Ramsgate's not all bad

Ramsgate (aka Simony-on-Sea) is not all bad. It is a pleasant South East England seaside town, one of the five Cinque Ports.

It has been in the news quite a lot recently over the scandal of some rather ancient and beautiful altar vessels that the Monks of Ramsgate (now removed to Chilworth) had placed in the hands of auctioneers.
The chalices, monstrance and ciboria have been saved (DG) H/T to  Fr Tim and Fr Ray who guide to this press release HERE

But, as well as being a good place to enjoy a fish and chip supper or a dip in the sea, preferably before the aforesaid supper, Ramsgate is so very well endowed with Extraordinary Form Masses.

St Augustine's Abbey Church has EF Masses every Friday and Sunday and St Ethelbert's has one every Wednesday morning.

A pity that St E's can't manage a Sunday one.

This parish is under the guiding hand of Fr Marcus Holden, well known on the Catholic Media circuit for his excellent work.
What is more, Fr Holden originates from Pembrokeshire, close to Tenby, in fact.

And, yet more info - I had the privilege of serving at Fr Holden's first EF Mass celebrated at Our Lady of the Taper, Cardigan. a few years ago.



Here is a glimpse of a Mass held at the Abbey church of St Augustine described as being one of Pugin's gems,  Fr Holden is the celebrant at this wonderful Byrd Mass.

Who would opt for an OF Mass after witnessing this?

NB Apologies for confusing St Ethelbert's with St Augustine's earlier, this has now been corrected.

No greater love hath a woman...

                                               The Ring of the Lord

....than to surrender her wedding ring as a literal immolation so that its precious metal may be re-fashioned into a chalice, monstrance or ciborium to be then consecrated by a Bishop and used to contain the Sacred Species.

This was once a fairly common practice; my own mother gave up her wedding and engagement rings for that purpose when Campion House was in the process of being established and there was a need for altar vessels. So did many other women around Great Britain. Campion House was a seminary for late vocations and a highly successful one it was until the decay set in - you can guess the rest.

Now it's probably a Tesco carpark.

But, in the light of the Ramsgate scandal it is good to know that this great sacrifice is still treasured and commemorated by the parishioners of a shrine to Our Lady, North of the Border, at Our Lady of Carfin to be precise.

Now, due to Carfin's copywright restrictions, I can only direct you to the website which you will find HERE

The details are a little imprecise as the impression is given that this is a fairly recent event but, then you read that Pope Pius XI blessed the monstrance (in this case the women of Scotland gave up their jewellery for this most precious vessel, reserving the wedding rings for the part of the monstance that holds the Host). So, with a little bit of what used to be called arithmetic, I estimate that it must have taken place about some time ago.

Anyway, the Church of St Francis Xavier and Carfin Grotto would be a must if you are venturing North of Watford on some jolly or other.

While monstrances are the topic of the day I recall a story told by a Catholic priest friend about a non Catholic attending Benediction.
Afterwards they asked of the priest "What was that you were holding up when the bell rang?".

"It was a monstrance" replied the priest.

"No it wasn't it was beautiful" came the reply.

How long before we have this?

Buy it now

Of course, we have it already, there are dozens of chalices for sale on Ebay, some Catholic and consecrated and others not.

It is regrettable but inevitable. What is not inevitable is that a Catholic should offer a sacred or blessed item for sale.

Holding the sale in an upmarket auction room in Gloucestershire as opposed to  Ebay or, for that matter, at a car boot sale, does not make any difference - the fact is that to do such a thing is a most grave and serious sin. Simony.

H/T New Advent

Simony is usually defined "a deliberate intention of buying or selling for a temporal price such things as are spiritual of annexed unto spirituals". While this definition only speaks of purchase and sale, any exchange of spiritual for temporal things is simoniacal. Nor is the giving of the temporal as the price of the spiritual required for the existence of simony; according to a proposition condemned by Innocent XI (Denzinger-Bannwart, no. 1195) it suffices that the determining motive of the action of one party be the obtaining of compensation from the other.

How to treat a chalice that has been an issue of sacrilege.

There is only one way to treat a sacred vessel (I am thinking ahead here of the final stages of what is becoming the Ramsgate Benedictine Scandal) where it  has been subject to sacriligious use.

Archbishop Sheen gave the example of a chalice that had been sold and subsequently used as a cocktail 'glass' or beer cup in a night club.

According to the great man one must take the cup and return it to the furnace, melting it down so that the sin of its desecration would be cleansed by fire, just as you might, in a case of emergency, apply a red hot iron to an infected wound.

Then and only then, it can be recast and shaped and annealed so that it returns with its old substance but cleansed and in a new form.

And, then, of course, it must be consecrated anew by a Bishop.

Picture: Fr Z

Would someone please tell the Benedictines of Chilworth that please?