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Oremus
November 2014 | Edition Number 197 | FREE
Westminster Cathedral Magazine
BLESSED PAUL VI
A Pope devoted to the Mother of God:
“The Blessed Virgin Mary offers a calm vision and a reassuring
word to modern man, torn as he often is between anguish and
hope ... troubled in his mind and divided in his heart, uncertain
before the riddle of death...” Marialis Cultus (1974)
Inside Oremus
Oremus
Cathedral Clergy House
42 Francis Street
London SW1P 1QW
4
Cathedral Life: Past & Present
T 020 7798 9055
F 020 7798 9090
E [email protected]
W www.westminstercathedral.org.uk
(Office opening: Mon-Weds 9.00am-5.00pm)
Oremus, the magazine of Westminster
Cathedral, produced by volunteers, reflects the
life of the Cathedral and the lives of those who
make it a place of faith in central London.
If you think that you would like to contribute
an article or an item of news, please contact
one of the editorial team.
Patron
The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster
Chairman
Canon Christopher Tuckwell
Oremus Team
Dylan Parry – Editor
Sharon Jennings – Deputy Editor
Tony Banks – Distribution
Kouadio Besse Kouakou – Administration
Bernadette Low – Administration
Maria O’Brien – Staff Writer / Office Manager
Manel Silva – Subscriptions
Margaret Tobin – Advertising
Introducing New Chaplains:
Fr Joseph Xavier & Fr Brian O’Mahony
13
Cathedral History: War Memorials, Part I
by Patrick Rogers
14 & 15
Monthly Album: Ordinariate Mass;
Processions; Day of Prayer for Syria;
ACN; The Red Mass; & more...
9
16 & 17
Two Wartime Friends
by Linda Davidson
18
Our New Sub-Administrator’s Intern
21
Behind the Scenes:
The Organ Loft
28
Cathedral History: A Photographic Record
Requiem for JFK – November 1963
29
10
Features
Cathedral Historian
Patrick Rogers
Design and Art Direction
Julian Game
The Dease Expedition
by Canon Christopher Tuckwell
Additional Proofreading
Berenice Roetheli
Charlotte McNerlin
New Episcopal Appointments
The Dioceses of Leeds and Salford
Opinions expressed by contributors are not
necessarily those of the Oremus Team nor the
official views of Westminster Cathedral.
The Editor reserves the right to edit all
contributions. Publication of advertisements
does not necessarily imply any form
of recommendation. Unless otherwise stated,
obituaries are written by the Vicar General on
behalf of the Diocese of Westminster.
®
Unless otherwise stated, photographs published
are done so under creative commons or similar
licence. We attempt to credit all photos and
seek permisison before publishing, though this
may not always be possible. Please contact us if
you have a query regarding copyright. No part
of this magazine may be reproduced without
permission.
Registered Charity Number 233699
ISSN 1366-7203
4&5
6
Blessed Paul VI: Man, Christian and Pope
by Dr Philip Smyth
10 & 11
Cardinal Takes Possession of his Titular
12
Making Art in Tudor Britain
by Miriam Power
18
A Catholic Foundation for Recovery
by Fr Allen Morris
19
Mgr Robert Hugh Benson
by Fr Nicholas Schofield
16
20 & 21
Supporting the Missions
by Patrick Phelan
23
21
Liturgy: Glorious Sunset or a New Dawn?
by Colin Mawby
30 & 31
Sponsored by PAX Travel
Metropolitan Anthony Bloom
Archdeacon Peter Scorer
31
Regulars
Cover image: Blessed Paul VI
From the Chairman
4
Catholic Poets: G K Chesterton
9
St Vincent de Paul School: The Holy Souls
22
Oremus Crossword
22
The Friends of Westminster Cathedral
24
Joanna Bogle: Moving Towards Advent
25
Hymn: O Valiant Hearts
26
Diary and From the Registers
Printed by Splash Printing Ltd 020 8906 4847
2 |
Oremus
November 2014
November 2014
Oremus
Book Review: St Nicholas Owen
28
32 & 33
34
| 3
Welcome
Remembrance
From the Chairman
Up until the morning on which I am writing this message,
it has been hard to imagine that we are on the edge of
another November as the beautiful, warm autumn days
have seemed to go on for ever, but that changed with this
cold, wet early winter day. Soon the days of summer will
be just a distant memory, remembered only when we look
at photographs taken on holiday, but the healthy effects of
the sun will surely stay with us and fortify us against the
winter chill.
This November, in the Centenary Year of the outbreak of the
First World War, will have a particular significance for us all,
and will be marked by various acts of remembrance. As
many of you will know, I was privileged to accompany a
visit to Mons to commemorate the winning of the first two
Victoria Crosses by members of the Royal Fusiliers at the
very beginning of the Great War; and in a few days, I will
be taking part in a service to commemorate the tenth
anniversary of the arrival of the Princess of Wales’s Royal
Regiment in Afghanistan, on a tour of duty which saw them
winning a Victoria Cross and many other decorations for
gallant service. This latter event reminds us of recent actions
and casualties and of our
responsibility to pray for our Armed
Forces and for their families, a
number of whom are our close
neighbours here in Francis Street.
Remembrance Sunday will cause us
to pray for the dead of the First
World War but will also give us
cause to remember those who have
lost their lives or have been badly
injured in very recent times, and to
remember those who may yet be called upon to take up
arms as current events unfold in the Middle East.
May I close by congratulating Dylan and his helpers for the
great work they do in producing this excellent magazine,
and by thanking all of you who donate to Oremus for your
generous support. I will be offering the 5.30pm Mass in the
Cathedral on 19 November for the departed benefactors,
volunteers and readers of Oremus.
With my best wishes,
Canon Christopher Tuckwell
forward and continued to fire the one remaining gun. He
was badly wounded and eventually their position was
overrun and he was taken prisoner. He, too, was awarded
the Victoria Cross for his bravery and survived the war,
living to a good old age.
Their sacrifice was not in vain
Our pilgrimage was to visit the very railway bridge
where these two and their comrades fought so gallantly,
many of them dying in the attempt. Their sacrifice was not
in vain. By holding up the German advance, they enabled
their fellow-soldiers to withdraw, in what was to be called
‘The Retreat from Mons’. We gathered to remember them
and to pray for them, and for all, friend and foe alike, who
died on that spot. Thinking of their sacrifice, that others
might live, I recalled the words of Jesus: ‘Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.’ And standing under the railway bridge in prayer, I
read these words from the Gospel: ‘For where two or three
meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’ We were all
very conscious of the presence of God in that place, a
place that once saw conflict and bloodshed but is now a
place of peace and reconciliation.
English and German side by side
This feeling was more apparent when we moved to the
nearby War Cemetery where Lt Dease and his fellow
Fusiliers are buried. The original plot had been bought by
the Germans for their dead but the local man who gave
them the ground did so only on the proviso that the
Lieutenant Maurice Dease, VC
Love cannot hurt your neighbour
English dead would be buried there too; and so it is to this
day. English and German lie side by side, divided in life
but united in death. We could only feel humbled, recalling
their bravery and courage, and saddened thinking of the
loss of so many young men, a loss to be completely
eclipsed by the dreadful slaughter that was to follow in
later battles.
I pray that their sacrifice and loss might, somehow,
move us even more to pray and work for peace and
reconciliation in our generation. Happily, the nations that
in 1914 were enemies are now friends and our prayer
must be for that to continue. But war clouds are gathering
elsewhere on our planet and we know how many scenes
of conflict and killing already exist.
Honouring the fallen and praying for their souls is a
right and proper thing to do, but it must move us to do
more. Their sacrifice is the call for us to struggle for lasting
and just peace wherever it is under threat. As St Paul says
to the Romans, ‘If you love your fellow men you have
carried out your obligations.’ And again, ‘Love is the only
thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the
answer to every one of the commandments.’
We are grateful to David Rowlands for kindly allowing us
to reproduce his painting of Lt Dease and Pte Godley
during ‘The action at Nimy railway bridge, near Mons,
23rd August 1914’. To view more of the artist’s work,
please visit www.davidrowlands.co.uk
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Canon Christopher Tuckwell
gentleman in his mid-eighties, to visit the site of his death
just outside the town of Mons. The group was made up of
descendants of the Dease family and former members of the
Royal Fusiliers, which was his regiment.
©David Rowlands
Who was Maurice Dease?
Inscribed on stone tablets in the Chapel of St George and
the English Martyrs are lists of the names of Catholic men
who lost their lives in the two world wars and in the
Korean War. Among those from the First World War, the
outbreak of which we commemorated here with a Requiem
Mass for the Fallen on 4 August, is the name of Lieutenant
Maurice Dease, VC – awarded the Victoria Cross, our
country’s highest award for gallantry.
Maurice Dease’s name has been very much in my mind
in recent weeks, as I was privileged to accompany a party of
people, organised by his nephew, now a venerable
4 |
He was a young man who had been born and brought
up in Ireland, of a devout Catholic family, who had finished
his schooling at Stoneyhurst, and had then joined the Army.
He was subsequently commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers,
a London regiment with its HQ at the Tower of London.
When war was declared his battalion was based on the Isle
of Wight but was quickly moved to France and into Belgium
to help stem the German invasion. On the 23 August 1914,
as Battalion Machine-Gun Officer, he was in charge of two
teams, each armed with a Maxim MG, posted at the end of
a railway bridge over a small canal, which his unit was
ordered to defend.
Later that day the Germans attacked in large numbers but
the Royal Fusiliers kept them at bay, despite taking a number
of casualties. Elsewhere, the British line was broken and the
order to withdraw was given but Dease and his men were
ordered to stay put, so that the town of Mons could be
evacuated. Despite being badly wounded and knowing that
their position was hopeless, Dease held on until he finally
expired as a result of his wounds. When all the machine
gunners had been killed, Private Sydney Godley came
Oremus
November 2014
October 2013
November 2014
Oremus
| 5
New Appointments
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Congratulations, Bishop John!
Pope appoints a new Bishop of Salford
‘And I ask for prayers, that this diocesan family may journey
together with determination and vision in faith and good
works. I ask your prayers.’
‘In the name of this Diocese, then, I rejoice in his appointment
as the next Bishop of Salford, a major responsibility for which
he is well suited. We shall miss him. His new Diocese, I know,
will welcome him and quickly come to appreciate his many
gifts, his profound dedication and his generous spirit.
‘We will be keeping Bishop John very much in our prayers as
he prepares to undertake this new ministry and throughout the
years to come. We thank him most sincerely for all his
immense contribution to the life of the Diocese of Westminster
At the end of September, Pope Francis appointed Bishop John and assure him of our continuing support and affection.’
Arnold, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, as Bishop of Salford.
Bishop Terence Brain said: ‘I welcome Bishop John’s
Bishop Arnold will be the eleventh Bishop of Salford,
appointment by Pope Francis to be the next Bishop of Salford.
succeeding Bishop Terence Brain, who was appointed in
He has great gifts to share with us and I have every confidence
1997.
that he will be happy within the family of God of Salford
diocese. And I have the same confidence that the priests and
Bishop John Arnold is well known to all at Westminster
Cathedral, as for many years he has usually celebrated one of people of the diocese will welcome him so that together great
things can be done for the glory of God.’
the early morning Masses on Fridays. He was also appointed
to the Cathedral’s College of Chaplains in 1985, soon after his
On behalf of all at Westminster Cathedral, we at Oremus
ordination to the priesthood in 1983. While at the Cathedral,
extend our warmest congratulations to Bishop John, assuring
he was the chaplain with responsibilities for the Westminster
him of our prayers as he prepares to take on his new ministry
Hospital. In 1989, he was appointed as the Cathedral’s Subas Bishop of Salford. Details and the date of the Mass of
Adminstrator – a role he held till 1993, when he became
Installation will be announced in due course.
parish priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St George in
Enfield. He remained there until 2001, when he was
appointed Chancellor and Vicar General of the Diocese.
Bishop Arnold was appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of the
Diocese of Westminster on 3 February 2006, with
responsibility for the pastoral care of the deaneries of Barnet,
Brent, Enfield, Haringey, and Harrow.
On hearing of his appointment the Bishop-elect of Salford
said: ‘I accept the appointment as Bishop of Salford with much
trepidation but will do all I can to serve the people, priests,
and religious of the Church of this Diocese as we all seek to
respond to Pope Francis’ call to be “missionary disciples”.
‘I have much to learn in this new experience, after thirty-one
years of priesthood spent entirely in Westminster. On leaving
Westminster I would like to give thanks for all that I have
received, most especially from the three Cardinals under
whom I have served and the many people from all walks of
life who have encouraged me in my ministry.
‘I am very pleased to join with so many others in offering
thanks and gratitude to Bishop Terence Brain for his leadership
and shepherding of the Diocese with the hope that all the
good work may be progressed.
6 |
New Bishop
for Leeds
We would like to offer our
congratulations to Mgr Marcus
Stock, who was recently
appointed the tenth Bishop of
Leeds by Pope Francis. During his
time as General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference, since
2009, Bishop-elect Stock was a regular visitor to the
Cathedral, especially at national or diocesan events.
©Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
©Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Cardinal Vincent Nichols said: ‘For many years Bishop John
Arnold has been a faithful and devoted priest in the Diocese
of Westminster. He has served as assistant priest, parish priest,
Vicar General and, for the last eight years, Auxiliary Bishop.
In all of these roles he has won the admiration and deep
esteem of us all.
Bishop-elect Stock was ordained priest in 1988 and served as
parish priest across the Archdiocese of Birmingham, most
recently at the parish of the Sacred Heart and St Theresa in
Coleshill. He also served as director of the Diocesan Schools’
Commission.
We wish him well as the Bishop of Leeds and assure him of
our prayers.
