A short reflection in commemoration of St Alban,
by Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff,
followed the Magnificat from the Mt. St Alban Service by H. David Hogan,  sung by the The Choir of the Church of the Advent, Boston,  under the direction of Dr. Mark Dwyer, with  Jeremy Bruns, organist.  

The music here is from the sound archive of the Church of the Advent by kind permission of the Rector and Wardens and the Director of Music Dr Mark Dwyer

Short Reflection on St Alban with anthem

Introit : Venite adoremus, Mode VII
The Reflection 
by The Revd Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff, 
followed by the Nunc dimittis, in B minor by Herbert Howells, 
and
the Anthem:  a setting of Psalm 26, 8-9
O Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, 
and the place where thine honor dwelleth.....   
by Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) 

The music is heard here by kind permission of the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of the Church of the Advent, Boston and is sung by the Professional Choir of the church under the Direction of Mark Dwyer assisted by Jeremy Bruns.

The image above is from the painting:  The Death of Saint Benedict, by Giovanni del Biondo, who died in Florence in 1399.

A note regarding the composer of the Anthem, Thomas Tomkins 

Tomkins was born in St David's in Pembrokeshire in 1572. His father, also Thomas, who had moved there in 1565 from the family home of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, was a vicar choral and organist in St David's Cathedral  The family next  moved to Gloucester, where his father was employed as a minor canon at the cathedral. 

It is thought that Thomas studied under William Byrd for a time as one of his song compositions is inscribed: To my ancient, and much reverenced Master, William Byrd, (who had property at Longney, near Gloucester). Thomas next secured a place as chorister in the Chapel Royal and thus automatically was granted  a place at university, and in 1607 Tomkins was admitted to the degree of B.Mus. as a member of Magdalen College, Oxford.
But already in 1596 he had been appointed Organist at Worcester Cathedral, where in 1612 Tomkins oversaw the construction of a magnificent new organ by Thomas Dallam, the foremost organ-builder of the day. He produced many compositions and a collection of 28 madrigals, written variously in 3, 4, 5 and 6 parts was published in 1622 with a dedicatory poem by his half-brother John Tomkins (circa 1587–1638), by that point the organist of King's College, Cambridge (later of St Paul's and of the Chapel Royal).

Around 1603 he was appointed to the honorary post of  Gentleman Extraordinary of the Chapel Royal and 1621 he became a Gentleman Ordinary and organist under his friend and senior organist, Orlando Gibbons. 

On the death of King James I in March 1625 Tomkins, with other Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal, had to provide the music for James's funeral and then the coronation of Charles I – tasks in the midst of which Gibbons died of a stroke in Canterbury. 
Because of plague, the coronation was postponed until February 1626, which allowed Tomkins time to compose most of the eight anthems sung at the ceremony.

In 1628 Tomkins was named to the high honour of being "Composer of [the King's] Music in ordinary" at an annual salary of £40, though unfortunately it was then discovered that the post had already been promised to the son of his predecessor (Ferrabosco) so the appointment was rescinded. And in 1642, the civil war broke out and Worcester was one of the first casualties: as was the cathedral where  Tomkins' organ badly damaged by the Parliamentarians and even his house near the cathedral suffered a direct hit by cannon shot, making it uninhabitable for a long period, 

After  a siege in 1646 which severely damaged the city, and wiith the choir disbanded and the cathedral closed, Tomkins turned to the composition  of his fine keyboard and consort music; in 1647, he composed a tombeau or tribute to executed Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, and William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, who were followed by Charles I 1649, (after which he composed his “Sad Pavan: for these distracted times”. Now  81, and unemployed, he was in financial difficulties until in 1654, when his son Nathaniel married Isabella Folliott, a wealthy widow, after which he  went to live with them in Martin Hussingtree, near Worcester, where two years later he died and was buried in the churchyard of the Church of St Michael and All Angels there on 9 June 1656.

Reflection in Commemoration of St Benedict of Nursia,  Abbot of Monte Cassino,

This very short reflection offers a brief comment on the role of St Paul in shaping the early Christian understanding of faith.
(By Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff) 

The anthem which follows is by 
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Laudate, pueri, Dominum, op 39, no 2, 
which is a setting of words from Psalm 113, 1-2:

Laudate, pueri, Dominum; laudate nomen Domini. Sit nomen Domini benedictum ex hoc nunc et usque in sæcula.

Praise the Lord, ye children; O praise the Name of the Lord. Blessed be the Name of the Lord from this time forth for evermore. (Ps 113:1-2)

Sung by the Choir of the Church of the Advent, Boston 
Jeremy Bruns, conductor and  Mark Dwyer, the Director of Music and organist.

The painting of St Paul here is that by Rembrandt van Rijn painted c. 1657, in the Widener Collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

This music is heard here by kind permission of the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of the Parish of the Advent, Boston

Reflection in Commemoration of St Benedict of Nursia, Abbot of Monte Cassino,

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