July/August 2018 | Edition Number 238 | FREE
Westminster Cathedral Magazine
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray. As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning [Luke 9: 28/9]
CONTENTS
Inside Oremus
Cathedral Clergy House 42 Francis Street London SW1P 1QW T 020 7798 9055 E oremus@westminstercathedral.org.uk W www.westminstercathedral.org.uk
Oremus, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral, 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 Editor Fr John Scott Oremus Team Tony Banks – Distribution Zoe Goodway – Marketing Manel Silva – Subscriptions Berenice Roetheli – Proofreading Eucharia Sule – Office Assistant Design and Art Direction Julian Game
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Cathedral Life: Past & Present Moses: A Musical reviewed by Tony Davidson
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Homily at the Quarant’Ore by Bishop John Sherrington
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Cathedral History: Our Cathedral Angels and Their Origins by Patrick Rogers
16 & 17
Cathedral History in Pictures: Cardinal Godfrey Received in the Cathedral by Paul Tobin
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The Summer Exhibition: At Last! by Julian Game
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A Relic Returned
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A Farewell by Cathy Corcoran OBE
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Registered Charity Number 233699 ISSN 1366-7203 Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor or the Oremus Team. Neither are they the official views of Westminster Cathedral. The Editor reserves the right to edit all contributions. Publication of advertisements does not imply any form of recommendation or endorsement. Unless otherwise stated, photographs are published under a creative commons or similar licence. Every effort is made to credit all images. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
Sponsored by:
Thomas Exchange Global Ltd Sir Harold Hood’s Charitable Foundation
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Features Support at the Ports: The Apostleship of the Sea
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St Mary Magdalene at La Sainte Baume by Louise Cowley
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A Tale from the Riverbank by Bishop Mark Jabalé OSB
12 & 13
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Cardinal Manning: A Balanced View Part III by Fr Nicholas Schofield
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David Jones in Convalescence: Part II by Dr Mary Coghill
20 & 21
A Triptych of the Baptist: Part II by Terry Egan
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© Mazur/catholicnews.org
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Regulars 5
From the Chairman Monthly Album
18 & 19
Diary and Registers
24 & 25
Friends of the Cathedral
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The Transfiguration of the Lord, above the high altar of the Church of the Saviour, Seville
Crossword and Poem of the Month
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© José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 3.0
In Retrospect
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St Vincent de Paul Primary School
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July/August 2018
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COMPANIONS/OUTREACH AND SONG
Join the Companions of Oremus ... and help us to continue to publish our magazine free of charge The Companions of Oremus was established in 2016 to recognise those who give generously to support the production of Oremus. Companions’ names are published in the magazine each month (see page 7) and, from time to time, Mass will be offered for their intentions. All members will be invited to at least one social event during the year. If you would like to join the Companions of Oremus please write to Oremus c/o Clergy House, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW or email oremuscomps@rcdow.org.uk – members are asked to give a minimum of £100 annually. Just mention in your email or letter how you would like your name to be listed and let us know if you can Gift Aid your donation, providing your name and address, including postcode. Thank you for your support.
Moses: A Musical Reviewed Tony Davidson The mission of the Church involves reaching out to people and communities, and the performance of Moses: A Musical on the evening of Wednesday 13 June was a truly stellar example of that inclusive mission. From the stirring and stomping entrance march of 500 costumed Israelite slaves, right through to the spine-tingling finale of Shalom Chaverim, an almost full Cathedral audience of parents, relatives and friends enjoyed a brilliantly conceived interpretation of the life of Moses. Performed in song and narration, children from 11 primary schools brought the Cathedral to life through the Choir School’s Outreach Project which has been inspiring so many young people for the last nine years. Splendid organisation and limitless goodwill have been teamed
All costumed-up 4
with creativity and vision to produce fantastic spectacles in the last four years. For me, though, Moses was the most uplifting yet. The Director, Song Leaders, Outreach Team and supporters in the schools, who continue to drive and support the project deserve the highest praise. Now, what about the children? To tell the truth, I spent the entire hour smiling. The singing was wonderful and the songs being written by the children themselves made the occasion special. The sheer innocent joy in the voices underlined for me what I was told by children from several participating schools, that singing is good for you and that singing with your friends is the best thing ever. Every single young person I spoke to said they had lots of FUN. Can there be any better recommendation than that?
Hebrew Slaves on the march
God’s Chosen People in full voice Oremus
July/August 2018
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
From the Chairman
In a few days’ time, we shall be entering one of the busiest liturgical weeks in the Cathedral’s diary with the solemnities of St John Baptist, our own martyr St John Southworth, Ss Peter and Paul and the annual celebration of the dedication of our Cathedral on 1 July, happily falling on a Sunday this year. But looking back, because we have not had the Quarant’Ore here for some years I had forgotten how lovely the atmosphere in the Cathedral can be in the early hours of the morning. I was very impressed by the number of faithful who kept watch before the Blessed Sacrament, some throughout the entire night, and their peaceful presence added to a very special atmosphere. One of the many blessings in recent years has been the widespread revival of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the beautiful sense of peace and holiness in the Lord’s presence lasted for several day after the devotion had ceased. It was Fr Kingsley, when he was a Cathedral Chaplain, who encouraged the restoration of weekday Adoration and we are all grateful to him for doing this. Another encouraging revival has been the return of open-air processions in honour of the Blessed Sacrament, and we see these taking place in towns and cities all over the country.
Westminster Cathedral Cathedral Clergy House 42 Francis Street London SW1P 1QW Telephone 020 7798 9055 Service times 020 7798 9097 Email chreception@rcdow.org.uk www.westminstercathedral.org.uk Cathedral Chaplains Canon Christopher Tuckwell Administrator Fr Martin Plunkett, Sub-Administrator Fr Julio Albornoz Fr Andrew Bowden Fr Michael Donaghy Fr Andrew Gallagher, Precentor Fr Michael Quaicoe Fr John Scott, Registrar Sub-Administrator’s Intern Oliver Delargy Also in residence Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victories Music Department Martin Baker, Master of Music Peter Stevens Obl. OSB, Assistant Master of Music Jonathan Allsopp, Organ Scholar Michael Butterfield, Alec Robertson Scholar Cathedral Manager Peter McNulty Estates Manager Neil Fairbairn Chapel of Ease Sacred Heart Church Horseferry Road SW1P 2EF
Eucharistic devotions will help us all to prepare for Adoremus, the great Eucharistic Congress being held in Liverpool this coming September and we should all be praying it will bring many blessings to our country and to the church in this land. Wishing you all a very blessed and happy summer wherever you may spend it.
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HOMILY AT THE QUARANT’ORE
Of the Pelican and the Sacrifice of Christ Bishop John Sherrington At the top of many late-medieval and Renaissance crucifixes, one often sees the symbol of the pelican feeding her young. In the text called the Physiologus, an early Christian work which appeared in the second century in Alexandria, Egypt, we read stories of the symbolism of the mother pelican feeding her baby pelicans, founded in an ancient legend which preceded Christianity. In time of famine, the mother was believed to wound herself, striking her breast with the beak to feed her young with her blood to prevent starvation. Another version of the legend was that the mother fed her dying young with her blood to revive them from death, but in turn lost her own life. So we can see how the pelican becomes a symbol of Christ’s redemption through the power, yet for many the folly, of the cross. Christ gives himself on the cross, pours out his blood in love for us and all people, so that we might have life in him and grow in him to the Father.
for you’, ‘this is my blood, the blood of the covenant which is to be poured out for many’. In Holy Communion we enter into this holy exchange and receive the true bread and the holy blood of eternal life. Jesus says: ‘Do this in memory of me’. We experience the dynamic movement from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, to being nourished by the bread of heaven and food of life so that ‘God gives me life, God lives in me’. For St Teresa of Avila, receiving Jesus in Holy Communion was the most important moment in the day and led to profound reflection on the Eucharist. She writes: ‘the devil will make you think you find more devotion in other things and less in this recollection after communion’ (The Way of Perfection 35.2). However, ‘in no matter how many ways the soul may desire to eat, it will find delight and consolation in the most Blessed Sacrament… there is no need or trial or persecution that is not easy to suffer if we begin to enjoy the delight and consolation of this sacred bread’. (34.2). Christ’s presence abides in each one of us, so that we can sing: ‘He feeds my soul, he guides my ways, and every grief with joy repays’.
