We are holding a special Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Thursday 8th May at 6.30pm to mark the eightieth anniversary of Victory in Europe Day – the end of WW2 in Europe. Those looking for a summary of what VE Day is might find the preface of this booklet useful, prepared by the Ministry of Defence for the VE Day 70 celebrations. The text may be a useful guide for an introduction to your own order of service - and the resources below may also be of use.
What music should we sing? We soon came up with a list of some appropriately
stirring hymns: I Vow to Thee My Country, Jerusalem, Eternal Father Strong To
Save and The National Anthem – and a wonderful organ voluntary - The Dambusters
March by Eric Coates. This became the score to the film ‘The Dambusters’ which
immortalises “Operation Chastise” which took place on 17th May 1943. (As an
aside – and described in more detail in this
post, the inventor of those famous ‘bouncing bombs’, Barnes Wallis,
apparently refused to accept payment for his work after the war, reputedly
explaining his decision by quoting a passage from 2 Samuel : “Can I drink the
blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?”)
We selected Dyson in D as the canticles – which we felt was fitting given
Dyson’s links to military history (he wrote a grenade
warfare training manual for use in WW1) and Psalm 23. For the anthem there
were a number of options under discussion. I was rather fond of something by
Vaughan Williams – but we selected in the end Ireland’s Greater Love. A piece which
is familiar to our choir. Since WW1 it has been associated with Remembrance
Services but it was originally commissioned in 1912 as a meditation for
Passiontide at St Paul’s Cathedral.
How does this compare to what has been sung at previous VE Day commemorations?
A number of orders of service from the first VE Day can be found online. At Westminster
Abbey, services of thanksgiving were held every hour. The orders of service
for the short and long liturgy can be found at this
link.
It includes prayers led by The Dean addressing God as ‘the Champion Leader of
Thy people’. According to the record of the service in the Journal
of the Society of Clerks-at-the-Table in Empire Parliaments (Vol. XIV,
1945), these prayers seem to have been written for the occasion;
To Thee, O Lord, the Champion Leader of Thy people, do we Thy servants
ascribe thankoffering of victory, for Thou hast delivered us in the cloudy and
dark day. And as Thou hast invincible power, let the design of Thy great love
lighten upon the waste of our wraths and sorrows; and give peace to Thy Church,
peace among nations, peace in our dwellings and peace in our hearts. We ask it
in the name of the Victorious Christ, Thy Son our Blessed Lord. Amen.
Hymns at the shorter and longer Westminster Abbey services included All People
that on Earth do Dwell, O God our help in ages past, Praise my soul the King of
Heaven, Now thank we all our God and Before th’almighty Father’s throne.
Keith Biggin, a chorister at St Paul’s Catherdral, has published this
blog containing his fascinating reflections of singing at the VE Day
Service there and has scanned an order for “A Service of Thanksgiving to
Almighty God for the Victory granted in Europe to Britain and her Allies”. The
document is undated but I assume this was the service Keith describes that was
repeated nine times on VE Day itself (8th May 1945) – because the
music listed including the hymns varies from the recording of the ‘National
Thanksgiving’ Service at St Paul’s Cathedral held on Sunday 13th May
1945, which was recorded by HMV and appears on Youtube at this link.
If this is correct, the music sung at St
Paul’s Cathedral on 8th May included: I was glad (Parry), All people
that on earth do dwell, Through all the changing scenes of life and The
National Anthem. At the National Thanksgiving Service on Sunday 13th May 1945,
music included All people that on earth do dwell, Lead me Lord (Wesley),
Stanford’s Te Deum, Now thank we all our God and The National Anthem.
The prayers shown as being said at St Paul’s Cathedral, begin with prayers of
Thanksgiving, followed by prayers of Supplication. The thanksgiving prayers
begin with a preface that was repeated later in the VJ
Thanksgiving Service:
Eternal Father, Judge of the Nations, we come before thee in gratitude and
praise, in humility and faith, to give the hearty thanks for all thy mercy
shown in the victory granted to our arms and those of our Allies.
Then follows the prayer for Peace
and Deliverance from our Enemies from the BCP 1662:
O Almighty God, who art a strong tower of defence unto thy servants against
the face of their enemies; we yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our
deliverance from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were
encompassed; We acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as
a prey unto them; beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards
us, that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Then this prayer was said, giving thanks for protection in times of war.
