LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford: "Flos Carmeli, vitis florigera, splendor caeli..." - "Flower of Carmel, tall vine, blossom-laden, splendour of heaven..."

Main Shrine, which is to Our Lady, at Aylesford

I attended the Latin Mass Society's Pilgrimage to Aylesford Priory yesterday. It was a gloriously warm day, the sun was shining and the Kent countryside really was stunning to behold. Fr Tim Finigan (The Hermeneutic of Continuity) celebrated Mass, gave a spiritual conference on the Four Last Things and ended the day with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament before enrolling pilgrims into the Brown Scapular (using the Latin formula).

As well as enjoying the more prayerful aspects of yesterday's pilgrimage, it was also very good to catch up with some blogging friends, including Mac McLernon (Mulier Fortis), Paul Smeaton (Smeaton's Corner) and Sean (Juventutem London).

The medieval bridge at Aylesford

The ancient village of Aylesford overshadowed by the Norman church of St Peter and St Paul's

The River Medway - "Let the rivers clap their hands" (Ps 98:8)

It was my first time at Aylesford Priory, so I became a bit trigger-happy with the camera - the fruits of which make up most of this post. Having said that, I decided not to take photos during the liturgies, though believe that some proper photos and reports might soon appear on Joseph Shaw's blog (LMS Chairman), as well as on Mulier Fortis and Juventutem London.

Aylesford Priory in the background, its duck pond in the foreground 

The Priory Gatehouse

The Pilgrim's Hall and Guesthouse

The medieval Prior's Hall

The Sung Mass was scheduled to start at 12:30, and I managed to arrive around midday - having first watched the first-half of the Wales v France Rugby World Cup semi-final game. It was practically standing-room only by the time I entered the Relic Chapel, which houses St Simon Stock's skull in a magnificent reliquary. But Mass was delayed by a few minutes, as the coach on which most of the pilgrims were travelling was running late. By the time the bus and its many pilgrims arrived, the medieval-like chapel really was standing-room only!

The Relic Chapel, with St Simon Stock's ceramic Reliquary behind the altar

Pilgrims asking for St Simon's intercession and help

Introibo ad altare Dei

St Simon, pray for us! Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!

It was quite special to assist at an old rite Mass that was set to very early Church music, and which was celebrated right in front of St Simon Stock's relics. The schola, Cantus Magnus, sang Guillaume de Machaut's mid-14th century Messe de Nostre Dame as well as John Dunstable's early 15th century motet, Quam pulchera es et quam decora. The hauntingly beautiful music, as well as the ceramic wall-paintings, the Reliquary and the ancient liturgy of the Church all combined in a most moving way to transport my soul beyond today's rather materialistic world. In that sense, yesterday is the closest I've been in quite some time to touching the the face of that form of Christianity which comforted and strengthened my medieval forebears!

The Chapel of the Carmelite saints

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel with SS John Fisher and Thomas More - the former
martyr was Bishop of Rochester (which would have contained Aylesford)

The Chapel of St Anne - containing images of Our Lady as a child. This Chapel
used to house a 15th century statue of St Anne with Our Lord and his Mother by Riemenschneider,
but I couldn't find it yesterday.

The Chapel of St Jospeh

It was also quite a privilege to attend Mass on the feast of that great reformer of Carmel, St Teresa of Avila, in what is historically one of the most important Carmelite friaries in the world. As Fr Finigan pointed out during his homily, Aylesford is the major shrine to the Brown Scapular throughout the world, for it was there that Our Lady appeared to St Simon Stock in 1251, telling him in a vision that the scapular she was giving him would ensure the salvation of whoever died wearing it. In other words, it was at Aylesford that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, confirmed her motherhood over the Carmelites and, by extension, over those who join them by persevering in the Order's tertiary vocation.

I hope to write some more about St Simon and the history of Aylesford Priory in the not so distant future. But for now, I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos from Aylesford. I also hope that you, too, may experience the wonder, stillness and peace that seems to occupy this important ancient shrine - if you haven't already been there, that is. It is surely one of English Catholicism's most precious hidden gems - a pearl of great price buried deep within in the Garden of England.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us
St Simon Stock, pray for us
Blessed Titus Brandsma, pray for us

NB - The title of this post comes from the famous Marian hymn, Flos Carmeli, which might have been written by St Simon Stock at Aylesford in the 13th century. The words appear on the Saint's Reliquary]