During the Concluding Mass of the Quarant’Ore Bishop John commissioned the Cathedral parish’s delegates to Adoremus, the National Eucharistic Congress in September This symbolism is best-known in the sixth verse of the hymn Adoro te devote, written by St Thomas Aquinas and translated into English by Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ. It reads: Like what tender tales tell of the Pelican Bathe me, Jesus Lord, in what Thy Bosom ran Blood that but one drop of has the powr to win All the world forgiveness of its world of sin. And this we find depicted in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel here in the Cathedral. At every Mass we enter once again into this saving mystery of Christ’s blood poured out on the cross, we gaze upon the oblation of Christ on the cross and hear the powerful words of the holy exchange between earth and heaven, which echoes in our hearts: ‘This is my body given 6
The Blessed Sacrament and the Faithful en route in Ambrosden Avenue During the Quarant’Ore, we have allowed the gaze of the Lord to fall upon us and responded heart to heart to ask his grace and favour. The hymns can help us to penetrate more deeply into these mysteries. Every celebration of the Mass directs us towards the final Messianic banquet in heaven, and so the food of life gives us the pledge of immorality to trust more deeply in the Beloved Lord in heaven above, where ‘Jesus, thou awaitest me’, and we will ‘gaze on thee with changeless love’. The gift given on earth is the promise of the fullness of the gift to be given in heaven. Oremus
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HOMILY AT THE QUARANT’ORE/COMPANIONS
Companions of Oremus
We are very grateful for the support of the following:
The Procession of the Blessed Sacrament concluded with Benediction on the Cathedral steps in the bright sunlight that had overtaken the gloomy morning of the day Now we prepare to come down from the mountain where we have met the Lord and go out to be his Body in the world. Gathered around the altar as the Body of Christ, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ from the altar to become more fully his Body in the world. We offer ourselves in service to our brothers and sisters. When we are sent out from Mass, we have the work of God to take to the world. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI summed up this dynamic and path towards our completion in God in his letter after the Synod on the Eucharist: ‘The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself. Indeed, only in adoration can a profound and genuine reception mature. And it is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist, which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another’ (Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis 2007, 193). He continues: ‘I therefore urge all the faithful to be true promoters of peace and justice. All who partake of the Eucharist must commit themselves to peacemaking in our world scarred by violence and war, and today in particular, by terrorism, economic corruption and sexual exploitation’ (245). ‘Precisely because of the mystery we celebrate, we must denounce situations contrary to human dignity, since Christ shed his blood for all, and at the same time affirm the inestimable value of each individual person’ (89). O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine. July/August 2018
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Mrs Mary Barsh Mrs Else Benson Dr Stuart Blackie Mr Denis Board Anne Veronica Bond Richard Bremer Francis George Clark Daniel Crowley Ms Georgina Enang Alfredo Fernandez Connie Gibbes Zoe & Nick Goodway Mrs Valerie Hamblen Bernadette Hau Mrs Henry Hely-Hutchinson Sharon Jennings in memoriam Alice M Jones & Jacob F Jones Poppy K Mary Thérèse Kelly Florence M G Koroma Raymund Livesey Barry Lock Alan Lloyd in memoriam Clare and John Lusby James Maple Dionne Marchetti Mary Maxwell Pamela McGrath Linda McHugh Peter McNelly in memoriam Mrs C Mitchell-Gotell Abundia Toledo Munar Chris Stewart Munro Mrs Brigid Murphy Kate Nealon Raymond O’Sullivan Emel Rochat Berenice Roetheli Patrick Rogers RIP John Scanlan Mr Luke Simpson Sonja Soper Tessa and Ben Strickland Eileen Terry Robin Michael Tinsley Mr Alex Walker Christiana Thérèse Macarthy-Woods Jacqueline Worth Patricia M Wright and of our anonymous Companions If you would like to become a Companion of Oremus, see page 4
New in Cathedral Gift Shop We are pleased to announce an exquisite addition to the range of gifts available in Westminster Cathedral Gift Shop. Cross pens are renowned worldwide for their design and quality and we now have for sale a luxury ball-point pen which comes with the Cathedral logo and in its own box. This will make an excellent gift for a loved one on that special occasion. Retail Price: £35.00
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APOSTOLATUS MARIS
Supporting Sailors All at Sea Greg Watts Although Britain is an island, many of us know very little about what happens in a port. But there’s one Catholic charity that you can find working in many ports around the coast. This month sees Sea Sunday (8 July), when the Church asks us to support the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), which provides practical help and pastoral care to seafarers. We are more familiar with airports than ports, but around 90% of the goods imported to the UK come by ship. That includes everything from cars and computers to fridges and fruit. The seafarers who work on the ships often come from parts of the world such as Goa and the Philippines. Paradoxically, in order for them to support their families back home they have to leave home. Seafarers are the migrant workers you don’t hear about. Seafaring is tough and dangerous work. You live and work in a metal box, often for months at a time, which can be tossed around by a raging sea, and you face the risk of accidents, either on deck or with other vessels, fires, and explosions. Rose George, whose book Deep Sea and Foreign Going goes behind the scenes in the hidden world of shipping, says: ‘There are few industries as defiantly opaque as this one. Even offshore bankers have not developed a system as intricately elusive as the flag of convenience, where ships can fly the flag of a state that has nothing to do with its owner, cargo, crew or route’. AoS port chaplains and volunteer ship visitors are a lifeline for seafarers. They can provide mobile phone top-up cards, internet access (many ships still don’t have this), warm clothing in the winter, and transport to local shops. As well as this, they can arrange for Mass to be said on board or for a ship to be blessed. This often happens if there has been a death on board.
Roger Stone, a former policeman who is now port chaplain to the south coast, as well as a permanent deacon in Arundel and Brighton diocese, knew little about seafarers when he joined AoS. ‘My eyes have been well and truly opened to the myriad issues that face seafarers on a daily basis,’ he says, ‘this has presented some personal challenges 8
for me, too, causing me to reflect on how fortunate I am in the quality of life which I enjoy’. One of the things he likes about being a port chaplain is that there is no such thing as an average week: ‘The ministry is very proactive. Every day I visit seafarers on the ships that come into port, offering them a welcome, extending the hand of friendship, solidarity and doing as much as I can for their welfare, which includes anything and everything. From spending time conversing over a cup of coffee through practical things like supplying phone cards, transferring funds to seafarers' families to helping with contractual problems, such as crew not being paid. I also visit seafarers when they are admitted to hospital, to ensure they are visited, have what they need, that their families know what's happening and staying in close touch until they return home. And afterwards, too, particularly via Facebook’.
Bryony Watson, an AoS port chaplain to Immingham, Grimsby, and several ports on the Humber and Trent rivers, said one particular visit to a ship has stayed in her mind. It was a during the Russian annexation of Crimea, and she and her fellow AoS port chaplain Steve Willows visited a very old vessel which was berthed in Immingham while the crew made repairs. ‘We were met by the second officer, who was slumped in a chair at the watch station. His clothes were ripped and dirty and he looked haggard. He told us that he was the only crew member from Crimea, that he was doing the work of two people, and that he was desperately homesick. He couldn't leave his station, so we stood on the deck of the ship and listened while he talked about the beauty of the water surrounding the Crimean Peninsula, the apricot trees, and his wife and young daughter; all of which he missed terribly. There was very little we could do, other than listen, and hope that talking brought him some comfort. That visit showed me that chaplaincy is about being present, being there, whether that means standing on a cold deck in the rain for an hour, or chatting over coffee in a mess room.’ Oremus
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Code: Oremus July18
THE APOSTLE TO THE APOSTLES
St Mary Magdalene, post-Resurrection Louise Cowley
In 2016 Pope Francis decreed that the memorial of St Mary Magdalene on 22 July would be elevated to the level of a feast day. In an article for the Vatican newspaper, Archbishop Arthur Roche wrote that her feast day is a call for all Christians to ‘reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the new evangelisation and the greatness of the mystery of divine mercy.’ ‘Christ is risen!’ were words that came from Mary’s mouth. She was there throughout the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ and, according to the gospels, was the first person to see Jesus alive after he was resurrected from the dead. But what of after the Resurrection? The persecution of the early church meant that many Christians in Jerusalem fled for their lives. Ancient tradition states that in 42 AD Mary Magdalene left Jerusalem by boat, in the company of other Christians including Martha and Lazarus, finding themselves eventually in the port of Marseille, France. There they converted many to Christ, preaching also in the surrounding areas. Mary eventually moved to a solitary place that became known as La Sainte Baume and lived as a hermit in a cave, dedicating the last 30 years of her life to solitude, prayer and contemplation. It is believed she neither ate nor drank for the 30 years she lived in the grotto and although it is not recorded, there is a belief that like other mystics of the Church who came after her, she lived only on Holy Communion. On 22 July 72 AD, tradition tells us that she had a vision of Christ, who guided her down the hill and led her to St Maximin, a bishop believed to have been one of the disciples of Jesus. After giving her Holy Communion, she fell before the altar and gave up her spirit. A document in Latin from the 5th/6th century records that: ‘She [Mary Magdalene] died on the 11th day before the Kalends of August, namely on July 22, amidst great rejoicing of the angels in heaven. Maximin embalmed her most holy body with many aromatic herbs, and placed it in an honourable tomb, over which he elevated a most beautiful church. There can be seen her white marble sarcophagus with sculptures that represent her story as to how she came to find the Lord at the house of Simon, and so obtained forgiveness of her sins, and the devout duties she carried out for the Saviour's entombment.’ For seven days afterwards, the oratory was filled with a holy perfume and St Maximin commanded that he be buried near her tomb after his death. In the 8th century, monks from the monastery of St Maximin were forced to flee due to invading Muslim tribes from Arabia. They moved the remains of Mary Magdalene to a more humble tomb next to the original and buried the entire chapel with 10
‘Noli me tangere' (1835) by Alexander Andrejewitsch Iwanow (1806-1858) earth so that it remained hidden. The Arab occupation ended in the 10th century, but no one knew any longer where Mary was buried. In 1279 Prince Charles II of Salerno ordered a search for her tomb. Excavation work began inside the church and the surrounding land and after several days, a crypt was discovered that dated back to the 1st century. As they came upon the tomb, a fragrance filled the air, making them feel sure they had found the correct location. On 18 December the tomb was opened and the body found to be complete, except for a bone from the jaw that was missing. Among the dust particles at the bottom of the tomb, a small piece of cork was found. Inside was a message written on parchment which read: ‘Year of the Nativity of our Lord, 710, this sixth day of the month of December, under the reign of (not legible) and during the ravages of the Saracen nation, in fear of the Saracens, the body of the well-loved and venerable Mary Magdalene has been transferred, to be better concealed, from the alabaster tomb to the one in marble, out of which the body of Sidonius has been removed.’ The following year on 5 May many people of the church, together with nobles of high rank, came to witness the moving of the relics. A small ball of wax Oremus
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THE APOSTLE TO THE APOSTLES was discovered which contained a piece of bark upon which was inscribed a message even more ancient than the parchment which read: Hic requiescit corpus Mariae Magdalenae (Here lies the body of Mary Magdalene). There was great rejoicing upon this find and several signs were considered remarkable, considering the body had been buried since the 1st century. It was found that the tongue still adhered to the mouth cavity, and from it had grown an aromatic plant. On seeing this marvel, the prince was overcome by deep emotion and wept, along with many others. It was also found that a small piece of skin had remained attached to her brow which was smooth, clear, and lighter than the remainder of the body, the size of two fingertips. As it resembled live skin, it was subsequently named the Noli me tangere (Do not touch me) - the words spoken by Christ to Mary Magdalene at the Resurrection. Many believed it to have been the touch of the Risen Lord on Mary’s brow. This small piece of skin remained unchanged for another 500 years, and no suitable explanation was ever found for the phenomenon. Five centuries after its discovery, it finally detached itself from the brow, and was placed in a separate reliquary. The majority of these remains went missing during the French Revolution in 1794, though the skull still remains in the village of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. As is often the case with relics, there is some controversy
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attached. In 860 AD a monk from Saint-Maximin was said to have brought Mary Magdalene’s relics to Vézelay which were declared authentic by the Pope two centuries later. Naturally, the discovery of the remains in Saint-Maximin in 1279 cast doubt over the Vézelay relics. The latter still houses a reliquary containing part of a tibia bone, and the basilica in Saint-Maximin contains a skull and some hair. Both towns are places of pilgrimage. The DNA of the hair in the reliquary was examined by the French geneticist, Gérard Lucotte and the results published in 2016. Interestingly, the hair was shown to originate from a woman of Jewish ancestry. Of course this does not prove anything conclusively but it is also not at odds with tradition. Mary Magdalene remains a woman of mystery. There is so much we do not know about her, but what we do know is that her love for Christ was exceedingly great and his love and compassion towards her completely changed her life from being at the mercy of sin to becoming an apostle of hope. In Pope Francis’ words: ‘May her intercession also help us live this experience: in times of woe and in times of abandonment, to listen to the Risen Jesus who calls us by name and, with a heart full of joy, to go forth and proclaim: ‘I have seen the Lord!’. I have changed my life because I have seen the Lord! I am now different than before. I am another person. I have changed because I have seen the Lord. This is our strength and this is our hope.’
