The story is doing the rounds that a wall memorial in Salisbury Cathedral had been removed for cleaning or repairs, or something of the like.
Experts in medieval texts are invited to interpret the fragments of writing on the wall, dating from the fifteenth century. Perhaps it will turn out to be a rota for those responsible for changing the candles and cleaning the pricket stands.
The bright red lettering is not on the wall but superimposed on the photo.
Now, let imagination run wild and think of what Dan Brown would have made of this, presumably after finding the Faith through some kind of revelation. Could this be a prophecy of the conversion of England through the Ordinariates and the revival of the venerable Use of Sarum?
Wishful thinking or an intention for our prayers?
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Salisbury cathedral would have to undergo a radical (probably miraculous) restoration/renovation first.
I agree. The old choir screen needs to go back. This is how it was how it used to be.
Don't click directly on the links, but click with your right mouse button and open a new tab in your browser. Otherwise, you will get a little thing going around in circles telling you to wait, and you won't live long enough before the image appears!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FhVR3DNGScA/SI3tw8eNpII/AAAAAAAABWc/03GGN7O256s/s1600-h/1805.pw.interiorofsalisburycathedral.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V9yqOK237Qw/SYeG2g4WXEI/AAAAAAAAA2s/0TPSaiWdfLU/s1600-h/nave_transept.jpg
A photo from 1865
http://www.archidose.org/May00/brand2.jpg
Ironically enough, it wasn't the Reformation that destroyed most of the choir screens, but the Council of Trent on the Continent.
All your talk of Sarum makes me nostalgic, Father! I studied at the old Salisbury and Wells Theological College, and my wife and I lived in a flat at the Archdeacon's house, within the Cathedral Close. I got to know that lovely place so well that I was often a tour guide (disappointing to Americans to have an American guide, but, oh well…), and served as the Deacon of the Mass there on the day after my Anglican diaconal ordination. I also was privileged to play the marvellous old Father Willis organ on many occasions.
Such a wonderful cathedral… I want it back!
Then there's the missing stained glass, the say, 50-60 side altars (including their reredoses/retables), the hanging pyx (if that was the method of reservation), the originally configured stalls, the missing chantries, and all the vestments…
(York is hardly any better – although at least it's retained its screen, the relics of its saint and the original glass; the current state of Canterbury, however, is an absolute disgrace. Does anyone know if the Missale Romanum was used there in pre-reformation times?)
Probably the only place in England with the resources (minus the pulpitum) and with the correct feel, is Downside's abbey church. Westminster Cathedral would be a wildly unsuitable venue.
Somewhat ironically, on those rare occasions when he was in Rome, the bishop of Salisbury was the pope's master of ceremonies.
Yes, it really is quite amazing what was ripped out! To appreciate what happened, the same thing happened in most Catholic parish churches in the 1970's as they were "wreckovated".
The condition of the English cathedrals is such that only the State could afford their upkeep. Please wake me up if England ever becomes a Catholic state. I see little future for the cathedrals, since the cost of their upkeep would be too colossal even for keeping them as museums or cultural centres. Some might have to be demolished in our lifetimes. Even demolition is fantastically expensive. Many churches here in France are simply fenced off and left to crumble and collapse on their own. Once the roof is gone, the rain and frost do the rest to the walls.
The Missale Romanum was not used in any pre-Reformation cathedral or church in England. They generally had the Use of the diocese, though it is on record that Telford parish church (Shropshire) in the 15th century used the Ambrosian Missal. There was little care for rubrical niceties in those days.
The only thing I can say is that we should not dream. Let's concentrate our energies on acquiring churches we can afford to buy and maintain, and put everything we've got into them.