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CHristmas Eve

The service of Nine Lessons and Carols this afternoon at King’s College Cambridge has an extra resonance. It is the last time that the choir will be conducted by Stephen Cleobury who has been responsible for the music over the last 37 years. He was appointed Director of Music in 1982. It is also the […]

Leigh Hatts 
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O SapientIa: setTing out

Today is a turning point in Advent as we look towards Christ’s first coming. By tradition it is said that today Mary and Joseph are setting out on their 90 mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem by foot and donkey. This is about the same distance as the Pilgrims’ Way from Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury […]

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GAUtete SUNDAY

The focus as we light the third Advent candle is on John the Baptist who tells of the coming of Christ. This Sunday’s Gospel reading speaks of ‘a feeling of expectancy’. We are on the cusp of looking expectantly ahead to Christmas On Monday there is the start of the O Antiphon countdown to Christmas […]

Leigh Hatts 
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St Lucy’s Day

“Buns are expressive of religious devotion quite as much as anything else,”  says Melanie McDonagh writing about St Lucy’s Day in The Tablet. Today is St Lucy’s Day, an Advent stepping stone, and in Sweden most people will be enjoying a least one saffron bread roll called a Lussikatter. Parents of young children will have […]

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Holy House at Loreto

At The Church of Our Lady of Loretto & St Michael in Musselburgh today the Sunday congregation sang the parish’s own Loreto hymn. Monday 10 December is Our Lady of Loreto which marks the translation in 1294 of the Holy House from Nazareth to Loreto in Italy.  Lovely imagery depicts the Virgin Mary’s house being […]

Leigh Hatts 
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Immaculate Conception

In Paris lights in a window on 8 December often indicated that the occupant was from Lyon. This evening’s mega La Fête des Lumières  light show in Lyon has grown out of the local tradition of placing candles in windows on the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception doctrine was first developed in Anglo-Saxon England and celebrated […]

Leigh Hatts 
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Immaculate Conception

In Paris lights in a window on 8 December often indicated that the occupant was from Lyon. This evening’s mega La Fête des Lumières  light show in Lyon has grown out of the local tradition of placing candles in windows on the Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception doctrine was first developed in Anglo-Saxon England and celebrated […]

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St Nicholas Day in Italy, Spain and Turkey

In 1885 Father Christmas made his first appearance in a British department store. This was Beales in Bournemouth and his annual arrival during the 20th century was much like the appearance in procession of St Nicholas in the main square of Nancy in Lorraine last Saturday. The French town was crowded with families seeing St […]

Leigh Hatts 
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St Nicholas Day in Italy, Spain and Turkey

In 1885 Father Christmas made his first appearance in a British department store. This was Beales in Bournemouth and his annual arrival during the 20th century was much like the appearance in procession of St Nicholas in the main square of Nancy in Lorraine last Saturday. The French town was crowded with families seeing St […]

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It’s not Christmas yet! #SLOWCHRISTMAS campaign

Leigh Hatts, author of Keeping Advent & Christmas, is calling on churches and businesses to discover the riches of Advent and not celebrate Christmas too early. “Putting up Christmas trees and decorations before Remembrance Sunday or Black Friday is devaluing Christmas,” says Leigh Hatts. “First comes the Advent season of Old Testament prophesies and expectation […]

Leigh Hatts 
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