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My husband and I went to Rome for our honeymoon. The highlight for us was to receive the Sposi Novelli blessing (Italian for “newlyweds”). The Pope gives the blessing in Latin during the General Audience every Wednesday morning in the Audience Hall. Couples are expected to arrive in wedding attire within 2 months of the marriage. We were seated at the front with lots other brides and grooms. This was a once in a lifetime experience that we won’t forget.
The livestream of our wedding can be seen from the folowing link:
Order of Service
Entrance of the Bride
Trumpet Voluntary John Stanley (1712 – 1786)
Introduction and Welcome
Opening Carol
Once in Royal David’s City
Opening Prayer
First Reading
A reading from the Book of Ruth 1: 1-22
Psalm
Ecce sic benedicetur Cristóbal de Morales (1500 – 1553)
Ecce sic benedicetur omnis homo qui timet Dominum:
et videas filios filiorum tuorum.
Pax super Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord:
May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Second Reading
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 12:31-13:8
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia
Exsultate justi in Domino Lodovico da Viadana (1560 – 1627)
Exsultate justi in Domino, rectos decet collaudatio.
Confitemini Domino, in cithara; in psalterio decem chordarum psallite illi.
Cantate ei canticum novum: bene psallite ei in vociferatione.
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just; praise befits the upright.
Give praise to the Lord, on the harp; sing to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings.
Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.
Gospel
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 2:1-11
Homily
The Rite of Marriage
Exchange of Vows
Blessing and exchange of rings
Bidding Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
Soloist
Ave Maria Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Nuptial Blessing
Final Blessing
Recessional Hymn
Praise My Soul The King Of Heaven
Signing of the Register
Gaude Virgo Maria Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 - 1611)
Exit of the Bride and Groom
Toccata from Symphony No.5 in F Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
Prayer carpets draw our attention towards God. As I was weaving this rug I meditated on my own prayer,
Crucify my feet Lord, so that I shall only walk Your path,
Crucify my hands Lord, so that I only do Your work,
Crucify my head Lord, so that my thoughts are only of You,
Crucify my heart Lord, so that all that I do is in You.
I used traditional Persian/ Kurdish carpet weaving tools and methods of working. I set up a warp on a small loom and created a tufted pile using what is commonly referred to as a Turkish knot. I used a combing tool for beating down the woven rows - which also helps to secure the knots in place. The cutting knife is used to cut the wool to continue tying knots. It also had a small hook on the end for passing the wool through the warp. The scissors had an angular bend to enable the excess wool to be trimmed off and to cut the carpet pile down to the required height. I used lambs wool to symbolise Christ, the Lamb of God.
(4 x 4 inches + fringe)
Using 100% pure lambs wool, dyed brown with brown tapes. Made with hand sewn images the sacread heart and cross (to hang over the front of chest and back).
Here is my first attempt at making a flat woven carpet. I used cotton thread for the warp (vertical) and wool for the weft (horizontal). For my next project I am going to take Pictish key and step patterns and translate them into my weaving using the hand-dyed thread that I made a few months ago. I liked using this table top loom as it made it achievable in a couple of days.
Taking a piece of fabric, roughly 12 x 18 inches, tapering two sides for the ties and a straight hem on the square piece at both ends. I pleated each end of the square piece and slotted them into the ties and sewed together to secure in place. I envisioned what I wanted to create from a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, A Study of a woman’s head (c.1490) and I drew my own version of it in Silverpoint.
Goose eggs painted with water colour and Christian symbols.
My offering for the Feast of St. Brigid
Traditionally, on the eve of the Feast of St. Brigid, the man of the house would go out collecting the rushes and bring them back before the sun had set on the 31st January. He would announce three times an invocation to St. Brigid and the family would respond. The youngest child would carry them into the house.
Once the crosses were made they were left by the window for St. Brigid to bless, along with a blue cloth and red piece of material. Miracle cures of the blue cloth include taking splinters out, saving people from drowning and healings. The red cloth has been said to cure sore tooth’s and headaches. The St. Brigid crosses were kept in the house throughout the year as a protection for the family and to ward off the devil.
Children used to dress up and house call saying, “give us some money to honour the night”, singing songs and wearing white gowns with red crosses painted on their faces.
Relief carving of St. Brigid milking a cow are often seen near farms as she is said to be particularly effective in ensuring a good churn.
Visiting neighbours especially on this night was common. Baking cakes or buns in the shape of a cross were also common ways of honouring the feast.
Holy water collected from St. Brigid Well was also sprinkled around the home and on the perimeter of the field for protection and to keep evil spirits away.
Below is a folk song by Catherine Ann Cullen that’s easy for children to learn,
The Story of Brigid’s Cloak
There was a wise woman, we’re all agreed,
some call her Brigid, some call her Bríd.
She grew up kind and she liked a joke
and she always wore a wee small cloak.
About fifteen hundred years ago,
this strong woman to Kildare did go,
She grew up kind and she liked a joke
and she always wore a wee small cloak.
Now the King of Leinster had fields galore,
So Brigid went knocking on his castle door,
“Would you give us a field by the old oak tree,
to build a church for my friends and me?”
Well the mean old king he gave a roar,
saying, “What kind of fool do you take me for?
‘cos nobody gets as rich as me,
by giving their fields to the poor for free!”
So Brigid smiled “Would you grant instead,
the land as far as my cloak will spread?”
The king laughed loudly at her joke,
‘cos she wouldn’t cover much with her wee small cloak.
To see how far the cloak would reach,
Her four best friends took a corner each.
When she shouted, “Go!” they all set forth,
waking east and west and south and north.
The king was so mad he began to choke,
and out of his ears came puffs of smoke.
His mean old heart it nearly broke,
when he saw the measure of Brigid’s cloak.
But his heart was changed by Brigid’s power,
And his men built her chapel with a tall bell tower.
Now they call it Cill Dara, the church of the oak,
On the land that was covered by Brigid’s cloak.
Made with hand-picked rushes from Ireland.
There are medieval labyrinths that can be seen in the gothic cathedrals of Chartres, Reims and Amiens in France. In the Christian tradition they can represent several things, such as a journey of decent, into a deeper place for prayer and contemplation. Parallels can be drawn with Christ’s, “Decent onto Hell” (also known as the “Harrowing of Hell”). The decent into the underworld brings about a powerful transformation and represents a spiritual death and rebirth. When this occurs, genuine growth and transformation occurs.
I notice how the beginning of this transformation lies the cross. A cruciform shape extended outwards.
In the Christian tradition, the labyrinth can also represent an underground cave or womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The womb in which we are spiritually reborn. The circles can be compared to the turning of a child in the womb during pregnancy.
The Biblical figure of Nicodemus is also associated with the same themes of death and rebirth, as scripture tells us. In art, Nicodemus is often depicted upon a ladder, assisting in the removal of the dead body of Christ from the cross.
During the 16th century labyrinths began to be made with dead ends, or multiple endings, these became mazes. You become lost. This represents a change in world view that was occurring at that time. Labyrinths have only one path to follow, they are complete, whole and contained. Therefore the change must be internal.
The centre of the labyrinth is considered to represent the Holy City or the Spiritual Jerusalem.
This labyrinth was made with salt for ease of use. However this was also symbolic as salt is Biblically associated with sin.