Oremus
November 2014
November 2014
Oremus
| 7
Advertisement
Cardinal’sCatholic
Homecoming
Poets
Catholic Poets: G K Chesterton
A Genius of Considerable Size
But it was also skilful poetry: Chesterton was a fine wordsmith
and had a keen ear for sound. He could also cope with tricky
rhythm, as in one of his most famous poems, The Rolling
English Road. However, I present you a religious poem of
dazzling beauty and simplicity – The Donkey:
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Mgr Mark Langham
F
ollowing on from Belloc last month, we are bound to
consider the other half of the ‘Chesterbelloc’, the
redoubtable G K Chesterton, whom George Bernard
Shaw termed ‘a colossal genius’. Vast amounts could be
written about him, as he wrote vast amounts himself of
history, biography, criticism, fiction and apologetics – but we
confine ourselves strictly to our theme, and consider him as a
poet. That said, a biographical sketch is in order. Gilbert Keith
Chesterton was born in Kensington in 1874, and began his
career as a journalist, although his abiding love was art. He
converted to Catholicism in 1922, and his work took on a
notably Catholic character, from his detective sleuth Father
Brown, to his great work of apologetics, Orthodoxy. His large
and eccentric personality was accentuated by his enormous
size and curious mode of dress, and his considerable wit and
humour are well displayed in his writings.
Of Chesterton’s poetry, there is of course THE poem, that
many (including your author) were encouraged to learn by
heart – and grateful he is that he did. Lepanto is an epic telling
of the defeat of the Turkish army by Don John of Austria, in
which Chesterton greatly enjoys himself with alliteration,
sound and use of rhythm (‘torchlight crimson on the copper
kettle drums / then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the
canon and he comes’). A great cast of characters is on display
(‘the cold queen of England is looking in the glass / the
shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass’). The hero, Don
John, seems elusive, matching the relative obscurity of his
origins. It is the Turkish sultan who comes most alive (‘there is
laughter like the fountain in the face of all men feared/ it stirs
the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard’). If you don’t
know the poem, read it. If you commute, memorise it – it has
brought hours of pleasure. As we mentioned earlier in this
series, it was hearing Lepanto read aloud that fired an interest
in poetry in Elizabeth Jennings.
Chesterton wrote poetry with a purpose: to persuade.
T S Eliot called his verse ‘first rate journalistic balladry’,
meaning that he usually had a point to make.
8 |
Oremus
June 2014
November 2014
Oremus
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
Mgr Mark Langham is a former Administrator of
Westminster Cathedral and is currently the Catholic
Chaplain at Cambridge University.
A.U.S.S.I.
(Alumnarum Ursulae Societe Sanctas Internationalis)
International Association of Ursuline Past Pupils
A.U.S.S.I. meets in the UK four times a year at Westminster
Cathedral with lunchtime Masses in January, June and November,
followed by an optional Lunch. An Annual General Meeting also
takes place in October in the Hinsley Room. All past pupils of
Ursuline schools in Europe are members and are most welcome.
There are no subscriptions. A.U.S.S.I. is governed by the General
Assembly of The Ursuline Order under the Mother General
in Rome.
For more information, please contact the President-secretary
Mrs Therese Havery – Tel: 020 8203 3167 or visit:
http://www.aussigb.com/
If you would like to contact fellow past Ursuline pupils in a
social way, this could be for you!
Westminster Cathedral – Social Media
Westminster Cathedral is now on the social media sites
Facebook and Twitter. To keep up to date with all the most
recent news, photos, events and timetable changes, please
follow us on Twitter (@westminstercath) or ‘like’ our page
on Facebook (www.facebook.com/westminstercath).
| 9
Blessed Paul VI
Blessed Paul VI
Blessed Paul VI
The Man, the Christian and the Pope
Philip A Smyth
B
eatification is the public and official recognition by the
Church that, in addition to possessing exceptional and
exemplary virtues, the beatus / beata has crossed the
threshold from this world into heaven. The other world has
definitively welcomed one of us into its embrace. In the case
of Paul VI (Pope from 1963-78), whose beatification on 19
October 2014 by Pope Francis marked a poignant spiritual
coda to the extraordinary Synod of Bishops, one always had
the impression that during his long life he was already
straddling both worlds.
©Brescia Photo/Instituto Paolo VI/Wikipedia
Look at any of the photographs of Paul. They reveal in his
eyes a gaze into an indefinable middle distance, a far away
look, which suggests a detachment from the things of this
world, and a preoccupation with and a gaze upon ‘the things
that are above’. This is evident as much in the photograph of
Paul as a newly ordained priest, as it is in images of him as he
approached his death on 6 August 1978, the Feast of the
Transfiguration of the Lord.
An enigma
Paul remains to this day an enigma. The renowned
photographer Karsh of Ottawa took a remarkable head-on
portrait of Paul in his early
days as Archbishop of Milan
(1954-63). His perceptive
lens caught the chiaroscuro
trait to this shy, diffident,
some would say “tortured”
man, who in the words of his
immediate successor, the
short-lived ‘smiling pope’
John Paul I, ‘showed the
world how to love, how to
serve, how to work and how
to suffer for the Church of
Christ’.
10 |
It was ‘Good Pope John’ who referred to the then
Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini as ‘il mio Ameletto’,
literally ‘my little Hamlet’, sensing perhaps the reticence and
agonising that would be seen by some as Paul’s enduring
characteristic. Saint John may have thought that, but he highly
esteemed the man who would succeed him, and made this a
distinct possibility by naming him the first of the cardinals
raised to the Sacred Purple in his first Consistory. Cardinal
Montini worked closely with the pope during the preparatory
stages of the Second Vatican Council, and it was as pontiff
that Paul would steer the Council to its conclusion in 1965,
often at great personal cost as he faced down the open
hostility and obstruction of certain curial colleagues.
The great missionary
Paul was also the great missionary who travelled to every
continent on the earth to proclaim the Gospel. Nowadays we
are so familiar with popes who travel, and yet it should be
remembered that it was Paul who began this particular form
of papal ministry. It was during one such visit, in November
1970, that Paul’s papacy was very nearly ended. Soon after
arriving at Manila airport at the beginning of a tour of the Far
East, the pope was struck by a knife-wielding assassin. Though
the deranged attacker was disarmed through the prompt
intervention of Paul’s secretary, Don Pasquale Macchi, it was
not before he landed a blow on the pope, wounding him, a
fact only revealed after the pope’s death. When Father Macchi
asked the pope if had he been hurt, he replied, ‘I have
forgiven and forgotten.’ Paul attributed escaping death to the
miraculous intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the
protection afforded by the Miraculous Medal he always wore.
This great reformer pope did so much to shape the papacy
into the form that has been rediscovered in the person of
Pope Francis. It was Paul who radically simplified the liturgy
surrounding the pope, paring it back to as close an expression
of the faith of the early Church as possible. In previous
pontificates the popes were surrounded by massed ranks of
prelates of every sort, armed soldiers and nobility. Paul had
experienced this ‘monarchical papacy’ close up as he had
been a personal assistant to Pope Pius XII (1939-58). When
elected pope himself he saw this as seemingly inconsistent
Oremus
November 2014
with the teachings of Christ. Paul, in reforming the papal
liturgy was conscious that it should serve as an emblem of,
and witness to, the founder of Christianity, as well as to
demonstrate how the liturgy should be celebrated throughout
the Church. Thus the liturgy needed to be shorn of all
ostentation and elaborate ritualism. Paul spoke of how the
beauty of the liturgy should be expressed in ‘radical
simplicity’, eschewing any hint of the pope as a ‘king
surrounded by a court.’
the captors offering to exchange his life in return for Moro’s. It
was not to be. One of Paul’s final public liturgies was the
funeral rites of the statesman at St John Lateran Basilica on
9 May 1978. During his anguished homily the aged pope,
now looking like an Old Testament prophet, seemed to berate
God for abandoning Aldo Moro to his fate and the cruelty
and barbarity of the terrorists. Paul spoke of Moro as ‘this
good, meek, wise, innocent man.’ Paul would die just three
months later.
Servant of the servants of God
Bishop John Magee, who had the unusual distinction of
serving as private secretary to three popes in succession,
revealed that Paul wore a hair shirt next to his skin under his
robes when officiating at public ceremonies. According to the
Irish priest, Paul wore this to remind himself that in the midst
of the public adulation that surrounded him at public
appearances, he was Servus Servorum Dei, the servant of the
servants of God. Paul preferred this title above all others to
describe the role that Divine Providence had chosen him to
fulfill. The hair shirt, as well as the cilice that Paul wore
routinely, were discovered secreted in his apartment following
his death.
Church historians will continue to dispute Pope Paul VI’s
legacy. There are those who lay at his pontificate the
disintegration of the Catholic Church as a monarchical
monolith, as well as those who accuse him of losing the
moral authority of the Church when he upheld the ban on
birth control. Those polar positions may well even have some
truth in them. But there are few, if any, who can dispute the
profound personal virtue and holiness of this faithful follower
of Christ, whose private sorrows never caused him to lose
courage and faith.
Paul’s decision on upholding the Church’s ban on methods
of artificial birth control meant that the public reaction to his
encyclical Humanae Vitae overshadowed the last decade of
his life. Paul would never issue another encyclical. His
increasing sense of being beleaguered, as well as effectively
abandoning curial reform, coupled with ill health and the
severe pain caused by arthritis, seemed to cast a spell of
gloom. Yet in the midst of this great personal suffering Paul
produced arguably two of the greatest teaching documents
Populorum Progressio and Evangelii Nuntiandi. However, it
caused Paul great distress that these two prophetic
documents, often referred to now by Pope Francis, seemed to
fall upon deaf ears.
His private secretary also spoke of how Paul suffered from
chronic insomnia, sleeping no more than two hours at night.
The pope’s secretary revealed that Paul would open his
personal correspondence just before midnight and how every
Wednesday evening he would present the pope with a sealed
dossier containing petitions from priests who wished to leave
the priestly ministry. Paul read every petition personally,
studying them, anguishing over them, often to the point of
physical collapse. Some he would sign, others not. As Father
Magee would approach with the dossier the pope would say,
‘here comes my Crown of Thorns.’
Undoubtedly Paul agonised over the haemorrhaging of the
priesthood as so many abandoned the priestly ministry across
the world, and it was almost as if the coup de grace was the
cruel murder in 1978 of Paul’s close friend the Italian
politician, Aldo Moro. Paul had written in his own hand to
November 2014
Oremus
©Ambrosius007/Wikipedia
©Author’s collection
Paul was the first pope since the time of the Renaissance
to be a patron of the arts. The Vatican Museum houses works
commissioned and collected by Paul, and they reveal a man
of an aesthetic verging almost on the avant-garde: his fierce
loyalty to the Nouvelle Theologie of Jacques Maritain, Charles
Journet and Maurice Zundel betray an enlightened
theological outlook; while his enthusiastic and structured
implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council
(1962-65), show that he was a more than willing proponent
of the programme of aggiornamento brought to birth by his
saintly predecessor John XXIII.
Paul left this world
on the evening of
6 August 1978, the Feast
of the Transfiguration of
the Lord. He had always
had a great devotion to
this feast and in their
four years together had
frequently spoken to his
private secretary of how
he would be called
‘home to the Father’ on
that feast. It was to be.
Mass had just been
offered by Father Macchi
in the chapel which
adjoined Paul’s bedroom
at Castelgandolfo and
Father Magee was
beside him, holding his hand. He later recounted how during
the recitation of the Creed, Paul twice repeated the words ‘I
believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church’.
Pope Paul’s beatification (and, God-willing, eventual
canonisation) may signify an endorsement of the course of his
pontificate, as well as the reforms of the Second Vatican
Council and its programme of Church renewal. However, it is
above all recognition of a sanctity which was exemplified in
human struggle, and of the light of Christ ultimately
overcoming darkness. Blessed Paul VI, like his patron the
Apostle Paul, ‘kept the Faith’ and ran the race ‘to the end.’
Dr Philip A Smyth is a parishioner of Westminster Cathedral
and is the Business Manager at J H Kenyon Funeral Directors.
| 11
Titular Church
Chaplains
Cardinal Vincent
Nichols took possession
of his titular church in
Rome – Santissimo
Redentore e Sant’
Alfonso in Via
Merulana– on Thursday
2 October.
Since 1865, this
Redemptorist church
has been home to the
famous icon of Our
Lady of Perpetual
Succour. In a special
Mass to mark the
occasion, the Cardinal
revealed his ‘providential’ connections with the church
and shrine.
©Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Cardinal Vincent Nichols said that, since his youth, he
had nurtured a devotion to Our Lady of Unfailing Help (or
Perpetual Succour) – a copy of the icon was on display in
the family home. He now also has a copy of the icon in his
office in Archbishop’s House and recently asked for one to
be installed in Westminster Cathedral (it can be seen on one
of the pillars near to the Chapel of St Patrick.)
He continued: ‘We can unite our sufferings with his and
offer them to the Father. They can become a moment, even
a long moment, of deep achievement for through our
suffering we can be shaped more deeply for God’s purpose,
purified for his desire. And that desire, that purpose is that
we will be drawn fully into his presence and totally filled
with his light and joy. As we are emptied of self, we are
ready to be filled with God.
Vatican XI visit
the Cathedral
T
The idea of a Vatican cricket eleven was the brainchild of
John McCarthy, the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, seen
in this picture (rear row, right). His wife Christine and Oremus
contributor Joanna Bogle are in the front row, as the team posed
for a picture after a weekday 5.30pm Mass.
