Events
The liturgical celebrations of the Grand Priory are public celebrations to which all are invited to participate. Other events may be intended mainly or solely for members of the Order. If you are not a member of the Order but are interested in attending and learning more about the Order and the Priory, please contact us.
A PDF of the Priory’s 2024 calendar of events is available here. If you use Google calendar, you can add our events to your own using this link.
Pilgrimage to Lourdes
The Grand Priory and British Association will make their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes from 3 to 9 May 2024. Members of the Order and hospital pilgrims will make the pilgrimage together from across Great Britain, joining the rest of the Order from around the world for our international pilgrimage over the weekend, before remaining in Lourdes for several days of more quiet reflection.
Pilgrimage to Chartres
The Grand Priory will attend the annual Pentecost pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres, organised by Notre-Dame de Chrétienté. We will join the Chapitre Notre Dame de Philerme with our confrères from the Order. The pilgrimage, last year undertaken by some 16,000 pilgrims, leaves from Saint Sulpice in Paris after early Mass on Saturday 18 May, and pilgrims arrive in Chartres on Whit Monday, 20 May, where Pontifical Mass is celebrated in the Cathedral, the 80km journey covered in two and a half days, with Mass, confession, rosary, benediction and opportunities for adoration en route.
Day of Recollection
The Grand Priory’s May Day of Recollection will be held at our central London Chapter Room on 27 April 2024, starting with sung Lauds at 10:30am.
The two spiritual conferences will be given by Fr Stanislaus Mycka OSB, a monk of Farnborough Abbey.
The day will include also Holy Mass, the opportunity for confessions, Holy Hour, and Benediction, and conclude at around 4pm.
Corpus Christi Procession
The Order will once again be taking part in the annual Corpus Christi procession through central London on 2 June 2024: Members, Companions, members of the OMV, and friends are strongly encouraged to participate for all or part of the procession.
This procession is a wonderful act of witness to our Eucharistic Lord through the heart of our city and includes the two parishes with which we work most closely in our hospitaller work, St James’s Spanish Place and Warwick Street, as well as the Diocesan Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane. The Order is one of the founders of this annual event which has grown steadily since its institution ten years ago.
This year is a particularly special year, as Warwick Street marks its 300th anniversary, Maiden Lane the 150th anniversary of the erection of its church, and Spanish Place the 75th anniversary of the consecration of its church. The procession, led by the Apostolic Nuncio together with our confrère, Mgr Keith Newton, the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and Bishop Kenneth Nowalski, Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, will therefore link these three churches together in two phases: one starting at Maiden Lane at c.12:45 and processing to Warwick Street, arriving at c.2pm, where there will be one and a half hours of adoration; the second leaving Warwick Street at 3:30pm and processing to Spanish Place, via the Ukrainian Cathedral at Duke Street, arriving for solemn Benediction at 4:45pm.
The Procession is the culmination and conclusion of the London Eucharistic Octave, a week of prayer before and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament centred on the Shrine at Maiden Lane – full detail of everything happening during the Octave can be found at https://catholicengland.org/.
Mass & Annual Investiture
The Grand Priory and British Association will celebrate their annual Mass and Investiture on Friday 21st June 2024 at the London Oratory, starting at 10:15am, the Friday closest to the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist.
Mass will be celebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía. During Mass, new members will be admitted to the Order by the Grand Prior, and awards in the order Pro Merito Melitensi will be made to those who have contributed significantly to the work and charism of the Order or otherwise signally demonstrated their dedication to Christian values.
The Mass is open to the public, and all are welcome to attend.
Our patronal feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist on Monday 24 June 2024 will be marked by a solemn Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, at 6:30pm, to which all are also welcome.
Nativity of St John the Baptist
The Grand Priory will celebrate the principal patronal feast of the Order, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, with a solemn Mass at 6:30pm on Monday 24 June 2024 at the church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street.
All are welcome to attend.
