A Contrasting High Mass

On Sunday, four of us went to St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton. The present building, which cost £18,000, was commissioned by Fr A D Wagner and dates from 1874. It was designed by local architect Edmund Scott and is the tallest parish church in Britain at 135ft. The style is Italian Gothic and the brickwork is particularly fine. The furnishings are some of the finest examples of the Arts and Crafts movement.

When you first enter, it seems barn-like but the beauty of the high altar and other factors soon dispel this impression. We were there early and were made very welcome and were able to wander around a little before the High Mass.

The High Mass is the most wonderful piece of theatre. It was brought back into some Anglican Churches by the Oxford movement, of which Nathanial Woodard was a member. The idea was to return the importance of the Eucharist, robes and actions etc to Anglican services, that had been lost since the Reformation.

At St Bartholomew's, they have a strong musical tradition. The choir sings a full choral setting of the ordinary at each Solemn High Mass. They have a repertoire of over 40 mass settings, but on this occasion they used Mozart's Mass in F. Unfortunately, the choir was very thin on Sunday as well as the alto ringing in sick that morning! They still managed a very beautiful rendering of the Mass.

We were sitting chatting in our seats, when a bell rang to the right of the high altar, and the procession appeared. It was led by a black-clad man swinging the censor. There were a number of black-clad men, carrying candles, a cross etc. Then came 3 robed priests. As we sang 'Love divine, all loves excelling', they processed to the back of the Church and then down the central aisle to the High Altar. The choir sang the introit. The Epistle was read by a man with a foreign accent, so we were glad to have it printed in the service sheet. The gradual hymn was 'Guide me, O thou great Redeemer', during which the Gospel was processed to the middle of the Church, just beside us. The celebrant read it so it was easy to follow. The Creed followed and then the Sermon, which was excellent.

The Offertory hymn was 'Come down, O Love divine', and that was followed by Intercessions and the Peace. Only the 3 robed men acted that, hugging each other in turn! The congregation did not join in.

As part of the next stage, there was much theatre, bells, swinging of incense etc during the prayer of consecration. The altar rail was up quite a lot of steps and were only across some of the front of the altar. That meant that most of us had no rail and only a carpet to kneel on. Not easy for the likes of me and when I stood up my knees had just about cast! I watched the last people come down and there were 2 who only just made it, and wouldn't have if they had not had a partner to help.

The final hymn was 'Glorious things of thee are spoken' and the usual ending to the service - so I thought. The procession appeared to be going out but suddenly I realised they had stopped at the Lady Chapel and we had Mary, Mother of God, that I only half know and it was not printed out for us. That was the end - or almost!

We had coffee and chatted to some of the parishioners and looked at stuff for sale. Helpers were busy clearing the kneelers and re-organising the chairs, ready for a concert later in the afternoon. Then there was that bell again! A procession was emerging from behind the High Altar, which came all the way to a small chapel at the back of the Church, with the consecrated bread and wine. Everyone but us dropped to one knee, where-ever they were

I may sound a little disrespectful in my account and for that I am sorry. I was deeply impressed by the enormous reverence of the congregation. They were mainly older but there were a few younger people. For me, I can find God more easily in a simple service, but there was no doubt that he was there at that Mass, and all the participants gained a great deal from the service.