Dean Hall’s wide-ranging review takes in the queen’s anointing and coronation in 1953, her commemoration of the Slave Trade Act’s 200th anniversary, her 50th wedding anniversary, regular observances of Commonwealth Day and Remembrance Sunday, her historic meeting and prayer with Pope Benedict XVI, and of course the recent royal wedding.
The most significant and meaningful chapter, however, discusses the Royal Maundy, an annual ceremony during Holy Week in which the English monarch gives alms to a large group of poor or elderly men and women. (The older ceremony of foot-washing by the king or queen in emulation of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper seems to have ended around 1730.) The Royal Maundy service celebrated each year includes the following collect as both a description of the queen’s role within it, and a lofty example for those who hear it and read about it:
“Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who hast given thy Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and hast commanded us to love one another as thou hast loved us: make us, we beseech thee, so mindful of the needs of others, that we may ever be ready to show them compassion and, according to our ability, to relieve their wants; for the sake of the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.”
Read it all.
Richard Mammana reviews John Hall's "Queen Elizabeth II and Her Church…"
Dean Hall’s wide-ranging review takes in the queen’s anointing and coronation in 1953, her commemoration of the Slave Trade Act’s 200th anniversary, her 50th wedding anniversary, regular observances of Commonwealth Day and Remembrance Sunday, her historic meeting and prayer with Pope Benedict XVI, and of course the recent royal wedding.
The most significant and meaningful chapter, however, discusses the Royal Maundy, an annual ceremony during Holy Week in which the English monarch gives alms to a large group of poor or elderly men and women. (The older ceremony of foot-washing by the king or queen in emulation of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper seems to have ended around 1730.) The Royal Maundy service celebrated each year includes the following collect as both a description of the queen’s role within it, and a lofty example for those who hear it and read about it:
“Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who hast given thy Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and hast commanded us to love one another as thou hast loved us: make us, we beseech thee, so mindful of the needs of others, that we may ever be ready to show them compassion and, according to our ability, to relieve their wants; for the sake of the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.”
Read it all.