FIAT – SURREXIT DOMINUS VERE, ALLELUIA!

 Celebrating Easter with Mary our Mother and co-Redeemer.

If Mary could be tempted, as Jesus was in the desert, it was above all at the foot of the Cross – a temptation all the more insidious and painful, as Jesus Himself was the cause.

She believed in the promises, she believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

She knew that if Jesus had prayed for it, the Father would have sent “more than twelve legions of angels” (cf Mt. 26:53). But Jesus did nothing. If he were only to liberate Himself from the Cross, he would liberate her too, free her from her terrible pain.

Yet Mary does not cry out – “Come down from the Cross, save Yourself and me with you!” nor “You saved many others, why do you not now also save Yourself, O my Son?”

Mary keeps silent, “giving to the immolation of the Victim, born of her flesh, the consent of her love” so reads a text of Vatican II. She celebrates his Sacrifice with Him.

Raniero Cardinal Cantalamessa, preacher to the Papal Household. From ‘Mary Mirror of the Church’ 2002. (Trans. GPE.) 

How could the Blessed Virgin, present in the first community of disciples (cf. Acts 1:14), be excluded from those who met her divine Son after he had risen from the dead?

Indeed, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Could not Mary’s absence from the group of women who went to the tomb at dawn (cf. Mk 16:1; Mt 28:1) indicate that she had already met Jesus? This inference would also be confirmed by the fact that the first witnesses of the Resurrection, by Jesus’ will, were the women who had remained faithful at the foot of the Cross and therefore were more steadfast in faith.

Indeed, the Risen One entrusts to one of them, Mary Magdalene, the message to be passed on to the Apostles (cf. Jn 20:17-18). Perhaps this fact too allows us to think that Jesus showed himself first to his Mother, who had been the most faithful and had kept her faith intact when put to the test.

Lastly, the unique and special character of the Blessed Virgin’s presence at Calvary and her perfect union with the Son in his suffering on the Cross seem to postulate a very particular sharing on her part in the mystery of the Resurrection.

A fifth-century author, Sedulius, maintains that in the splendour of his risen life Christ first showed himself to his mother. In fact, she, who at the Annunciation was the way he entered the world, was called to spread the marvellous news of the Resurrection in order to become the herald of his glorious coming. Thus bathed in the glory of the Risen One, she anticipates the Church’s splendour. cf. Sedulius, Paschale carmen, 5, 357-364, CSEL 10, 140f).

It seems reasonable to think that Mary, as the image and model of the Church which waits for the Risen One and meets him in the group of disciples during his Easter appearances, had had a personal contact with her risen Son, so that she too could delight in the fullness of paschal joy.

Present at Calvary on Good Friday (cf. Jn 19:25) and in the Upper Room on Pentecost (cf. Acts 1:14), the Blessed Virgin too was probably a privileged witness of Christ’s Resurrection, completing in this way her participation in all the essential moments of the paschal mystery. Welcoming the risen Jesus, Mary is also a sign and an anticipation of humanity, which hopes to achieve its fulfilment through the resurrection of the dead.

In the Easter season, the Christian community addresses the Mother of the Lord and invites her to rejoice: “Regina Caeli, laetare. Alleluia!”. “Queen of heaven, rejoice. Alleluia!”. Thus it recalls Mary's joy at Jesus' Resurrection, prolonging in time the “rejoice” that the Angel addressed to her at the Annunciation, so that she might become a cause of “great joy” for all people.

Saint John Paul II (Audience 21 May 1997, Trans. Vatican)

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 10 - POWER AND JUDGEMENT

The final episode in this wonderful series, which fittingly brings our Patron into the context of Catholic England. Our gratitude to the Trustees and academic staff of the National Gallery, London. Let us remember to offer the intentions of our beloved country in our devotions in the coming Easter Triduum. A very blessed and holy Easter to you all!

 

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 9 - OUR PATRON'S HEAD

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 8 - MARTYRDOM

This one starts far more soundly! (though a substantial prize will be awarded to anyone pointing the fleeting error!)

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

FAITH - A RECOLLECTION

The Chaplain of the Grand Priory sends us this meditation for Lent, filmed in the church of his new parish, as we prepare for the Resurrection of Our Blessed Saviour in these difficult times.  Other talks in this series are avaiable on their YouTube page.

Attende Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 7 - BAPTISM

As with our earlier disclaimer, gentle readers are to pay attention to sound sacramental doctrine of the Church and ignore silly anglican games!

 Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE - A BOOK REVIEW

"How the Rule of Blessed Raymond can bring out your inner monk"

a review by William Cash, published in the Catholic Herald today. 

 

A short book on the Rule of Blessed Raymond du Puy, one of the early 12th-century founders of the Order of St John, an ancient religious and military order, sounds like an unlikely sleeper publishing hit. But if you go onto the website of Etsy, you will see that this beautiful slim red volume, which has the feel of a small missal, is in the bestseller section.