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AN UMPIRE LOOKS BACK
A Tale from the Riverbank Bishop Mark Jabalé OSB, Bishop Emeritus of Menevia and Steward, Henley Royal Regatta ‘Mark, will you look after the rowing for me for a year, please?’ were the words addressed to me by a member of my Benedictine community in July 1963. Fr Aelred Cousins, master in charge of rowing at Belmont Abbey School, and a fellow monk and Housemaster, was being given a year’s sabbatical by the Abbot, to go out to Uganda to help in a Benedictine school. At the time, I was Housemaster and Games Master, and as such in charge of all sports. My own sporting credentials had been to play rugby and swim for my University in London, ski in the team at my University in Switzerland. But of rowing I knew absolutely nothing. So I said to Aelred: ‘Sorry, but I have no idea how to coach rowing; to which he replied: ‘that really doesn’t matter Mark, just keep them fit, I shall be back in a year’. So, obedient and helpful monk that I was, I accepted the task, and proceeded to keep the small rowing contingent, mainly those who had rejected, or been rejected by the cricket fraternity, in a good state of physical fitness. And, under normal circumstances, that would have been that; the following year I would simply have faded into the background and there would have ended a short career as a rowing coach. But, of course, things don’t always work out the way they were intended. The following summer, as we were coming to the end of that first year, came the news that Fr Aelred had asked the Abbot for an extension, sine die, to his sabbatical; which was granted. Eventually, he was out there for 30 years. That, of course, left me as Games Master, with the crucial decision of either discontinuing the sport at Belmont, as there was no one qualified or interested; or, alternatively, trying to take it on myself. The other summer sport at Belmont was cricket; I had never been either gifted or indeed interested in cricket, so I rashly decided to give rowing a go. Consequently, before I set off on my summer holiday, 12
Bishop Mark on duty as an umpire at the Regatta in Henley-on-Thames I purchased four books on rowing coaching and the technique of rowing. So, lying on the beach, I was introduced to this entirely new world for me. The more senior members of the rowing club knew more about rowing than I did when I started; but I had one small advantage over them: I knew more about fitness and how to achieve it, having taken courses on sports fitness and injuries while doing
my post-graduate teachers course. However, the full learning process of what it is that makes a rowing boat go fast; what, in the action of the rowing stroke, makes the boat glide or stops its smooth progress took many years of trial and error. So, I must apologise to my victims for my early failings. After a couple of years with the more senior crew, and limited success, I decided to start at the bottom, and coached complete beginners; these Oremus
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AN UMPIRE LOOKS BACK were the new boy intakes at age 14. Little by little success came, with wins of ‘Pots’ at Regattas, which is what young competitors really love, pewter pint tankards for the winners of an event. Eventually, in the mid 70s, the school was beginning to get known for its good performance at local regattas and I decided to extend the scope of our efforts to national, and eventually international regattas, with increasing success. And 1977 and 1978 were the first years in which I coached boys who were selected to row for Great Britain at Junior level in the World Rowing Championships. Many more followed. By that time my involvement in rowing had also expanded in a different direction. The school used to row from Hereford Rowing Club, not having a boathouse of its own. So, of course, I made friends with some members of the club, and as a result was persuaded to join their Committee. There I was elected to run the annual Hereford City Regatta, which was in those days one of the most important and biggest provincial regattas. By this time, I had also become Headmaster of the school; the request that I take on the running of the Regatta justified the saying that if you want a job done, ask a busy man. My instructions from the members of the Committee were that the deficit on the running of the event was to be as small as possible. I did not understand why the Regatta should not make a profit, to boost the club’s funds, and I suggested that we introduce sponsorship of the various events and run a Summer Fete alongside it. But I was told: ‘Forget the frills, and run the regatta at as small a loss as possible’, to which my answer was: ‘I’ll run it my way, or not at all!’. And I did. That first year, in 1975, the profit was just over one thousand pounds. This has the same purchasing power nowadays in 2018 as roughly £8,000 which of course delighted the Committee. It created difficulties for me, because they then expected me not only to continue in the job but also to produce at least the same surplus every year. It also brought other requests for help. Because of my connection with Hereford Regatta and with the school, I was then asked to be a member of the committee for Youth Rowing, and July/August 2018
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in 1977 to join the British National Rowing Championships Committee as its Chairman. This also meant that I was on the Executive Committee of the Amateur Rowing Association. Of course, all this expanded my working day at certain times of the year; but when you’re young and full of energy you don’t ask questions and you get on with it. However, it was taking me in the direction of the administration of rowing, and my real love was for coaching; but I was to get plenty of it. In 1978 I had been Headmaster for 12 years, and the Abbot offered me a sabbatical of two terms which I gratefully accepted. In December I moved to London, where I lived at Ealing Abbey until August. Naturally, my walks took me to the Thames, and to the Embankment at Putney where, between Christmas and the New Year, Oxford and Cambridge used to have their early training and selection in preparation for the Boat Race. Dan Topolski, the Oxford Chief Coach at that time, asked me if I would consider joining the team of coaches. In those days the two University crews used to be coached in fortnightly stints by five different coaches up to the Boat Race. Dan asked me to be the first of them. I did not have to be asked twice. And so, for five years, until 1983 when I retired as Headmaster and was sent to Peru, I coached the Oxford Boat Race crew for a fortnight. Then, in that January of 1979, while I was helping Dan with the Oxford Blue Boat, Ron Needs, at the time Chief Coach for the GB Senior Lightweights, asked me if I was willing to take on the back-up four for the eight he was coaching for the World Rowing Championships. He said to me: ‘Mark, you would have to train them up and see if perhaps they can get selection for the Worlds; and then, if I need one of them for the eight, I will have someone fully fit and ready’. This was a daily task of two outings a day, often at five or six in the morning and evening, and going to International Regattas (Vichy, Ratzeburg, Manheim, Nottingham, Henley) every other weekend. What else was I going to do during my Sabbatical? I said ‘Yes’. And that was my life from March till August, apart from two weeks,
when at the invitation of one of my school’s parents, I was given a trip to Nassau in the Bahamas, over Easter. I only mention this because of who I met there. One day I was invited to lunch by Jack Hayward, owner of Wolverhampton Football Club and sponsor of Rachel Heyhoe Flint, who had come to a Mass that I said in the church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Over lunch we talked, and got on well; and before we parted he said to me: ‘Father, if ever there is anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate, ask!’ Well, that summer my four had great success in the international regattas we attended, winning three golds and one silver, and hopes were high for our selection. However, I was to have a huge shock when, about a month before the World Championships, at a meeting of the Executive Committee I was told: ‘Sorry, your four can’t go; there isn’t enough money’. I could not accept that, so I said: ‘And if I can find the money, can we go?’ The answer was yes; and I made a phone call, as I knew Jack Hayward was in London. I put the matter to him, and his immediate answer was ‘How much do you need?’ I told him, and that very afternoon a cheque was sent, which is how my crew got selected that year, and how we got the only Gold medal in Bled, then Yugoslavia, at the World Championships. The following year I invited Jack, with my four, to Henley Royal Regatta, and we presented him with the team Gold medal we had won. It was later, in 1985, when retired from the Headmastership, and sent by my Abbot to Peru to build a monastery, that I received a letter, just before Christmas, from the Chairman of Henley Royal Regatta telling me that I had been elected a Steward. So, from ‘Mark, will you look after the rowing for me for a year?’ to the most unexpected follow-up and dénouement, rowing has been an interesting aside to my monastic and teaching careers.