F
ather Joseph Xavier
was born on
29 January 1953 and
was ordained priest on
23 December 1978. After
completing his education
at the Jesuit run St Xavier’s
College, Trivandrum, he
undertook formation for
the priesthood at
St Joseph’s Pontifical
Seminary, Alwaye, Kerala.
This seminary was run by
Carmelite Missionaries
of Spain.
Oremus
November 2014
In August 2014, the Cardinal appointed Fr Joseph to
serve as Chaplain in Westminster Cathedral.
Fr Joseph Xavier said: ‘I thank God Almighty for the great
privilege entrusted to me of serving God and his people in
this great Cathedral.’
Fr Joseph describes his life in St Joseph’s Cathedral,
Trivandrum, as ‘a golden period’ in his priestly life and he
remembers this time with gratitude. He is also grateful for
the fact that during his time at St Joseph’s he was fortunate
enough to receive the then Holy Father, St Pope John Paul II,
to the Cathedral, during the latter’s Papal visit to India.
Fr Brian O’Mahony
H
aving been
ordained at the
beginning of the
summer, the Cathedral is
my first appointment as a
priest, and I am thrilled to
be here. It is a very
friendly place, and already
I have been made to feel
very welcome.
I was born ‘south of the
river’ and spent my early
years in Merseyside and
subsequently in
Portsmouth before we
emigrated as a family to
Brisbane, Australia; arriving at the beginning of my highschool years. After school I majored in Government studies
and Philosophy at university, with a post-graduate year’s
‘This icon, then, helps us to find our place in God’s great
mystery of salvation. It draws us to see the almost
incredible: that through our suffering and pain, whatever
form it may take, we can become part of this great work
of Jesus.’
Bishop Vincent Samuel of Neyyattinkara in consultation
with Cardinal Vincent Nichols decided to send Fr Joseph to
the Diocese of Westminster, both to serve the Diocese and
also to study the possibilities of expanding the range of
pastoral activities in the Diocese of Neyyattinkara. He was
the first diocesan priest from Kerala to be appointed
assistant priest in the parish and shrine of Our Lady of
Willesden Church.
He served different
parishes in the Archdiocese of Trivandrum and the Diocese
of Neyyattinkara, before becoming Vicar co-operator of St
Joseph’s Cathedral. While at the Cathedral he was also the
assistant to the Vicar General, the Director of Youth, and the
Catechism and Family Apostolate ministries.
Members of the team come from India, Pakistan, and
Sri Lanka, and their badge show the crossed keys of St Peter.
‘In their light we begin to glimpse that he is no ordinary
child who will come to a sad end, but he is fully of God,
uniquely one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the
divine nature. Yet is he also fully one of us. He is truly God
and truly man and, through the instruments of his Passion,
will transform our fallen mortal nature into an image of his
own divine nature.
12 |
Over the next couple of issues of Oremus, we will be introducing to our readers new members of the Cathedral’s College
of Chaplains. Here is a brief introduction to Fr Joseph Xavier, who has come to the Cathedral all the way from India.
‘Somehow this is what the depth of this icon whispers to me.’
he St Peter’s Cricket Club – the Vatican’s own cricket
team, made up of seminarians and young clergy studying
in Rome – was at Westminster Cathedral in September,
en route to various matches during a tour of England.
The Cardinal said: ‘This icon opens for us something of
the depth of God, something of the greatness of God. Here
we see the angels, the messengers of God himself, bringing
forward the symbols of the Lord’s passion and death. They
bring them forward with dignity and majesty. This is not
random evil, arbitrary pain, pointless suffering. No, they are
being carried towards Jesus for his willing acceptance and
his highest purpose.
New Cathedral Chaplains
Fr Joseph Xavier
©Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
©Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
Cardinal Takes Possession of His Titular Church
We can become part of the great work of Jesus
November 2014
Oremus
study in International Relations. I then worked in several
roles in hotel management, both in Australia and later when
I moved back to the UK.
I entered the Diocesan Seminary – Allen Hall – in 2008
and spent six very happy and varied years there, including a
pastoral year in Holy Rood parish in Watford. We
completed our theology studies at Heythrop College and
our year are very proud to be amongst the first graduates of
the newly re-founded Bellarmine Institute there.
As well as the cycle of Liturgical celebrations in the
©Author’s collection
Cathedral, my duties include chaplaincy to St Vincent de
Paul school, the parish primary, and am co-ordinating the
First Holy Communion Programme. We will have nearly
©Photos Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
forty First Communicants this year; please
keep them all in
your prayers.
I have spent much of the last few weeks meeting
parishioners, and look forward to getting to know many
more in the next weeks and months.
| 13
Cathedral History
Cathedral History
War Memorials: British Armed Forces
Continuing our series of articles on the Great War of 1914-18, this month we look at the Cathedral
war memorials, starting with those dedicated to the British armed forces.
On 14 August 1916 a Mass for the Association of Catholic
Soldiers and Sailors was celebrated in the chapel. During the
previous year the names of servicemen who had been killed
in the conflict had been inscribed on a panel on the north
wall below the windows. The names were proposed, and the
inscriptions paid for, by the relatives of the deceased. The
work was undertaken by the firm of Fenning & Co of Rainville
Road, Hammersmith, who later also produced the marble
floor of the chapel. More names were added each year and
by June 1920 the Westminster Cathedral Chronicle was able
to report that the decoration of the windows had been
completed and the inscriptions on the panels below were
nearing completion. The following year a silver crucifix,
designed by H C Fehr and made by the firm of Blunt & Wray,
was presented to the chapel in memory of Lt J B Pilkington
who had been killed in France in April 1918.
The Great War Memorial inscribed with the names of dead
Catholic servicemen on the right-hand panel. St George’s
Chapel, June 1917.
Patrick Rogers
The Great War Memorial
By 1915 it was clear that the war against Germany and
its allies was likely to last for a considerable time and
casualties were mounting rapidly. With the support of the
Duke of Norfolk, writing in The Tablet of 9 June 1915,
preparations were made to complete the decoration of the
Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs as a memorial
chapel dedicated to the memory of Catholic British
servicemen killed in the war. The chapel, which at this time
contained only a marble-clad altar, reredos and steps, all
installed in 1910, would be used for the celebration of
Masses for those killed in the war.
The fine marble floor in St George’s Chapel, designed by
L H Shattock, the Cathedral architect-in-charge, was
completed in 1930. As on the altar and reredos above it, the
English rose and the colour red was used to emphasise the
dedication of this chapel to those who had died either in
defence of their faith or of their country. In 1931 the panels
bearing the names of the war dead were rearranged to allow
a carved stone representation of St George, patron saint of
England, to be placed in a central position below the
windows, with four inscribed panels on either side. The figure
of St George was carved in low relief by Philip Lindsey Clark
who had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order
(DSO) while serving as a captain on the Western Front during
the Great War. He also produced a carved wooden crib for
the Cathedral in 1927 and two years later, in 1929, the
carved stone screen behind the High Altar which is dedicated
to the Precious Blood of Our Lord and effectively hides the
conductor of the choir from public gaze.
The Great War memorial today. St George’s Chapel.
14 |
Oremus
November 2014
Essentially the memorial commemorates Catholic
servicemen who died in the Great War of 1914-18 though
2nd Lt J V Lane Maunsell (2nd panel from left) is
annotated ‘Soudan 1898’ suggesting that he died in this
earlier campaign. The panels list 228 names of which
seven appear on the left-hand panel which is inscribed
with the heading ‘1939-45 and Korea’. The third panel
from the left is dedicated to the members of the Catholic
Soldiers Association killed in the Great War. Of the 54
names listed under this heading, 16 appear again on other
panels. Thus the true total of names is 212. Those listed
are almost entirely officers and men serving with the
British Army, but eleven were in the Royal Navy, two had
transferred from their regiments to the Royal Flying Corps
(RFC) and five were members of the Royal Air Force
which succeeded the RFC on 1 April 1918. The 212
names include three Army Chaplains, an ecclesiastical
student serving with the 2nd HAC (Honourable Artillery
Company), and a Benedictine monk (Dom John Francis
Pritchard OSB) serving with the Russian Medical Service.
Among the 212 names of the dead, Lieutenant Maurice
Dease of the Royal Fusiliers and Captain Gerald
O’Sullivan of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers had been
awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), Britain′s highest award
for gallantry. Eight other officers held the Distinguished
Service Order (DSO), and twelve the Military Cross (MC).
A Royal Navy Squadron Commander (John Joseph Petre)
had been awarded both the Distinguished Service Cross
(DSC) and the French Croix de Guerre. Four of the dead
were serving with Canadian Army units (Princess Patricia’s
Canadian Light Infantry, the Canadian Infantry Corps and
the 16th Canadian Scottish) and three with Australian
units (the 43rd Bn Australian Imperial Forces, the
Australian Army Medical Corps and the Australian Flying
Corps). One name appears from the New Zealand Rifle
Brigade and the last name (left-hand panel) is that of a
Lt Colonel in the Polish Artillery.
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) Memorial
The RAMC memorial is dedicated to the officers and
men of the Royal Army Medical Corps killed in the 191418 and the 1939-45 Wars. It is in the form of a mosaic,
designed and executed by a Catholic artist, Michael
Leigh, and can be found on the wall to the left of the
entrance of St George′s Chapel. Michael Leigh was an
Associate of the Royal College of Art and worked on
various churches, notably the Shrine of St Jude in
Faversham which he designed. The imagery of the mosaic
is largely derived from Chapters 21-22 of the Apocalypse.
Christ is shown as the divine physician, enthroned and
with a halo of leaves. On his lap is an orb representing
the world, and a sheathed sword around which is a
brazen serpent (the RAMC emblem). He holds a scroll
with the words ‘Behold, I make all things new’. Beside
him a dead tree springs into leaf at the touch of his hand.
From a rock surmounted by a cross, water falls into a pool
in which a fish leaps. Beside it is a skull. The mosaic was
unveiled and blessed by the Cathedral Administrator,
Canon Collingwood, on 22 June 1952, in the presence of
100 serving officers and men of the RAMC.
November 2014
Oremus
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) memorial.
St George’s Chapel.
The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) Memorial
The RASC memorial consists of a plaque of polished white
marble bearing the gilded and enamelled badge of the corps
and the words ′This memorial has been erected by the
Catholic officers of the Royal Army Service Corps to the
Glory of God and in commemoration of all those officers
and men who laid down their lives in the war of
1939-1945. RIP.′ It was unveiled and blessed on
3 September 1948 and can be found on the west wall of
St George′s Chapel beside the windows. The RASC was a
corps of the British Army responsible for the transport and
supply of military and technical equipment, food, water, fuel
and domestic materials. Originating in 1794 as the Royal
Waggoners, it became the Army Service Corps in 1888, the
Royal Army Service Corps in 1918, gaining the ′royal′ prefix
for its service in the 1914-18 war, the Royal Corps of
Transport in 1965 and was merged with the Royal Army
Ordnance Corps to form the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993.
The Royal Army
Service Corps (RASC)
memorial.
St George’s Chapel.
| 15
Monthly Album
Monthly Album
Rosary
Crusade of
Reparation
Ordinariate Festival
at the Cathedral
The annual Rosary
Crusade of Reparation
set off, as usual, from
Westminster Cathedral
for the Brompton
Oratory on Saturday
11 October. This
spectacular event
always draws
considerable numbers
of Catholics to pray the
Rosary through the
streets of London.
©Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk
On 20 September, as part of the first
ever ‘Ordinariate Festival’ weekend,
which brought together the various
groups belonging to the Personal
Ordinariate of Our Lady of
Walsingham, an ‘Ordinariate Day’
was held here at the Cathedral. During
the day, the 12.30pm Mass was
celebrated by Mgr Keith Newton,
Ordinary of the Ordinariate.
Come Holy Spirit…
©Oremus
The annual ‘Red Mass’ for members of the judiciary and legal
profession was held at Westminster Cathedral on 1 October.
This Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit (hence ‘red’), which is
traditionally celebrated at the beginning of the legal year
(Michaelmas term), is offered with the intention of asking God
to guide all those who make and administer our laws. This
year, the Mass was celebrated by Bishop Nicholas Hudson.
Following the Mass, many of those present went to
Westminster Abbey for the annual Judges’ Service.
Praying for the Suffering Church
Welcoming a Sister Cathedral
Two Cathedrals’
Procession
The Cathedral clergy and choir joined the clergy and choir of
Westminster Abbey, at the Abbey, on Friday 10 October.
Both choirs sang a joint Evensong in anticipation of the
solemnity of St Edward the Confessor. Music included pieces
by Holst, Bevan and Mawby. This photo, taken by Fr Joseph
Xavier, shows Ben Bloor (Cathedral Organ Scholar), Canon
Christopher Tuckwell and the Dean of Westminster,
Dr John Hall.
Guild of St John
Southworth Training
Several hundred joined the annual ‘Two
Cathedrals’ Procession of the Blessed
Sacrament from Westminster Cathedral to
St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, on the
afternoon of 18 October. The first procession
between the two cathedrals took place in
2011, and was offered in thanksgiving for
the visit of Benedict XVI to the UK the
previous year. This year, the intentions of the
suffering Christians of the Middle East were
especially remembered. The Procession was
led by Bishop Nicholas Hudson, an
Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, who
previously served as a priest of the
Archdiocese of Southwark.
16 |
Visit to the Abbey
©Weenson A Oo/www.picture-u.net
©Oremus
This photo was taken during a recent
training day for members of the newly
created Guild of St John Southworth. During
the day, members were given a special tour
and talk by the Cathedral Historian, Patrick
Rogers. More on the Guild in the next issue
of Oremus.
Oremus
November 2014
©Oremus
©Oremus
On 27 September, Canon Christopher Tuckwell gave a tour of
Westminster Cathedral for the Friends of St John’s Catholic
Cathedral, Portsmouth. The group was led by the Dean of
St John’s Cathedral, Canon Dominic Golding. It was good to
welcome the Friends and parishioners of one of our sister
cathedrals to Westminster.
