FEATURE
St Mary’s, Husbands Bosworth Fr Matthew Pittam on the return of the Latin Mass to one of the great historic centres of the Catholic Faith
H
usbands Bosworth in South Leicestershire has been an historic centre of the Catholic Faith since the reformation and was a recusant centre. Bosworth Old Hall is the historic seat of the FortescueTurville family and from the early days of the penal times Mass continued to be celebrated in secret in the drawing room - still known as the chapel room today. There is a story that on one occasion an urgent message came to warn the priest that a raiding party of soldiers was on the way. In his haste to clear away the evidence of the service and escape, he upset the chalice containing the precious blood. This left a damp stain on the chapel room floor, which can be seen to this day. Furthermore, at about this time, in 1657, Anne Fortescue-Turville was enrolled on the Great Roll of recusants and indicted to appear before Leicester courts for 'Popish' practices. Perhaps fortunately for her, she died just five weeks before her trial, though a document dated 1658 cleared her name. The Old Hall today contains a priest’s hiding place and remains the home of the descendants of the Fortescue-Turville family. In 1907 the house passed to Oswald Petre, a cousin of Francis Fortescue-Turville. He took on the name Turville to ensure the continuity of the Turville family at Bosworth, and thus became TurvillePetre. Oswald died in 1941, but his widow, Margaret (née Cave) continued to live at Bosworth. The Old Hall was let to various families during the Second World War. An army camp had been established in the park, where, among others, many Americans were based prior to the battle of Arnhem. At the end of the war, Margaret decided to hand Bosworth on to the next generation.
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St Mary’s Husbands Bosworth interior
However, her eldest son, Francis, had already died (in Cairo in 1940) and her younger son, Gabriel, Professor of Icelandic at Oxford, had no wish to take on such a large house. Accordingly, her daughter, Alethea and her husband, David Constable-Maxwell, came to live at Bosworth in 1945, and added Turville to their name. Within the grounds of Bosworth Hall, next to the village stands St Marys Church. It was built in 1873 by Sir Francis Fortescue-Turville, the then owner of Bosworth Old Hall. Designed by Gilbert Blount, the church has particularly fine wall paintings by W.H. Romaine-Walker. It remains unaltered
since the Lady Chapel was added by A.E. Purdie in 1891 as a monument to Sir Francis. Many of the windows are by Hardman of Birmingham. The sanctuary is a particularly fine focus for the traditional liturgy. The Church was served by the local diocese until 2019 when the decision was made to no longer celebrate Mass in the Church. This was a sad day and ended more than five hundred years of Catholic worship and witness in this place. Early in 2021 the local Ordinariate Mission group became aware of the fate of St Mary’s. This group had been praying for some time for a place where the Ordinariate Use of the Mass could be celebrated and where the Ordinariate could have a missional presence in the county of Leicestershire. Following many discussions between the Ordinariate, the family at Bosworth Hall and the Trustees, an agreement was drawn up whereby St Mary’s can now be served by the Ordinariate. This has allowed this Catholic centre to continue to flourish and grow. Each Sunday at 11am there is now Mass according to the Ordinariate Use. Mass is celebrated ad orientum, the communion rails have been reinstated and there is now a growing congregation attracted to the beauty of worship in this special holy place. We have managed to bring back into use many of the historic vestments and church plate which had not been seen for many years. Over the past few months there has also been the opportunity to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form with visiting priests celebrating. The unaltered and beautiful Church interior is natural territory for the Mass of Ages and the Ordinariate Form. We hope over the longer term to develop as a strong centre of the faith again and become a place of pilgrimage and devotion.
WINTER 2021
