Illustrative Documents: Form of installing a Dean of St Paul's, 1871

XXIII. FORM OF INSTALLING THE REV. R. W. CHURCH, M.A., AS DEAN OF S. PAUL'S, 17 OCTOBER, 1871. (fn. 1)

The Dean, with the Chapter and Prebendaries, meet at the Chapter House at half-past Nine o'clock on Tuesday the 17th day of October, 1871.

The Letters Patent are to be presented by the Dean to the Chancellor of London or his Surrogate, and by him delivered to the Registrar to be read.

The Dean will then make and subscribe the Declaration of Assent and the Declaration against Simony, and will take the Oath of Canonical Obedience to the Bishop.

The Bishop's Mandate for the Installation is then to be read by the Registrar.

A procession is then to be formed in the following order from the Chapter House, by the north-west door to the great west door, and so through the body of the Cathedral to the Choir, viz:—
The two Junior Virgers, with their gowns and wands.
The Boys, two by two, in their surplices.
The Almoner or Master of the Boys.
The Vicars Choral, two by two.
The Minor Canons, two by two.
The Apparitor of the Commissary of S. Paul's.
The Registrar.
The Prebendaries, two by two—the Juniors first.
The Commissary of S. Paul's.
The Senior of the three Virgers.
The Canons.
The Dean's Virger.
The Dean—The Senior Canon.

The Choir being closed for repairs, when the two Junior Virgers come to the steps of the platform on which the temporary stalls are placed, they stop, and the persons in the procession arrange themselves in the stalls on either side; the Canon who installs, and the Dean, each with his Virger before him, passing between them to the Dean's temporary stall, in which the Dean sits down, and the Canon then inducts and installs him in the form following:—
"I, Robert Gregory, M.A., Senior Canon Residentiary of the Cathedral Church of S. Paul, London, by virtue of the authority to me committed, do induct you, the Reverend Richard William Church, Clerk, M.A., duly and lawfully appointed Dean of this Church, into the real, actual, and corporal possession of the Deanery of the said Church, with all and singular its rights, members, and appurtenances; and do assign to you, Richard William Church, the Stall in the Choir, and place and voice in the Chapter of this Cathedral Church, appertaining to the said Deanery and Dean thereof. The Lord keep you, coming in and going out, now and for ever."

Then the Senior Canon in his own stall begins the following suffrages, the persons present answering, viz.:—
Canon—O Lord, save this Thy servant.
Answer—Who putteth his trust in Thee.
Canon—Send him help from Thy holy place.
Answer—And evermore mightily defend him.
Canon—O Lord, hear our prayer.
Answer—And let our cry come unto Thee.

Which being ended, he offers the following prayer:—
"Oremus.
"Deus omnipotens, officiorum Dispositor, et bonorum omnium Distributor, Qui ad gubernandas ecclesias diversorum graduum dignitates institui voluisti, devotis mentibus Te suppliciter exoramus, ut hunc famulum Tuum Ricardum Gulielmum Church, in Artibus magistrum, ad Regimen Decanatus hujus Ecclesiæ deputatum protectionis Tuæ gratiâ munire digneris; eique Spiritus Sanctus cœlestium carismatum Divisor assistat, ut sicut Doctor gentium Paulus instituit, proficiant ei honoris augmenta ad incrementa meritorum, sit exemplum et forma justitiæ ad gubernandum fideliter ministerium sibi deputatum; sicque sibi commissos regere concedas, ut cum illis omnibus regnum promereatur æternum, per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen."

The public prayers are then begun, and read according to the usual manner.

Which being ended, the Dean, &c., return to the Chapter House, the Dean going first, with his Virger before him, the rest following in procession according to seniority.

The Canon in residence then seats the Dean in the place assigned to him, and assigns and limits to him the place in the Chapter of the Church, in the following words:—
"By virtue of the authority to me committed, I do assign this place in the Chapter to you, the Reverend Richard William Church, as a token of your real and actual possession of the Deanery."

Then the Dean takes the following Oath:—
"Ego, Ricardus Gulielmus Church, Ecclesiæ Cathedralis Sancti Pauli Londinensis Decanus installatus, promitto et juro ad hæc Sancta Dei Evangelia per me hic inspecta, quod secundum approbatum hujus Ecclesiæ morem in ea residebo, quod jura et libertates et approbandas Ecclesiæ consuetudines servabo et observari faciam, quod bona et possessiones Ecclesiæ inventa servabo, et alienata pro viribus revocabo, sic me Deus adjuvet, et hæc Sancta Dei Evangelia."

The Prebendaries and Minor Canons then promise Canonical obedience to the Dean, in the following words:—
"Domine Decane, promitto tibi obedientiam Canonicam tanquam Decano."

And the Vicars Choral, Organist, Virgers, and Bell-ringers thus:—
"Mr. Dean, I promise Canonical obedience to you as Dean."