In an age when self-help books devoted to the cult of self-improvement sell millions, it’s refreshing to see that there is also a market for books devoted to the charism of spiritual reflection and detachment fromself. This spiritually enriching manual on how to be a Christian pilgrim-knight – in manners, spirit, diet (two meals a day, with wine) and even dress (fur is vulgar and off-limits) – is a call to arms for anybody wanting to reclaim their inner monk. 

“We printed 1,000 copies of this book, which I imagined would languish in my attic for a few years. We are now looking at a reprint,” modestly says Fra’ Max Rumney, procurator of the Order’s Grand Priory. “This popularity is a curiosity and a little miracle.” 

At a time when we all probably spend too much time looking at our phones and other screens, the book is really a reinterpretation of the original 12th-century rule for the modern age. This is all largely thanks to the quirky and idiosyncratic philosophy of the author, the late Father Jerome Bertram of the Oxford Oratory, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries,  who died, aged 70, in 2019, just before this book was published. Like many devotional books of spiritual guidance, the best reveal as much about the author, or translator, as the subject. 

Blessed Raymond was a noble French crusader knight whose paintings depict him with a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other. The structure of the book is to cleverly take up an anachronistic point from Raymond’s 12th-century rule and make it relevant to today. Jerome makes it clear that the Catholics should celebrate the aesthetic and liturgical riches of the faith. “Zoom Masses leave some of us unmoved,” says Fra’ Max, speaking up or many of today’s “professed knights”. 

He speaks with authority on the subject of turning off one’s phone as he didn’t own such a device. Fr Jerome’s mantra is that we need not just switch off our phones – to get closer to communion with our inner souls – but also sometimes switch off from the “moronic inferno” of the 21st century. Written around 800 years before the modern digital age of 24- hour news cycles and Twitter, Fr Jerome advises that “the practice of silence is even more important in our own day than in the past”. Instead of taking Blessed Raymond’s idea of silence at meals literally, he suggests that reading at meals, if alone, is better for the soul than having some soap opera or game show blaring in the background. 

Social media, Netflix, bingeing on box sets, and “personal stereos” (you sense that Fr Jerome had not discovered the joys of Bluetooth) have ended up “banishing” silence. To break away from this addiction would be an “extremely useful discipline”, he says. To accept silence, he says, rather than filling every waking moment with screen pixels and emails “opens the possibilities of listening to other people and to God”. 

Fr Jerome makes little effort to disguise his feelings (always charitably, of course) about the new religious battles: defending traditional liturgy and doctrine rather than fighting Saladin on meagre rations en route to Jerusalem. There is something of Chaucer’s rust-stained, chainmail-wearing pilgrim knight about Fr Jerome; not least in that he understands that Jerusalem is a state of mind as much as a place. We all strive, every day, to take our own Road to Canterbury, or the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The journey itself – and the way we conduct ourselves, and choices we make, and the example we set along the way searching for the “strength of God’s grace” – are as important as the destination itself. 

In true Knights Hospitaller style, Fr Jerome practised the rule he preached. He worked with the young Oxford Companions of the Order and frequently helped in their soup kitchens for the homeless, and celebrated their termly Masses. 

The timing of Fr Jerome’s book could not have been more apt. “The Rule is an ancient document and deals (largely) with a world that is, on the face of it, unfamiliar to us,” says Fra’ Max. However, Fr Jerome brings the old text to life again by explaining the underlying relevance to modern-day life and spirituality. “The lockdowns have meant that people have looked for spiritual reading. Members of the Order do like to understand the tradition that they follow on from – perhaps locked down at home, we imagined ourselves as a knight of old in his commandary living the charism of the Order in his dealings with his neighbours.”  

Indeed. What I most loved about the book is that it is a thinly veiled manifesto about how the pilgrim-knight should act today. The true pilgrim-knight must also be “ready for action” at all times, always ready to fight his own battles – especially against today’s infidel keyboard warriors of the secular media.

The Rule of Blessed Raymond may be bought online at ETSY, HERE

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 6 - PREACHING

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 5 - WILDERNESS

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 4 - INFANCY

There will be very few members of the Order who will not learn something from this truly fascinating episode. You are warmly encouraged to share it.

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 3 - BIRTH AND NAMING

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 2 - THE VISITATION

This is the second National Gallery talk.  Heresy watch! – It has been pointed out by an astute Dame of the Order that the theological interpretation of Doctrine presented in these talks may slip into protestant error. It is not to be wondered at from the great art collection established by Hanoverian kings, particularly about the Holy Mass. Nevertheless, our theology of Saint John the Baptist is pretty generally shared, and these talks are truly worthwhile. Just keep your eyes open and avoid the bears! 

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

THE CROWNING OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST!

Over the coming weeks of this holy and salutory season of Lent we shall be presenting a series of art-historical meditations upon our most noble Patron, through the good offices of the National Gallery in London. There are ten talks, which will appear on Saturdays and Wednesdays throughout Lent, ending on Spy Wednesday. We are greatly indebted to a learned and pious (and thus necessarily anonymous) member of the Priory for this truly excellent proposal. The Covid times are a felicem culpam offering many of us time for such devotions we should not normally have at our disposal.

