The Chantry Chapel of St Michael and the Holy Souls, WalsinghamThe Chantry Chapel is currently open to visitors (though not for public worship) between 10am and 3pm every day. It is possible to light candles and to put requests for 7-day lamps through the Chapel sacristy letter box. Guild literature and prayer cards are on display, but visitors should note that any items handled MUST be retained; as usual, there is no charge for Guild publications, but donations are welcome. No more than TWO visitors are allowed in the chapel at any one time.
The Chantry Priest will continue to offer Mass in the Chapel and all departed members of The Guild continue to be remembered by name on the anniversary of their death, but for the time being this will have to be outside the Shrine's opening hours. To contact Fr Andrew Greany, the Chantry Priest, phone: 07791 632976 Votive Sanctuary Lamps in memory of the Departed
Each lamp is labelled with the name of the Departed and placed on a stand in the Chantry Chapel at Walsingham, where it burns for 7 days.
If you would like a candle,
Please PRINT the name(s) of the Departed clearly and send with a donation of £3.00 per lamp (to cover costs) to: Mrs Maureen Howard, Hillfield Cottage, Warham Road, Wighton, Norfolk NR23 1NZ Cheques should be made payable to: The Guild of All Souls. 
What does the name 'Chantry' mean? |
From the Chantry PriestOne of the distressing effects of the coronavirus crisis is the restrictions which have been placed on funerals. Clergy are unable to conduct funerals in church, and the number of mourners at crematoria is severely limited. The bereaved who are having to self-isolate are not able to attend the funerals of loved ones.
The Guild of All Souls was founded not only to encourage the ancient custom of prayer for the departed, but also to improve the conduct of funerals. In the current situation, realistically there is little that members of the Guild can do in the face of the restrictions; but it is important to pray for clergy who are being called upon to minister to the bereaved in these difficult circumstances. It is to be hoped that many of them will be able to maintain contact with the bereaved, and to offer a Requiem Mass or appropriate Memorial Service for their loved ones when the crisis is over. Holy Saturday is a day whose profound significance as a time of emptiness and loss, of descending ‘into the depths’, is usually lost in the busy-ness of decorating and preparing churches for Easter Day. This year, it seems, without our church buildings, without our liturgies, and with our usual freedoms removed, we cannot escape being plunged into the experience of those who mourned Jesus of Nazareth. We had hoped…and yet for all its desolation, Holy Saturday is a day of hope, and it is very much a day on which to pray for those who have died, that through the grave and gate of death they may pass to their joyful resurrection, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, who is alive and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Though I am unable to use the Chantry Chapel at present, I say Mass at home, and continue daily to read out the names of departed members of the Guild on the anniversary of their death, as well as to pray for the bereaved, and for the dying: particularly for those dying without their loved ones nearby, and for relatives, friends and priests unable to be with the sick and dying. May Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, join her prayer with ours, that by the Cross and Passion of her divine Son we may be brought to the glory of His resurrection. Fr Andrew Greany To read Fr Greany's article published in the current Intercession Paper, click here |
The term chantry is a medieval one and comes from the old French ‘chanterie’, implying chanting or singing. A chantry came to mean several things. Strictly speaking it was an endowment for the maintenance of priests to sing masses for the soul of the founder or his family. A chantry was often associated with a particular altar in a parish church, or with a chapel specially constructed within the church - plenty of these survive in English cathedrals and parish churches. Whilst a chantry was most frequently founded to pray for the soul of an individual or a family, others were co-operative or were formed as guilds. The chaplain of the guild regularly “minded” or recalled the names of departed members, a practice referred to as “bidding the bedes”. Once a year every name on the parish bede-roll would be read aloud at the parish requiem.
Chantry chapels were also associated with almshouses and schools. For instance, many wealthy pious benefactors founded grammar schools whose pupils were taught by chantry priests who would pray for the founder’s soul. Although the Chantries Acts of 1545 and 1547, which abolished the chantries, effectively closed these grammar schools, some were subsequently re-founded and today many an English school can trace its origin back to a chantry foundation, as can some almshouses and hospitals.
At the Reformation, as Protestant ideas began to take hold, so the Chantry priests were prevented from saying the traditional masses for the dead and the term chantry became virtually obsolete until the 19th century, when the Guild of All Souls had at least something to do with its revival.
What is the point of reciting all this old history? Perhaps it is just that we can always learn something from the past. In reading accounts of those old Wills which endowed chantries, it is impossible not to be struck by the way so many of the testators set down in their Wills a solemn declaration of faith, which was not just a pious formality or a convention of the time. It would be unusual to do this nowadays, but why not? This might be something we can learn from the past. Based on those old Will preambles here is a modern version:
I die in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic faith of our Lord Jesus Christ as it has been received and taught in the Church of England. I commend my soul to almighty God and trusting in his mercy, implore forgiveness of all my sins. I beg forgiveness of all whom I have injured and I freely forgive those who desire forgiveness of me.
Members of the Guild might well compose something on these lines for inclusion in their Wills, as an affirmation of their faith.
Chantry chapels were also associated with almshouses and schools. For instance, many wealthy pious benefactors founded grammar schools whose pupils were taught by chantry priests who would pray for the founder’s soul. Although the Chantries Acts of 1545 and 1547, which abolished the chantries, effectively closed these grammar schools, some were subsequently re-founded and today many an English school can trace its origin back to a chantry foundation, as can some almshouses and hospitals.
At the Reformation, as Protestant ideas began to take hold, so the Chantry priests were prevented from saying the traditional masses for the dead and the term chantry became virtually obsolete until the 19th century, when the Guild of All Souls had at least something to do with its revival.
What is the point of reciting all this old history? Perhaps it is just that we can always learn something from the past. In reading accounts of those old Wills which endowed chantries, it is impossible not to be struck by the way so many of the testators set down in their Wills a solemn declaration of faith, which was not just a pious formality or a convention of the time. It would be unusual to do this nowadays, but why not? This might be something we can learn from the past. Based on those old Will preambles here is a modern version:
I die in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic faith of our Lord Jesus Christ as it has been received and taught in the Church of England. I commend my soul to almighty God and trusting in his mercy, implore forgiveness of all my sins. I beg forgiveness of all whom I have injured and I freely forgive those who desire forgiveness of me.
Members of the Guild might well compose something on these lines for inclusion in their Wills, as an affirmation of their faith.