London Training Days for 2020 confirmed

A big 'thank you' to all those, students and instructors, who made 2019 such a big success for the Society of St Tarcisius. This year we have enrolled 70 members!

We have confirmed dates for the first half of 2020.

We also have a new venue: St James' Spanish Place: see below.

Dates for 2020, all Saturdays:

January 25th (booking page)

March 14th (booking page)

May 9th (booking page)

Successful November training day

More students attended our training day in St Mary Moorfield on Sat 29th Nov than on any previous occasion: 28 people, including six instructors.



They include two groups who attended together, one from St Anne Line in South Woodford, and one from Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge.

We now have 73 members and postulants!



Nine new members were enrolled. We are very grateful to the six instructors who assisted us on the day. We hope to find a church for future events with a larger number of altars!

Successful September training day

Our training day on 14th September was very successful, with almost a complete set of new faces: including some new instructors as well as new trainees. Clearly demand for server training is in no danger of drying up, with sixteen trainees, and seven enrollments into the Society (plus a promotion) on the day.



The Guild of St Clare was also busy during the day, including with making a faldstool cover for use by Cardinal Burke when he celebrates Mass on Monday 16th in Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, for the Latin Mass Society.

London Training Days Sept and Nov 2019

Both in St Mary Moorfields, 4-5 Eldon St, London EC2M 7LS (click for a map):

Saturday 14th September (booking page here)

Saturday 30th November (booking page here). 

Enrollment on the Walsingham Pilgrimage

The Latin Mass Society's annual Walking Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham (which is 58 miles, if you were wondering), attracted excellent numbers this year, and with four priests on the pilgrimage High Mass with deacon and subdeacon was celebrated each day, plus multiple Low Masses.



It seemed like a good occasion to enroll people in the Society of St Tarcisius, and one of the priests, Fr Terrence Naughton, a Conventual Franciscan from Australia, officiated.



Six new members were enrolled, at the two lowest ranks (Junior and Senior Acolyte); the new members came from Manchester, London, Brighton, and Scotland.



Several existing members were on the pilgrimage. The ceremoney took place at our last camping site, behind Great Massingham Village Hall, on Saturday 24th August.

Training and Enrollments in Ramsgate and Oxford

During the St Catherine's Trust Summer School we enrolled twelve new members of the Society: they were enrolled by the Chaplain of the Summer School, Fr Andrew Southwell. Alas, I have no photographs of the ceremony, but we had Sung Mass every day for the six days of the school, in St Augustine's Shrine, Ramsgate, with one in Aylesford.



On Saturday 10th, at Oxford, in the Church of Holy Rood in the Abingdon Road, we had a full training day and enrolled six new members and promoted four existing members. Some of them had travelled from Birmingham and Malvern to attend. We are very grateful for the hospitality of Fr Daniel Lloyd, the Parish Priest, who officiated at the enrollments.

In the training we looked at Low Mass, Sung Mass, High Mass, Benediction, and even Vespers.

Training days confirmed in Preston and Oxford

These will be the first Tarcisius Training Days outside London.

The first will take place in the church of the English Martyrs, Preston, on Saturday 20th July, in association with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs ('English Martyrs') is located at

18 Garstang Rd, Preston PR1 1NA (click for a map)

The second will take place in SS Gregory & Augustine's, Oxford, on Saturday 10th August.

SS Gregory & Augustine's is at 322 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 7NS ([Click for a map](https://goo.gl/maps/FRTekGua9DRqQ4RKA))

Email tarcisius@lms.org.uk for more details and to book.

Successful training day in Warwick Street

On Saturday 11th May, we held the third of our London training days, this time in Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street. It was attended by ten trainees and four instructors, and the Parish Priest, Fr Mark Elliot Smith, enrolled four new members and promoted three existing members to a higher rank: the first time we have had promotions in the Society. The Society now has 29 members and five Postulants.

New training days arranged in London

The next server training day is at Our Lady of the Assumption, 10 Warwick St, Soho, London W1B 5LZ (click for a map), on Saturday 11th May.

To take part please book through the LMS website on this page (or find it on the website under 'Events').

Two new dates have been arranged for later in the year, both in St Mary Moorfields, 4-5 Eldon St, London EC2M 7LS (click for a map):

Saturday 14th September (booking page here)

Saturday 30th November (booking page here). (Note change of date)

St Tarcisius medals seen in the wild

The medals of the Society of St Tarcisius have started to appear at celebrations of Mass, and outside the context of events organised specifically for server training.

 

 At the St Catherine's Trust Family Retreat, the final Mass was celebrated by a team of four members. Members were also present in force at the Latin Mass Society's Pilgrimage to Caversham on the Ember Saturday of Lent.

Second training day in London

The Society of St Tarcisius held its second training event of the year in St Mary Moorfileds, London, on Saturday 9th March. It was attended by 19 people, plus Fr Neil Brett of St Anne Line, South Woodford. We enrolled four new members and received three new postulants.



The next event will be in Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, on Saturday 11th May. As with the others in this series, it will take place in conjunction with a sewing day of the Guild of St Clare.

Successful server training day in London

On Saturday 16th February the Society had its first Server Training Day, relaunching the Society for a new phase of activity.

Fourteen people were enrolled at appropriate grades in the Society, and two more were registered as 'Postulants'. Because this was our first ever enrollment ceremony, even the instructors were enrolled, including one, Jonathan Hague, at the highest possible grade, Grand Master of Ceremonies.

It was particularly useful to have an entire serving team, from South Woodford, together with their parish priest, Fr Neil Brett, who could go through the ceremonies of Sung Mass together.

Fr Gabriel Diaz officiated at the enrollment ceremony in the afternoon.

The next training day is Saturday 9th March, in the same venue: St Mary Moorfields, Eldon Street, in the City of London: EC2M 7LS. Please email tarcisius@lms.org.uk to book.

Tarcisius medals have arrived

The relaunch of the Society of St Tarcisius is rather dependent on our having physical medals: members can't be enrolled in the ranks of the Society without them. I am delighted to say, therefore, that the manufacturers, JC Trophies, have exceeded expectations in the speed of the process, and the medals are in the LMS Office in plenty of time for distribution at the first of our training days, which is 16th Feburary.

The design on the medals is taken from the central motif of the Latin Mass Society's black High Mass set of vestments: IHS, incorporating a cross, surrounded by a crown of thorns and a quartrfoil. (More on it here.)

Email us at tarcisius@lms.org.uk to book your place to be trained and/or enrolled.

Training days start at 10:30 am and should end by 4pm.

February: Saturday 16th at St Mary Moorfields
March: Saturday 9th at St Mary Moorfields
May: Saturday 11th at Our Lady of the Assumption