Fellowship Events

Saint Mary the Virgin

August 15 is a major feast day in both the west and the east. On this date, the Roman Church celebrates the Assumption of Mary, or her bodily ascent into Heaven after her death, while the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition, or Falling Asleep, of Mary, also referring to the end of her life on earth.

The Episcopal Church and much of the wider Anglican Communion calls this day the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. While this title doesn't focus specifically on the end of Mary's life, as the Roman and Eastern feast names do, we still use the same prayers and lessons as these two older traditions.

At Saint Thomas we celebrate this feast twice:

• August 15: the feast day itself, with services in the Lady Chapel (Chantry Chapel)
• The Sunday closest to August 15, which includes a Festal Eucharist at 11am.

Saint Luke

Evangelist

In a sermon from Evensong in 2010, Fr Daniels explained:

Luke is the gospel writer who recorded in his book those two canticles that we hear at every service of Evensong ‚Äì indeed, every evening office. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, comes from Luke’s gospel, as does Simeon’s song, the Nunc Dimittis, both of which we just heard. Without Saint Luke we’d have neither of those. His is a gospel marked by magnificent story-telling, brilliant uses of words and images that tell the stories that make up what many of us think about, when we think about the stories of the Gospel...read the rest here.