Wednesday, August 08, 2007

BBC Evensong courtesy of pope Alexander Borgia


On Sunday 15 April 2007 the BBC broadcast live a choral evensong from the Dutch Church Austin Friars in the City of London with the Choir of Gonville and Caius College from Cambridge.
The Dutch Church was established in 1550 when the then King Edward VI granted the church of the dissolved monastery of the Augustine Friars to the refugees from the Low Countries.
The Choir of Gonville and Caius College was established 50 years previously, when pope Alexander VI, granted the right to celebrate the divine office to clerical and secular scholars of the Hall of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary the Virgin.

The College of Gonville and Caius was founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, Rector of Terrington in Norfolk. In 1353 his executor, William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, moved it from its original site, now part of Corpus Christi College, to the present site, and gave it statutes. Bishop Bateman renamed it the Hall of the Annunciation of Blessed Mary the Virgin. In 1557 the College was refounded under its present name by John Caius, M.D., a former student and Fellow of Gonville Hall.
A letter of Pope Alexander VI, dated 1 July 1500, reinforces the right given by Boniface VIII to the warden and scholars of the college of the Annunciation of B. Mary the Virgin, who are priests or in sacred orders, to celebrate mass in the college chapel, even with music and raised voice.
On top of that Alexander VI now, at the request of the warden and fellows of the college, establishes that the scholars of Fischewyke hostel (Fyschwick House), and others in the college, who are not in sacred order, may also celebrate divine office in the chapel with music and raised voice.
With this letter Pope Alexander Borgia laid the foundation of the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Text cited from:
Calendar of entries in the papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Pape letters, Vol. XVII, part I. Alexander VI (1492-1503). Lateran Registers part two: 1495-1503.
Dublin Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1994

Entry 343 1 July 1500
Some time ago, Boniface VIII licensed any the then warden (custodi) and scholars of the college of the Annunciation of B. Mary the Virgin in the university of Cambridge (studium Cantabrigie), d. Ely, and all others for the time being in the college and attending it, who were priests or in sacred orders, to celebrate [in] the college chapel dedicated to B. Mary the Virgin mass and other divine offices, even with music and raised voice (cum nota et alta voce), without licence of the local diocesan or of anyone else, as is more fully contained in Boniface's letters.
However, a recent petition to the pope on the part of the present warden and fellows of the college stated that the college has a house, called Fischewyke hostel (hospitium), in another part of the road opposite the college, which lawfully pertains to it and in which scholars studying letters live; and that if the scholars for the time being living in the house, and the fellows and other persons in the college for the time being, who were not in sacred orders, were able to celebrate divine office in the chapel, even with music and raised voice, it would be greatly to the advantage of scholars, house, college and those in it, facilitate the scholars’ study, lessen their opportunities for wandering off, and arouse them to pious exercises, with benefit to their souls and divine worship.
At the supplication of the warden and fellows, the pope hereby establishes and ordains that any the warden and fellows, the scholars of the said house, and others in the college or house for the time being, who are not in sacred [orders] may celebrate divine office in the chapel with music and raised voice; that the warden and fellows may keep, decently, the Eucharist in the chapel and depute a chaplain or other priest, secular or regular, of any order (even mendicant), to administer the sacraments to them and to the scholars and others in the college and house for the time being; and that they may cause the bodies of those dying in the college or house to be committed for burial in the chapel; all without the licence of the diocesan or of anyone else, but without prejudice to the parish church or any other church.

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