My house shall be called a house of prayer! Philip Marshall celebrates England’s last Catholic senior boarding school for boys

My house shall be called a house of prayer!

Philip Marshall celebrates England’s last Catholic senior boarding school for boys and its embrace of the Mass of Ages

Two recent Catholic trends have brought about an historic moment for Chavagnes International College in the Vendée, France. First, creeping coeducation has reduced the number of all-boys Catholic boarding schools year by year – first the great Benedictine schools, then the smaller schools, and lastly, this year, the Oratory School, Reading.

This has left no officially recognised all-boys Roman Catholic boarding school in the UK, at least not at secondary level. Chavagnes, on the other side of the channel where in past centuries Ampleforth and Stonyhurst began their existence, is now the last of its kind. Our second trend is that of the wider celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass. This year Chavagnes has made the decision to become a Latin Mass only school; until recently the Old Rite was celebrated only three times a week.

Founded in 2002 by Ferdi McDermott, Chavagnes was a reaction against the degradation of society and of education. Society happens when individuals form families, then families form communities, and communities form a nation. Education is essentially the tool by which the community forms the individual according to his own and society’s needs. For Catholics, this formation comprises primarily two aspects: the inculcation of virtue, and the nurturing of Faith. Education in faith and virtue is the only way to defeat the culture of death and of individualism. In Chavagnes, boys are taught to be men – importantly men, and not just humans – of virtue and men of God. Over the past 18 years it has so far sent 18 men to seminary, one for every year. Most of the vocations have been to the Fraternity of St Peter, the Institute of Christ the King, and the Institute of the Good Shepherd.

Now Mr McDermott has decided that to promote growth in Faith and virtue – alongside very rigorous academic standards – a move to daily celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass will be of great value. During the course of the autumn term, several visiting priests are celebrating daily Latin Mass for the boys, and a new chaplain will be joining the school in January. Many of the senior boys are already adept at serving the Old Mass and during the course of this term will pass on their knowledge to the younger pupils and those just joining the school. “It will give us clearer, stronger identity. It is also something the boys have been asking for,” says Mr McDermott who believes it is also a question of “reading the signs of the times”.

The College strikes a balance between the silent solemnity of Low Mass, encouraging in a special way attention to interior prayer and the exuberant and joyful ceremonies of the Missa Cantata. High Mass is also offered whenever there are visiting priests or prelates, such as when Bishop Athanasius Schneider visited the school a few years ago. It is hoped that once restrictions on international travel are removed, several other longstanding new episcopal and sacerdotal friends of the College will visit.

The Mass constitutes the mainstay of the College’s prayer life which continues through the rest of the school day, with prayers before and after each lesson and each meal, with evening prayers before bed, Saturday rosary to name a few. At the heart of the teaching staff of the College is a Private Association of the Faithful founded in 2009 and canonically approved by the bishop; this fellowship, the “Company of St Gregory” is also seeking to promote the Divine Office available for the boys to hear or join in, including a full sung Vespers on Sunday afternoon and sung Compline on other days. Other devotions such as the Corpus Christi procession, Quarant’ore, and participation in the Chartres pilgrimage help the College mark special moments in the liturgical year. All boys learn to serve Mass, which helps cultivate their personal faith and devotion. With all this, plus our strong community spirit, we hope they will leave us, still growing holiness, with a taste for community living and strength to face the difficulties of today’s world.

Some people ask the Headmaster: “Isn’t there too much praying?” He answers: “If it is to be God’s house, it needs to be a house of prayer. Because we can only unite ourselves to the goodness of God through prayer. A boys’ school must teach its students to be ready for a working life, but it must also teach them to be good boys today, good men tomorrow and saints for all eternity.” Philip Marshall, BA (Dunelm), M St (Oxon) is a Fellow of the Company of St Gregory and teacher of Classics, Maths and Science.

Chavagnes: education in faith and virtue