catholic life march 2010

March 2010 I £3.50 €5.00 US $6.00 C $ 6.75

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2 US Postal Service to honour Mother Teresa with stamp

4 Catholic Charities - The Society of Our Lady of Lourdes

8 Bagenal’s Castle, Newry: Part 2

12 The Rheims - Douai Bible

20 ART FEATURE: The Sacred made real

22 FOCUS ON WESTMINSTER ARCHDIOCESE - • A dream for London• Holborn’s Holy Ground• Our Lady of Westminster• The Adoption Legacy• Archdiocese news

32 Shroud of Turin exhibition

34 The Eucharistic miracle of Seefeld

36 Pre-history of Shrewsbury Diocese - Part 3: Wales

41 The Old Spanish Missions of California Part 7:Mission Santa Barbara, Queen of Missions

44 Catholics societies: Marriage Care

46 An interview with John Polhamus

48 J.S. Bach - Master of music

52 THE HISTORY OF HYMNS IN THE CHURCH Lead, Kindly Light

54 Newman’s dream fulfilled at the Oxford Oratory

57 Numerology of Catholicism: Part 3

60 10 minute interviews with prominent Catholics:Pamela Taylor

62 Abram Joseph Ryan - Poet-Priest of the Confederacy

EDITOR: Lynda Walker Email: [email protected]

EDITORIAL RESEARCHER: Emma Clancy Email: [email protected]

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CONTENTS March 2010

1

64 Guernsey Island Saints

66 The English College, Lisbon: Part 3

69 Irish priests’ contribution to the Church in England & Wales

CatholicLife

The Age of Gothic: French Gothic reaches its peak

15-19

A statue of St Aloysius

Gonzaga in theOxford Oratory.

(see page 54-56)

the magazine of Catholic history and culture

01 contents:• contents july 18/02/2010 09:38 Page 1

Blessed Mother Teresaof Calcutta will beamong the subjects

depicted on U.S. stampsissued in 2010.

The 44-cent stamp,bearing a portrait of MotherTeresa painted by artistThomas Blackshear II ofColorado Springs,Colorado, will go on sale onwhat would have been her100th birthday, the 26thAugust.

“Her humility andcompassion, as well as herrespect for the innate worthand dignity of humankind,inspired people of all agesand backgrounds to work onbehalf of the world’s poorestpopulations,” said the PostalService news release on its2010 commemorative stampprogramme.

The release also noted thatMother Teresa receivedhonorary U.S. citizenship in1996 from the U.S.Congress and President BillClinton. Only five otherpeople have been madehonorary U.S. citizens –Winston Churchill, RaoulWallenberg, William Pennand Hannah CallowhillPenn and the Marquis deLafayette – and all butHannah Callowhill Pennhave also appeared on U.S.postage stamps.

Mother Teresa alsoreceived the CongressionalGold Medal in 1997 for her“outstanding and enduringcontributions throughhumanitarian and charitableactivities,” the release said.

Born on the 26th August,1910, in what is now theRepublic of Macedonia,Mother Teresa went to Indiaat the age of 18 and foundedthe Missionaries of Charitythere. She died in Calcuttaon the 5th September, 1997,and was beatified by PopeJohn Paul II in 2003.

US POSTAL SERVICETO HONOUR MOTHERTERESA WITH STAMP

News

© www.catholicnews.com

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02 mother teresa stamp:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 09:52 Page 1

03 Aid to the Church:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 11:52 Page 1

O ne cannot but be filled with aweat the amazing vitality of theEnglish Catholic Church

following the restoration of the hierarchyin 1850. In addition to the proliferation ofchurch building, many societies andcharities were founded, such as theCrusade of Rescue, the Catholic Union,the Catholic Association and so on. Thelast mentioned started in 1891 with theenthusiastic support of Cardinal Manning.It aimed to promote unity and fellowshipamong Catholics and to help and protectCatholic organisations and interests. Oneof the first events organised by theAssociation in 1896 was a pilgrimage toRome, followed not long afterwards by apilgrimage to Lourdes at the turn of the1900s which has taken place each year tothe present day. The Lourdes pilgrimage istheir main activity.

In March 1912, arising out of the needto provide specialist care for those sickpersons going on the English National

Pilgrimage, the Catholic Associationformed the Society of Our Lady ofLourdes (SOLL). It was from this newlyfounded society that medical attendants,nurses, doctors and stretcher-bearerscame in numbers. After the 1914-18 war,the two groups split and SOLL became anindependent registered charity (1086419)and eventually in 1922 took over thecomplete organisation of the NationalPilgrimage. Apart from the obvious breakcaused by the hostilities of the SecondWorld War, they have taken sick pilgrimseach May ever since.

Most readers of this magazine willprobably have been at least once toLourdes. Nowadays, transport by plane,train or coach is relatively straightforward,but not without the normalinconveniences that travel abroad bringswith it. However, it takes little imaginationto realise how much work is involvedwhen the pilgrims are ill, wheelchairbound, totally incapable of doing the most

ordinary things for themselves, oremotionally confused and anxious. Theresponse needed for these conditionsincludes medical knowledge, nursing skills,physical strength, counselling experience,but above all, a spiritual motivation, deeplyrooted in a fervent devotion to Our Lady.I am sure that members of SOLL can taketheir inspiration from Mary’s life, such asher concerned visit to her cousin, thematernal care of her Baby, her protectionof him on the journey to Egypt, heranguish when looking for her lost Son, hercompassion on the way to Calvary and atthe foot of the Cross.

There is also a material cost in taking thesick to Lourdes. General and specialisttransport has to be paid for. Once inLourdes, most of the pilgrims are housedin the Accueil hospital where theirexpenses have to be met as well as hotelbills incurred by the rest of the pilgrims.Then there are the obvious costs of foodand drink and medicine.continues on page 6

THE SOCIETY OFOUR LADY OF LOURDES

4

I was sick and you cared for Me (Matthew 25)“ ”

Catholic Charities series feature by Tony Galcius

04-06 charities soc our lady of lourdes:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 09:56 Page 1

We welcome all those who are sick or disabled wishing to make a Pilgrimage to Lourdes with useach year during the Marian month of May.

As a Catholic Charity we are able to assist all our sick pilgrimsfinancially to make their Pilgrimage with us.

THE SOCIETY also wishes to invite all Doctors, Nurses, Helpers, Carers and Chaplains to assist and become part of its Annual Pilgrimage for the Sick.

Travel by air from Exeter or from StanstedSTARTS FRIDAY 28th MAY 2010

RETURNS FRIDAY 4th JUNE 2010For more information, and details of booking

forms and pricesSee our website:

www.soll-lourdes.com or CONTACT:[email protected]

or write, giving your full name and address, to:-

THE SOCIETY OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES,Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,Botwell Lane, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 2AB

Telephone: 0208 848 9833

Whilst in Lourdes all our sick and disabled Pilgrims are accommodatedin the beautiful Accueil (Our Lady’s Help) residence immediately facing

the Grotto. This modern building, designed in the form of open arms remindsus that, in Lourdes, everyone is made welcome and cared for. The spaciousrooms contain from one to six beds (with specially adapted toilets andshowers) allowing every possible comfort. Our own wonderful doctors, nurses,carers and helpers of the SOCIETY combine a professional attitude to caringwith a friendly, understanding approach to each individual.

During the week you can experience the Eucharistic Procession eachafternoon, the torchlight procession each evening, as well as the rural charmof the celebration of Holy Mass in the Cathedral of the Trees. You will be ableto visit the Baths next to our Lady’s Grotto, celebrate the International Massin the underground Basilica and receive benediction, blessing of the handsand Holy Mass at many venues around and within the domain of the LourdesSanctuaries including the Grotto itself.

Our Pilgrimage is accompanied by Youth Groups from three CatholicSchools from Yorkshire and London who work tirelessly to help you enjoy andmake the most of your Pilgrimage to Our Lady’s Shrine. Our travelarrangements this year are made in co-operation with one of the mostexperienced and dedicated Pilgrimage Tour Operators, Tangney Tours.

We also organise a Pilgrimage to TheFriars at Aylesford on August 15th, 2010.

For further details visit our website Events page:

www.soll-lourdes.com/Events

5


Catholic Charities series feature by Tony Galcius

All these can be prohibitive foranyone desperate to go to Lourdes,especially if they are sick or disabled.Hence, it is one of the main objectivesof SOLL, and I quote: “to providefinancial and other assistance to enablepilgrims who cannot afford the cost togo to Lourdes”.

The other objectives of the Societyare “to promote devotion to OurLady of Lourdes and to organisepilgrimages and services in Herhonour”. This year the Pilgrimage forthe Sick will take place from the 28thMay to the 4th June, and it is packedwith a programme of Masses and amyriad other devotions which are thenormal spiritual fare for pilgrims. Theamount of organisation needed tocarry this out is truly astonishing,particularly when all this work is doneby volunteers. People travel toLourdes expecting to see a miracle,usually of a medical cure kind. I thinkhowever that the work done bymembers and helpers of SOLL fornearly 100 years is a miracle in itself. Itis something truly wondrous in whichthe hand of God is clearly visible inboth helpers and those helped. Andall at the behest of his Mother –something which began at thewedding feast of Cana when she said“Son, they have no wine”.

The Society provides extensiveinformation about Lourdes, andeverything a pilgrim needs to know,on its website – www.soll-lourdes.com. I leavethem to make the final appeal: “Wewould not be able to take sick pilgrimsto Lourdes without our officiallyregistered helpers who themselvesgain a huge amount of satisfactionfrom the pilgrimage. It is very hardwork but most rewarding and fulfilling.You may start a trip knowing no one,but you will return with a group ofpeople who you feel you have knownfor a lifetime and in some casesfriendships are formed that last longinto the future”.

To become a Friend or Helper of theSociety contact us at

[email protected] or phone 020 8848 9833 or write to us at theChurch of the Immaculate Heart of

Mary, Botwell Lane, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 2AB.

6


07 Missio:p18-19 king john 19/02/2010 09:38 Page 1

Bagenal’s Castle and the site onwhich it is located link thethriving City of Newry with its

Cistercian and medieval past. It has beenacknowledged as one of the mostinteresting archaeological finds in Irelandin recent years, having the oldest survivingset of original floor plans and perspectivedrawings for a standing building in thecountry. Given the troubled history of thearea in which the castle stood, it isremarkable that the drawings survived.The reason they did was due to the factthat at some stage they were sent toEngland where they were uncovered laterin the Public Records Office at Kew.These remarkable drawings are attributedto the English engineer Robert Lythe andare believed to have been producedaround the year 1568.

Newry stands at the head ofCarlingford Lough, an area that has had along and often troubled history largelybecause of its strategic importance and, assuch, a region which was continuallybeing invaded and fought over. As a pointof sea-entry into south-east Ulster, thelough and the surrounding area providedan invaluable landfall for travellers andinvaders of all kinds. The Normans usedit in the 12th century and it was duringthis unsettled period, in 1157, thatMaurice O’Loughlin, the High King ofIreland, issued a charter granting lands inthe vicinity of the town of Newry to theCistercians on which to build an abbey.This was to be a sister-house of Mellifont,the first monastery established in Ireland

by the Cistercians a few years earlier. Thenew abbey was situated on theborderlands between the territories of thenative Irish clans of Ulster and the Anglo-Norman settlements further to thesouth. As such it was fertile ground forunrest. The Cistercians came into Irelandwith tremendous reforming zeal, drivenby the example and the teachings ofBernard of Clairvaux (see below left), andover a relatively short period of time over30 monastic settlements were establishedacross Ireland. Over time, however, thedisciplined lives of the monks became‘flabby’, the French monks either died outor moved on to other challenges and werereplaced in many instances by laymenwho, while they may have adopted thetitle of ‘Abbot’, were not unlike the chiefexecutives of many of today’s businessesand corporations. This malaise affectedthe abbey at Newry as much as any of theother monasteries. As a result, when theimpact of the Protestant Reformationspread from England to Ireland themonasteries were in no fit state, spirituallyor organisationally, to resist. In 1543Arthur Magennis, leader of one of themost powerful clans in the region,successfully petitioned Henry VIII toallow the abbey to be converted for use asa collegiate church for secular clergy. Thiswas clearly an attempt to avoid theconfiscation of the monastic properties inwhich the clan would have had an interestand it worked, but only for a few shortyears. In May 1548 the warden, JohnProwle, surrendered all of the monasticlands and other properties to the Crownin return for a pension for himself and hisvicars choral.

King Edward VI granted theconfiscated lands to Sir Nicholas Bagenal,Marshall of the King’s Army of Ireland in1550, a man with something of a ‘shady’past. He first came to Ireland as a fugitivefrom justice, having been embroiled in arow in which a man was killed. He was anative of Staffordshire where his familyhad land and influence. He petitioned theking for a pardon on the basis that he hadonly been in the company of those whohad killed the man and it seems as if this

may have been granted, but on thecondition that he went to Ireland to serveas a ‘double agent’. Accordingly he cameto Ireland as a mercenary, serving ConnO’Neill, the first Earl of Tyrone and Chiefof one of the major Irish clans, theO’Neills. Bagenal’s fortunes in Irelandprospered rapidly. In 1544 he went as partof a military expedition to France bearinga recommendation on his behalf grantedby the Privy Council. On his return in1547 he was appointed Marshall of theArmy, one of the great offices of state atthat time. In 1550 he was appointed tothe Irish Privy Council, so his star wasvery much in the ascendant. From theterms of the king’s grant it is clear that itwas part of a developing strategy of‘plantation’ in Ulster, aimed at reducingthe strength of the native Irish clans inthat region. The grant stated that thelands being ‘leased’ to Bagenal were ‘set ina remote part, far from civil order, a placesuitable for the service of the king to planta captain with furniture of men for thereduction of those rude and savagequarters to better rule and obedience’.The strategic nature of the area was clearlynot lost on the English government inmaking this grant, nor was it lost onMarshall Bagenal in accepting it. Hequickly set about regularising the terms ofthe grant in his own favour and inacquiring adjoining lands which wereclearly outside the scope of the originalgrant of the monastery lands.

Given the unsettled nature of the area,Bagenal’s key priority was to establish afortified dwelling on the Newry site. Thesurviving plans for the building show thatthe design did not have any direct parallelwith any other castle existing in Ireland atthat time. Research carried out by DrKen Abraham has identified the design asbeing an Irish variation on the ‘T’-plansused in the building of many of thefortified houses that were being built inparts of northern England and Scotlandat that time, particularly in areas wherecontrol by central government was weak.These ‘tower houses’ as they were called,were generally built by lesser magnates inorder to withstand attacks by relatively

BAGENAL’S CASTLE, NEWRY

8

08-10 Bagenal's castle (2) copy:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 10:05 Page 1

series feature, part 2 of 2 - by Gerry Burns

small groups of local raiders. They wererectangular in shape, sometimes withsubsidiary turrets housing flights of stairs,toilets and other small chambers. In somecases the tower house and any of itsimportant subsidiary buildings wouldhave been enclosed by a bawn. Thehouses were usually three to five storeysin height with at least one storey beingvaulted, usually the ground floor. Theupper chambers would have been themain living quarters and would have beenfitted out with fine windows andfireplaces.

Historical records provide us with sometantalising glimpses of a lively social life atthe castle. In 1575, for instance, SirHenry Sidney, the Lord Deputy of Irelandreported that one of the native chieftains,Turlough Luineach O’Neill, had spentsome £400 in three days celebrating thefeast of Bacchus at Newry and that it hadtaken some hours to get him soberenough so that he could be allowed toenter the castle. No doubt O’Neill’s visitto the castle was part of the government’son-going strategy of trying to ‘woo’ thechieftains away from their tribal customsand ways of living. It is suggested thatTurlough Luineach’s visit to Newry waspart of an on-going O’Neill strategy toform marriage alliances with the Bagenalfamily. In his case it proved fruitless.English rule in Ireland depended on theestablishment and maintenance of anelaborate system of checks and balancesaimed at neutralising the power of theIrish chieftains. When it suited, allianceswith certain chieftains would be formed,other chieftains would be bribed orflattered by the award of titles,antagonisms between clans would befomented where necessary and the rule oflaw was based always on shifting ground.But it was frequently a two-way situation.Arguably the greatest of the Irishchieftains, Hugh O’Neill, the Earl ofTyrone, tried to utilise diplomacy to hisown advantage. As the successor toTurlough Luineach he courted MabelBagenal, Henry’s sister and on occasionswould have visited her and her father atthe castle in Newry. She was described as‘the Helen of the Elizabethan wars’ butalmost certainly Hugh O’Neill saw hersimply as a pawn in the game ofneutralising her brother’s growing powerin Ulster. Henry Bagenal certainly saw itas such and he strongly opposed the

relationship. Mabel, however, lost herheart to the dashing Irish Chieftain andthey eloped and got married. O’Neill latersaid that he married her chiefly in order‘to bring civility into my house andamong the country people’. Sadly forMabel it was a childless and deeplyunhappy marriage. She died four yearslater at O’Neill’s stronghold inDungannon, reputedly of a broken heart.

Nicholas Bagenal died in 1590 at hisother residence at Greencastle, furtheralong the County Down coast, but beforehis death he had successfully petitionedthe Crown to have his son Henryappointed as his successor as Marshall ofthe Army. From this point on HenryBagenal played an increasingly importantand influential part in late 16th centuryIrish government and politics, taking aleading part in the military campaigns

against Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone,during what became known as the NineYears War. Henry Bagenal was enraged bythe marriage of his sister to Hugh O’Neilland in a letter written at the time hepoured out this anger and grief:

“I can but accurse myself and myfortune that my blood, which is in myfather and myself, hath so often beenspilled in repressing this rebellious raceand should now be mingled with sotraitorous a stock and kindred.”

Perhaps as a result he let emotion rulehis head. Certainly he underestimatedO’Neill’s skill as a military tactician and hepaid the price with his life at the Battle ofthe Yellow Ford in County Armagh in1598, the most crushing defeat eversuffered by an invading army in Ireland. Itwas a victory that established O’Neill as

continues on page 10

9


series feature - by Gerry Burns

the undisputed leader of the native Irish cause. Bagenal’s Castle was attacked and badly damaged during

the ravages of the war but it survived and became re-established as the centre of the Bagenal estates, forming anintegral part of the great Ulster Plantation. Despite the defeatand the subsequent departure of the Native Irish Chieftainsinto exile, known as ‘The Flight of the Earls’, many parts ofIreland remained unsettled. Rebellion broke out again in 1641led by an Irish Catholic Confederacy. Bagenal’s Castle inNewry was attacked during the rebellion but survived. Fromthat time on, however, historical information about the castlebecomes extremely scarce, making it difficult to know how farthe Bagenals maintained the castle as an important residence.By the time of his death in 1712 Nicholas Bagenal, the great-grandson of Sir Nicholas, had a well-appointed house on PallMall in London and his County Down estates, including thelands in Newry, passed to his cousin, Robert Nedham. In1746 Nedham leased the castle to Robert Hutcheson, a Newrymerchant and a map accompanying this lease would appear toindicate that the castle was to be developed as a commercialenterprise. Subsequent alterations to the castle were carriedout around 1770, including the creation of a cellar and thedemolition of the central stairwell and a turret. Thesedemolitions were carried out using gunpowder. Bagenal’sCastle was not marked on any of the 19th or 20th centuryOrdnance Survey maps and it was presumed to have beendemolished at some stage during subsequent renovations.However, the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1834-36 didindicate that the castle was still there, albeit being occupied astwo dwelling houses. It also described how fragments of carvedstone from the Cistercian Abbey buildings had been built intothe fabric of the surrounding buildings. These memoirs alsodescribed how large quantities of human bones had beendiscovered at the front and rear of the building and thatduring the digging of other foundations within the abbeyprecincts, remains of shoes and clothing had been found. In1894 these houses and the surrounding warehouses werepurchased by Arthur McCann and the whole complexfunctioned as a successful bakery until the mid-1990s. Major

alterations were carried out over the years, disguising theorigins of the building, and for many years the only clue tothe building’s significance lay in the stone carvings which werepreserved in the bakery walls.

The official rediscovery of Bagenal’s Castle came in 1996 afterthe bakery was sold. The building was visited by officials fromthe town’s museum committee who wished to examine the stonecarvings. Their visit uncovered the remarkable fact that the shellof the original castle had been preserved within the bakerybuildings. Subsequent aarchaeological restoration work furtherdiscovered that substantial parts of the castle had survived almostto their original height. Restoration work began in December2000 and continued until April 2003, and the castle and theadjoining warehouse have now been restored and developed asan interesting Museum and Visitor Centre. Three of the originalfloor levels and many of the building’s surviving features arehighlighted throughout the exhibitions. Surprisingly, theextensive excavations failed to uncover any remains or artefactsdating from the period when the Cistercian monastery occupiedthe site.

www.bagenalscastle.com

© Newry and Mourne Museum.

10


“Be Still Before the Lord& Wait For Him”

For Details Call: 020 8447 8233Providence Convent House of Prayer

8 Oakthorpe Road, Palmers Green, London N13 5UH

Why not visit?

Opened 1st January 2006 and situated in its own grounds, yet easily accessible by the Underground, British Rail, bus and car, theProvidence Convent House of Prayer offers you a place of peace for quiet reflection or meditation, together with organisedRetreats throughout the year. Open each day of the year, you are able to spend as little or as much time as you want in the presence of Our Lord. The House can take up to 8 people accommodated in single bedrooms.Because the House of Prayer is attached to the Convent you are able to take full advantage of the spiritual life of the Sisters ifyou so wish.

Providence ConventHouse of Prayer

Bookings

Bookings must be made in advance:The cost of the Retreats are as follows:The 5 Day Retreats: £175.00 per person The Weekend Retreats: £60.00 per person Days of Recollection: £15.00 per personA Deposit is required as follows:The 5 Day Retreats: £50.00 per person The Weekend Retreats: £20.00 per person Days of Recollection: £15.00 per person to be paid at the time of booking.For Private Retreats a donation is required towards the House of Prayer.See address and contact details above.

How to reach us

By Bus: Take the 121 or 329 from Wood Green to the Library at Palmers Green.By Train: British Rail At peak times: Old Street to Palmers Green. Off-peak times: Moorgate to Palmers Green.By Underground: The Piccadilly Line to Wood Green and then the bus.