Pilgrimage to Holywell
After an interval of some five years, the Order’s annual Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Saint Winefride at Holywell, in North Wales, will take place from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st July.
Saint Winefride’s Well is the only site of pilgrimage in Britain which has never suffered interruption of the devotion during the Protestant Reformation. It was visited by most of the Plantagenet and Tudor Kings, and even some of the Stuarts. Our own King Charles went there last year shortly after his accession.
St Winefride, daughter of a prince named Tyfid, and the niece of Saint Beuno, was beheaded around 630AD defending her virginity from a rapist chieftain named Caradoc. Where her head fell a well sprang up, which has been place of healing pilgrimage ever since. Her saintly uncle restored her head to her body, and she returned to life, to become a nun, later abbess, at Gwytherin, and to die a natural and holy death over 20 years later.
The pilgrimage will start with Vespers at 6pm on Friday 19th July, and conclude with sprinkling after lunch on Sunday 21st July.
Day of Recollection
The Grand Priory’s April Day of Recollection will be held at our central London Chapter Room on 27 April 2024, starting with sung Lauds at 10:30am.
The two spiritual conferences will be given by Fr Gerard Skinner, parish priest of Notting Hill, author of a number of books (including on St John Henry Newman, Blessed Dominic Barberi, and the priesthood), and a fine musician.
The day will include also Holy Mass, the opportunity for confessions, Holy Hour, and Benediction.
Tenebrae
The Grand Priory will mark the beginning of the Sacred Triduum with Tenebrae, Matins and Lauds of Maundy Thursday, traditionally sung on the evening of Spy Wednesday. The office will start at 7:30pm at the church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, after the normal Wednesday evening parish Mass.
The Divine Office of Holy Week is particularly rich in scripture, music, and ceremonies, and Tenebrae offers a meditative introduction to the mysteries and religious drama of the Church’s commemoration of Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord.
Stations of the Cross & Votive Mass
Each Friday during Lent, the Priory will be joining with the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory for sung Stations of the Cross, veneration of the Priory’s relic of the True Cross, and a Votive Mass of one of the mysteries of the Passion.
This Friday of the last week of Lent, or Passion Week, the Votive Mass will be that of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Chapter Room Talk: "Knights of Massawa?"
The latest in the Grand Priory of England's Chapter Room talks will be given by Dr Max Lau, an historian and Junior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, on the subject "The Knights of Massawa? Coffee, crusade, and how the Order of St John almost moved to Africa". The talk promises an intriguing examination of a little-studied episode in the Order’s history.
All are very welcome to attend the talk and to bring guests. The talk will last c.45 minutes, questions will be welcome, and formal proceedings will be followed by a glass of wine. A voluntary donation of £10 is suggested for attendees.
About this series:
The Grand Priory’s Chapter Room talks address topics relating to Christian culture, heritage, and history, looking not only at the Order of Malta but more broadly across time, place, people and institutions. It is hoped that the exploration of cultural phenomena and the way in which the Church has influenced and engaged with them will complement the ongoing formation of Members. Understanding our Christian culture will give us more of the tools we need to understand our Faith, communicate it to others, and defend it from the Church’s critics, pursuant therefore to the Order’s charism of ‘Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum”. The talks will also give Members, volunteers, friends, guests, and others interested in the Order the opportunity to meet informally.
Stations of the Cross & Votive Mass
Each Friday during Lent, the Priory will be joining with the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory for sung Stations of the Cross, veneration of the Priory’s relic of the True Cross, and a Votive Mass of one of the mysteries of the Passion.
This Friday of the Second Week of Lent, the Votive Mass will be that of the Holy Shroud of Our Lord.
Belmont Day of Recollection
By kind permission of the Abbot, the Grand Priory will hold a Day of Recollection at Belmont Abbey in Herefordshire.
Belmont, founded in 1859 as a house of study for Downside, Ampleforth and Douai, was created an abbey in 1920. The beautiful abbey church, which was originally the cathedral of the diocese of Newport and Menevia, was designed byEdward Welby Pugin, son of the great Augustus Welby Pugin, in a decorated, early English Gothic style.
