Carissimi: Today’s Mass; St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury

St Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury & Confessor; Commemoration of St Alexius of Rome: Missa “Sacerdotes tui“

Bishop of Salisbury who helped compile the Domesday Book. A member of the Norman nobility, he was the son of Count Henry of Seez and Isabella, half-sister of King William the Conqueror of England. He took part in the Norman Conquest and served William as his chancellor. In 1078, he was appointed bishop of Salisbury, completing the cathedral there and founding a cathedral chapter of canons regular and school for clerics. Osmund also assisted the king in assembling the massive census which became the Domesday Book. In the dispute over investiture between King William II and St. Anselm of Canterbury, Osmund initially sided with the king, but later he admitted he had made a mistake, and he begged Anselm’s forgiveness. Osmund also collected manuscripts for the cathedral library, was a copier and…