THE P RTAL
September 2013
Page 17
Historic Mass in Chichester
by Fr Graham Smith
In the
centre of Chichester, in Priory Park, there is a beautiful church. It is known officially as ‘The Guildhall’, but in fact is the church of the Greyfriars, who lived, prayed and worked there from 1269 to 1538. The Church is described by Pevsner as “A very noble fragment” of the original 13th century Friary complex. It is owned by the council, is rarely used and is open to the public only on summer Saturday afternoons.
I felt a great sadness on my first visit that this victim of the Dissolution of the Monasteries had not had a Christian presence in it for so many centuries. From 1538 it was used for City council meetings and as a courthouse. In 1588 four Catholic priests were tried there and two were sentenced to death and hanged a half a mile away.
four Catholic priests were tried there
of St Richard’s, Chichester, would be invited plus laity from St Richard’s and Our Lady of the Assumption, Bosham. We were seriously oversubscribed!
a memorable day
On Saturday, 10th August, a Solemn Votive Mass of St Francis of Assisi was concelebrated by six priests according to the BDW Rite 1. A mixed choir sang the Mass setting by John Merbecke and the motet Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd. The church was full; the mass beautiful. It was a memorable day with so many Ordinariate and Diocesan Catholics moved by the experience of worshipping in this historic Catholic church once again. It was a wonderful example of what can be achieved by Ordinariate groups co-operating; together we made a bit of history.
an historic event
When I moved to Chichester my thought of celebrating mass in it once again was shared with the pastors of the two closest mission groups, Eastbourne and the Isle of Wight/Portsmouth. They agreed that a Catholic mass in Greyfriars would be an historic event likely to attract local interest and publicity, so Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris, Fr Neil Chatfield and I began the planning.
ticket only
Chichester District Council was initially unsure as to whether a religious service could take place there at all, but eventually agreed, subject to a strictly limited number of people attending. Negotiations took place to get the numbers raised to a reasonable figure of nearly 90 but it had to be a ‘ticket only’ event. We then had the challenge of organising all the things necessary to be able to celebrate mass decently. They came from far and wide!
seriously oversubscribed
Next, the question of who to invite? We decided that members and Friends of the Ordinariate from Chichester, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Goring, and Eastbourne would have priority. The parish priest
Mass at Saint Agatha’s Portsmouth with Bishop Philip Egan Saturday 28Th September 2013 at 11am Mass Of Our Lady Of Walsingham