Bishop Mark lives in the diocese, and as a frequent and welcome visitor at the Cathedral assists at Confirmations and other liturgies. Henley Royal Regatta takes place from 4-8 July. 13
CHANGED THE SECOND BYARCHBISHOP LENT OF WESTMINSTER
Taking a View of Cardinal Manning, Part III Fr Nicholas Schofield
Diocesan Bishop Within the diocese of Westminster Manning worked tirelessly as Archbishop, founding new missions, holding the Fourth Provincial Council of Westminster (1873) and establishing a diocesan seminary in Hammersmith, dedicated to St Thomas Becket, a suitably muscular patron for his clergy. During his tenure, the number of Westminster priests increased from 215 to 358. In 1866 he set up the Westminster Diocesan Education Fund, which made possible the founding of some 49 schools. He did not forget destitute children who, he feared, would be corrupted by a nonCatholic education in the workhouses and reformatories, and he fought for Catholic education, especially in the aftermath of the 1870 Education Act, which threatened the future of denominational education and created (potentially unsympathetic) School Boards, with elected members, to take over the running of many schools. He supported the building of Westminster Cathedral as a memorial to Wiseman and bought a plot of land for £60,000 on which the Cathedral now stands. Such a site would be utterly unaffordable today. However, the actual building work commenced under his successor, since Manning's priority was education - ’Could I leave 20,000 children without education,’ he famously said, ’and drain my friends and my flock to pile up stones and bricks?’ I have alluded earlier to Manning’s pride in his Oxford days and his feelings of isolation amongst a body of clergy that had mostly not been educated at the British universities. It might come as a surprise, then, that Manning was convinced that Oxford and Cambridge were unsuitable, even dangerous places for young Catholics; indeed, a formal prohibition was obtained from Rome in 1867. He also resisted Newman's efforts to establish a Catholic college at Oxford. This was not because he wanted Catholics to live in an ivory tower; he strongly believed that they should be fully involved in the life of the nation and bear fruit in a rapidly changing society. However, before they were able to do this Catholics needed to be solidly formed and he thought there were too many traps and snares in what was still very much an Anglican establishment. Manning tried to counter this with his own Catholic University College on Wright’s Lane, just off Kensington High Street, founded in 1875. However, he appointed Mgr Capel as Rector, who brought with him scandal and financial difficulties; the college closed in 1882. Manning and the Jesuits In looking at his role as a bishop in Victorian London, we should briefly consider his relationship with the Jesuits. I have already mentioned how Manning was received into the Church and celebrated his First Mass at Farm Street Church; while studying in Rome he also kept a confessional 14
in the church and became a popular spiritual director. Moreover, one of his nephews, William Anderdon, became a Jesuit, as did his beloved secretary, Canon John Morris. It might be thought, then, that Archbishop Manning would be a great friend of the Society. However, his biographer Purcell wrote that ’the unfriendly relations which subsisted between Cardinal Manning and the Jesuits in England during the whole period of his rule as Archbishop …is an open secret.’ He tried to curtail their activity in London. It seems that he had influenced Wiseman to make a U-turn on supporting the Jesuits to open a house and school in the Westminster area – they already looked after the church on Horseferry Road and had purchased land on the site now occupied by Victoria Station; next time you’re running for a train, remember that this could have been a Jesuit foundation! He also refused to allow them to set up a grammar school in London, and it was left to his successor to reverse this policy almost immediately: in 1892 permission was granted for a Jesuit church and school to be opened in Stamford Hill. Why was Manning against the Jesuits? There may have been a personal falling out; Manning seems to have suddenly stopped hearing confessions and saying Mass at Farm Street in his early days as a Catholic priest. But there was also a continuation of the suspicion of Jesuits that marked the history of the English diocesan clergy from the reign of Elizabeth I onwards. Let us not forget that the founding of Farm Street Church in the 1840s was allowed by Rome but met with opposition from the Vicar Apostolic, who thought it would ’compete’ with nearby missions, drawing away much-needed revenue; as a result, it was not given parochial status until 1966. Manning likewise thought the Jesuits attracted the best priests and laity, flourishing at the expense of the rest of the Church and considering the diocesan clergy as a very clear ’second best’. He admitted that the Jesuits had given valuable service to the Church at the time of the Reformation but since then ’[the Society’s] corporate action has been excessive’. With regard to England, he thought that the actions of the Jesuits – their support for conspiracies against the Crown, for example, and their opposition to the revival of the episcopacy in the 17th century – had resulted in the ’loss’ of the English people to the Faith. Indeed, he even argued that: ’if the Society had not been suppressed in 1773, the English Hierarchy would not have been restored in 1850’. The Jesuits tended to run the majority of English seminaries and gained their best students; it weakened the diocesan priesthood and made it ’second-rate’. The disappearance of the Jesuits meant that the secular clergy (a term he hated) were: ’restored to their independence and self-formation’; new seminaries, such as Oscott, St Edmund’s,Ware and Ushaw, were Oremus
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THE SECOND ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER established; the likes of Cardinal Wiseman were produced for the Church. Central to this view was an understanding of the supremacy of episcopal authority and diocesan clergy (as opposed to religious orders). In 1881 Manning, with the support of Herbert Vaughan and Bishop Clifford of Clifton, obtained from Leo XIII the bull Romanos Pontifices, which laid down that in future no religious house, college, or school could be established without the prior consent of the diocesan bishop. Nevertheless, he still came to Farm Street as the local Ordinary. On one occasion in the 1880s his preferred biographer, J E C Bodley, went to see Manning at ’the grim barracks called Archbishop’s House’ and found him dressed in ’scarlet and lace’: ’”Forgive my togs,” he said, ”but it’s the Immaculate Conception and I have to go to Farm Street”.’ Manning and Rome Manning, like Wiseman, had a great love of Rome; he visited some 22 times in his life and spoke fluent Italian, though with a distinctly English accent. He was a close friend of Pius IX; the pope had often granted him audiences while studying at the Accademia and hoped to lure him into his household as a domestic prelate. Manning had a high vision of the papacy and was a staunch defender of the pope’s temporal sovereignty, which was under attack from nationalists and revolutionaries. Did not the Papal States
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secure the Church's independence from secular powers – and was it not precisely the same issue that had led him to leave the Church of England? Manning was only too aware of the need for the Church to have a clear and authoritative voice, for not only was she threatened by Erastianism but, as Wilfrid Ward emphasised, he had a ’very strong and mystical sense of a battle raging between the Church and the modern world.’ Christians had to be constantly on their guard against secularism, liberalism and the spirit of 1789. During the First Vatican Council (1869-70) Manning was one of the most vocal proponents of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, acting as a sort of ’chief whip’ in lobbying for support among the bishops and, on one occasion, delivering a rousing speech in Latin that lasted nearly two hours. This was one of the reasons for Manning’s famous rift with Newman, who advised moderation and wondered whether this was the opportune moment for a dogmatic definition. In the end, the ’Ultramontanes’ won convincingly and the dogma of Papal Infallibility was duly defined ex cathedra on 18 July 1870. So strong an impression did Manning create during the Council that he received a handful of votes at the 1878 conclave and, at home, had to defend his theological position against the published criticisms of Gladstone in two works, The Vatican Decrees and their Bearing on Civil Allegiance (1875) and The True Story of the Vatican Council (1877).
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ANGELS IN ASSISTANCE
The Cathedral Angels and Their Origins Patrick Rogers
Seraphim surround the Saviour in the Holy Souls Chapel Angels are spiritual beings able to bridge the gulf between , heaven and earth. The word is derived from meaning ‘messenger’ in Greek. By the late 5th century the early Christians had decided that there were nine types (choirs) of angels arranged into three groups of three – thus reflecting the Holy Trinity. First are Seraphim. Described by Isaiah as leading the divine worship from around the throne of God. They are shown in art as human heads with six wings, the absence of a body emphasising their spiritual nature. In the Cathedral artistic representations appear in the Holy Souls and Lady Chapels, and also in the Crypt.
Covenant. Ezekiel describes Cherubim carrying the throne of God in flight and they are often shown as winged heads of little boys. It is appropriate that representations should be found in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, with uplifted wings either side of the throne behind the tabernacle and also as winged heads at the six corners of the canopy above the altar and on the entrance and side grilles – 90 cherubim in all. We know almost nothing about the next five choirs of angels, briefly referred to by St Paul in his Letters to the Ephesians and Colossians. The early Christians decided that Thrones, like Seraphim and Cherubim in the same group, are dedicated to the contemplation of God, while the second group – Dominions, Virtues and Powers – govern the universe. In the subordinate group, Principalities are said to be guardians of sovereigns, while only the last two choirs, Archangels and Angels, reveal the divine plan to mankind and assist ordinary mortals.
Next are Cherubim, left to guard the tree of life in Eden after the Fall. Other Old Testament references confirm that they are protectors of sacred objects, such as the Ark of the
A winged cherub holds the exposition throne and looks up expectantly in adoration A Host of Angels
A cherub’s head looks out from a corner of the Blessed Sacrament altar canopy, with mosaic angels behind and above 16
Of the Archangels we know quite a lot about Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, who reveals to young Tobias that there are, in fact, seven Archangels in all. Michael is the leader of the heavenly hosts and the angel of judgment who, as described in the Apocalypse, defeats Satan and his fallen angels in heaven and casts them down to earth. With Gabriel he guards the entrance to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and also appears in the Holy Souls and Lady Chapels. But for me, he is shown most effectively subduing a dragon on the front of the altar in the Shrine of the Sacred Heart. The Oremus
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ANGELS IN ASSISTANCE name Gabriel means ‘messenger’ and he is, of course, best known as the heavenly messenger to Our Lady announcing the forthcoming birth of Jesus. Some six months earlier Gabriel tells Zechariah that he too would have a son, John the Baptist. In the Old Testament, Gabriel is sent to Daniel to tell him of Christ’s future incarnation and to interpret his visions. He is usually shown carrying the lily of the Annunciation. The third Archangel is Raphael, which means ‘God heals’, and we know a good deal about him as well. In response to prayer, he is sent by God just as the young Tobias is about to set off on a dangerous journey. Disguised as a young man, St Michael slays the dragon he acts as Tobias’ guide and on the front of the altar in protector, subdues an evil the Sacred Heart Shrine spirit, arranges a successful marriage for Tobias and cures his father of blindness – apparently resulting from cataracts. It is only after his mission is fulfilled that he reveals his true identity. Where there’s a will, there’s a way Other, unnamed angels appear frequently in the Old Testament, as messengers, guides, protectors and interpreters of God’s will. Jacob’s vision shows them using a ladder to move between heaven and earth. The mosaics in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel show some of their activities, including preventing Abraham from killing his son Isaac, protecting the Three Young Men in the burning fiery furnace and persuading the weary Elijah to eat. Elsewhere in the Cathedral they can be seen bearing divine messages – the seven spiritual and corporal works of mercy in the Holy Souls Chapel and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit on the great sanctuary arch. In the New Testament angels announce Christ’s incarnation and birth, minister to him when he is tempted in the desert, strengthen him during the agony in the garden, roll away the stone from the tomb and explain his resurrection and ascension to his disciples. An angel later rescues St Peter from prison and in the Apocalypse we learn how angles will vanquish Satan and his followers, accompany the Last Judgment and convey the souls of the righteous to heaven. Angels are shown supporting Christ’s cross in St George’s Chapel and receiving his Precious Blood in a chalice at the 12th Station of the Cross.
drive them away. In St Matthew’s gospel, Jesus speaks of children having angels in heaven who are continually in the presence of his Father. It is comforting to think that we have each been given the protection of a guardian angel those watchers and holy ones of God - unable to rest until we have passed safely from this world through death and judgment to the next. So, how many angels are there and how do we recognise them? Thousands upon thousands according to both the Old and New Testaments. As to appearances, we can never be sure, for they are divine spirits rarely visible to us, and then perhaps only indistinctly. Raphael is described by Tobias as a beautiful young man and the early Christians thought of angels in the same way. Only later were they portrayed with wings and haloes. Interestingly, the angel seen only 80 [now just over 100] years ago by the child seers of Fatima (a youth of about 14, dressed in white) sounds very like both gospel descriptions and very early Christian representations. But do remember, angels do not always look like angels – as it says in Hebrews 13:2 ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’.
The late Patrick Rogers, who died in 2017, was the Cathedral Historian. His papers are now held at the Cathedral, whilst the Oremus archive contains a great number of published pieces which remain an authoritative source for knowledge of the building. This article was first published in Edition number 8 of September 1997.
Each to his own Angel And so to those angels to whom God has given the task of protecting us during our time on earth, angels so close to us that they may call us brothers – Guardian Angels. St Thomas Aquinas believed that only angels of the lowest order are given this task, those who perhaps understand us best, while other saints believed that sin can
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17
MONTHLY ALBUM
The Sacramental Season reaches its Climax
© WCCS School
From the Easter Vigil, with its Baptisms, Confirmations, Receptions and First Holy Communions, onward, Cathedral life is punctuated for several months by Sacramental programmes coming to their celebratory conclusions. A number of hundreds of young people from across the diocese have been confirmed, whilst the Cathedral parish has had its more domestic celebrations of First Holy Communion and Confirmation. Pictured are boys from the Choir School who have just made their First Holy Communion at a Mass celebrated by their Chaplain, Fr Andrew Gallagher.
See it, hear it, now! The Choir School has just produced a video short showing the Choristers in the whole variety of their lives; it also has great drone images of the Cathedral and the area. Watch it – now! https://player.vimeo.com/video/275833568
Refugee Week St Andrew’s Chapel temporarily housed some (cut-out) refugees in mid-June to draw attention to Refugee Week. CAFOD, Caritas and the Justice and Peace Commission joined together for a service in front of the Lampedusa Cross before adjourning to the Hinsley Room for a workshop organised by the charity Safe Passage.