Retreats & Events for 2010

March 8th-12th: “Dining in the Kingdom of God” (Fr. Peter Dowling SSS)April 26th-30th: “My Grace is Enough for You” (Fr. Chris Thomas)May 10th-17th: “Directed Retreats” (Sr. Catherine Quane RSM)June 14th-18th: “Mary, the First Disciple” (Mary Landucci)

11 daughters of prov:053885049 19/02/2010 09:39 Page 1

I t is well known that in their desire to secure the success ofthe Protestant Reformation in England, Queen Elizabeth Iand her advisers hoped that as the older generation of

Catholics died out, then Catholicism would disappear withthem. It is equally well known that the foresight and industry ofWilliam Allen and his companions, who established seminariesoverseas, was one of the principal reasons for such hopes beingdashed. One of those seminaries was at Douai, a university townin Flanders, 20 miles south of Lilles which at that time wasamong the dominions of Philip II of Spain. Allen received theimmediate co-operation of the University of Douai, as well assome excellent Oxford men who for faith and conscience gladlyaccepted exile.

Allen was an Oriel graduate as was Morgan Phillips, the lastCatholic Bishop of St Davids who brought age and experience,

and when he died left them everything he possessed. From AllSouls came Thomas Dorman; from Exeter came RichardBristowe and Edward Risden; from Merton came RichardSmith who had been regius professor of Divinity; from NewCollege came Thomas Darnell, Owen Lewis, John Marshall,Nicholas Sander, Thomas Stapleton and Richard White whohad been a professor of Canon and Civil Law. From St John’scame Gregory Martin who died young but whose talent was toensure the survival of the name of Douai among EnglishCatholics long after the seminary was abandoned in 1793. SoAllen’s college was well manned to train the many students whopresented themselves, and also able to produce over 40 worksof apologetics, for which Catholics in England were desperatein order to combat the vitriolic literature being showered onthem from both home and foreign sources. But in his massivework The Reformation in England, Philip Hughes says thecrowning glory of their scholarship was the translation of theentire Bible into English, executed in the college between 1578and 1582.

One of the accusations of the reformers was that the Churchwas the avowed enemy of the Bible, a spurious claim whenbefore the invention of printing it was often the life-work ofmonks and nuns to copy, with the most intense care and skill, somuch of the Bible. St Bede was in the very act of translating StJohn’s Gospel into Anglo-Saxon English when he died. Severalcopies of the Psalms existed. A copy of the famous LindisfarneGospels contained the text in Latin interspersed with it inEnglish. In his essay The Old English Bible, Abbot Gasquet OSBstates that he found evidence of near-complete translations of theNew Testament at the London Charterhouse, at Barking Abbey inEssex, St John’s Clerkenwell, Syon Abbey in Middlesex and atHoly Trinity church, York. C.S. Lewis writing an introduction toJ.B. Phillips’s Letters to Young Churches, in 1946 offers thisexplanation: “Pious people shuddered at the idea of turning thetime-honoured Latin into commo and, as they thought,barbarous English, a language of the nursery, the inn, the stableand the street…..a sacred truth seemed to lose its sanctity whenstripped of its polysyllabic Latin.” But parts of scripture wereoften read in English to poor, uneducated people who were alsoaware of its contents through ritual, drama, stained glass andpictures in church.

A translation into English by William Tyndale, printed inGermany in 1526 was condemned by the Church and criticisedby scholars as much for its partisan agenda in prologue, prefaceand marginal notes as for the infidelities in translation whereChurch became congregation, priest became elder and penancebecame repentance. A much earlier version has been attributedto John Wycliffe, the morning star of the Reformation, but in1952 Allen Wikgren writing of Wycliffe sympathetically,admitted that his share in the project is obscure. F.F. Urquhart,of Balliol College, Oxford, writing in 1912, disputes that he had

THE RHEIMS – DOUAI BIBLE

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feature - by Brian Plumb

any share in it at all, and says that hisfollowers added a Wycliffite preface to aperfectly orthodox translation and therebyestablished a claim.

The chief share in making the Rheims-Douai translation was undertaken byGregory Martin, a native of Maxfield,near Winchelsea in Sussex, and a friendof Edmund Campion. Althoughproficient in theology, Hebrew andGreek, he decided to translate from theLatin of St Jerome, and gave his reasonsfor doing so. It had been in use for 1,300years. It had been praised by St Augustineand many of the Latin Fathers. It wasimpartial because it had been made longbefore the latter-day controversies. It wasfaithful to the Greek, and it had beendeclared authentic by the Council ofTrent. But before he commenced his fiveyear task, on or about St Luke’s Day1578, political turbulence and religiousstrife had caused the English seminary torelocate to Rheims, a period of exile thatwas to last for 15 years. So what for thesake of brevity is often called the DouaiBible was in fact translated entirely inRheims and the New Testament was firstprinted there in 1582. However, for want

of funding, the printing of the OldTestament was delayed until 1609, bywhich time the college had returned toDouai. Hence, to be strictly accurate,both Rheims and Douai had a part in itsproduction.

The New Testament contained thealmost obligatory preface and notes, thelatter so uncompromising and hard-hitting that it was asserted the work hadonly been published as a weapon forattacking the reformers. The notes werethe work of Allen himself, RichardBristowe and Thomas Worthington, alearned priest from Brasenose College,Oxford who had gone to Douai in 1573.Allen referred to “The manifoldcorruptions of the Holy Scriptures by theheretics of our days, especially the EnglishSecretaries” and he did not exaggeratewhen he accused them of beingintent on destroying every trace ofEngland’s Catholic past andappealing to their own corruptionsof Holy Writ to justify it. He latersaid that the notes “threwProtestants into a seething ferment.”They certainly prompted theGovernment to advance £200 to

William Fulke, Master of PembrokeCollege to produce an official refutation.He was a Puritan whose biographerdescribed him as “a man of languageunmeasured and conspicuous for thevirulence of his invective.” But what ofGregory Martin’s great work?

He always considered accuracy to bemore important than elegance, andbelieved some Latin words had nosuitable English equivalent, so heretained them in anglicised form. So inSt Matthew’s account of the Lord’sPrayer (VI, v 7) we find “Give us thisday our supersubstantial bread.” In StPaul to the Philippians (II, v 7) what weknow as “he emptied himself ” appearedas “he exaninated himself.” Otherstrange sounding phrases appeared inActs (XII, v 3) where the word azymes

was used for unleavened bread; in StJohn (V, v 2) where “the pool at theSheep-gate” was called “a pond calledProbatica”; and in St Matthew (XII, v 4)where “loaves of proposition” was usedto mean “bread set out before God.” ButMartin’s invention of the wordmalefactor in St John (X, v 6) was foundacceptable and passed into every-dayvocabulary. Other curiosities appeared inSt Luke (X, v 6) “Our Lord designed(appointed) another 72,” and inPhilippians (II, v 10) where the greattext that at the name of Jesus every kneeshall bow, reads “In the name of Jesusevery knee shall bow of the celestials,terrestrials and infernals.” But however


13

(opposite) Title page from the 1582 Douai-Rheims New Testament.(right) Portrait of Richard, and below his 1749 revision of the RheimsNew Testament borrowed heavily from the King James Version.


cumbersome such peculiarities rendered the work, its overallscholarship and accuracy was never doubted.

It is hardly surprising that original editions of these books areextremely rare. It was almost impossible for secret printing pressesto produce them, or for them to be imported easily. A completeDouai Bible sold for the luxurious price of two pounds, and aRheims New Testament cost one pound. Booksellers and printersspent their fortunes and sometimes sacrificed their lives inpromoting such literature. In 1583 William Carter, a Londonprinter was executed at Tyburn, as was James Duckett in 1602, fortheir share in circulating this very work. Gregory Martin died onthe 28th October 1582, only a matter of weeks after completinghis enormous undertaking. He was buried in the church of StStephen at Rheims which was demolished in 1795. Subsequentrebuilding and street alterations have made it impossible to locatethe site of his grave.

In 1749 Martin’s work was thoroughly overhauled by the greatVicar Apostolic, Richard Challoner. His removal of many of theaforementioned archaisms and his bringing, as far as was possible,the text to approximate that of the Anglican’s Authorised Version of1611, made it practically a new work. In that form it achievedmany editions, the final one being published by the Catholic TruthSociety in 1956 and reprinted annually until 1963.

One of the most outstanding of the other editions was made by

Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774-1849) and published inManchester, in serialised form, between 1812 and 1814. In1847 the entire work was published “enriched with 20 superbengravings”, in polished boards with big brass clasp, an itemof furniture essential to every God-fearing Victorian familyparlour. This also contained notes, but by now they werecurious rather than controversial, with the section in Genesis(VI, vv 13-22) telling of Noe and the Flood, the mostremarkable of all. Working from the various speciesenumerated in Pennant’s Synopsis of Zoology it was calculatedthat there were 838 different quadrupeds and reptiles aboardthe Ark. This figure contained exotic creatures like the bear(black and white), elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, lion,tiger, rhinoceros and all the common domesticated ones,down to the ferret, mouse, rat, shrew and sloth. The birdswere equally accommodated and fed. It was pointed out thatthese figures were in no way incompatible with the availablespace, because the vessel was reputedly 450 feet long and 75feet broad, that is, roughly speaking, the dimensions of theaverage medieval cathedral. An artist’s impression was amongthe ‘superb engravings’ showing a massive three-deckedstructure with 25 square port-holes to each deck, all perfectlysymmetrical, the whole resembling an enormous floatingDickensian-style workhouse. It was stressed of course that allthis was pure conjecture but sufficient to demonstrate thepossibility of arranging all “according to the statements of theSacred Historian.” In 2009 a reprint of this extraordinarywork was made available by the Loreto Press, of Fitzwilliam,New Hampshire, USA and marketed in the UK.

Between 1942 and 1948 an entirely new translation of theBible was made by Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888-1957),who thought most English Catholic literature “still spoke tooloud in the accents of the penal era and of the recentimmigrations.” Cardinal Griffin liked his command of theEnglish language and limpid style. But Archbishop Amigo ofSouthwark, and Archbishop Downey of Liverpooldisapproved – not condemned, there was no questioningKnox’s competence – but they fervently believed that thefamiliar prose of Gregory Martin, refined by BishopChalloner and hallowed by three centuries of tradition, shouldbe sacrosanct. And they were not moved when reminded thatRonald Knox in 1942, like Gregory Martin in 1582, was anOxford graduate.

Today we have the Jerusalem Bible and the New JerusalemBible, produced by a team of experts, clearly influenced byKnox’s translation, and attempting to be user-friendly byrejecting stark well-known phrases like “To dig I am not able,to beg I am ashamed” (St Luke XVI, v 3) and “Take up thybed and walk” (St John V, v 8) in favour of longer, but by nomeans stronger, statements. It is most improbable that the oldDouai version will ever again be read from the ambo or usedat a Charismatic prayer meeting. But it did have 350 years ofunrivalled authority in the Catholic Church, and it was oncepraised, by an Anglican, for its worthy contribution toEnglish literature.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Librarian of theTalbot Library, Preston for access to the vast collection of

Bibles deposited there.

feature - by Brian Plumb

14


Part 2

FRENCH GOTHIC REACHES ITS PEAK

series feature - by Jack Watkins

The Age of Gothic

Gothic architecture, likeRomanesque which preceded it,was only given its name by a latergeneration. It was the ItalianMannerist architect and historianGiorgio Vasari (1511-74) whocoined the term in a pejorativesense, because to Renaissancethinkers, ‘the Middle Ages’ wereequated with the barbarianism ofthe Goths. As it was, to them, atime of long term decline andcultural backwardness betweenthe Fall of Rome and therediscovery of classical models andideals in the 15th century, thearchitecture which emanated fromit was adjudged to be similarlyinferior.

Yet Gothic architecture is nowsynonymous with medievalbuilding at its finest, andunderstood as a style quite distinctfrom Romanesque, havingflourished across Europe roughlybetween 1150 and 1600. Keyidentifying features include thepointed arch, the flying buttress,the vaulting rib, the traceriedwindow and the soaring steeple. Infact, these characteristics did notall originate at the same time, andsome had been deployed in earlierRomanesque buildings. Yet thefusion of their forms created whatwe now understand as the Gothicstyle, never more beautifullyrealised than in church buildings.This six part series will look at someof the finest examples still to beseen today across the continent.


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The nave of Chartres Cathedral.

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I t was in northern France that the stylewe know as Gothic was forged, and itwas here, too, that its finest cathedrals

were also built. Reims Cathedral, discussedin part one, as the traditional venue forroyal coronations, was but one amongmany. It, along with those in Paris, Laon,Chartres and Amiens, formed a quintet ofstructures so beautiful that, as a group andas individual buildings, they have beenlikened to the Parthenon in Athens,representing the high point of anythingachieved in medieval architecture up to thattime.

Regrettably, Notre-Dame de Paris, the oldest example, builtbetween 1163 and 1235, was seriously damaged during theFrench Revolution. Its spire was torn down, its bells removedand melted, and its statues mutilated.A decision was actuallytaken to demolish it, until more restrained voices began to speakup for its historical and cultural value to the nation. It was muchdue to Victor Hugo’s novel, Notre-Dame of Paris - a love letter tothe exquisite detail of Gothic masonry - that the city’s inhabitantswere at last roused by the pitiful state of decay into which thebuilding had sunk. This paved the way for its restoration,spearheaded by the architect Viollet-le-Duc, in whose workshopsreplacement statuary was created.

Notre-Dame de Paris may still be read as a prototype Gothiccathedral - the long nave leading to a choir illuminated by rays oflight from the mighty rose windows of the transepts, the highvaulting and soaring shafts and, outside, the riot of flyingbuttresses, sprouting forth in delicate profusion around the apselike a blossoming flower on the banks of the Seine. Its foundingstone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III, the same year inwhich he had consecrated the new Gothic choir of that otherhistorically significant Parisian church, St-Germain-des-Pres (seepart one).

The wild and romantic crocketed gables of the north transept,the gargoyles and just about all the statuary formed part of thele-Duc renovation, so that to a large extent the cathedral is a19th century interpretation of how Gothic architecture in itsheyday would have looked. Yet the essential plan of the buildingremains unchanged, and its edifice and situation – the currentopen views afforded of the west front are the result of 19thcentury slum clearances and streetscape destruction, and thusvastly different to the prospects a medieval traveller would havebeen afforded - is one of the most moving and powerful inEurope.

If Notre-Dame de Paris is beautiful, the west front of LaonCathedral has also been rhapsodised by the most demandingconnoisseurs of Gothic. Laon is an unremarkable town in

Picardy, but the westfront of the cathedralalone makes it worth

making a special visit, for it achieves a quite remarkable sense ofthe three-dimensional in its form. The triumvirate of gabledportals project beyond the walls like triumphal arches. The rosewindow on the next level is, by contrast, set deeply back, as arethe pair of arched windows on either side of it. Then comes anarcaded gallery, topped by a balustrade with a statue of theVirgin, and beyond this level two high towers with curious goat-like statues peering over the sides, as if looking over the edge of aprecipitous mountain face. The structure was so revered bycontemporaries it was endlessly imitated, and the medievalarchitect and artist Villard de Honnecourt claimed that thetowers were the most beautiful he had ever seen.

Laon’s heavy monumentality was repeated at Chartres, famousfor epitomising the extreme verticality of French Gothic. The

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(left) The beautiful sculptures located over the entrance to thecathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. (below) Three portals on the west facade of Laon Cathedral.



17

spire over the south tower was the first tohave been built in the country. Thebuilding’s outline rises up to dominate notonly the market town itself, but thesurrounding landscape. Approaching byroad, the towers are first glimpsed, almostmirage-like, in the fardistance, thus enablingthe modern travellerto gain a sense ofthe anticipationand wonder the

medieval pilgrim must have felt for theseincredible, mammoth-like structures, inan age when most contemporaryarchitecture was small-scale andhumdrum. The transcendent imageryChartres’s soaring spires and

hushed interior conjured also deeplyimpressed later romantics like

Chateaubriand, Hugo andJohn Ruskin. The


(above left) The rose window in Laon Cathedral. (above right) The nave looking west, Amiens Cathedral. (below) Bourges Cathedral.


Rouen Cathedral interior.

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continuing modern infatuation with these ancientcathedrals owes much to the legacy of these men,who ‘rediscovered’ Gothic and placed it on itsrightful, elevated footing, after years of scorn by neo-classicists.

Chartres, in fact, was the most importantMarian shrine in medieval Paris, and thus itsforemost pilgrim destination. When a fire burntdown the old cathedral in 1194, the relics werediscovered unharmed in the crypt, and this wasread as an expression of the Virgin’s wish for anew, more spectacular building in which to housethem. The result was the largest, highest Gothicstructure built up to that time, higher even thanNotre-Dame de Paris. Yet while its portals areladen with sculpture, there is still about thebuilding a sombre austerity akin to NormanRomanesque.

The last cathedral of the ‘French Parthenon’quintet to be built was at Amiens. It is somethingof a cliché to contrast the harmonious design ofFrench Gothic cathedrals with the more ‘organic’style of English ones, since the latter, being builtover longer periods, incorporated wider stylisticvariations. In fact, with almost all medievalcathedrals, construction was always a matter ofdecades, so that most reflect a sense of ongoinginnovation and technical development. YetAmiens, which itself took 50 years to finish fromits start date in 1220, is particularly celebratedfor its unity of design. The hall-like interior hasan immediate impact. Outside, it presides overthe town like a magnificent beached galleon. Itrepresents a significant leap in scale from Paris,Chartres and even Reims. Amiens at its highestpoint is 140 ft, Reims 125 ft, and Paris is 115ft,but its height seems even more awesome by theproportional increase in scale between the heightof the nave in relation to its width. Harder,perhaps, to appreciate is the development ofwindow tracery, the increased confidence andplasticity in the handling of masonry, the massedranking of sculpture on the walls meaning theseseem almost to dissolve behind the decoration.

Other fine French Gothic cathedrals of thenorthern and central regions include those atSoissons, Noyon, Le Mans and Bourges. RouenCathedral is a fine example of Gothic in its laterphase, though the striking 512ft high fleche isactually a 19th century addition. The loftiest ofall the French Gothic cathedrals is Beauvais, witha choir rising to 157 ft. It collapsed in 1284 andso, much later, did the tower, itself over 450 fthigh, in the 16th century. French Gothic churcheswere built to be so high and mighty that theyseemed to be reaching out to God himself. But inthe end, their creators had to accept that therewere limits.

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A s we move through Lent on theway to Holy Week, our thoughtsturn increasingly towards Christ’s

Passion and death on the Cross. Nowherein Europe are the events of Holy Weekcommemorated with greater fervour thanin Spain. In cities and towns all over Spain,floats weighing up to two tons, andbearing life-sized painted sculptures, arecarried through the streets by as many as30 men ‘penitents’. Each float depicts adifferent episode of the Passion, so thattaken together they vividly display thewhole Gospel narrative of Christ’s Passion.The sculptures are usually carved fromwood, and realistically polychromed.

This sculptural art form flourished withparticular richness in 17th centurySpain,and a recent amazing exhibition, TheSacred Made Real, at the National Galleryin London brought together some of thefinest examples of the genre. What madethe exhibition unique, however, was the

inspiration of the curator, Xavier Bray, toshow the sculptures alongside greatSpanish Passion paintings of the sameperiod. This demonstrated with dazzlingclarity how the sculptors and the paintersof that epoch influenced each other.Accordingly, this month’s Art Feature willreflect on the lessons of The Sacred madeReal, with particular reference to thepainting Christ after the FlagellationContemplated by the Christian Soul, madeby Diego Velasquez in about 1628.(fig.1.). Incidentally, for the benefit of ourAmerican readers, the exhibition ispresently at the National Gallery of Art,Washington D.C., and will remain thereuntil the 31st May, 2010.

The 17th century was the Golden Ageof Spanish art. Sculptors such as JuanMartinez Montanes, (1568-1649), knownas ‘the god of wood,’ Juan de Mesa,(1538-1627), and Alonso Cano, (1601-1667) in Seville, Gregorio Fernandez,

(1576-1636) in Valladolid, and Pedro deMena, (1628-1688) in Malaga stand out,and later the tradition was maintained byFrancisco Salzillo, (1707-1783) in Murcia.The painters include Francisco Pacheco,(1564-1644), Diego Velazquez, (1599-1660) and Francisco de Zurbaran, (1598-1664) of Seville, and Francisco Ribalta,(1565-1628) and Jusepe de Ribera,

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THE SACREDMADE REAL

(fig.1.)

(fig.3.)

20-21 ART FEATURE:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 10:29 Page 1

(1591-1652) of Valencia. The characteristic of both the Spanishsculpture and painting of this Golden Age was a stark, almostbrutal realism in the depiction of human figures, even in religiousworks. This stood in blunt contrast to the idealised humanity ofthe Italian Renaissance of the previous century. This Spanish artwas intensely focussed on fostering religious devotion, and aboveall devotion to Christ’s Sacred Passion in Holy Week.

The key to understanding the intimate relationship between thesculptors and painters of that period comes from knowing thattheir respective Guilds imposed rigid restrictions on what eachgroup was permitted to do. Thus the sculptor was never allowedto paint his work. This had to be done by a member of the Guildof polychrome artists. The improbable and paradoxicalconsequence of this arrangement was that each group learneddirectly from the work of the other group what was feasible fortheir own art. The exhibition made this point very clear, and itwas illuminating to discover how much the later art of such agreat painter as Diego Velazquez drew on his earlier experienceas an assistant in the studio of his father-in-law, the greatpolychrome painter, Francisco Pacheco.

Speaking personally, the exhibition helped me to clarify myunderstanding of a painting which I have always found difficult tointerpret. When Christ after the Flagellation Contemplated by aChristian Soul was acquired by the National Gallery in London,and first shown there in 1883, it was presented without a title,and this caused confusion among the British viewers. Accordingto Lord Napier, one spectator thought it showed a child beingtaken to visit his suffering father in prison. In fact, we see Christslumped exhausted on the ground, held up by only the taut cordstill tied to the scourging pillar. The great rope noose by which hewill soon de dragged to Calvary is round his neck. His cloak, theseamless robe for which his guards will later cast lots, liescrumpled in the left lower corner of the painting, and the whipand birch of the flagellation lie in the middle foreground. Only thebroken branches of the birch reveal the ferocity of the flogging,for Christ’s body is almost unmarked. At most, a few flecks ofblood on the left shoulder, wrist, loincloth and thighs indicate thathe has even been whipped at all. Despite this, the Christian soul,personified by the blue-clothed child, expresses intense pathos.Christ makes eye contact with the child, and a ray of light, symbolof divine grace, flashes from the Saviour’s head towards thechild’s heart.

