One of the greatest glories of Morning Prayer in Ireland is the Canticle Urbs Fortitudinis ('We have a strong city', based on Isaiah XXVI v.1). It is a comment which captures the wisdom of the Irish Prayer Book tradition: cautious, very modest reform of 1662, with gentle enrichments (Harvest Thanksgiving, Saint Patrick's Day, The Form for the Consecration of a Churches and Churchyard, The Order for the Publick Institution of a Minister to a Cure) that go with the grain of, rather than disrupting, the rhythms of Cranmerian liturgy. Amongst those gentle enrichments, pride of place goes to the Urbs Fortitudinis, an alternative to the Te Deum and Benedicite as the first canticle at Morning Prayer. It has been a favourite in the Church of Ireland over the century since its introduction in the revision of 1926 . This popularity is at least partly explained by a native pride in the Urbs. It also perhaps due to the Urbs resonating in the context of the political uncertainties whi...
Protestant Episcopalian - Burkean - clerk in holy orders