©Fr Joseph Xavier
©Oremus
On Saturday 11 October, Aid to the Church in Need held their
annual event in Westminster Cathedral. Guest speakers
included Archbishop Elias Nassar of the Maronite Church,
Saida, Lebanon, Bishop Borys Gudziak, President of the
Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv and Fr Michael Shields
who ministers to the faithful in Magadan in the Kolyma region
of Siberia. More on this in the next issue of Oremus. The
photo shows Bishop Gudziak preaching at the 10.30am Mass.
Please Note: Many events happen at Westminster Cathedral every month and, as we are constrained by space, we cannot always feature stories
immediately in Oremus. For up-to-date stories and photos, please visit our Facebook or Flickr pages: www.facebook.com/westminstercath and
www.flickr.com/photos/westminstercathedral
November 2014
Oremus
|| 17
17
Exhibition
Calix
Making Art in Tudor Britain
The Cathedral’s Queen Mary Manual
A Catholic Foundation for Recovery
Freedom from Addiction with Calix
the blessing of cramp rings (to cure epilepsy), which will be
displayed when the exhibition travels to Paris, in March 2015.
These popular rituals, begun by St Edward the Confessor and
continuing until 1714, were also seen as public confirmation
of the monarch’s divine right to rule. This illustration shows her
using an existing manuals (on the table); however, to have one
showing her, Mary, following in the steps of St Edward the
Confessor (and her popular father, Henry VIII) would have
been an important endorsement of her as the first reigning
Queen of England.
Miriam Power
T
he National Portrait Gallery’s seven-year project,
Making Art in Tudor Britain, finishes with a triumphant
flourish with its exhibition The Real Tudors: Kings and
Queens Rediscovered, a grouping of portraits never hitherto
displayed together and of personal possessions belonging to
each monarch. One of these precious objects – Queen Mary’s
Manual for blessing cramp rings and touching for the King’s
evil, scribed and illuminated for Mary I and containing the
form and words for two royal rituals – has been loaned to the
exhibition from the Cathedral’s collection of Treasury
Manuscripts.
The Manual is a rare example of decorative borders from
this time but most importantly has miniatures showing Mary I
performing both of the royal rituals: touching for the ‘King’s
Evil’ (scrofula), which is shown in the current exhibition, and
After her death, a mere two years later, the Manual slips
from mention, re-appearing twice in collections until 1715,
after which it disappears from record until 1851. Recent
conservators’ examination of the stitching, together with the
lack of its original covers, makes it probable that the manual
was unbound and stitched inside another volume, for
preservation from destruction during the strongly anti-Catholic
Georgian period. In 1851, after the restoration of the Catholic
Hierarchy, the manual was presented to Cardinal Wiseman, as
the first Archbishop of Westminster, and passed at some point
thereafter to the Cathedral Treasury.
Together with one or two other Treasury Manuscripts it is
housed on loan at Westminster Abbey, to allow better access for
research. However, when the exhibitions end in July 2015, it
will be loosely rebound and digitized, so that wider access can
be given online. It is hoped that it will be possible to similarly
conserve and digitize the rest of the collection in the future.
Miriam Power is the Archivist for Westminster Cathedral. The Real
Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered exhibition opened at the
National Portrait Gallery on 12 September and runs till 1 March
2015. Entry to the exhibition is free. For more details please see the
National Portrait Gallery website: www.npg.org.uk/whatson
Two in a Pew: Wartime friends
Linda Davidson
I
t is at this particular time of year in Westminster Cathedral,
when we honour the dead from the two world wars, that
you are likely to notice two ladies of a certain generation
taking their place in the pews just behind the servicemen and
women who gather each year for the very dignified
Remembrance Day service.
Betty Roberts is a long-standing
member of the Cathedral
congregation and an ex-WRAF
service woman. She sits alongside her
good friend Violet (Vi) Heath, also an
ex-WRAF comrade.
These two ladies met during
World War II, whilst stationed in
Brussels and Germany during the
1940s. Both joined as young and
enthusiastic 18 year olds. They were
billeted together and first met when seated around the same
dining table. Vivid memories are shared today of crossing the
18 |
Rhine river on a train with the lights out and no lavatory –
a mere 30 hour journey to their destinations.
Violet (who also happens to be my mother) has spent many
a year proudly walking in the Remembrance Day Parade in
honour of former comrades in arms down Whitehall, striding
out with the best of them. Having just reached her 90th
birthday (complete with champagne in the Cathedral Hall) she
now visits London as and when she can, with Westminster
Cathedral always being her first port of call.
So this year, do look out for these two ladies sitting sweetly
with their service medals on, sharing their memories and
praying for the fallen of their own ranks, now long gone.
Westminster Cathedral probably has many ex-service
personnel in the congregation at any given time, but what are
the chances of two wartime pals still sitting together in the
pew some seventy years on, on this auspicious day. A rare
sight indeed!
Linda Davidson is a Cathedral volunteer
Oremus
November 2014
Fr Allen Morris
Calix is a Catholic movement, whose work is carried out in
local groups. It works to bring about a spiritual resourcing
of people suffering as a result of addiction, principally
addiction to alcohol. Already present elsewhere in the UK,
notably in Scotland, Liverpool and Birmingham since the
1960s, Calix has been present and active in the diocese of
Westminster since 2008.
A group was established at the church of Our Lady, St John’s
Wood, with Adrian Duggan as its convenor and me as its
chaplain, meeting once a month. Very soon afterwards
additional meetings were established in Westminster and
Southwark so that there would be a weekly meeting
somewhere in London. More recently it has been decided to
keep to weekly meetings but to hold all the meetings in
St Johns Wood – it helps give a focus to the group, and
makes it easier to know where the meeting is every week.
The best known group for those struggling with alcohol
addiction is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Calix is no
replacement for AA, still less is it the ‘Catholic AA’. AA helps
people stop drinking. Calix is for people who have already
achieved sobriety, but who want to draw on their Catholic
faith both to better understand the things which have made
them vulnerable to the disease of addiction, and to the
graces of God to help them mature in the spiritual life and
live as Catholics.
AA itself offers a rigorous and spiritual programme. Its famous
12 Steps speak often of God. The process of recovery, of
learning to take control of one’s life, with the help and care of
God, is informed by good spiritual practice, as exemplified by
the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.
• We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our
lives had become unmanageable.
• Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves
could restore us to sanity.
• Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the
care of God as we understood Him.
• Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of
ourselves.
• Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human
being the exact nature of our wrongs.
• Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects
of character.
• Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
• Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became
willing to make amends to them all.
• Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others.
• Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were
wrong, promptly admitted it.
November 2014
Oremus
• Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our
conscious contact with God as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the
power to carry that out.
• Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these
steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to
practice these principles in all our affairs.
The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
And yet the way AA, qua AA, speaks of God is not as the
Church speaks of God. AA speaks of God in more or less
theist terms, and indeed is open indeed to any
understanding of God – ‘God as we understand him’ – that
the recovering alcoholic can cope with at a particular time.
This is not necessarily a reductive and limiting thing. It is
better understood as enabling – helping people to learn to
trust and find the security to move forward with ‘their’ God,
and towards sobriety with God’s help, until such time as that
understanding is revealed to them as limited and limiting.
This is a process of development well known to most
Catholics after all: the present understanding of God of any
of us is necessarily partial and inadequate. God is patient,
and on the whole does not seem to restrict his love and care
for us according to our knowledge and love of him!
However, the particular calling of Calix is to help people
explicitly to come to know the Higher Power that is God,
Father, Son and Spirit who calls us into the communion of
the Church. Sometimes Calix will operate as an adjunct to
the RCIA process for those who are not Christian or not
Catholic. More often it offers help to those who are
Catholic by baptism (at least) but whose understanding of
the Catholic faith has been damaged or stunted by their
experiences of addiction. Many of these men and women
will have left or felt abandoned by the Church. It often
takes great courage to turn again to the Church and the
Catholic faith.
Calix provides a community of care to support its members
in their journey forward, and in their ministry to others. For
Calix is a ministerial community – ministering to its
members and as members of Calix reaching out to those
struggling with addiction to share the good news of Jesus
Christ. It reaches out to a world and a Church that quite
often sees religion and faith as ‘nice trimmings’ to a life
more or less well-lived. Calix witnesses to the radical
difference to living that God in Christ calls us to, and makes
possible for all the children of God, always.
Fr Allen Morris is the parish priest of Our Lady’s, St John’s Wood.
For more details of Calix please go to www.calixsociety.org.uk or
text 07762570361
| 19
Benson
Intern
Mgr Robert Hugh Benson
One of the Pope’s favourite authors
Michael Sinyangwe
Intern Assistant to the Sub-Administrator
Fr Nicholas Schofield
In 1903, he was received into the Catholic Church by
Fr Reginald Buckler, a Dominican, at Woodchester Priory.
As might be expected, the ‘secession’ of the son of an
Archbishop of Canterbury caused much comment and
parallels were made with Newman’s conversion in 1845 or
Tobie Matthew’s (the son of an Archbishop of York) in 1606.
Benson moved to Rome, residing at San Silvestro in
Capite (later to be the titular church of Cardinals Heenan
and Hume), to follow a shortened course for Holy Orders.
Despite narrowly scraping through his theology exams
(partly caused by his inadequate Latin), Hugh was ordained
priest within the year – on 13 June 1904 in the little
domestic chapel at San Silvestro.
T
his year is so crammed full of centenaries that it was
easy to overlook the recent anniversary of the death
of one of Westminster’s most remarkable priests:
Mgr Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914). A popular novelist,
preacher and spiritual guide, his sudden death from
pneumonia on 19 October 1914, aged only 42, shocked
not only pious Catholics but many others for whom Benson
had become a household name. One journal noted that
news of his death came ‘as a grief and a loss which even
war-time cannot obscure nor lists of thirty thousand dead
diminish.’
Hugh (as he was popularly known) belonged to a
precocious family: his father, Edward White Benson, was
Archbishop of Canterbury; his mother was described by
Gladstone as ‘the cleverest woman in Europe’; his siblings
included Edward Frederick (whose comic creations included
Mapp and Lucia), Arthur Christopher (who wrote the words
of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’) and Margaret (a pioneering
Egyptologist).
Hugh himself could more than hold his own within this
frighteningly talented family. Educated at Eton and
Cambridge, he was ordained as a priest in the Church of
England, joined the Community of the Resurrection at
Mirfield and began to gain a reputation as a writer and
preacher. Rather like Newman, he lacked many of the skills
of an orator – he spoke quickly, sometimes shrilly, and had
a stammer – but, as an admirer later put it, ‘the man’s
personality gets him over these defects. He acts, he lives, he
sees every word he speaks. His enthusiasm never flags.’
20 |
Ordained for the Archdiocese of Westminster, Benson
was never to take up an ordinary parochial appointment.
He went to Llandaff House, then the Catholic Chaplaincy at
Cambridge, to assist a fellow convert, Mgr Arthur Barnes,
and later moved to the parish of Our Lady and the English
Martyrs. Hugh himself admitted that his charism was to
‘kindle but not support’; he might be able to preach a
powerful sermon and attract numerous converts for
instruction, but he had no patience for keeping parish
records or making mundane pastoral visits. Hugh’s gifts lay
elsewhere and he needed the freedom to channel his
creative energies in a fruitful direction.
In 1908, with his Archbishop’s permission, Benson
moved to a house he had purchased in the Hertfordshire
village of Hare Street, not far from Buntingford. This would
be his paradise on earth. The seventeenth century house,
with an elegant Georgian façade, boasted pleasant gardens
and (much to Hugh’s delight) a ghost. He put much energy
into decorating the place, using his own tapestries, paintings
and carvings, and even installed a hiding hole on the stairs
– surely no self-respecting country house could be without
one. He also built a chapel in the garden and oversaw every
detail of its furnishing. After his death, Hare Street House
was left to the use of the Archbishops of Westminster so that
they could escape from the hustle and bustle of Ambrosden
Avenue. Cardinal Hinsley died at Hare Street in 1943 and
Cardinal Hume had a great love for it, its quirky interior
forming part of the inspiration for the book and video, Basil
in Blunderland.
Benson’s years as a Catholic priest were chiefly occupied
with preaching sermons and missions (indeed he could
often be found in the pulpit of the Cathedral), delivering
lectures at home and abroad, writing letters and instructing
converts. He wrote a wide range of books and articles
covering apologetics, spirituality, biography and history as
well as fiction. Benson produced twenty novels in eleven
years and was considered one of the finest writers of his
Oremus
November 2014
day. Among his most popular books were Come Rack!
Come Rope! of 1912 (one of several novels set during the
Reformation period and helping dispel many historical
myths) and two remarkable volumes of what can only be
described as science fiction: Lord of the World (1907) and
The Dawn of All (1911). The first of these is a profoundly
depressing and apocalyptic work, set at the beginning of the
twenty-first century and envisaging the reign of Antichrist
and the triumph of humanism over Christianity; such is its
prophetic power that even Pope Francis has referred to it in
one of his daily homilies. The Dawn of All is more
optimistic, sketching an alternative future where the Church
is triumphant.
By the summer of 1914, Benson was suffering from
breathlessness, chest pains and exhaustion. He was much
concerned with the war that had just broken out and busied
himself with compiling a prayer book for war time, Vexilla
Regis. The doctor told him to rest once he had finished his
immediate engagements but this proved to be too little too
late. He left his beloved Hare Street to complete some
engagements in the north, remarking to his servant ‘Ah! The
leaves will all be gone when I come home again.’ Benson
duly conducted a mission at Ulverston (now in Cumbria)
and preached at Salford but, after realising he was not well
enough to travel home, stayed on at Bishop’s House (soon to
be the office of our own Bishop John Arnold).