What puzzled me about the painting was what seemed to be adisproportionate reaction of the child. What has moved thisChristian soul to such depths of sorrow? The first clue is thepointing finger of the child’s Guardian Angel. It is directed towardsChrist’s back, which the child and the angel can see, but which ishidden from us as Christ is turned away from us, and his back is inshadow. Notice, however, that the child’s eyes follow thedirection of the angel’s finger, and are fixed on Christ’s back, andclearly the artist assumes that we all know why this should be so.Velazquez made this painting in 1628, only five years after he hadleft Pacheco’s studio in Seville to become Court Painter to theEmperor, Philip IV in Madrid. The memory of many polychromedsculptures, similar to that of Gregorio Fernandez, (fig. 2), wouldhave been as fresh in the mind of Velazquez, as it would havebeen in the minds of almost all Spaniards, familiar as they werewith the Holy Week processions. Humans bear burdens on theirbacks, and Jesus bore the burden of our sins on his back at the

Scourging, but this was so self-evident to the artist that he felt noneed to depict it explicitly. We, who are not part of that SpanishHoly Week culture are inevitably puzzled by the painting. Thanksto this exhibition, however, everything is now much clearer.

Inevitably the division of sacred art between sculptors andartists led to comparisons and rivalry between the two groups. Inthe Spain of that time sculptors were still considered to beartisans and taxed accordingly. The competition between them ishighlighted in a letter of rebuttal which Pacheco wrote toMontanes in 1622. He ascribes the superiority of the artist to theuse of colour when he writes: “The portrait of the EmperorCharles V will be more easily recognised by all when it isstrikingly painted with the colours of a Titian than when it ismade of wood or marble by any sculptor of equal calibre.” Hecontinues: “This is because colour reveals the passions andconcerns of the soul with greater vividness.” Curiously,Velazquez, the son-in-law of Pacheco made this point tellingly,though perhaps unwittingly, in the portrait he made of Montanesin 1653. (fig. 3). This reveals the sculptor as a dignified andserious-minded man, with the sensitive hand of the true artist.The sculpted head on which Montanes rests his other hand,however, though recognisable as the likeness of the EmperorPhilip IV, conveys nothing of the king’s character. In his effort topresent Montanes as a creative artist, Velazquez hasunconsciously affirmed Pacheco’s opinion of the supremacy ofpainting over sculpture. For us modern spectators, however, themarriage of the two arts achieved by the great masters of Spain’sGolden Age is a matter of enduring wonder.

art feature by Lionel Gracey

21

(fig.2.) Ecce Homo(detail)

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T he first Order that set itself up upon a hill werethe Passionists, who started their mission in1858, completing their magnificent church

dedicated to St Joseph and familiarly referred to as‘Holy Joe’s’, in 1888. An article on this church waspublished in the August 2008 issue of Catholic Life. Atthe time, the Passionists were about to celebrate the150th anniversary of their foundation under a cloudof imminent departure, but the decision to handover to the diocese was revoked and they are stillthere. Perhaps Cardinal Wiseman might have had a

hand in that!?In 1861, he asked the Dominicans to take over

Kentish Town and in due course he actually chose a newsite for them to

build their priory onHaverstock Hill. It was

completed by 1867, but thepriory church was to take much longer.The origins of its design make for afascinating story. A certain ThomasWalmesley had an overriding desire tobuild a church in honour of Our Lady ofLourdes “to mark the gratitude of theCatholics of the United Kingdom for themany graces and blessings receivedthrough Our Lady of Lourdes”. TheDominicans readily acceded to hisrequest to make the priory church thefulfilment of his dreams. Since theRosary was the most popular devotionat Lourdes, his design was of a churchmade up of 14 chapels each dedicatedto a mystery of the Rosary, culminatingin the final mystery honouring thecoronation of Mary depicted in stainedglass above the high altar. Buildingbegan in 1878 and was finished fiveyears later, although a grotto which wasalso planned did not materialise until1914. For a time the church wasknown as ‘Our Lady’s Shrine in London’and pilgrimages were made on RosarySunday. That these did not persist is oflittle consequence, because one cannotdoubt the amount of prayer and

22

London inevitablyconjures up images ofBig Ben, the Housesof Parliament,Buckingham Palaceand so on - all flatlocations alongsideor near the RiverThames. SurroundingLondon, however, aremany hills withstunning views of thecity. Large verdant parkslike Parliament Hill, HampsteadHeath, Highgate, Richmond Park,Shooters Hill, all make perfectplatforms for panoramic views ofthe metropolis. It is said thatfrom one of these, probablyHighgate Hill, Cardinal Wiseman,soon after the restoration of theCatholic hierarchy, looked outover London and dreamt of theday when a Catholic churchwould be built on every hillwherein Masses and prayerswould be said for the conversionof England. In this context heseemed to have Religious in mindand indicated his eagerness fortheir special apostolate byinviting, amongst others, theOratorians, Redemptorists,Rosminians and Marists. Whatfollows is a brief account of fourof those London hills on whichReligious communities builtplaces of worship, thus fulfilling atleast part of Cardinal Wiseman’sdream.

(above) Cardianl Wiseman. (right) Stained glass window of StVincent de Paul from St Michael’schurch in Bayswater, London. © Br. Lawrence O.P.

A DREAM FOR LONDON

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devotion manifested over 100 years and which, moreimportantly, continues to this day.

Mill Hill saw the arrival of the Vincentians in 1889, who hadbeen preceded by their co-Religious, the Daughters of StVincent de Paul. Both these French orders were founded by StVincent aided and abetted by Louise de Marillac. Both arecommitted to working for the poor and the sick and havehouses and hospitals all over the world. Mill Hill for the Sisterswas their Generalate. In 1893, a year after Cardinal Vaughanbecame the archbishop of Westminster, the parish priest ofHendon offered the Vincentians the Mill Hill section of hisparish for them to minister to. As their ministry expanded, anew church was needed and built and dedicated to the SacredHeart. St Vincent de Paul set as a secondary aim for hisReligious a ministry for priests. This became particularlyimportant immediately post-Vatican II, when many priests forvarious reasons were leaving the priesthood. The Vincentianstoday offer priests retreats and a place for reflection - a verytopical service in this Year of the Priest.

Long before Herbert Vaughan was elevated to Westminsterhe had been desperate to go on the Missions. Unable to gopersonally, he did the next best thing – he founded amissionary order with the lengthy title of St Joseph’s Society ofthe Sacred Heart for Foreign Missions, more commonlyknown as the Mill Hill Fathers. This was established in 1866 inHolcombe House and then moved to a new building knownas St Joseph’s College, Mill Hill. Here students from all overthe UK, Holland and Germany were trained for missionarywork, ordained and sent out to every part of the world. Dueto financial and other pressures, the college was sold in 2006and it is now registered as a Grade II buiding (see below).However, St Joseph’s Society is still flourishing. An excellentwebsite provides more information on its current apostolate.

Two years after Herbert Vaughan became Archbishop ofWestminster (1892 to 1908), thanks to a petition bysome 300 local Catholics, he invited the Jesuits tofound a parish and schools on StamfordHill. This was a challenge whichwas taken up in characteristicfashion – a large house calledMorecambe Lodge was boughtand out of its stables and coach

house was constructed a chapel to meet the needs of those earlypetitioners. Then came the obvious need for a larger purpose builtchurch. Benedict Williamson designed it, keeping in mind the spiritof the Middle Ages but the needs of the 20th century. Started in1903, it was finished in 1909, apart from the interior. Outstandingmosaic work in the Sanctuary and the Stations of the Cross and theLady Chapel were only completed in 1925. From the outside thechurch is reminiscent of those seen in the lovely town of Bruges.1909 also saw the new College of St Ignatius built nearby. It hadstarted humbly in the Lodge until the demand for places outgrewthe space available. The school earned such a reputation forexcellence that in 1968 it moved to new premises in Enfield. Some

of its buildings were taken over by the primaryschool, which had also started in 1901. It

continues to thrive but under the aegis ofthe diocese.

There are other places in Londonwith ‘hill’ as a suffix where Catholic

churches exist, such as Dollis Hill, MuswellHill and Tower Hill. There are also locations

without this suffix but which are actuallybuilt on hilly ground. Today nearly 50

Religious orders of men and over 100 ordersof women in the diocese of Westminsteralone carry out their apostolate of prayerand action. Perhaps CardinalWiseman’s dream has cometrue?

Westminster Archdiocesan feature by Tony Galcius

23

THE CATHOLIC COMPANIONa new periodical of contemporary and nostalgic Catholic

living, invites submission of short stories and articles, based around Catholic morals and principles.

Submissions should be no more than 2,500 words and the editor reserves the right to edit material.

Send all copy, marked clearly, to Emma Clancy, Editor, The Catholic Companion,

4th Floor, Landmark House, Station Road, Cheadle Hulme, SK8 7JH or

email: [email protected]

22-23 a dream for London (DIOCESE) :p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 12:54 Page 2

Bordering on the western edge ofthe City of London is a largeintersection, called Holborn

Circus. It is thought that the name derivesfrom the Middle English word ‘Hol’ forhollow and ‘bourne’ meaning brook. Themain road passing through it is calledHigh Holborn at the western end, thenbecoming Holborn Viaduct and finishingas Newgate Street. It was from here thatover 100 priests and laymen began theirlast journey, on hurdles, to die on theTyburn tree. However, within a half mileradius of Holborn Circus, there were sixother gallows, some permanent, somemakeshift, where martyrs’ blood flowedduring the reign of Elizabeth I.

At the western end of the Holbornhighway, located to either side, are two ofthe four famous Inns of Court, whichconsist of precincts built around greenswards or ‘Fields’. It is here, since the1400s, that barristers have been, and stillare, trained in the law and practise theirtrade in chambers. These Inns reachedtheir full potential during QueenEliazabeth I’s reign. It was in one of them,Lincoln’s Inn Fields, that a Yorkshireman,Fr. Robert Morton who had prepared forordination in Rheims, was sentenced todie for being a seminary priest. His co-martyr Hugh Moor also studied for atime in the same Douai college inRheims, but was not ordained. Hugh’scrime was that he had gone abroad to

study at a ‘Romish seminary’. Both menwere hung, drawn and quartered on the28th August,1588, the year of theArmada. Neither was allowed to speakbefore their execution for fear that theirwords might persuade the crowd to turnback to Catholicism.

On the other side of High Holborn areto be found Gray’s Inn Fields. In 1590,Alexander Blake was condemned forhelping the priest Christopher Bayles.Helping a priest by giving him a place torest, to stay or something to eat orperhaps assisting him to say Masssomewhere and informing others thatsuch a Mass was available were alldescribed as an act of felony. This goodman thus fell foul of an iniquitous lawand, ironically, died in the grounds of theInn of Court, where others were learningabout justice and the law.

A year later, in 1591, also at Gray’s InnFields, two of the Forty Martyrs met theirfate – Fr. Edmund Genings (akaJennings) and Swithun Wells. The storyof their capture unfolded dramatically oneday when the young priest was sayingMass in Mr. Wells’ house. Among thecompany present were two other priests, anumber of men and Alice Wells –Swithin’s wife. No less a person than thenotorious priest hunter himself, RichardTopcliffe, battered down the door of theroom where Mass was being offered, atthe very moment of consecration. Themen in the tiny congregation of tenpeople, sprang up to confront theintruders. Whoever engaged withTopcliffe, fell with him down the stairs asthey wrestled. One of the other priests, Fr.Plasden told Fr. Edmund to carry on withthe Mass and then went to the strickenTopcliffe to make a deal that if heallowed the Mass to becompleted they would all givethemselves into his custody.This was agreed and Fr.Edmund, still vested, wastaken with the wholehousehold, to Newgateprison. All were found

guilty and condemned to death. Alice waseventually reprieved and after several yearsdied in prison. Although her husband,Swithun, had not been present at theMass, he had been an accessory to thecrime and suffered the ignominy ofhaving to watch the 24 year old Fr.Edmund die on a make-shift gibbeterected outside his own house in Gray’sInn Lane. He then accepted his ownbutchery with equal magnanimity.

In nearby Clerkenwell, which abutsGray’s Inn, two priests and two laymenspilt their blood for the Lord. The firstwas Fr. Thomas Holford, also known asActon, who died in 1588. In the early1580s Thomas had been a teacher whohad then decided to study for thepriesthood and was ordained in Rheims.Back on the mission, he was arrestedonce, but escaped, thanks to a hiding holeat the foot of the stairs. His second arrestresulted in death. Two years later in thesame place, Fr. Antony Middleton died.He had ministered to the people ofLondon and owing to his diminutivebuild and young looking appearance hadbeen able to delay arrest. Few suspectedhim of being a priest.

HOLBORN’S HOLY GROUND

Westminster Archdiocesan feature - by Tony Galcius

“Wherever amartyr has givenhis blood forChrist, there isholy ground andthe sanctity shallnot depart fromit”. - T.S.Eliot

Fr. EdmundGenings

(aka Jennings).

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To the east of Holborn Circus, one arrives at SmithfieldMarket, one of London’s largest and oldest markets and still inoperation to this day. Here, on the 4th March, 1590, a laymancalled Nicholas Horner was hanged for making a jerkin for apriest, Fr. Bayles, of whom more later. Nicholas had previouslybeen imprisoned for contravening this law and, thanks to theextremely damp conditions of the prison, contracted what musthave been gangrene in one leg, which had to be amputated.Elizabethan surgery was performed without an anaesthetic;however, Nicholas was spiritually anaesthetised by a vision whichdistracted him from the pain. Similarly, on the day before hedied, he received another sign of God’s favour - in the form of anintangible crown over his head – thus alleviating his fear anddread of execution.

On the same day, but about a half a mile away, where FetterLane joins Fleet Street, Fr. Christopher Bayles also met hisdeath. He had been racked and forced to hang for 24 hours byTopcliffe, because he refused to reveal who had attended Massand where. At his trial, he told the judge that he was no differentfrom St Augustine, who had also been ordained abroad and sentto preach the Catholic Faith in England. Two months later,Edward Jones, a Welsh priest and eloquent preacher, wasbetrayed by priest catchers, feigning to be Catholic andattending Mass. He was hanged in Fleet Street, as was his fellowpriest, Fr. Middleton, without trial, outside the house in whichhe had been captured.

On the 6th May, 1591, two more died a most brutal death inFleet Street, one a Norfolk man – Montford Scot and the othera Lancastrian – George Beesley. Fr. Montford attended DouaiCollege before it moved to Rheims and began his missionarywork in 1577. He is one of the few priests who was able to workfor more than a year before being arrested. Over a period ofseven years he ministered in Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshireand Yorkshire where he was taken and sent to London. For thenext seven years, he languished in prison. He was known for hisintense piety, prayer and mortification. Onlookers remarked onhis calloused knees as his legs were torn from his body afterexecution. Fr. George came to England in 1588 and wasdescribed by his biographer as ‘a man of singular courage, young,strong and robust’. But after being frequently and cruellytortured by Topcliffe in prison, he was reduced to a skeleton.Both were beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.

T.S. Eliot whom I have quoted in a previous article, claimedthat “wherever a martyr has given his blood for Christ, there isholy ground and the sanctity shall not depart from it”. Walkingthrough Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn Fields, Clekenwell,Smithfield, Fetter Lane and Fleet Street, in this small area ofHolborn, I felt a very real sense of treading on holy ground.

“I pray God make you of aSaul a Paul, of a persecutor aCatholic professor. ” - Swithun Wells

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I n 1955 at an Antiques Dealers Fair in London, anancient three foot statue of Our Lady, made out ofalabaster, was exhibited. It had been bought by an

English ecclesiastical art dealer the year before, but ithad been up for sale in Paris in 1930, when it wasowned by a French art dealer who, in turn, hadacquired it from Baron de Saint Leger Daguerre. Apartfrom the name, nothing of the historical details areknown.

Cardinal Griffin, Archbishop of Westminster, in 1955was very anxious to buy the statue. However he wasbeaten in his bid by the Dean of York, who,unfortunately, for him, but not for the cardinal, wasunable to raise the funds. In a lovely ecumenicalgesture, the Dean said that Westminster Cathedralshould have it, and so on the 8th December 1955, thefeast of the Immaculate Conception, it was welcomedat a Solemn High Mass in the cathedral in the presenceof a representative from York Minster.

But how old is this statue of Our Lady ofWestminster? Herein lies the mystery. Educatedguesses can be made by comparing it to other similarstatues that have been found and whose historicaldetails are better known. There are about 40 survivingstatues, most of them in France. Twelve of them havethe Child Jesus sitting on Mary’s right knee. Art andChurch historians, therefore, consider that theWestminster statue dates from between 1440 and1525, because it has the characteristics of alabasterstatues that were mass produced in England during thatperiod. It has a remarkable similarity to one of twostatues found buried, behind All Saints church inBroughton-in-Craven, in 1863. The fact that theywere defaced would indicate they must have existed inEdward VI’s time when his Act for the putting away ofdivers books and images (1549) was enforced. Althoughthere was a wide European market for these statues,by far the biggest buyers were the French. So, theWestminster statue was probably carved for a place ofworship somewhere in France and venerated until theFrench Revolution, when it passed into privateownership to protect it from French iconoclasts.

Our Lady’s statue is aptly positioned below Eric Gill’ssculpture of the 13th Station of the Cross, depictingMary holding the dead body of her Son. To the rightand behind is the magnificent Lady Chapel. Thejuxtaposition of modern art and the medieval statue ofOur Lady, also holding her young Child on her knee,as he gazes intently at his mother, I am sure, is not loston the many who pray at this shrine every day. Thecathedral historian, Patrick Rogers, helps us to imagine

OUR LADY OF WESTMINSTER

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© Br. Lawrence O.P.

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the even greater beauty of this statue when he writes in thecathedral magazine that: “Traces of paint indicate that OurLady’s crown, (broken) sceptre and mantle fastening weregilded. Her garments were edged with gold with interior foldspainted blue and red. Her dark brown throne stood amidstdaisies in a dark green field”. (v. Oremus, May 2007 edition).

Half a mile away, in Westminster Abbey, is a statue calledOur Lady of the Pew (see right). It too is carved out ofalabaster in the image and likeness of the one at the cathedral.However its origin dates back but 55 years and how it cameabout makes quite an amazing story. Albert Joseph Freemanwas gassed in the trenches during the Great War, and as he laydying in a field hospital in France, he promised to dedicate hislife to Our Lady if he made a full recovery. It was many yearslater, in 1955, that he visited the abbey and was extremely sadto see an empty niche in the Pew chapel. He discovered thatan ancient statue of Our Lady, carved in alabaster, had beendonated by the Countess of Pembroke in 1377 to the abbotand it was to be venerated in the chantry chapel given by herto have Masses said for her dead husband and herself whenshe died. It was, of course, around this time that the conceptof England as Mary’s Dowry began and was eventually fullymandated by Richard II in 1399 as follows: “Thecontemplation of the great mystery of the Incarnation hasbrought all Christian nations to venerate her from whomcame the beginnings of redemption. But we, as the humbleservants of her inheritance, and liegemen of her especialdower - as we are approved by common parlance ought toexcel all others in the favour of our praises and devotions toher.” The statue was later destroyed at the Reformation.Without hesitation, Albert Joseph Freeman commissioned thesculptor, a Sr. Concordia Scott, OSB to reproduce one asclose as possible to that of Our Lady of Westminster. It wasfinally completed and installed in 1971.

The most striking aspect of this story is that Albert Freeman’s

27

visit to the abbey was during the same year that the medievalalabaster statue was enshrined in the cathedral.

In a way, this story is about Our Lady linking the old pre-Reformation Catholic devotion to her in the abbey, the presentveneration of her in the cathedral and the Anglican revival in mariandevotion in the Chapel of the Pew. Is this not evidence of herwishes for unity of all Christians? Is she not reminding us vividly ofChrist’s prayer to the Father at the Last Supper when he prayed “utUnum sint – that they may all be One”?

Westminster Archdiocesan feature by Tony Galcius

The installation and blessing of theshrine of Our Lady of Westminster.

The Church needs religious sistersURGENTLY (ministers of religion) tobring Christ to others by a life of prayerand service lived in the community ofIgnation spirituality. Daily Mass is thecentre of community life. By wearing thereligious habit we are witnesses of theconsecrated way of life.If you are willing to risk a little love andwould like to find out how, contact Sister Bernadette Mature vocations considered.

CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF FIDELITY.

Central Hill, Upper Norwood, LONDON SE19 1RSTel: 0044 (0) 7760 297001 Fax: 0044 (0) 208 766 6579

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On the 19th June 2009, the Society announced that itwould cease to assess and approve people who wish tobecome adopters. The Society had been forced into this

position because it did not consider that, as a Catholic agency, itcould comply with all the requirements of the Government’sSexual Orientation Regulations. This would have meant that itwould have been forced to assess same-sex couples; this would notmeet their existing criterion that as far applicants who are couplesare concerned they must be married as man and wife.

This decision will bring to an end the long and fruitfulinvolvement of the Society in selecting would be adopters forapproval and undertaking the delicate process of placing thechildren.

From its beginnings, the Society had seen as one of its majorobjectives the ‘rescue’ of children, not only from unsafe anduncaring situations, but also from the peril of losing theirCatholic faith. This in turn had led to some fierce legal battles,

some only won after the Society went to the highest courts in theland, to establish the parents right to ensure that Catholicchildren were not deprived of a Catholic upbringing. This role ofensuring that the rights of the Catholic community wererespected imposed pressure on the Society to provide the fosterand adoptive placements for children, although they were notalways able to do so.

Adoption Act 1926Adoption had not been placed on a proper legal footing untilthe Adoption Act 1926. This was prompted largely by thedemand to have the protection of a legal status both for the childand for the adopter.

Fostering was often the prior step on the way to adoption,although the majority of fostered children were not adopted buteither returned to their families, remained with their foster careror went on to residential care.

Canon George Craven, (later Bishop Craven), theAdministrator of the Crusade between 1920 and 1948, struggledto find the fostering and adoptive placements to meet thechild’s best interests, including the preservation of their religiousfaith. There was a long tradition of placing children in need ofcare into foster families from soon after the onset of the Crusade,but such families were few and difficult to find and therefore amajor emphasis had been placed on establishing good residentialhomes for the children.

