Churches of all denominations across the UK have marked the death of Queen Elizabeth with services and prayers.
On Friday, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales distributed prayers to all parishes and communities, for the repose of her soul, for the Royal Family and for the King. In Westminster Cathedral that evening, Cardinal Vincent Nichols celebrated the 5:30pm Mass as a Requiem for the late Queen. This coincided with the memorial service at St Paul’s attended by the prime minister and members of the cabinet, where the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullaly, preached on the Queen’s “remarkable Christian faith”.
In his sermon, Cardinal Nichols said of the Queen: “We owe it to her to pray for her. We owe her our prayers.”
The Bishop of East Anglia, Alan Hopes, also celebrated a Requiem Mass in his cathedral in Norwich on Friday. The Archdiocese of Liverpool announced that a Requiem Mass would be said on Tuesday evening in Liverpool’s Catholic cathedral, with its choir singing Gabriel Faure’s Requiem.
King Charles and other members of the Royal Family attended a thanksgiving service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on Monday, after following the Queen’s coffin in procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse. At a Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral on Sunday, Cardinal Nichols had remembered the Queen's reception of Pope Benedict in that palace during his visit to the UK in 2010. The Pope had “alluded to the name of Holyroodhouse, saying that it recalls the Holy Cross of our Blessed Lord, the instrument of our salvation”.
In his homily in St Giles, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr Iain Greenshields, spoke of the Queen’s affection for Crathie Kirk, the parish church where she worshipped when staying at Balmoral.
On Tuesday, the King was to attend a service at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, with the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, among the interdenominational leaders present. The King was also due to attend a service at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff on Friday.
The relics of St Bernadette, currently touring the dioceses of England, Wales and Scotland, were in Portsmouth Cathedral when the Queen’s death was announced on 8 September. The Bishop of Portsmouth, said that the all-night vigil planned for the relics would “now also provide a place of calm for people to come, pray and reflect on the life of Queen Elizabeth II throughout the night”.
Loading ...
