My Interest in the Liturgy ...

... goes back a long way. Today is the Feast of St Lawerence Justinian. Almost 60 years ago, in the mid-1960s, when I was still an Anglican, a priest friend of mine gave me a copy of The Ritual Reason Why. Originally written by an Anglo-Catholic priest, Charles Walker, in 1868 to explain and encourage the adoption of the ceremonial of the Traditional Roman Missal in the Anglican Church, it had been updated and reissued many times since its first edition.

In fact, the copy Dan gave me, which was a recent new edition, included the statement that 'In light of the Holy Father's recent Decree, evening Masses can no longer be called un-Catholic', because Pope Pius XII, in Sacram Communionem - On Laws of Fasting and the Evening Mass, 19 March 1957, had relaxed the long-standing rubric that Mass could not begin after twelve noon.

And why do I bring this up after almost 60 years? Because Dan inscribed the flyleaf of the book with, 'To Johnny, May his liturgical knowledge ever increase. St Lawrence Justinian's Day, 1965'.