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The Bishop of Chester, John Wilkins (1614-1672), 'an ingenious, mechanically-minded man, had in early life, tried to prove that the moon was habitable and had even invented a locomotive which would sail there'.

Thomas Wilson, age 34, landed on the Isle of Man as its new bishop in 1698 and rebuilt the 'dilapidated episcopal seat, Bishop's Court, and set up drug shops giving free advice and medicine for the island's poor'.

In 1717, 'the Bishop of Exeter, Dr Blackall, died after fall from his horse. He was replaced by Dr Lancelot Blackburne, a boisterous man who had served as a chaplain on a ship and engaged in buccaneering and who was to shock his vicars by calling for pipes and liquor in the vestry after a confirmation service'. After he became Archbishop of York, he was said to have kept a harem at Bishopthorpe Palace.

. . . and a few others at Anglicans Online this week.

Labels: Anglicanism, clergy

Labels: church music, hymn, Jesus, Stainer

Sinden.org very nearly missed out on recognizing that today is National Onion Rings Day. Sadly, we didn't consume any onion rings, but we will be prepared for next year.

June 22, together with July 13 (National French Fries Day) represent the two great feast days of American fried side items.

Question: Is July 13 "Jour du pomme frites" in France?

Labels: food

The quasquicentennial (125th) of John Stainer's marvelous oratorio The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer will be Friday, February 24, 2012.

This anniversary is full of liturgical connotations. Firstly, Friday is the ideal day to sing about the crucifixion of Jesus, quasquicentennial or not. The work was originally premiered on the Thursday after Ash Wednesday in 1887. Fittingly, Feb. 24, 2012 is the Friday after Ash Wednesday.

You are fully encouraged to join me in this Victorian musical/liturgical commemoration.

Or, in the (altered) words of the Prayer Book:

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the John Stainer, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and recitative; by prayer, fasting, and organ accompaniment; and by reading and meditating on W. J. Sparrow Simpson's words. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer, and sing The Crucifixion.

Labels: Stainer

Labels: hymns

Long-term planners, rejoice!

Kelly Puckett has posted her 2011 Liturgical Calendar

Alarmingly, there are nine Sundays after Epiphany.

Labels: lectionary, web

American composer David Diamond died on June 13, 2005.

I marked the 5 year anniversary of his death Sunday with a performance of the second movement of his Symphony for Organ ("Adagio cantabile, quasi lento") as the opening voluntary at the cathedral.

His obituary in the Boston Globe notes the "intensity" of his [orchestral] symphonies. This intensity is also to be found in his symphony for organ, and it is perhaps a unduly neglected piece of dense, yet persuasively intense and quintessentially American music.

Labels: David Diamond, organ music