Harvest
A viewpoint on ‘Harvest’ by Father Michael Lewis of Taunton.
I am writing on the Feast of the Assumption, which used to be known as “Lady Day in Harvest”, which should establish the Catholic credentials of the Harvest Thanksgiving, though it has been more characteristic of Anglican and Nonconformist church life than of Catholic parishes.
In its modern form, the Harvest Thanksgiving dates from 1 October 1843, when the Reverend R S Hawker, Vicar of Morwenstow in north Cornwall, encouraged his people to bring corn, fruit and vegetables, and produce of all kinds to decorate the church in thanksgiving for the harvest. The practice soon spread, the well-known hymns were composed to accompany it, and in Anglican parishes, especially in the countryside, the Harvest Festival enjoyed enormous popularity for well over a hundred years. I do not think it has ever been quite as popular in Catholic parishes, but the Mass of Thanksgiving for the Harvest, provided in the present Roman Missal, is celebrated in many churches.
Thanksgiving for the Harvest, which sustains life through the winter months, was a universal instinct, as old as man himself. The Jews had two festivals – the Festival of Weeks, at our Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles later in the year – “the feast of ingathering at the end of the year” (Exodus 23 vv 9-21). There are scattered references in the early liturgies to prayers of thanksgiving for the harvest, and the doxology of the Roman Canon – the first Eucharistic prayer – contains a reminder of the ancient practice of bringing various offerings to Mass to be blessed. “through Christ our Lord you give us ALL these gifts, you fill them with life and goodness, you bless them and make them holy”. Throughout the prayer there has been mention only of the bread and wine of the Eucharist; the word ALL includes the other offerings, which have long since ceased to be made. For example, at Easter a lamb was brought to be blessed, a living symbol of the Lamb of God, prefigured at the dawn of history when Abel brought the firstlings of his flock as a thank offering to God. This is, of course, the reason why Abel gets a mention in the Roman Canon. Similarly, grapes were offered on the feast of St Xystus (Pope from 257-258) on 6 August; bundles of hay for the cattle on the feast of St Stephen on 26 December; water, milk and honey at a baptismal Mass; bread, wine, fruits and seeds on the feast of St Blaise on 3 February; bread on the feast of St Agatha on 5 February; wine on the feast of St John the Evangelist on 27 December. The prayers of blessing for these things were inserted at the end of the Canon, and so the final doxology naturally made mention of “ALL these gifts”. In this way, thanksgiving for the gifts of God’s creation was linked with the great thanksgiving for our redemption. In course of time the practice of offering gifts of all kinds died out, no doubt mostly for practical reasons – imagine having to clean up after all that lot. But the word “ALL” remains in the Doxology as a reminder of earlier customs.
In medieval England, Lammas (Loaf-Mass) Day was celebrated on 1 August as a thanksgiving for the harvest, and the bread of the Eucharist was made from the flour ground from the first-cut corn. In pre-modern times, when most people lived in the country, and even urban dwellers lived close to it, all were conscious of their dependence for their very existence on the food produced locally. In our mainly urban society today, when food floods into the supermarkets from all over the world, it’s easy to forget. And yet the deep instinct to give thanks for the harvest still survives, and when we thank God once again for this year’s harvest, we are taking our place in a line of worshippers reaching back to Abel.
The fruit and vegetables, the tins and packets of food, are not there simply to decorate the church. They are symbolic offerings, in which we recognise our dependence upon God, the author and giver of all good things, and offer to God, along with them, ourselves, our souls and bodies in thanksgiving and for service, in union with Christ’s sacrifice, which we celebrate in the Eucharist.
Father Michael Lewis
I am writing on the Feast of the Assumption, which used to be known as “Lady Day in Harvest”, which should establish the Catholic credentials of the Harvest Thanksgiving, though it has been more characteristic of Anglican and Nonconformist church life than of Catholic parishes.
In its modern form, the Harvest Thanksgiving dates from 1 October 1843, when the Reverend R S Hawker, Vicar of Morwenstow in north Cornwall, encouraged his people to bring corn, fruit and vegetables, and produce of all kinds to decorate the church in thanksgiving for the harvest. The practice soon spread, the well-known hymns were composed to accompany it, and in Anglican parishes, especially in the countryside, the Harvest Festival enjoyed enormous popularity for well over a hundred years. I do not think it has ever been quite as popular in Catholic parishes, but the Mass of Thanksgiving for the Harvest, provided in the present Roman Missal, is celebrated in many churches.
Thanksgiving for the Harvest, which sustains life through the winter months, was a universal instinct, as old as man himself. The Jews had two festivals – the Festival of Weeks, at our Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles later in the year – “the feast of ingathering at the end of the year” (Exodus 23 vv 9-21). There are scattered references in the early liturgies to prayers of thanksgiving for the harvest, and the doxology of the Roman Canon – the first Eucharistic prayer – contains a reminder of the ancient practice of bringing various offerings to Mass to be blessed. “through Christ our Lord you give us ALL these gifts, you fill them with life and goodness, you bless them and make them holy”. Throughout the prayer there has been mention only of the bread and wine of the Eucharist; the word ALL includes the other offerings, which have long since ceased to be made. For example, at Easter a lamb was brought to be blessed, a living symbol of the Lamb of God, prefigured at the dawn of history when Abel brought the firstlings of his flock as a thank offering to God. This is, of course, the reason why Abel gets a mention in the Roman Canon. Similarly, grapes were offered on the feast of St Xystus (Pope from 257-258) on 6 August; bundles of hay for the cattle on the feast of St Stephen on 26 December; water, milk and honey at a baptismal Mass; bread, wine, fruits and seeds on the feast of St Blaise on 3 February; bread on the feast of St Agatha on 5 February; wine on the feast of St John the Evangelist on 27 December. The prayers of blessing for these things were inserted at the end of the Canon, and so the final doxology naturally made mention of “ALL these gifts”. In this way, thanksgiving for the gifts of God’s creation was linked with the great thanksgiving for our redemption. In course of time the practice of offering gifts of all kinds died out, no doubt mostly for practical reasons – imagine having to clean up after all that lot. But the word “ALL” remains in the Doxology as a reminder of earlier customs.
In medieval England, Lammas (Loaf-Mass) Day was celebrated on 1 August as a thanksgiving for the harvest, and the bread of the Eucharist was made from the flour ground from the first-cut corn. In pre-modern times, when most people lived in the country, and even urban dwellers lived close to it, all were conscious of their dependence for their very existence on the food produced locally. In our mainly urban society today, when food floods into the supermarkets from all over the world, it’s easy to forget. And yet the deep instinct to give thanks for the harvest still survives, and when we thank God once again for this year’s harvest, we are taking our place in a line of worshippers reaching back to Abel.
The fruit and vegetables, the tins and packets of food, are not there simply to decorate the church. They are symbolic offerings, in which we recognise our dependence upon God, the author and giver of all good things, and offer to God, along with them, ourselves, our souls and bodies in thanksgiving and for service, in union with Christ’s sacrifice, which we celebrate in the Eucharist.
Father Michael Lewis
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