There followed several days of severe pain, though when
he was not suffering he was full of his usual energy and
even went to the cinema one evening. Soon, though, it was
clear that pneumonia had set in and that the situation was
grave. His brother, Arthur, rushed up to be with him. He
later reminisced that Hugh was excitable though also
preoccupied – ‘it was rather that he knew that he might die,
I now believe, and that he desired to live, and was thinking
about all the things he had to do and wished to do, and that
his trains of thought continually ended in the thought –
“Perhaps I may not live to do them.”’ Death finally came on
19 October 1914.
It is a testament to his energetic ministry and his impact
on many thousands that Benson’s comparatively short life
was commemorated by a two volume biography, as well as
several smaller memoirs. As one journalist put it, he
‘achieved more in that short span than it is commonly
given to the longest life to put to its account. The eleven
years of his Catholic life, judged by its labours, might be
called, in the poet’s phrase, eleven years of years.’ May he
rest in peace.
Fr Nicholas Schofield is the Archivist for the Diocese of
Westminster. He is also the parish priest of Our Lady of
Lourdes and St Michael’s, Uxbridge.
November 2014
Oremus
For several years,
Westminster Cathedral
has employed interns to
work as Personal
Assistants to the SubAdministrator for
12 month periods. This
internship provides an
opportunity for those
possibly considering the
priesthood or religious
life to discern their
vocation. It is also a way
of gaining experience
within a busy office
environment. Our
2014/15 Intern Assistant
to the Sub-Administrator
is Michael Sinyangwe.
Michael was born in Ashford, Middlesex, in 1988, and
grew up in Ealing, where he was a scout, altar server, and a
keen musician. He settled on playing the trombone as a
young teenager and ended up in a jazz band, a brass band,
and a symphony orchestra. His main sport during high
school was rugby, having played for his school team and
Ealing Trailfinders.
In 2006, Michael enrolled at the University of Warwick
to study biochemistry for three years. During this time he
switched from rugby to American football and played for
the Warwick Wolves – the university American football
team. By the end of his undergraduate studies he had led
the Warwick Wolves as captain, coach, and as the
Communications and Publicity Executive; joined the
London Blitz youth team and led them as captain; played
for the London Blitz premier league team and the Redditch
Arrows, played in two Britbowl finals, won awards for
MVP and league featured player; and eventually he was
scouted to represent the GB Lions National American
football team in 2009.
Following his time at Warwick, Michael studied for a
Masters in Business and Management at Aston Business
School in Birmingham. Upon completing his Masters in
2010, he secured his first career job as a technology
consultant for a company called Mood International, where
he worked for three and a half years. He applied his skills
on global projects with large multi-national organisations
such as BP, Centrica, O2, Hewlett Packard, Shell, Allianz,
Cisco, and HSBC.
Despite his interesting work as a technology consultant,
Michael eventually left his job to seek a more fulfilling
direction in life. After a three month period supporting the
fundraising and IT departments at The Passage homelessness
charity, Michael joined the team at Westminster Cathedral.
We wish Michael every blessing during his time with us.
| 21
Crossword/ SVP School
Spicma
The Holy Souls
Oremus Crossword
Each month the children at St Vincent de Paul School have
a Prayer Focus. They say the special prayer each day in
school and at their Prayer Corners at home. The Prayer
Focus for the month of November is the Holy Souls.
For those who we have known and loved
Eternal rest give unto them O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen
For those who have died in wars
Eternal rest give unto them O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen
For those who have died and have
no-one to pray for them
Eternal rest give unto them O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon them
May they rest in peace. Amen
©Alan Frost October 2014
Clues Across
1
Cardinal who purchased the 15th c. statue ‘Our Lady of
Westminster’ for the Cathedral (7)
6, 25 & 24 Acr: The day before the Feast of All Souls (3,7,3)
8
See 7 Down
9
Frontals on altars or writing tablets (7)
10 Council of (mid-16th c.), Counter-Reformation’s monumental
clarification of Catholic doctrine (5)
11 Robert, composer of the light classic (1956) piece ‘Westminster
Waltz’ (6)
13 Major Welsh Saint and 6th c. Abbot, Feast Day 6 Nov. (6)
15 River flowing through Dublin (6)
17 Drinking vessel that might see a brief storm! (6)
20 Architect of the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona (5)
21 One who gives counsel or makes recommendations (7)
23 Faith problem that St Thomas had! (5)
24 See 6 Across
25 See 6 Across
Clues Down
1
Showing appreciation when no need of coal or logs? (8)
2
A Boris anagram used in weather forecasting! (6)
3
‘…. fathom five my father lies’ (4)
4 & 16 Down: Britten opera sung recently in the Cathedral by the
Westminster primary schoolchildren (5,6)
5
La Infanta de …….., in doubtful folklore giving name to the
Elephant & Castle district of London (8)
6
St …… the Great, scientist and tutor of Thomas Aquinas,
Feast Day 15 Nov. (6)
7 & 8 Acr: That which at the very end (4,2,3)
12 ‘Dear and faithful brother’ despatched by St Paul with personal
news (Col: 4.9) (8)
14 St. Martin .. ……, great Dominican Saint, Feast Day 3 Nov. (2,6)
16 See 4 Down
18 Pope Innocent VII (d. 1406) was born …… Gentile de'
Migliorati (6)
19 Not included in Holst’s suite ‘The Planets’ (5)
20 River …. de Pau, flows by Our Lady’s Grotto at Lourdes (4)
22 Taken traditionally by nuns making their vows (4)
Answers
Across: 1 Griffin 6 All 8 Of All 9 Tabulae 10 Trent 11 Farnon 13 Illtud
(or Illtyd) 15 Liffey 17 Teacup 20 Gaudi 21 Advisor 23 Doubt 24 Eve
25 Hallows
Down: 1 Grateful 2 Isobar 3 Full 4 Noyes 5 Castille 6 Albert 7 Last
12 Onesimus 14 De Porres 16 Fludde 18 Cosimo 19 Earth 20 Gave 22 Veil
22 |
Spicma: Supporting the Missions
A Catholic charity founded in London
Patrick Phelan
S
picma is a relatively small Catholic charity but it has had
a major impact on the lives of many people in the
developing world. It began more than 47 years ago as a
parish group in North London and grew into a registered
charity which has helped and supported the work of
missionaries and local Catholic parishes and organisations in
Africa, Asia and South America.
May their souls and the souls of all the
faithful departed, through the mercy of
God, rest in peace. Amen
A Reflection on The Holy Souls
Erin, aged 10 years
During the month of November our
school Prayer Focus is ‘The Holy Souls’.
Every year in November we pray for all
those who have departed from this
world. Traditionally, we pray for the
Holy Souls during November following
the feast day of All Souls on the 2nd of
the month. It is the day that we
especially remember all those who have
passed from this life into the next.
When we are together on earth we pray for each other. When
someone has died we still continue to pray for them and they
do the same for us, because we are all part of the
Communion of Saints whether we are alive or dead. Our
prayers help them and theirs help us. We pray that those who
have died will rest in peace with God.
At school we write the names of our loved ones on a piece of
paper, then we place the paper in our Prayer Pillow and a pupil
from our school places their hands on the pillow while we pray
the prayer for the Holy Souls every day in assembly. As we are
praying, we think of our loved ones in the Prayer Pillow, also
remembering those who tragically died in wars. We especially
remember the souls of those who have no-one to remember
them. We pray for The Holy Souls because we want them to be
with God, face to face and to be happy forever.
Each day we pray the special prayer for the Holy Souls three
times. The first time we pray, it is for those we have known
and loved. The second time is for those who have died in
wars. The third time we pray for those who have died and
have no-one to pray for them.
Every day in November, please pray the prayer for the Holy
Souls and maybe even light a candle as we pray that the
souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God,
rest in peace. Amen
Oremus
November 2014
Fr Elias with some of his parishioners in the Archdiocese of
Bujumbura, Burundi
Spicma began life as ‘The Friends of Tororo Mission’. Tororo is
a district of Eastern Uganda and was the place where a young
newly ordained priest called Fr Bernard Phelan was sent as a
Mill Hill Missionary in 1967. He had been ordained in his
home parish, St Peter in Chains, Stroud Green, by Bishop
Patrick Casey, who was then an Auxiliary Bishop of
Westminster.
When Fr Bernard discovered the extent of the challenges
facing the people of rural Uganda he appealed to his family
for financial assistance. The Phelan family and their fellow
parishioners in St Peter in Chains rallied to the support of the
Mission. They employed all their fundraising skills to provide
food aid when famine struck in Fr Bernard’s parish and again
when a new church was needed to accommodate the growing
Catholic population. These two very different kinds of need
were to epitomise their work in succeeding years and still
characterise the work of Spicma today.
The ‘Friends’ continued to support the work of Fr Bernard
in Tororo but their focus soon widened to include support for
missions in other parts of Africa and subsequently in Asia and
South America and they therefore became the ‘St Peter in
Chains Missionary Association’ (SPICMA) and eventually
‘Special Projects in Christian Missionary Areas’.
Since those earliest days, Spicma has always been run by
unpaid volunteers. Several of the original ‘Friends’ continue to
be actively involved and many other volunteers have
contributed their skills and expertise over the years. This is why
the charity is able to keep its administration costs to an
absolute minimum.
November 2014
Oremus
There are two principal aspects to Spicma’s work: giving
help in emergencies and supporting medium and smaller scale
development projects in missionary areas.
When disaster strikes a speedy response is crucial. Because
Spicma has an established network of relationships within the
Church community it can very often respond within hours
when an emergency arises. In May, for example, sparks from a
cooking fire were caught by a strong wind blowing through an
extremely poor village in Pakistan. Within a short time the
entire village had been engulfed in flames and all 35 homes
were completely destroyed. The mainly Hindu village was also
home to several Christian families who belonged to the local
Catholic parish. When one of the Mill Hill Fathers working in
the area discovered the villagers’ desperate situation, he
emailed Spicma with an urgent request for help. Spicma was
able to respond immediately with an emergency grant,
knowing that the aid would be delivered safely and effectively.
Again, when typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, Spicma
responded with a grant to provide food, water, medical aid and
shelter immediately and then launched a major appeal which
raised £149,000. This was used to provide materials to repair
homes, buy seed for farmers and to enable the construction
of replacement fishing boats for 30 village co-operatives. All of
this was made possible thanks to the enormous generosity
of Spicma donors and was delivered through local Catholic
parishes and communities in the Philippines.
The charity has also funded hundreds of development
projects over the years. From helping the SVP to provide
mattresses and blankets for orphans in Kenya’s largest slum to
funding boreholes for villages in Sindh Province via Caritas
Pakistan, to helping the people of a Jesuit Mission in Guyana
to build a new church – Spicma supporters fund projects
which provide for both material and spiritual needs in many
different communities.
Key aspects of Spicma
Spicma reaches out to the poorest and most marginalized
people in our world. Effective delivery of aid is ensured by
working through the Church network of missionaries, local
priests and religious, parishes and other Catholic
organizations. Wherever possible the endorsement of the local
Bishop is sought before a partnership is established. The
charity is open to the needs of small communities who have
difficulties acquiring funding from larger organisations. It
requires adequate but not elaborate application procedures
and reporting from the projects it supports. Feedback and
updates from the projects are passed on to supporters
whenever possible. Spicma is run by volunteers and funded by
donations and legacies from its supporters.
For more information about Spicma or to make a donation
please visit www.spicma.org/
Donations can also be made by post to SPICMA, PO Box 299
Cirencester GL7 9PF.
| 23
Friends
Opinion
Moving Towards Advent
There’s nothing wrong with being Pollyanna
Remembrance
Joanna Bogle, DSG
I
had been meaning for ages to visit the
Tower of London to see the poppy
memorial that is gradually filling up
the moat. Blood Swept Lands and Seas
of Red is a major art installation at the
Tower that marks the 100th anniversary
of the start of the First World War.
Created by ceramic artist Paul
Cummins, with setting by stage
designer Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic
poppies will progressively fill the
Tower's moat. Each poppy represents a
British military fatality during the war.
Eventually the poppies will
completely encircle the iconic
landmark. The intention was to create ‘a
spectacular display visible from all
around the Tower but also a location for
personal reflection’. There were
hundreds of people there when I visited
on a rainy Saturday afternoon with my
eldest son and the ubiquitous presence
of the ‘selfie’ spoilt it for me. People
seem to have lost the ability to just stand
and watch. I promised myself that I
would make the effort to come back
very early one morning; I hope a
weekday might be quieter without the
crowds of tourists and bystanders.
It was still raining as we walked over
Tower Hill past the place of execution of
Saints Thomas More and John Fisher. The
site seems lost on Tower Hill (is this
deliberate?) and is overshadowed by the
very large war memorial to the fallen of
the merchant navy. A visit to All Hallows
was something of an afterthought. I had
learned recently that the church has a
crypt museum and a very fine Roman
tessellated pavement and it seemed an
opportune way to escape the rain.
24 |
Maybe it was the time of year,
autumn always seems to me to be a
time of reflection and looking back, but
I found All Hallows a deeply moving,
deeply spiritual church. The museum is
fascinating – an eclectic mix of the
sacred and the secular: the crow’s nest
from Ernest Shackleton’s ship Quest, a
Knights Templar altar brought back from
the Crusades, a parish register showing
the marriage of future US President John
Quincy Adams to his English bride. Turn
out of the museum and you step down
into a plain chapel, dedicated to
St Francis and to the side, a smaller
oratory is dedicated to St Clare. As it
was the Feast Day of St Francis when we
visited, I knelt and said a prayer. It was a
truly holy place.