As ever, everyone is welcome: all members of the Order in Britain, Companions, members of the OMV, and guests. Members and friends from the Midlands, Welsh Marches and Wales are particularly encouraged to attend.
Attendees must RSVP for this event - if you are interested and have not otherwise received an invitation by email, please contact us via the website.
Stations of the Cross and Votive Mass
Each Friday during Lent, the Priory will be joining with the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory for sung Stations of the Cross, veneration of the Priory’s relic of the True Cross, and a Votive Mass of one of the mysteries of the Passion.
This second Friday of Lent, the Mass will be that of the Holy Lance and Nails
February Conventual Mass
The Priory’s monthly Conventual Mass in February will be celebrated on 20 February, the feast of the Dedication of the Principal Church of Our Order. This feast marks the day in 1566 when our Conventual Church in Valletta (now St John’s Co-Cathedral) was solemnly consecrated. Mass will start at 6:30pm at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, London. All are welcome to attend.
Stations of the Cross and Votive Mass
Each Friday during Lent, the Priory will be joining with the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory for sung Stations of the Cross, veneration of the Priory’s relic of the True Cross, and a Votive Mass of one of the mysteries of the Passion.
This first Friday of Lent, the Votive Mass will be that of the Crown of Thorns, to which the Order has had a deep devotion for many centuries.
January Day of Recollection
Each month, the Grand Priory holds a ‘Day of Recollection’, a day-long mini-retreat, comprising the recitation of the Divine Office, the celebration of Holy Mass, two spiritual conferences, and exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
In January, the Day of Recollection will be held at the Priory’s Chapter Room at 23 Golden Square, with Mass celebrated with the parish in the Church at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street. The spiritual conferences will be given by Fr Dominic Allain.
All are welcome to attend. A collection of £10 per person will be taken to defray the costs of the day. No formal arrangements will be made for lunch, but attendees are invited to share a picnic-style lunch in the Chapter Room after Mass.
January Conventual Mass
The Grand Priory’s monthly Conventual Mass for January will be celebrated on 16 January at 6:30pm at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street.
The Mass will be celebrated as a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit for the intention of vocations to our Order and particularly to the life of the Professed.
All are welcome to attend.
Blessing of Epiphany Water and Chalk
The Grand Priory will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord together with the parish of St James’s Spanish Place, London, with the traditional solemn blessing of Epiphany Water and chalk on Epiphany Eve, 5 January 2024. The service will be held at the church of St James’s Spanish Place at 7pn, and be presided over by Abbot Cuthbert Brogan OSB, the abbot of Farnborough Abbey.
Epiphany Water is a sacramental, which, given its solemn exorcism and blessing, is a powerful defence against the Devil. It can be used together with holy chalk to bless our homes sand family in the New Year. Vials of Epiphany Water and pieces of chalk will be distributed at the end of the service.
Clergy and members of the Order should bring choir dress and vest in the Lower Sacristy before the service begins.
December Conventual Mass & Advent Recollection
The Grand Priory’s December Conventual Mass will be celebrated on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 December 2023, and will be a ‘Rorate Mass’ - a candlelit Mass of Our Lady in Advent.
The Mass will be preceded by an Advent spiritual conference given by Mgr Michael Nazir-Ali, a priest of the Ordinariate and a chaplain of the Order of Malta. All are welcome to attend, and clergy and members of the Order are requested to bring choir dress.
A collection (suggested donation £10) will be taken.
Carol Service
The Order’s annual Carol Service in London will take place on 6 December 2023 at 6pm at the church of St James’s Spanish Place. This candle-lit service marking the Advent season and the approach of Christmas, will include traditional carols, beautiful choral music, and scripture, and conclude with Benediction. The service is followed by a reception. To buy tickets, visit https://bit.ly/ordercarolservice. Proceeds go to support the work of the Companions of the Order of Malta with the poor and marginalised.