Ship of Fools: Puzzling Quotation

Thread: Puzzling Quotation Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=024945

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on 22 October, 2012 20:11 :

I don't often venture into Ecclesiantics, but I have a puzzle to solve. A friend is doing research into a Lord Chief Justice called Lord Kenyon, who died in 1802. In his obituary in the Times, his excessive meanness was mentioned, with the phrase "it was Lent in the kitchen, and Passion Week in the parlour."
We can work out Lent in the kitchen - but what on earth does "Passion Week in the parlour" mean?

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on 22 October, 2012 20:58 :

A general sense of gathering gloom and impending disaster, perhaps? (Taking 'Passion Week' to mean 'Holy Week', that is).

Sounds a right bundle of laughs.....

Ian J.

Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on 22 October, 2012 21:06 :

Could it possibly be a reference to lack of fancy decorations (ie when the altars are stripped etc) if it was to indicate his stingyness in home decor.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on 22 October, 2012 21:21 :

An excellent thought GR, but at that stage such practices were unknown in the Established church and Roman Catholic practices would *never* have been referenced in the 'Times'. There could however have been a practice for removing home decorations in the run up to Good Friday perhaps?

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on 22 October, 2012 21:23 :

Fast versus feast maybe ?

Posted by Custard (# 5402) on 22 October, 2012 21:31 :

Passion Week (agreed that it's Holy Week) would be a time of solemnity - Passion Week in the parlour would mean that all the conversation was serious, without entertainment or anything like that.

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on 22 October, 2012 22:35 :

I believe that until the second half of the nineteenth century theatres in England could not open during Passion week (the rules had been gradually eased - at the beginning of the century the prohibition would have included all Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, but the restriction became limited to closure on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday).

So 'Passion week in the parlour' would suggest no frivolity in a room where relaxation and enjoyment might have been expected.

[ 22. October 2012, 21:36: Message edited by: Chapelhead ]

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on 23 October, 2012 18:15 :

Thanks - that makes sense!
My friend's mind was going along the lines of uncomfortable furniture.

Posted by Wm Dewy (# 16712) on 24 October, 2012 16:45 :

Could "Passion Week" have meant the week between Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday? Or not that early in the nineteenth century?
In my memory Passiontide is two weeks before Easter, but since the 1979 Prayer Book Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday are the same day.

Posted by Ceremoniar (# 13596) on 24 October, 2012 16:50 :

Passion Week is traditionally the week before Palm Sunday. Until 1970, the 5th Sunday in Lent was known as Passion Sunday and the last two weeks of Lent were called Passiontide. This is still observed in EF churches and some traditional AC parishes. During Passiontide, statues, images and crosses are veiled in violet, and several modifications are made to the liturgy, such as the dropping of the Gloria Patri wherever it appears.

Posted by Mama Thomas (# 10170) on 24 October, 2012 22:22 :

And a great recovery in the CofE. Common Worship
has restored Passiontide, starting the Sunday before Palm Sunday as a time of special solemnity.

Having only one Sunday to sing those glorious hymns of the Passion hymns means that generations now have have gone without them until this restoration.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on 24 October, 2012 23:34 :

I think Chapelhead has got it right. There's not much point in looking at post Oxford Movement ideas to get an impression of the religious assumptions of 1802.

The prayer book in 1801 did not recognise Palm Sunday in the modern sense but did have daily epistle and gospel for what we would now call Holy Week. The gospel readings are very long. It was customary at that period to include Antecommunion even if the Lord's Supper was not being celebrated, and nobody else was attending. So it is possible that these might have been read each day after Morning Prayer.

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on 25 October, 2012 03:49 :

quote:
Originally posted by Eigon:
Thanks - that makes sense!
My friend's mind was going along the lines of uncomfortable furniture.

Since the original question has been answered satisfactorily, it seems reasonable to close the thread.

Mamacita, Eccles Host

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0