It was difficult to recruit families, even for babies, and as aresult many infants were placed in residential nurseries, somebeing fostered as they became toddlers, but many progressingthrough the Society’s range of homes.

In the Annual Report for 1935 it was noted that a home for45 girl toddlers (15 months to 5 years of age) had been opened.As the report proclaimed: “We are now able to provide for girlsfrom zero plus until they leave school and earn their own living.These homes are helping very much solve the problem of theshortage of foster mothers. The capable and devoted foster

1. Awaiting Adoption photo from Waugh Rev. N (1911)These My Little Ones.

2. Babies Dormitory. Annual Report 1937.

3. Front Cover of 1931 Rescue Society Annual Report.

ADOPTION LEGACY

28

The

From its early origins in the 19th century, until the present time, theCatholic Children’s Society, (Westminster) has been involved inproviding a range of care services for children and families including, for much of that time, an adoption service.

1

Westminster Archdiocesan focus by Jim Hyland

28-30 the adoption legacy:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 12:02 Page 1

mother provides, in my opinion, the ideal form of infant carefor these motherless waifs; but the number of such women isnot commensurate with our need, and Babies’ Homes aretherefore absolutely necessary.”

Canon Craven reported in the 1938 Annual Report that over100 infants, particularly boys, were with foster mothers. Despitethis, there was still a demand for more places so he arranged forthe places for infants at St Anthony’s Feltham to be doubled to40 and for 40 new places for boy toddlers to be provided in thenew St Vincent’s home near by.

It was also decided to buy the house adjoining St Nicholas’Home for Mothers and Babies in order to double theaccommodation there. St Nicholas’s, at 31 Highbury Hill, hadbeen opened in 1931. The home had places for 12 mothers andtheir babies.

Great Pressure on Places NeededThe number of infants and young children needing placementsremained high into the 1960s. These numbers were

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2

3



Westminster Archdiocesan focus by Jim Hyland

30

substantially added to by applicaantscoming to England from Ireland.

In 1938 the Crusade had received 356applications from unmarried Irishmothers. Some mothers and babies werehelped to return to Ireland, either throughtheir parish priests or their own families.Some of the children were placed by theRescue Society of Ireland. Some wereadmitted to the care of the Crusade,which made grants to enable the motherto pay a foster mother.

In 1957 Canon Flood, the thenadministrator, wrote, “1956 adoptionstatistics show that there has been a 25%

increase in the number of placements foradoption. This figures takes no account ofthe number of Irish girls who were helpedto place their children through St. Anne’sadoption society in Cork…31 mothersused it during 1956.

“We shall not, and cannot, relax thestandards required of adopters, and someold friends coming back for another childhave remarked with dismay that formalitiesget more exacting. We must always do ourbest to safeguard the children. This is theprimary purpose of an adoption society.”

The Cork scheme offered Irish mothersthe option of returning to Ireland with

their babies and having them adoptedunder Irish legislation. During theoperation of this facility, mothers of 821infants took up the option. Speaking atthe Annual Meeting of the Crusade in1982, Fr. John O’Mahony, thenChairman of the Central Council ofCatholic Adoption Societies in Irelandand Secretary of St. Anne’s AdoptionSociety Cork, acknowledged the benefitsthat his Society had gained from contactwith the high professional standardspracticed by the staff of the Crusade. Healso noted that the first Irish AdoptionAct only came into force in 1953.

Changing AttitudesIn the later part of the 20th century attitudes to singleparenthood and the introduction of new abortion laws led tochanges of view on adoption. Now very few babies are placedfor adoption but increasing numbers of older children, some witha disability, are being placed. Adoption is now a much moreopen process and adopted people have been given the right,with certain safeguards for all involved, to trace their birth family.

The Society has been the official adoption agency for thedioceses of Westminster and Brentwood, as well as having anational remit in matching children with adoptive parents. In atypical year, in recent times, it has placed up to 20 children and

approved up to 20 sets of would be adopters. The Society’s Post Adoption and Care Service team has

provided access to records to adoptees who were placed foradoption by the Society. It also provides statutory counsellingand mediation services to those seeking birth relatives.

The Society has said it will continue to operate its adoptionsupport and counselling services for the many thousands ofadoptions they have facilitated over the years. They view thiswork as an historical legacy which must be honoured eventhough the era of its direct adoption work has had to end.

(below) Adoption Chart, Catholic Children’s Society,(Westminster).


News

Bishop Challoner Catholic CollegiateSchool’s £47 million Learning Village project in Tower Hamlets was officiallyopened on the 22nd January 2010 byArchbishop Vincent Nichols in a ceremony attended by Bishop GeorgeStack, local civic and faith leaders and the

school community. The Learning Village project, a

collaboration between the Department ofEducation, the Archdiocese ofWestminster and Tower Hamlets Council,has transformed the school's site whichnow offers outstanding facilities for students and local residents alike.

State of the artThe new development includes state ofthe art buildings – including a sports hall,library and Village Club - for both theschool and local community. Close linkswith the local Church of St Mary and St Michael and the primary school arebeing created, as a result of which parentswill be able to educate their children fromage 3 to 18 on one campus.

Poor and marginalisedThe school, which has over 1,700pupils, is named after Richard Challoner,an influential 18th century Catholic bishop – a scholar who worked tirelessly, through education, to help thepoor and disadvantaged. The schooltoday continues its mission of educating

the poor and the marginalised.The Learning Village and the school’s

development make Bishop Challoner oneof inner city education’s great success stories. The school has achieved outstanding levels of excellence inside andoutside the classroom, which has meantfine exam results and an enviable range ofextra-curricular activities, reflecting theenergy and enthusiasm of staff andstudents. Exam results for both the boys’and girls’ schools put them high up innational measures of academicperformance.

High attainmentExecutive Head, Catherine Myers said:“We hope the Learning Village will be abeacon for high attainment and prove alandmark in the school’s growing relationship with its Tower Hamletscommunity. On behalf of the governors,staff, students and their families, I shouldlike to thank the diocese and everybodyinvolved with making this project happenand to Archbishop Nichols for findingtime in his busy schedule to join us forthe opening ceremony.”

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£47MILLION BOOST FORCATHOLIC EDUCATION

This year, the Catholic Children’s Society, Westminster is celebratingits 150th anniversary. Founded in 1859, it provides child careservices to assist children and families in need, irrespective of race orfaith, in the diocese of Westminster.

A number of events are planned to mark this special year.Prominent among them is a book the society has published, calledChanging Times, Changing Needs, A History of the Catholic Children’sSociety (Westminster).

Written by Jim Hyland, the book draws from the extensivearchives of the society. It documents not just the society’s 150-yearhistory, but places it within the wider context of developmentswithin the Church itself, including the impact of the restoration ofthe hierarchy and the influence of the Second Vatican Council.Running alongside this are the changes taking place within thesecular world and governmentlegislation.

“This publication to mark our 150th anniversary year weaves afascinating historical tapestry, from the social pressures impacting

upon children and families tothe response of the Church tothese,” society chief executiveDr Rosemary Keenan commented.

“It portrays a remarkablymoving picture of the commitment of the Catholiccommunity to improving thelives of children and their families, a commitment that we greatly appreciate and value as we face the ongoing challenge oftransforming young lives for the better.”

The book is available from the Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster) for £10 inclusive of post and packing.

For more details, email [email protected] or visitwww.cathchild.org.uk

Society’s love for children lays foundation for book

The new development includes state of the art buildings.

31 westminster DIOCESE NEWS:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 12:03 Page 1

The Shroud of Turin, which manyChristians believe to be the burialcloth of Jesus, goes on public

display this spring, at a time when expertsare debating new claims about the 14-foot-long piece of linen.

Pope Benedict XVI has already madeplans to view the shroud during a one-daytrip to the northern Italian city of Turin inearly May. Many observers are wonderinghow the Pope will refer to the cloth: as asign, an icon or – as Pope John Paul IIonce characterised it – a relic.

The shroud’s last showing was 10 yearsago, when more than a million peoplelined up to see it in the cathedral of Turinin northern Italy. Officials are predictingsimilar crowds for the exposition April10th-May 23rd, and visitors are beingurged to book their visits online at

http://www.sindone.orgThe pilgrims come to witness with their

own eyes what they may have read aboutor glimpsed on TV. Most go awayimpressed with what they see: a faintimage of a bearded man who appears tohave been whipped, crowned with thornsand crucified.

Carbon-14 tests in 1988 dated the clothto the Middle Ages, and seemed toconfirm the theory that the shroud was apious fraud. But since then, some expertshave faulted the methodology of thetesting, and said the tiny samples usedmay have been taken from areas of thecloth that were mended in medieval times.

The shroud has also been chemicallyanalysed, electronically enhanced andcomputer-imaged. So far, no one has beenable to fully explain how the image was

transferred to the linen cloth, althoughexperts have put forward theories rangingfrom enzyme reaction to solar imaging.

The shroud has been studied fromvirtually every scientific angle in recentyears. Its weave has been examined, pollengrains embedded in the cloth have beeninspected, and red stains have beenanalysed for haemoglobin properties. Oneparticular sub-category of debate focuseson enhanced images that, in the opinionof some scientists, reveal the impression offirst-century Palestinian coins placed onthe eyes of the shroud’s figure.

The ‘jury’ on the shroud includeshundreds of experts, some of them self-appointed. They do not split neatly intobelievers and sceptics, however. The latestcontroversy, in fact, involves a Vaticanarchivist who claims to have found

32

Shroud of Turin:IMAGE PROVOKES PRAYER,

CURIOSITY, SCHOLARLY DISPUTES

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2 3

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1. A life-size reproduction of the Shroud of Turin. 2. An example of a crown of thorns 3. Examples of Roman whips used to scourge.4. A bronze statue, titled ‘The Body of the Man of the Shroud’. All from a permanent exhibit at

Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. Although the Shroud of Turin has been studied from virtually every scientific angle, no one has been able to fully explain how the image was transferred to the linen cloth.

EXHIBITION

33

evidence of writing on the shroud – ahypothesis that has drawn sharp criticismfrom other Catholic scholars.

The archivist, Barbara Frale, said in anew book that older photographs of theshroud reveal indications of what wasessentially a written death notice for aJesus Nazarene. The text, she said, employsthree languages used in first-centuryJerusalem.

The book immediately prompted awebsite war in Italy. Several sites dedicatedto the shroud ridiculed Frale’s hypothesis,saying it bordered on Dan Brown-stylefantasy. Vatican Radio, however, featuredan interview with Frale about her‘important discovery.’ No doubt the worldwill hear more about this scholarly spatwhen the shroud goes on display.

It will be the first public showing of theshroud since it underwent a restoration in2002, which removed repair patches and alarge piece of linen of a later date. Toprepare for the exhibit, the Archdiocese ofTurin has taken the unusual step of

closing the cathedral for three months. Itwill take that long to set up the viewingarea and the information exhibit forvisitors as they wait in line.

Pope Benedict’s arrival is a big event fororganisers of this year’s shroud exposition.Many Catholics look to Rome fordirection on how to evaluate the shroud,as Pope John Paul II discovered en routeto Africa in 1989, when he called theshroud a ‘relic.’ When excited reportersasked whether this meant it was theauthentic burial cloth of Christ, the Polishpope conferred with an aide beforeanswering more cautiously: “The Churchhas never pronounced itself in this sense.It has always left the question open to allthose who want to seek its authenticity. Ithink it is a relic.” Clearly, Pope John Paulwas personally convinced, although whenhe went to see the shroud in 1998 hecarefully avoided using the term ‘relic.’

Pope Benedict has long been cautiousabout the value of private signs,apparitions and revelations. But he seems

to consider the Shroud of Turin in adifferent category.

In his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy,then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote thatthe shroud was “a truly mysterious image,which no human artistry was capable ofproducing.”

In his meditations on the Good FridayWay of the Cross in Rome shortly beforehis election as pope in 2005, he wroteregarding the 11th station, ‘Jesus Is Nailedto the Cross’: “The Shroud of Turinallows us to have an idea of the incrediblecruelty of this procedure.”

The Pope then offered a prayer inspiredby the figure of the shroud: “Let us haltbefore this image of pain, before thesuffering Son of God. Let us look uponhim at times of presumptuousness andpleasure, in order to learn to respect limitsand to see the superficiality of all merelymaterial goods. Let us look upon him attimes of trial and tribulation, and realisethat it is then that we are closest to God.”

© www.catholicnews.com

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To many people, the fame ofSeefeld in Austria’s Tyrol region,lies in its importance as a winter

sports centre as it has hosted the NordicSkiing Competitions in the Winter

Olympic Games of both 1964 and 1976.But, to the faithful, the town has a muchgreater significance as a pilgrimage centreand a pilgrimage centre which has linkswith England.

The name of its parish church, thePfarrkirche St Oswald, gives us a clue as itis named after the seventh century MartyrKing of Northumbria who died fightingthe pagan King of Mercia in 642. Later,he was canonised for his role inpromoting Christianity in the north-eastof England and it was his followers whothen spread Christianity throughoutvarious areas of Europe, including theland we now know as Austria.

In the 14th century, though, anotherOswald was to bring the town furtherprominence. He was Oswald Milser, Lordof nearby Schlossberg Castle. This castlehad a strategic military and defensiveposition as it guarded an importantmountain pass and thus providedprotection and security for the populationof the surrounding area. This Oswald,however, was almost the exact opposite ofthe man whose followers brought theword of Christ to the people here. He wasvain, arrogant and full of his ownimportance, traits which were to bringhim a very unpleasant surprise on HolyThursday of 1384.

On that day, Oswald and his followerswent to the church in Seefeld to attendMass but Oswald had already decided thatthe small Host normally given to thecongregation was too ‘ordinary’ for a manof his standing and importance.According to the Golden Chronicle ofHohenschwangau, during the Mass,Oswald surrounded the priest with hisarmed soldiers and demanded the largeHost for himself. To refuse any suchrequest from the local nobleman couldhave meant death and the terrified priesthanded him the large Host.

Immediately, the ground on whichOswald Milser was standing gave way andthe blasphemer sank into the ground upto his knees. Terrified, Milser grasped the

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TheEUCHARISTIC MIRACLE

SEEFELDof

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travel feature - by Peter M Smith

altar rail with both hands, leaving imprints which can still beseen today as he implored the priest to remove the Host from hismouth. As soon as this was done, the ground became firm onceagain. The humiliated knight then rushed away seeking refuge atthe monastery of Stams where he confessed and repented his sinof pride. The velvet mantle he had worn during that Mass waslater made into a chasuble and presented to the monks of Stams.In the remaining two years of his life, Oswald Milser performedpenance for his sacrilege and, in accordance with his own lastwishes, was buried close to the entrance of what is now thechapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

When the Host that had been retrieved from Milser’s mouthwas examined later it was found to have been saturated withblood, the Blood of Christ. Not long afterwards, Knight Parsevalvon Weineck of Zirl gave the priest of Seefeld a silvermonstrance, designed in the Gothic style, to be used as areliquary for the exposition of the miraculous Host. Some haveclaimed that this monstrance was actually the gift of OswaldMilser but as he died just two years after the miraculous event,this seems unlikely. Inevitably, news of the events of Eastertide1384 brought pilgrims to the village, so many of them that ahostel had to be built to accommodate them all. As theirnumbers increased even further, the church itself became toosmall and, in 1423, construction of a larger church, on the samesite, was begun thanks to the generosity of Duke Frederick andthe new building was finally completed in 1472.

Almost 50 years later, in 1516, a monastery was built behindthe church financed by the Emperor Maximillan I who had beengreatly impressed by the piety of the Seefeld pilgrims. For almost300 years, pilgrims and hunting parties were provided with foodand accommodation by the Augustinian monks who lived andworshipped there until the monastery was closed down in 1807

during the French Revolutionary wars. Two years after itsclosure, the monastery was bought by the Seyrling family whoturned it into a hotel. Now one of the town’s most prestigiousestablishments, this five star hotel continues the traditions of theearlier monks by feeding and accommodating 21st centurypilgrims.

Yet another man of noble rank who was impressed by theSeefeld pilgrimages was Archduke Ferdinand II of the Tyrol. In1574 he was responsible for the building of the Chapel of theHoly Blood within the new church. Here the miraculous Hostwas kept for a short time though, at present, the monstrancewith the Host is kept in a tabernacle near the High Altar on thesouth wall of the sanctuary.

Today’s visitors and pilgrims can still see the site of theEucharistic Miracle. The spot where Oswald Milser sank up tohis knees is near the south side of the Altar of the Miracle and, inaccordance with today’s ‘health and safety’ regulations, it isnormally covered by a grating, though this can be removed bythe authorities for those who wish to see and examine the spot inmore detail.

The stone Altar of the Miracle remains in its original positionin the sanctuary and the impression Oswald Milser’s hands madein the stone can still be clearly seen. A new altar slab, supportedby pillars, is directly above the stone altar, the whole structurearranged in such a way that the Altar of the Miracle can beclearly seen by all. This construction is some way from theelaborately decorated High Altar which was added when thechurch was enlarged

Throughout the church there are numerous reminders of themiracle. The events are recorded in stained glass, in a paintedpanel of 1502 on the south wall and on the tympanum above themain entrance. In the Chapel of the Holy Blood (TheBlutskapelle) itself, is a splendid fresco depicting Oswald Milserin his velvet cape receiving Communion along with hoveringangels holding the reliquary monstrance.

Strangely, although there is mention of the church of StOswald in Seefeld in a document of 1320, it is not knownexactly when it was first built. To ecclesiastical architects, thecurrent building is considered to be the best example of northTyrolean Gothic architecture in Europe. Another claim to fameis that it is the only remaining building which was constructedby the Innsbruck Builders Guild.

The 600th anniversary of the Eucharistic Miracle wascelebrated with due reverence and pomp in 1984 and the churchis now one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations inAustria, where the faithful can renew and express their faith inChrist through his true presence in the Eucharist.

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FACT FILEGETTING THEREThere are frequent flights to both Innsbruck and Munichfrom where Seefeld can be reached by public transport.Those with their own vehicles can take the 177 road fromInnsbruck and from Munich by the same road or the 181to Jenbach and then the 171 to Innsbruck and then the 177.ACCOMMODATIONThere are several hotels and guesthouses along with privatehouses which offer simple accommodation.

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How many of our priests or layfolkare aware that ShrewsburyDiocese has had a ‘Welsh

connection’ since its earliest days? We haveseen how Cheshire and Shropshire werecarved out of the former Lancashire andMidland districts to form our diocese in1850. But we must not forget that the sixhistoric counties of North Wales, once aremote area of the Western district, wereentrusted to us at the same time as the twoEnglish counties, and for 45 years formedan integral and important segment of theDiocese of Shrewsbury.

Why else was St Winefride chosen,together with Our Lady Help ofChristians, as one of the two principalpatrons of the new diocese? Her nameevokes the memory of early Celtic

Christianity, adopted by a whole nation,long before St Augustine landed fromRome to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Wales has a long litany ofheroic missionary saints, among whom wemust mention St David and St Beuno,Winefride’s uncle, the great evangelist ofNorth Wales. Everywhere in Wales onecomes across the names of these Welshsaints, often associated with holy wells,sources of spiritual and bodily healing.Winefride lived at Holywell in the firstpart of the seventh century: devotion toher memory became widespread in theMiddle Ages and her shrine developedinto a major pilgrimage centre. In 1138her relics were translated to the abbey atShrewsbury, and she became the patronsaint of our cathedral town.

The Reformation:Throughout the penal days St Winefride’sshrine at Holywell (re-built by HenryVIII’s grandmother, and bartered away byhim in 1537) was regularly visited bypilgrims. Two inns provided more thanliquid refreshment for the faithful – onebelonged to the Jesuits (The Star), theother to the secular clergy (The CrossKeys). Our own Wirral martyr, St JohnPlessington, cared for the spiritual needsof the pilgrims, until he settled atPuddington Hall as chaplain to theMassey family. He was executed atChester in 1679, and his body is thoughtto have been buried in Burtonchurchyard.

We also inherit from those dangerousdays three of the six canonised martyr

PART 3: WALESDiocesan pre-history

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saints of Wales, all born in the northerncounties: St Richard Gwyn (martyred atWrexham, 1584, see left), St John Jones(m.1598) and St John Roberts (m.1610);plus Venerable William Davies, martyredat Beaumaris (1593); and an IrishFranciscan, Ven Charles Mahoney(Mihan), martyred at Ruthin (1679).

The last Catholic bishop of St Asaph,Thomas Goldwell, was deposed and exiledby Elizabeth I, and lived at the Englishand Welsh College in Rome. He ordainedseveral of the future martyrs who werestudents at the college. He died in 1585,the last of the Catholic pre-Reformationbishops of England and Wales.

Welsh religious life, ancient and newThe Roman monastic tradition, building

on the traditions of the Celtic saints,reached North Wales in the Middle Ages,and we can still wander pensively amongthe ruins of the Cistercian abbeys of ValleCrucis (Valley of the Cross) nearLlangollen (see above); of St Mary’sBasingwerk by the Dee below Holywell;and of Penmon Priory near Beaumaris inAnglesey. But religious life flourished onceagain in the early days of our diocese. TheJesuit fathers, never absent from Holywell,established St Beuno’s College near StAsaph in 1848 as a seminary for theirtheologians – now in modern times aprestigious retreat centre. Gerard ManleyHopkins spent several contented years atSt Beuno’s, where he fell in love with all

shrewsbury feature by Mgr Christopher Lightbound


37


things Welsh, and wrote some of his best-known poetry. He composed an ode incelebration of our first bishop’s 25 years ofepiscopal ministry in 1876:

Though no high-hung bells or dinOf braggart bugles cry it in – What is sound? Nature’s round Makes the Silver Jubilee.Bishop Brown elected to be buried at

Pantasaph Friary, where the Franciscanssettled in 1852 and established a longtradition of pastoral ministry.

Shrewsbury Diocese takes over:What of parish life in Wales in the newly

founded diocese of Shrewsbury? We aretold that in 1851 the bishop had “neitherchurch nor chapel nor priest” in the threecounties of Anglesey, Merioneth andMontgomery, and in Flint andCaernarfon only one chapel. However,Mass centres and parishes served byShrewsbury priests soon appear in therecords: Holyhead is mentioned as soon as1855, Talacre 1857, Bangor 1860,Welshpool 1879, Wrexham 1880, Moldand Barmouth 1884.

