THE FRENCH CONNECTION
St John Southworth and Douai From the late 16th century onwards, in the wake of the English Reformation, several seminaries, convents and colleges were founded by English, Scottish and Irish Catholics in Douai, a town in Flanders but later in northern France, about 24 miles south of Lille, and an emerging university town with faculties of theology, law, medicine and the arts. A number of Oxbridge professors who were unable to take the various anti-Catholic oaths, found teaching posts in Douai. It was here that the famous English College, or Le Collège des Grands Anglais was founded by William (later Cardinal) Allen, and where St John Southworth spent a number of years as a student before being ordained a priest in 1619 when he left for the English mission. All students had to take the college oath to return to England at the command of their superiors to minister to the recusant flock. This oath was taken and witnessed in the college chapel and was signed on the altar in the monastic manner. Once the Counter-Reformation was underway, one of the college’s greatest achievements was the translation into English, by a number of the professors there, notably Gregory Martin, of the Latin Vulgate of the Bible, starting with the New Testament in 1582. It became known as the Douai-Rheims Bible and was in common use in England until the 1950s when other translations began to appear. The College existed for well over 200 years and produced hundreds of priests, about a third of whom were executed, with others dying in prison. Many survived to old age or were banished.
© Gpaolumu
Canon Michael Brockie
Christmas illumination of the Beffroi in Douai
For art lovers the town boasts a magnificent collection of paintings of Flemish, Italian, Spanish and French masters, as well as sculptures of historical and literary figures, all to be found in the Musée Chartreuse. So, when next planning your itinerary by car from Calais, why not consider giving this small town a visit? Canon Brockie is Provost Emeritus of the Cathedral Chapter.
The former English College buildings have since been demolished, but the altar and tabernacle (made in London and shipped over to France) can be seen in the Collègiale Saint Pierre, the largest church in northern France after Amiens Cathedral. It served as the university church for a period and has recently been restored and cleaned. There is a small shrine to St John Southworth in this church, where a relic of a leg bone of his was kept back after his body was prepared for its journey back to England, and this relic enjoys a place of honour there. Readers of Oremus will already know of how, after his execution at Tyburn in 1654, his body was sent back to Douai College in the ‘diplomatic bag’ of the Spanish Ambassador, and where it was buried in the College, hidden at the French Revolution, but later discovered when the College buildings were being demolished in the 1920s. Another church in the town that would have been frequented by former students at the English College was Notre Dame. Dating from the 13th century, it was badly damaged during World War II, but has since been sensitively restored. Other landmarks in the town include the magnificent Flemish Town Hall and Belfry. JUNE 2022
Oremus
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