Veterans Day
11:00 a.m.
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Above: Poppies are traditionally worn on Remembrance Day in Britain, the United States, and many Commonwealth countries, and at Saint Thomas we distribute them in the narthex before the worship service to anyone who wants to wear one. Why the poppy? Poppies were the only flower that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, and they were quickly associated with remembrance of the war dead. As Canadian doctor John McCrae wrote: In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row… This Solemn Requiem, one of the many jewels in the liturgical crown of our worship life at Saint Thomas, begins and ends in silence. In between, glorious music, full of yearning and hope (this year set to the Messe de Requiem of Gabriel Faur√©) fills the church and our hearts as we remember all those who have gone before us. Complete details of the service, including the texts of the music selections, may be seen in the leaflet, which is posted at the bottom of this page, where you will also find a link to the webcast during and after the service. We do encourage you to worship the Resurrected Christ with us, as we pray together for all those who have crossed the flood toward the eternal shore.
‚ñ∫Why do we pray for the dead? The Rector answers this question in his weekly audio message. You can also access sermons on this topic by clicking on the words “Remembrance Day” listed in red letters above the photo.
Music notes: The setting of the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) has become one of the most well-known and oft-performed works of the last century. The composer began work on it in 1887, for no apparent reason, although his mother died during the early stages of its composition and the first performance at La Madeleine in Paris in 1888 was dedicated to her memory. A year after the first performance Fauré added two more movements, the Offertoire and the Libera me and the work that we know was first performed in full at La Madeleine in January 1893. The texts chosen by Fauré for his Requiem are not entirely in keeping with the conventional structure of the Requiem Mass and his desire to represent the more peaceful aspects of death is represented in his choice of the In Paradisum from the Burial Service to end the work. The last two lines of the Sequence for the Dead (Pie Jesu) are also, unusually, turned into a complete movement. Indeed, the composer limits the Dies Irae to a few bars (where Verdi and Mozart wrote vivid and powerful full movements), returning to the serenity and calm that characterize the whole piece very quickly. When criticized for avoiding the horrors of purgatory and the Last Judgement, Fauré replied “It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death and some have called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.”
‚ñ∫Donate to Hurricane Sandy recovery.
‚ñ∫Purchase a CD of Faure’s Requiem
‚ñ∫Pledge to the 2013 Every Member Canvass