Priests for the diocese were ordained byBishop Brown at St Beuno’s in 1859 and1873. However, the very first priest

ordained for the diocese, even before thebishop had been nominated, was Fr.William Hilton: his ordination took placeon the 21st December, 1850 at Lisbonwhere he had studied. He served first aschaplain to the staunchly CatholicMostyn family at Talacre, Flintshire; thenas parish priest in Cheshire at Bollington,Stalybridge and Hooton; and at Wrexhamfrom 1877 to 1883. He was Vicar Generalof the whole diocese and Provost of theChapter while at Wrexham. He returnedto the English College, Lisbon as Rectorfrom 1883 until his death in 1911.

Many of our diocesan priests had

Corpus Christi Church at Tremeirchion,near St Beuno’s.

The chapel of St Eilian.

Penmon Priory.

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periods of ministry in the growingnumber of Welsh parishes. This will havegiven them a special affection for andunderstanding of Welsh culture andhistory. Perhaps they will have stumbledacross and admired some of the humblepre-Reformation churches which aboundin the Welsh countryside. My threefavourites are: 1. Corpus Christi atTremeirchion, near St Beuno’s, with itsmedieval churchyard cross. 2.Llaneilian church, near Amlwch inAnglesey, with its very rare originalrood-screen, the carving of a bagpiperin the chancel roof, and the adjacentchapel of St Eilian (who sailed therefrom Rome!). 3. St Dyfnog’s church atLlanrhaeadr (see above), off the mainroad from Ruthin to St Asaph, with itssuperb stained-glass ‘Tree of Jesse’.

At least two of our priests elected toremain in the new Welsh diocese when itwas founded as a separate entity in 1895.Their first bishop was none other than Fr.Francis Mostyn, born in 1860, son of SirPyers Mostyn and Lady Frances Mostyn,of Talacre Hall. He had been educated atOscott and Ushaw, and ordained priestfor the Shrewsbury diocese at Our Lady’sBirkenhead in 1884, where he stayed ascurate and then as parish priest until1895, when he was appointed VicarApostolic of Wales (and later in 1921Archbishop of Cardiff ).

PostcriptThe very name of St Winefride’s churchin Neston, see above (1843) underlinesthe spiritual links between our dioceseand Wales. So too does its fine stained-glass window of St Charles Borromeo,arrayed in the splendid robes of acardinal, blessing his namesake CharlesStanley of Denhall (below Ness Gardens)who died on the 22nd November, 1859.He was the uncle of Sir John Massey

Stanley, the 12th and last Baronet ofHooton, who built St Mary of the Angelschurch. He married Barbara, thedaughter of Sir Edward Mostyn ofTalacre. Thus the two senior Wirral andWelsh Catholic families, Stanley andMostyn, were linked together in aDeeside marriage which encapsulates thehistory of Shrewsbury Diocese, togetherwith its significant Welsh Catholicbackground and traditions.

shrewsbury feature by Mgr Christopher Lightbound

40


E xcited at the prospect offounding his latest mission, Fr.Serra arrived at the newly

established Presidio of Santa Barbara ona warm spring day in 1782. Hecelebrated Mass, planted a cross and

made preparations for the new mission.At the last minute a messenger arrivedfrom Governor Felipe de Neve, whohad been present at the dedication of Fr.Serra’s latest mission of SanBuenaventura, and presented thestartled priest with an order expresslyforbidding him from establishing anymore missions in his territory.

According to de Neve there werealready enough missions in the area buta more plausible explanation was the

The Old Spanish Missions of California:

The devastating effect of the 1925 earthquake on the Mission.

PART 7: MISSION SANTA BARBARA, QUEEN OF MISSIONS

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governor’s displeasure at the growing power and influence of theFranciscans in Alto California. Worried that his authority could beunder threat, the governor took the easiest option and exercisedhis own considerable power to veto any further plans for anothermission.

Unable to persuade the governor to change his mind, thedisappointed priest returned to Carmel where he stayed until hisdeath two years later. Coincidentally Governor Neve also diedthat same year and the idea of a tenth mission, which hadhitherto remained in administrative limbo, was reborn. Fr. Serra’ssuccessor finally gained permission to establish a new missionfrom the newly appointed Governor, Pedro Fages, and a site wasselected in the hills overlooking the Presidio close to the homesof the local Chumash people.

On the feast day of St Barbara on the 4th December, 1786, Fr.Lasuen formally dedicated Mission Santa Barbara and Fr. AntonioPaterna was appointed its senior missionary. The new governorattended a second dedication 12 days later and everyone,particularly the Chumash people, whose leaders were eager toconvert to Christianity, readily accepted the mission. By the endof 1832 over 5,500 baptisms had been performed at the missionfollowed by an equally high number of weddings. A large, well-planned residential area was established to cater for theincreasing local population next to the northwest side of themission quadrangle. Under the expert tuition of the missionariesthe Chumash, who had traditionally been hunter-gatherers, worked hard at becoming skilled farmers.

With the mission’s success came the need for additionalaccommodation and in 1786 work began on the latest wood andadobe mission buildings as well as what was intended to be thepermanent church. This phase of the development was finished in1794 but was followed by the addition of more structures untilthe mission quadrangle was complete. The church remained thefocal point of the mission centre until it was almost completelydestroyed by an earthquake on the 21st December, 1812. Unlikethe church at San Juan Capistrano, which was left as a ruin, SantaBarbara was rebuilt with a façade that was based on a Romanbuilding designed in 27BC by Vitrivius. The cornerstone was laidin 1815 and the church, which still stands today, was formallydedicated on the 10th September, 1820.

The ‘Golden Age’ of the California Mission System had dawnedand for the next year Santa Barbara, along with the othermissions, continued to flourish. In 1821, however, Mexicodeclared its independence from Spain and the governmentsubsidies to the missions ground to a halt. The consequences forthe mission system in general were dire but, unlike the othermissions, Santa Barbara managed to escape the worst of thedecline. While most of the other missions would become parishchurches and lose their Franciscan priests, Mission Santa Barbararetained its Franciscan presence and over the next two decades,against all the odds, continued to thrive.

When the American government handed back the missions tothe Franciscans in 1865 the priests at Santa Barbara fulfilled adream when it opened its doors to students at the newlyestablished high school and junior college. In 1896, the School ofTheology for the Franciscan province of Santa Barbara, aseminary for training priests, was also founded. This well knownschool, known today as the Franciscan School of Theology,resides in its comparatively new location at Berkeley, California.

Mission Santa Barbara continued to prosper as a recognisedcentre for Franciscan activities in the west and many importantpeople went out of their way to see the thriving mission. PrincessLouise, the daughter of Queen Victoria, visited the mission in1882 and just over a century later the mission received a royalvisit from Victoria’s great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II.Three presidents also travelled to Santa Barbara, perhaps themost famous being Theodore Roosevelt who was apparently


42

series feature by Stella Uttley

Kitchen at Santa Barbara.


fascinated by the many Indian artefactspreserved in the mission’s museum.

The early decades of the 20th centurysaw a great deal of restoration work takingplace at the mission following anotherearthquake in 1925. The idea was tomaintain as much as the originalappearance of the church as possible andarchitect Ross Montgomery supervised thetwo year programme. Unfortunately thiswas not the end of the story as in 1950cracks suddenly appeared in therestoration work and the façade had to beremoved. Eventually the whole of theexterior had to be rebuilt and some yearslater further construction followed, whichaltered the west wing and added a secondquadrangle.

Today the Franciscan province of StBarbara has its headquarters in Oakland,California and priests from here live andwork in places that serve the needs ofmany people from diverse ethnic, culturaland economic backgrounds including theNative Americans from the southwest.Mission Santa Barbara, although no longerthe headquarters of the Franciscans,retains a retreat centre and the missionchurch is now the centrepiece of theFranciscan parish of St Barbara.

It is ironic that the only mission Fr.Junipero Serra was actually forbidden from

establishing remains the only mission tohave a continuous Franciscan presencefrom the day it was founded until thepresent time. This enabled Mission SantaBarbara, with its world-famous twin belltowers, to retain much of its original interiorappearance, due in large part to the lovingcare it has received over the centuries.

As the afternoon sun filters through thewindows it is not only the beautiful

paintings on the walls but the wallsthemselves that reflect the mission’s richheritage.

It is no wonder that Mission SantaBarbara, poised beneath the Santa YnezMountains, overlooking wide sweepinglawns and beautiful gardens is recognisedas one of the loveliest in the Californiansystem and fully deserves its other title of‘Queen of Missions’.

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The chapel interior and the gardens.


M arriage Care is a Catholicmarriage support organisation.It was formed in 1946, as a

response to the pressures on the familybrought about by the Second World War.Many couples had been separated duringthe period of the war and, as men beganto return home from the Forces, manyfound that this much longed for eventbrought several unexpected problems.Couples had to get used to living togetheragain and, quite often, children found itdifficult to relate to a father whom theyhad not seen for many years. In somecases, women had started to work outsidethe home and the clearly defined had roles

that usually existed before the war were ina state of flux. It was no surprise that a lotof couples found communication difficultand many marriages underwentproblematic periods.

Cardinal Bernard Griffin was particularlyconcerned with the sanctity of marriage,defending it in his 1943 installation Mass,and he believed that people could beencouraged to stay happily together if theywere given help with their problems. Itwas this deeply held belief that led him tobe instrumental in establishing MarriageCare. It was decided that St MargaretClitherow, the Pearl of York, would be thepatron saint of the organisation, as she was

known for her reputation for devotion toher husband and children. A statue of herstands in the London headquarters ofMarriage Care and a prayer is alwaysoffered to her at official meetings.

However, the need for a Catholicmarriage support centre is as strong as itever was and today, there are over 50centres throughout England and Wales.Today, it is not essential that couples aremarried in order to benefit from the servicethat Marriage Care provides and althoughthe service has a Catholic outlook in itsbelief that marriage is a sacramental unionblessed by the Church, non Catholics canalso attend. Marriage Care ideally aims to

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CATHOLIC SOCIETIES BY MAIREAD MAHON

Marriage Care

Left: Terry Prendergast, Chief Executive ofMarriage Care meets Pope Benedict XVI.Centre: Giovanni Giacobbe, President of the Italian Forum.

44-45 catholic societies marriage care:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 13:24 Page 1

encourage couples to stay together but they arerealistic enough to know that, in certaincircumstances, this may not always be possible. Theorganisation offers a holistic approach and tries toreflect the attitude of the gospels in its approach tocounselling. There is also a helpline which peoplecan use in an emergency. In addition, materials areavailable on the website, which a couple can look attogether and try to pinpoint where and why conflictor problems might be an issue. Those who wish toattend counselling sessions are usually given theirfirst appointment within a month and, althoughthere is no fixed charge, donations are alwaysgratefully received.

An important aspect of the services thatMarriage Care provides is Marriage Preparationcourses. Sometimes, priests suggest that a coupleplanning to marry in their parish attends a coursebut gradually, as these courses become more andmore successful, word of mouth recommendationmeans that many couples are very eager toundertake a course. During the course, a couple isencouraged, in a positive way, to explore theirrelationship and their hopes for it. They are alsohelped to develop the skills that are needed inorder to maintain a successful and loving marriage.Couples who want to attend can either take partin a group situation with others who are alsopreparing for marriage or they can fill in aquestionnaire and have private sessions, discussingany issues that their answers might highlight.These courses are very popular and MarriageCare receives much praise for them. TheChurch’s research has found that those who thinkabout their forthcoming marriage in such a wayare much more positive about dealing with anyproblems that may crop up during the marriage.

Marriage Care is also active within the Catholiceducation system. They aim to show youngpeople in secondary schools that relationships donot work simply by themselves and the emphasisis firmly on communication. Every couple needs towork at their relationship at some point and everycouple needs to learn to listen and communicateand have the patience to work through theirproblems. The programme is called Foundationsfor a Good Life and lesson material is freelyavailable for teachers, either as a web downloador as a bound folder. The programme hasattracted much praise amongst educators andyoung people. For parents who may beexperiencing marital problems because of thestrain of parenting or who may be finding it difficultto adjust to new parenthood, help is also available.

Marriage Care relies on volunteers to help itprovide its hugely important service. Obviously,for those who feel that they would like to becomecounsellors with the organisation, training atdifferent levels is involved. For those who wish to

become a relationship counsellor, training takes two years, including someresidential weekends and is accredited by York St John University. For those whoare interested in working on marriage preparation courses, training takes placeover three days and entails a probationary period. Volunteers who wish to manthe helpline are assessed on an individual basis. However, not everyone whowould like to help would like to become a counsellor but luckily, there are lots ofother opportunities to assist with this very valuable work ranging fromadministrative work to acting as a chaperone and lots more in between.Volunteers have the satisfaction of knowing that they are doing somethingenormously worthwhile and that as well as hard work, there is also theopportunity to socialise and have fun, both on a local level and at the annualnational conference. As training and running centres is extremely expensive, giftaid donations can also be made.

If you would like to find out more about Marriage Care, a list of localcentres can be found on the website and these can be approached directly.

However, enquiries can also be dealt with through headquarters:www.marriagecare.org.uk/

Marriage Care National Office, Clitherow House, Blythe Mews, Blythe road, London W14 0NW.

Tel: 020 7371 1341. Helpline Tel: 088 389 3801.

series feature

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F ew musicians have had as varied a career as John BurtPolhamus. The Californian baritone has sung in London,Mexico City and Tokyo, in repertoire as diverse as opera,

musicals and Gregorian chant. “I have been musical from myearliest waking memories,” John recalls. “My mother sang to me,my sister played the piano, my father played guitar, and we had awonderful record collection and a stereo system on which myfather played everything from jazz to bossa-nova to classical.” Bythe time he was five, John was copying his sister’s piano exercisesby ear: “The piano just sort of ‘made sense’ under my fingers.”His friends took his music in their stride. “We used to take breaksfrom basketball, or hockey in the driveway, or football in thestreet, so that I could come in and play the piano. My friendswould come in and listen and watch, and when I’d let out enoughmusic we’d all go back out and play some more.”

As a boy, John attended Mass at St Brigid’s Church in the Pacific

Beach neighbourhood of San Diego. St Brigid’s, built in 1948 is,John says, “truly an artist’s church”, with remarkable Stations ofthe Cross, painted in fresco by Dom Gregory de Wit, OSB, aswell as fine sculptures and stained glass. It was here that Johncame under the formative influence of an organist who playedBach every Sunday. An early memory is “being held by my fatherat the end of Mass, and looking backwards over his shoulder upat the choir loft, and seeing Jerry R. Witt in cassock and surplice,hunched over the console, weaving tapestries of musicalarchitecture, proportion, and logical, wordless rhetoric in the air.”

On Christmas Eve 1982, having sung in the choir for MidnightMass at St Brigid’s, John was at home listening to the local classicalmusic station. He heard an unfamiliar choral sound “whichsparkled in my ears in a way that I had never experienced”. It wasa Mass by the 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis. “Itwas my first experience of sacred polyphony, and I was hookedfrom the start.”

John began to study singing with a view to a career in music.He trained privately in the studio of Robert H. Farris, anothernative of San Diego. Under Farris’ experienced direction, Johnmade steady progress. “Bob taught me bel-canto technique: lowbreath, open throat, and head resonance. And after eight years inhis studio, it has never failed me.” While at Junior College, Johnpassed an audition to sing as a bass with the San Diego OperaChorus, which was run by Tito Capobianco – “the consummate‘pater familias’ to the whole company”. With internationalexperience and connections, Capobianco brought some of thebiggest names in opera to San Diego in the early 1980s. Johnremembers standing in the wings watching Dame Joan Sutherlandsinging Carlo vive! from Verdi’s I Masnadieri: ‘stock still, statuesque,sword in hand … the perfect exemplification of solo artisticheroism and virtuosity’.

By 1992, John needed a change of scene, and moved toLondon. Since hearing the Tallis Mass a decade before, he hadbecome increasingly interested in the traditional Latin Mass – theliturgy for which Tallis had been writing. John became a regular atthe Monday evening Latin Mass at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lanenear Covent Garden. Here he learned Gregorian chant from thelate Richard Hoban, and later volunteered to direct the chantschola himself. He also sang in Hoban’s polyphonic choir Schola diChiesa. He occasionally deputised in the London Oratory Choir,and was deeply influenced by Oratorian spirituality and romanità.

At the same time, John was working in West End musicals. Hisproudest moment came when he performed the role ofMonsieur Lumiere – the chef who was transformed into a

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An interview with

John Polhamus

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candlestick – in the original London stageproduction of Disney’s Beauty and theBeast, with his parents in the audience.“After all the encouragement they showedme in such a variety of ways, all the faiththey put in me, for them to see memaking a living right at the centre of one ofthe biggest stage numbers in one of themost popular shows in the history ofmusical theatre, gave them muchsatisfaction. I’m very grateful to have beenable to give them that memory.”

Having returned to San Diego early inthe new century, John has been expandinghis repertoire further by singing solo partsin the great oratorios. “I think the best funI’ve ever had in a single piece of music wassinging all of the bass soli roles inperformances of Haydn’s Creation with theSan Diego Chamber Orchestra and thechoir of the Bach Collegium San Diego – amarvellous and very dynamic younggroup.” John loves the way that Haydnpays tribute to past masters of theoratorio, such as Purcell and Handel,before he “stamps his own classicalsignature onto it and lights Oratorio offinto the future like a Saturn V rocket”. Henotes that: “the Catholic Haydn prayedhumbly on his knees every morning forthe inspiration to finish it; Creation is aprofoundly Christian expression of faith.”In addition to his work as a soloist, Johnhas recently been appointed director ofthe La Jolla Renaissance Singers. He is thefirst trained vocalist to lead this amateurchoir, which was founded 45 years ago asthe UCSD (University of California at SanDiego) Madrigal Singers.

The project closest to John’s heart is theChorus Breviarii, a Gregorian chant choirthat will next month be singing its tenthconsecutive annual Tenebrae (morningprayer for Holy Week) in the traditionalLatin rite. “That evidence of perseverancemeans everything to me,” John declares.‘It means we’ve changed the landscapelocally with a contribution that wouldn’thave happened if we weren’t there.” Aswell as the regular Tenebrae services, thechoir has sung at Vespers and Mass, fromSt Joseph’s Cathedral to the historicmission church of San Juan Capistrano, tothe Mercy Hospital. The Chorus has sungPontifical Vespers with Bishop SalvatoreCordileone (“a very special memory”);and Christmas carols at a half-way housefor men with HIV (“sometimes thehumblest occasions are the grandest of

all”, John reflects). As this suggests, theChorus is not interested merely in theaesthetic qualities of the chant; like St PhilipNeri, they recognise that music has animportant role to play in inspiring devotionand charity.

John Polhamus has a compelling visionof what liturgical music is and should be;and he draws on his own professionalexperience to explain it. “Opera”, he says,“comprises a theatre of reality (the singersdoing this amazing thing), and a theatre ofdrama (the roles the singers areportraying). It also draws together all artforms, including vocal music, andorchestral music; choral music, and solosinging; balletic dance, painting, sculpture,poetry – you name it, opera incorporatesit.” He goes on: “One can say exactly thesame thing about traditional Catholicliturgy, which incorporated all the artisticforms and demanded the very best fromthem … except that the Mass as aneclectic sacred art-work is transcendentlyreal, in a way that Wagner’s Parsifal cannever achieve. The traditional liturgy isfundamentally theatrical in all the bestsenses, and I say that without apology. LikeShakespeare, the traditional liturgy keepsbringing people back because of the depthof its meaning.”

“Human existence,” John points out, “isfundamentally liturgical. It is in our natureas human beings to create order out ofchaos. Life itself is full of secular liturgy: wehave the liturgies of our baseball games,

cricket tests and football matches; we havethe liturgies of classical music, opera andtheatre; we have the liturgies of first dates,courtship, marriage and family; we havethe liturgies of our morning ablutions andour daily commute; we have the liturgiesof birthday bumps and New Year’s toasts;we have the liturgies of college anduniversity. Our liturgical inventiveness ismanifold, subtle and endlessly varied, andyet we miss our personal liturgies whenthey are not there.” In the light of this,John believes that the liturgicaldiscontinuities of the late 20th centuryhave been injurious, not only for self-declared traditionalists, but for theChurch and civilisation as a whole. “TheCatholic liturgy is a fundamental realityagainst which even those who reject itdefine themselves. Without it, all of usknow our true selves the less. Theimbalances of the last 40 years haverobbed us of identity and continuity, andthat is what is going to be recovered andbuilt upon, though it take a thousand yearsor ten.” And in its first ten years, theChorus Breviarii has made a valuablecontribution to that recovery andrebuilding in San Diego.

Photographs (opposite)John Burt Polhamus. Portrait by John

Clark Photography (London).(below) Members of the Chorus Breviariisinging the office of Tenebrae at St John

the Evangelist, Normal Heights, San Diegoin Holy Week 2009.

interview by Ben Whitworth

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I n 1723 the town councillors ofLeipzig were discussing theappointment of a new

choirmaster for the church of StThomas. It had been a long meetingduring which their first choice,Teleman, had turned down their offerof the position and their secondchoice, Graupner, had been unable tonegotiate his release from hisemployer, the Darmstadt Court.Eventually one councillor declared “Asthe best musicians aren’t available, Isuppose an average one will have tosuffice”

The ‘average’ one they chose wasnone other than Johann SebastianBach, born 325 years ago on the 21stMarch 1685, the man who once saidthat “the aim and final reason of allmusic should be none else but theglory of God”. And, for a merely‘average’ musician, he really didn’t dotoo badly considering his outputincluded 276 organ works and over400 other items, the majority of whichwere produced during his 27 year stayin Leipzig.

Born at Eisenach, Bach had lost bothhis parents by the time he was ten andhad moved to Ohrdruf to live with hisbrother Johann Cristof. At 15, he wona scholarship to study at Lunenburgand actually walked the 100 miles fromhis brother’s house to Lunenburg tobegin his studies. Once these werecompleted, he obtained a position asorganist at Arnstadt, where variousmembers of the Bach family hadserved before, but it wasn’t to be avery happy time for him.

