Gilded Chocolate

The decoration is of the crest of University College, Oxford, where these mints were served at the end of a 'Memorial Dinner' held to celebrate the life of John Albery, FRS, a colleague and friend of mine, who died in December. We had a Service of Thanksgiving in the afternoon at the University Church, followed by tea in the Hall of the college. Then, in the evening, we continued with this feast.

I have put together this collection of photographs and copies of documents from the day. Once downloaded, you can start the presentation, PowerPoint style, using CTRL-<f5>, and select individual slides, advance or return manually, or view as an automated slideshow using the controls in the bottom left corner. I am told that CTRL-<f5> doesn't work on MAC-machines, but that there is a very helpful "Present" button on the upper right of the Google-presentation software.

We started the meal with a heavily truncated version of the Univ Grace, but were given the words of the full version in our menus. To amuse those who still regard themselves as classicists, here are the words to help you keep linguistically agile:


SCHOLAR — Benedictus sit Deus in donis suis.
RESPONSE — Et sanctus in omnibus operibus suis.
SCHOLAR — Adiutorium nostrum in Nomine Domini.
RESPONSE — Qui fecit coelum et terras.
SCHOLAR — Sit Nomen Domini benedictum.
RESPONSE — Ab hoc tempore usque in saecula.
SCHOLAR — Domine Deus, Resurrectio et Vita credentium, Qui semper es laudandus tam in viventibus quam in defunctis, gratias Tibi agimus pro omnibus Fundatoribus caeterisque Benefactoribus nostris, quorum beneficiis hic ad pietatem et ad studia literarum alimur: Te rogantes ut nos, hisce Tuis donis ad Tuam gloriam recte utentes, una cum iis ad vitam immortalem perducamur. Per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
SCHOLAR — Deus det vivis gratiam, defunctis requiem: Ecclesiae, Reginae, Regnoque nostro, pacem et concordiam: et nobis peccatoribus vitam aeternam. Amen.