ALL our SAINTS

The compilers of the C of E's abortive "1928" Prayer Book appear to have taken over, from the Irish Catholic Calendar (the clue is that they borrowed the Collect used in Ireland on November 6) the bright idea of a festival of "Saints, Martyrs, Missionaries, and Doctors of the Church of England" ... which they intelligently placed on November 8 [the old Octave Day of All Saints]. 

"Three centuries ago, and the Catholic Church, that great creation of God's power, stood in this land in pride of place. It had the honours of near a thousand years upon it; it was enthroned in some twenty sees up and down the broad country; it was based in the will of a faithful people; it energized through ten thousand instruments of power and influence; and it was enobled by a host of Saints and Martyrs. The churches, one by one, recounted and rejoiced in the line of glorified intercessors, who were the respective objects of their grateful homage. Canterbury alone numbered perhaps some sixteen, from St Augustine to St Dunstan and St Elphege, from St Anselm and St Thomas down to S Edmund. York had its St Paulinus, St John, St Wilfrid, and St William; London its St Erconwald; Durham, its St Cuthbert; Winton, its St Swithin. Then there were St Aidan of Lindisfarne, and St Hugh of Lincoln, and St Chad of Lichfield, and St Thomas of Hereford, and St Oswald and St Wulfstan of Worcester, and St Osmund of Salisbury, and St Birinus of Dorchester , and St Richard of Chichester. ..."

S John Henry Newman. 

Here is the 1928 English translation of the old Irish Catholic Collect for the day:

"We beseech thee, O Lord, to multiply thy grace upon us who commemorate the saints of our nation; that, as we rejoice to be their fellow-citizens on earth, so we may have fellowship also with them in heaven; through ... "

I regard that as graceful in its elegant simplicity ... 'Old Roman' in its noble brevity. 

Unfortunately, when the Ordinariate Missal emerged, what it gave us was:

"Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that we may in all things be comforted by the intercession of holy Mary, Mother of God, of all the holy Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and Virgins, and all the Saints of England (Wales); and that like as we do call to mind their godliness of life; so we may be effectually defended by their help; through ... "

Plodding? Verbose?