Arrayed in Garments of Gold The celebration of the feast of St Anthony of Padua was brightened up this year by the appearance of Fr Andrew Bowden, Chaplain to the Guild of St Anthony, in a new vestment which has kindly been presented for use. Oremus happened to be passing through the sacristy with a camera just as incense was blessed before the 5.30pm Solemn Mass for the feast. 18
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MONTHLY ALBUM
A Warm Reception for a New Family Many happy couples packed out the Cathedral for the Annual Mass in Thanksgiving for Marriage on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, and among them we were delighted to see Abigail Bathelo with her family and new baby, pictured here with Cardinal Vincent. Abigail served out her pregnancy bravely in Clergy House Reception, from where many will remember her face, and we look forward to seeing her back on duty in due course.
© Diocese of Westminster
The St Sulpice Tradition Returns to the Cathedral The Grand Organ has a particular affinity with the church of St Sulpice in Paris, since a former titulaire of that church, Marcel Dupré, had a significant influence upon the design of the organ here. For June’s Festival Recital we were delighted to welcome back Daniel Roth, the present titulaire. He reminded us that he first played here in 1970, when titulaire of Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre, and Oremus was able to give him a copy of Edition 8, which advertised his recital in September 1997. M Roth was awarded the Légion d’Honneur a few years ago for his services to French music and to the Organ.
A Sistine Musical Tour
July/August 2018
© Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina
The Sistine Choir kindly offered a concert to the Cathedral during its recent visit to this country and the offer was taken up by a large crowd who came to hear them lead a musical tour through the repertoire sung in Rome during the liturgical year, including the famous Miserere of Allegri. The choir is much larger than our own here at the Cathedral and here they are seen in full voice. Oremus
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A POET’S CONVALESCENCE
David Jones: A Spell in Sidmouth 1935-1940 - concluded Dr Mary Coghill, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Exeter David Jones spent much of his time in Sidmouth reading, writing and painting. But he also travelled around by train. The station was a mile back through the town from the Fort Hotel and there were regular services which would have taken him up country. He travelled to friends in Northumberland, High Wycombe, the King’s Road in Chelsea, and Oxford. Whilst in Sidmouth he often attended Mass and other services at the Convent of the Assumption in the chapel dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians. This was an orphanage and school at the time and is now St John’s School. The Convent of the Assumption was one mile back from the hotel, through the town, having been founded in the 1880’s first as an orphanage and later, as a result of WWI, becoming a school.
Here is a photo of the Hughes sisters, one a nun and the other a novice (without the cross on the royal blue habit). This is the Chapel at St John’s Convent, where David often heard Mass and went to Compline. His friend Christopher Dawson, the renowned Catholic mediaeval historian, sent his daughters to the school.
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The foundation stone of the local parish church was laid in April 1935. The parish priest, Fr Alan Power and the Bishop, the Right Rev Dr John Patrick Barrett, are present. Inside the church the High Altar was dedicated to the Catholic soldiers who died in the First World War. David would have heard Mass here – also walking back from the seafront and into the town of Sidmouth. Fr Alan, who was a very energetic priest, was also a scholarly and artistic man and it is tempting to think of him as a friend of David as well as his parish priest. Fr A Gordon Herring, parish priest of Sidmouth 1938-53, was a convert from the Church of England and his family cut off all ties with him. Some members of this family still live in East Devon but without knowing anything about him David’s paintings, drawings, woodcuts and lettering are more accessible than his poetry. From the perspective of the pictures which he painted while in Sidmouth, it can be seen that they were painted either from his bedroom window or from the roof of the Fort Hotel; the best-known is ‘Sidmouth Cricket Match’ (1937). The painting is full of movement. It shows a cricket match on the pitch which is still behind the Fort Flats. There is some artistic licence with the perspective and the content - dog walking and cricket taking place at the same time for example. The cricket pitch itself is still very much the same now as it was then. Oremus
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A POET’S CONVALESCENCE David describes the Fort Hotel as ‘very comfortable’. When a friend visited him there: ‘He was somewhat surprised to find David chatting to elderly ladies and retired colonels in the hotel, but when there came a pause ... David would whisper to Tom “Let’s go for a wet” and they were off to the nearby pub for a pint’ (Alldritt, p 91). He would have been a respected as an ex-soldier and WWI veteran in the community of Sidmouth. Shortly before his final departure he was successfully operated on for appendicitis in the local cottage hospital. In a letter of 16 May 1940 (Dai Greatcoat, p 97) he wrote that the hospital with the ‘white iron bedstead’ reminded him of being in hospital in France in the war. He wrote to a friend: ‘I had a wireless earphone thing over my bed in hospital, so for the first time in my life listened rather a lot to it’ (ibid). It is also known that he was visited during his stay in hospital by the then local parish priest, Fr Herring, a thoughtful late convert to Catholicism. David’s final painting from the Fort Hotel is dated 1940. It is of the Bedford Hotel and there is smoke coming from the chimney, which indicates that it was probably drawn in the spring before he had appendicitis. David began to write poetry in Sidmouth, some of which was included later in The Sleeping Lord and other fragments. He wrote that it has: ‘something in common with The Anathémata’, the major poem which he wrote after In Parenthesis. There are graphic and distressing passages describing the soldiers’ last cries in no man’s land. He stated in a letter that he drafted more than 40 pages of poetry whilst at the Fort Hotel, writing about this work first on 31 May 1938:
her own. Her square-set walls carry, where her windows bay, a refinement of iron .. her balconies have leaned out or another century (The Roman Quarry, ‘The Book of Balaam’s Ass’, p 188). David’s time in Sidmouth was obviously a rich and fruitful episode in his life. It was here that he seems to have finally laid to rest the voices of the dying soldiers of the First World War and be able to move on to explore material which became part his later major work about London, The Anathémata. Sidmouth’s very unique and special Fort Hotel had a healing role and gave him the rest that he needed for his creativity to move forward. ALLDRITT, K (2003) David Jones: Writer and Artist London, Constable and Robinson JONES, D (1963) In Parenthesis London, Faber JONES, D (2008) Dai Greatcoat: A Self Portrait of David Jones in his Letters London, Faber
The Extraordinary Form Mass in the Cathedral at 4pm on Saturday 13 October will be offered with intention for the repose of the soul of David Jones, being the most conveniently situated day to his anniversary of death.
‘Have only done one drawing after all and then started to take up again the writing I read to you when last I saw you, but have only done about 40 more pages...I.P. [In Parenthesis] was chained to a sequence of events which made it always a straightforward affair, whereas this effort is, I fear about ‘ideas’ the one thing I have always disliked in poetry...’ (Dai Greatcoat p 86). During the year he continued to write more of this exploratory poem. It is mentioned that ‘The opening part of The Book of Balaam’s Ass, in which “all the disorder and deadness takes shape and life”, is based on the town of Sidmouth and David’s deep affection for Prudence Pelham’ (ibid p 92). David enjoyed the company of Prudence Pelham (daughter of the 6th Earl of Chichester) very much. She visited him frequently in Sidmouth, often buying him books and they once enjoyed a happy trip to Ottery St Mary to visit the church there. She died aged 42 of multiple sclerosis in 1952. The second page of one version of Balaam’s Ass explicitly describes Sidmouth and demonstrates how David used his skills as an artist to describe a scene in words: a living sail turns the headland close in to change the shape of the small sea, sets free the constricting esplanade and bends the rigid sea-rail to a native curvature (for space itself, they say, leans, is kindly......). Even the Hotel Victoria shouts for joy ..; the Bedford .. has anyway a freedom of July/August 2018
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CATHEDRAL HISTORY
Cathedral History: A Pictorial Record Cardinal William Godfrey’s Solemn Reception as Cardinal – Wednesday 31st December 1958 Paul Tobin Pope John XXlll wasted no time in creating new cardinals at a consistory following his election in October 1958. His predecessor, Pope Pius Xll, held only two consistories during his pontificate, the second being five years beforehand in 1953. As a result, a number of important dioceses whose incumbent was traditionally made cardinal had to wait a number of years for this to be rectified, as well as bringing the number of electors to 70, then the statutory number. The consistory was held in the middle of December, shortly after which Cardinal Godfrey took possession of his titular church in Rome (Ss Nereus and Achilleus). This and other events, including a number of formal receptions in addition to celebrating Midnight Mass at the Venerable English College, meant a return home shortly after Christmas. The Solemn Reception to mark his return as Cardinal took place on New Year’s Eve in a full Cathedral, with the faithful filling the side aisles and galleries above, the seats in the nave being reserved for members of the Diplomatic Corps and representative figures in the public and Catholic life of England, along with clergy who were unable to be seated on the sanctuary. This picture was taken during the singing of the Te Deum, following the Cardinal’s address from a lectern on the wooden floor of the sanctuary. Mgr Frederick Row, Master of Ceremonies, stands to the right of the Cardinal, whilst behind are the Cardinal’s train bearer, Fr John Kearney, and to his left is Mgr Francis Bickford, MC, with Mgr Eustace Morrogh Bernard, Vicar General, to his right. In the centre of the high altar can be seen the cushion with the Cardinal’s red hat or Galero, which now hangs above his tomb in the Crypt. On the right side of the altar is the book on a stand from which the Provost of the Metropolitan Chapter, Bishop George Craven, sang the Prayer of Visitation at the start of the ceremony. Standing behind a prie-dieu on the right is the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Gerald Patrick O’Hara. He was the only American citizen to hold that office until Archbishop Edward Adams was appointed Papal Nuncio in 2017. The three figures in black to the left of the altar are the Cardinal’s two Private Secretaries, Fr David Norris and Mgr Derek Worlock with Anthony Bartlett, Gentiluomo, in the white ruff. The MC standing in front of them is Fr Anthony Cook A commemorative booklet, entitled The Red Hat, describes how when the ceremony was over the people outside Archbishop’s House called for the Cardinal to appear on the balcony. Having blessed them, he called for three cheers for His Holiness, resulting in ‘… embarrassed enthusiasm, known only to the English’ to cheer the Pope. 22
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A TRIPTYCH OF THE BAPTIST
The Central Panel Terry Egan John He rakes his fingers through the lank hair he’s just washed in a wooden bowl, and parts it – like the red sea... It’s just starting to curl out where his goat-skin coat hangs from a hefty shoulder – his ’hairy garment’. He’d have dressed like this – Elijah, the prophet, with his big leather belt! John would be the last of them – the first of the new preaching along the river...