Certain church officials criticised himfor inserting ‘curious variations’ in hisorgan playing which, they said,confused the congregation when theywere singing. Then, so incompetentwas one of the bassoon players thatthe pair eventually came to blows inthe market square. Shortly afterwards

he was in more trouble. The churchofficials had given him four weeksleave of absence to hear the eminentorganist Dietrich Buxtehude at Lubeckbut Bach stayed away four months.The best thing to happen to him atArnstadt, he said, was his marriage toMaria Barbara but further difficultieswith an unruly and mediocre choirpersuaded him to look for anotherpost and he moved to Mulhausen,where the organ in the church of StBlasius was built to Bach’s own design.

His stay at Mulhausen was short andin 1706 he accepted a post at theDucal Court of Weimar with a largersalary, part of which included 30 pailsof beer from the local brewery. Asconcert master, part of his job was tocompose a new piece of music eachmonth, amongst which was his famousHunting Cantata. Here, his reputationgrew when he wrote a book on organmusic which the great AlbertSchweitzer was later to describeas being “one of the greatestevents in music”. His status wasfurther enhanced when acontest was arranged inDresden between himself andthe celebrated French organistLouis Marchand. When theappointed day arrived, Bachwas there ready and waitingbut his opponent failed toappear. Only later did Bachlearn that Marchand had leftDresden on the early morningcoach for an “unknowndestination”

When, in 1717, Bachaccepted a far moreprestigious position at theCourt of Anhalt-Cothen, hispatron at Weimar, DukeWilliam Ernst, refused himpermission to leave. Theduke even had himimprisoned for a month

48

J.S. BachMASTER OF MUSIC Commemorative

statue of J.S.Bach in Leipzig.

48-50 JS Bach:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 15:13 Page 1

for “too obstinately requesting hisdismissal” and when he finally allowed himto leave it was with “notice of hisunfavourable discharge”.

Bach was to claim later that the six yearshe spent at Cothen were amongst thebest of his lfe. His patron, the Margrave ofBrandenburg, had a fervent and educatedlove of music and he often took his newDirector of Music with him on his travels.Bach’s output at this time was certainlymore secular than ecclesiastical andincluded such masterworks as The WellTempered Clavier and the BrandenburgConcerto dedicated to his patron.

But this was also a time of sadness for,whilst on a visit to Karlsbad with thePrince, his wife, Maria Barbara, who hadborne him seven children, died. Withintwo years, the 36 year old had remarried.His new wife was 20 year old singer AnnaMagdelena Wilken who was to bear him afurther 13 children and to whom hededicated the famous Little Piano Book forAnna Magdelena Bach.

Then came his final position at Leipzig.‘Average’ he may have been to those whoappointed him but when the congregationat St Thomas’s church heard his newlycomposed Magnificat on his first ChristmasDay there, they realised that this man wascertainly more than any ‘average’ musician.However, just as at Arnstadt, there werestruggles with those in authority who Bachregarded as “strange people with smalllove of music” and such petty officialsappeared intent on making his life a misery.

At that time, the Cantor of a choirschool was considered its undisputed headbut at Leipzig, Bach found his authorityconstantly being challenged by the Rector,particularly after Bach had claimed thatonly 17 of the 55 boys in the choir were“usable”. The Rector, Johann AugustErnesti, frequently promoted theunmusical sons of wealthy parents andafter making one such boy ‘Prefect’, aposition which allowed him to conduct thechoir, Bach ejected the boy ‘with greatcommotion’ before the morning service.But Ernesti had the boy back for theafternoon service only for Bach to forcehim out once again “with much shoutingand noise”. It was only the intervention ofthe King of Saxony that brought about anuneasy truce between the pair.

Without doubt, Bach was a devoutChristian with a large library ofecclesiastical works and a personal Bible

complete with his own marginal notes.Whenever he began anew piece of music,the first letters on his manuscript were J Jfor ‘Jesus Juva’ meaning ‘Help me Jesus’and every item ended with S D G for ‘SoliDeo Gloria’, ‘to God alone the Glory’.

Despite living ‘under almost constantvexation, jealousy and persecution’, Bachstill managed to produce many of his mostfamous works in Leipzig. Reputedly, heproduced five Passions, only two of whichhave survived, the St John Passion and, hislongest work, the St Matthew Passion, bothmarathon works dealing with the lastweeks of Our Lord’s life. Both include soloarias, narrative recitative, instrumentalinterludes and, above all, magnificent andpowerful choruses. Yet music expertsclaim that both are ‘different’, whilst the StJohn Passion has been described as“vehement” in nature, the St MatthewPassion produces an atmosphere of“tenderness and love”.

In addition, Bach left us the ChristmasOratorio and four short Masses consistingof the Kyrie and Gloria along with acomplete setting of the Latin Ordinary ofthe Mass, now usually known as the Bminor Mass. There was also his mostfamous organ work, the Toccata and fuguein D minor which still stirs the soul.

As if professional problems weren’tenough to cope with, there was a greattragedy in his personal life. In the 1740s,Anna Magdalena fell sick with an illness herdoctors were unable to diagnose, let alonecure. In 1742 she gave birth to their lastchild, Regina Susanna, who contemporaryaccounts described as a ‘beautiful child’.Sadly, Bach was unable to see her as shegrew up as his eyesight began to fail. Anumber of horrendously painful operationsfailed to arrest his condition though it hasbeen claimed that on the 18th July 1750

feature by Peter M Smith


49

Bach’s final resting place, St Thomas’ Church, Leipzig.


his sight was miraculously restored. But,even if this were true, it was to no avail forwithin a few hours he suffered a strokeand died ten days later.

Those petty officials who had tormentedhim for so long during his lifetime evenmanaged to insult him in death by placinghim in a grave so carelessly marked thatfor many years no one knew exactlywhere it was located. Only in 1894, afterextensive research by German scholars,was his grave properly identified and hismortal remains moved first to thechurchyard of St John’s, then re-interred inthe church itself before being moved to StThomas’s church after the Second WorldWar.

This church is best known as the homeof one of Europe’s most celebrated boys’choirs, the Thomaner, whose membersattend a boarding school and receive bothan academic education and a rigorous

musical training. Not all can stand the pacethough as, in recent years, the lead figurein one of Germany’s favourite ‘pop’groups was expelled for ‘lack of discipline’.Visitors can normally hear the choirperform most Fridays at 6pm and Sundaysat 9am though it is best to check thesetimes with the church or tourist office.

The town’s other famous church, that ofSt Nicholas (Nikolaikirche) has its ownplace in history, for it was here that Bach’sChristmas Oratorio was heard for the firsttime and more recently it was the focus ofpeople’s protest against 40 years ofCommunist dictatorship. What began as aregular Monday ‘Prayers for Peace’meeting, developed into a massive protestorganisation. On the 9th October 1989,after the prayers had ended with thebishop’s blessing, more than 2,000 left thechurch to be met by thousands of otherswaiting outside with candles in their hands.

As was said at the time, ”Two hands arenecessary to carry a candle and protect itfrom being extinguished, so you cannotcarry stones or clubs at the same time”

Before long, the ring road was closedand those in authority “became engaged inconversations and then withdrew”. Withindays, the government fell and withinweeks the Berlin Wall was down. To thisday, peace prayers are said on Mondayevenings.

Fittingly, on the 325th anniversary ofBach’s birth, the town of Leipzig will re-open the Bach Museum, close by StThomas’s church, complete with newmulti-media and interactive displays whichmake the life and work of the composercome alive for all, both young and old.Visit www.english.bachhaus.de/ formore information

50

feature by Peter M Smith


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I n this final article of the series, I consider one of the most popularhymns of Catholic authorship: Newman’s Lead, Kindly Light. Thesewords have been printed in hymn books, and sung in church

services, since early in the reign of Queen Victoria. Victoria herselfdescribed it as her favourite hymn; so too did Mahatma Gandhi. Nohymnal printed today, for any Christian denomination, would omit Lead,Kindly Light. The literary critic Stuart Curran called it “probably the greatestEnglish hymn of the 19th century”. Archbishop Bernard Longley,preaching at his enthronement as Archbishop of Birmingham on the 8thDecember 2009, made this assessment of John Henry Newman’simportance today:

“In the remarkable year ahead when we prepare for his beatification,we will be influenced by the way that Cardinal Newman responded bothwithin the Church of England and in the Catholic Church to the call fromGod: “Where are you?” His Apologia Pro Vita Sua makes plain his diligentand unselfish search for truth in his own life and for the world, and hishymn Lead Kindly Light sums up his complete confidence in the guidinghand of God.”

The archbishop, in this timely homily, takes it for granted that Lead,Kindly Light is a hymn – but it was not ever thus. In 1874, Newman wrotein a letter that ‘these verses are not a hymn, nor are they suitable forsinging’. So what exactly were these verses, in the opinion of their author?What, then, did Newman mean by ‘a hymn’?

For the origins of this great expression of trust in the invisible ways ofdivine providence, we must travel back to the early 1830s, and to Sicily.Newman, then the Vicar of the University Church of St Mary’s, Oxford,had spent the winter on a Mediterranean tour with his close friendRichard Hurrell Froude and Froude’s father. They visited Gibraltar, Malta,Sicily and Rome, where they met Nicholas (later Cardinal) Wiseman. InApril 1833, Newman chose to leave the Froudes in Rome, and hereturned alone to Sicily. Here he fell seriously ill from typhoid fever, andwas close to death. Sustained through the ordeal by a vague butcompelling sense that God had given him ‘a work to do in England’, hehastened to Palermo. However, it took him three weeks to find a boatthat would take him homewards, and even then the ship was becalmed inthe Straits of Bonifacio (between Corsica and Sardinia).

It was there that Newman wrote his famous verses, expressing all thepain and frustration of his situation. Even in the ‘encircling gloom’,however, the poet trusts in God’s plan, in the ‘path’ which is leading, bysome unguessable route, to a brighter ‘morn’. When he finally got back to

History of Hymns in

the ChurchLEAD, KINDLY LIGHT

52

1. Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,Lead thou me on;The night is dark, and I am far from home,Lead thou me on.Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to seeThe distant scene; one step enough for me.

2. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou shouldst lead me on;I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead thou me on.I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

3. So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me onO’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent,till the night is gone;And with the morn those angel faces smileWhich I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

52-53 history of hymns:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 15:16 Page 1

Oxford, in July, Newman was just in timeto hear John Keble’s famous sermon on‘National Apostasy’, which he laterrecalled as the moment when the OxfordMovement began. This Movement, whichsought to recover Catholic doctrines andpractices within the Church of England,was the ‘work’ for which Newman hadbeen spared in Sicily; ultimately, it woulddraw him and many of his admirers intothe Catholic Church itself.

The lines beginning ‘Lead, kindly Light’were not conceived, therefore, as a hymn,but as a poem – and a poem with verypersonal motives and allusions. This is notto say that the poem was intended to bestrictly private. While in Rome, Newmanand Froude had decided to submit a seriesof poems to the British Magazine, underthe collective title Lyra Apostolica. Thepoem written in the Straits of Bonifaciowas, in due course, submitted as part ofthe sequence; it was printed in 1834 withthe title Faith. Subsequently it appeared inthe 1836 volume which collected the LyraApostolica poems together. At the foot ofthe poem, Newman gives the date andcircumstances of composition: ‘At Sea.June 16, 1833.’ It is the heartfelt prayer ofa man who was literally and figuratively ‘allat sea’, yet trusting in the inscrutableprovidence of God. The last two lineswere so much a product of immediatecircumstance that Newman, in later life,claimed to have forgotten what theymeant. Probably, he intended to suggestthat children have an awareness of angelicpresences which they lose as they growup; in his autobiography Apologia pro VitaSua, Newman recalls that as a child heimagined other people (and even himself)to be angels in disguise. According toanother interpretation, the ‘morn’ refers tolife after death, and the faces are those ofour lost loved ones.

Newman was writing out of a particularexperience, at a particular moment in hisown life. Nevertheless, the poem’s idea offaith as a guiding light in the darkness,rather than as a blaze of daylight, found anecho in the hearts of many readers. As the19th century progressed, and traditionalChristian belief was challenged by newscientific, political and theologicalmovements, the dark night of Newman’spoem seemed to be encroaching. Whathad been so personal to Newmanseemed now to be the universal crisis ofthe age. It is not surprising, then, that the

editors of hymnals wished to adoptNewman’s verses.

There was, however, a practical obstacleto the use of this poem as a hymn. It wasnot written in any of the recognised hymnmetres, and new music had to becomposed before it could be sung. Manytunes have been written for Lead, KindlyLight, but no one melody has established amonopoly. Thus, one might hear thewords sung to Lux Benigna by J.B. Dykes,Bonifacio by David Evans, Sandon by C.H.Purday, Alberta by W.H. Harris, or Patmosby S.S. Wesley.

When Newman said that Lead, KindlyLight was not a hymn, he was probablyreferring both to its unusual metre and toits subjectivity. Newman took a keeninterest in hymns throughout his Anglicanand Catholic ministries. As an Anglican, heobjected to the use of evangelical hymnssuch as John Newton’s Amazing Grace,which expressed in effusive language theauthor’s own religious experience.Newman was happy to put suchsentiments into poems, but what hewanted from a hymn was something more

objective, founded on the truths of sacredScripture and orthodox teaching. Hymnsare about God, not about me. For thisreason, he was drawn to the hymns of theCatholic tradition, and especially theancient and medieval Latin hymns found inthe Breviary – the Liturgy of the Hours. Hetranslated nearly 50 of these hymns, andhelped to inspire a whole generation ofgreat hymn translators, including EdwardCaswall, J.M. Neale and Gerard ManleyHopkins. After his conversion, Newmanwrote a number of hymns that are still inuse, including the beautiful hymn fordeparted souls, Help, Lord, the Souls thatThou hast Made. Two lyrics whichoriginally formed part of the verse dramaThe Dream of Gerontius were fittinglyadopted as hymns: Praise to the Holiest,and Firmly I Believe and Truly.

As we await Newman’s beatificationlater this year, we should certainly sing thehymns he wrote, including those poeticcompositions of his that have evolved intopopular hymns. We should also followNewman’s example in rediscovering therich treasury of hymns that have been

53

series feature by Ben Whitworth

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52-53 history of hymns:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 15:16 Page 2

J ohn Henry Newman, Oxford’s - and England’s - most famous Victorianconvert to Roman Catholicism joined the Oratorians, a religious institute ofsecular priests and brothers founded by St Philip Neri in 16th century Rome.

Oratorians live together in community without taking vows and focus on a layapostolate, music and traditional liturgy. There are three oratories in this country,each is autonomous.

Following studies for the priesthood in Rome, Newman founded the first EnglishOratory in Birmingham in 1848 and a London Oratory was established by Fr. Faber.Newman hoped for an Oxford Oratory but his plans were thwarted both by theCatholic hierarchy and a suspicious university. At that time Catholics could notgraduate at the university and there was concern that Newman would attempt toopen a Catholic college alongside an Oratory. It was not until the centenary ofNewman’s death that his dream was realised.

Following Newman’s failed overtures to Bishop Ullathorne, the Jesuits were giventhe task of reviving the Oxford mission. Ullathorne wrote to the Jesuit Provincial “Iam pledged to the Holy See not to allow any college or school to be established inOxford ... and as the express reason against the establishment of an Oratory inOxford was, lest it should attract Catholic youth there for education; I shouldrequire a similar pledge from the society.”

In 1871 a wealthy benafactor, Jane Charlotte Winterbottom, bequeathed £7,000for a Roman Catholic church to be built. Lord Bute gave land adjacent to theRadcliffe Infirmary and, on the 20th May 1873, the foundation stone was laid byBishop Ullathorne. Oscar Wilde, then an undergraduate at Magdalen College,attended the service and was impressed by him “By Jove,..that little old gentleman

with the big silver spectacles certainly spoke like onehaving authority.” Two years later the church was

opened by Bishop Ullathorne and CardinalManning preached, as Newman declined aninvitation to do so. Manning upset the universityby implying they had betrayed the light of truth

in their motto Dominus illuminatio mea. He alsodisappointed Oscar Wilde who “came away

feeling rather depressed.”In 1876 Lord and Lady Bute donated £1,000 for the

black marble high altar. In 1878 the arcaded reredos waserected and and each of the three rows gradually filledwith 13 statues, of early British medieval, Tudor and

and patristic saints. Twenty roundels above the leftand right screen similarly depict the heads of

cardinals, saints and beati.A presbytery was erected in 1878,

Cardinal Newman will bebeatified this year and theOxford Oratory isappealing for five millionpounds for its campaign ofreaffirmation, renewal andrestoration of Oxford’sparish church of StAloysius to its originalVictorian splendour. Thechurch was designed byJoseph Hansom, architectof Arundel Cathedral andfamous for creating theHansom cab.

NEWMAN’S DREAM FULFILLED AT THE

54

Oxford Oratory

The Oratory inOxford and thememory of CardinalNewman are greatriches in the life of the Church - Archbishop Vincent Nicols

“”

A statue of St Aloysius

Gonzaga in theOxford Oratory.

54-56 oxford oratory:p18-19 king john 18/02/2010 15:27 Page 1

and Gerald Manley Hopkins was appointedcurate. During his year at Oxford he wrotenine poems including Binsey Poplars, TheBuglers’ First Communion, inspired by hisvisits to Cowley Barracks, and Duns Scotus’Oxford.

The Catholic Club was also foundedthat year to meet the spiritual needs ofthose Catholic gentlemen who hadmatriculated, meeting at either St Aloysiusor a member’s rooms.The club wasrenamed the Newman Society in 1888and Fr. Hopkins addressed them at one oftheir first meetings. The marble holy waterstoop was donated by friends of Hopkins,as a memorial to him.

Newman was created a cardinal in1879. The following year his formercollege honoured him by making him aFellow of Trinity College.The next day wasTrinity Sunday and he preached at StAloysius’ twice “with something of hiswonted fire and sweetness.”

Two years later he donated a painting ofthe church’s interior to the Jesuits, which isnow in the Oratorians’ house. The pictureis inscribed “From Cardinal Newman ingrateful memory of the warm welcome,and the various kind services, which theyshowed him,on his visit to Oxford, onTrinity Sunday 1880, JHN.” Between 1898and 1903 the church was graduallydecorated.

Margaret Fletcher, founder of theCatholic Womens’ League, who studiedart in Paris, painted altar panels and theLady chapel with lilies. Her sister, Phillippa,died in 1914 and is commemorated in amemorial by Gabriel Pippet. His floral andscroll motifs embellished the church andside chapels. A fine marble statue of StTeresa by Mervyn Lawrence, given in1907, is now in a chapel dominated by apainting of St Philip Neri by Maria Giberne,a copy for Cardinal Newman of GuidoReni’s picture in Rome.

Convert Hartwell de la Garde Grissel, afounding member of the Newman Society,became a friend and chamberlain toBlessed Pius IX. He was grantedindulgences for a painting of Our Lady ofMercy and built a private chapel in theHigh Street to accommodate the pictureand his large collection of relics,manuscripts and religious ephemera. Hedied in 1907 and left this collection to St

Aloysius’ on condition that a suitablechapel be built. The picture became afocus of devotion as Our Lady of Oxfordand is the relic chapel’s centrepiece.

In June 1914 Mgr. Achille Ratti, theVatican’s librarian visited the Bodleian, buton twisting his ankle at Oxford’s railwaystation stayed overnight at St Aloysius’ andcelebrated Mass the next morning. Hebecame Pope Pius IX eight years later and

sent a signed photograph to the parish.In 1954 the Jesuits modernised the

church, painting over mosaics andstencilling in grey - it was later paintedcream and brown and the fine marblepillars whitewashed. It was notuncommon before more recentappreciation of Victoriana and conservation

feature by Amanda C Dickie

55


The altar in the Relic Chapel.


56

feature by Amanda C Dickie

for churches to be so neutralised.Monsignor Knox on revisiting the churchremarked on seeing the grey roundels, “Itlooks as if the cardinals are being sick outof portholes.” The relics were dispersedalong with antique vestments and mitres.In 1981 the Jesuits handed overresponsibility for the church to thearchdiocese of Birmingham. During thenext decade several clergy, includingBishop Crispin Hollis, then auxiliary inBirmingham became incumbent.

In 1990 Archbishop Couve de Murvilleasked the Birmingham Oratory to takeover St Aloysius’. The week before theirarrival, the last diocesan priest discoveredthe death mask of St Philip Neri and asigned book of his favourite poems, whichhe carried about him, in a lockedcupboard.

A painting in the Sacred Heart chapeldepicts Newman and St Philip Neri withOur Lady and Child against a backdrop ofOxford’s dreaming spires.

In 1993 an independent OxfordOratory was formed, providing chaplainsfor hospital, local schools, Bullingdon prisonand Campsfield Detention centre. In 2008restoration began with the sanctuary andchancel’s enhancement.The Lady chapel,painted vibrant blue, was stunninglydecorated with gold stars and gilded Marianmonograms and fleurs de lys.

Walter Hooper, CS Lewis’ secretary,auctioned a set of Lewis’ first editions toraise funds. Last year he visited Narni, inItaly, donating Lewis’ atlas; the town’sname was circled by Lewis as inspirationfor his fictional country of Narnia. Hooperwas given a relic of the local saint, BlessedLucy of Narni, a 16th century visionaryDominican tertiary. The relic is now inone of the reliquary cupboards in therestored chapel, completed lastNovember. The ceiling has beendecorated with symbols and images seenin early Christan catacombs and closelyresembles Grissels’ original oratory. Someof his collection was recovered but manyof the present relics came from theChichester Carmel when it closed. Thenewly gilded screen was the conventgrille.

Parish priest , Fr. Daniel Seward, agraduate of Trinity, Newman’s college, saysthat the visit of the relics of St Thérèse lastyear enhanced the Oratory’s profile andawareness of the appeal. Funds have nowreached £750,000. Appeal patron,

Archbishop Vincent Nicols says,“theOratory in Oxford and the memory ofCardinal Newman are great riches in thelife of the Church.” Supporters include theDuchess of Kent.

Mark Thompson, BBC DirectorGeneral, chairs the campaign committeeand the University Chancellor, LordPatten, is Honorary President. “TheOratory has a well-earned reputation as aspiritual and cultural centre alongside itsCatholic counterparts in the university”. hesays, calling the campaign an “inspirationalvision.”

Further accomodation for the growingnumber of Oratorians is needed. ANewman chapel with baptistry and cloistergarden is planned. The upper hall will be

converted into a library for public andacademic use to house the Oratory’scollection of Newman’s works, important16th and 17th century manuscripts, parishrecords and the private library of ThomasGainsford, Dean of Christ Church andcurator of the Bodleian Library whose sonwas a disciple of Newman.

