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A community of enquiry and discovery
An environment for growth
Building on excellence
Mixing the old with the new

Chapel Services

Members of the public are warmly invited to attend any of our morning or evening services throughout the week. Details of musical settings, hymns, and readings can be found in the Chapel Services and Music List, Trinity Term 2018

Sunday Services in Full Term

11.00am Sung Eucharist
This choral celebration of Holy Communion includes congregational hymns, a sermon, and a musical setting sung by the Choir. It usually lasts just over an hour. Those of any and all denominations are welcome to receive Communion in Chapel; it’s equally fine to attend and not take Communion. The service is followed by lunch and wine or a soft drink in the New Room, to which all are invited.

6.00pm Choral Evensong
Perhaps the most distinctively Anglican of all church services is Evensong, which took shape in the sixteenth century when the medieval orders for Vespers and Compline were combined, in the Book of Common Prayer, to create a new service. Evensong at Magdalen uses the traditional language of the 1662 Prayer Book and it offers the opportunity to hear a great variety of musical settings of the canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis), along with a wide range of anthems and psalm chants. This service typically lasts around 40 minutes, or 50 minutes on Saturday and Sunday when it includes congregational hymns. On Sundays, the service is followed by refreshments in the Antechapel.

Services from Monday to Saturday in Full Term

Services in bold type are sung by the Choir.

Monday
8.30 am Morning Prayer
6.00pm Choral Evensong (sung by Frideswide Voices in Trinity Term – see Services and Music List for exceptions)

Tuesday
8.30 am Morning Prayer
6.00 pm Choral Evening Prayer (sung by the boys only)

Wednesday
8.30 am Morning Prayer
6.00pm Choral Evensong

Thursday
8.30 am Morning Prayer
6.00 pm Choral Evensong

Friday
8.30 am Morning Prayer
6.00 pm Choral Evening Prayer (sung by the men only)
(9.00 pm Sung Compline (Night Prayer) is sung a couple of times each term)

Saturday
6.00 pm Choral Evensong (usually sung by the Consort of Voices)

Choir Services in Trinity Term 2018

In Trinity 2018, we are delighted that the girl choristers of Frideswde Voices, under the direction of Mr Will Dawes and accompanied on the organ by Mr Joseph Barber, will be singing services on Monday evenings throughout the term (with exceptions given in the Services and Music List). In Michaelmas and Hilary Terms, they were resident in Christ Church and New College respectively, and we are very glad to have them with us again this year.

We are also pleased to welcome Tiffin Boys’ Choir who will join the College Choir for Festal Evensong for St Mark’s Day on Wednesday 25 April. We are equally glad to welcome the Chapel Choir of Summer Fields School, Oxford who will sing Evensong at 6pm on Tuesday 1 May, and the Liturgical Choir of St Martin, Roath, Cardiff, who will sing Evensong at 6pm on Monday 28 May. The final Evensong of term (on Saturday 16 June) will be sung jointly by the College Choir and the Consort of Voices.