St Mary's, Bourne Street

The Beauty of Silence
Fr Roger Turner

The Beauty of Silence (Fr Roger Turner) Fr Roger Turner's sermon from the High Mass on the Eighth Sunday after Trinity.

St Mary's has been featuring in videos from the YouTube channel Heraticious. Have you seen them yet?

Here's the first, with Fr Sam Korn taking you around St Mary's.

The "Naughty" Church - St Mary's Bourne Street, Belgravia Bourne Street is my first “comment” recommended visit (thanks ). My visit followed hard on the heels of my visit to St Olav’s (see the last ...

It's a "farewell", of a sort, in today's Ave (but do remember our upcoming Study Day!).

This Sunday has our choir singing Mozart, Elgar and Vaughan Williams, with Fr Roger Turner in the pulpit.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. We say farewell to Fr Roger this Sunday, as he leaves us to serve in a parish much nearer to his home. Its been a privilege to make the journey of discernment with him as he moved through the selection process towards ordination, until his priesting last month, and we will miss his and Je...

Technology takes centre stage in this week's Ave: video tours, a re-vamped parish website, and the Vicar's enduring ignorant bliss.

Mass this Sunday has music from Victoria, Gibbons and Byrd, while Fr Chris Newlands is preaching.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. Fr Sam’s skills on the technological front have always far outstripped my own - from live streaming to social media and back again. More recently he has been on film himself, taking part in a series of splendid church based interviews with the channel Hereticatious. The first of these i...

The Whirlwind and the Cross
Fr Sam Korn

The Whirlwind and the Cross (Fr Sam Korn) Fr Sam Korn's sermon from the High Mass on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 23 June 2024.

Liturgical propriety, aesthetics and the best way to hide a burn mark: the challenges of a new sanctuary carpet are discussed in this week's Ave.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. The new sanctuary carpet that the PCC commissioned a while back has finally been installed this week, having been especially woven for us in a workshop in Peshawar, Afghanistan (near the border with Pakistan).

Discussions of the pulpit (going nowhere) and the parish archives in this week's Ave, along with news of events in the next few weeks (weddings, barbecues, ordinations, festivals). This Sunday we have Mozart's Spatzenmesse, with other music from Wood and Loosemore, and the Vicar in the (still stationary) pulpit.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. From time to time members of the congregation write in or raise issues they would like PCC to consider and unusually in recent months we have had quite a number of such requests. The first was to consider moving the pulpit back a pillar to by the communion rail - mainly to improve the sig...

Finzi's "Welcome, sweet and sacred feast", sung by our choir at the Corpus Christi Festival a couple of weeks ago.

https://youtu.be/-zAoY5dRLq8?si=EwrKM72KKLWloQt3

The morning after is occupying the Vicar's mind in this week's Ave. News also of Fr Roger's ordination, and the Dedication Festival in July, with Bishop Rowan Williams preaching.

This Sunday we have Fr Chris Newlands preaching, with de Rore, Monteverdi and Guerrero from the choir loft.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. I always rather enjoy the clear-up after the Corpus Christi festival. It’s all very much morning-after-the-night-before: the church nave is almost transformed into a woodland walk, crisping leaves underfoot, while in the sacristy cast-off vestments cover every surface, with lace albs an...

The olive trees return from Newbury; the sanctuary carpet arrives from Afghanistan; the Corpus Christi carpet of foliage and flowers is in train; and it's the small matter of our feast of title this Sunday morning.

A particular reminder of our Corpus Christi festival this Sunday evening, 6pm, with solemn pontifical evensong, processions and benedictions.

All this and more in Ave.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. There should be two arrivals from foreign parts over the next few days. The first is the olive trees making another, and we hope final, bid to return home.

Flowers and vestments all week at St Mary's, with many visitors and suggestions of ballroom dancing. Meanwhile, this Sunday is the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, with music at the High Mass by Rheinberger, Stainer and Sheppard.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. One of the joys for me of this our Vestment and Flower Festival exhibition week has been to see and enjoy the nave of St Mary's without the presence of any chairs. The spatial quality of the interior really stands out as remarkable and I hadn't before appreciated fully our floor tiles and...

A lovely article in today's Church Times about our festival of vestments and flowers.

Your last chance to visit is tomorrow morning!

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/31-may/books-arts/visual-arts/visual-arts-a-festival-of-flowers-and-vestments-st-mary-s-bourne-street-london-sw1

The catalogue was designed and laid out by Fr Sam Korn, our Assistant Priest, and is available, free, at this week’s exhibition, which ends 1pm Saturday. Yesterday afternoon, one visitor to our exhibition found a peaceful corner of St Mary’s where she curled up in a chair and spent an hour reading the entire catalogue, cover to cover. The peaceful calm of the church and quiet murmur of visitors certainly loans itself to quiet contemplation, and we welcome all visitors to sit a while and enjoy the unique calm of this beautiful and hidden space.

We are so fortunate, at St Mary’s, to have a such a talented congregation and clergy. This beautiful watercolour of the high altar at was painted by our Curate, Fr Roger Turner, and has been reproduced in our full colour 35-page Festival of Flowers and Vestments catalogue.

