Northumbrian Christianity and St John of Beverley

This page contains the key handouts for a presentation on St. John of Beverley, a leading Northumbrian Bishop and Monk, who immediately preceded St Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham and trained the Venerable Bede. In some cases, links are provided to sites where the material is,or may be copyright.

Two sessions were provided: the first with background; the second with readings from the period:

0. John of Beverley Intro. Not really a session, but pre-seminar reading and Introduction, giving extracts from Bede's History of the English People and a few other background details. The aim is that those who know nothing about St John of Beverley will be pre-briefed. Designed to be printed out in an 8-page A5 booklet.

1. Session 1: Introduction to the Early Church with map, timeline and where St John of Beverley fitted in (3 handouts JB1; JB2; JB3)

2. Session 2: Practical implementation (JB4), introducing

Celtic-style Prayers from 5-6th Centuries

Celtic Prayers (JB5) based on the Orthodox Service books dating from 5-6th centuries;

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (5-6th century). Probably the closest one is likely to get to what the Celtic Holy Communion was like. This Liturgy is still in everyday use in the Eastern Christian Churches.

Western "Latin" Services. The focus here is on books for daily use - the "Daily Office", which have music for singing - in church or at home.

A modern Service book (a Book of Hours) from the Order of Julian of Norwich

The full Plainchant Psalter (Briggs and Frere) is available on line.

Modern Psalters with Anglican Chant are widely available. Some of the new ones, although they always use the same music for each psalm, are easy to use either in the home or in church.

Plainchant Gradual - Traditional language settings for Holy Communion propers. St. Mary's Press, Wantage. In two files: Parts 1-2 and Parts 3-4

Anglican Use Gradual - More modern propers for Holy Communion.

If you want Gregorian Chant for the full Roman Catholic Daily Offices (4 weekly cycle; excluding Office of Readings), the key publication is the Heures Gregoriennes published in a twin language Latin / French edition in three huge volumes. The Dominicans also publish their Offices (Latin only) in six huge pdf files on free download.

There is also the Monastic Diurnal and the accompanying Monastic Diurnal Noted. Psalms on a 1 week cycle, but cumbersome in practice. The Lutheran Prayer Brotherhood in the USA publish a book of Offices with chants for the psalms, ingeniously arranged so that one can choose to sing the psalms on a 1, 2 or 4 week basis.

Writings from the period, widely used then (and now), and in print today. They have of course all survived 1300 years, although translated into English and other languages.

(Rule of Benedict - brief extract & reading JB7); Full Rule of Benedict; Subscribe to email for daily readings

(Venerable Bede JB8 - focus is on his commentaries (originally in Latin, and designed for Priests) and sermons (originally in Anglo-Saxon and designed for congregations), not the History of the English-Speaking Peoples, which was not his main work, although meticulously researched, and important as a history);

(Desert Fathers JB9 brief readings. Cuthbert was really one of these as was John of Beverley, but most people don't think of them as such). A wide variety of readings are available: mostly one sentence long, and

(Pastoral Guidelines of Gregory the Great JB10 - index only. It is a huge and detailed work about managing people and providing pastoral guidance). Click for Full text of Pastoral Guidelines

Other ideas

Make a pilgrimage on foot to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Contact the Confraternity of St James.

3. Communities - most of which welcome people to join as Friends, Associates, Affiliates, Companions, Tertiaries, Oblates, (which require different levels of involvement, from receiving a magazine to a full rule of life) or indeed to explore a vocation. Best way to progress is to look at their website, and them and pay a visit to one of their services or a quiet day or retreat, and take it from there if interested. All the following are Anglican, but other denominations, notably Catholics, Orthodox and others have formal communities where monks or nuns commit themselves for life (no such commitment is required for Friends etc. - ask - practices differ from place to place). There are many other communities such as the Northumbrian Community, Iona Community where commitment for life is not required.

• Franciscans - Tertiaries, Associates, Affiliates etc cover the country, and have many local branches in addition to Community centres (Friaries). Click for more details of Tertiaries.

• Order of the Holy Paraclete (Whitby). Nuns, with a strong involvement running centres in Africa. Large residential centre at Sneaton Castle adjacent to their main buildings in Whitby. Friends, Companions, Oblates. Click for more details.

• Community of the Resurrection - Mirfield (Yorkshire near Wakefield). Involvement in Zimbabwe. Monks. Oblates, Companions, Friends.

• West Malling Abbey - Kent. Benedictine nuns, enclosed (they rarely leave the monastic premises). Publish twin volume small Office Book (without music) which is very modern, simple and easy to use. Available from their bookshop. Oblates with local groups. Click for more details.

• Alton Abbey - near Winchester. Benedictine monks. Oblates, Companions, Friends. Excellent quiet days. Click for more details.

• Community of St Mary the Virgin Wantage (see above). Click for more details.

Most communities welcome visitors to stay for a few nights, typically for a retreat, but subject to room availability, and allow visitors to share meals with the community, although as the buildings are where the monks or nuns live, there are many private areas. In general other Communities outside the UK welcome visitors, and some, notably Bec Hellouin in Normandy (Benedictine monks) have a magnificent library - including in this case many books in English on a vast library on 4 floors. Italian Communities in particular have an Internet booking system. Some Orders - notably the Dominicans, Cistercians and others have their own service books and Chant (often very old, although more modern than Gregorian or Coptic Chant).

Caution: Content still under production.