Magdalen’s choirmaster Bill Ives, who has the title Informator Choristarum, has been awarded a DMus degree by the Archbishop of Canterbury “In recognition of his significant contribution to church music, particularly as a composer and as Organist and Informator Choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford.”
The degree will be presented by the Archbishop at a ceremony at Lambeth Palace on July 1.
Note: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s right to grant degrees is derived from Peter’s Pence Act of 1533 which empowered the Archbishop to grant dispensations previously granted by the Pope. The practice began during the time when attendance at Oxford and Cambridge, the only universities at that time in England, was frequently disrupted by the difficulty of travel or outbreaks of the plague. The Archbishop was empowered to grant exemption from the residential requirements necessary for a degree. The candidates are exempted from the requirement to sit an examination: the awards are made on merit in recognition of their contribution to religious, academic and public life. Lambeth degrees can be awarded in Divinity, Law, Arts, Literature, Medicine and Music.
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