The first video is given below. We encourage all members of the Order to take full advantage, with their families amd communities, of this wonderful resource, offered freely for our cultural and religious benefit by this great national institution. The spiritual depths you may derive from these talks are entirely at your determining. Some of you will develop a structure of prayer to accompany them. (UPDATE - It has been pointed out by an astute Dame of the Order that the presenters are Anglicans and thus you are to ignore any protestant sacramental theology! The presentation of the Baptist remains sound.)

The first introductory episode is entitled "Saint John the Baptist, from Birth to Beheading." These films were made in 2014. (You are encourged to click on them and watch full-size in your browser!)

Sancte Joanne Baptistæ, ora pro nobis et pro fratribus nostris.

DOMINE MI REX, DA MIHI IN DISCO CAPUT JOANNIS BAPTISTAE

 

Today is the annual commemoration of the first finding of the Head of Saint John the Baptist in Jerusalem, the head reputedly now in Rome in San Silvestro in Capite.

By the merits of the sacred Head of our Holy Patron,

may our Order be led in its pilgrimage along a straight path 

towards the Heavenly Jerusalem!

FEAST OF OUR PRINCIPAL CHURCH

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!

Saturday 20th is the Feast of the Dedication of the Conventual Church of Saint John of Jerusalem in Valetta, the principal church of our Order, now the co-cathedral. It is also celebrated around the world as the feast of all those churches the date of the dedication of which is unknown, including our own lovely eponymous church in Saint John's Wood. Thus a little celebration before Lent gets going in earnest on Sunday is recommended.

Pray for the religious life of the Order as we enter this holy season, for the numerous benefactors of our churches, whose great generosity is everywhere self-evident, and for those buried in them; including of course our own founder, Sir George Bowyer, whose heart lies beneath the pavement before the high altar. Good men all, who served God first.

May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.

SHIPWRECKS AND ORDINATIONS

 

Saturday 13th February, is, on the Island of Malta, the feast of Saint Paul's Shipwreck, a celebration not observed in our Order since our departure thence in 1798. In the Universal Calendar it is a Saturday of Our Lady. The picture above shows this event on the vault of the eponymous Church in Valetta. Not of course Saint Paul's only shipwreck, as we know from his Epistles.

This year, tomorrow, 13th February 2021, is also the Ordination to the Subdiaconate of Gwilym Evans FSSP, former Director of Music of the Grand Priory of England, whom many of our gentle readers will remember fondly from London and Lourdes. The Ordinations will take place in the house chapel at the Seminary of Saint Peter at Wigratzbad, Bavaria. Please pray to the Princes of the Apostles for him, and for the other young men to be ordained. Pray also for their families and friends who, due to Covid restrictions, cannot join them on this joyful day.

Veni Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium

et tui amoris in eis ignem accende!

Sancta Maria de Phileremo, ora pro illis.

Sancte Petre, ora pro illis.

Sancte Paule, ora pro illis.

OUR LADY OF LOURDES - THE ROSARY, BY CHARLES PEGUY

Happy feast of our Lady of Lourdes to all our readers!

We offer below a poem by Charles Péguy, the great early 20th century French Catholic thinker (1873-1914), entitled "The Rosary". It is given first in translation, then in the French original.

Say your rosary, God says,
and don’t worry about what the crazy people say:
that is an out of date devotion and will be thrown away.

I tell you, when you pray
it’s a Gospel ray
and I’ll let noone make a change.

What I love about the rosary, God says,
is that it’s simple, and it’s humble.

Like my Son.
Like my Mother.

Say your rosary: and you will find
all the Gospel company gathered at your side:
the poor unlettered widow
and the repentant publican who never learnt his catechism,
the frightened sinner woman they wanted to stone,
and all the cripples saved by their faith,
and the good old shepherds, like those from Bethlehem,
who found my Son and His Mother...

Say your rosary, God says,
you prayer must go round, round and round again
like the beads through your fingers.

Then, when I wish it, that I promise,
you will receive nourishing food
which will strengthen your heart and comfort your soul.

Come on, says God, say your rosary
and keep your soul at peace.  

Récite ton chapelet, dit Dieu,
et ne te soucie pas de ce que raconte tel écervelé :
que c'est une dévotion passée et qu'on va abandonner.

Cette prière-là, je te le dis
est un rayon de l'Évangile :
on ne me le changera pas.

Ce que j'aime dans le chapelet, dit Dieu,
c'est qu'il est simple et qu'il est humble.

Comme fut mon Fils.
Comme fut ma Mère.

Récite ton chapelet : tu trouveras à tes côtés
toute la compagnie rassemblée en l'Évangile :
la pauvre veuve qui n'a pas fait d'études
et le publicain repentant qui ne sait plus son catéchisme,
la pécheresse effrayée qu'on voudrait accabler,
et tous les éclopés que leur foi a sauvés,
et les bons vieux bergers, comme ceux de Bethléem,
qui découvrent mon Fils et sa Mère...

Récite ton chapelet, dit Dieu,
il faut que votre prière tourne, tourne et retourne,
comme font entre vos doigts les grains du chapelet.

Alors, quand je voudrai, je vous l'assure,
vous recevrez la bonne nourriture,
qui affermit le cœur et rassure l'âme.

Allons, dit Dieu, récitez votre chapelet
et gardez l'esprit en paix. 

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

COMPANIONS' DAY - A REFLECTION

Life goes on. "Companions' Day" falls, as ever, on the feast of the Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes, this Thursday, 11th February.

We are grateful to our Chaplain, Father Edmund Montgomery, for this insightful reflection. It is hoped that all Companions will stop from their good works to listen to, or read, this meditation, which goes to the heart of why we do what we do.

Pray, especially during this difficult time of Covid, for all our fellow Companions who keep the work going. Pray also for Our Lords the Poor, whom God has given us for our sanctification.

 

A REFLECTION ON THE COMPANIONS OF MALTA

The Reverend Edmund Montgomery

It is a great privilege to be able to speak to you today on Companions’ Day and to be invited by Fra’ Max to say a few words by way of reflection for all of us, on the particular theme of ‘giving’, giving within the context of the role and responsibility of being a Companion of the Order, and within the charism, of course, of the Order of Malta.

 

For those I haven’t been able to meet in the time I’ve been working in and for the Order, my name is Edmund, I am a diocesan priest of the diocese of Shrewsbury, I’m based here at the Cathedral in Shrewsbury, where I have three churches, I am also the Vocations Director of Shrewsbury diocese, and in the house here we have a programme of discernment for men considering a vocation to the priesthood, so in a way I am surrounded by giving, in that sense, men who have given their lives to discern for a year about the vocation to the priesthood, to accompany our nine seminarians who wish to offer their lives in service to Christ and His Church, and, of course, the People of God who I serve here who give day after day, both to their family and in the parish in generous service in response to the Lord’s call.

HOMILY FOR CANON GOWARD - VIGIL OF THE FUNERAL

Our dear late Chaplain lay in his Pugin Chapel for Sunday Mass yesterday. The homily, given below, was preached by the Vice-Rector, and acting Rector, Father Paul Keane.

Canon Goward had an exemplary death, from the first Ave mouthed as his seminarians and staff gathered outside the College to process reciting the Rosary to his rooms; his final hours surrounded in prayer, natural but now so rare, by his friends and students around the bed; the tolling of the bell at the moment of his passing; and the pomp which rightly attends his earthy remains read, to our modern eyes, as the long-past death of a mediaeval prince or prelate. Yet they are no more than the natural Christian death due alike to peasant and prince, in this day as any before. This afternoon he will be buried in the snow, with many of his predecessors.

In this year of Covid, Canon Goward's very Catholic death stands vicariously for all those, known and unknown to us, who have died alone, far from their home and family. It will touch and comfort many who have been denied the right to grieve their own dead. We pray today for the soul of a friend, who has not abandoned us in death. May his soul, and the souls of all the Faithful Departed, rest in peace.

Sunday Mass in the Chapel of Saint Mary's College, Oscott,

 following the Reception of 

Giles Canon Goward’s Mortal Remains, 

homily preached by Father Paul Keane, Vice-Rector.

7th February 2021

AMDG

 

Canon Giles Goward became the Rector of Oscott on 28 June 2020.  He died on 28 January 2021.  Seven months exactly.  His time in office was brief but not his influence – it will continue.  Fr Giles’ faith and cheerfulness in illness and dying were equal in their power to years of house talks and scrutiny reports.  We can live and die better because of his example.

 

Sutton Coldfield has never been at the centre of world or national events but our chapel is not obscure.  It is, as Cardinal Nicols once said, ‘the beating heart of the Church in England.’  Not only because many of the Oxford Movement, including Newman, were confirmed here; and not even because the founding charters of the Church in our land were drawn up here during the three Synods of Westminster.  Our chapel gives life to the Church by the men who have prayed and been formed in prayer within its walls.  From this chapel generations of priests have been born and sent out in mission. And, as Fr Giles was on the Formation Staff for seven and a half years that this chapel has stood, so under his care as Pastoral Director and then Rector, thirteen separate Year Groups have been nurtured for priestly service.  His priesthood lives in theirs and will live in ours as much as we trust that Fr Giles, by God’s mercy, lives in heaven.

 

In the photocopier room, the Staff can leave letters for postage.  Fr Giles would leave his in quite a deliberate manner; one in which he knew some of us delighted.  His daily correspondence was never left with an envelope on top addressed to a bank or utility company.   No, his top envelope was always addressed to someone who was at least above the rank of a baronet, sometimes rising to a continental princess of a not forgotten duchy.  The titles and names of members of the Order of Malta were a joy to behold as one’s less grand addresses were added to the pile of letters.  Fr Giles delighted in the history of the Order.  He was not inured to the charm of its pomp.  Yet, it was its work of service to the sick and the poor which had drawn him; work which he supported for many years.  Fr Giles had a heart for those who could be overlooked.  In our community, he was quick to speak out behind the scenes in support of seminarians who were not born in this country but had come here to serve.  He honoured their sacrifice.  And, of course, as we all know, he fought for the rights of him who can be most under-appreciated: the permanent deacon.  In these men, supported by their wives, he recognised Christ the servant.  Fr Giles was quick to quip and celebrated generosity whenever he saw it.

 

As we gather around the catafalque which bears our rector’s body, today’s words of Job are too marvelously apt: ‘Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle my days have passed, and vanished.’  Fr Giles was only fifty-four years old.  He had just begun his new responsibilities.  His death is a tragedy.  To our eyes he has vanished.   These ceremonies, which are so right and beautiful, only heighten his absence; on such a day of significance for the College, Fr Giles should be here, presiding.  Job’s final words are a prayer to his Creator: ‘Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy.’  Why did the Church choose this passage for this Sunday, one which reflects so well grief?  Because the Gospel of Mark presents today God’s answer to that prayer: Jesus. Jesus heals the sick and frees the possessed; he gives life again.  Our lives are no longer a mere breath but, because of our Saviour, ones of lung-expanding eternity.  We shall see joy forever.  And so, the Psalmist sang: ‘Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.’

 

And yet we grieve for ourselves because we miss the rector.  He was the Father of this House and there is nothing more solemn than the funeral of a parent.  Yet Newman said, when he preached in this chapel at the funeral of Mgr Weedall, the first Rector of New Oscott: 

 

‘Everyone is made for his day; he does his work inhis day: what he does is not the work of any other day, but of his own day; his work is necessary in order to the work of that next day which is nothis, as a stepping-stone on which we, who come next, are to raise our own work. God grant that we too may do our own work, whatever it may be, as perfectly as he did his, whom we are now consigning to the grave.’

 

The stepping-stone which Fr Giles has laid down is made-up of priestly service, faithfulness, kindness, and humour.  It is upon that stepping-stone which we are to place our feet as a sure foundation for future growth.  Yet, paradoxically, the best stepping stones are not hard beneath the foot for, as we heard St Paul say today in his First Letter to the Corinthians: ‘For the weak I made myself weak.’  The good priest - and, however much be hidden from us in anyone’s life, we can confidently say Fr Giles was a good priest – the good priest does not serve from a place of strength but from out of his human frailty, strong in the grace of the Holy Spirit, as he supports others in their frailty.  Fr Giles’ stepping stone that he has laid down for us to tread upon, one of priestly service, faithfulness, kindness, and humour, can be our stepping stone because he was no less frail than us - but in his days as rector and in his passing, we saw what grace could do.

 

There will be a portrait, a grave stone, and a brass in the Weedall. However, there are already two memorials to Canon Goward at Oscott: this living community and a silver Maltese cross that shimmers in the cloister on top of the orb of our Lord, carried by Our Lady of Oscott.  If we continue to seek to be the fellowship that the Rector sought for us, and share in his devotion to Mary then, truly, Giles will rest in peace.

OBSEQUIES FOR GILES CANON GOWARD

The Requiem Mass for our late confrere, Chaplain of Magistral Obedience, the Very Reverend Giles Canon Goward, twenty-fifth Rector of St Mary's College Oscott, will be held tomorrow, Monday 8th February, at Noon.

The Order will be formally represented in Choir by our confrere Andrew Grant. Numbers, due to Covid, will be limited.

The Mass may be followed live on YouTube, by CLICKING HERE.  The photograph above shows the lying-in this evening in the Pugin chapel of the College.

Canon Goward died a holy death, fortified by the Sacraments and surrounded in his last hours by groups of his seminarians reciting the Holy Rosary around his bed in the College. Vespers of the Dead were sung in the Chapel that evening, in the presence of His Grace the Archbishop. Please pray for the repose of the Canon's soul, for his Seminarians and the community of the College, and for his family.

Requiescat in pace.

FRA' ANDREW BERTIE - ANNUAL COMMEMORATION

Today marks the heavenly birthday (one day God-willing to be feast day), of Servant of God Fra' Andrew Bertie, 78th Grand Master of our Order, second English Grand Master. May we, individually, ask Fra' Andrew's fraternal intercession for the future of our Order, its religious life, its caritative works, and its holy vocations.

We pray also for the Cause of the noble Servant of God, please remember him in your intentions at Holy Mass this day.

Most Holy Trinity,

we, your humble children, thank you for having given us

your servant Fra' Andrew Bertie,

and for having made him, in the fulfillment of his lofty charge

and in his personal consecration to you,

an example of radiant faith,

shown by his love for the Holy Eucharist,

the intensity of his prayer,

his fidelity to the Divine Office,

his most edifying spirit of recollection,

and his assistance to the poor and suffering

according to the ancient charism of the Order of Malta:

Tuitio Fidei- Obsequium Pauperum.

Gloria Patri.

O Lord,

your servant Fra' Andrew Bertie

showed us, by his fidelity to your example and teaching,

the path of holiness as the true measure of the Christian life.

through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin,

venerated under the title of Queen of Mount Phileremos,

whom he so deeply loved and confidently invoked,

grant, we pray, that he may be exalted also on earth

for your greater glory,

and that we may obtain by his intercession

the grace we so ardently implore (...).

Amen.

Pater, Ave, Gloria 

(Imprimatur Vicariate of Rome, 2012) 

FRA' PAUL SUTHERLAND - RIP

OF YOUR CHARITY

PRAY FOR THE REPOSE OF THE SOUL OF 

FRATER PAUL ANDREW SUTHERLAND

WHO DIED LAST NIGHT, 

FORTIFIED BY THE RITES OF 

HOLY MOTHER CHURCH

May his soul, and the souls of all the Faithful Departed, rest in peace.

Pray also for his Cousins, 

and for the Members of the 

Grand Priory of England, 

who have lost a dear Brother.

TUITIO FIDEI - PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

 

This day, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter at Rome, sadly no longer observed in the Universal Calendar, marks, in a tradition spanning much of the 20th Century, the start of the Week (or Octave) for Christian Unity. It ends on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on the 25th January. The logic of the choice of these dates requires no elucidation here. 

What is Christian Unity? It is the point at which all Christians come together to share fully in the sacramental life of the One Holy Church founded during His life on Earth by Our Lord Jesus Christ, with all the means of grace with which He endowed Her, so that all may access the plenitude of God’s Grace – His keenest desire. This is not then some warm and cuddly feeling about brotherly fellowship, and acknowledging (let alone celebrating) our 'differences', but means only one thing – the coming into the fold of the One Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church of all our separated Brethren. This is œcumenism. As those who have the privilege by birth and by grace to already be here, the burden to pray for this glorious end falls mainly to us. It has been, indeed, a part of Tuitio Fidei, our work in the Order of Saint John, for over 900 years. 

In these gloomy wintry and covid-bitten days, we may cheerfully reflect on one way the Order has assisted in this work - the annual London Corpus Christi Procession. Here we take Our Blessed Eucharistic Lord out into our Protestant and secular city. This is something each and every one of us, every Knight, Dame and Companion, should do every single day, bringing the Hope and Joy of Eternal Salvation into the humdrum world we inhabit – thirsting, yearning, as it is at every moment for the Grace it cannot yet see or understand. 

While praying, however, for the conversion of our Brethren, we should not neglect to pray for our own ongoing conversion, for unless we are ourselves wholly united to Christ we can make only very poor soldiers in his army, very poor nurses is the covid-ward of the soul.

Our Right Reverend and dear Confrere, who this week celebrated the 10th anniversary of his priestly ordination and of the foundation of his Institute (see the previous post), Monsignor Keith Newton, in whose joy we thus share, presents these truths very beautifully in this short video from the last Corpus Christi Procession, 18 months ago. He, and the Ordinariate, are a joyful witness to the reality, and the possibility, of Christian Unity. 

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us.

Blessed Adrian Fortescue, pray for us.

(The picture at the top is the Conversion of S Paul by Caravaggio, painted for S Maria del Popolo, Rome, ca.1610.)

PLENARY INDULGENCE AMONGST OUR FRIENDS

 

It is ten years since the Holy Father Pope Benedict presented his great gift to England in the form of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, a very concrete reply to Cardinal Wiseman's Prayer for England - "O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God..." On this day, the Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, and the two other prelates, Monsignori Burnham and Broadhurst, were ordained Priest, and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established for convert Anglicans in this land.

To celebrate this event to the supernatural benefit of all the Faithful, the Holy See has graciously approved a Plenary Indulgence, which may be gained in any church served by the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham with Holy Mass or Evensong in the Ordinariate Rite, during 2021. Thus in London those who are able to attend The Assumption Warwick Street on Sundays may avail themselves, for the benefit of their living or departed family and brethren, of this Indulgence every week. Or indeed more often.

Please note that the concessions during time of the Covid pandemic (HERE), for those who genuinely cannot attend Mass, made so generously by our Holy Father Pope Francis last March, continue to apply in this case.

The text issued by the Ordinariate is given below.

Plenary Indulgence

The Apostolic Penitentiary in Rome has agreed to a request from Mgr Newton for a Plenary Indulgence to be available during our anniversary year.  From 15th January 2021 to 1st January 2022 any member of the faithful who attends Mass celebrated according to Divine Worship: The Missal or who participates in a public celebration of the Divine Office according to Divine Worship: Divine Office may receive a Plenary Indulgence.  The indulgence is subject to the usual conditions of Sacramental Confession, reception of Holy Communion and prayers for the Holy Father's intentions.

The sick and those physically unable to participate may equally benefit from the Indulgence.

