London's 100 Best Churches

If the once familiar service of Tenebrae is held at all now it has become traditional to do so on Wednesday of Holy Week.

The name comes from the Latin word for darkness or shadows. The service is a combination of Matins and Lauds for Maundy Thursday sung in anticipation.

The focus of the two hour service is a triangular candle stand known as a hearse with 15 candles –7 on each sloping side whilst on top there is a white candle for Christ. The candles are extinguished one by one as each psalm is finished recalling Christ being abandoned by his followers.

At the end only the white candle at the top of the triangle is burning. This light is then hidden behind the altar whilst the Miserere is sung. Soon after a loud noise is made like a clap of thunder. This is said to represent confusion at Christ’s death or an earthquake at Christ’s death or resurrection. Finally the hidden light is brought back to the pinnacle of the triangle. This represents Christ overcoming death on Easter morning.

Tenebrae can be experienced on Wednesday of Holy Week at:

Brompton Oratory, 6.30pm

St Dunstan-in-the-West, 7pm (in both Anglican and Orthodox Traditions)

All Saints Margaret Street, 7.30pm

St Paul’s Covent Garden, 7.30pm

GOOD FRIDAY
This year Tenebrae will also be sung at 7pm on Good Friday in the beautiful setting of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield.

Bill Bryson has been talking to the new Bishop of Salisbury Nick Holtam at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Watch the film here.

The Revd Nicholas Holtam, vicar of St Martin-in-the Fields, is to succeed the David Stancliffe as Bishop of Salisbury.

Nick Holtam has been at St Martin’s for sixteen years.

The church said today in a statement: “He has led us through significant progress and change. The church is thriving and the English speaking and Chinese speaking congregations have grown substantially; visitor numbers now exceed 700,000 each year.

“The life of the church is supported by the business which extends the ministry of hospitality and welcome, and whose annual turnover is now more than £3.5m. A key achievement has been to lead the organisation through our £36m Renewal Project, which began in 2005 and will finish this year.

“The Annual BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal – for work with homeless people and those in great need all over the country – has grown from £220,ooo in the mid 1990s to £1.5m today. These achievements are underpinned by his gifts as a kind, wise and prayerful parish priest.”

The foundation stone of the present church of St Martin-in-the-Fields was laid by a Bishop of Salisbury in 1721.

Nick Holtam will leave Trafalgar Square on 10 July and be enthroned at Salisbury in early October.

We have entered Passiontide and next Sunday 17 April is Palm Sunday.

There are a number of good outdoor palm processions in London.

9.45am
The St Martin-in-the-Fields procession starts at 9.45am on the edge of St James’s Park just beyond Admiralty Arch. Here the palms are blessed. There will be a donkey, choir and Salvation Army band for the route through the arch and across Trafalgar Square for the entry into church -which on this day and for the week represents Jerusalem.

10.15pm
St Mary’s, Primrose Hill starts on top of Primrose Hill at 10.15am. The procession moves downhill, as the first procession did, for Mass in the church.

10.15am
The Solemmn Mass at St James’s Spanish Place starts at 10.15am in the mews behind nearby Durrants Hotel. The processional route is along along George Street W1 to the church.

11am
Two ancient communities and buildings are linked when Smithfield’s St Bartholomew the Great congregation gathers at 11am in the chapel at Charterhouse for the blessing of palms. The procession will move off at about 11.15am to make its way across Charterhouse Square and down Cloth Fair to the priory church for the Solemn Eucharist.

11am
Southwark Cathedral‘s procession begins at 11am in Borough Market.

Former MP Ann Widdecombe is giving a talk called ‘Strangers and neighbours: wealth and poverty’ at St Mary-le-Bow next Wednesday 30 March.

It is in the JustShare Lecture on Christian Social & Political Thought series and begins at 6.05pm.

Copies of Ann Widdecombe’s books will be on sale.

See page 134.

Nicholas Lloyd’s paintings of City buildings are at St Stephen Walbrook until Friday 1 April.

The exhibition is open Monday to Friday 11am-4pm.

See page 192.

This Friday 25 March is the Annunciation when we look forward to Christmas which is nine months away. It’s a break in Lent when we hear the gloria.

Churches marking the day with a choral celebration include:

1.05pm St Mary-le-Bow
High Mass

12.45 Southwark Cathedral
Choral Eucharist

6.30pm Brompton Oratory
Solemn Latin Mass

7pm St Alban’s Holborn
Sung Mass

At The Annunciation, Marble Arch there is a High Mass at 7pm. This is not in the book but it is now open Tuesday to Friday afternoons and worth a visit. Entrance in Bryanston Street behind the Cumberland Hotel.

There is usually a huge crowd at St Patrick’s, Soho Square for Mass on the eve of St Patrick’s Day. This year the church is closed for the major refurbishment works.

So St Patrick’s Day Masses will will be celebrated next door in the Presbytery Day Chapel inside 21a Soho Square at 6pm on Wednesday 16 March and at 8am, 12.45pm and 6pm on Thursday 17 March.

The Archbishop of Westminster will be at the church’s reopening on Tuesday 31 May at 6pm when The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth is celebrated.

See page 166

Plans for the redevelopment of the Earls Court exhibition site were revealed in Cannes this week. Residents will see the proposals on Friday.

The demolition of the famous exhibition halls will mean a dramatic change within the parish of St Cuthbert’s, Philbeach Gardens. When built the church was the dominant building.

The planned 7,500 homes would mean a dramatic increase in population for the parish.

If Hammersmith & Fulham Council approve the development then work could begin in 2013.

See page 52.

The death of Fr Gerard Irvine who was vicar of St Cuthbert’s, Philbeach Gardens and St Matthew’s, Westminster has resulted in some interesting obituaries in The Daily Telegraph and The Times.

He was at St Matthew’s when the fire severely damaged the church but he took it as an opportunity to build for the future.

Fr Irvine was a familiar figure in Victoria Street and I can recall seeing him with Mary Wilson on a balcony in Ashley Gardens during the first Papal Visit.

I last came across him at St Michael’s & All Angels in Brighton where his funeral takes place next Thursday 27 January at 1.30pm. His body is being received at 5pm on Wednesday to be followed by Vespers for the Dead.

See page 52 and 150.