We give thee thanks, Almighty Father, for all thy goodness to us especially
for the protection that thou hast vouchsafed to us in the time of war; we thank
thee for the courage and daring and endurance of our navies, for the resolute
bravery of our armies, for the skill and determination of our airmen; we thank
thee for the vision of statesmen and the skill of commanders, for the courage
and endurance of all who have guarded this land from the peril of invasion, for
all the service of all the men and women who at their several posts have helped
to repel attacks upon our country, for the bravery of all engaged in the
many-sided activities of civil defence, for the devotion to duty of those who
laboured in the fields, mines and workshops or who ministered to the injured
and homeless; and we give special praise and thanksgiving unto thee for all who
have been faithful unto death and are departed hence in the hope of
resurrection to eternal life. Accepting all these thy mercies we pray that we
may be worthy of the blessings of victory, and may show forth our thanks to
thee by serving thee more faithfully in thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Prayers for supplication began with The Lord’s Prayer, followed by a prayer for
the British Empire which was first used at a National Day of Prayer marking the
fourth anniversary of the declaration of war on August 4th 1918 – the prayers
used at which can be found at this link.
The version below is the modern
equivalent, which was printed in Frank Colquholn’s ‘Parish Prayers’ (number
1133). I have updated it to reflect the current monarch.
O Lord God of our fathers, who in thy goodness hast led this
people hitherto by wondrous ways, who makest the nations to praise thee, and
knittest them together in the bonds of peace: We beseech thee to pour thy
blessing on the commonwealth of nations over which thou hast called thy servant
Charles to be King. Grant that all, of whatever race or tongue, may, in
prosperity and peace, be united in the bond of brotherhood, and in the
fellowship of the one Faith, so that we may be found a people acceptable unto
thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then follows a long prayer giving thanks for all those who have given their
lives in service to the country:
O God, the Giver of pardon and Lover of man’s salvation,
we beseech thee to take into thy gracious keeping the souls of all those who
have died in the service of their country. Grant them, O Lord, the forgiveness
of their sins, and bring them by thy mercy to thine eternal joy; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Everlasting Father, we commend to thee those who are
still suffering and still fighting, especially our forces and prisoners in the
Far East, and all others for whom the end of war is not the end of suffering,
the wounded, the homeless, the hungry and the bereaved.
We
pray for the restoration of order, health and civilian life in Europe; for our
enemies in defeat and those still engaged in warfare against us, that thou wilt
have pity on them, show them thy will and turn their minds to justice, truth
and peace.
We
confess to thee with our whole heart our neglect and forgetfulness of thy commandments;
our wrong doing, speaking and thinking; the hurt we have done to others and the
good we have left undone. O God, forgive thy people that have sinned against
thee, and blot out all our transgressions; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I will adapt three of these prayers for use at our VE Day 80 service.
The
Prayer Book Society has recently published a list of suggested prayers for use
at VE and VJ services. See the link at the foot of this blog post.
What is being sung at other VE Day Services this year?
Exeter Cathedral - Choral Evensong at 5.30pm on Thursday 8th May 2025
I was glad – C. Hubert H. Parry
Psalm - Psalm 23
Let all the world in every corner sing – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Truro Cathedral - Choral Evensong at 5.30pm on Thursday 8th May 2025
Canticles - Dyson in D
Psalm - Psalm 46
Anthem - Lord, thou hast been our refuge - Vaughan Williams
Bath Abbey - Choral Evensong at 5.30pm on Thursday 8th
May 2025 (Abbey Girls and Lay Clerks)
Introit - Do justice, love mercy, Huw Williams
Stanford in G
Anthem – Greater Love, Ireland
Responses – Philip Moore
Psalm – 46
On the 75th Anniversary of VE Day (during lockdown) Portsmouth Cathedral Choir offered
an online service which included English, American and German music :
Geistliches Lied, Brahms
Simple Gifts, June Clark based on an American Shaker Song
Vast Ocean of Light, Jonathan Dove
For the Fallen, Mark Blatchly
Agnus Dei from Faure’s Requiem
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