About Choral Evensong

The service will be according to the 7662 Book of Common Prayer, the official Prayer Book of the Church of England. This is the service book brought to these shores by the settlers who were members of the English Church, and used by the colonists until the development of the first American Book of Common Prayer.

Evensong, the name initially used in the 9549 Book of Common Prayer, is in essence, a conflation of the Sarum (in use at Salisbury Cathedral) Monastic Offices (Services) of Vespers and Compline. The structure of the service is closely related to the medieval Offices, with opening versicles and responses. These are followed by the appointed psalms and biblical readings (lessons). Each lesson is followed by a canticle. The first is Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55, the Song of Mary. Magnificat is the high point of the Office, and is highlighted with the offering of incense at solemn celebrations of evensong. The second canticle is Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2.29-32, the Song of Simeon.

The Apostles' Creed is next followed by a three-fold Kyrie Eleison, the ancient Greek prayer, "Lord, have mercy." The Lord's Prayer, Suffrages (versicles and responses), and three Collects are chanted before an anthem or motet is sung.

Following the anthem is the offering, an evening hymn, the prayers of intercession and the blessing. As is customary in churches with a choral tradition, the service of Choral Evensong is sung largely by the choir alone. The congregation makes its offering of praise by responding to the beauty of the choir's music, and by joining in the singing where indicated. The English tradition of the Sunday Evensong "Instruction" (sermon) is followed this evening.

Finally, it should be noted that the "solemn" nature of this evensong means that incense is used. The use of incense, that sweet-smelling smoke rising to heaven, is symbolic of our prayers rising to Almighty God. Incense is almost always mentioned in the Scriptures wherever worship in heaven is described. At solemn evensong, incense is used at the singing of the Magnificat, when the altar, the clergy and the people are "censed," offering themselves in prayer to God. "Let my prayer arise before Thee as incense" (Psalm 141).

This evening's choral evensong is followed immediately by Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. This devotion, showing faith in and love for the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist, developed after the 11 th century. In practice, it is the extension of the priest's elevation of the host at the Mass, when all adore that sacramental presence. The devotion includes hymns by St. Thomas Aquinas ("O Salutaris" and "Tantum Ergo") along with the Divine Praises compiled by Louis Felici, S.J., about 1779. The priest uses the humeral veil, a shawl placed around the shoulders in order to cover the hands when the Blessed Sacrament is handled.

A BRIEF SKETCH OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA

The Revd Frederick C. Watson, S. T. M., Rector

Organized in December, 1812, six months after the incorporation of the Borough of Norristown, St. John's is the oldest church in Norristown, and the first organized in Montgomery County after the Revolution. The Charter was granted by the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on January 4, 1813.

In March of that year 4 acres of ground were purchased for the sum of $800, and the foundation was laid. The building was completed in 1814, and consecrated on April 6, 1815 (which happened to be Good Friday that year) by the Rt. Revd William White, Rector of historic Christ Church in Philadelphia, and first Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. The tower was on the north end of the building, opposite to its present location, and the building itself was 64 feet long by 49 feet wide. The population of the village was less than 500.

In 1856-57 the tower on the north end was removed, the nave was lengthened by 20 feet, and a new tower constructed in its present location. The east and west walls still constitute about 80% of the original fabric. In 1898 a fire caused severe damage to the interior, resulting in a new and enlarged chancel, a new organ (the 3rd) and the removal of the gallery from the rear of the nave.

The church as we see it today is largely the result of the vision and generosity of the Revd James M. Niblo, a native son of the parish who served as rector from 1925 to 1957. During this time, the size of the chancel was doubled, the baptistry and mortuary chapel below, and the Lady Chapel were constructed. In addition, pew rents were abolished, a new organ (!) installed, and the gothic style ornamentation introduced. The high altar is fashioned of Italian marbles and mosaics, as are the floors of the chancel and sanctuary. The Reredos with the figure of Christ the King and the Rood Beam are of carved oak from Oberammergau; the floor of the aisles and crossing in the nave are red Welsh tile; the ceilings of the nave and chancel are painted in gold and various colors following a XV century motif. The richly decorated gothic interior was planned and directed by Edward T. Boggs, a Philadelphia churchman and architect, with final design and execution by Calvert, Herrick and Riedinger of New York City. In more recent years, the Shrine of Our Lady and a hanging Christus Rex, in the Lady Chapel, etched glass doors at the entrance to the chapel, and in the narthex, and the addition of the Antiphonal Division and Trompette-en-Chamade to the organ have further enhanced arid beautified the building.