The Oratory hopes to incorporate theChesterton Library, at present in storage,but needs a major benefaction to establishthis unique project. The university isexpanding at the adjacent RadcliffeInfirmary site, so the Oratory will becentre stage in meeting the needs of townand gown, so fulfilling Newman’s idea ofan Oxford parish providing a spiritual,cultural and academic centre for all.

Detail of the Altar Cross in its newly-restored alabaster tabernacle in St Aloysius' church in Oxford. © Br. Lawrence O.P.


T he Church has always been very careful to distinguishbetween the use of numbers to illustrate particulartheological concepts and their use to conceal hidden

meanings or aspects of arcane knowledge, such as will oftenoccur in alchemy or magic. The early Church Fathers, forinstance, repeatedly condemned the magical use of numberswhich had originated in the Babylonian period and which wassubsequently further developed by the Pythagoreans andGnostics of their times. Many passages from the writings of StChrysostom and many of the other great Christian teachers ofthe early centuries could be cited as displaying caution andshowing their reluctance to overemphasise the mysticalsignificance of numbers in the Scriptures. Nevertheless theChurch Fathers clearly regarded numbers in Scripture as being fullof mystical meaning, and they also considered the interpretationof these mystical meanings to be an important branch of exegesis.This, after all, was a period when Christian teachers saw mysticalmeanings underlying everything which had to do withnumbers. Influenced mainly by biblical precepts, butalso in part by the prevalence of this philosophyof numbers which was all around them, theyundoubtedly paid close attention to the sacrednessand mystical significance, not only of certainnumbers in themselves, but also of the numericaltotals given by the constituent letters with whichwords were written. It can hardly be doubted,therefore, that a similar symbolic purpose would haveinfluenced the repetition of acts and prayers in theliturgy of the early Church, for instance in decidingupon the number of the repetitions of the KyrieEleison, of the number of the Signs of the Cross madeover the oblata in the canon of the Mass, of thenumber of the unctions used in administering the lastsacraments, of the intervals assigned for the saying ofMasses for the dead, of the number of the lessons read atcertain seasons of the year, and so on. So numbers areimportant within scripture and within the Church in general,on a whole range of levels. So let us look, therefore, atanother group of numbers as they occur in the SacredScriptures and try to tease out their meaning and theirsignificance.

The Number FourThe Four Characteristics or ‘Marks of the Church’ can be traceddirectly to the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament andthey’re expressed most explicitly in the Nicene Creed. Werepeat the Creed each time we attend the Holy Sacrifice of theMass and with repetition will often come an element ofinattentiveness to the words being said. Each word is rich withmeaning, however. The Church is One, the Church is Holy, theChurch is Catholic and the Church is Apostolic. As the Catechismof the Catholic Church teaches, the Church is one because of hersource, her founder and her soul. Within this unity of the peopleof God a rich multiplicity of peoples and cultures is gatheredtogether, but this is not a threat or challenge to the Church’sunity. The gift of unity, however, is constantly threatened by sinand the burden of its consequences. The Church is held, as amatter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. It is in the Church that the

‘fullness of the means of salvation’ has been deposited and itis through the Church that ‘by the grace of God’ we acquireholiness’. The Church is catholic or universal because thecompleteness of Christ’s body, united with its head,subsists only within the Church. In other words Christ isever-present within theChurch. The Church is

NUMEROLOGY

OF CATHOLICISM

Numbers drawn from SacredScripture have become a part ofthe Church’s rich tradition of faithand, in varying degrees, are foundeverywhere in her liturgy, art andliterature. This month we look atthe numbers four, five and six andattempt to shed some light on theirvarious meanings.

Pope John Paul II raises the book of the Gospels at an outdoor Mass he celebrated in Poland in 1991.

series feature by Gerry Burns


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series feature by Gerry Burns

Apostolic because she is founded on thefoundation of the Apostles and continuesto be taught, sanctified and guided by theApostles through their successors inpastoral office.

Dwelling on the concept of the ‘FourLast Things’ may be considered undulymorbid in this increasingly superficial agewhere unpleasant realities such as illnessand death are never to be mentioned orconsidered. It is a ridiculous ‘head-in-the-sand’ posture. As Benjamin Franklin wassaying as far back as 1789 death is one ofthe only two certainties in this life, theother being the payment of taxes. TheCatholic Church on the other handteaches that there are four certainties atthe end of lives, death, judgement, heavenand hell. They are taught, not as fear-inducing principles as some might say,but rather as reminders to us as Christiansof the highest and final end deriving fromour hope and faith, to enjoy eternal bliss inthe presence of God. That end should bethe strongest of motivators guiding us

toward charitable living in this life. Four also symbolises the four

evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke andJohn, the authors of the Gospels. Four isalso the number of the Cardinal Virtues,prudence, justice, temperance andfortitude. The number four is sometimesrepresented as three plus one (3+1=4),and as such is used to denote that whichfollows the revelation of God in the Trinity,namely, His creative works. The writtenrevelation commences with the words, ‘Inthe beginning God created.’ Creation istherefore the fourth thing, and the numberfour is emphatically seen as the number ofcreation, of man in his relation to theworld as created.

Four are the regions of the earth -north, south, east, and west. Four are thedivisions of the day - morning, noon,evening, and midnight. Or in the Lord’swords, when he speaks of his coming atevening, midnight, at cock-crow, or in themorning (Mark 13:35). Four are theseasons of the year, spring, summer,autumn, and winter. In Genesis 2:10, 11,the one river of Paradise was divided,forming four rivers of which ‘the fourthriver is the Euphrates.’ Here, as so oftenelsewhere, the number four is made upof 3 + 1, for three of these rivers areunnamed, while one is still known by itsoriginal name, the Euphrates. This is anexample of where four is sometimesused to symbolise division, the river beingsplit into four parts. Four is the firstnumber which is not a prime number, thefirst which therefore can be divided. It isthe first square number also, andtherefore it marks a kind of completenessas well, sometimes called ‘materialcompleteness’.

In the four Gospels of the NewTestament we have the record of the lifeof Jesus and his obedience to his Father’swill unto death. Once again these aredivided into the three plus one format,three being similar, and hence called‘Synoptic Gospels’, while the fourth standsalone, written after the Churches had allfailed, and presenting Christ not merely asoffered and rejected by Israel, but as theone and only centre of union and unityafter his rejection, and in the midst of allthe failure, confusion, and corruption.

The Number FiveThe use of the number five follows thesame pattern, being utilised frequently in a

four plus one format. We have the threepersons of the Godhead and theirmanifestation in creation. There follows afurther revelation of a people called outfrom mankind, redeemed and saved. Soredemption follows creation. Inasmuch asin consequence of the fall of man, creationcame under a curse, necessitating theredemption of both man and creation.This gives us the Father, Son, Spirit,Creation and Redemption, the five greatmysteries.

Five is also the symbolic number of‘Grace’. Grace means favour, but whatkind of favour? Favour shown to thedowntrodden we call mercy, favourshown to the poor we call pity, favourshown to those who are suffering we callcompassion, while favour shown to theobstinate we call patience, but favourshown to the unworthy we call grace. Thisis favour indeed, favour which is trulyDivine in its source and in its character.

The Catechism of the Catholic Churchteaches that the ‘Five Precepts of theChurch’ ‘are set in the context of a morallife bound to and nourished by liturgicallife’. They would be considered the bareminimum for active Church membershipand for spiritual growth. They are:

• you shall attend Mass on Sundays andholydays of obligation and rest from servile labour.

• you shall confess your sins at least once a year.

• you shall receive the sacrament of theEucharist at least during the Easter season.

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(above) This is the cover of The FourGospels, a study guide recently releasedby Little Rock Scripture Study inArkansas. It can bought at www.amazon.co.uk priced at £17.99.

(right) The new Compendium of theCatechism of the Catholic Church is “anauthoritative, certain and complete textregarding the essential aspects of thefaith of the Church,” according toPope Benedict XVI, who unveiled the volume in June 2005.


• you shall observe the teaching of the Church in relation to those days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.

• you shall help to provide for the needs of the Church. The number five is symbolic of the five wounds Christ suffered

on the cross, the savage nails driven through his hands and feet,the spear driven into his side. By extension, therefore, it can alsorepresent sacrifice and this is indicated by the five grains ofincense that are inserted cross-wise into the Paschal Candle aspart of the Easter liturgies.

The Number SixSix represents creation, because God created the universe in sixdays. As such it marks the completion of Creation as God’s work,

and therefore the number is significant of secular completeness.Six is also the symbolic number for the principal attributes of God,these being power, majesty, wisdom, love, mercy and justice.

But both man and the serpent were created on the sixth day,and therefore the number is sometimes portrayed asrepresenting both humanity and rebellion. Six, therefore, alsostands as the number of man in his opposition to, andindependence of, God. Moreover, six days were appointed tohim for his labour, while one day is associated in sovereignty withthe Lord God, as His day of rest. Six, therefore, is also regardedas the number for work. From this is derived the division of thenatural time-spaces which measure man’s labour and rest, eachmultiple and subdivision being stamped by the number six. A dayconsists of 24 hours (4x6), divided into daylight and night hours of12 hours each. The number of months is twelve, while eachhour consists of 60 minutes (6x10), and each minute of 60seconds (6x10).

The Sixth Commandment relates to the most terrible sin of all,the taking of another human life. The sixth clause of the Lord’sPrayer treats of sin. Other notable occurrences of the number six inthe New Testament are when the world turned dark at the sixthhour as Christ hung on the cross. It is also recorded that Jesussuffered in agony on the cross for a total of six hours.

The number six is regarded as representing mankind’s inabilityto achieve perfection and sinlessness. Six has often been seen,therefore, as the number of evil. At its extreme, rebellion againstGod will run its full course with the man of sin identified by thesinister number, 666.

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(above) An archaeological replica of the cross of Jesus stands inthe Scripture garden of Biblical Resources in Tantur, Israel.The penitential season of Lent, culminates on Good Friday

and reflection on the suffering of Christ.(left) A church window depicts God’s creation

of the heavens and the earth.


10 MINUTE INTERVIEWSWITH PROMINENT

CATHOLICS:

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Pamela Taylor

Pamela Taylor has recently retiredas Principal of NewmanUniversity College, Birmingham,a Catholic Higher EducationInstitution. She is also thecurrent chair of the newlylaunched Cathedrals Group ofUniversities, which compromises15 universities and universitycolleges in England and Walesand which serves almost 10, 00students. Pamela’s views andthoughts on religion andeducation are sought by a widerange of bodies.

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series feature by Mairead Mahon

What is your Confirmation name and have you a particularreason for choosing that name?My Confirmation name is Mary. I converted to Catholicism 20years ago and was received into the Church on the 7thOctober, a date which also happens to be my birthday. Sincethis date is of particular significance in relation to the Rosary,Mary seemed to be the most appropriate name. When I cameto Cardinal Newman University College, I was very pleased todiscover that our chapel is called St Mary’s Chapel.

Do you have a special affinity with any particular saint?I am very interested in the life of St Thomas More. He was aman of faith and controversy, who was always willing toquestion received wisdom; something which all of us in highereducation should be willing to do. More knew that knowledgewas power but also knew that, as such, it had to be usedwisely. This is something which I hope our graduates will doby behaving ethically and wisely.

What is your favourite reading from the Bible?I have a number of favourite readings, including the firstchapter of the Gospel of John. I particularly value theemphasis on God as the Word because of the significance oflanguage in human experience. I am also fond ofCorinthians1:13 which seems to be the essence of how weshould live our lives as Christians.

Which Catholic figure, either historical or living, do you mostadmire?It is almost impossible to choose one figure. I am alwaysimpressed by people who cling to their faith in very difficultcircumstances, such as the recusant families in history, whogave up wealth, social status and power in order to continuegoing to Mass. I also admire priests in Eastern Europeancountries, who risked their lives duringthe communist regime, in order to ensurethat they could still celebrate Mass.

However, if I had to settle on oneindividual, I would have to chooseCardinal John Henry Newman. He was amember of the Victorian elite at OxfordUniversity and his conversion caused himto be ostracised by many who he hadthought his friends. However, heremained true to his conscience andretained his integrity. His writings showhim to have been a remarkable man,with a huge intellectual capacity who wasdetermined to search for the truth.Personally, it has been an enormousprivilege to be the principal of aUniversity College named after him.

Do you have a favourite church or shrine?I have always found St Peter’s Basilica inRome absolutely inspirational. However,there are some places in England whichmean a great deal to me. The first ofthese is the little chapel above the

historic main church at Farm Street in London. It is where Iwas received into the Church and it has a special place in myheart. My own parish church, St Joseph’s in Malvern, was thefirst Catholic church in Malvern to be opened over 100 yearsago. It was rebuilt in 1908 and is a beautiful building. NewmanUniversity College possesses a striking chapel. It was designedin the 1960s and has a wonderful sense of tranquillity. A shrinewhich is dear to me is Walsingham.

Do you have a favourite piece of church music?I am always grateful to Harry Christophers and the Sixteen,one of the world’s greatest ensembles. They have brought somuch wonderful early Church music back to us and, at themoment, I am constantly playing their Devotions to Our Lady,which is very moving. I also enjoy the work of JamesMacmillan, who has written a beautiful contemporary settingfor the Mass, which is also one of my favourite pieces.

Is there any religious art that you would like to own?I wouldn’t want to own them but I think the series of paintingsof The Holy Family by Hans Memling, a 15th century painter,are very touching. I also find the Salvador Dali painting entitledChrist of St John of the Cross (see below), very powerful andintriguing. I am interested in religious symbolism in art andenjoy listening to Professor Martin O’Kane speaking about thishuge subject.

How do you use your talent to reflect your faith?I try to ensure that my faith infuses my life and work. Acomforting thing about being a Catholic is that even when wefail, we can constantly try again to get it right!

The Vatican recently introduced a list of “new” mortal sins:environmental pollution; genetic manipulation; accumulation of

excessive wealth; inflicting poverty; drugtrafficking; debatable experiments andviolation of basic human rights. Which ofthese do you think is the worst sin and arethere any which you would add to the list?Inflicting poverty, which seems toinclude many of the others such asenvironmental pollution, trafficking andexcessive wealth. It is a source of shameto me that many live in comfort whilemillions live in dire poverty. I think Iwould add not caring about others,particularly the poorest, to the list.

If you had the opportunity to ask the Popeone thing, what would it be?I’m going to cheat and ask two! I wouldwant to know on which, if any, of the bigmoral questions, he thinks the Churchneeds to reconsider its position. I wouldalso ask if he would come and celebrateMass for the students, staff and alumni ofCardinal Newman University College.What an unforgettable moment thatwould be!

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A Roman Catholic priest andone of the leading preachers,orators and poets of the 19th

century, Fr. Abram Joseph Ryan was astaunch and active supporter of theConfederate States of America. Bornto Irish immigrants, Matthew Ryan andMary Coughlin Ryan of CountyTipperary, Abram moved with hisparents to St Louis, Missouri where heattended the Academy of Christianbrothers. Fulfilling his ambition tobecome a priest he enrolled atNiagara University in New York Stateand on the 1st November, 1856, hewas ordained a priest in the Vincentianorder.

For the first few years of hispriesthood Fr. Ryan taught theologyat the university and then at thediocesan seminary in CapeGirardeau, Missouri. He was asuccessful teacher and had a magneticquality about him that endeared himto his students but, when civil warbroke out, Fr. Ryan forsook histeaching career to join theConfederate Army as a chaplain onthe 1st September, 1862.

Denied a formal commission, Fr.Ryan served in an unofficial role for theduration of the war. As well as sayingMass and delivering the sacraments tosoldiers on both sides of the conflict,hehelped to care for the sick andwounded offering them physical andspiritual comfort whenever he could. Itwas the death of his brother on thebattlefield that inspired Fr. Ryan to penhis first poems, In Memoriam and InMemory of My Brother. His spiritual

nature and mystical quality enabledhim to put into words the manyconflicting emotions felt by everyoneinvolved in the terrible war. It was thistalent, plus his gentleness and courageas a priest, that marked him out fromall other men.

Unlike most southerners, Fr. Ryanactually came to terms with theConfederacy loss. After the war,without regard to any politicalmotivation or personal bitterness, hetravelled extensively throughMississippi, Tennessee and Georgiapreaching and writing aboutreconciliation between North andSouth. On the 19th May, 1866 hewon the heart of the whole nationwhen his poem, The ConqueredBanner, first appeared in the Freeman’sJournal.

Taken from one of the Gregorianhymns the poem’s rhythmic patternfitted perfectly the role of a hymn ofdefeat. Thirteen months after thesurrender of General Robert E. Lee atAppomattox the people of the Southwere on the crest of a wave ofsentimentality and martyrdom. Fr.Ryan’s poem epitomised the nation’sfeeling of loss and it was read or sungin almost every household.

As well as writing poetry Fr. Ryanspent some time in New Orleans aseditor of The Star, a Catholic weeklypublication before moving to Augustain Georgia, where he founded TheBanner of the South, a religious andpolitical weekly in which he alsopublished his poetry. To facilitate hiswriting Fr. Ryan eventually retired to St

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Father Ryan Catholic High School, Nashville, Tennessee. A tradition of faith, knowledge and service since 1925.

‘Furl that banner, softly, slowly!Treat it gently-it is holyFor it droops above the dead.Touch it not-unfold it never,Let it droop there, furled forever,For its people’s hopes are dead.’

The Conquered BannerBy Abram Joseph Ryan (1838-1886)

POET-PRIEST OF THE CONFEDERACY

Abram Joseph Ryan

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Mary’s parish in Mobile, Alabama, where he continued to writepoetry mainly in the Lost Cause style, centred round the themesof heroic death on the battlefield.

Certainly, in the South and the Catholic Church in the UnitedStates there was no other poet as popular as Fr. Ryan. Drawingincreasing attention his writings gained him the title of Poet Priestof the South and numerous editions of his collected poemswere published nationally. By the end of the century PresidentWilliam McKinley was reading his poetry aloud in the WhiteHouse and many of Fr. Ryan’s poems were set to music, at leastfour of them becoming popular songs. Such was the PoetPriest’s enduring popularity that Margaret Mitchell, author ofGone With the Wind (1936), one of the most popular novels ofall time, included him in her book.

In 1880, when Fr. Ryan was in his early forties, he took to theroad again and embarked on a promotional and lecturing tourcovering several northern cities including Baltimore in Marylandwhere his volume, Poems: Patriotic, Religious, and Miscellaneous,was published. He made his home with the Jesuit fathers atLoyola College where he gave a public poetry reading anddonated $300 to establish a poetry medal at the college inrecognition of the Jesuits’ hospitality.

By now Fr. Ryan had become a popular lecturer, attending

feature by Stella Uttley

63

many speaking engagements and religious events across the northeast, the midwest, Canada and Mexico. As a public speaker Fr.Ryan was always interesting and, on occasion, even brilliant butgenerally speaking his tour was not as successful as he had hopedand after only a few months he returned home to the South.

Fr. Ryan’s restless spirit never left him, however, and hecontinued to roam the southern states until his death on the 22ndApril, 1886 at a Franciscan monastery in Louisville, Kentucky. Hisbody was taken to St Mary’s in Mobile and buried in Mobile’s OldCatholic Cemetery (see right). Newspapers, including the New YorkTimes, carried his obituary across the nation.

In recognition of his poetry and service to the Confederacy, astained glass window was placed in the Confederate Memorial Hallin New Orleans. In 1912 a local newspaper led a campaign for astatue to be erected to his memory. The appeal succeeded and thestatue was dedicated in July 1913. It bears a verse from the poem,The Conquered Banner, which sits below an inscription that reads:Poet, Patriot and Priest.

Few American poets have garnered such a following as Fr. AbramRyan. His readership has persisted and more than a century afterhis death his life and works continue to be themes of articles anddiscussions in America’s popular press and scholarly publications.His most famous poem, The Conquered Banner, remains one of thegreatest memorials to the Lost Cause, exemplified by the South’sfailed efforts in the Civil War.

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S ituated just 30 miles from the Frenchcoast, the channel island of Guernseywas a natural stopping point for

evangelising Welsh and Cornish monks boundfor Brittany during the sixth century. Up untilthen, the Channel Islands were mostlyinhabited by pagans and the pioneering monkstook it upon themselves to zealously spreadthe word of God wherever they went. One ofthe most notable pioneers was Welsh saintSamson who during his voyage to France cameupon the Channel Islands. He was madeBishop of Dol in 521 AD and as the dioceseincluded the channel islands of Guernsey,Herm and Sark, he decided to lead amissionary expedition and landed on the mainisland in 550 AD, at Braye du Valle, where StSampson’s harbour now stands. There,Samson and his fellow monks, including Hermholy man, St Tugual, built a chapel on the site ofthe current St Sampson’s Church.

The successor to St Samson as Bishop of Dolwas St Magloire, also known as Maglorius orMaelor, who was a cousin of Samson. Magloirewas born to Afrella, the wife of Umbrefel, whowas Samson’s paternal uncle. Like St Samson,he was educated by Illtyd at Llantwit in southWales and thereafter, the learned saint is said tohave taken him to Brittany. After his ordination,Magloire was appointed abbot of a monasteryat Lanmeur in Brittany, which he ruled withprudence and holiness for the following 52years. When Samson died, Magloire,somewhat reluctantly, succeeded him at Doland it was around that time that he becameinextricably linked with the small island of Sark.

Magloire’s reputation as a holy man andsomething of a healer was known throughoutthe Channel Islands. On one occasion, he wasvisited by a Seigneur of Jersey, by the name ofCount Lois Escon, who was suffering fromleprosy. When Magloire cured him of theterrible disease, the Count showed hisgratitude by granting him the rights to much ofthe isle of Sark. Magloire is said to have firstvisited the island in 565 AD along with 62 of hismonks and set up a religious house in a valley,which today is still called La Moinerie. Thecommunity of monks cultivated the land, built awater mill to grind their corn and prospered intheir new surroundings. They were said to

indeed be zealous in converting the paganlocals to Christianity and would not toleratelocal islanders carrying out their pagan rituals ofworshipping the sun and dressing up asanimals.

