George Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, will be visiting Oxford University next week to deliver the Newman Society’s inaugural Thomas More Lecture. As part of his visit he will be the celebrant at Vespers according to the 1961 Breviarium Romanum in Merton College’s medieval chapel on Thursday, 5th March, at 6.00pm. All are welcome to attend.
Sospiri, a choir specialising in liturgical music, will lead the singing of the office in Gregorian chant and will sing the Ecce sacerdos magnus and the Magnificat to settings by the great Spanish composer, Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). After Vespers there will be a drinks reception in the Ante-Chapel, to which all attending Vespers are welcome.
On the following day (Friday, 6th March) Cardinal Pell will deliver the Newman Society’s inaugural Thomas More Lecture on ‘Varieties of intolerance: religious and secular’ in the Divinity School, Bodleian Library, at 4pm. Anyone wishing to attend this can reserve a place by e-mailing: newman@herald.ox.ac.uk. Following the lecture His Eminence will Pontificate at a Solemn Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI in intercession for the beatification of John Henry Newman at the Oxford Oratory at 6.00 pm.
Further information can be found at www.newmansociety.org.uk
(Cardinal Pell at Ss. Trinita in Rome)
