns in gold and stones. The chasuble, cloak, and many stoles displayed were greatly commented on by all who came in to view them and many photos were taken of them and the church. Some of the stoles displayed came from the Holy Land. A white stole from Israel depicting the Jerusalem Cross and wheat and grapes a reminder of the Eucharist. This stole would mainly be used when Holy Communion is brought to those who are housebound or in hospital. Another white stole comes from Palestine and has been decorated with traditional local needlework. The Jerusalem Cross, a large cross surrounded by four smaller crosses is said to represent the five wounds of Christ, those made on his hands and feet at the crucifixion and that on his side made by the spear. The blue stole was made in England and shows an oak tree, representing the growth from a small acorn into a mighty tree, a wish for the Christian church. The dove and tongues of fire are symbols of the Holy Spirit without whom the growth of the Church will not happen. Also, on display was a multi-coloured stole from Mexico, and a very colourful stole from South America, probably Chile, brought to England by a priest who worked many years in that country. Also, on the altar we had a display of silverware used for celebrations of the Sacraments. The monstrance - which houses the Consecrated Host and plays an important part in Eucharistic Adoration and gives faithful Catholics to pray to Jesus in His very presence through the Holy Eucharistic at parish or during feasts and processions – and various Chalices and Patens – Early chalices were akin to drinking vessels normally in use and were distinguished from these only by ornamentation. Until the Middle Ages it was customary for each church to have but one chalice; since Masses have become more numerous, most churches have several chalices, and a great many priests possess their own. The paten is a shallow plate on which the large host rests at times both before and after consecration. It may be of gold, silver, gilt on the concave surface. Originally, a paten was a very large dish, sometimes of metal but often of wood, from which the Eucharist was distributed to the faithful in the days when unleavened bread was in use. By the 9th century, when Communion of the faithful had become infrequent, the paten was reduced in size and in time assumed its present form. The veil covering the chalice and paten as they are carried to the altar is, at least in the Latin rite, of comparatively recent origin. Not until 1570 was it prescribed for the Roman Rite. Since the reforms of Vatican II, its use is now optional. Finally on display on the altar, is the case containing the three types of holy oils used in the church today. The Church’s rites prescribe that the oils are normatively blessed {or consecrated, in the case of chrism} at the Chrism Mass each year. All priests may bless the oil of catechumens and oil of the sick ‘in case of true necessity’. As evidence of their fruitfulness and importance in our sacramental life, oils take centre stage when they are blessed and consecrated just before Easter, at what is called the Chrism Mass. This provides for the new oils to be used at the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil. The three oils are: - Oil of Catechumens is used at Baptism, and it is said the oil of catechumens extends the effect of the baptismal exorcisms: “Before they go to the font of life to be reborn, the candidates for baptism are strengthened to renounce sin and the devil”. By the anointing with the oil of catechumens then, it can be said that the recipient gains God’s grace and help to overcome the power Satin and sin have over us and profess the Christian faith with boldness, all of which aims toward the newness of life received in baptism. Oil of the Sick is used by priests to anoint the sick: “They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them”. All who receive anointing with this oil receive God’s blessing, as the prayer of blessing says, so “that they may be freed from pain and illness and made well again in body, mind and soul”. Sacred Chrism in the Old Testament was used to anoint priests, prophets and kings. Priests and Bishops today are anointed with sacred chrism at their ordinations. “Let the splendour of holiness shine on the world from every place and thing signed with this oil. After their blessing or consecration, at the Chrism Mass, the holy oils are distributed to the parishes and institutions of the diocese, usually available immediately after the Mass for priests or parish representatives to retrieve. This brings a close to our open day tour of Our Lady & St Neot, Liskeard. More photos available in the slideshow below. |
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