I would like to arrange a guided visit
to All Hallows as an afternoon trip for
the Friends so please do keep an eye on
the newsletter. We will aim for
December. We will say prayers too on
the site on Tower Hill where John Fisher
and Thomas More died.
The poppies of the Tower remind me
that on the 4 November we have a talk
in the Friary by writer Jackie Bennett on
The Writer’s Garden, looking at how
gardens have inspired some of our mostloved authors including Jane Austen,
Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill and
Rupert Brooke. A reminder too that later
this month on 27 November, we have a
talk by writer Jessie Childs on her book
God’s Traitors which tells the story of the
Catholic Vaux family and their courage
through the Reformation and the penal
years. The talk starts at 7.00pm in
Westminster Cathedral Hall and tickets
are £10.00. A visit to Tower Hill would
seem to fit nicely with this.
Forthcoming Events
4 November: Jackie Bennett: The
Writer’s Garden. Talk in the Friary
47 Francis Street SW1P 7.00pm.
Tickets £10.00
14 November: Turbulent Times – the
Reformation seen through the objects
of the V&A: Evening tour – meet in the
main foyer of the V&A at 5.45pm. The
tour will commence at 6.00pm. Glass
of wine to follow. Tickets £12.00
18 November: Quiz and Fish and Chip
Supper. Westminster Cathedral Hall
6.45pm Tickets £15.00
27 November: God’s Traitors – talk by
author Jessie Childs on her new book
which explores the Catholic
predicament in Elizabethan England
through the eyes of one remarkable
family: the Vauxes of Harrowden Hall.
Westminster Cathedral Hall 7.00pm
Tickets £10
2 December: Choristers’ Recital –
A Ceremony of Carols: Westminster
Cathedral 7.00pm Tickets: Concert only
£15.00; Post-concert reception tickets
for Cathedral Hall £20.00.
human being matters and has an immortal soul, and this
belief is at the centre of our civilisation: it’s why we aren’t
allowed to kill and eat one another, it’s why we don’t
believe that humans and bananas are on the same level of
spiritual value, it’s why we want to explore the world and
the solar system and its mysteries, it’s why we have built
universities and hospitals and sent up spaceships and
pondered the meaning of life.
©Issagm/Wikipedia
To my shame I didn’t know that
St John Fisher had been buried at All
Hallows, albeit briefly and, specifically,
without ceremony on the express orders
of Henry VIII. As we entered the church
the guide at the front desk pointed out
the place where Fisher’s remains had
been thrown into a hastily dug grave. A
banner in the church commemorates the
saint. History records that following the
burial the faithful came in large numbers
to the spot as a place of pilgrimage,
honouring this brave servant of the
Church. The authorities removed the
body, choosing instead to bury John
Fisher in the chapel of St Peter ad
Vincula in the Tower – away from the
faithful. Apparently Thomas More’s
remains were also brought briefly to the
church of All Hallows following his
execution; he, too, lies in the Tower of
London chapel.
I
t’s now over a decade since ‘Towards Advent’ was first
launched – a Festival bringing major Catholic groups and
organisations from across Britain, plus sellers of books
and DVDs, rosaries and statues, craft goods and holy cards
and magazines and Advent calendars and all the Catholic
clutter you could want. It’s a Festival of Catholic Culture,
and its aim is to celebrate our faith, and to offer a glorious
opportunity to buy things and contact people and enjoy
it all.
This year, Towards Advent is on Saturday 22 November
and the Opening Ceremony will be at 10.30am, with
Mgr Keith Newton of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady
of Walsingham, and the choir of the John Fisher School,
Purley.
Entry is free – all you have to do is turn up – and there
are talks and workshops during the day, with tickets at £2
each, obtainable at the Welcome Desk as you arrive.
Speakers include Mgr Keith Newton on ‘Anglicans and
Catholics – a way forward’ and Canon Luiz Ruscillo
(Diocese of Lancaster) on ‘Teaching the Faith’. There is also
a music workshop: ‘Latin Chant – learn how to sing it’, led
by Joseph Estorninho, teacher of music at St James’ School,
Twickenham.
Today, many Christians feel isolated in their faith: there is
a sense that somehow there might be public disapproval for
displaying Christian symbols too openly or for making direct
public reference to belief in God and in the love and mercy
of Jesus Christ. There is no legal or official basis for this
widespread feeling, and it is essential that we stop it
becoming an accepted part of our culture.
If you’ve got it, flaunt it!
How to contact us
©Diliff/Wikipedia
Christina White
• Write to: Friends’ Office,
42 Francis Street, London
SW1P 1QW
• Call: 020 7798 9059
• Email: friends@
westminstercathedral.org.uk
Registered Charity number 272899
Oremus
NovemberOctober
2014
2013
You have an absolute right, as a reader of Oremus, to
display this magazine, with its pictures of Christian images
and Christian ceremonial, in a public place and even to
flaunt it, if you like. Within the limits of common sense and
common courtesy, you are allowed to show that you believe
in the teachings of the Church as people have done for two
millennia. If you are a Christian, you believe that every
November 2014
Oremus
Celebrating our Christian faith should make us more, not
less, tolerant of other religious beliefs and keen to engage in
authentic dialogue. It should give an urgency to caring for
the sick and the needy and a commitment to goodwill and
neighbourliness. It should make us passionate about seeking
the truth, and reverent in our dealings with God, and goodhumoured about life’s everyday trials and disappointments.
And in doing all this we have an absolute right to talk
openly about our faith, to teach it to children, to sing God’s
praises and pray in buildings that are open to the public and
treated with respect, and to bring our convictions into our
work and our community life.
There are a lot of good things that Catholics in Britain
can celebrate at this stage of our history. We have had two
magnificent Papal visits in recent decades, and there has
been a growth of great goodwill between Catholics and
other Christians in our country. Church schools are popular
and over-subscribed. Catholic young people have been
given a wide and upbeat message about the Church through
events such as World Youth Day abroad and our homegrown groups such as Youth 2000. We have good reasons to
look ahead with courage and to recognise our
responsibilities for evangelisation with a sense of
commitment.
But it does take a certain mentality to do that. As a
Catholic writer and broadcaster I have been accused of
having a ‘Pollyanna’ approach – always finding something
about which I can be glad. Those who think this is a defect
obviously don’t know the story and haven’t seen the film (it
starred Hayley Mills, in the early 1960s – look it up!).
Pollyanna is an orphan who faces tragedy and difficulties,
but follows her father’s rule: to remember that in the Bible
we are constantly urged to be glad, to be grateful and to
rejoice. As the story develops, all sorts of things start to
come right, and in unexpected ways, even though Pollyanna
herself has a tough time, the gladness triumphs.
All Pollyanna Catholics, plus cynics, are invited to the
Towards Advent Festival and to the other events at
Westminster Cathedral over the next months.
| 25
Hymn
Advertorial
These were His Servants:
In his steps they trod...
Home Instead
Providing a different sort of care
Frances Streete
Fred Mairet
©Westminster Abbey
O valiant hearts who to your glory came
Through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.
Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, for war
As who had heard God’s message from afar;
All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave,
To save mankind – yourselves you scorned to save.
Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;
Into the light that nevermore shall fade;
Deep your contentment in that blest abode,
Who wait the last clear trumpet call of God.
Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still,
Rose a loud cry upon a lonely hill,
While in the frailty of our human clay,
Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self-same way.
Still stands his cross from that dread hour to this,
Like some bright star above the dark abyss;
Still, through the veil, the Victor’s pitying eyes
Look down to bless our lesser Calvaries.
These were his servants, in his steps they trod,
Following through death the martyred Son of God;
Victor, He rose; victorious too shall rise
They who have drunk his cup of sacrifice.
O risen Lord, O Shepherd of the dead,
Whose cross has bought them and whose staff has led,
In glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land
Commits her children to thy gracious hand.
This famous hymn, written by Sir John Stanhope Arkwright,
was sung at the burial service of The Unknown Warrior in
Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920 – in effect, the
first Remembrance Day. Yet the hymn is neither overtly
patriotic nor triumphalist.
One of the reasons for this is of course the huge casualty
list, unimagined at the start when ‘proudly you gathered,
rank on rank, for war.’ What might have been a hymn of
victory by necessity became one of mourning. The stark
simplicity of ‘All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave’,
is heart-rending still; what aching loss amongst the
assembled crowd in Westminster Abbey would it have
voiced?
But another reason the hymn lacks a sense of worldly
triumph, is that it was written and sung before the war had
ended. In April 1917, Charles Harris, rector of Colwall in
Herefordshire, performed the grim task of unveiling a plaque
in memory of his son, killed in Mesopotamia. Harris was a
theological thinker of some note, writing mainly in defence
of©Photos
traditional
Christian teaching against the rising tide of
Oremus
26 |
‘Modernism’. Yet his response to the loss of his son was
musical: he composed the tune, now known as ‘The
Supreme Sacrifice’, for which Arkwright – MP for
Herefordshire – wrote the words. Almost immediately, the
hymn became nationally popular, circulated in leaflet form
and appearing in various newspapers including The Times,
which printed five verses on 3 August 1917, to coincide
with the third anniversary of the outbreak of the war two
days later. This was marked by a service in Westminster
Abbey at which the hymn was sung a second time.
The dates are a key to the lasting resonance of the work.
Its purpose was not to celebrate or to congratulate or even
to let out a slow sigh of relief. It was to comfort a
bewildered and bereaved nation, still living through ‘…the
undone years, the hopelessness…’ (Wilfred Owen) and to
find some purpose in it. Constant reminders of the horrific
details of the war in this centenary year leave us with similar
feelings.
The team at Home Instead Senior Care in Westminster is
passionate about providing care to its clients which not
only improves the quality of their lives but those of their
families too. But what does this mean?
Let me tell you a story about Doris and her caregiver
Susie, who sings to her. They both share a great love of
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Senior Care, please see the advert below.
Arkwright’s words, coupled so perfectly with the
dignified sorrow of Harris’ tune, offer a different response.
The first two verses, with their quasi-Medieval vocabulary,
might return us to that Edwardian patriotism and sense of
duty, which Owen called ‘The Big Lie’. But whereas much
post-war writing goes on to find comfort in the assurance
that ‘We will remember them’, Arkwright takes a much
more spiritual direction by likening the sacrifice of the
valiant hearts to that of Christ.
This idea seems to have been less controversial at the
time than it is today. Returning to it, after four long and
seemingly fruitless years, was to return to the original
perception of the war as a moral rather than a political one:
the allies were being called upon to defend freedom and
justice against an aggressive and rapacious enemy; indeed
‘to save mankind’.
To quote an earlier hymn often used in time of war,
‘Time makes ancient good uncouth’. It is foolish to judge
the past by the present; and although we may have strong
reservations about seeing the fallen of the first war as
‘Following through death the martyred Son of God’, it is
certainly what many of them believed. In view of this, and
recalling with pity the horrors of the ‘dust of conflict’ which
they endured, it is profoundly moving – as testified by those
present at the recent centenary Requiem Mass here at
Westminster Cathedral – to sing of them passing ‘Splendid…
Into the light that nevermore shall fade.’
Oremus
November 2014
November 2014
Oremus
| 27
Secret Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral – In pictures
Behind the Scenes: The Organ Loft
Cathedral History
A Photographic Record
Requiem for President Kennedy – November 1963
Oremus readers are probably very familiar with the public face of the Cathedral building; behind it, though, is a truly
Byzantine network of offices, rooms, and spaces rarely seen, except by those who use them. In this series, we hope to
show you some of them. The series on Cathedral Treasures will return next year.
Text in here
Many of us will have stayed sitting after the end of Mass to
listen to the recessional played on the grand organ. Indeed,
it has become customary for applause to break out after a
particularly spectacular piece, especially at the end of the
Solemn Mass on Sundays; and every so often, the organist
responsible will turn to face his appreciative audience, leaning
over the three cornered balcony, situated over the main
entrance, to wave or simply look exhausted and embarrassed.
The space behind this rather decorative balcony, however, is
anything but ornate. Like so much behind the Cathedral
scenes, it is purely functional: a tight space with little room
except for the organ, the player, and – possibly – a small pageturner, flanked on either side by plain wooden doors marked
‘access’, which house some of the workings of the instrument.
There is however a postcard taped to the console: a picture of
Johann Sebastian Bach, pin up of organists for over two
hundred years and still going strong! To the left-hand side the
massive pipes and a gigantic pump can be seen; but to the
right is a much more homely scene: armchairs and a sofa,
posters of past Grand Organ festivals, a massive old fashioned
roll-top desk, once owned by Sir Richard Terry, a large board
outlining the history of the organ, and a mirror. A rather
endearing touch is a small model, in vibrant colours, of
St Cecilia playing her own heavenly instrument.
The photograph is of a Requiem held in the Cathedral after President John F Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas, Texas,
on 22 November 1963. The following day Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the Prime
Minister, were among those attending a Low Mass said in the President′s honour by Mgr Gordon Wheeler, the
Cathedral Administrator. The following Tuesday the Ambassador and staff of the American Embassy, together with the
Mayor of Westminster, the Lord Mayor of London, many members of the Diplomatic Corps, and representatives of the
Church of England, attended a Solemn Mass of Requiem which was sung by Cardinal William Heard.
