Of your charity

pray for the soul of

His Excellency Fra’ Fredrik Crichton-Stuart

Grand Prior of England of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

1940 – 2011

who sadly died on 14 June 2011 at Edinburgh

It is with the greatest sadness that the death is notified of

His Excellency FRA’ FREDRIK CRICHTON-STUART
Grand Prior of England
Knight Grand Cross of Justice in the Solemn Vows of religion

from a heart attack early on the morning of Tuesday 14th June 2011 as he was at prayer reading his breviary

Please pray for the repose of his soul.

Requiescat in pace

His Excellency Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart RIP

Grand Prior of England

His Excellency Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, Grand Prior of England, died at his home in Edinburgh on the morning of Tuesday 14th June 2011, after a long illness.

Fra' Fredrik joined the Order of Malta in 1962, and in 1993, on the restoration of the Grand Priory of England, he was appointed Chancellor, becoming Grand Prior in 2008.

For many years he was also Delegate of Scotland and the Northern Marches for the Order, and was a tireless worker for the sick and the needy, assisting in the weekends for the handicapped held regularly at Lake Kielder as well as being an effective and long standing Chairman of Dial-A-Journey in mid Scotland, an organisation he served devotedly up until his death.

Freddy, as he was always known, was born in 1940 at Bute House, formerly owned by the Bute family but now owned by the Bute House trustees and currently the residence and offices of the First Minister of Scotland.

Fra' Freddy was the eldest son of Lord Rhidian Crichton-Stuart and grandson of John Crichton-Stuart, the 4th Marquess of Bute.

Fra' Freddy was educated at Ampleforth and brought up in Scotland and North Africa where his father had business interests. His long career included spells in industry and farming and he was a Chartered Accountant with his own practice until his retirement. He was an officer of the Territorial Army in the Queens Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry, and a trustee and later Chairman of Una Voce Scotland, and he sat on the boards of a number of charities in Scotland.

Fra’ Freddy Crichton-Stuart was a man of prayer whose love of and commitment to the Order of Malta, its traditions and works, was exemplary and inspirational.

The condolences of the many members of the Grand Priory of England and the British Association of the Order of Malta have been extended to his family and his many friends. He will be sadly missed.

Funeral and requiem details

The Funeral Exequies

for

His Excellency Fra' Fredrik John Patrick Crichton-Stuart
Grand Prior of England

will be held
at
St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, 61 York Place, EDINBURGH EH1 3JD

on

Tuesday 28th June 2011.

The Body will be received into the Cathedral
at
5pm on Monday the 28th June

and

the Office of Vespers for the Dead will be sung.

On Tuesday morning the Office of Lauds will be sung
at
10.30am

and

he Funeral Mass will begin at 11.15am.

The Mass will be followed by a Reception given by the Family in the Cathedral Hall.

The Committal and Burial will take place at Mount Vernon Catholic Cemetery, 49 Mount Vernon Road, Edinburgh, EH16 6JG. The funeral cortège will leave the Reception promptly at 2.15pm and the burial will start upon arrival, around 2.45pm. Everyone is invited to attend, but mourners must be at the cemetery in good time, as parking space close by is limited.

At the family's request, donations in memory of Fra' Fredrik may be made to:

Order of Malta Dial-a-Journey,
3 Cunningham Road,
Springkerse Industrial Estate,
Stirling FK7 7SW.
Charity No. SC 018831.
Tel: 01786 46535

+++

Beautiful hymn to a mother...

I think this the most poignantly beautiful tribute I have ever seen.

The music is by 15th century Spanish composer Juan de Anchieta and is entitled Con Amores La Mi Madre and is here performed by performed by the Kings' Singers.

The accompanying selection of photographs are of Signora Carla Cintoli (nee Aldega), from her childhood to 1981, presented by her devoted sons Alessandro and Fabrizio.

A few months after the last picture presented, Signora Cintoli avoided being photographed, although still very attractive, but she became ill and died in 2000, aged only 67, it seems, but clearly mourned by her family. Her husband, Sergio, died in the same year, aged 70.

Surely this devotion by her sons to the memory of their mother is both a reminder of the sadness of this life when we are compelled to witness the loss of those we love and yet, also, evidence that love never dies.

Here, surely, is a reflection of the love of God for us and especially for His mother.

Can it be that such love does not endure beyond life and death as the poor atheists tell themselves? Of course not.

Yes, we may be sure that this love endures and lives forever, both here and in the beyond.

That is because God is love and, to use the dying words of the great Ecuadorean martyr, Gabriel Garcia Morena: Dios no muere - God never dies.

Con amores, la mi madre

Con amores, la mi madre
con amores m'adormí
Asi dormida soñaba lo que el corazon velaba,
Qu'el amor me consalabe
Con mas bien que mereci.

With love, my mother,
I fell asleep with love.
I dreamed about my heart's care
and love consoled me
far more than I deserved.


...

The Rogation days of the Ascension and beating the bounds

Rogation days are days set apart for solemn processions to invoke the mercy of God. The word comes from the Latin rogare “to say or ask” meaning, in this context, to pray to God for good things.

They come at this time because of the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday (the 5th Sunday after Easter, sometimes for that reason called Rogation Sunday) which includes the text from the Gospel of St John 16:24 “Ask and ye shall receive”.

The Rogation days are:

(1) St Mark’s Day on 25 April (the Major Rogation)
(2) The 3 days before the Ascension Day (the Minor Rogations)

The first Rogation, which includes the Greater Litanies, was originally a christianisation of the old Roman pagan feast day of Robigalia, on 25 April, a day to pray for good crops.

The minor Rogations, including the Lesser Litanies, were introduced in 470 by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne and then spread to the rest of the Roman Church. They became a preparation also for the Feast of the Ascension.

These days coincided also with the ceremony of the “Beating of the Bounds” during which a procession led by ministers and choir would proceed round the boundaries of the parish, partly to re-affirm the boundaries but also to pray for the protection of the parish over the forthcoming year. Choir boys and servers would carry canes to "beat" the boundaries at each stopping point.

Absurdly, the Rogation days are yet further ancient and beautiful ceremonies that were done away with by the liturgical wreckers after 1970. They have, of course, come back with the return of the traditional rites.

The ceremony of the Beating of the Bounds can still be seen in the City of London and processions continue to go round the boundaries to the various churches of the City, often escorted by a marching group of one or more of the City TA Regiments.

What diabolical spirit came over the liturgical consilium of Archbishop Bugnini that he even thought to try and get rid of this beautiful, scriptural, ancient liturgical devotion? Yet further evidence, if it were still needed, that a dark and sinister spirit has, these 40 years past, been suffered by weak, vain and worldly prelates to invade parts of the Church.

"Beating the bounds"

"22 So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you. 23 And in that day you shall not ask me any thing. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full. 25 These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour cometh, when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will show you plainly of the Father."
[John 16.22-25]

Peccatores, Te rogamus audi nos

We sinners, beseech Thee, hear us!

...