Holy Cross Leicester

Advent Retreat 2019

20th December 20197th January 2020 Fr Matthew Jarvis

20th–22nd December 2019

We hope to see you at our Advent Retreat this weekend, in addition to the regular Mass times:

Friday 7pm Holy Hour

Saturday 8am Rorate Mass (candlelit Sung Mass of Our Lady in the Dominican Rite) followed by free breakfast and Advent reflection

Saturday 12.30pm Advent Retreat Mass, followed by free lunch and Advent reflection

Saturday 2-3pm Advent Holy Hour

Sunday 4pm Carol Service

Reduced Masses this week

15th December 201919th December 2019 Fr Matthew Jarvis

This week there will be a reduced Mass schedule, owing to the Provincial Assembly in Oxford, as follows:

Monday — 12.30 Mass only

Tuesday – 12.30 Mass only

Wednesday 12.30 Mass only

The normal timetable of services will be resumed from Thursday morning.

Thank you for your understanding, and please pray for the Dominican friars in the UK as they meet to discuss their mission for the next four years.

Blackfriars Advent Market – Sunday 1 December

6th November 201910th December 2019 Fr Matthew Jarvis

The Holy Cross Blackfriars’ Advent Market takes place from 8.30am-2.00pm on Sunday 1st December. This is one of our major community and fund-raising efforts so we hope very much you will join us.

Please see the flyers and posters for details of what you can enjoy at the market.

Here are some of the important preparations with which we would appreciate your help:

Sunday November 10 – hand in your bottle bag with any soft or alcoholic bottled drink and collect your raffle tickets to buy or sell.
Sunday November 17 – please collect a ‘sponsorship’ envelope by which you can pledge financial support for the market; bring back your raffle ticket stubs and money.
Sunday November 24 – please bring in your sponsorship envelope and hand to any member of the community.
Saturday November 30 – from 3-6pm, setting up in Blackfriars’ Hall (the large hall in the centre, next door)

Donations of goods can be brought in at any time: good books/dvds; chocolate and sweets; toys and games (especially welcome); bric-a-brac; unwanted gifts; raffle prizes; cakes etc.

Donations for the cake stall can be be brought in at any time – fresh cakes from 3-6pm on Sat Nov 30 or by 8.30am on December 1st.

Thank you in advance for your support 🙂

Rossini Stabat Mater – a Holy Cross celebration to remember

18th October 201923rd January 2020 Fr Matthew Jarvis

“Were you at Holy Cross Priory on Saturday for Rossini’s Stabat Mater? If you were, lucky you, lucky all of us. If you weren’t, I cannot begin to tell you what you missed. And we had Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir as well.” – Roger Cairns, Swannington (Leicester Mercury, Letters page, 16 October 2019)

A historic occasion

The Dominican priory church in Leicester was filled last Saturday (12th October) for a concert celebrating 200 years since the first Holy Cross church was founded on this site in 2019. Over 330 people attended the performance by the Knighton Chamber Orchestra and Coro Nostro Chamber Choir, two local ensembles, also drawing on other local talent for the soloists. The highlight of the programme was the Rossini ‘Stabat Mater’, which in a sense was coming home: in the nineteenth century Holy Cross had given the work its first complete church performance in the UK. So it was a fitting way to celebrate the 200th anniversary.

A thoughtful programme of sacred music

The Rossini was anticipated by a first half of various sacred choral works by Monteverdi (Beatus Vir), Mozart (Ave Verum Corpus) and Bruckner (Locus Iste) among others, selected to highlight the dedication of the church and its consecration for Catholic worship. One Eucharistic motet, the Tantum Ergo text by St Thomas Aquinas, was set by Charles Guynemer, the first director of music at Holy Cross in 1819. As an exile from France, he had been helped to settle in Leicester by William Gardiner, the prolific writer and publisher of hymns. So it was appropriate that the audience all stood to sing one of Gardiner’s tunes (‘Germany’) for the hymn to the Holy Cross, Vexilla Regis. Backed up by the organ and full orchestra, the combined voices of the choir and congregation really swelled the air in the resonant acoustic of Leicester’s largest church.

The historical origins

Professor Patrick Boylan provided historical notes in the programme and expanded these in a pre-concert talk. He explained how Leicester’s Catholics in 1819 were still suffering under penal laws, yet their growing congregation developed a strong musical tradition under Guynemer’s impulse, drawing on the English Catholic style of Samuel Webbe as well as the Dominican chant repertoire. After Guynemer, a succession of outstanding music directors ensured the Holy Cross choral tradition continued through the nineteenth century. Besides the Rossini Stabat Mater, other UK church premieres at Holy Cross included Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C Major and Gounod’s Messe Solennelle St Cecilia.