The Prophet But this wilderness he’s a voice in, it isn’t a place or a time – it's something else entirely. How to put it exactly? He opens his mouth to talk about what’s to come, ’Repent!’ he commands... But it’s not enough, and, looking at these gapers, standing sorrowful by the banks of the Jordan, he pours its water over their hair, their faces...
The Baptist John worked all morning, watching the heads vanish, look! into the Jordan and reappear, smiling, new... Long lines of them were waiting; and there – suddenly – Jesus appeared before him and he lost courage... John felt the water lapping calmly between them under the sunlight; and Jesus waited, bearing his astonishment, wind in the curls of his hair...
The Shepherd What more do you need: certain locusts, wild honey, mutton and goat’s milk... he dips into treacly brown some translucent green insect, uses it to point, talking to the trunks from which he plucked it moving... All of it will serve; this nature surrounding him – this is his temple... This brook he tends his sheep at is tributary to a stream from the Dead Sea...
The Precursor It’s in their eyes though, streaming with tears and water; it's in the furrows of their newly-sodden brows – this: ’Are you the Messiah?’ How to answer that? ’Another will come after,’ he says, as they look. Half-submerged in it – the river flowing from him – he follows its course: ’Not with this will he baptise – not with this water – but with the Holy spirit!’
The Holy Spirit The sky opens up and a dove flutters down, look! John sees it descend but draw itself up as well, wings working to stay aloft so that that itself is a wonder of suspense and mesmerises... He hears a voice then: ”This is my beloved son...” but can’t concentrate, drops splashing from wetted locks into the water that vanishes into mists.
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July/August 2018
Oremus
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If we gaze into Mary’s soul, we shall see that grace in her has flowered into a spiritual life of incalculable wealth: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted oblation to God, continual contact, and intimate union with him. Mary's soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone, where love and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of mankind reign supreme. Carmel is the symbol of the contemplative life, the life wholly dedicated to the quest for God, wholly orientated towards intimacy with God; and the one who has best realised this highest of ideals is Our Lady herself, ’Queen and Splendour of Carmel.’ Fr Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, OCD
Saturday 7 July
The Months of
July and August Holy Father’s Prayer Intention: July - Evangelisation: Priests and their Pastoral Ministry That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests. August – Universal: The treasure of Families That any far-reaching decisions of economists and politicians may protect the family as one of the treasures of humanity.
Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday 6pm Adult Confirmation at Mass; Victoria Choir sings (Bishop Sherrington)
Sunday 8 July
Ps Week 2 14th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Sea Sunday) 9am Family Mass 10.30am Solemn Mass (Full Choir, Choristers’ music choice) Vierne – Messe solennelle in C sharp minor Schütz – Die mit Tränen säen Organ: Vierne – Final (Symphonie VI) 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Bevan – Magnificat primi toni Elgar – Great is the Lord Organ: Guillou – Saga VI 4.45pm Organ Recital: Ryan Hepburn (Brighton College)
Monday 9 July
St Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, Martyrs
Sunday 1 July
DEDICATION OF THE CATHEDRAL (1910) 10.30am Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Vaughan Williams – Mass in G Minor Parry – I was glad Malcolm – Terribilis est locus iste Organ: Vierne – Carillon de Westminster 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Victoria – Magnificat primi toni Schütz – Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen Organ: Reger – Dankpsalm 4.30pm Deaf Service Mass (Cathedral Hall) 4.45pm Organ Recital: Peter Stevens (Westminster Cathedral)
Tuesday 10 July
Monday 2 July
Saturday 14 July
Feria
Ps Week 1
Tuesday 3 July
ST THOMAS, Apostle 5.30pm Mass for the Intentions of the Holy Father (Archbishop Edward Adams, Papal Nuncio)
Wednesday 4 July
Feria (St Elizabeth of Portugal)
Thursday 5 July
Feria (St Anthony Zaccaria) 10.30am, 12.30 and 1.05pm Masses in Cathedral Hall 11am Good Shepherd Mass I (Bishop McAleenan) 2pm Good Shepherd Mass II (Bishop Wilson)
Friday 6 July
Friday Abstinence St Maria Goretti, Virgin & Martyr 7pm Choristers’ Alumni Recital (Lady Chapel) 24
Feria
Wednesday 11 July
ST BENEDICT, Abbot, Patron of Europe 5.30pm Vatican Cricket Team attends Mass
Thursday 12 July Feria
Friday 13 July
Friday abstinence Feria (St Henry) 5.30pm 60th Anniversary of Ordination Mass (Bishop Jabalé OSB) Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday 2.30pm L’Arche 40th Anniversary Mass (Bishop Hudson) 4pm Extraordinary Form Mass (Lady Chapel)
Sunday 15 July Ps Week 3 15th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 10.30am Solemn Mass (Men’s voices) Lassus – Missa In te, Domine, speravi Byrd – Laudate Dominum Phinot – O sacrum convivium a 8 Organ: J S Bach – Concerto in C major (BWV 594) 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Victoria – Magnificat primi toni Victoria – Salve Regina a 6 Organ: Leighton – Martyrs 4.45pm Organ Recital: Michael Butterfield (Westminster Cathedral)
Monday 16 July
Feria (Our Lady of Mount Carmel)
Our Lady of Carmel by Lorenzo Romero
Tuesday 17 July Feria
Wednesday 18 July
Feria 10am and 2.30pm St Mary’s University Graduation Ceremony 10.30am: Mass cancelled; 12.15-1.45 and 5-6pm only: Confessions
Thursday 19 July
10am and 2.30pm St Mary’s University Graduation Ceremony
Friday 20 July
Friday Abstinence Feria (St Apollinaris, Bishop & Martyr)
Saturday 21 July
Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday 2-6pm Filipino Club Tea Dance (Cathedral Hall) 6pm Visiting Choir: St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham
Sunday 22 July
16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Ps Week 4 10.30am Solemn Mass (Men’s voices) Clemens non Papa – Missa A la fontaine du Prez Victoria – Laudate Dominum Victoria – O sacrum convivium Organ: Buxtehude – Praeludium in C (BuxWV 137) 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Guerrero – Magnificat primi toni Lassus – Omnia tempus habent Organ: Alain – Deuxième Fantaisie 4.45pm Organ Recital: Jonathan Vaughn (Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut)
Monday 23 July
ST BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, Patron of Europe
Tuesday 24 July
Feria (St Sharbel Makhluf, Priest)
Wednesday 25 July
ST JAMES, Apostle 7.30pm Grand Organ Festival Recital: Isabelle Demers (Texas)
Thursday 26 July
Ss Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Friday 27 July Feria
Friday Abstinence
Saturday 28 July
Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday 11-4pm Summer Fair (Cathedral Hall)
Sunday 29 July
Ps Week 1 17th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 10.30am Solemn Mass (Men’s voices) Lassus – Missa Vinum Bonum Oremus
July/August 2018
© El Paso Museum of Art
DIARY
DIARY AND NOTICES Clemens non Papa – Ego flos campi Organ: Guiilmant – Scherzo symphonique 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Bevan – Magnificat primi toni Victoria – Dixit Dominus Organ: J S Bach – Passacaglia (BWV 582) 4.45pm Organ Recital: Ghislaine ReeceTrapp (Highgate School)
Wednesday 15 August
Monday 30 July
Friday 17 August
Feria (St Peter Chrysologus, Bishop & Doctor)
Tuesday 31 July
St Ignatius of Loyola, Priest
Wednesday 1 August
St Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop & Doctor
Thursday 2 August
Feria (St Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop) (St Peter Julian Eymard, Priest)
Friday 3 August Feria
Friday Abstinence
THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Holy Day of Obligation – fulfilled by attendance at the Vigil Mass of Tuesday or today
Thursday 16 August
Feria (St Stephen of Hungary) Feria
Friday Abstinence
Saturday 18 August
Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday
Sunday 19 August
Ps Week 4 20th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 10.30am Solemn Mass 4.30pm Solemn Vespers (English) and Benediction
Monday 20 August
St Bernard, Abbot & Doctor
Tuesday 21 August St Pius X, Pope
Saturday 4 August
Wednesday 22 August
Sunday 5 August
Thursday 23 August
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
St John Vianney, Priest
Ps Week 2 18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 10.30am Solemn Mass 4.30pm Solemn Vespers (English) and Benediction 4.30pm Deaf Service Mass (Cathedral Hall)
Monday 6 August
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD
Tuesday 7 August
Feria (Ss Sixtus II, Pope, & Companions, Martyrs) (St Cajetan, Priest)
Wednesday 8 August
Feria (St Rose of Lima, Virgin)
Friday 24 August
Friday Abstinence ST BARTHOLOMEW, Apostle
Saturday 25 August
Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday
Sunday 26 August
Ps Week 1 21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 10.30am Solemn Mass 4.30pm Solemn Vespers (English) and Benediction
Monday 27 August (Bank Holiday)
St Monica Mass at 10.30am, 12.30 and 5pm only; Confessions 11am-12.30pm
St Dominic, Priest
Thursday 9 August
ST TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS, Virgin and Martyr, Patron of Europe 6.30pm Pax Christi Ecumenical Service (Crypt)
Tuesday 28 August
St Augustine, Bishop & Doctor
Wednesday 29 August
Friday 10 August Friday Abstinence
ST LAWRENCE, Deacon and Martyr
The Passion of St John the Baptist 7.30pm Grand Organ Festival Recital: Martin Baker (Westminster Cathedral)
Saturday 11 August
Thursday 30 August
Sunday 12 August
Friday 31 August
St Clare, Virgin 2.30pm High Mass (Extraordinary Form): Latin Mass Society
Ps Week 3 19th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 10.30am Solemn Mass 4.30pm Solemn Vespers (English) and Benediction
Monday 13 August
Feria (Ss Pontian, Pope, & Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs)
Tuesday 14 August
St Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest & Martyr July/August 2018
Oremus
Feria (Ss Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line and Margaret Ward, Martyrs)
Friday Abstinence Feria (St Aidan, Bishop, and the Saints of Lindisfarne) Key to the Diary: Saints’ days and holy days written in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS denote Sundays and Solemnities, CAPITAL LETTERS denote Feasts, and those not in capitals denote Memorials, whether optional or otherwise. Memorials in brackets are not celebrated liturgically.
