Summer Plans
As we oh-so-slowly approach the summer months, with the worst, wettest, miserablest winter ever behind us, my thoughts are turning to summer and in particular what my Substack summer will look like.
St Benedict’s Rule will continue as a free post on Fridays (though they do go behind the paywall in time); we’re at Chapter 23 this week and there are 73 chapters, so we have at least another 50 weeks to go!
Other free posts will be random; nature, gardening, strange things found in churches and so on.
For paid subscribers, now we have finished the chronological history of church architecture, I am planning a varied selection of posts covering spiritual and liturgical life, individual fascinating ancient churches, and particular features of churches such as squints, graffiti, mass dials and holy wells. These will continue to be on Wednesdays.
I have two church crawling trips planned so far; a week in early June which will encompass some areas of the English Midlands; Nottinghamshire (including perhaps a brief visit to Sherwood Forest), North Lincolnshire and a little of Derbyshire, beginning with a visit to the Crooked Spire of Chesterfield.
This weekend I have a surprise and last-minute (i.e. booked yesterday) trip to York and its environs, including a visit to Rievaulx Abbey. This is important because I am currently translating St Aelred of Rievaulx’s Oratio Pastoralis into English. It’s a beautiful piece, and paid subscribers will get a free copy of this translation, which has similarities to St Augustine’s Confessions, though is thankfully a great deal shorter! So I am looking forward to visiting the place where it was written.
My church crawling trips will undoubtedly result in a flurry of posts on Notes; there is a lot to see on this pilgrimage. We have Anglo-Saxon, Norman and later architecture, Easter Sepulchres, tombs, rood screens and lots of other marvellous things.
So do join me on my mini-pilgrimages!