A new song at Tintern Abbey
(photos courtesy of Andrew Hubert von Stauffer)
‘Sing a new song to the Lord,” runs the familiar psalm. So they did on Sunday 9th September at Tintern, but it was also a unique coming together of the new and the old.
The September ecumenical Vespers service, begun in the millennium year, has grown to become a fixture in the calendar, drawing a congregation of up to 500. This year more than 700 people packed the Abbey full from end to end.
The reason was probably the extra dimension of the service – which was certainly something to sing about. For this great crowd would witness the dedication of the statue, completed last week by the Sculptor Philip Chatfield, to re-work the 13th century original so much damaged during the 16th century Dissolution and its aftermath.
As usual the opening procession of clergy and religious into the Abbey church numbered both Catholics (led by Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff) and the Church in Wales (Bishop Dominic Walker of Monmouth) and included the parish priests of the area in which the Abbey lies, as well as the Methodist Prebendary Norman Wallwork (representing also the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary).
The only Cistercian monk able to be present was Fr Peter Claver Craddy OCSO: it was moving to see him carry the processional cross through the Abbey founded here by his Order in 1131.
The singing was led by Anglican Sisters from the Monmouth Tymawr Convent (Society of the Scared Cross), backed up by monks from the RC Belmont Abbey in Hereford and the ‘mixed’ community (both monks and nuns) of the Anglican Benedictines in Burford, whose Abbot, Br Stuart Burns OSB, preached the address.
The reader, and also the leader of prayers during the service were both local people, one a Methodist, the other a Moravian; and the congregation included Baptists and doubtless other denominations too.
An interpreter was there to sign for some of the hearing-impaired, and it was a joy to see that several wheelchairs had managed to negotiate the difficult lie of the land around the Abbey’s precincts; as well as to have a colourful group of medieval re-enactment enthusiasts in costume, who had walked up to the service on a mini-pilgrimage from the little church at Tintern Parva.
Meanwhile the sculptor himself, who has been such a visible presence at the Abbey over recent months, stood quietly among the huge congregation, to look with them at his outstandingly beautiful work, seen against the backdrop of the magnificent Gothic architecture. This was truly his labour of love, now entrusted to the care of the Friends of Our Lady of Tintern and of Cadw, who have still to identify the safest and most suitable site for her permanent abode.
“Truly prayerful”, “truly uplifting’ and “this is the way forward for ecumenical worship” were some of the comments after the service.
As the chanting of the psalms rose serenely amid the great pillars and arches of the ruined Abbey, so many eyes fastened upon the delicate stone figure of a simple Jewish woman of supreme faith, lovingly holding her young Child on her arm for all to see. Only a low rope barrier separated her from the congregation, and the most moving moment of the service came when that space was crossed for the prayer of dedication made jointly by Archbishop Peter Smith and Bishop Dominic Walker.
Fragrant incense – a gift from an Orthodox monastery for the service – tinged the air as a simple anthem was sung by two voices and the statue was sprinkled with blessed water, before a little line of children from local parishes came to lay posies of flowers at Our lady’s feet.
Then came the singing by everyone of the ‘Salve Regina’, the concluding blessing, and the Abbey echoed again to a joyful closing hymn as the clergy procession moved out, followed by the colourful ‘Medieval pilgrims’.
Some people then joined a long queue to see the statue at closer quarters, singing hymns as they filed passed. Others went outside and were glimpsed sitting on the grass giving their hungry and thirsty children an impromptu picnic, while yet more went across to the village Hall for a cup of tea and the chance to purchase some attractive times on sale as momentos of the day and to swell the statue project funds.
The Abbot spoke in his address of the enormous need in our times for people to find quiet and peace. Without some measure of these we cannot live lives of integrity and poise, without which we are often lost, in turmoil, buffeted by events seemingly outside our control.
There is a hunger for God, manifest outside the churches as much as in them. The message of St Benedict is the same as the message of Mary the Mother of Jesus: ‘Listen’. Listen, patiently, perseveringly, trustingly, alone or with others. Learn to recognise the many ways in which God’s reassurance or prompting can come to us – and then do what He, in your inmost heart, leads you to do.
This is what the first Friends of Our lady of Tintern tried to do, when the idea of the statue project came to them. It has borne amazing fruit and it is ongoing. It seems clear that the carving of the new statue is only a beginning.
At the service a direct invitation was made for anyone interest to join them to make contact. You can find out more by asking for an open letter they issued at the service (soon to be available together with the Abbot’s homily, on their website: www.ourladyoftintern.co.uk) and you might like to see an illustrated order form showing items for sale many of which depict the new statue.
The surviving pieces of the ancient statue are authoritatively said to be a great rarity, thought to be the only such survival in southern Britain. They are something of which the local area can be very proud.
Friends of Our Lady of Tintern: 9 Lilac Drive, Monmouth, NP25 5DY. email