The death of President Kennedy was felt particularly deeply in the Cathedral by those who remembered his visit there
with his wife, Jacqueline, two years before in June 1961. On this occasion he was acting as godfather at the baptism of
the baby daughter of his sister-in-law, the Princess Radziwill. Afterwards he met Cardinal Godfrey and was introduced
to the boys of the Choir School, to whom he gave a day’s holiday. PR
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28 |
Oremus
November 2014
November 2014
Oremus
| 29
Colin Mawby
Metropolitan Bloom
Colin Mawby, KSG
I write as an old Choir School boy. It is now fifty years since
the liturgical reforms of Vatican II were introduced and I
would like to record the liturgical life of the Cathedral before
their implementation. Monsignor Francis Bartlett, one time
Administrator, described it as the ‘Glorious, golden sunset of
the Roman liturgy’. How right he was: it illuminated the faith
and worship of many thousands of people.
around the High Mass; Vespers, Compline and Benediction,
the latter in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, at 3.15pm, later
changed to 3.30pm and then 5.00pm. Vespers were either
solemn with copes (the number depending upon the rank of
the feast) and incense, or ferial, without any ceremony. The
Litany of Loreto was sung at Vespers on the Sundays in
October using the very beautiful plainchant tone. Counting the
Hail Marys presented problems for the organist. (Guy Weitz,
the organist at Farm Street, used to have two tins, put 10
pennies in one and transfer them to the second as the decade
progressed – it made quite a clatter!) In those days there were
many more Cathedral chaplains and they would sing the
Office in turns every week, on major feasts the whole College
would take part.
During Lent, Vespers was sung immediately after Mass. I
once asked the reason for this and was told the Lenten fast
could not be broken until the conclusion of Vespers so to
allow lunch to be taken at the normal time Vespers was moved
to the morning – a practical solution to a Roman conundrum!
The central point of the liturgy was daily Capitular High
Mass at 10.30am. Cardinal Vaughan, the inspired builder of
the Cathedral, planned to introduce the Sarum Rite and
establish a monastic community to sing the Office. This never
happened but the Cathedral developed a liturgy that became
the envy of Europe. I well remember Cardinal Heenan
remarking that Blessed Paul VI spoke most highly of the
Cathedral's worship, (he celebrated Mass here as a young
priest.) The Cardinal was surprised but he once said to me: ‘it
would be unthinkable if there wasn’t a daily Latin High Mass
in Westminster Cathedral.’ I remember going into the
Cathedral at 8.00am and noticing that every chapel was
occupied with visiting clergy or chaplains offering Mass. The
background sound of Sanctus bells was entrancing.
Penny for a Hail Mary
The 10.30am Mass was celebrated daily throughout the
year, it was never said. Servicing this tradition throughout
August and after Christmas was difficult – the choir often
consisted of a couple of cantors – but even during both wars it
was maintained. During Lent there were occasionally two
High Masses, that of the feria and the second of the feast day,
the latter at 11.30am. There was never a sermon and
Communion was given in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
The Office was either sung or monitoned at the High Altar:
Matins and Lauds at 6.00pm; Prime, Terce, Sext and None
30 |
Feasts, Processions and Preachers
A particularly beautiful service was the 7.00pm Sunday
Compline which was always sung by the full choir. It had a
peace that was palpable and as boys we looked forward to it
with eager anticipation. Sermon and Benediction followed and
the most eminent preachers were employed – I remember
hearing Ronald Knox preach. On the third Sunday in every
month the service included a Procession of the Blessed
Sacrament. Cardinal Griffin, who grew to love the liturgy, would
preside at Easter Sunday Compline and a special
ritual was devised for Pontifical Compline – the throne was
not used!
Second Vespers of All Saints was dramatically followed by
First Vespers of All Souls. The Altar Frontal would be changed to
black, the celebrant and assistants would don black copes and
the organ would stay silent. At 6.00pm, Matins and Lauds of the
dead, known as the Dirge, were solemnly sung by the whole
choir, each Nocturn finishing with an Absolution. They were
solemnly sung on two other occasions; Whitsun and Christmas.
The Cathedral held the Rogation Processions on the three
days preceding the Ascension and also the Greater Litanies on
April 25th – St Mark’s Day. The processions went outside the
Cathedral and the Litany of the Saints was sung.
The Cardinal would sing or preside at Mass on major feasts.
When he sang Mass he would also pontificate at First Vespers.
He would process to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in his cappa
– his procession consisting of cross, figure facing him, train
bearer, secretary and gentiluomo in court dress carrying a
sword. He would pray, move to the High Altar and vest at
the throne. At the conclusion of Vespers he would unvest at
the throne, pray in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and return
to Archbishop’s House.
Oremus
NovemberOctober
2014
2013
Cardinal Godfrey always preached at High Mass and
although a holy and gifted prelate, preaching was not his strong
point. Francis Bartlett, who was usually Assistant Priest, would
often snore gently throughout his discourse. Needless to write,
this was definitely not part of the Roman Rite!
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The high points of the year were Christmas and Easter. The
Choir School stayed in residence until Second Vespers of the
Epiphany. Over the Vigil and Feast of Christmas over eight
hours would be spent in the Cathedral. There were three High
Masses; Solemn Matins at 10.30pm preceded Midnight Mass
and Solemn Lauds. These services would conclude a little
before 2.00am, at 8.30am we would sing the Mass of the
Aurora and at 10.30am the Mass of the Day. During the
twelve days of Christmas the choir sang three or five carols
after Compline; a tradition started by Sir Richard Terry.
The Easter ceremonies were greatly revised by Pope Pius
XII in 1951 and 1955. Prior to this a highlight was the singing
of Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds) in a darkening Cathedral at
6.00pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Office
concluded with Allegri’s Miserere in total darkness followed by
the loud banging of books. How we boys enjoyed that! It was
a wonderful liturgy and always well attended. The Mandatum
was a separate service which took place on Maundy Thursday
afternoon: the Cardinal washed the feet of twelve choir school
boys. Those chosen were delighted because he gave them a
half crown – a lot of money in those days! The Easter Vigil took
place on Holy Saturday morning and went on for a very long
time. It included twelve lessons and ended with a short form
of Vespers. In the evening Solemn Matins and Lauds were
sung. One of the delights of Holy Saturday was the much
loved Canon Pilkington (known as Pilky) blessing each room
in the Choir School and Clergy House with the new baptismal
water. One would be working at one’s desk and,
unannounced, Pilky would appear, drenching one with water
while gabbling an incomprehensible blessing in his inimitable
high pitched voice. With no greeting he would vanish in
search of his next victim. I greatly looked forward to this –
a definite high point!
I have only written a thumbnail sketch but in Monsignor
Bartlett’s words the Cathedral’s worship was not only unique
but the ‘glorious sunset of the Roman Liturgy’. However, its
setting gave birth to a great liturgical advance. Much was lost
but many substantial gains have been made.
Colin Mawby is former Master of Music at Westminster
Cathedral and an acclaimed composer, conductor and
organist.
October 2013
November 2014
Oremus
Metropolitan Anthony Bloom
Archdeacon Peter Scorer
©Anthony of Sourozh Foundation
A Glorious Golden Sunset, or a New Dawn?
A record of how things used to be...
No Rite of Snoring!
Pontifical High Mass would follow the Roman Ritual
precisely. The Cardinal, vested in cappa, processed and prayed
in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The appropriate Little Hour
would be sung in the Lady Chapel, either Terce or None, during
which he would vest. He would then process to the High Altar
and at the conclusion of Mass would unvest at the throne. Mass
would end with the solemn proclamation of an indulgence,
usually 300 days but on Easter Sunday a plenary. George
Malcolm introduced the singing of the Introit during the
procession but Cardinal Godfrey insisted that the choir sing
‘Ecce Sacerdos’. George was mightily displeased and composed
what can only be described as a mini and prestissimo ‘Ecce
Sacerdos’ so the choir was still able to sing the Introit in
procession. Honour was satisfied on both sides!
This year marks the 100th
anniversary of the birth of
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh,
also known as Anthony Bloom, an
outstanding Christian preacher,
who promoted the values of the
Gospel in a tragic and fragmented
world. He died in 2003.
An exile in the West following the
Russian Revolution, after years of
poverty in France, where he studied medicine, he eventually
settled in England, where he was first a priest of a small parish
of Russian émigrés and then a bishop, who created a dynamic
diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. But this was no
ordinary bishop. Described often as ‘An Apostle of Love’, he
was not only pastor and confessor to his flock, but spoke of
the love of God and the encounter between God and man in
countless lectures and talks in this country and in Russia as
well as on radio and television.
His message was simple, and drew on his personal experience
of meeting Christ face to face in his teens: ‘While I was
reading the beginning of St Mark’s Gospel, before I reached
the third chapter, I suddenly became aware that on the other
side of my desk there was a presence. And the certainty was
so strong that it was Christ standing there that it has never left
me. This was the real turning-point. Because Christ was alive
and I had been in his presence I could say with certainty that
what the Gospel said about the crucifixion of the prophet of
Galilee was true, and the centurion was right when he said,
‘Truly he is the Son of God.’ It was in the light of the
resurrection that I could read with certainty the story of the
Gospel, knowing that everything was true in it because the
impossible event of the resurrection was to me more certain
than any other event of history.’ (From his book, Beginning
to Pray.)
He had a strong sense of self-deprecating humour. He used to
tell the story of how, when his English was still not perfect, he
had given an address to a girls’ school on Divine Love. He
ended his talk with the words: ‘And now I have told you all
about love, go out and make it!’
Metropolitan Bloom indelibly stamped the spirituality and
theology of the Orthodox tradition upon the British religious
consciousness, influencing many thousands of lives through
personal contacts and his writings. He also developed strong
ties with the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and was
a friend of both Cardinals Heenan and Hume. Upon his death,
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: ‘He was a man of deep
prayer and great spirituality who guided and influenced many
Christians within and beyond these islands.’ At the height of
his fame, Gerald Priestland, the renowned BBC religious
correspondent, called Metropolitan Bloom ‘the single most
powerful Christian voice in the land’.
The Revd Peter Scorer is an Archdeacon in the Orthodox
Church. A conference called The Glory of God is a Man Fully
Alive, which marks the centenary of the birth of Metropolitan
Anthony is to be held in Kings College, London on 15-16
November. For more information please visit the website:
www.masf.org.uk or email: [email protected]
| 31
Diary and From the Registers
Nov em ber
2014
“It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and
man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we
possess charity, we possess God, for ‘God is Charity’”
The Month of November
Our Anglo-Saxon forebears knew this
as blotmonath – blood month – on
account of the practice of culling herds
in preparation for the winter. There is
much of blood and death about it still,
not least in our commemoration of
Two World Wars. The Church interprets
the preoccupation afresh, beginning
with All Saints – many of whom shed
their blood for the Kingdom of God –
and ending with the feast of the Lord
whose obedience unto death redefined
power for all eternity: Christ the King.
SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER
ALL SAINTS
10.30am: Solemn Mass (Full Choir)
Missa O quam gloriosum Victoria
Iustorum animæ Stanford
Ave verum corpus Elgar
Organ: Toccata (Symphonie
improvisée) Cochereau transcr. Filsell
3.30pm: Solemn Vespers and Benediction
(Full Choir)
Magnificat sexti toni Victoria
O quam gloriosum Victoria
Organ: Placare Christe servulis Dupré
MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER
COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE
FAITHFUL DEPARTED
(ALL SOULS)
5.00pm: Vespers of the Dead (Men’s
voices)
5.30pm: Solemn Mass (Full Choir)
Missa XVIII Plainsong
Domine Iesu Christe Anerio
Lux æterna Anerio
TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER (Ps Week 4)
St Charles Borromeo, Bishop
THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER
4.45pm: Vespers of the Dead
5.30pm: Requiem for Deceased Clergy
celebrated by the Cardinal
FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER (Friday abstinence)
Feria or
St Willibrod, Bishop
Cardinal Heenan’s Anniversary (1975)
10.30am: Mass in the Chapel of the Holy
Souls
SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER
Feria or
Saturday of the BVM
2.00pm: Requiem Mass for Deceased
Members of the Latin Mass Society
celebrated by Bishop Arnold
6.00pm: Visiting choir: Cardinal Vaughan
Memorial School Schola
SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER (Ps Week 4)
THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN
BASILICA
Remembrance Sunday
9.00am: Family Mass
10.30am: Solemn Requiem for the Fallen
(Full Choir)
Missa pro defunctis Victoria
Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
32 |
Diary and From the Registers
St Albert the Great – Feast Day: 15 November
Brahms
Geistliches Lied Brahms
Organ: Fugue sur le nom d’Alain
Duruflé
3.30pm: Solemn Vespers and Benediction
(Full Choir)
Magnificat quarti toni Bevan
Locus iste Bruckner
Organ: Elegiac Romance Ireland
MONDAY 10 NOVEMBER
St Leo the Great, Pope & Doctor
TUESDAY 11 NOVEMBER
St Martin of Tours, Bishop
WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER
St Josaphat, Bishop & Martyr
7.00pm: Concert Performance of Handel’s
Messiah given by Westminster Cathedral
Choir and Orchestra.
FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER (Friday
abstinence)
10.30am: Mass in the Chapel of the Holy
Souls
SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER
Feria or
St Albert the Great, Bishop & Doctor or
Saturday of the BVM
12.30pm: Requiem Mass for the Fallen of
the Great War
celebrated by the Cardinal
6.00pm: Mass will include the RCIA Rite
of Acceptance
SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER (Ps Week 1)
THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY
TIME
10.30am: Solemn Mass (Full Choir)
Missa quarti toni Victoria
De profundis Pizzetti
Adoremus te Monteverdi
Organ: Introduction and Passacaglia
in D minor Reger
The Knights of St Columba will attend this
Mass
12.00pm: Mass celebrated by Bishop
Sherrington
Members of the Catenian Society will
attend this Mass
3.30pm: Solemn Vespers and Benediction
(Full Choir)
Magnificat quarti toni Palestrina
O salutaris hostia Rossini
Organ: Evocation II Escaich
MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER
St Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER
Feria or
The Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts Peter
and Paul, Apostles
WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER
Feria or
St Hilda, Abbess or
St Hugh of Lincoln, Bishop or
St Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
The Cathedral will be closed all morning
until 12.10pm
7.00am and 8.00am Masses and Morning
Prayer transferred to the Crypt and the
10.30am Mass cancelled
Confessions: 12.30am-6.00pm
11.00am: Festival of St Cecilia Celebration
Free tickets www.helpmusicians.org.uk
FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER (Friday
abstinence)
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
10.30am: Mass in the Chapel of the Holy
Souls
SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER
St Cecilia, Virgin & Martyr
6.00pm: Visiting Choir: Ardingly College
SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,
KING OF THE UNIVERSE
10.30am: Solemn Mass (Full Choir)
Mass in G Schubert
Ego sum qui sum Gabrieli
Sedebit Dominus Rex MacMillan
Organ: Prelude and Fugue in D
(‘Hallelujah!’) Schmidt
3.30pm: Solemn Vespers and Benediction
(Full Choir)
Magnificat octavi toni Bevan
Ecce vicit Leo Philips
Organ: Fantaisie sur le Te Deum et
Guirlandes Alleluiatques Tournemire
Throughout the Year
What Happens and When
Mondays
11.30am: Prayer Group in the Hinsley Room
6.00pm: Scripture Discussion Group in Clergy House
6.00pm: Christian Meditation Group in the Hinsley Room
6.30pm: Guild of the Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral
Tuesdays
6.30pm: The Guild of St Anthony in the Cathedral
7.30pm: The Catholic Evidence Guild in Clergy House
Wednesdays
12.00pm: First Wednesday Quiet Days on the first
Wednesday of every month in the Hinsley Room.
Thursdays
6.30pm: The Legion of Mary in Clergy House
6.45pm: Scripture Discussion Group in Clergy House
Fridays
5.00pm: Charismatic Prayer Group in the Cathedral Hall –
please check in advance for confirmation.
6.30pm: The Diocesan Vocations Group in the Hinsley
Room on the last of each month.
Saturdays
10.00am: Centering Prayer Group in the Hinsley Room
2.00pm: Justice and Peace Group in the Hinsley Room on
the last of the month.
Public Services
The Cathedral opens shortly before the first Mass of the day; doors
close at 7.00pm, Monday to Saturday, with occasional exceptions.
On Sunday evenings, the Cathedral closes after the 7.00pm Mass.
On Public and Bank holidays the Cathedral closes at 5.30pm in the
afternoon.
Monday to Friday
Masses: 7.00am; 8.00am; 10.30am (said in Latin); 12.30pm;
1.05pm and 5.30pm. Morning Prayer (Lady Chapel): 7.40am.
Evening Prayer (Latin Vespers* sung by the Lay Clerks in Lady
Chapel): 5.00pm (*except Tuesday when it is sung in English).
Solemn Mass (sung by the Choir): 5.30pm. Rosary will be prayed
after the 5.30pm Mass.
Saturday
Masses: 8.00am; 9.00am; 10.30am; and 12.30pm. Morning Prayer
(Lady Chapel): 10.00am. Solemn Mass (sung by the Choir):
10.30am. First Evening Prayer of Sunday (Lady Chapel): 5.30pm. First
Mass of Sunday: 6.00pm.
Sunday
Masses: 8.00am; 9.00am; 10.30am; 12.00 noon; 5.30pm; and
7.00pm. Morning Prayer (Lady Chapel) 10.00am. Solemn Mass
(sung by the Choir) 10.30am. Solemn Vespers and Benediction
3.30pm. Organ Recital (when scheduled): 4.45pm.
Holidays of Obligation
As Monday-Friday, Vigil Mass (evening of the previous day) at
5.30pm.
Public Holidays
Masses: 10.30am, 12.30pm, 5.00pm.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
This takes place in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel every Monday to
Friday following the 1.05pm Mass until 4.45pm.
Confessions are heard at the following times: Saturday: 10.30am6.30pm. Sunday: 11.00am-1.00pm; and 4.30-7.00pm. MondayFriday: 11.30am-6.00pm. Public Holidays: 11.00am-1.00pm.
Funerals Enquiries about arranging a funeral at the Cathedral or
Sacred Heart Church, Horseferry Road, should be made to a priest
at Cathedral Clergy House in the first instance.
Oremus Mass
MONDAY 24 NOVEMBER (Ps Week 2)
Ss Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and
Companions, Martyrs
The 5.30pm Mass in the Cathedral on 19 November will
be offered for the departed benefactors, volunteers and
readers of Oremus. All welcome.
TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER
Feria or
St Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin & Martyr
From the Registers
WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER
7.00am, 8.00am and 10.30am Masses in
the Crypt
12.30pm, 1.05pm and 5.30pm Masses in
the Cathedral Hall
7.00pm: Parliament Choir Concert
FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER (Friday
abstinence)
10.30am: Mass in the the Chapel of the
Holy Souls
SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER
Feria or
Saturday of the BVM
2.00pm: Mass to open The Year of
Consecrated Life
More on the Year of Consecrated Life in
the next issue of Oremus
SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (Ps Week 1)
10.30am: Solemn Mass (Full Choir)
Missa in honorem Sancti Dominici
Rubbra
Vigilate Byrd
O nata lux Tallis
Organ: Le monde dans l’attente du
Sauveur (Symphonie-Passion) Dupré
3.30pm: Solemn Vespers and Benediction
(Full Choir)
Magnificat octavi toni Lassus
Canite tuba in Sion Palestrina
Organ: Wachet auf (BMW 645)
J S Bach
Oremus
November 2014
Baptisms
Carlo Olvera Ojeda
Bonnie MacLean
Catherine Hadley
Hamish Maciver
Luca Shafi Khan
Arthur Young
Grace Hickman
Vincent Suek
Marriages
Peter Wood and Kelly Hamblin
Funerals
Chin Chai Lau
Elizabeth Bolster
Would you write to someone on Death Row?
Would you write to someone
on Death Row?
Think about it.
Need more information on becoming a penfriend?
Please send an sae to
Human Writes
4 Lacey Grove, Wetherby, West Yorks LS22 6RL
or email [email protected]
or visit our website at www.humanwrites.org
Confirmations
Ikenna Aniuga
Christopher Bungard
Vincenzo Esposito
Zilvinas Jurgelionis
Patrick Mongan
Tommaso Radice
Felix Rutherford
Gloria Liliana Arevalo Garzon
Janou Baton
Goda Cinaityte
Ivana Dvorscakova
Chloe McDonagh
Jasminn Pile
Geraldine Ward
October 2013
November 2014
The Rosary is prayed each weekday in the Lady Chapel after
the 5.30pm Mass. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is said in the
St Patrick’s Chapel every Sunday at 1.00pm. Other groups that
meet regularly include the SVP, the Interfaith Group, the
Nigerian Catholic Association, Oblates of the Cathedral, the
Filipino Club, RCIA, and the Calix Society. Times and dates
are prone to change – please check the newsletter for details
or contact Clergy House Reception.
Oremus
“Changing lives, a letter at a time”
CORRECTION Please note that Hilaire Belloc is buried in
West Grinstead, not East Grinstead as mentioned in last
month’s issue of Oremus – Catholic Poets article. We
apologise for any confusion caused.
Book Review
Hiding Priests:
The Life of a Hero
St Nicholas Owen:
Priest-Hole Maker
Tony Reynolds
Gracewing.
163 pp. £9.99
Robert O’Brien
W
as Catholicism in
Elizabethan England
a ‘country-house
religion’? Perhaps, in the sense
that Mass was not said in
churches but in private homes.
But it gives an inaccurate
impression of the hostile world
in which ardent Catholics lived
during those dark, dangerous
years.
authorities. For even when the authorities were certain of a
priest’s presence, the hides were so cleverly constructed that
even days of searching and knocking down walls yielded
nothing. The authorities’ most effective tactic was to starve
them out, but some of the best hides had tubes through which
a broth could be poured, though eventually cramped
dimensions and lack of basic amenities might lead the priests
to give themselves up.
Silence in the City
Nicholas’s father was an Oxford carpenter and he would
have learned much from him, but as an apprentice he chose
the more specialist trade of joinery. The distinction is
important. A carpenter ‘might indeed construct simple, nailed
furniture’, whereas a joiner produced furniture of the finest
quality as well as the expensive wainscoting (wood panelling)
of the finest Tudor mansions. For a joiner ‘nailing was
relatively rare – the pieces were fastened together with tightfitting mortice and tenon joints or dovetails and set in glue.’
Such skills enabled Nicholas to make hides entirely invisible
to the eye. But in addition every hide had to be different, lest
the discovery of one revealed all the others. (Though like his
heavenly patron he had a liking for chimneys.)
Free Dementia Training in Westminster
For nearly two decades Nicholas was the constant
companion of Father Henry Garnet, the superior of the Jesuit
mission in England. Although a fixture at Garnet’s side,
Nicholas must have been released at times to work on his
projects. The record is, of course, entirely blank. He not only
kept no notes, which would have been reckless, but he also
worked alone, since in this situation no one could be trusted.
The Catholic community had no shortage of false friends ready
to sell them out.
These were times when the
majority of the population were
probably in inward sympathy with
the old faith, but only a few were
prepared to live with the dire consequences of their
convictions, which were exorbitant fines, loss of property,
position, imprisonment and, for many, death. For most,
outward conformity was a grudging necessity.
Two events punctuate the beginning and end of Nicholas’s
work for Garnet: the Spanish Armada of 1588, by which the
faith came to be commonly seen as a threat from without
rather than ‘the faith of our fathers’, and, under James I, the
Gunpowder Plot of 1605 which indicated that Catholics were
plotting and scheming anarchists, the enemy within. (Garnet
was dangerously close to the Gunpowder plotters and details
were revealed to him under the seal of confession).
One who would not compromise was St Nicholas Owen
(1562?-1606), a joiner who put his craft to the service of the
priests who travelled the country reconciling people to the
Church and administering the sacraments. He would pay the
ultimate price for his allegiance and was canonised as one of
the Forty Martyrs in 1970.
Both events intensified the hunt for the key players in the
Catholic resistance, of which Nicholas was the invisible hand.
He was keenly sought by the pursuivants who knew that he
knew not where the skeletons, but where the priests were
hidden. When he was caught and horribly tortured he
revealed nothing that would endanger the Catholics he had
served and protected.
We often honour, rightly, the memory of the heroic priests
who lived as outlaws in the shadows of Elizabethan England.
This biography is welcome because it emphasises how these
hunted priests depended upon the ingenuity of Nicholas. He
built hiding holes into the fabric of recusant country houses
which were so well concealed that some may be
undiscovered to this day.
Nicholas’s role in the escape of Fr John Gerard, SJ, from the
Tower of London into a waiting getaway boat illustrates
another side of his character. This splendid episode explains
why he is the patron saint not only of illusionists but also of
escapologists.
These priest-holes saved the lives not only of priests but
also of the families brave enough to open to them their doors
for the saying of Mass. A priest who survived a search was like
another Lazarus coming out of the tomb, with the role of
Martha and Mary played by heroines such as the Vaux sisters.
In Catholic households many men were forced to outward
conformity, and so it was thanks to the women that the flame
of the Catholic faith was kept alight, with all the ensuing risks.
Tony Reynolds’s biography is a carefully composed and
fitting testament to St Nicholas Owen, a man of great loyalty,
skill, industry, and, finally, sacrifice. He was a simple layman,
since due to his dwarf-like stature he could not be ordained,
and the author doubts that he was even a Jesuit lay-brother (as
is often claimed). ‘We can perhaps take consolation from the
thought that being declared a saint and martyr is an even
higher honour than being accepted as a member of the
Society of Jesus’, he quips.
The hides that Nicholas built meant that the fugitive priests
of Elizabethan England could stay in a house for days rather
than hours, with a fair chance of surviving a raid by the
With no written record of conversations or letters, Nicholas
remains as elusive as his hides. His silence is a testament to
his utter discretion.
34 |
Oremus
November 2014
Our next speaker in the Silence in the City series is Fr Vincent
MacNamara, who is a renowned moral theologian. He will
be talking on 4 November from 7.00pm to 9.00pm in
Westminster Cathedral Hall. The title of his talk is, ‘The Way
of the Heart: Truth, Goodness and Beauty.’ Tickets available
at the door. All welcome.
The content of the workshop includes sessions on the
following:
•Understanding Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
•Capturing Life’s Journey
•Techniques to manage behaviours
•Activities to encouraging engagement
To find a workshop in your area please contact Home
Instead Senior Care: 0203 701 2862.
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November 2014
Oremus
Westminster Cathedral
Cathedral Clergy House
42 Francis Street
London SW1P 1QW
Telephone 020 7798 9055
Service times 020 7798 9097
www.westminstercathedral.org.uk
Cathedral Chaplains
Canon Christopher Tuckwell
Administrator
Fr Alexander Master
Sub-Administrator & Precentor
Fr John Ablewhite, Registrar
Fr Andrew Connick
Fr Michael Donaghy
Fr Brian O’Mahony
Fr Michael Quaicoe
Fr Joseph Xavier
Sub-Administrator’s Intern
Michael Sinyangwe
Also in residence
Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady
of Victories
Music Department
Martin Baker, Master of Music
Peter Stevens, Assist Master of Music
Benjamin Bloor, Organ Scholar
Cathedral Commercial Manager
John Daly
Cathedral Facilities Manager
Sarah Dorgan
Estates Manager
Neil Fairbairn
Chapel of Ease
Sacred Heart Church
Horseferry Road SW1P 2EF