What Happens and When
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 (Latin, said); 12.30pm; 1.05pm and 5.30pm (Solemn, sung by the Choir). Morning Prayer (Lady Chapel): 7.40am. Evening Prayer (Latin Vespers* sung by the Lay Clerks in the Lady Chapel): 5.00pm (*except Tuesday when it is sung in English). Rosary is prayed after the 5.30pm Mass. Saturday: Masses: 8.00am; 9.00am; 10.30am (Solemn Latin, sung by the Choir); and 12.30pm. Morning Prayer (Lady Chapel): 10.00am. First Evening Prayer of Sunday (Lady Chapel): 5.30pm. First Mass of Sunday: 6.00pm. Sunday: Masses: 8.00am; 9.00am; 10.30am (Solemn, sung by the Choir); 12 noon; 5.30pm; and 7.00pm. Morning Prayer (Lady Chapel) 10.00am. Solemn Vespers and Benediction: 3.30pm. Organ Recital (when scheduled): 4.45pm. Holy Days 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: 10.30am-6.30pm. Sunday: 11.00am1.00pm; and 4.30-7.00pm. Monday-Friday: 11.30am-6.00pm. Public Holidays: 11.00am1.00pm. Sacred Heart Church, Horseferry Road SW1P 2EF: Sunday Mass 11.00am, Weekday Mass Thursday 12.30pm 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.
Throughout the Year Mondays: 11.30am: Prayer Group in the Hinsley Room. 6.30pm: Guild of the Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral Tuesdays: Walsingham Prayer Group in St George’s Chapel 2.30pm on first Tuesday of the month; 6.30pm: The Guild of St Anthony in the Cathedral. Wednesdays: 12.00pm: First Wednesday Quiet Days on the first Wednesday of every month in the Hinsley Room. Thursdays: 1.15pm: Padre Pio Prayer Group at Sacred Heart Church. 6.30pm: The Legion of Mary in Clergy House. Fridays: 5.00pm: Charismatic Prayer Group in the Cathedral Hall – please check in advance for confirmation. 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. 25
THE FRIENDS OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL
Discovering the PM as Artist Christina White I had the opportunity at the weekend to visit the ‘other’ exhibition currently on display at the Royal Academy. Whilst the crowds queued to get into Grayson Perry’s idea of contemporary art, a select few wandered the galleries of The Great Spectacle in cool comfort to marvel at the works that had been displayed in Summer Exhibitions of old. This was truly a spectacle: Turner, Constable, Stubbs, Rodin, Gainsborough … to name but a few. The shutters were drawn and the exhibition is displayed in womb-like rooms, paint-darkened for maximum effect. As we made our way towards 20th century submissions there, unmistakeably, was Winston Churchill’s gaudy rendition of his beloved Chartwell in all its terracottacoloured glory.
Chartwell by Churchill
Churchill is the only Prime Minister in history to have had a work accepted by the RA for submission in the Summer Exhibition. His depiction of Chartwell in snow was sent in under the pseudonym of David Winter and was duly accepted in 1947. It shouldn’t really be a surprise that he was tempted to chance his arm for artistic glory. Visiting Chartwell this May we were delighted to see the range of paintings still kept on display in the house and especially in his artist’s studio which doubled as a meeting room for the most private wartime discussions. Churchill was an enthusiastic artist. 26
Chartwell, as Winston duly recorded, looks magnificent in snow, but to appreciate the house and its setting at its best you must visit in May when the full beauty of the Weald is on display. The PM was drawn back to the house, time and time again. There are exhibitions of uniforms, all pomp and circumstance, but the special secret of Chartwell is its surprising domesticity. There are no Grand Master paintings or Sèvres porcelain – not wholly unexpected given its owner’s predilection for Cuban cigars and three bottles of Pol Roger a day. The paintings are by Churchill, the chintz in common with other country houses. We wandered the house and gardens at our leisure and were lucky with the weather. I should add that we started our day in Westerham with a most congenial visit to the beautiful Catholic church of St John the Baptist. Fr Ivan Aquilina was our host and we were made most welcome. I hope that his parishioners will come to us at the Cathedral for a return visit. The month of July starts for the Friends with the return of Alison Weir to Cathedral Hall for her talk on Jane Seymour – the third book in her series on the wives of Henry VIII. Do come and support her. She is a wonderful speaker who brings such energy and vitality to the dusty lives of these historic royals. We will be selling books on the day. And a reminder that we have tickets available for the curry quiz in October and our Speaker’s House event later that month. For full details of all forthcoming Friends’ events, please contact the office.
Forthcoming Events Thursday 5 July: Alison Weir - Jane Seymour Talk in the Hall with powerpoint presentation, drinks reception and book signing to follow. Doors will open at 6.30pm and the talk will commence at 7.15pm. Ticket price: £10.00 The October tour of the Houses of Parliament is sold out.
Tuesday 9 October: Quiz and Curry Night. The curry quiz returns with Indian lager and Guinness on sale. There will be a choice of menus again, so please indicate when booking which food option you require: lamb korma, vegetarian biryani or chicken Madras. Poppadoms and dips on the tables. Please note that for the Curry Quiz we stipulate a maximum table size of eight people. Doors open at 6.30pm. Ticket price: £18.00
Tuesday 23 October: The Speaker’s House. Full details of this very special event are available from the Friends’ Office. Please note that you must be a fully paid-up member of the Friends to join the evening reception. Ticket price £80 (single), or £150 (joint).
Contact us • Write to: Friends’ Office, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW • Call: 020 7798 9059 • Email: friends@ westminstercathedral.org.uk Registered Charity number 272899
Oremus
July/August 2018
CROSSWORD AND POEM
On the Glorious Assumption of Our Blessed Lady
Richard Crashaw
To submit a poem whether by yourself or another for consideration, please contact the Editor – details on page 3.
On Co-operation with God’s Grace A man’s readiness and commitment are not enough if he does not enjoy help from above as well; equally, help from above is no benefit to us unless there is also commitment and readiness on our part. These two facts are proved by Judas and Peter. For although Judas enjoyed much help, it was of no benefit to him, since he had no desire for it and contributed nothing from himself. But Peter, although willing and ready, fell because he enjoyed no help from above. So holiness is woven of these two strands. Thus I entreat you neither to entrust everything to God and then fall asleep, nor to think, when you are striving diligently, that you will achieve anything by your own efforts. God does not want us to be lying idly on our backs; therefore he does not effect everything himself. Nor does he want us to be boastful; therefore he did not give us everything. But having taken away from each of the two alternatives what is harmful, he has left us what is for our good. St John Chrysostom, Homily 82 on St Matthew, Sec. 4 July/August 2018
Oremus
Alan Frost: June 2018
Clues Across 1 Andalusian city from which the Moors were driven out in 1236 (7) 6 Common tree once much used for its timber (3) 8 Church and Palace of Westminster architect responsible for neoGothic revival (5) 9 London district of the Grade II Listed RC Church of St Anselm and St Cecilia (7) 10 St Teresa of -----, mystic and foundress of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (5) 11 See 5 Down 13 Open-air meal for group of people (6) 15 Pilgrim trail, particularly to Santiago de Compostela (6) 17 Nymph beloved by Eros or reference to the mind or spirit (6) 20 Capital city of Vietnam, which is a Catholic archdiocese (5) 21 Historic Irish town on the River Shannon in Co. Westmeath (7) 23 See 1 Down 24 St Alban ---, Benedictine martyr killed at Tyburn in 1642 (3) 25 See 1 Down Clues Down 1, 23 & 25 Acr: London-based publisher to the Holy See celebrating its 150th anniversary (8,5,7) 2 Outcome of a drawn football cup match (6) 3 Swabian-born Saint, Bishop of Bamberg [d.1139], Feast Day 2 July (4) 4 Copying at London Zoo? (5) 5 & 11 Acr: Saint who founded the Society of Jesus, Feast Day 31 July (8,6) 6 Badge or flag identifying organisation (6) 7 St Nicholas of ----, Patron Saint of children (4) 12 Supposed name of the soldier who pieced the side of the crucified Christ (8) 14 Quality of mercy of the nature of Mary proclaimed in the ‘Hail Holy Queen’ (8) 16 Chopin Waltz (Op.64) played in time! (6) 18 French bell protecting plants from frost? (6) 19 Very solid statements of attestation or appeal (5) 20 One in line to a throne or title (4) 22 ‘---- igitur’, prayer in EF Mass before the Consecration, accompanied by single bell ring (4)
ANSWERS Across: 1 Cordoba 6 Elm 8 Pugin 9 Holborn 10 Avila 11 Loyola 13 Picnic 15 Camino 17 Psyche 20 Hanoi 21 Athlone 23 Truth 24 Roe 25 Society Down: 1 Catholic 2 Replay 3 Otto 4 Aping 5 Ignatius 6 Ensign 7 Myra 12 Longinus 14 Clemency 16 Minute 18 Cloche 19 Oaths 20 Heir 22 Hanc
Hark! She is call’d. The parting hour is come. Take thy farewell, poor world! Heav’n must go home A piece of heav’nly earth, purer and brighter Than the chaste stars, whose choice lamps come to light her While through the crystal orbs, clearer than they, She climbs and makes a far more milky way. She’s called. Hark how the dear immortal dove Sighs to his silver mate, ‘Rise up, my love! ‘Rise up, my fair, my spotless one! The winter’s past, the rain is gone. ‘The spring is come, the flowers appear. ‘No sweets but thou are wanting here. ‘Come away, my love! ‘Come away, my dove! Cast off delay. ‘The court of heav’n is come ‘To wait upon thee home. Come, come away! ‘The flowers appear, ‘Our quickly would, wert thou once here. ‘The spring is come, or if it stay, ‘T’is to keep time with thy delay. ‘The rain is gone, except so much as we ‘Detain in needful tears to weep the want of thee. ‘The winter’s past. ‘Or, if he make less haste, ‘His answer is, Why, she does so. ‘If summer come not, how can winter go?
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A PAINTING CHOSEN/ LOST AND FOUND
Perseverance or Luck? Julian Game My work is hung in the largest gallery (the Yellow Room) and is in the company of Gary Hume RA, James Camp RA and Banksy, to name but a few. For me, the perseverance has paid off, or maybe it was more luck. My entry choice was one of three paintings (the smallest) I produced in a more contemporary style, based on a modern fad of distorted portraits using computer and phone apps. ‘Varnishing Day’ (a tradition where artists can put the finishing touches to their work before the opening) was held on 4 June, followed by private views ahead of the opening to the public (12 June – 19 August). I must admit, it has been an exciting experience, and one I’ll probably dine out on for most of this summer. To cap it all, the painting was sold before the Exhibition opened. Would I do it again next year? Yes, but I’ll add a few more noughts on!
© Julian Game
Despite being fortunate to be in art-based work through graphic design, painting has always really been my passion. I returned to painting a number of years ago, more as a hobby rather than anything else and have now accumulated a number of works (under the stairs), which have taken me on an interesting journey. I have in recent time submitted pieces to the RA Summer Exhibition where the public can share centre stage with some of the biggest names in the art world, but without success until now. First there is a digital process, and if you get through that hoop, your work is then put in front of the panel for the thumbs down or in my case on this occasion, the thumbs up. The tradition has been uninterrupted for 250 years and Grayson Perry RA has co-ordinated this, the biggest RA Summer Exhibition, with a record 20,000 submissions.
