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| Martyrs Mark |
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| Vestment English Martyrs Pray for Us |
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| Fr Philip sprinkles congregation with holy water |
Dear brethren, let us humbly beseech the Lord our God to bless this water he has created, which will be sprinkled on us as a memorial of our baptism. May he help us by his grace to remain faithful to the Spirit we have received. Lord our God, in your mercy be present to your peoples prayers, and, for us who recall the wondrous work of our redemption, graciously bless this water.
God you created water to make the fields fruitful and to refresh and cleanse our bodies. You also made water the instrument of your mercy: for through water you freed your people from slavery in the desert; through water the prophets proclaimed the new covenant you were to enter upon with the human race; and last of all. Through water, which Christ made holy in the Jordan, you renewed our corrupted nature in the bath of regeneration. Therefore, may this water be for us a memorial of the baptism we have received, and grant that we may share in the gladness of our brothers and sisters who at Easter have received their baptism. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
May almighty God cleanse us of our sins, and through the celebration of this Eucharist make us worthy to share at the table of his Kingdom. Amen.
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| Lancaster Royal Infirmary |
On admission to hospital, you will be asked a number of questions, one of which should be about what faith denomination should be included on your official records. In the often hectic and stressful process of admission this particular piece of information can sometimes be overlooked.
It is vital that, on admission, you ensure that you nominate as Roman Catholic and request that this information be included on your hospital record and passed to the hospital chaplaincy office. This will alert the team to your presence in the hospital. Should a patient’s condition deteriorate and become life threatening, either the patient or his or her next of kin should ask the ward staff to page the on-call Catholic chaplain to request a visit.
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| Robert Prevost: Pope Leo XIV |
In his opening address, before he gave the people in St Peter's Square and people throughout the world, he reminded us of the words of the risen Lord,
Peace be with you
and spoke of peace throughout the whole earth and encouraged us all to build bridges and work together for peace.
Please pray for Pope Leo XIV
During his pontificate Pope Francis has invited us to pray for those in need around the world, whilst all his prayer intentions for the year were published the usual monthly video for May is of course not available. However instead a short video reminding us all of those prayer intentions throughout the years has been prepared with those recipients thanking Pope Francis for his prayers and encouragement to us all to pray for ...
And whilst we await and pray for the Cardinals who will discern who will be our new Pope we remember Pope Francis' prayer plan to pray for working conditions
Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfillment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized. Amen
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| Bishop Paul Swarbrick sprinkling congregation Easter Vigil 2024 |
After the greeting the priest blesses the water:
Dear brethren, let us humbly beseech the Lord our God to bless this water he has created, which will be sprinkled on us as a memorial of our baptism. May he help us by his grace to remain faithful to the Spirit we have received.
Lord our God, in your mercy be present to your peoples prayers, and, for us who recall the wondrous work of our redemption, graciously bless this water. God your created water to make the fields fruitful and to refresh and cleanse our bodies. You also made water the instrument of your mercy: for through water you freed your people from slavery in the desert; through water the prophets proclaimed the new covenant you were to enter upon with the human race; and last of all. Through water, which Christ made holy in the Jordan, you renewed our corrupt-ed nature in the bath of regeneration. Therefore, may this water be for us a memorial of the baptism we have received, and grant that we may share in the gladness of our brothers and sisters who at Easter have received their baptism. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
The priest blesses the salt before adding it to the water:
We humbly ask you, almighty God: be pleased in your faithful love to bless this salt you have created, for it was you who commanded the prophet Elisha to cast salt into water, that impure water might be purified. Grant, O Lord, we pray, that, wherever this mixture of salt and water is sprinkled every attack of the enemy may be repulsed and your Holy Spirit may be present to keep us safe at all times. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The salt is then added to the holy water.
The priest sprinkles himself, and then all the congregation, with holy water, asking forgiveness of our sins in preparation to celebrate Holy Mass. During which the choir sing.
When he returns to the altar he says:
May almighty God cleanse us of our sins, and through the celebration of this Eucharist make us worthy to share at the table of his Kingdom. Amen.
Mass continues with the Gloria
Our Holy Father Pope Francis passed away on Monday morning. After leading the Church as the 266th successor of St Peter for 12 years he has gone to his eternal reward.
As a parish we keep him in our prayers, and pray also for those cardinals who have the solemn duty of choosing the new pope. Books of condolence are available at the back of the Cathedral to sign.
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| Book of Condolence |
This is located next to the statue of St Peter holding the keys and is a replica of one in Rome. A reminder of the first Pope and link of continuity with Pope Francis who was the 266th Pope.
The Bishop will celebrate a requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father on Monday at 7pm in the Cathedral. Please make a special effort to be there to show our love and esteem
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| St Peter's Key's |
From a previous Easter Octave post: The peaceful Beauty of Lancaster Cathedral created by a parishioner.