Let my prayer be set forth in THY sight as the incense :
Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals is not a parish publication; it was written and privately distributed by the late Peter Harper, a parishioner and a Sub-deacon at St. John’s. Yet it would never have existed outside a parish like ours.
Smoke Signals arose in 1995 as a response to a delightful but short-lived (1994-1996) leaflet produced by the choir called Square Notes that dealt with the music program and choir life.
Reproduced here are topics relating to church life, catholic customs, and the grandeur and foibles of Mother Church.
Despite the irony and sometimes the ‘tongue-in-cheekness’ of the style, the reader should feel the deep underlying love the author had for the Great Tradition of Western Christianity.
Peter Harper (1942 - 2019)
✠ Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord:
and let light perpetual shine upon him.
Our Lady of the Snows
The vocable “Our Lady of the Snows” refers to the foundation of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome also known as the “Sacrosancta Patriarchalis Basilica Liberiana” from the name of its founder Pope Liberius.
Black Virgins
The blackness of the Madonna and Child has always been the subject of much speculation, but no one explanation is entirely satisfactory. There are too many black virgins for their existence to be explained by the sole whim of the sculptor.
The Ladies’ Shrine
I am sure you have sometimes wondered about our St. Anne's Chapel. Why is it not simply a Lady's Chapel as in other Anglo-Catholic churches? You have heard the story that it is a memorial chapel built by our Founder in remembrance of his mother. Indeed, her name was Anne Key and a chapel dedicated to her patron seemed quite appropriate. But do you think we would have got a chapel if the good lady's name had been Melissa, Melody or Pamela?
And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice