Oremus March 2020

March 2020 | Edition Number 256 | FREE

Westminster Cathedral Magazine

St Casimir is especially venerated in Poland and Lithuania, and invoked as a patron of youth.

Bambang Sunshine Project

Eight Thames Bridges Walk 2020

The annual Sponsored Walk initiated by the late Eric Considine in aid of Filipino Children with Disabilities in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya will be held on Saturday 28 March.

In this 11th year of fundraising for the Sunshine Project, participants are invited to meet on the Cathedral steps at 10:30am, to start walking promptly at 11. We walk at our own pace and normally finish within three hours, with a get-together in the Cathedral Cafe for refreshments afterwards.

All are warmly welcome to share in supporting this worthwhile Project.

Contact Flora for a sponsorship form and more information on 07375 649160 Please follow us on Facebook

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Oremus

March 2020

CONTENTS

Inside Oremus

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 the Editor.

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 Ellen Gomes – Archives Design and Art Direction Julian Game 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.

The cover shows the altar of St Casimir’s Chapel in Vilnius Cathedral, Lithuania. The painting of the saint above the altar, now largely covered in silver, depicts him with two right hands, traditionally understood to indicate his exceptional generosity.

Printed by Premier Print Group 020 7987 0604

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Cathedral Life: Past & Present Introducing Fr Vincent The Role of Sacred Music: A Strategic Review SVP Schoolchildren Summoned to the Palace Our Lady of Walsingham: The Timetable for the Visit Cathedral History: The Great Mosaic Controversy

by Peter Howell and Patrick Rogers Cathedral History in Pictures: The Installation of Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor

by Paul Tobin Vexilla Regis: A New Cathedral Choir CD

by Philip Arkwright The Winter Night Shelter

by James Coeur-de-Lion

4 9 10 & 11 14

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16 & 17

22 & 23

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Features Two Helping Initiatives – An Art Auction and ‘Super Nuns’ 6 The Cardinal Picks Three Pictures 7 A Lunar Perspective on Life

by Dr Stuart Blackie 8 Can Young People Keep siLENT? 11 The Dowry of Mary and a Re-dedication – Part 2

by Mgr John Armitage 12 & 13 Law and Grace

by St John Henry Newman 15 The Twilit World of Léon Spilliaert at the Royal Academy 20 Dostoyevsky, Dickens and a Homily

by Steve Burrows 28 & 29 An Introduction to Persecution Examined by Bishop Philip Mountstephen 29

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Regulars From the Chairman 5 Monthly Album 18 & 19 Friends of the Cathedral 21 Cathedral Diary and Notices 24 & 25 Crossword and Poem of the Month 26 In Retrospect 27 3

JOINING THE COLLEGE

Join the Companions ... and help us to keep publishing Oremus free of charge Although we earn income from the advertising which we carry, Oremus relies on donations from readers to cover its production costs.

The Companions of Oremus was established to recognise those who give generously to support us. Open exclusively to individuals, Companions’ names are published in the magazine each month (see page 7). All members are invited to one or more social events during the year and Mass is offered for their intentions from time to time.

If you would like to support us by joining the Companions, please write to Oremus, Cathedral Clergy House, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW or email oremuscomps@rcdow.org.uk with your contact details, including postcode. Members are asked to give a minimum of £100 annually. Please mention how you would like your name to appear in our membership list and if you are eligible to Gift Aid your donation. Postal subscriptions to Oremus may be purchased through the Cathedral Gift Shop’s website or by using the coupon printed in the magazine.

Thank you for your support.

Fr Vincent Becomes a Chaplain I am Fr Vincent Mbu’i, a member of the Society of the Divine Word, known as the SVD. After finishing my noviciate as well as doing part of my training at St Paul Major Seminary, Ledalero, in my home country of Indonesia, I went to Germany to continue my studies. My training to become a priest was at Steyler Missionare Missionspriesterseminar Sankt Augustin in Bonn, Germany. It took 11 years for my training to be finished and for me to be ordained!

The seminary helped me to know myself better, as it provided an understanding of an intercultural and multicultural way of being. My encounters with people from different backgrounds taught me the values of 4

first acknowledging and then accepting differences in the way people think and behave. As a deacon and then as a newly ordained priest I was stationed at Stadtpfarrkirche St Martin in Lauingen an der Donau. I also underwent pastoral ongoing formation with the Pallettines in Friedberg. After my time in Lauingen I gained experience in Hamburg, where I worked as an assistant priest for one year. Here I encountered many people who were looking for meaning in their lives and who were searching for true values.

Having experienced different German cultures, together with their values and the kindness of their people, I was eager to face new cultures and to learn a new language. In 2012 I moved to Ireland and worked there for two years. In 2014 I came over to London and worked in Marychurch parish in Hatfield. Then in 2015 I moved to Bristol at St Mary on the Quay in the city centre. Both Hatfield and

Bristol have broadened my horizons and enabled me to reflect on and to value my experiences. My encounter with the people of God has invited me to discover what it means to have a spiritual home, a place where you are loved and accepted as who you are. Your spiritual home is also where you can feel the gaze of love from the Cross which says: ‘You are precious in my eyes’. This is infinitely better than feeling that you are a stranger in your own house, or feeling yourself to be an outsider who is rejected, which sometimes happens.

As part of the College of Chaplains at Westminster Cathedral I open my heart to be surprised by new experiences. This is a time of learning.

I am grateful for your welcoming arms and willingness to have me in this place, to journey with you and to be with you. Your support and your prayers are much appreciated.

Oremus

March 2020

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Canon Christopher Writes During the next few weeks we will be hearing much more on the topic of England as Mary’s Dowry. This title, promoted by King Richard II in 1381, signified the important place that Our Lady held in the devotion and prayer life of the people of this land. For a three-day period in March, the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham will come to us at the Cathedral and will be a focus of our devotion and renewal. Then, eight days later on Sunday 29 March, the Cardinal will lead us in a National Day when we are invited to make an Act of Rededication of this country as Our Lady’s Dowry through the faith which we profess.

When visiting a Catholic country one is very conscious of the many visible signs of faith, be they crucifixes, statues, icons or wayside shrines, and it is with sadness that one reflects that this was once true of our own country before the religious upheavals of the 16th century, which saw their mass destruction. Happily, in recent years, we have seen the restoration of a number of the principal shrines, especially those in Anglican cathedrals.

In the little village of Cley-next-the-Sea in north Norfolk, there is an old stone bridge dating back to the 14th century.

In the middle of the bridge there is a stone platform on which once stood a wayside shrine to Our Lady; and as the bridge marked the point between harbour and estuary, many prayers for protection would be offered by those going out to sea, and acts of thanksgiving for those returning, not to mention the prayers of those crossing the bridge. How wonderful if one day that empty platform could once again support an image of Our Lady.

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 Daniel Humphreys, Sub-Administrator Fr Julio Albornoz Fr Michael Donaghy Fr Andrew Gallagher, Precentor Fr Hugh MacKenzie Fr Vincent Mbu’i SVD Fr Rajiv Michael Fr John Scott, Registrar Sub-Administrator’s Assistant James Coeur-de-Lion Also in residence Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victories Music Department Awaiting appointment, Master of Music Peter Stevens Obl. OSB, Assistant Master of Music Callum Alger, Organ Scholar Cathedral Manager Peter McNulty Estates Manager Neil Fairbairn Chapel of Ease Sacred Heart Church Horseferry Road SW1P 2EF

Before our Marian devotions, however, we have the opportunity to listen quietly to the voice of the Lord at the beginning of the month when we shall keep our annual Quarant’Ore devotion. The usual schedule of Masses will continue, but the College of Chaplains will be celebrating the hours of the Divine Office publicly and Cathedral groups will also lead devotions at various times. Do call in to spend time with the Lord when you can; and the Cathedral will remain open throughout the nights of Tuesday and Wednesday 3/4 March for those who may be able to keep vigil. May the Quarant’Ore be for us a time of a deep encounter with Christ’s love displayed in the Eucharist.

With every blessing for a fruitful and prayerful Lent

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TWO HELPING INITIATIVES

Journeys in Hope John Woodhouse

Two years ago on the Westminster Lourdes pilgrimage the idea of an art auction was born and I duly painted the Lourdes torchlight procession. Then I heard Lord Alf Dubs speak about the appalling conditions in which children were living because they had been denied their lawful right to rejoin their families in the UK. So I decided to change my painting to express what I believe in, hence: Unsafe passage.

And so we began to prepare for the art exhibition at Mount Street Jesuit centre. Seven artists joined me in donating work and the opening was a great success. We definitely got our message across to the many young people present. The three weeks culminated in an art auction, which raised over £5,000 to be divided between the Westminster Lourdes

pilgrimage, Aid to the Church in Need, and Safe Passage. My teacher, Nelson Ferreira, offered portraits as a lot. Jennifer Scott, the Sackler director of Dulwich

Picture Gallery, opened the auction and spoke about the beauty of the work and the profound effect of pictures like Syrian Pieta.

Graphic Artists Support ‘Super Nuns’ Vatican News

On Saturday 8 February, the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, and Feast of St Josephine Bakhita, Pope Francis launched an on-line fundraising initiative – 'Super Nuns’ – to raise funds for the Talitha Kum network of Religious Sisters who dedicate their lives to the rescue and rehabilitation of human trafficking survivors.

For 10 years the global network of Sisters has been quietly dedicated to prevention, rescue and rehabilitation of human trafficking survivors. The work they do is challenging and often risky. They are out on the streets raising awareness, making contact with victims in dangerous contexts, sheltering 6

them from traffickers and exploitation, providing a passage home and new skills with which to rebuild shattered lives. That’s why fundraising is important – and particularly complicated, because the Sisters operate out of sight and don’t publicly announce successes.

The ‘Super Nuns’ community is a project launched by Talitha Kum that aims to reach a whole new range of potential supporters as a collaboration between the Sisters and some wellknown graphic artists who will be posting their comic strip style images on the subscriber-supported Patreon platform.

using the internet to lure victims. He also spoke both about providing healing for those who have already fallen victim to this form of modern-day slavery, and about the need for prevention. ‘To heal this scourge - because it is truly a scourge - which exploits the weakest, the commitment of all is needed: institutions, associations, as well as educational agencies.’ So, he added, the Church needs to educate people ‘about the healthy use of technology, while at the same time ‘reminding the providers of online services about their responsibilities.’ Talitha Kum has responded to his call.

The Holy Father said that studies show criminal organizations increasingly

Visit the ‘Super Nuns’ site at: www. patreon.com/SuperNuns Oremus

March 2020

THREE SHORT FILMS

The Cardinal’s Picture Picks

Companions of Oremus

Just outside the north eastern tip of the boundary of the Cathedral parish on Trafalgar Square is the National Gallery, which has been visited three times in recent months by Cardinal Vincent as part of the continuing activities for the Year of the Word, ‘The God Who Speaks’.

Mrs Mary Barsh Dr Stuart Blackie Anne Veronica Bond Richard Bremer Francis George Clark Daniel Crowley Ms Georgina Enang Alfredo Fernandez Fred Gardiner Connie Gibbes Zoe & Nick Goodway Mrs Valerie Hamblen Bernadette Hau Bernard Adrian Hayes Mrs Henry Hely-Hutchinson Mrs Cliona Howell Alice M Jones & Jacob F Jones Poppy K Mary Thérèse Kelly Florence M G Koroma Raymund Livesey Alan Lloyd in memoriam Barry Lock Clare and John Lusby Pamela McGrath Linda McHugh Peter McNelly in memoriam Christiana Thérèse Macarthy-Woods James Maple Dionne Marchetti Paul Marsden Mary Maxwell Abundia Toledo Munar Chris Stewart Munro Mrs Brigid Murphy Kate Nealon Cordelia Onodu Cris Ragonton Emel Rochat Berenice Roetheli John Scanlan Mr Luke Simpson Sonja Soper Tessa and Ben Strickland Julia Sutherland Eileen Terry Mr Alex Walker Jacqueline Worth Patricia M Wright

He has chosen three of the Gallery’s pictures and speaks about each of them in a short film. The first looks at a picture entitled Saints Jerome and John the Baptist by the Renaissance artist Masaccio, and was released in time for St Jerome’s feast which falls on the last day of September. The second, offered as an Advent devotion, was The Nativity at Night by the Dutch artist Geertgen tot Sint Jans. The third film focuses on The Incredulity of St Thomas by Giovanni Battista Cima da Congeliano and went live on Ash Wednesday, happily bringing us into the Lenten season.

© National Gallery

As well as the film itself, the text of the Cardinal’s commentaries and additional material are available and easily accessed via the website of the Bishops’ Conference: https:// www.cbcew.org.uk/home/events/the-god-who-speaks/filmsscripture-and-art/, where you can also find other initiatives listed under the heading of ‘Art and Culture’.

In Masaccio’s picture St Jerome is depicted holding a copy of the scriptures. Appropriately, the book is open at page 1, the beginning of the book Genesis, so that we can read (from the Latin): In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, and God’s spirit hovered over the water.

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and of our anonymous Companions If you would like to become a Companion of Oremus, see page 4

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THE EARTH, MOON AND THE SUN

The Severn Bore, so-called, is a phenomenon of the tides, sufficient to be ridden, as here by a surfer at Minsterworth

© Lesmalvern

What Did the Moon ever Do for Us? Dr Stuart Blackie We owe a lot to the Moon. Oliver Morton in his book The Moon: A History for the Future has proposed that if the Moon did not circle our planet, the axis about which the Earth rotates each day would have been unstable. The extreme scenarios would be either to straighten or to dramatically tilt.

The first scenario might mean that we end up like Mercury, a planet with no moon, whose axis of rotation tilts a tiny 2 degrees. Were this to have been the case, we would never have experienced our seasons. The second extreme is that we might roll over like Uranus and rotate on our side with one pole pointing at the sun and half our world stuck in a prolonged, if not perpetual, night-and-ice age.

Of course, this is hypothetical. But there is no doubt that the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun are responsible for the ocean tides and these tides are thought to have been of enormous significance in the development of life on earth. The range of tides shows enormous differences over the earth as a whole, but in the Devonian era, because the moon was closer, the tides were greater. However, even now on the Atlantic coast of North America there are important variations. There is a rise of only a foot or two at the Florida Keys, but at Cape Cod Bay the spring tide range is 11 – 12 feet and at other places it is higher. In this country, the Severn is noted for its impressive tidal race.

As day after day the great tides ebb and flow, the rocky shores are visibly marked by stripes of colour parallel to the sea’s edge. These bands or zones are composed of living things.

They reflect the states of the tide, and the length of time that a particular level of the shore is uncovered. It is this which determines, in large measure, what can live there. At the lowest of the spring tides there is a zone exposed only during the last 8

hour of their fall – that sub-tide world where all the rock is painted a deep rose hue by the lime-secreting seaweeds that encrust it and where the gleaming brown ribbons of large kelps lie exposed on the rocks.

Above this, towards the low tide mark the Irish moss spreads its low cushioning growth. Above this are seaweeds.

But the most conspicuous zone extends to the upper line of the high tides. On an open shore with moderate heavy surf, the rocks are whitened by the crowded millions of barnacles.

Above this, snails evolving towards land existence browse on vegetation or hide in seams and crevices in rocks. The hardiest species live in the upper zone. Some of the world’s most ancient plants, the blue-green algae thought to have originated aeons ago in the sea, have emerged from it to form dark tracings on the rocks above the high tide line, a black zone visible on rocky shores in all parts of the world. Above the high-water mark of neap tides is a band, the splash zone, that is more earth than sea. It is inhabited chiefly by pioneering species which have gone far along the road towards land life, because they can endure separation from the sea for many hours or days.

With only minor variations, this pattern of life exists in all parts of the world. The differences from place to place are related usually to the force of the surf. This scenario, which continues to be played out today, is the basis of a credible theory to explain how life, which is thought to have arisen first in the oceans, could have begun to colonise dry land. Last June we commemorated 50 years since we first set foot on the Moon. We are already eyeing up its commercial potential but, before we recklessly exploit our neighbour, perhaps we should think about treating it with respect.

Oremus

March 2020

MUSIC AT THE CATHEDRAL

A Strategic Review The Diocese of Westminster is undertaking a strategic review of the role of sacred music in the mission of Westminster Cathedral. Its musical tradition, in its excellence, constitutes a crucial and powerful part of the mission of the Cathedral. The Choir is recognised as one of the finest in the world. Since its foundation in 1901 it has occupied a unique and enviable position at the forefront of English church music, famous both for its distinctive continental sound and its repertoire.

A panel has been appointed to undertake this review over the next eight to 10 weeks, which will be completed by early April 2020. Its members bring experience, knowledge and deep interest in the role of Westminster Cathedral and its great musical tradition. Commenting on this announcement, Cardinal Nichols said: ‘In welcoming this strategic review, I thank most sincerely those who are going to conduct it. They do so with my full confidence. Our musical heritage is precious and this review is an opportunity to strengthen this heritage and look forward to the next 10 years with confidence.’ In addition to consulting with a number of post holders and external experts, the panel has welcomed submissions from interested parties.

The Cathedral’s mission Westminster Cathedral stands at the centre of London as a sign of the presence of the Body of Christ and the Church. In the words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer for the Dedication of a Church: ‘This visible house is where you never cease to show favour to your family on pilgrimage to you in this place and where you wonderfully manifest and accomplish the mystery of your communion with us.’ The Cathedral gathers a community, united in worship around the bishop, forming that community in prayer through the celebration of the sacraments, the preaching of God’s Word and the March 2020

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beauty of worship, and through ministry to all who come there, reaching out to those in need, especially the homeless.

This mission of the Cathedral is carried out not only in its neighbourhood and parish, but also in the diocese and the entire city of London, also achieving a national profile and impact. The Cathedral is, then, a living sign of the Body of Christ – building charity, proclaiming mercy, striving for unity and peace through Word and Sacrament.

In its mission, the Cathedral must constantly enhance and strengthen itself as it responds to the changing society it seeks to serve.

Music at the Cathedral The musical tradition constitutes a crucial and powerful part of the mission of the Cathedral. The appeal of sacred music has widened as it has become increasingly recognised as an expression of a profound spiritual dimension in human experience.

The capacity of Cathedral music to touch the human soul is of immense importance. Comprising up to 20 boy trebles and altos aged eight to 13 and 10 professional lay clerks (adult singers), the Choir remains the only Catholic Cathedral choir in the world to sing Mass each day and Vespers on most days. The Choir also performs in concerts at home and abroad, and continues to make recordings, as it has done regularly throughout its existence.

Westminster Cathedral Choir School Westminster Cathedral Choir School is a Catholic preparatory school for about 250 boys aged four to 13, 70% of whom are Catholics. Some 20 of them are boarding choristers joining at the age of eight. Choristers sing to a world-class standard and musical standards across the board are outstanding. The school is academically selective and boys enjoy a demanding curriculum. The Independent Schools Inspectorate gave the highest possible judgments of the school in its most recent inspection (November 2018).

Aims of the strategic review The aims are to consider: 1. The steps needed, within the mission of the Cathedral, to strengthen the role played by sacred music, including talent, resources and capital.

2. The structures and clarity of roles (governance, management, human resources, reporting, safeguarding) that are required for the continued development of the contribution of music to the Cathedral’s mission, within the network of the relationships between the Cathedral, its Music Department and Westminster Cathedral Choir School.

This review will examine these issues with a 10-year perspective.

Members of the Panel Robert Arnott, Director of Strategy, Social Mobility and Disadvantage at the Department for Education and Chair of Trustees of the Cardinal Hume Centre.

Leslie Ferrar, Non-Executive Director of Secure Income REIT PLC and former Trustee of the Diocese of Westminster.

Mgr Mark Langham, Roman Catholic Chaplain of Cambridge University and former Administrator of Westminster Cathedral.

Andrew Reid, formerly Director of the Royal School of Church Music and former Assistant Master of Music of Westminster Cathedral.

Consultation The Panel will formally consult with the following current post holders: The Administrator of Westminster Cathedral The Chair of Governors and Head Master of Westminster Cathedral Choir School The Assistant Master of Music of Westminster Cathedral The Chief Operating Officer of the diocese of Westminster The Diocesan Director of HR 9

I HAVE ST VINCENT A DREAM DE PAUL PRIMARY SCHOOL

An Invitation to the Palace Nathaniel Scott Cree

On the morning of Thursday 16 January 2020, a group of pupils and staff from St Vincent de Paul had the rare honour and privilege of being invited to take part in a special event, hosted by HRH the Duke of Sussex at Buckingham Palace. With physical education maintaining a high presence on the curriculum at the school, the children were chosen following their recent success as winners of the Westminster Primary Schools’ Tag Rugby competition (an honour they have held for three consecutive years).

The Duke was hosting the official draw for the Rugby League World Cup 2021, and the event was to be broadcast live on the BBC and online around the world. The children and staff were joined by dignitaries from the 21 nations taking part, alongside special guests ex-England rugby league professional, Jason Robinson, and Olympic medallist, Dame Katherine Grainger. The World Cup will be held in venues across England during the autumn of 2021 and, in a first for a major sporting event, the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions will take place concurrently. Although there was already plenty of interest in the draw, it was given heightened focus following the announcement the previous week that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex intended to step away from senior royal duties. Was this to be Prince Harry’s final public appearance for some time?

Of the 12 Year 6 pupils who attended, three were tasked with assisting with the live draw (a huge responsibility!), whilst the remaining nine exhibited their rugby skills in front of the assembled media outside in the garden of the Palace where a special mini rugby pitch had been created. Two rugby league ambassadors led the session with the pupils.

With the excited and energetic children having warmed-up and taken a few tumbles on the hallowed turf of the Palace garden (complete with mud smears on the official world cup sweaters they were given to wear), the Duke soon appeared

A demonstration master class

outside to observe the high-spirited rugby on show and to speak with rugby officials and the children in the full gaze of the media and cameras present.

Prince Harry spent quality time with our pupils, asking each one their name and shaking their hand in turn. He seemed at ease, yet surprised to learn that the children were all from the same class and school, just a stone’s throw from the Palace itself. Alas, with his smart suit and shoes he was not prepared to join in with the game, but no doubt he was tempted! Having posed for photographs with the young players, the Duke and his young guests headed back inside the Palace to assemble ready for the live draw.

Incidentally, this might just be the only time in the history of Buckingham Palace (I, for one, am keen to know) that invited guests have taken their plush seats in the Throne Room, having left a trail of mud up the grand stairs and along the lavishly decorated hallway. The Palace staff certainly had their work cut out ensuring as much of it was removed from the children’s clothes and shoes before coming inside! The three children held their nerve to present the different pots of balls as the draw for the different competitions unfolded, before all present gathered for a final group photo in front of the three splendid trophies on display. Which countries will get their hands on them next year?

Once this was completed, there was the small matter of some media interviews for the children, who again came across maturely and confidently. Inevitably, the line of the reporters’ questions leaned towards what the children thought of their Royal host. Here are some of their own reflections of this exciting and memorable day: ‘It was an honour to be in Buckingham Palace. I was so excited and nervous as I had to hand the balls for the draw to Dame Katherine Grainger. Seeing myself on the TV was a bit strange!’ (Neil)

The School’s winning rugby players with Prince Harry 10

‘The Palace was very grand, and I got to speak to Prince Harry. He was very nice and comfortable to talk to. We had front row seats for the draw too!’ (Kamina) Oremus

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ST VINCENT DE PAUL PRIMARY SCHOOL

The formal group photo for the 2021 World Cup draw

‘When I gave the pot of balls to Prince Harry, I was nervous, but he winked at me and that made me feel more relaxed.

Afterwards I spoke to the BBC and ITV and they asked me questions about Harry and the Palace. It was a fantastic day and experience.’ (Ivanesa)

physical education. We are certainly very proud of them. We hope that we might one day get to visit the palace again, but in the meantime, look forward to watching the competition when it gets under way in 18 months’ time and recalling this wonderful day.

Overall, it was a very special occasion for our school, and the children were excellent ambassadors not just for St Vincent de Paul, but for the sport of rugby and primary

Mr Scott Cree is the Head Teacher of St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School.

Silence for siLENT !

© Million Minutes

Million Minutes – a Catholic social action charity – stands up for young people who don't have a voice in society, and helps them to transform their lives and their world by giving them a voice.

We know that young people are the future and we have faith in them that they will work for the common good, in order to help everyone live a life of dignity.

This year we have launched the 2020 Lenten initiative – siLENT. Million Minutes feels Lent is a great time to try something different: silence. Take time to give up the things that fill life with noise and restlessness. By staying siLENT, you will be standing in solidarity with young people who March 2020

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don’t have a voice, for whom silence isn't a choice. A ’Million Minutes of Silence’ is a really simple idea – each minute is sponsored to raise money for projects supporting young people. Throughout Lent 2020 schools, parishes, communities and individuals will help clock up a million minutes! Each minute is sponsored to raise money for youthled social action projects across the country.

People can take part in different ways: • Collective silence in school/ groups – e.g. you could set up a silent assembly, choose an hour together, or do a ’silent relay’ by each staying silent for an hour and passing on the ’baton’!

• 24 hours straight – Just go for it! Choose a date in Lent (26 February to 12 April) and start getting sponsored.

• No Phone or Social Media over Lent! – Instead of spending all those hours online, spend just half an hour a day in silence (and an hour on Good Friday and Holy Saturday). It adds up to 24 hours.

While you stay siLENT we will be making lots of noise about you via our social media pages, in order to help you share your story and reach your fundraising target.

See: millionminutes.org/silent/ 11

ENGLAND, THE ‘DOWRY OF MARY’

A New Dedication for Today, Part 2 Mgr John Armitage, Rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham Marian Shrine of the Incarnation

Rededicating England

When England returns to Walsingham, Our Lady will return to England.

In the past, England was given as a gift to Our Lady, a donation reflecting the great love of her people who sought Mary’s prayers and protection. The gift to be given in 2020 will likewise reflect that same love of the Mother of God, but what is to be offered will not be the country of England, but the gift of the personal faith of the people of this country, as we seek once again the prayers and protection of the Mother of God. In particular, we ask Our Lady, Star of the New Evangelisation, to assist the Church in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of today by the witness of the Catholic community. In his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope St Paul VI reflected on the power of witness: ‘Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community,

The establishment of the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham arose out of the devotion of the Lady Richeldis, who We look forward to welcoming the Shrine Statue had a great desire to honour the Mother of God. Walsingham is certainly not the oldest Marian shrine in England, but it is the place where Our Lady made herself known in spirit and asked for the replica of the Holy House of Nazareth to be built so that ‘all could share in the joy of my Annunciation’. The fruits of this manifestation of the Holy Spirit brought joy, comfort and hope to all who came and continue to come on pilgrimage: O England, you have great cause to be glad For you are compared to the Promised Land, Zion You are called in every realm and region The Holy Land, Our Lady's Dowry.

In you is built new Nazareth, A house to the honour of the Queen of Heaven And her most glorious Salutation When Gabriel said at Old Nazareth, Ave, This same joy shall here be daily and forever remembered.

The Pynson Ballad 12

© Farragutful

© Thorvaldsson

These prophetic words of Pope Leo XIII seem to indicate that Walsingham is intimately associated with the spiritual health of England. Mary was the first disciple, who has guided and inspired the Church since the beginning.

She was the one who accompanied her Son from the moment of his Conception at the Annunciation to his Death and Resurrection, and was present at the birth of the Church at Pentecost. This was the cause of Mary’s joy, that she witnessed the events of the life of her Son.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas, has its own arch of the Abbey ruins as Our Lady’s Shrine.

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ENGLAND, THE ‘DOWRY OF MARY’ show their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization.’

To this end on Sunday 29th March 2020, the Sunday after the Solemnity of the Annunciation at 12 noon, the time of the Angelus, individuals will be invited to recite the new prayer based on the Angelus, which we have called the Angelus Promise. This may take place during Mass, or a Liturgy of the Word, or in one’s home, or people may wish to make a pilgrimage on that day to a shrine or to their cathedral. The Act of Dedication will begin after the recitation of the Angelus Promise, with the reading of the words of Archbishop Arundel: ‘The contemplation of the great mystery of the Incarnation has drawn all Christian nations to venerate her from whom came the first beginnings of our redemption.

But we English, being the servants of her special inheritance and her own dowry, as we are commonly called, ought to surpass others in the fervour of our praises and devotions.’

Let us pray: O Holy Mother of God, pray for us and assist us as we dedicate ourselves this day. Your ‘Yes’ at the Annunciation brought our Saviour Jesus into the world, and you invite us to contemplate the great mystery of the Incarnation, sharing your joy in announcing that: ‘the Word was made flesh and lived among us’. May our ‘Yes’, this day, open our hearts to serve our sisters and brothers in this your Dowry, that they, too, may share our joy in the Good News that God walks among us. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Message of Pope Francis to pilgrims to Loreto ‘As followers of Jesus Christ, we must learn to follow; and to follow we must learn to trust. A physical pilgrimage through unfamiliar territory is a great lesson in trust; one must accept whatever the road has to offer: the accommodations, fellow travellers, the weather, the inconveniences, the hardships, the annoyances. A pilgrim heart looks to the journey with willingness, openness, and a good sense of humour. If we choose to trust that God has called us on this journey and he is directing it, we can relax and be open to the lessons he is seeking to teach us.

We trust that God will walk the way with us, no matter what happens. He doesn’t promise to make the way easy; he simply says: “I will be with you.”’

The Angelus Promise Verse: The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.

Response: And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

As God once called Mary, so today he calls me to seek his Word in my life.

Hail Mary, full of grace …

Verse: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Response: Be it done to me according to thy Word.

Mary’s simple ‘Yes’ opened her heart to God’s grace and all things became possible. Let my ‘Yes’ take away fear as I embrace God’s will and, like Mary, ‘ponder these things in my heart’.

Hail Mary, full of grace …

Verse: And the Word became flesh (bow or genuflect).

Response: And dwelt among us.

Mary’s faith-filled ‘Yes’, conceived first in her heart, led to the birth of our Saviour; as I commit myself to my faith-filled ‘Yes’ today, I accept my Saviour into my heart bringing his life to my world.

Hail Mary, full of grace …

Verse: Pray for us, most holy Mother of God Response: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

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13

TWO OPPOSITE ERRORS

Law and Grace St John Henry Newman There are two opposite errors: one, the holding that salvation is not of God; the other, that it is not in ourselves. Now it is remarkable that the maintainers of both the one and the other error, whatever their differences in other respects, agree in this – in depriving a Christian life of its mysteriousness.

He who believes that he can please God of himself, or that obedience can be performed by his own powers, of course has nothing more of awe, reverence, and wonder in his personal religion than when he moves his limbs and uses his reason, though he might well feel awe then also. And in like manner he also who considers that Christ’s passion once undergone on the Cross absolutely secured his own personal salvation, may see mystery indeed in that Cross (as he ought), but he will see no mystery, and feel little solemnity, in prayer, in ordinances, or in his attempts at obedience. He will be free, familiar, and presuming in God’s presence.

Neither will ‘work out their salvation with fear and trembling’; for neither will realize, though they use the words, that God is in them ‘to will and to do’. Both the one and the other will be content with a low standard of duty: the one, because he does not believe that God requires much; the other because he thinks that Christ in His own person has done all.

Neither will honour and make much of God’s Law: the one, because he brings down the Law to his own power of obeying it; the other, because he thinks that Christ has taken away the Law by obeying it in his stead. They only feel awe and true seriousness who think that the Law remains; that it claims to be fulfilled by them; and that it can be fulfilled in them through the power of God’s grace. Not that any man alive arises up to that perfect fulfilment, but that such fulfilment is not impossible; that it is begun in all true Christians; that they are all tending to it; are growing into it; and are pleasing to God because they are becoming like Him who, when He came on earth in our flesh, fulfilled the law perfectly.

Seafarers endure much to bring us the things we depend on every day.

So it’s only fair that we offer a warm welcome, a friendly face and a listening ear when they arrive on our shores.

It’s a small gesture to drive them to church or help with practical problems.

And when crisis strikes, seafarers need support more than ever.

©Spudgun67

Please, will you offer the hand of friendship today – and support a seafarer visiting a UK port. www.apostleshipofthesea.org.uk/ways-donate

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Matthew 25.35 (NRSV)

In the middle of the steel and glass of the City’s skyscrapers, a small blue plaque (bottom left) marks the site of the house where the saint was born March 2020

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Registered charity in England and Wales number 1069833.

Registered charity in Scotland number SC043085.

Registered company number 3320318

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CATHEDRAL HISTORY

The Great Mosaic Controversy Peter Howell and Patrick Rogers In his biography of Cardinal Vaughan, founder of the Cathedral, J C SneadCox wrote: ‘in the last letter he ever wrote … the Cardinal begged his Vicar General to try to see that the affairs of the Cathedral should be controlled by a consultative committee of priests and laymen, and so saved from the weakness or impulses of any single individual’.

Such a committee had been suggested to Vaughan in 1899 by Fr Thomas Bridgett to advise on mosaic decoration; he thought it should consist principally of priests, but also of ‘outsiders’. He said that Charles Napier Hemy ARA, the only Catholic in the Royal Academy (and an old friend of J F Bentley, the Cathedral architect) would be glad to serve.

The Cardinal duly asked Hemy to a meeting, along with John Singer Sargent, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Edwin Austin Abbey and Hubert Herkomer. Bentley had recommended W C Symons. The result was not a success, as Vaughan merely tried to persuade those present to approve his proposal to commission Professor Ludwig Seitz, a German artist living in Rome; but they ‘pronounced … an unanimous verdict on the absolute unsuitability of his style for the Cathedral’.

This debacle many have influenced Vaughan’s successor, Cardinal Francis Bourne, who recorded in 1934 that it had often been suggested to him that he should form a committee, ‘but I soon came to see that, were any such committee formed, I should be placed in front of clamant, loudvoiced, contradictory opinions, and have thrust upon me the unenviable task of deciding between them’. He therefore made up his mind to study the matter of mosaics himself, and ‘to seek individual advice from the best sources at home and abroad’. It was fortunate that in his earlier years his Cathedral architect was Bentley’s former assistant, John Marshall.

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Eric Newton’s design for the mosaics of the Choir Apse

The story is well known of how he persuaded Eric Gill to undertake the Stations of the Cross, using the argument that otherwise the Cardinal might give the job to someone unsuitable. However, Laurence Shattock, who succeeded Marshall in 1927, was much more inclined to go along with his employer, and had a much less sure taste (though perhaps Edward Hutton went rather far in denouncing him as an ‘incompetent jerrybuilder’).

Bourne’s attitude was further influenced by the business over the tympanum over the great west door. A very small-scale sketch by Bentley existed, on his elevational drawing, but an artist was needed to make a full-scale design. Before Vaughan’s death in 1903 designs were received from Seitz, W C Symons, Frank Brangwyn and Robert Anning Bell. In 1907 Marshall ‘worked up’ Bentley’s sketch and the commission was given to Anning Bell. The mosaic was completed in 1916. Bourne, who referred to Anning Bell in 1934 (without naming him) as ‘a distinguished non-Catholic artist’,

claimed that Anning Bell had paid little attention to his wishes, and ‘departed from such indications as Mr Bentley had left’ and that ‘the result was the greatest disappointment which I have received in connection with the work of the Cathedral’.

Bourne therefore looked for a Catholic artist, and found one in Gilbert Pownall, who had exhibited at the Royal Academy since 1908, and had been chosen to paint Bourne’s portrait for the 20th anniversary of his holding the archbishopric in 1923. In 1928 Bourne conceived the idea of setting up a mosaic school at the Cathedral, both to produce new mosaics and to care for the existing ones. This was done, with Pownall in charge, in 1930. Bourne himself revisited Monreale and Palermo to see the famous mosaics there in 1931.

Between 1930 and 1935 Pownall carried out the mosaics in the vault of the Lady Chapel, and also the huge tympanum above the high altar. This was bound to clash wit the hanging rood, and so late in 1933 the rood was taken down and fixed to the wall at the west end of the north aisle, Oremus

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CATHEDRAL HISTORY over the tower entrance. In 1934 work began on the mosaics of the choir apse, after Pownall’s model of the design had been put on view in the Cathedral for comment. The only recorded reaction was the negative one of the 10-year old Aelred Bartlett, which caused Cardinal Bourne to tell his father that the boy should have his bottom smacked.

Bourne died on 1 January 1935, and on 29 April Arthur Hinsley was enthroned as Archbishop. Within a few months he was confronted by a strong protest about the quality of the recent mosaics, combined with a recommendation that a committee should be appointed. The organiser of the protest was Edward Hutton, well-known for his books on Italy, and later to be the designer of the floor of St Paul’s Chapel (completed in 1940). Francis Bartlett described him as ‘a great swell’. The memorandum was signed by 31 people, including Sir William Llewelyn, President of the Royal Academy; Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, President of the RIBA; Kenneth Clark, Director of the National Gallery; Eric Maclagan, Director of the V & A; H S Goodhart-Rendel, architect and Slade Professor of Art at Oxford; John Rothenstein, Director of the Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; and artists and architects who included Charles Holden, Sir William Reid Dick, Sir William Rothenstein, Gerald Moira, Glyn Philpot, Eric Gill, F L Griggs, Peter Anson and Geoffrey Webb.

On 4 September Cardinal Hinsley wrote to thank Hutton and his fellow signatories, writing: ‘I feel strongly that there ought to be some Commission of Experts to carry out Bentley’s ideas in Westminster Cathedral … There can be no doubt that the Cathedral cannot be allowed to be the happy hunting ground for amateur experimentalists’.

On 2 October the Cardinal told the Provost of the Chapter privately that work on the apse should be suspended, not just on the grounds of ‘the agitation among the artists and others’, but because of the need of money for schools, and the state of relations with Italy, from where the materials for mosaics came; he also March 2020

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asked for the Chapter’s views on the setting up of ‘a small commission of experts’ to advise him.

On 13 September Mgr Valentine Elwes, the Cardinal’s Secretary, told Hutton that work on the apse was likely to be suspended, but no committee would be formed until work was resumed ‘perhaps many years hence’. Hutton was growing impatient, and on 29 November he threatened Mgr Elwes (who was sympathetic) that, if work did not stop, he would send the memorandum to The Times. As a result, the Cardinal ordered that it should stop the next day. This was announced in the Press in early December. Hinsley then asked Hutton and his colleagues to suggest names for a committee, which he did. He was also concerned about ‘the delicate question of discharging workmen and artists not engaged by me’, while Pownall himself was ‘much disturbed’, as his commission had been for three years. He threatened to sue the Archbishop for breach of contract, and in October 1936 was paid £2,000 in settlement out of court.

The partly executed mosaics were taken down in the same month.

Once this business was settled, Cardinal Hinsley felt able to set up the committee. It consisted of Mgr Canon Jackman of Holy Rood, Watford; the Rev Lionel Smith of Kingsbury; F K Griggs RA (best known as an etcher); Henry Harris (a Trustee of the National Gallery); and Professor E W Tristram (the leading expert on medieval wallpaintings – he later designed the floor of St Joseph’s Chapel). Griggs and Harris had both signed Hutton’s memorandum.

Hutton himself did not want to be a member, but continued to pull strings in the background. The press notice of October 1936 stated that: ‘the committee will advise regarding all designs and be empowered to watch over their execution. They will also give their counsel on questions of the wellbeing of the fabric’.

Eric Gill had been persuaded to sign Hutton’s memorandum by Griggs.

He had strong views on the advice the Cardinal should be given on the Cathedral’s decoration: ‘I only hope that when the time comes it will be

made clear to him that the carrying out of Bentley’s ideas is probably the one thing which should not be done. I think it would be generally admitted that it would be frightful if the whole Cathedral were decorated in opus sectile, and that seems to have been Bentley’s intention.’ Gill was exaggerating, but it needs to be remembered that it had indeed been Bentley’s intention that the Stations of the Cross should be of opus sectile. In 1937 Griggs was urging Gill to design new mosaics for the apse.

He had his doubts, but found the offer tempting. He concluded that it would be necessary: ‘to keep the design in the simplest or most geometrical terms, including a very grand row of letters …

How beautiful the cathedral would look whitewashed.’

On the recommendation of the new committee, the rood was rehung in its original position in 1937, and the following year the committee decided to remove Pownall’s tympanum mosaic over the sanctuary (called by Hutton ‘the blue horror’). Hinsley made it a condition that the original workmen should do the job. In the same year Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was consulted, and recommended that: ‘simplicity was the key’ to its replacement, with ‘no sharp contrasts’. In 1939 Gill suggested subjects – the Palm Sunday Procession, and the Carrying of the Cross, with the Chalice with the Precious Blood flowing in the centre – but his design was rejected, and he died the next year.

Little is known about the proceedings of Hinsley’s committee, although Fr Smith, its secretary, later recalled that: ‘the backwoods party (Harris and Tristram) vetoed everything’.

A scheme approved by the committee in 1940 (though opposed by Griggs and – offstage – by Hutton), to take down the cipollino marble from the nave piers and use it to line the north and south aisles, was only halted by the threat of bombing. The war also saved the tympanum mosaic over the sanctuary which remains in place, of course, to the present day.

Peter Howell is a parishioner and member of the Art and Architecture Committee of long standing; the late Patrick Rogers was the Cathedral Historian.

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© Diocese of Westminster

MONTHLY ALBUM

Children at discovery in a Tent

Tents, they said, tents of meeting, in the Cathedral’s chapels. We were a little unsure how that would work; and then they arrived and were red! This was all in preparation for the Scripture Roadshow as a part of 'The God Who Speaks’ But, to confute the doubters, people came and schools came and were engaged and involved. Pete Codling, who is the artist for the Year of the Word, brought the artwork on which he is engaged and explained it to groups before Cardinal Vincent came in and blessed it.

© Diocese of Westminster

The Roadshow

Preparing to bless the artwork

Fr Rajiv (for it is he) has recently returned from a less usual spiritual retreat, based not in a convent or monastery, but with 11 other priests in the desert sands of North Africa. It was a walking retreat, but with the assistance of a local friend to carry the baggage, 'a noble creature' he reports (pictured with him). Curiously, he is not the only Chaplain to have form with camels. Older parishioners may remember that Fr Andrew was the Sub-Administrator's Intern a number of years ago. When he left, he went to work for Pax Travel and so here is an image of him in the Holy Land 15 years ago, also with a local friend.

© Oremus, April 2005

Compare and Contrast

Fr Andrew as a Tour Manager in 2005

Fr Rajiv and his camel, somewhere in a sand dune Oremus

18 © Oremus, April 2005

March 2020

MONTHLY ALBUM

It’s not a Carpet, it’s a Rug The rug in Clergy House dining room is venerable, but had fallen into a sad state, with fraying edges, wholesale fading in areas and one very large hole. We thank a kind benefactor who has enabled its repair and restoration.

Wonders have been worked in cleaning and restoring both its integrity and its colour, so that we can look forward to many more decades of service. The image shows just how large it is, as it was relaid before we put the dining table back on top of it.

© Marcin/catholicnews.org

Mass and Anointing The Cathedral filled with Lourdes pilgrims and the sick when Mass was celebrated in anticipation of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of Prayer for the Sick. Young pilgrims help out in a number of ways, and perhaps it is just a trick of the camera that, in the image, Our Lady seems to float calmly over the surrounding bustle?

Milan Comes to Town We are not sure who was left minding the shop in the Archdiocese of Milan when Archbishop Delpini and over 100 of his priests came to celebrate Mass in the Cathedral on Wednesday 12 February. The purpose of their visit to this country was a pilgrimage to honour St John Henry Newman and visit sites connected with his life. The Archdiocese has its own very ancient liturgical tradition, called the Ambrosian Rite after the great bishop of Milan, St Ambrose.

Bishop Nicholas Hudson welcomed the visitors and concelebrated the Mass, and was able to show Archbishop Delpini that St Ambrose has his place in Westminster, too, with his mosaic by St Paul’s Chapel.

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19

NEW AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY

The Twilight World of Early 20thcentury Belgium

Born in Ostend, the seaside resort on the North Sea coast patronised by the Belgian royal family, Spilliaert was a selftaught artist. Eschewing oil paint, he worked in combinations of Indian ink wash, Conté crayon, watercolour, gouache, pastel, chalk, pencil and pen on paper or cardboard, to create atmospheric works that are often imbued with mystery and melancholy. As a young man, plagued by insomnia and a chronic stomach condition, Spilliaert regularly walked along the deserted promenade and through the streets of Ostend in the dead of night, afterwards capturing the emptiness of the beach and town in a sequence of dynamic views defined by unusual perspectives and reflected light. Fuelled by existential angst, he also created a series of visionary self-portraits that reveal his preoccupation with his identity as an artist. These potent images of solitude align him with Nordic artists such as Edvard Munch, Vilhelm Hammershøi and Helene Schjerfbeck, who likewise wrestled with visual explorations of the self at the turn of the 20th century.

A love of literature and philosophy, in particular the work of Edgar Allan Poe and Friedrich Nietzsche, shaped much of Spilliaert’s early work, which has a brooding and at times romantic intensity to it. In 1902, he started working for the Brussels publisher Edmond Deman, illustrating works by the playwright, poet and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck (who, in 1911, became the only ever Belgian recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature) and the poet Emile Verhaeren, with whom he formed a close friendship. The latter would be responsible for introducing the artist to numerous art and literary figures, including the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig and the Belgian playwright Fernand Crommelynck.

Fleeing Ostend in 1917 to escape the German occupation, Spilliaert and his new wife Rachel Vergison set off for Geneva, where they planned to join a pacifist movement. But with little money and a new baby, they got no further than Brussels.

Spilliaert would move between Ostend and Brussels for the rest of his life. Always fascinated by the natural world, his later work developed a softer focus, and he produced contemplative, tranquil works that conjure evening light or the shadows of beech trees in the Forêt de Soignes in Brussels, where he walked regularly.

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© Cedric Verhelst

Last month, the Royal Academy of Arts opened the first major exhibition of Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert (1881–1946) to be held in the UK. Bringing together around 80 works drawn from public and private collections across Belgium, France, Great Britain and the USA, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to discover this intriguing, singular artist who left an indelible mark on the 20th century art of Belgium.

Leon Spilliaert, Woman at the Shoreline, 1910. Indian ink, coloured pencil and pastel on paper, 49 x 60 cm. Private collection.

The exhibition is organised in four thematic sections, presenting a journey through the lifetime of this remarkably insightful and unusual artist. Entitled Illumination, section one will focus on Spilliaert’s engagement with literature, theatre and book illustration and introduce his poetic visions of nature, including Beech Trunks, 1945 (Private Collection). Section two, Crépuscule, will explore Spilliaert’s expressions of emptiness and loneliness in the twilit world he inhabited. Still-lifes and interior scenes transmit a quiet glow in the depths of night, and, as in Young Woman on a Stool, 1909 (the Hearn Family Trust) solitary women wait for their husbands to return from sea at the end of the day. This section will also include examples of a commission to illustrate Belgique II, one of the first airships in Belgium. Section three, Littoral, examines Spilliaert’s fascination with the liminal areas between land and sea, and, as seen in A Gust of Wind, 1904 (Mu.ZEE) and Dike at night.

Reflected lights, 1908 (Musée d‘Orsay), his depictions of the streets, beach and promenade of Ostend. The final section, Reflections, brings together an important group of self-portraits.

The Exhibition runs until Monday 25 May, 10am – 6pm daily (last admission 5.30pm) and Fridays until 10pm (last admission 9.30pm).

Full price £14 (£12 excluding Gift Aid donation); concessions available; under 16s go free (T&Cs apply); Friends of the RA go free. Tickets are available daily at the RA or visit royalacademy. org.uk.

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THE FRIENDS OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

Forthcoming Events

The Year in Prospect and important ambassador of his day, helping to broker peace in Europe. John will be talking about Rubens in the light of his recent novel Pax. Later in the year we will visit the Wallace Collection to see two Rubens paintings re-united for the first time in over 200 years. Please come to Professor Harvey’s talk; he is a brilliant speaker.

The Professor’s book

Christina White It was John Clare who memorably described March as the month of many weathers, but I hope that this year winter will be ‘half weary of his toil’. In anticipation of warmer and longer days there is a distinctive theme to the Friends’ events this season with visits to beautiful gardens planned and some fine and eloquent speakers to raise the spirits.

Dr Rory O’Donnell accompanied us on the trip to Ingatestone last year and he is generously giving of his time and expertise again with a planned outing in May in the footsteps of the Catholic architect John Walters, visiting St John’s Seminary in Wonersh, where the Rector has kindly offered lunch. and the Benedictine community at Chilworth, where we will stay for Vespers and tea. Eagle-eyed Friends may spot that Wonersh was used for filming in Foyle’s War! Professor John Harvey comes to the Cathedral on 22 April to talk on Peter Paul Rubens, who was a devout Catholic March 2020

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We promised a blessing of the plaque in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs and this will happen on St George’s Day. Canon Christopher will lead the prayers with a special mention for all the donors and the people dedicated in the memorial plaque. There will be a small reception to follow for major donors to the appeal. All are welcome to attend the blessing. Donors will receive their invitation by post. We are nearly at capacity for the Friends’ Clerkenwell walk on 6 March, but please do phone the office if you wish to come; we may have some late availability.

Looking forward, we have our Summer Party at St Mary Moorfields on 2 July and a very special visit to the Old Bailey in June for a private tour and drinks reception. 2020 marks the 850th anniversary of the death of St Thomas Becket and at the time of writing we have a speaker booked to talk about Becket and his impact on London, in life and in death. Alison Weir returns to speak on Kathryn Howard: The Scandalous Queen.

Details of all these events are listed in the Friends’ Newsletter.

If you or a friend would like to join the Friends in 2020 and support the Cathedral please call 0207 798 9059. The Friends receive prior notice of all events and are given priority for booking. The Cathedral more than ever needs its Friends. Thank you for your interest and support.

Friday 6 March: A Walk Through Historic Clerkenwell with Anthony Weaver: including Mass at St Etheldreda’s, pub lunch and visits to the museums of the Charterhouse and the Hospital of St John. Meet at St Peter’s Italian church at 10am. Please note this is a full-day walking tour.

Tickets £30 Wednesday 25 March: Quiz and Curry. Cathedral Hall 6.30pm. Please indicate whether you want Chicken Madras, Lamb Korma or Vegetable Biryani. Tickets £18 Wednesday 22 April: Professor John Harvey – Rubens in London. To mark the publication of John’s book Pax, a talk on Rubens – Catholic, diplomat and artist, focusing on his time in London. Cathedral Hall. Doors open at 6.30 for 7pm Tickets £10.

Thursday 23 April: Prayers and a reception for major donors to mark the formal installation of the donors’ plaque in St George’s Chapel. All are welcome to attend the prayers; the donors’ reception is by invitation only. Blessing in the Chapel after the 5.30pm Mass.

Thursday 7 May: In the footsteps of the Catholic architect John Walters with Dr Rory O’Donnell. Our day will include a visit to the seminary at Wonersh where we will have Mass and lunch in the refectory. After lunch we will travel to Albury Park to see the church of Ss Peter and Paul with its Pugin reredos and then on to the Benedictine Monastery at Chilworth where we will stay for Vespers. Lunch and afternoon tea included. Coach will depart from outside Clergy House at 9am. Tickets £45 Tuesday 19 May: Tonbridge, Tudeley and Penshurst Place. A fascinating day taking in All Saints’ church, Tudeley with its unique Chagall windows and the historic Penshurst Place.

We will have Mass at Tonbridge. A ploughman’s lunch is included and we have been invited to a garden tea – weather permitting – with some close Friends. Pricing and further details in the next issue of Oremus.

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

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CATHEDRAL HISTORY

CATHEDRAL HISTORY – A PICTORIAL RECORD

The Reception and Installation of Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as Tenth Archbishop of Westminster

Paul Tobin Some nine months after the death of Cardinal George Basil Hume in 1999, the Installation of his successor took place on Tuesday and Wednesday 21/22 March of the new Millennium, with warm sunshine on the Wednesday for the Mass. Every installation since that of Archbishop William Godfrey in 1957 has been televised and this event continued the tradition. What made these rites unusual was that on the Tuesday evening a ‘Reception and Celebration of the Word of God’ took place, at which the Archbishopelect took canonical possession of the See of Westminster with the reading of the Apostolic Letter confirming his appointment.

At the West Door, Archbishop-elect Murphy-O’Connor was met by the Provost (Mgr Canon Frederick Miles) together with the Canons of the Cathedral Chapter (who act as the College of Consultors), the Auxiliary Bishops and Episcopal 22

Archbishop Cormac greets well-wishers after Mass

Vicars. A short ‘Service of Light’ was held here, during which the opening verses of the Gospel according to St John were proclaimed. The Archbishop-elect carried the Book of the Gospels in procession through the nave, which was bathed in the light from the candles held by all present. On arrival in the sanctuary, the Book of the Gospels was placed on a stand and incensed. During the interregnum, Bishop Vincent Nichols had acted as Diocesan Administrator and it was his responsibility to request that the Apostolic Letter confirming the appointment of the Archbishop-elect be read by the Chancellor of the diocese, Fr (now Canon) Daniel Cronin.

Following this, representatives of the clergy, Religious and laity individually welcomed the new archbishop. The celebration of the Word of Lord then continued.

The fine weather next day allowed the long procession of clergy from both Westminster and Arundel & Brighton

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Photographs © Peter Smith and Liam White

CATHEDRAL HISTORY

Mgr Miles, the Provost, reads the prayers of Installation; the book is held by Anthony Ogunseitan, now an Assistant MC at the Cathedral

The crozier is presented to the Archbishop by Bishop (now Cardinal) Vincent Nichols

dioceses, along with ecumenical guests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and finally Archbishop Murphy O’Connor to walk from the Cathedral Hall and Archbishop’s House respectively to the West Door. Fr Jim Mallon, now living in retirement near the Cathedral, is remembered for holding a banner reading ‘Under New Management’. As the Archbishop had been solemnly received at the West Door the evening before, he entered the Cathedral at the end of this procession. The Rite of Installation took place immediately after the Penitential Rite, led by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Pablo Puente. It was he who authorised that the Apostolic Letter be read out again, after which the Provost led Archbishop Murphy-O’Connor to the throne and installed him using the formula which has been used at every Westminster archiepiscopal installation and which follows that used at Canterbury Cathedral before the Reformation. The ‘Howard’ Crozier, which is in trust for the use of the Archbishops of Westminster, was presented by the now former Diocesan Administrator (Bishop Nichols), who was himself to be installed shortly after as Archbishop of Birmingham.

At this point the Canons of the Chapter would have approached the Archbishop at the throne, but on this occasion he decided to come down to greet them assembled on the marble floor of the sanctuary.

Unfortunately, he slightly stumbled and the moment was replayed a few days later on the satirical BBC2 quiz show Have I Got News for You? Archbishop Cormac was subsequently greeted by the Co-Presidents of Churches Together in England, led by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey. Mass then continued, during which the Archbishop in his homily recounted a story about being on holiday in the Outer Hebrides and discovering a stone, dedicated to an early Celtic saint on which was written the words: ‘Pilgrim Cormac’ and underneath: ‘He went beyond what was deemed possible’.

The Archbishop likened the image of pilgrimage and being a pilgrim. He continued: ‘All through my life, I have been conscious of the fact, like each one of you, that the Lord Jesus has called me and touched me through his Spirit, led me to pastures new …’.

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March 2020

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DIARY

2020

St Patrick, Apostle of Ireland (Feast day 17 March) has left two writings which are accepted as genuine, although much doubt has to remain about the exact details of his life. He is thought to have lived in the later part of the 5th century, having been born in England and enslaved by Irish pirates for a period of six years when in his teens, but then escaped back before travelling to France, where he received his theological formation and ordination.

Plausibly there were Christian communities in Ireland before he came to the country, but his achievement was the widespread propagation and acceptance of the Faith by the Irish.

The Month of

March

The Holy Father’s Prayer Intention EVANGELISATION – Catholics in China: We pray that the Church in China may persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity

Sunday 1 March Ps Week 1 1st SUNDAY OF LENT 10.30am Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Plainsong – Missa XVII Malcolm – Scapulis suis Byrd – Emendemus in melius 3pm Rite of Election (Second Service) No public Vespers 4.30pm Deaf Service Mass (Cathedral Hall) 4.45pm Organ Recital: David Price (Portsmouth Cathedral) Monday 2 March Lent Feria

Tuesday 3 March

Lent Feria 5.30pm Chapter Mass (Canon Cronin) Cathedral Quarant’Ore begins

Wednesday 4 March

Lent Feria (St Casimir) Cathedral Quarant’Ore continues

Thursday 5 March

Lent Feria 5.30pm Solemn Mass, followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament to close the Quarant’Ore

Friday 6 March

Friday Abstinence Lent Feria World Day of Prayer Please remember the people of Zimbabwe 6.30pm Stations of the Cross Family Fast Day

Saturday 7 March

Lent Feria (Ss Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs) 4pm Extraordinary Form Mass (Lady Chapel) 24

© Cbaile19

MARCH

St Patrick outside the church of St Patrick on the Strip, Pittsburgh USA

Sunday 8 March Ps Week 2 2nd SUNDAY OF LENT 9am Family Mass 9.30am – 1.30pm SVP Book Sale in Cathedral Hall 10.30am Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Palestrina – Missa Emendemus in melius Palestrina – Peccantem me quotidie 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Lassus – Magnificat primi toni Byrd – Aspice Domine 4.45pm Organ Recital: Callum Alger (Westminster Cathedral) Monday 9 March

Lent Feria (St Frances of Rome)

Tuesday 10 March Lent Feria

Wednesday 11 March Lent Feria

Thursday 12 March

Lent Feria 7pm St Peter’s Way of the Cross (in aid of the Westminster Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes)

Friday 13 March Friday Abstinence Lent Feria 6.30pm Stations of the Cross Saturday 14 March

Lent Feria 6pm Victoria Choir sings at Mass

Sunday 15 March Ps Week 3 3rd SUNDAY OF LENT 10.30am Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Rubbra – Missa in honorem Sancti Dominici Tallis – Suscipe quæso Domine Tallis – Si enim iniquitates 2pm Filipino Club Spring Tea Dance in Cathedral Hall 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Bevan – Magnificat primi toni Purcell – Hear my prayer 4.45pm Organ Recital: Christopher Holman (Exeter College, Oxford) Monday 16 March Lent Feria

Tuesday 17 March St PATRICK, Bishop, Patron of Ireland 7, 8 & 10.30am Mass in St Patrick’s Chapel

Wednesday 18 March Lent Feria All day NHS Blood Transfusion Service in Cathedral Hall 5pm First Vespers 5.30pm Vigil Mass of St Joseph (Cardinal Nichols) Chancellors and Chancery Staff attend Mass

Thursday 19 March ST JOSEPH, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron of the diocese All day NHS Blood Transfusion Service in Cathedral Hall 2pm Visit of the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham to the Cathedral begins, with Dowry Tour Exhibition and Devotions 5.30pm Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Mozart – Missa brevis in B flat K.275 Malcolm – Veritas mea Organ: Buxtehude – Toccata in F BuxWV 156

Friday 20 March Friday Abstinence Lent Feria Visit and Devotions continue 7pm Eucharistic Healing Service, concluding with Benediction Saturday 21 March Lent Feria Visit and Devotions continue 6pm Vigil Mass to conclude the Visit (Cardinal Nichols)

Sunday 22 March

Ps Week 4 4th SUNDAY OF LENT (Laetare) 10.30am Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Padilla – Missa Ego flos campi Victoria – Ave Regina cælorum a 5 Byrd – Ave verum corpus Organ: J. S. Bach – Prelude and Fugue in A major BWV 536 1.30pm Dowry Tour Exhibition closes 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Oremus

March 2020

DIARY AND NOTICES Incertus - Magnificat secundi toni Schütz – Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen Organ: J. S. Bach – Passacaglia BWV 582 4.45pm Organ Recital: Nicholas Morris (St George’s, Hanover Square)

Monday 23 March

Lent Feria (St Turibius of Mogrovejo, Bishop)

Saturday 28 March

Lent Feria 6pm Vigil Mass with Adult Confirmations (Bishop Hudson)

Sunday 29 March Ps Week 1 5th SUNDAY OF LENT 10.30am Solemn Mass (Men’s Voices) Palestrina – Missa Eripe me Byrd – Circumdederunt me 12pm Solemn Mass with Act of Rededication of England to Our Lady (Cardinal Nichols) 3.30pm Solemn Vespers and Benediction Victoria – Magnificat primi toni Tallis – Salvator mundi (II) 4.45pm Organ Recital: Ian Coleman (Most Holy Redeemer, Chelsea) Monday 30 March Lent Feria

Tuesday 31 March

© Rondador

Lent Feria

Monument to St Toribio of Mogrovejo in his natal village, Mayorga (Province of Valladolid, Spain)

Tuesday 24 March

Lent Feria 2.15pm St Dominic’s 6th Form College Anniversary Mass (Cardinal Nichols) 5pm First Vespers 5.30pm Vigil Mass of the Annunciation

Wednesday 25 March

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD 5pm Solemn Second Vespers 5.30pm Solemn Mass (Full Choir) Byrd – Mass for four voices Parsons – Ave Maria Palestrina – Diffusa est gratia Organ: Buxtehude – Magnificat primi toni BuxWV 203 Society of St Augustine attends Mass 6.30 for 6.45pm Friends’ Quiz Night with Curry (Cathedral Hall)

Thursday 26 March

Lent Feria 2pm SVP School Passion Play

Friday 27 March Friday Abstinence Lent Feria 6.30pm Stations of the Cross March 2020

Oremus

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.

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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. 1.30pm: Legion of Mary Group II 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.

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CROSSWORD AND POEM

THE WAY OF THE CROSS, I – VII Jessica d’Este

Alan Frost January 2020 – No. 75

Clues Across 1 Relationship of Joseph to Mary (7) 6 Consecrated element of Chrism (3) 8 See 1 Down 9 Unconvinced person, as was St Thomas for a while (7) 10 Firm in standpoint or substance (5) 11 Italian town associated with St Francis (6) 13 Saul of ------, became known as St Paul after his conversion on the road to Damascus (6) 15 ------ non sum dignus, ‘Lord I am not worthy’ (6) 17 & 23 Across: ------ ----- laetare, antiphon to Our Lady, ‘O Queen of Heaven, rejoice’ (6,5) 20 Small round containers used to carry the Eucharist to the sick (5) 21 To whom Our Lady presented herself as 1 Down (7) 23 See 17 Across 24 Pope (XIII) who in 1893 asked the English bishops to consecrate the country to Mary* (3) 25 Et in hora mortis ------. Amen, Ave Maria (7) Clues Down 1, 8 Across & 7 Down: Mary’s self-definition in ‘The Angelus’ (8,2,3,4) 2 Thoroughly cleans a London prison? (6) 3 Relationship of the Queen to Lady Sarah Chatto (4) 4 The re-dedication of England as Our Lady’s -----, 29 March 2020 (5) 5 Stare searchingly at the heavens (8) 6 Early Irish Saint, abbot and hymn writer, 11 March Feast Day (6) 7 See 1 Down 12 The opposite of the right-hand or dexter (8) 14 Tchaikovsky ballet, currently being performed at London’s Royal Opera House (4,4) 16 Country (and city) where the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is to be found (6) 18 Gaudeamus ------, student drinking song from Middle Ages [‘Let us rejoice while we are young’] (6) 19 Saint of Evesham, who founded the Shrine to Our Lady built there (5) 20 Stiff square covering of the chalice during Mass (4) 22 Ornament adjoining rib vaults in a cathedral or church roof (4) (* “When England goes back to Walsingham, Our Lady will return to England,”)

ANSWERS

Across: 1 Husband 6 Oil 8 Of The 9 Doubter 10 Rigid 11 Assisi 13 Tarsus 15 Domine 17 Regina 20 Pyxes 21 Gabriel 23 Coeli** 24 Leo 25 Nostrae Down: 1 Handmaid 2 Scrubs 3 Aunt 4 Dowry 5 Stargaze 6 Oengus 7 Lord 12 Sinister14 Swan Lake 16 Mexico 18 Igitur 19 Egwin 20 Pall 22 Boss [** or Caeli]

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I

Jesus is condemned to death Ever so polite to obfuscate truth With lawful persuasion Make a tactical coining Of precedent fear Obsequious fawning

II

Jesus is made to carry the Cross Not different, the weight We create for ourselves Heavy with lies Concentric in season Thicken, divide.

III Jesus falls the first time

And will again

So beginning

A human end

Being heir to failure

Loss, pain, suffering.

IV

Jesus meets his Mother Her love being source His way of the cross A loving endeavour Her example, endorsed There being no other.

V

Simon of Cyrene helps carry the Cross Injustice weighs less With one’s assist to another Suffering makes brothers Insists on a duty Of relevant love.

VI

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus Where wiped on a veil Witness relief Compassion is great Its significance, real Enduring: belief

VII

Jesus falls a second time Again, a fall Time to recall Injury when Without and within Lies offend love

To submit a poem whether by yourself or another for consideration, please contact the Editor – details on page 3.

Oremus

March 2020

FIFTY AND ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

In retrospect: from the Cathedral Chronicle Editorial Policy

Varia

In so far as the editor had adopted a policy for the News Sheet, it has been to bring out the positive and hopeful elements in this time of transition and change through which the Church is passing. Negative influences are constantly at work in all of us, and so it is confidence in growth and the work of the Holy Spirit that we have aimed to put across. There is a great deal to be thankful for, and this is the note that ought to be struck loud and clear, as we approach the festival of Easter.

In the United States, they say, refined society has succeeded in banning as improper the word leg, which must be replaced by limb, even when the possessor is a boiled fowl! This refinement, it is asserted, is not unknown in England. Would that some refinement, not in word but in deed, might be introduced in regard to the prevailing vulgar and grotesque fashion among women of displaying their legs and other limbs. Protests and reasoning – even of Cardinals and Bishops – have little effect, apparently, on ladies fed on ‘fashion’.

Major Roche RIP

It was ridicule that killed the hobble skirt, and apparently the only way to check the present unseemly display of bare flesh is, as Fr Bernard Vaughan might have put it, to pour ridicule down the ladies’ bare backs! Where do these barbaric fashions originate? ‘Fashions of dress,’ wrote Cardinal Manning, ‘come from some obscure room, in some luxurious and corrupt city, where, by a sort of secret society of folly, rules are laid down and decrees come forth year by year, which are followed with a servility and, I may say, with a want of Christian matronly dignity, so that the foolish fashion that some foolish person has foolishly invented is propagated all over the civilised countries of Europe.’

Albert Roche, who died in January, was a very wellknown figure at the Cathedral. He was often to be seen at prayer in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and frequently served Mass and attended Vespers, before his health began to fail. His special devotion was the Rosary, and it was his custom to say this regularly on the pavement outside No. 10 Downing Street. The Prime Minister and his wife were, it appears, aware of this small bearded man quite unselfconsciously praying in public; something, I suppose, very few of us would have the ‘nerve’ to do! He used also to do the same at Speakers’ Corner and on Tower Hill. A considerable number of people gathered in the Holy Souls Chapel for his funeral and went on to the burial service at Mortlake.

He spent his latter days living with the Little Sisters of the Poor.

[Those who travel along Whitehall will know that the gates and anti-terrorist devices of Downing Street, not to mention the armed police, will now speedily prevent any attempt to follow Major Roche’s practice of praying the Rosary outside No. 10 – Ed.] from the Westminster Cathedral News Sheet of March 1970

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February the eleventh, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, has become a very popular day at the Cathedral. This year at the ‘Children’s Service’ the Cathedral was more than half filled with adults; in the evening the galleries were crowded and every available space in the great nave occupied to the very doors. The singing by the immense congregation, without the help of any select choir, was effective enough, the voices keeping well together, considering the absence of support from an organ, the want of which has been long felt, capable of filling the vast spaces of the Cathedral. The question naturally suggests itself: why does not the Cathedral possess an instrument proportionate to its size – an organ which might be used to lead the singing of such great popular assemblies now so frequent? Whatever may be the answer to this question, it is understood to be the wish of the Cardinal Archbishop that the matter should be taken vigorously in hand and a suitable organ built in one of the galleries of the nave as soon as possible. There are doubtless difficulties in connection with skilled labour and the best material, but judging from the present state of affairs, current prices are as likely to fall as the Cathedral itself! It is probably the best building for sound in London; and the best sound for the Cathedral will be a packed congregation singing to the accompaniment of the best organ in London … Who will help? from the Westminster Cathedral Chronicle of March 1920

March 2020

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THINKING THROUGH SICKNESS

© Tretyakov Gallery

© National Portrait Gallery

Dickens, Dostoyevsky and a Homily

Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise

Fedor Dostoyesky by Vasily Perov

Steve Burrows The Gospel reading which I heard on 17 January, St Anthony of Egypt's feast day, described how Jesus healed the leper who in faith appealed for the Lord’s help. In his homily, the priest said: ‘That our faith can have an effect in healing the sick, seems to be shown to us. So we must remember the sick in our prayers. Our prayers can help them. If it is God's will, we can heal them.’ He continued: ‘More contentious, and it is a matter difficult to deal with in this setting and in a short time, is the effect of sin on health.

But let me mention it, nonetheless, as something for us all to ponder. There seems to be a link between sin and lack of health. Some medical opinion now backs this up. If we sin too much, it brings about illness.’

Dickens lived in an era when people had to face infant and child death much more often than we do today. In the scene in The Old Curiosity Shop in which Little Nell dies, the author poetically offers hope out of the loss.

He writes: ‘Oh! It is hard to take to heart the lesson that such deaths will teach, but … when death strikes down the innocent and young, for every fragile form from which he lets the panting spirit free, a hundred virtues rise, shapes of mercy, charity and love, to walk the world, and bless it. Of every tear that sorrowing mortals shed on such green graves, some good is born, some gentler nature comes. In the destroyer’s steps there spring up bright creations that defy his power, and his dark path becomes a way of light to Heaven.’

So the priest raised the proposition that sin results in illness, in as gentle and mild a way as possible. His approach was understandable, because this suggestion is open to an outraged attack by the parent of a child with cancer, for example. And no one would wish to apply this general rule about sin and illness to such a hard case.

There are obvious explanations for illness, such as lack of exercise and unhealthy diets, or stresses and strains as we age causing our bodies just to wear out. But granting this, I would say that it is true that sin makes you ill. How is this? Well, firstly admit that mind and body are linked. Then agree that moral and spiritual laws

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are realities. Finally, agree with the prophet Jeremiah that the Lord God has written these laws in our hearts and in our minds. So, in breaking them, we are affecting something in our minds. And our immune system and the functioning of vital organs depend upon the healthy running of the mind.

If this is compromised, we can’t rally optimal defences against incipient cancer, or against organ failure, or against a crisis caused by bacterial or viral infection. And so we fall ill.

Even at the level of thought, behaviour and perception, the mind won't work properly after sin. Literature again illustrates this. In one of G K Chesterton's Fr Brown stories, a doctor kills a husband to free the wife from an abusive marriage, and he suddenly finds that his previously healthy body and mind are unwell, they won't work properly. More famously, Raskolnikov, the impoverished student in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, kills the pawnbroker, having calculated that she is a worthless and bad old woman, and the good he would do with her money would outweigh the Oremus

March 2020

CHRISTIANS, PERSECUTED crime. After the murders (in the event he has to kill her half-sister as well) he finds, like the doctor, that he feels ill, he can't think, he can't function and he avoids his mother and sister. Indeed, we come back to Adam and Eve in Genesis. After they stole the apple, they hid from the Lord God and were cast out of the paradisal Garden.

Thus runs the argument that sin is in reality bad for you, and leads to illness.

You can also begin from the other side and consider illness first. Is it always a bad thing? I remember another homily at another Mass that addressed this.

I forget the context and the readings of the day, but the priest said that the Lord might not always send us good

things. Sometimes he might send us difficulties; sometimes he might allow us to become ill, for example, but it might be for the greater good that we become ill. This struck me as sensational because in the world of healthcare to say this is heresy; illness is the universal enemy and always bad.

No one would question that maxim. Yet the priest said that illness might be sent for the greater good.

It happened that I left the church at the same time as he did, and I ventured to say that I liked his homily. I caught him by surprise and I saw for a moment that he was pleased. But that wasn't the right thing to say. I should have said why I liked it. For myself,

I think it possible that an illness can save someone from a blindly unhappy life, and can bring a sense of meaning, a clearing of the way. Sometimes families can be brought together, love expressed, at the bedside of a gravely ill patient. Looking again to literature, Dickens has many of his male characters pass through illness as a sort of redemption before they get the girl, and live on happily in wedded bliss.

Dick Swiveller in The Old Curiosity Shop, Eugene Wrayburn in Our Mutual Friend (though he, plot-spoiler-alert, has to be nursed back from a lifethreatening murder attempt) and Arthur Clennam in Little Dorrit are three such figures.

What is our Government’s Attitude?

Philip Mountstephen is the Anglican Bishop of Truro, who last year led an Enquiry into the persecution of Christians worldwide and the attitudes of the UK Government towards it. He spoke about the experience and his findings to the Catholic Union and here he introduces his talk, the main content of which will appear in the next editions of Oremus.

I had an unusual start to my Christmas last year when I was rung up by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked me if I’d be willing to lead a review of the way the Foreign Office, the FCO, had addressed or otherwise – the persecution of Christians. It became clear that this was a request from the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, himself, who was very moved by the issue and clearly concerned both about the human stories of those caught up in persecution, and worried too that the FCO, frankly, just wasn’t doing enough about it. To be honest it was terrible timing for me, not having even started in Truro, but it's a really important issue too, so I said yes.

And so we set up the Review, with a punishing six-month window in which to report. In the UK in recent years we’ve had some huge judicially led Public Inquiries, such as Savile, Leveson and Chilcot – but this was definitely not one of those. If they were full MRI and CAT scans, then we had a thumb and a thermometer: we have taken the temperature, we March 2020

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have felt the pulse. But actually, as doctors know, you can tell a lot just by doing that and while I wouldn’t go to the stake over every jot and tittle of the report I am nonetheless confident in the broad thrust of our conclusion and our recommendations.

But why was it needed? Over five years ago The Times published an editorial entitled Spectators at the Carnage. It began like this: ‘Across the globe, in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Christians are being bullied, arrested, jailed, expelled and executed. Christianity is by most calculations the most persecuted religion of modern times. Yet Western politicians until now have been reluctant to speak out in support of Christians in peril.’ Well, happily, Jeremy Hunt was willing to speak out, and so we set the Review up. In some ways it seems as if the persecution of Christians has come out of clear blue sky. It was a real issue in the days of the Cold War when Christians and Churches in some contexts in the Soviet bloc experienced significant pressure. Post-1989, however, it

seemed to recede – only to creep up on us by degrees in the intervening period.

There are two striking factors behind its re-emergence. First, where once it seemed only to be located behind the Iron Curtain, it has re-emerged now as a truly global phenomenon. But it is not a single global phenomenon: it has multiple triggers and drivers.The second striking factor is that because the reemergence of Christian persecution has been gradual, and has lacked a single driver, it has to some significant extent been overlooked in the West. And the Western response (or otherwise) has been tinged by a certain post-Christian bewilderment, if not embarrassment, about matters of faith, and a consequent failure to grasp how for the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants faith is crucial to how they see themselves and to how they behave. Faith and belief are simply not a leisure pursuit as we see it thought in this country, but are fundamental markers of identity, both individual and communal.

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A NEW CD

Entering into Holy Week Philip Arkwright Westminster Cathedral Choir’s latest CD recording is a programme of music from the richest of liturgical seasons: Holy Week. Timed for release with the start of Lent, the new CD takes in music from Palm Sunday and the Chrism Mass through to the great liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The new album is the first that the Cathedral Choir has made on the new record label Ad Fontes, founded by Buckfast Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery in Devon. The label aims specifically to promote and record the highest standard of choral and organ music from the Roman Catholic tradition.

This rich heritage of repertoire – from the earliest Gregorian chants through to choral music of the present day – is represented on the new disc.

Many takes go together to make up the final recording

The Cathedral Choir’s staple diet of plainsong and polyphony – for which it is justly famous – includes masterpieces of the Renaissance

by William Byrd and Tomás Luis de Victoria, alongside ancient Gregorian chants, including Pange lingua and Adoro te devote. These are woven together with later choral works, such as Anton Bruckner’s electrifying Christus factus est, and Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi caritas. Four of the Cathedral’s illustrious former Masters of Music – all of whom have contributed to the Church’s treasury of sacred music – are also represented on the recording; George Malcolm’s Ingrediente Domino – sung during the procession of palms on Palm Sunday - opens the disc. Unrecorded works by more recent holders of the post are included in the music for Maundy Thursday, and the sequence culminates in a setting of St John Henry Newman’s poem Praise to the Holiest in the height by Sir Richard Runciman Terry, the Cathedral’s pioneering Master of Music.

In a departure from their previous recordings, the Choir took the opportunity to travel to Buckfast Abbey to make the CD. For chorister Ethan Uggoda, this was a new experience. He writes: ‘Buckfast Abbey stands tall at the edge of Dartmoor National Park, surrounded by the sea of green in the beautiful Devon countryside.

Last Spring, we travelled to these tranquil surroundings to record a new CD of music for Holy Week.

This was the first album I had ever recorded with the Cathedral Choir, and the relentless repetition of the recording sessions was surprising to me. The number of attempts it took to get some pieces perfectly right was different from what we are used to in London, where we sing daily to a live congregation. The recording took four days, with two recording sessions each day. Although at times the process was tiring, we had great fun making it. In between the sessions we made the most of our

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surroundings and had nature hikes, climbed trees, swam in the stream and even had a ride on a steam train.

It was a wonderful week away and I hope it will be the first of many such recordings!’

The new CD is accompanied by a booklet containing full-page photos from the recording sessions and the Cathedral archive, notes on the music, and an essay by Peter Stevens, the Cathedral’s Assistant Master of Music, which places the pieces recorded on the disc specifically into the context of Holy Week at the Cathedral. The Choir’s new album, Vexilla Regis – A sequence of music from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday, is available to purchase now from the Cathedral Shop or from the website www.adfontes.org.uk, where more information about the recording, including preview tracks and promotional video, is available.

Philip Arkwright is Director of Music at Buckfast Abbey Oremus

March 2020

A BED FOR THE NIGHT

The Cathedral Night Shelter ‘They are all sons and daughters of God, but different forms of slavery, sometimes very complex, have led them to live at the limits of human dignity’ – Pope Francis James Coeur-de-Lion how she had shared common interests with one of them in particular. She was also pleased to hear how many of them were doing their best to find employment, with the help of St Mungo's outreach co-ordinators.

Due to the varied backgrounds of the guests, we pay particular attention to their emotional state when they arrive, in order to provide them with their personal space. This is something the guests appreciate very much. One of them has mentioned how safe, comfortable and happy they feel at the Cathedral Shelter and how having a place to stay each night has given them time to reflect and plan for their next steps in life. In this month, Pope Francis has asked us specifically to remember that: ‘Christ came into the world to bring love, justice, peace, and freedom’; and this is what we desire to bring to our Brothers and Sisters when we encounter them at the Cathedral Night Shelter.

James is the Sub-Administrator’s Assistant and therefore involved in a number of aspects of Cathedral life.

The Winter Night Shelter has been running in Cathedral Hall for several years now and began again in December 2019.

It has been a delight to serve those in desperate need of support by providing them with meals and a place to stay.

Working with a wonderful volunteer support team who take great joy in this ministry to the guests that arrive to our shelter, we break up into three teams, to look after the evening, night time and following morning.

The volunteers give so much of their energy and time to help set up, provide food and most importantly to engage with the guests. The fundamental part of being present in the Night Shelter is to have an encounter with the guests. This begins with recognising that in every human being there we see our Brother, our Sister. When each of the volunteers encounters the guests in this way, they are able to communicate at a far deeper and more meaningful level where heart speaks to heart. It is not merely the day-to-day understanding of what is happening for each guest, but more about who they are, where they are from and what they would like to aim towards.

In this way, we are able to make a closer encounter, a more personal one where we become more than just passers-by in the life of each guest, but rather a Brother or a Sister.

I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the volunteers who assist with the Shelter. It reminds me that in a world which at times finds many seeking their own interest, there are even more souls who desire to be Christ-like, to offer themselves in being present with those most in need in society – a self-giving love which asks nothing in return. One of the volunteers, when asked what experience they felt in the work they were undertaking, said how lovely the guests were and March 2020

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