Magloire’s mission spread far and wide andeventually he crossed to nearby Herm andJethou islands, where he also built a chapelon the Pierre Percee Reef, which was thensituated about sea level. The holy man washeld in the highest regard: ‘At the bidding ofour Fr. Samson thou didst leave thy nativeWales to serve God in Lanmeur’s Monastery,O Father Maelor. Having pleased God withthe sweet fragrance of monastic struggle,thou didst grace the island of Sark withthy godly repose…’

Tributes to his part in theestablishment of Christianity continueddown the centuries up untilcomparatively recent times. Onechronicler wrote: “This excellentman passed here many years of hislife, occupied in prayer and in theinstruction and preparation ofthese young men for theministry of the gospel. It maytruly be called holy ground, aspot sanctified to God, for theaim and object of St Magloriuswas holy, he laboured solely forthe good of men and God’s glory.From there he rose to enter theHoly City, where he now enjoysthe fruit of his labours.”

St Magloire is believed to have diedon the 14th October, 575 AD and hisremains interred on Sark. Anotherreport though, suggests that his bodywas taken to rest in a church in Paris.The ruins of his chapel are said tohave survived into the 19th century.Topographer Samuel Lewis was torecord seeing: “portions of an ancientbuilding, thought to have been achapel belonging to a hermitageexisting there in the sixth century.”Another report said: “It was herethat the holy St Maglorius livedwhen he came to Sark in the year565…On this spot he built a

64

(left) St Samson.

(opposite) St Tugal’sChapel, Herm

Island.

GUERNSEY ISLAND SAINTS

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humble dwelling for himself and cells for his companions. Downeven to the year 1835 the foundations of this small house werestill visible…”

The first recorded inhabitants of Herm Island, which is situatedjust three miles of the coast of Guernsey, were monks seekingsolitude in their pursuit of God. It has been suggested that thename ‘Herm’ is derived from hermits who settled on the island,however an alternative interpretation derives the name from theNorse language, with ‘Erm’ referring to an arm-like description ofthe island. Certainly, in medieval times Herm held great spiritualappeal for those seeking the monastic life. Most prominent ofmissionary monks was St Tugal, a friend and follower of StSamson.

Another Welsh holy man, St Tugal was born in 490 and likeSamson and Magloire was also brought up at St Illtyd’s monasteryat Llantwit, in South Wales. Around 520 AD he is believed tohave made the hazardous sea crossing to Brittany in the companyof his mother and 72 monks. The house established by him thereis believed to have been named Lan Pabu - Lan denoting church

land and Pabu meaning father. Tugal made many missionary tripsand it is believed one was to Herm where his influence wasgreat, leading to a chapel later being founded in his name. Tugaldied in 564 AD and in the ninth century, when Norsemen sackedTreguier, the local bishop took the saint’s body and transported itto Chartres. According to one report, when Treguier was finallyrebuilt, the body was returned and when the cathedral was beingreconstructed, a carpenter fell from some scaffolding but wassaved from certain death by the intervention of the saint.

The beautiful little Church of St Tugal can be found on Hermtoday. It is situated in the heart of the Manor Village, probablyclose to the spot where the saint established his community. Thecurrent building, which dates from between 1028 and 1035 ADwhen it was constructed by Norman monks, retains much of thepeace and tranquility from Tugal’s time. Non-denominationalservices are held most weekends and island residents have theirweddings blessed there. Special services are held at Easter andChristmas and the children of Herm School perform their annualNativity play within the chapel.

feature by David Jones

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From the college’s foundation in 1622 to the Restoration,the missionary college of SS Peter and Paul, a ramshacklecollection of tenements in the Bairro Alto, struggled from

crisis to crisis. President Matthew Kellison of Douai (1561 -1642) told the first ‘colonists’, specially selected by himself andPresident Joseph Haynes to populate Coutinho’s new foundationthat they were, ‘set aside for a new work, new stones for the towerof David.’

This was the project that was set to consolidate secular gainswithin the English Mission. Lisbon was an embodiment, set instone, of the resurgence of the English secular clergy and this wasnot lost in Kellison’s sending off speech. The Mission had beenengaged for half a century - this was a second wave, a newinitiative and one that had the highest backers amongst thesecular clergy. The sense of expectation was palpable: Remember itis not the harvest but the sowing that you are called to. What sort ofautumn we can look forward to depends on what kind of seed yousow; the plating you make will decide the quality of the vintage.

The English Chapter needed Lisbon to work - its own relationswith Coutinho had been difficult at best but the desire to keepthe momentum was unfailing. Kellison continued: “Always keepbefore your eyes the fact you are the first builders of a new work,the first alumni of a new college. The eyes of all, whether wellwishers or enemies, are turned towards you; hasten to give theformer cause to rejoice and see to it the latter are disappointed.Today it is usual (I think because of the wickedness of the times)that things deteriorate by weakly falling away from theirbeginnings and after a lapse of a few years the zeal of foundersgrows cold in their successors”.1

The message was clear: Lisbon was earmarked to support theChapter and Bishop Richard Smith - it was not to fail.

‘There was a shortage of everything except poverty.’The early collegians faced a future far

removed from the stoic heroism ofKellison’s rhetoric. Their

president was dead, exhaustedand harassed. No one in the

college wanted to take hisplace forcing the Chapterto appoint ThomasWhite (better known byhis alias and laternotoriety of Blacklow) asHaynes’ successor. Thiswas a bail out - not the

first or the last. White did

not want the job, but as a champion of the Chapter and therights of the secular clergy he swallowed the pill.

White was appointed second president in 1630. EnglishCatholic historiography has not been kind to him - like Blacklowhe suffered alienation and vilification. At his appointment Whitehad been showing signs of Gallicanism and had nascent plans fora tolerated English Catholic minority under a Protestant crown.This championing of the Church particular amidst thegargantuan sea of Tridentine universalism was certainly not invogue. White’s later philosophical and theological works wouldturn him from an over zealous defender of secular rights to a fullyblown heretic which later had repercussions for Lisbon itself. Hisappointment was a shrewd move: as secular agent in Rome,White had earned his ecclesiastical spurs defending secular claimsat the Lateran in Rome. He was a man who could get things doneand was not afraid to upset people in doing so. He revised thecollege’s constitution (though it was not actually printed until asuccessive administration), he ordered that collegians were towear a distinctive habit (one that survived unaltered throughoutthe college’s 350 year history).

The college’s Constitution was, for all purposes, a carbon copyof Douai’s. In the spirit of the Chapter, and all it representedwithin the Mission, the college’s administration was more akin toan Oxbridge college than the colleges established by Persons. Thepresident was primus inter pares and sought advice from hiscouncil of superiors. Though this model of harmoniouscollegiality was often ignored by later administrations this modelof government had echoes of the Chapter and less of the morehierarchical regimes of Ignatian and Jesuit colleges. White’ssecond most important act was the establishment of a school ofHumanity in imitation of Douai. Coutinho, who had a deludedunderstanding of the English Mission, shared by many in theIberian aristocracy and encouraged by the Pax Hispanica and theSpanish Match, designed his college as a missionary power-house- a house of higher studies - of Philosophy and Divinity. Thiswas, however, totally impractical. Throughout the college’s earlyyears, Coutinho’s promised cash had been slow and sporadic inappearing. Royal grants from the Habsburg dual monarchy werea pittance; college accommodation was poor and, as oneLisbonian pointed out, ‘There was a shortage of everythingexcept poverty.’

There were two issues that struck White - firstly, in order toalleviate the economic duress of the foundation, a school ofHumanity (essentially a grammar school - with a view tonurturing vocations to the Mission) would bring in much neededfunds. Secondly, as was the view of the Chapter, a school for boyswould encourage support from the English Catholic community

Part 3

THE ENGLISH COLLEGE, LISBONConflict and Crisis

Left: (Portrait) President Thomas White, (1630 – 33). Opposite: ‘De Fundatore Collegii Anglorum Ulyssiponensis.’

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series feature - by Simon Johnson

and aid the college’s (and thus the Chapter’s) mission anddevelopment. White, returning to Lisbon from England, havingfinalised the deal with the Chapter, evoked the founder’s rage.Coutinho, a man not best known for his humility or reason, flewinto a rage. He threatened to close the college and defenestratethose behind the project. White, unperturbed by the rage of thisincreasingly irritable Portuguese aristocrat, called his bluff.Coutinho came round to the plan but the relationship betweenthe founder and the president had deteriorated to such an extentthat White decided he had to go.

Reform and TransitionWhite’s resignation left a vacuum in the college’s administrationthat came at a particularly necessitous time. Bishop RichardSmith, now in exile in Paris, appointed an internal candidate asWhite’s successor with a view to stimulating the college’s nascentindependence. Coutinho refused the candidate and WilliamHargrave took up the reigns of administration (1634 - 37). Thispleased the Founder: Hargrave was a high flyer and a prominentChapter man. The College was sorely in need of a period ofstability were the reforms of White’s administration ever to bearfruit. Coutinho, acutely aware of this necessity, saw in Hargravea man whose administrative skills could guide his foundationthrough a critical period of transition.

Hargrave was an able man and set about consolidating White’sreforms. It was Hargrave (despite White being the author) whocodified the Regula and Constitutions of the College. He hadthem approved and printed. He was also a true Chapter man -no less a figure than George Leyburn praised Hargrave for hisdefence of secular episcopacy and the rights of the Chapter onthe Mission. Hargrave was representative of continuity - he, likeHaynes and White before him, came from that strand of secularclergy who were the intellectual and ideological heirs of theAppellants.

The Constitutions and GovernmentTwelve years after the college was canonically erected, Hargrave’swas the first administration to put the diplomatic wrangling andmachinations to rest and get on with the business of sendingsecular missioners to England - the prophesied ‘Autumn’ ofPresident Kellison at Douai. The Constitutiones et Regulæ CollegiiAnglorum Ulyssiponensis, the amended constitutions of Douai(revised by White) were published in (1635). The mission of thecollege was stipulated as to train young men, ad fidei Catholicæpropagationem spiritualem animarumque ducatum - not anunusual mission statement for such a foundation. It should notbe overlooked that the college had been functioning for manyyears without any formal structures - before the Constitutions andRegula were codified it would not be far off the mark to suggestthat the first collegians continued ‘Douai practice’ until formalrules were completed.

The internal governance of the college was typical of the othercolleges within the English Catholic Diaspora: a president, vicepresident, lector of Sacred Scripture, two lectors of ScholasticTheology and, ‘as many lectors of Philosophy as the time andcondition of the college necessitated.’ White’s collegiate style ofgovernment survived the editors and made it to print. Thecollege’s Protector, despite being one of the highest rankingecclesiastical dignitaries in the kingdom maintained the right in

the Constitutions to interfere in college affairs only, ‘for thespiritual progress of the English clergy and the promotion of theCatholic faith.’

The alumni of the college (those who were funded by thecollege) took a college oath, sometime before studying Divinity.The oath (distinct from the missionary oath) effectively boundthe student to the president (in loci episcopi) in the direction ofthe Mission. As it stood, the college oath became a simplecontract that promised obedience to the president and theEnglish Chapter - guaranteeing a source of missioners directlyanswerable to the secular powers in England.

The effective collapse of Bishop Richard Smith’s episcopacy inEngland - forced into exile at the French Embassy in London,later to Paris itself, did little to stunt the growth of the College.The Constitutions stated that the president was encouraged (butnot obliged) to negotiate with the episcopal authorities inEngland as to directing his administration. This was a clevermove by the authors of the Constitutions - there was no realepiscopal authority in England after Smith’s collapse, whichmade the presidents at Lisbon extremely influential andpowerful.

The missionary oath obliged the Lisbonian priest to promotethe interests of the college and the community at everyopportunity; subject to the bishop (in hiding) and his Chapter,each priest swore to act according to the instructions of the


67


series feature - by Simon Johnson

secular clergy in his missionary activities. The text of the oathhad been written in 1640 during a period when, though BishopSmith was technically alive, there was no effective residentialhead of the secular clergy in England. A separate formula wastaken, the rubric in the document noted in a different hand,when the bishopric fell sede vacante (which it did when BishopSmith died in 1655). Lisbonian priests onwards swore to beobedient to and observe the jurisdiction of the Dean andChapter as representative of the Bishopric of Chalcedon (thoughsede vacante and unlikely to be restored).

The fortunes of the college had rested on the survival ofBishop Richard Smith and the authority granted to him by theCongregation of Propaganda. Despite several false starts, thecollege at Lisbon soon found its independence - this was thebeginning of over a century of fiercely guarded independence.Lisbon had been, from its conception to its youth, an oddity - itwas conceived as a Jesuit college to mould missioners for theTridentine Church Militant - it became the backbone of theEnglish secular clergy, increasingly Gallican and desirous of‘cosying’ up to the Protestant authorities; it had been afoundation of Douai but found its relationship sour and, whenDouaigians were warming to another Vicariate Apostolic model,Lisbonians were championing the rights of the Chapter against

Roman universalist interference. Lisbon’s defence of the Chapter and the spirit of the

Appellants that had flowed through the blood of its foundingfathers began to be noticed as being rather out of concord withthe direction of the Tridentine papacy and most of the EnglishMission. This came to a head when, with the Restoration ofCharles II to the throne, the English Chapter found itselfincreasingly divided between those who looked to Rome forguidance on the English Mission and those who lookedelsewhere. The cause behind much of this division was a man, aproduct of both Douai and Lisbon, whose Gallican viewsthreatened to destroy all the progress made by the secular clergysince the Appellant Controversy. His philosophy would hauntthe secular clergy well into the 19th century. Unfortunately hehad been instrumental in Lisbon’s foundation and had a largeand influential discipleship amongst its alumni.

He was Thomas White. All photos copyright of the Lisbon Collection.

1 President Matthew Kellison, President of Douai, to President Joseph Haynesand the Douagian colonists of Lisbon, 24 August, 1628. Given the night beforetheir departure from Douai to Lisbon.

68

Above left: Constitutions and Rules (Lisbon, 1635).Above right: The Protector of the English College Lisbon.


“I was a 16 year-old long haired, leather-jacketed vicar’s son. Mypassion was my rock band.

Unbelievably my life was changed by anIrish Catholic priest, Fr. John Bergin. I wasstruck by this saintly priest from Dublin,walking the streets of Blackley, inManchester. He seemed to be constantlyvisiting and helping the poor and needy. Iapproached him for a chat - two peoplefrom different worlds. Our chats turned toinstruction and eventually I was received

into the Catholic Church. After a fewyears, thanks to Fr. John’s

encouragement, I was ordaineda priest.” Thus, Fr. SimonStamp (now private secretaryto the Bishop of Salford)speaks of the major influencein his life and vocation.

The tradition of Fr. Bergin isstill alive today. Fr. Sean Sheils,

from Ennis, County Clare wasordained in 1954. and has

ministered in the Brentwood dioceseall his priestly life (see left). When I tried tocontact Fr. Sean on a cold winter’s day, hewas “out on his rounds”. Later he wasscheduled to make an urgent visit to thelocal hospice and would then be free totalk with me. He has spent 33 years in hispresent parish, Corpus Christi, CollierRow, Romford, where he is dearly lovedby many generations. Recently he wasdecorated with the Mayor’s Civic Awardby the London Borough of Havering but isembarrassed by such honours. In hisearlier days he was chaplain to theCatholic Nurses Guild in a large hospitaland took huge inspiration from the“incredible faith of young Irish nurses.”Now, decades later, one of the joys of hisministry is still with young people - as sixthform chaplain in a local Catholic School.

From 1815-1845 about a half a millionIrish came to England. Most came toLiverpool and its surrounds. St Anthony’s

Church (in ‘Scottie Road’), a mile from thecity centre became known as the ‘IrishChurch’. Its congregation (then served byEnglish priests) was 76% Irish. From 1845-1852 a million Irish fled their native land toescape the starvation brought about by the‘Great Famine’. Liverpool was (literally)their first port of call. Many continued theirperilous voyage towards the US, Canadaand Australia but thousands stayed inLiverpool hoping to earn money for theirpassage. However, the conditions theylater faced in the sectarian ghettos ofVictorian Liverpool led a lot of them tosuccumb to typhoid, dysentery andstarvation and consequently, early death.In 1847 alone, over 10,000 people wereburied from St Anthony’s, including tenEnglish priests.

Clergy from Ireland were badly neededbut there was only a trickle at first. Amongthose was Canon Bernard O’ Reilly, asurvivor of the famine who became the3rd bishop of Liverpool. By 1915 over halfthe 650 priests in the Archdiocese ofLiverpool were either native Irish or ofIrish parentage. This continued throughthe late1940s into the early 1960s.According to Dr. Ian Keane of the Centrefor Irish Studies in Liverpool University:“The Irish Catholic priest helped to form astructure for the emigration of the singleIrish. The priest was a conduit, a link withhome, helping with letters, messages,welfare and employment.”

“In the early 20th century andthroughout the post war years, theinfluence of Irish priests in Liverpool wasprofound,” says Bishop Tom Williams,Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool. “Inpriesthood, teaching, nursing - in allvocation areas, this city would not havecoped without the Irish influence.”

After the war, thousands of Irish workersflocked to the cities in the West Midlands:

69

IRISH PRIESTS’ CONTRIBUTION TO THE

CHURCH IN ENGLAND & WALES

As the feast of St Patrick,(March 17th) approachesand here in Britainmillions celebrate allthings Irish, it seemsappropriate, in this Yearfor Priests to salute thethousands of Irish priestswho have, over thelast century and ahalf, helped tobuild andenhance theChurch inEngland andWales.

“Their Song needs to be sung”


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Birmingham, Coventry andWolverhampton. Consequently dozensand dozens of Irish priests came to theArchdiocese of Birmingham. Canon PatBrowne, the administrator of Birmingham’s

St Chad’s cathedral, said that in the earlydays, the priority of the Irish priest was“outreach” to their fellow country men andwomen. “They were, in effect, emigrantchaplains. They did a tremendous job,

tirelessly building communities througheducation, training, and welfare.” WhenCanon Pat arrived from his native Offaly in1974, half of the 375 priests in thearchdiocese were Irish. “That number isgreatly reduced now but the missionaryspirit of the Irish priest is a lasting legacy.

“Priests from Ireland have played asignificant role in Wales too,” saysMonsignor Robert Reardon, Vicar Generalof the Archdiocese of Cardiff. “They are anintegral element of our heritage, part ofour story, intertwined in our history. Theirsong needs to be sung.”

I spoke with three Irish born parishpriests, Canon Kerrisk ordained in StKieran’s College, Kilkenny, Canon Daley,St Peter’s, Wexford and Canon O’ Regan,St Patrick’s, Carlow. They are part of the30% of Irish clergy still in the Archdioceseof Cardiff. They came here in thelate1940s and early 1950s. They are selfeffacing and dedicated men whose faithfulministry is continuing way beyond‘retirement age’. Their parishioners are nolonger first generation Irish but their Welshsons, daughters and grandchildren, nowjoined by Catholics from countries furtherafield - India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Over 130 miles away, in south eastLondon, another Irish priest ministers to athriving global community.

70

Liverpool Christ the King Cathedral.

Parishioners at St James Church, Peckham Rye.

“I am glad that tribute isbeing given to the

thousands of Irish priestswho have ministered inEngland and Wales overthe past 150 years since

the Restoration of thehierarchy in 1850.

Many of those priestsworked in very difficult

situations but their faithand perseverance helped

form and develop theCatholic Church in this

country. They deserve ourwarmest thanks.”

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor


I sat in the presbytery kitchen of StJames, Peckham Rye, chatting with parishpriest, Fr. Tom Mc Elhone about hisministry. Visiting is his top priority. He hadjust returned from a class of seven yearolds. “It’s what’s keeps me sane,” hechuckles! He came to the archdiocese ofSouthwark, intending to stay for a year -that was in 1974! He spoke movinglyabout his nine years as a prison chaplainwhere he learned the importance of“making a connection.” His parishioners,as well as English and Irish, are fromAfrica, West Indies and Vietnam. As afellow emigrant he feels a deep“connection” with them. ”We’re all awayfrom home and yet, here in the parish,we’re all home.”

Ever since the sixth century when StColumba set forth on his mission from theshores of Ireland, countless young Irishmissionaries, secular and religious have lefttheir native shores and gone to the farcorners of the world. While those inBritain may not have had the

mind-boggling stories of trekking throughthe deserts of Africa or the exotic sites andsounds of China, the difficulties they had toface in the post war slums of many Britishcities were sometimes far greater. “Thegenius of the Irish priest,” wrote Fr. PJBrophy, former President of St Patrick’sCollege, Carlow, “has been essentiallypractical, concentrating on teaching theessentials of the faith, bringing people tothe Mass and the Sacraments andproviding churches and schools for theirflocks.”

In the 1950s and 1960s, Irish seminarieswere full. There were eight colleges,devoted to the formation of the secularclergy alone. Such were the numbers, in1959, in St Patrick’s College, Thurles that apriest (now in the Brighton & Arundeldiocese) said that his bed was out in thecorridors for a term! Today only two ofthese colleges remain open. One, AllHallows, founded in 1842 to follow theIrish diaspora throughout the Englishspeaking world, has sent 1000 priests to

dioceses in England and Wales over theyears. In the early1960s it had so manyapplications that it had to refuse entry. Theother, St Patrick‘s College, Maynooth, wasfounded in 1795 to supply priests forhome dioceses. In 1961 it had over 600students on roll. There were so manynewly ordained that dioceses in Englandand Wales took them on loan until therewere vacancies in Ireland.

Both colleges have reinventedthemselves and are flourishing today butnot as seminaries. All Hallows hasn’t hadany students studying for the priesthoodfor the past 10 years. Maynooth had justfive priests ordained in 2009. The well hasrun dry!

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor(see below. Photo credit:Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk) took time outbefore he set off to conduct a bishops’retreat in Canada to record these words ofgratitude: “I am glad that tribute is beinggiven to the thousands of Irish priests whohave ministered in England and Wales overthe past 150 years since the Restoration ofthe hierarchy in 1850. Many of thosepriests worked in very difficult situations buttheir faith and perseverance helped formand develop the Catholic Church in thiscountry. They deserve our warmest thanks.”

Throughout the centuries it has beenthe wonderful faith and fervour of Irishparents that produced so many Religious(women and men) and secular priestswhose dedicated mission has become partof the heritage of the Church in theseislands.

71

An exterior shot of All-Hallows College, Drumcondra (c. 1900).

Chapel interior at at Patrick’s College, Maynooth.


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