The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament (CBS), officially the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, is a devotional society in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

dedicated to venerating the

Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denomin ...

of Christ in the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

. It has worked to promote the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

as the main Sunday service in churches, regular confession, and the Eucharistic fast. The society's motto is ''Adoremus in aeternum sanctissimum sacramentum'', or in English, "Let us forever adore the Most

Blessed Sacrament The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of th ...

". It is the oldest

Anglican devotional society Since the time of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England, there have been organizations whose purpose is the propagation of the Catholic Faith within the Anglican Communion. Each of these societies champions one aspect of Ritualism and Angl ...

. In its present form it resulted from the amalgamation on 26 February 1867, of two older societies: the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, founded in 1860, and the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, founded in 1862 by

Thomas Thellusson Carter Thomas Thellusson Carter (19 March 1808 – 28 October 1901), often known as T. T. Carter, was a significant figure in the Victorian Church of England. He was responsible for reintroducing some Catholic practices to the church and bei ...

during the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

. Members are known as associates.

Duties of associates

Associates and priests-associate (the constitution differentiates between the two, but the requirements are identical) of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament strive to promote reverence for

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

in the Holy Eucharist through the witness of their lives, words, prayers and teaching. They pray for one another at Mass and before the

and make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Structure

Autonomous provinces

The confraternity consists of autonomous provinces, of which there are currently two - the English (and original) CBS and the American CBS - each led by a superior-general and administered by a secretary-general and treasurer-general. Additionally there are semi-autonomous branches of CBS in both Canada and Australia, though currently neither has the numerical strength to become a fully autonomous province, and so they remain part of the English CBS. The English CBS is also active in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. Currently lacking structure, there are fledgling CBS movements in parts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Districts

Within an autonomous province of CBS there may be a further level of structure known as a "district". The English CBS is divided into 23 districts. A district is led by a "district superior", who may appoint a "district secretary", and is a collection of all the wards within a particular region.

Wards

The local unit of CBS is known as a "ward". Members of the confraternity meet together in local wards for prayer, worship and mutual support under the guidance of a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

as "ward superior", assisted by a "ward secretary". Each ward decides its own annual programme of events and the ward superior has authority to admit new associates (although he must consult the district superior or superior-general before admitting a new priest-associate). Many wards are attached to a local

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, although this is not necessary according to the constitution, which merely requires a priest-associate (as ward superior) to gather other associates around himself in order to form a ward. In recent times a number of priests-associate have formed wards which are not attached to any parish church. Examples in the English CBS include: *The Ward of the Sacred Heart, attached to the Diocese of Lincoln and holding a meeting once a year; *The Ward of St Cuthman - attached to the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

Storrington Storrington is a small town in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, and one of two in the civil parish of Storrington and Sullington. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. it has a population of around 4,6 ...

and holding meetings throughout that deanery; *The Ward of the Precious Blood - attached to the Deanery of

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

and holding meetings throughout that deanery; *The Ward of St Mary and St Nicolas - attached to

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. ...

and for the benefit of members of that school who belong to CBS; *The Ward of St Brigid - a geographically vast ward, uniting scattered CBS members throughout Sweden. There remain unattached associates of CBS, who live too far from any ward to be able to participate in its life. These unattached associates receive updates and news directly from the secretary-general.

Finances

The English CBS has benefited from a number of generous bequests and careful financial management and has consequently built up considerable financial reserves. These allow it to provide grants of vessels and vestments to priests celebrating the Eucharist and reserving the Blessed Sacrament in poorer parishes and also to provide financial support to large projects and conferences, including the annual Caister Conference. In early July 2011, controversy broke when it was first rumoured, then reported in ''The Times'', that the confraternity had made a grant of £1 million to the

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic B ...

, thus divesting itself of more than half its assets. Christopher Pearson, superior-general of the confraternity, was reported (by

Ruth Gledhill Ruth Gledhill (born 1959) is an English journalist and is a former religion affairs correspondent for '' The Times'', a post she left in 2014. Gledhill was the last full-time newspaper journalist dedicated to religious affairs in the UK. She is ...

) in ''The Times'' as stating that the trustees believed, having taken legal advice, that the grant was compatible with the charitable objects of the confraternity, a view which Pearson also stated in a letter to members of the confraternity. This was disputed by others, including Paul Williamson who described the grant as "a disgrace" and made formal complaints to both the

Archbishop of Westminster The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

and the Charity Commission. In June 2012 the

Charity Commission for England and Wales , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , ...

stated that following a "substantial number of complaints" it had carried out an investigation and judged the grant to be improper in that a majority of the trustees of CBS who authorised the grant were themselves members of the ordinariate, meaning that "the majority of the Trustees ada (financial) personal interest in the decision". The commission ruled that the grant was both "invalid" and "unauthorised". The commission also appeared to rule out any similar grants in the future, when it stated: "there is substantial doubt whether the Confraternity could make a grant to the Ordinariate (even with restrictions) which could be applied by the Ordinariate consistently with the objects of the Confraternity". Shortly after the publication of the Charity Commission's findings the superior-general (Christopher Pearson), secretary-general, and treasurer-general of CBS, who were all members of the ordinariate, resigned. The full £1 million grant was repaid to the confraternity, with interest.

Other points of interest

The English CBS publishes a quarterly newsletter and prayer schedule, known as the ''Quarterly Paper'' or ''QP'', and sent to all associates. Other publications include ''The Constitution'', ''The Manual'', and ''The Directory'' (of districts and wards). There are copies of the society's manuals in the Library and Museum of

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, listed under Classmark 1295 CON. Members of the Confraternity were instrumental in the founding (in 1869) of a religious order of Anglican nuns whose work was to make reparation (by prayer) for what the founders perceived to be dishonour to Jesus through the historic attitude of the Church of England to the Blessed Sacrament. The sisters were known as the Community of Reparation to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (CRJBS). Bishop

Roger Jupp Roger Alan Jupp (born 1956) is a British Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Popondota from 2003 to 2005. He returned to parish ministry because of ill-health. Early life Jupp was born in London and brought up in Blackheath. He was educate ...

is the current superior-general in the United Kingdom.Officers liste
here
. The Secretary-General of the American branch is the Very Reverend Father William Willoughby III. The Reverend Canon Brian Freeland leads the Canadian organisation.

Notable members

* John Bauerschmidt * C. P. A. Burnett *

* Loren N. Gavitt *

Charles Chapman Grafton Charles Chapman Grafton (April 12, 1830 – August 30, 1912) was the second Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Early life and education Born on April 12, 1830, in Boston, Massachusetts, he became an ardent supporter of the Oxford Mo ...

* Reginald Mallett, Superior-General of the American Branch, 1946-1965 * Dan Martins * James W. Montgomery * Robert Alfred John Suckling * Grieg Taber * Granville M. Williams SSJE

References

{{Reflist

External links

Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament UKConfraternity of the Blessed Sacrament US
an
Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament - Australian RegionThe Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
historical documents from

Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ho ...

Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament LincolnThe Swedish CBS Blog - Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament in SwedenAnglican Priests Eucharistic League
Anglo-Catholicism Anglican Eucharistic theology Confraternities