The St. Keverne Feast
This ancient institution carries our thoughts back
to the day when King Solomon "having builded a
house", for the Worship of Jehovah, kept the
never forgotten Dedication Feast.
Later, when the temple had been restored, it was
rededicated, and the feast was annually kept in
memory of that great service.
Our Lord Himself, we are told (John 10.22.25) was
at Jerusalem at this feast.
Christians in this twentieth Century do not travel
like the Jesus of old to one Holy City,
nevertheless the same spirit of common brotherhood
prevails.
Carew writes "The Saint's Feast is kept
upon Dedication Day by every householder of the
parish within his own doors each entertaining such
foreign acquaintence as will not rayle to requite
them... with the like kindness".
But Borlase says "That, it being inconvenient
especially in harvest time to keep Feasts on
Saint's Day, the Bishop transferred them to the
following Sunday. Charles 1st removed the
prohibition,
Previously however Henry 8, 1556, issued Statutes
and canons whereby every Feast of Dedication
should be held on the first Sunday in October.
(This Act is now disregarded says the writer).
During the period of want and distress, which
reigned in the 18th and part of the 19th Centuries,
St. Keverne Feast was like a gleam of sunshine on a
wintry morning. Then the Poor tasted meat which had
been denied them for twelve months. Then the Annual
Market was held. This was a great affair and took
place in the Market House under the School in the
Village Square. It was at the Feast that the poor
folk with the Dorcas Club tickets were able to
obtain the articles of food and clothing they so
sorely needed.
  In an old record dated June 1st 1256
we read that Thomas de Prideas and Sibil la his
wife were ordered by the itinerant justices to pay
to Orceus, the Abbot of Beaulieu and Parson of the
Church of St. Keverne, one pound of wax yearly at
the Feast of St. Keverne. Evidently, therefore, St.
Keverne Feast was a well known festival even in
those early days. Probably it dates back to the
period before the Norman Conquest when St. Keverne
was a Collegiate Church with Deans and Canons.
Then the people came together at the original date
(shortly before Advent) to celebrate their own
Feast. The Church and parish have under gone many
changes since that time but still the birthday of
the Sacred edifice is kept and the Sacrifice of
Praise and Thanksgiving is offered up to Him who
has blessed St Keverne with nature's richest
gifts.
A Century or two ago vast congregations of the
parishioners gathered round the Lord's Table to
partake of the Feast He provides.
The old church accounts give some idea of what our
foreparents regarded as the essential duty of every
professing Christian, and the "Act of
Remberance" preceded the joyous gatherings in
the homes of St. Keverne.
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