Number 256
More work can be seen at: www.juliangame.co.uk
Julian Game is the designer for Oremus.
A Relic Restored
With the assistance of an internet search, the relic was correctly identified as such and James sought expressions
28
of interest in offering a home for it via the company’s blog. A considerable number of responses were received from around the world, including one from the Cathedral. Happily, also, the relic’s owner came forward and indicated that they would would be happy for the relic to be loaned to the Cathedral for display in the Treasures Exhibition, and so, on Tuesday 19 June, Archbishop George Stack of Cardiff, as Chair of the Patrimony Committee of the Bishops’ Conference, received the relic from James Rubin. Dr Tessa Murdoch, Deputy Keeper of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass at the Victoria & Albert Museum, commented: ‘A part of a relic is representative of the whole. So even though this is a tiny piece, it represents
the whole saint and martyr. Because these things are cherished and kept in sacred places and sacred spaces, often in or under altars, the general public is not perhaps aware of their potency and so it's very rare that something like this comes into the public domain in such extraordinary circumstances, to remind us all of the extraordinary power and association of such a small object.’
© Mazur/catholicnews.org
The story of the relic of Pope St Clement I begins in Central London, where it was stolen from the car of a private individual. Some time afterwards it turned up in a rubbish haul from house and office clearances undertaken by the firm Enviro Waste. In February last year James Rubin, owner of the firm, spotted an unusual-looking object on a desk in the company's warehouse in Leyton, East London, where staff had been sorting waste to see what could be recycled or refurbished. The obvious question was: ‘Where has this come from?’, but no-one could say where, with the company's trucks clearing up to 30 premises a day.
The relic of Pope St Clement I, in the Editor’s hand
Oremus
July/August 2018
FIFTY AND ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
In retrospect: from the Cathedral Chronicle The days have now gone when ‘six petit beurre biscuits and a cup of watery cocoa’ was regarded as an adequate meal for a chorister at Westminster Cathedral. Gone, too, are the days when ‘every year some of the boys sat for the School Certificate; none of them ever passed, of course’. I suspect that today’s worshippers in the Cathedral would not approve of their choristers being served like this. Perhaps the worshippers of those earlier days, remembered by old boys of the School with mixed feelings, would not have approved, either, if they had known. The school year which has just ended has been an exciting and a most successful one in every field. The comments of the critics after the recent concert in St Paul’s confirmed what we knew already … that we sing very well. As a yardstick for measuring the academic standard of the School, this year’s Common Entrance Examination produced the best overall results we have ever had. As usual these days, we have had a very good year in the sporting field. You would think, of course, that by now, all the boys in the School would be needing new school caps, two or three sizes larger. I don’t think this is so … at least, I hope not. Our Cathedral Choir School is unique, in that until recently it was maintained almost entirely by the parents of the boys in the school, who even pay the cost of keeping their sons’ cassocks and cottas presentable for their appearances in the Cathedral. This coming year they will be asked to pay more, but it is not reasonable to expect them to shoulder the whole burden of increased costs, and some additional source of income must be quickly found. V.C
In a leading article of the Universe, June 15, attention was called to the reckless way in which names of public persons were bandied about .. in connection with a supposedly widespread plot of a grossly immoral and treasonable character. Whole classes of English society were, with Hun-like ruthlessness, dragged in the gutter. A common impression is abroad that where public persons, political or professional, are concerned you may lawfully say what you please. How far, if at all, is this correct? For answering the query, we need to recall certain points of moral teaching known to every well-instructed Catholic. Among sinful forms of speech are detraction and calumny. The first consists in uttering and circulating in regard to one’s neighbour evil that is true, but still not public knowledge – which, therefore, cannot lawfully be published – that is, without just cause. Detraction offends both against charity and justice. Against charity, because the detractor fails to love his neighbour as himself and neglects the equitable rule somewhat ungrammatically rendered ‘doing to others as you would be done by’. It violates justice, too, because a man (and, nowadays one must be careful to add, a woman) has a right to his public good name. like he has to his purse, until he generously gives it away himself. Nay, loss of reputation, besides being the heavier forfeit, often carries with it loss of money also.
GUILD OF ST GREGORY Cathedral Altar Servers Catholic men (from 18 years of age) needed to serve High Mass, Solemn Vespers on Sundays, chief feasts. Apply to: Guild Chaplain or Secretary c/o Cathedral. from Westminster Cathedral News Sheet, August 1968 ....... In a recent lawsuit Mr Justice Eve declared a certain bequest for Masses invalid. Till the day comes when legacies for the celebration of Masses (legacies that still remain to form endowment for many one-time Catholic churches, and colleges such as All Souls, Oxford) cease to come within an ancient and bigoted Superstitions Act, Catholics who wish to make dispositions for Masses to be celebrated after their death would do well to do so in some such recognised legal terms as follows :I give and bequeath to the Rev A. B. the sum of £ absolutely and without imposing upon him any legal obligation I beg of him to say Masses for the repose of my soul. As an alternative, a sum of money might be left absolutely to a priest, with a letter of instructions. July/August 2018
Oremus
The illustration gives a good idea of the immense congregation on France's Day, 12 July 1918
Calumny is worse than detraction, since it adds lying to the other wrongs – an aggravation held to be specially abhorred by Britons. Yet, as already said, an idea exists that when the neighbour happens to be a public character you may lawfully squirt out upon him the first foul aspersion that leaps to your tongue. That view is ethically indefensible. A man does not forfeit his natural or Christian rights by the mere fact of functioning or performing in public. from The Reason Why in the Westminster Cathedral Chronicle, July 1918 29
A FAREWELL
Leaving a Continuing Work Cathy Corcoran Before coming to the Cardinal Hume Centre in 2002 I worked for CAFOD where I acquired an abiding commitment to, and vision for, ‘a faith that does justice’ – striving to encourage the embedding of Catholic Social Teaching in practical action. Founded by Cardinal Hume just over 30 years ago as a compassionate and pragmatic response to the reality of homelessness which he saw every day in Westminster, especially young people sleeping on the streets and families squashed into sub-standard bed and breakfast accommodation, the Centre embodies that fusion of theology and practice. After 15 years at the helm, I am full of mixed emotions. I am leaving a special place of welcome and sanctuary for people who are often not welcome elsewhere; a committed and professional staff and volunteer team for whom I have complete respect; and supporters who are loyally and consistently generous. I will take with me some remarkable memories. I know we have reached out to thousands of people over those years, working with them to overcome the barriers increasingly put in front of them to achieve a better life for themselves and their families. By offering safe accommodation for homeless young people, help for struggling families, learning and employment support, housing, benefits, and immigration advice, I know that the Centre has made, and will continue to make, a tremendous difference to people in need. However, that knowledge is tinged with sadness and disquiet because, tragically, the situation facing people on low or no income is getting worse. Rough sleeping has increased visibly year on year since 2010, as has the number of ‘hidden homeless’, people sleeping on sofas or floors, in overcrowded accommodation, in hostels or simply ‘lost in the system’. All forms of poverty have increased as the cost of living rises, as wages remain static, as people are priced out of the housing market by inflated rents or their housing benefit allowance is cut to an unmanageable level, as personal debt increases to pay for basics, as benefits are cut or reduced, as the in-employment figures include thousands of people on zero hours contracts, as public services are withdrawn or abolished, as the places where people can go to for help are becoming few and far between. It’s a noxious cocktail, pushing more and more people inexorably over the edge into poverty and homelessness. And the cherry on that cocktail is the decreasing access to justice to challenge decisions and to claim rights and entitlements since legal aid was abolished for a whole swathe of issues. All in all, this is a pretty bleak picture and one which, as yet, takes no account of any fallout from Brexit. 30
What concerns me almost as much as the human suffering this represents, however, is that so many of us now regard homelessness, exclusion, and destitution as ‘normal’. Yes, we are still shocked especially when we hear an individual’s story and look into their eyes. But do we really find it shocking that there are people who are living on our streets who literally have nothing? That foodbanks on which, as someone put it recently, ‘over one million too many’ are dependent, are now an accepted part of voluntary provision? That children go to school hungry and rely on free school meals – if they continue, that is, with teachers paying for basic supplies from their own pockets? Some 30% of the population – 19 million people – are living in degrading and harmful poverty in the UK. Normalising what should be considered shameful in a ‘civilised’ and rich society such as ours is dangerous as it desensitises us, it stops us getting outraged and therefore wanting to do something about it. And particularly for Christians this is the opposite of what we are challenged to do – what we must do in the face of such rank injustice. Organisations such as the Cardinal Hume Centre and CAFOD are, of course, sustained by committed staff, volunteers and supporters, who simply refuse to normalise poverty and homelessness – people who really want to help, who will always believe, in the words of Cardinal Hume, that ‘each person matters’. As long as that continues, there is hope that we can turn the tide and refuse to accept that ‘poor will always be with us’. Thank you to all the readers of Oremus for your support for the Centre. May I ask you to extend a very warm welcome to my successor, George O’Neill, who takes up the reins on 2 July?
Cathy is the Outgoing CEO of the Cardinal Hume Centre. Oremus
July/August 2018
ST VINCENT DE PAUL SCHOOL
In My View: A Quiet Corner – The Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Michael The statue of Jesus is the most popular in the cathedral because it shows us the heart of Jesus, which means love. The statue was given to the Cathedral by some Religious Sisters. They have a school in Hammersmith called ‘The Sacred Heart High School’ where girls from our school sometimes go when it’s time to leave Primary School. The statue is made of white marble which is very hard to carve. The small altar has a relief of St Michael. He is the angel who threw out the devil from heaven, which is in a story in the Bible. St Michael is a protecting angel. He is in the Cathedral to remind us that we are all protected by our own angel. The chapel is a good place to go to in June, because the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus comes at that time of year. June is the month of the Sacred Heart and it is our school prayer focus for the month.
Sheldon is dressed in green, as this image was taken on the day when the Catholic Children’s Society asked children to wear that colour in remembrance of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Sheldon, Year 5 Westminster Cathedral is very gigantic to me and it’s very beautiful. I go to nine o’clock Mass there every Sunday. I travel from Feltham, I used to live in Ebury Bridge Road, but I still come here because I serve as an altar boy and my friends come as well. I really love the Cathedral. I have never been to Mass anywhere else. Although the Cathedral is huge, there are lots of small places to go to pray. One of the smallest corners is the Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Michael. I think the chapel is very small, but fabulous. The ceiling is covered with red mosaic flowers. The gold mosaic stones make the chapel sparkle. The red colour reminds us of Jesus’ blood, which he gives to us in Holy Communion. The Cathedral’s real name is the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is very grand. July/August 2018
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