JOSEPH WICKS TO BE BOY BISHOP - 10 DECEMBER 2006 - Archived

Twelve year old Joseph Wicks, Bishop’s Chorister (head chorister) of Salisbury Cathedral Choir and from Salisbury, assumes the role of Boy Bishop during Evensong in the Cathedral on Sunday 10 December at 3.00pm.

In the ceremony here, the Bishop of Salisbury will give his staff and ring to Joseph – who is dressed in replica Bishop’s regalia – and install him on his throne. The service is a celebration of an ancient tradition and also an acknowledgement of the important part the boy choristers play in the Cathedral’s musical life. As Boy Bishop, Joseph will lead the prayers, bless the congregation and receive the collection. The highlight of the service is undoubtedly the sermon which is both written and delivered by the Boy Bishop.

Notes:
This Boy Bishop ceremony is a reconstruction of a medieval ceremony. Around the time of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the Church hierarchy was reversed: the chorister ascended the Bishop’s throne and the Bishop took a lower place. This happened during the singing of the Magnificat with its revolutionary proclamation ‘God has put down the mighty from their throne and has exalted the humble and meek’. The ceremony is a lesson in humility and recognition of the wisdom of youthful innocence. In medieval times the Boy Bishop would have taken office from the Feast of St Nicholas (6 December) to the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December).