St Mary’s Bourne Street is very proud to announce that our Festival of Flowers and Vestments, marking our 150th year, has been awarded Gold by the judges of Belgravia in Bloom! We offer our sincere thanks to the judges from and . Our thanks also to the Peter Jones branch of John Lewis, who kindly loaned mannequins, and to all of our excellent volunteer florists and organisers, who have given their time and expertise!

Our olive trees came so close to making it back in time for our Vestment and Flower Festival this week. Meanwhile, this weekend is the great feast of Pentecost, with Palestrina, Victora and Tallis at the High Mass, and Purcell, Palestrina (again) and Sheppard at Choral Evensong.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. The olive trees made a bid to return home to Church this week but unfortunately they seem to have so enjoyed their time away that they have outgrown their transport (in weight as well as height!): other arrangements are being made and they should be with us within the next few weeks.

The Vicar is in search of a lock-pick and concerned about a lack of energy at the Peace. Also, music as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music and Fr Rob Mackley as our guest preacher. All this and more in Ave.

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. I have been remembering that (for whatever reason!) quite a number of us at theological college were proficient in the art of picking locks. This art seems to have deserted me in later life - since I found myself fruitless contemplating the large locked noticeboards we used to use for the...

28 April-Easter 4
9am Low Mass
11am High Mass
Missa Brevis in B flat, Mozart
Motets: Byrd and Pitoni
Preacher: The Vicar
Live-streamed: https://www.youtube.com//streams.
6pm Evensong & Benediction
News about dust sheets, pictures, upholstery and so much more here:
https://mailchi.mp/62e8368f7762/ave-newsletter-from-st-marys-bourne-street-16072682?e=6672a34549

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. Scaffolding has been removed from the Presbytery at last; roof and window repairs being finished; and the redecoration of the library and sitting room are being completed. Slowly the inevitable and returning tides of dust are being mopped away, while paintings are being put back into plac...

Early evening concert (not too long!). Make your own dinner arrangements but fizz will be served afterwards.
Tickets available on the door or here: http://stmarysbournest.com/gala

A matter of taste: Fr Sam Korn's sermon from this morning's High Mass.

A matter of taste (Fr Sam Korn) Fr Sam Korn's sermon from the High Mass on 21 April 2024, the Third Sunday after Easter.

Palestrina and Byrd from the choir today, Fr Sam Korn in the pulpit, on this Good Shepherd Sunday.

Third Sunday after Easter: High Mass and Sermon The St Mary's Choir is singing Palestrina's Missa Brevis, along with Byrd's settings of Laudibus in sanctis and the Ave Verum.The Vicar is celebrating; Fr Sa...

An Easter Monday treat: the St Mary's choir singing the Regina Coeli from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, at yesterday's High Mass of Easter Day.

Regina Coeli (Pietro Mascagni) The Regina Coeli from Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana, sung by the Choir of St Mary's, Bourne Street, on Easter Day, 31 March 2024.

The Holy Triduum begins.

The High Mass of the Lord's Supper this evening, with the watch with our Lord. Prayers for all our online community this evening.

High Mass of the Lord's Supper: Maundy Thursday The St Marys Choir is singing the Gloria from Kodály's Missa Brevis, along with Duruflé's setting of Ubi caritas and Tallis's "If ye love me".The Vicar is ce...

Palm Sunday at St Mary's, Bourne Street. "Here and now, with our Lord, is where we need to be."

10.45am Procession & High Mass
Hosanna to the Son of David, Weelkes
Pueri Hebraeorum, Victoria
St Mark Passion, Lassus
God so loved the world, Stainer
Christus factus est, Anerio

https://mailchi.mp/ae4913c90463/ave-newsletter-from-st-marys-bourne-street-15661334

Today is the feast of St Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and patron of the universal Church. In honour of the feast day breaking into the darkness of Passiontide, here's the Sanctus and Benedictus from Schubert's Mass in G major, sung by our choir on Lætare Sunday.

Sanctus & Benedictus from Schubert's Mass in G The Sanctus and Benedictus from Schubert's Mass in G, sung by the choir of St Mary's, Bourne Street, on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, 10 March 2024.

Passiontide begins. Vivanco and Byrd from the choir loft. The Vicar in the pulpit. Images veiled in solemn purple.

High mass at 11am.

Fifth Sunday in Lent: High Mass and Sermon The St Mary's Choir is singing Vivanco's Missa Crux fidelis, along with Byrd's Ne irascaris, Domine and Civitas sancti tui.The Vicar is preaching; Fr Sam Kor...

Released from Romance (Fr Victor Stock) Fr Victor Stock's sermon from the High Mass on Laetare Sunday, Mothering Sunday, on 10 March 2024, at St Mary's Bourne Street.

Rejoice! Lætare Sunday at St Mary's, with Schubert, Rachmaninov, and Grieg. Fr Victor Stock preaching.

Fourth Sunday in Lent: High Mass and Sermon The St Mary's Choir is singing Schubert's Mass in G, along with Rachmaninov's Bogoroditse Devo and Grieg's Ave, maris stella.Fr Victor Stock is celebrating a...

7th Sunday after Trinity

Ave newsletter from St Mary's Bourne Street Greetings. We have this week been preparing to wind up our fund raising work for the Pineapple Project.  We are just £2000 short of our revised target of £1,650,000 and we hope we can achieve this by the time I leave for my sabbatical after the Assumption. Ewan, our ordinand on placement, has als...