A Solemn Mass of Thansgiving will be celebrated by Monsignor Newton at Warwick Street tomorrow, Saturday 16th January, at 12 noon.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for England

LONDON SHRINE OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

As previously reported, the evening of the Order's Advent Recollection saw the blessing of the new Shrine of Saint John Henry Newman at the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and Saint Gregory, Warwick Street, seat of the Ordinariate, which lives under the patronage of our new Saint.

The shrine is a bust reliquary, sculpted by our confrère Dr Neil Weir.  It is located at the side of the Lady Chapel, with its important statue of the Rue de Bac Immaculate Conception, erected in the 1870s, and heavily indulgenced by Pio Nono in 1877. It is very fitting that this new shrine, the first newly-crafted post-canonisation shrine in London, should be sited in this historic church, because it was here, at the high altar, that Saint John Henry celebrated his First Mass on these shores upon the day of his return from Rome as a Catholic priest in 1847. He had a great love of this place, and indeed wrote of it – "Were St Athanasius or St Ambrose in London now they would go to worship, not at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, but to Warwick Street."

A brief description of the sculpture and its genesis is given below.

The blessing was performed by The Right Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who has followed in Newman's footsteps, and is himself a fruit of the Saints intercession. Following the blessing, Mgr Newton gave Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, in the presence of former Grand Prior Fra' Ian Scott, and Monsignor John Armitage, Chaplain of the Grand Priory, who had preached the meditation, see HERE.

RELIQUARY BUST OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

Saint John Henry Newman (1801 -1890) is the Patron of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The Rt Rev Mgr Keith Newton desired an image of Cardinal Newman in the Ordinariate’s Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory, Warwick Street. Mindful of his two sculptures of Dom Gervase, a monk of Douai Abbey, it was suggested that the sculptor Neil Weir might be asked to produce a small maquette of Cardinal Newman. This was made in terra-cotta and was loaned to Monsignor Newton.

With the news of the impending canonisation of Cardinal Newman on the 13^thOctober, Neil Weir offered to create a devotional image befitting Newman’s new status of elevation to the altars rather than merely a portrait bust of an historical figure. The saints are intercessors and role models; without denying Newman’s firm and often difficult character in life, the image conveys great kindness and patience. Here is a holy man to whom people will entrust their intercessions, a man who reflects the Love of Christ which has invaded his soul. Neil Weir has chosen an ambiguous age (Newman was 79 years old when created a cardinal and lived for a further 10 years) to emphasise the eternal dimension while still showing him as a cardinal – his primary attribute in the Universal Church. In terms of style of execution, the contemporary approach emphasises that Newman is a saint for our time, while also rooting the image in the long and noble tradition of English sculpture. 

The finished work was cast in bronze resin for reasons of weight and cost. The design of the base of the bust allows the insertion of a reliquary, a locket of the Cardinal’s hair. A marble corbel for the bust has been designed to accord with the other fittings of the church.

Donation: Richard Grey Esq. made a very generous donation towards the overall costs in memory of his parents Sir Paul and (Agnes) Lady Grey.

About the sculptor: Neil Weir’s professional life as an otorhinolaryngologist has given him the opportunity to observe the head and neck in great detail. When he first started sculpture classes under the tuition of Michael Marriot FRBS, in the mid-1970s, he found that his understanding of anatomy helped him in modelling the head and neck. He continued his tuition with the late Trevor Collis, who taught him mould making and casting, the late Sheila Mitchell FRBS who was a valuable mentor and more recently with Mark Swan FRBS who has brought him up to date with modern mould making and casting methods. Neil Weir has been working to commission for many years and his works are to be seen on permanent exhibition at the Royal Society of Medicine and in private collections in the UK, USA and Denmark. He has twice held the office of president of the Medical Art Society and has been a recipient of the Baron ver Heyden de Lancey three-dimensional prize. He has also exhibited with the Society of Portrait Sculptors, by invitation from the London School of Economics at a show entitled ‘Private painters in public life’ and at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Saint John Henry, pray for us.

HERALDS OF THE GOSPEL - A MEDITATION FOR THE NATIVITY

We are grateful to the Chaplain of the Grand Priory, Monsignor John Armitage, for sending the text of his wonderful Meditation for Advent, given as we prepared ourself for Christmas, for many of us the most usual Christmas of our lives. 

While this may seem unfortunately late, we must remember the God's eternity is not our earthly time, which truth Holy Mother Church signals to us in the ever-turning wheel of the Church's Calendar. So it does not really matter when we read things, and indeed, as so many of us are alone and quiet this year, rereading within the Octave of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord the spiritual preparation for the Feast we have just celebrated will allow us to revisit its glorious message of Salvation and enter deeper into the Mystery. So do not just pass it by! The Truth is for all Time!

The Meditation was given at the Assumption Warwick Street, on Thursday 17th December. It was followed, most appropriately, by the blessing of the new Shrine of Saint John Henry Newman, a reliquary-bust made by our illustrious sculptor confrere Dr Neil Weir. The officiant for this, and for Benediction, was our chaplain Mgr Keith Newton. A report on this will follow tomorrow.

