Obituary - Mgr Canon Frederick A. Miles

1925 - 2020

Roger Wemyss Brooks – LMS Local Representative for Spanish Place – offers a personal memory of a great priest

I first encountered Mgr Fred Miles in the late 1980s at the time of the excommunication of the Lefebvrists. We had earlier been driven out of churches and were forced to attend Mass in hotels and other public buildings. It was then with relief and delight that we found the Old Rite on Sundays at St James', a fitting setting for the peace and beauty of the ancient ceremonies.

I didn't know Mgr well but I was impressed by his refreshingly businesslike manner - gruff and strict but with humour and lightness of touch, a twinkle in his eye. Impatient with fuss and with recalcitrant sinners.

Mgr Fred Miles

I was at Christ's College, Cambridge a couple of decades later than him but I could see how well he would fit in with its ethos, with the muscular Christianity embodied by some of the rugby enthusiast dons.

Monsignor had been Cardinal Heenan's Personal Secretary during and after the Second Vatican Council. He would have been aware of the Cardinal's sorrow and hurt at the liturgical upheaval and it is greatly to his credit that soon after becoming Rector at Spanish Place in 1977 he established the Old Rite Mass there. Since then it has been embedded in its rightful place at the heart of Sunday worship.

Mgr Miles should be saluted by the many who attend this treasured Mass as a champion of the Old Rite, along with the pious priests who followed in his footsteps.

Requiescat in pace.

Regrettably, we have been unable to publish a full obituary but hope to do so in the next edition of Mass of Ages. The LMS has ensured Masses have been offered for the repose of his soul and will organise a public Requiem when circumstances permit.

Guild of St Clare award

The Guild of St Clare and the Latin Mass Society are pleased to announce that an award has been made for their Sponsorship Scheme which assists students in doing the Certificate in Hand Embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework.

The recipient is a religious who prefers to remain anonymous. We are delighted that the skills offered by the Royal School of Needlework will be joined to a vocation of hidden prayer and service to the Church.