‘At the Cross her station keeping’

Fr Matthew Jarvis introduced the Rossini with a word about the meaning of the Stabat Mater. This Catholic hymn to the Virgin Mary as ‘Mother of Sorrows’ (feast day 15 September), standing at the foot of her Son’s cross, is well known to those who pray the Stations of the Cross. Fr Matthew invited the audience to contemplate the great crucifix hanging above the sanctuary, showing the Mother of Christ and the Beloved Disciple standing by, so that whatever meaning the music may convey in itself, or by the words of the hymn, might be framed and focused by that vivid scene of love and sorrow.

A word of gratitude

The event would not have been possible without the often hidden work of many faithful members of Holy Cross, including the Frassati Young Adults group, who turned out in large numbers to clean the church, arrange furniture, prepare and serve refreshments, and manage the welcome desks. Their efficient organisation, thanks in large part to the coordination by Jeff Henry, drew several compliments from the musicians and ensured that the large crowd that gathered on the night could relax and enjoy this musical celebration of Holy Cross in its 200th year. While the music received a well deserved standing ovation, perhaps many of those present also went home touched in some deeper way by the mystery of the Cross, the sign of God’s saving love for us.

A selection of photos of the event by Br Joseph Bailham OP:

Pre-concert talk by Professor Patrick Boylan

Conductors Paul Jenkins and Lydia Hind with the soloists, choir and orchestra for the final bow

The great crucifix over the sanctuary of Holy Cross Church, showing the Mother of Christ and the Beloved Disciple standing by

Life and Death and the Catholic Faith: An Introduction to Bioethics

17th October 20196th November 2019 Fr Matthew Jarvis

In collaboration with The Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford

A presentation and discussion led by

Mr Michael Wee
Education and Research Officer at the Anscombe Bioethics Centre

‘Life and Death and the Catholic Faith:
An Introduction to Bioethics’

Wednesday 23 October 2019 at 7pm

Rossini Stabat Mater concert celebrating 200 years of Holy Cross

27th August 201918th October 2019 Fr Matthew Jarvis

Please note there will be a PRE-CONCERT TALK by Professor Patrick Boylan at 7.00pm in the church. Professor Boylan will reveal some of the unique historical connections between Holy Cross Church and the Rossini ‘Stabat Mater’.

To celebrate 200 years of Holy Cross, we are delighted to announce a grand performance of the Rossini ‘Stabat Mater’ on Saturday 12th October, 7.30pm in the Holy Cross Church, LE1 6HW. The Knighton Chamber Orchestra and Coro Nostro Chamber Choir will be joined by soloists Michelle Carlin (soprano), Alice Chambers (mezzo soprano), Richard Roddis (tenor) and Robert Clarke (bass), under the direction of Paul Jenkins and Lydia Hind.

The first half will present choral works by Monteverdi, Mozart, Bruckner and others, followed in the second half (after interval refreshments) by Rossini’s sublime setting of the poignant Stabat Mater sequence. The words of the Stabat Mater draw the listener into the sorrow of Mary the Mother of Christ, standing at the foot of his Cross, a sorrow that emerges hopeful and triumphant through the promise of the resurrection and eternal life.

Holy Cross Church has a unique relationship with Rossini’s ‘Stabat Mater’. Holy Cross was the probable venue for its UK premiere and went on to host annual performances every Good Friday for many decades.

Don’t miss this historic opportunity to hear this impressive work once again in the beautiful setting of Holy Cross Church!

Tickets are available from Eventbrite (click here) and on the door: £12, £10 concessions, £3 students/under 16s.

To view or download the concert poster, click here.

www.holycrossleicester.org

www.knightonchamberorchestra.co.uk

www.coronostro.org.uk

40 Hours of Eucharistic Adoration, 21-25 August 2019

22nd August 201927th August 2019 Gail Neill

We will hold 40 hours of Eucharistic Adoration beginning with the evening Mass at on Wednesday 21 August and ending on Sunday 25 August. The object of this will be to pray for a renewal in our discipleship and ask the Lord’s blessing on our way forward.
The timings are as follows:
Wednesday 22: Mass of Exposition 6:10pm. Adoration until 10pm
Thursday 23, Friday 24: Adoration between 8am and 6pm (Masses as usual)
Saturday 25: Adoration between 10am and 6pm (Masses as usual)
Sunday 26: Adoration between 8am and 7pm (Masses as usual)

Please join us for this time of continuous prayer. There will be various opportunities to contribute to the success of this sacred time of preparation.