RECOLLECTION on the NATIVITY 

So often we don’t feel like praying, this is often because of the many distractions that come along when we set out to pray. If we only pray when we are in the mood, our prayer will be determined by our feelings – praying when I feel like it! Choice as opposed to feelings, feeling is about emotions, choices are about the decisions we make in life. Freedom of choice can be good or bad, freedom to choose is not to simply choose what we want but to choose the good. 

Pope Francis recently said that “we are not living in an era of change, but a change of era.” reflecting onthe loss of faith in our present generation. The extraordinary truth is that men and women have lost sight of the ordinary truth built on faith in God, a reality that helps us find the meaning of life outside of ourselves, in order that we may find the purpose of life within ourselves. We have failed to see the God who is around us, because we have been blinded by the things that are around us. We fail to recognise that there are two realities in life – Spiritual and Material.  When the material realities of life overwhelm us, we need the spiritual realities to help us regain our balance once again. One description of the search for this balance is given in the title and contents of a remarkable book written after the Second World War by Victor Frankel, “Man’s Search for Meaning”. In the darkness and suffering of the Camps, he reflects on the strengths that in the face of such inhumanity, men and women were still able to navigate their way through the appalling “events”that threatened to overwhelm them. “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of breed. They may have been few in number, but they are sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. And there were always choices to be made. In the final analysis it became clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him. Mentally and spiritually. It is this spiritual freedom – which cannot be taken away – that make life meaningful and purposeful.”  (P86, Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankel)

 

For so many, life has lost its meaning, the anaesthetics of modern life fail to compensate for the loss of a faith in something greater than ourselves which helps us understand ourselves. Having more, is no substitute for being more! You only find yourself by finding God, and in finding God we discover ourselves...

FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS A BECKET - A MARTYR FOR OUR AGE

Today is the 850th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Thomas à Becket, on the steps of his altar at Canterbury. He dies defending the right of the Church to rule in the field of men's souls, through the Holy Church which Christ had founded, free of the pragmatic interference of men of power. In this land, as throughout Europe, many men have died in this cause.

In our own age, we see again the clouds of persecution and secularism. Maybe in our own age new Martyrs will rise up in succession of these illustrious forebears. Our newest English saint, Saint John Henry Newman, saw this possibility; in his praise of the English Martyrs in The Second Spring Sermon he foresaw the Martyrdom which might yet await English Catholics, as he addressed the priests of his own day – " ... calmy, gracefully, sweetly, joyously, you would mount up and ride forth to the battle, as on the rush of Angels' wings, as your fathers did before you, and gained the prize. You, who day by day offer up the Immaculate Lamb of God, you who hold in your hands the Incarnate Word under the visible tokens which He has ordained, you who again and again drain the chalice of the Great Victim; who is to make you fear?"

May our priests, those whom we know and love, rise to this challenge. May our prayers and charity sustain them, and wipe away all fear and timidity. And may we, as members of the Order of Malta, never hesitate in our readiness to follow them.

Saint Thomas, pray for us.

All Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us.

Saint John Henry, pray for us.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

The Grand Priory wishes all its gentle readers a very happy and blessed Christmas.  For many of you this will have been a singular year, stripped of its usual cheer and fellowship; yet, as our Sovereign Lady reminded us in her Christmas broadcast this afternoon, "You are not alone."

No, we are never alone, because as baptised Christians we are assured of the constant companionship of Our Lord and Saviour, today the tiny Infant in the manger in Bethlehem, but today also reigning for all Eternity in Heaven, and of His Blessed Mother, our own mother and advocate.

This feast, above all feasts, may be called the feast of Hope. Hope is always needed, but most poignantly in times of trial. Our hope is ultimately for eternal Salvation, but firstly for an unwavering Faith.

We are reminded of this in the touching poem below penned this morning over 400 years ago by a Jesuit, Blessed Robert Southwell, hanged, drawn and quartered in 1595. Our trials are different, but all trials lead us to Hope, if we open our hearts, and that is the purpose of the this Holy Day. 

THE BURNING BABE

AS I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,

    Surprised I was with sudden heat, which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

    A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who scorchèd with excessive heat such floods of tears did shed,

    As though His floods should quench His flames which with His tears were fed.

"Alas!" quoth He, "but newly born in fiery heat I fry,

    Yes none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is; the fuel wounding thorns;

    Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

    The metal in the furnace wrought are men's defilèd souls;

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

    So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood."

With this He vanished out of sight and swiftly shrank away,

    And straight I callèd unto mind that it was Christmas Day.

May WE approach, daily, to warm our hearts!

A very Happy Christmas to you all!

(Text of poem from Mementoes of the Martyrs, Burns and Oates, 1962. The picture shows a wax Christ-Child made in Palermo, Sicily, by traditional workshops. The Holy Child customarily holds in His hand His Sacred Heart, suffering for us.)