Lent / Easter Special Events and Pilgrimages

Annual LMS Pilgrimage to 
Our Lady of Caversham


Date for 2020: Saturday 21st March
Votive Mass of Our Lady
Mass will be accompanied with polyphony by the Newman Consort, 
and chant by the Schola Abelis.

The church is located at 2 South View Avenue, Reading RG4 5AB: click for a map.

Mass is at 11:30am and followed by a hot buffet in the parish room.

Caversham is over the river Thames from Reading, and forms the southernmost tip of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. This the diocese's official Marian shrine, the restoration of a very ancient and prestigious medieval shrine, visited by many Kings and Queens of England including Catherine of Aragon, and dating probably from before the Norman Conquest. The restored shrine was consecrated in 1958, and the fine shrine image, a medieval Madonna and Child from northern Europe, was crowned by Papal mandate in 1996. (More on the shrine here.)

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The Shrine chapel, where we had Missa Cantata in the earlier years of the LMS Pilgrimage.

Although it is impossible this year, the LMS Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham usually coincides with the Ember Saturday of Lent. It is rare for the liturgy of any of the four Ember Saturdays to be celebrated with full solemnity, and that is what we do: High Mass with all the readings (there is also a 'short form' option).

There are five Prophecies (Old Testament readings), followed by the usual Epistle and Gospel. Each Prophecy is followed by a Gradual chant, except one which is followed by the wonderful Song of the Three Young Men from the Book of Daniel.

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High Mass at the High Altar in 2015
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Mass in Holy Trinity Hethe for Laetare Sunday

In 2020 the date is Sunday 22nd March
Laetare Sunday, 'mothering Sunday', the 4th Sunday of Lent, is the Sunday which in ancient times the Pope celebrated Mass in St John's Basilica in the Lateran, the mother church of Christendom. Priests can wear rose coloured vestments.

Holy Trinity Church is on Hardwick Road, Hethe OX27 8AW. (Map)

Mass is at 11am and followed by refreshments in the parish hall.

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