Five English Catholic Martyrs and the Ladywell Shrine in Lancashire

From the Catholic Encyclopedia comes this account of one of the five priests executed on February 12, 1584, Blessed George Haydock, and of course, his connection to the other four, accused with him of a conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I:

English martyr; born 1556; executed at Tyburn, 12 February, 1583-84. He was the youngest son of Evan Haydock of Cottam Hall, Lancashire, and Helen, daughter of William Westby of Mowbreck Hall, Lancashire; was educated at the English Colleges at Douai and Rome, and ordained priest (apparently at Reims), 21 December, 1581. Arrested in London soon after landing, he spent a year and three months in the strictest confinement in the Tower, suffering from the recrudescence of a severe malarial fever first contracted in the early summer of 1581 when visiting the seven churches of Rome. About May, 1583, though he remained in the Tower, his imprisonment was relaxed to "free custody", and he was able to administer the Sacraments to his fellow-prisoners. During the first period of his captivity he was accustomed to decorate his cell with the name and arms of the pope scratched or drawn in charcoal on the door or walls, and through his career his devotion to the papacy amounted to a passion. It therefore gave him particular pleasure that on the following feast of St. Peter's Chair at Rome (16 January) he and other priests imprisoned in the Tower were examined at the Guildhall by the recorder touching their beliefs, though he frankly confesses it was with reluctance that he was eventually obliged to declare that the queen was a heretic, and so seal his fate. On 5 February, 1583-4, he was indicted with James Fenn, a Somersetshire man, formerly fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, the future martyr William Deane, who had been ordained priest the same day as himself, and six other priests, for having conspired against the queen at Reims, 23 September, 1581, agreeing to come to England, 1 October, and setting out for England, 1 November. In point of fact he arrived at Reims on 1 November, 1581. On the same 5 February two equally ridiculous indictments were brought, the one against Thomas Hemerford, a Dorsetshire man, sometime scholar of St. John's College, Oxford, the other against John Munden, a Dorsetshire man, sometime fellow of New College, Oxford, John Nutter, a Lancashire man, sometime scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, and two other priests. The next day, St. Dorothy's Day, Haydock, Fenn, Hemerford, Munden, and Nutter were brought to the bar and pleaded not guilty.

Haydock had for a long time shown a great devotion to St. Dorothy, and was accustomed to commit himself and his actions to her daily protection. It may be that he first entered the college at Douai on that day in 1574-5, but this is uncertain. The "Concertatio Ecclesiae" says he was arrested on this day in 1581-2, but the Tower bills state that he was committed to the Tower on the 5th, in which case he was arrested on the 4th. On Friday the 7th all five were found guilty, and sentenced to death. The other four were committed in shackles to "the pit" in the Tower, but Haydock, probably lest he should elude the executioner by a natural death, was sent back to his old quarters. Early on Wednesday the 12th he said Mass, and later the five priests were drawn to Tyburn on hurdles; Haydock, being probably the youngest and certainly the weakest in health, was the first to suffer. An eyewitness has given us an account of their martyrdom, which Father Pollen, S.J., has printed in the fifth volume of the Catholic Record Society.

He describes Haydock as "a man of complexion fayre, of countenance milde, and in professing of his faith passing stoute". He had been reciting prayers all the way, and as he mounted the cart said aloud the last verse of "Te lucis ante terminum". He acknowledged Elizabeth as his rightful queen, but confessed that he had called her a heretic. He then recited secretly a Latin hymn, refused to pray in English with the people, but desired that all Catholics would pray for him and his country. Whereupon one bystander cried "Here be noe Catholicks", and another "We be all Catholicks"; Haydock explained "I meane Catholicks of the Catholick Roman Church, and I pray God that my bloud may encrease the Catholick faith in England". Then the cart was driven away, and though "the officer strock at the rope sundry times before he fell downe", Haydock was alive when he was disembowelled. So was Hemerford, who suffered second. The unknown eyewitness says, "when the tormentor did cutt off his members, he did cry, 'Oh! A!'; I heard myself standing under the gibbet". As for Fenn, "before the cart was driven away, he was stripped of all his apparell saving his shirt only, and presently after the cart was driven away his shirt was pulled of his back, so that he hung stark naked, whereat the people muttered greatly". He also was cut down alive, though one of the sheriffs was for mercy. Nutter and Munden were the last to suffer. They made speeches and prayers similar to those uttered by their predecessors. Unlike them they were allowed to hang longer, if not till they were dead, at any rate until they were quite unconscious. Haydock was twenty-eight, Munden about forty, Fenn, a widower, with two children, was probably also about forty, Hemerford was probably about Haydock's age; Nutter's age is quite unknown.

The Haydock family of Lancashire was one of the great recusant families of that northwestern county that resisted the established Church of England. Later this month, on February 21, I'll post about Thomas Haycock, publisher. On April 11, I'll tell you about his brother, Father George Leo Haydock.

The Ladywell Shrine, The Shrine of Our Lady and the Martyrs, is in Lancashire.

St. John the Baptist and The English Reformation

Today is the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. Only two other birthdays are celebrated on the Church Calendar: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, saints and blessed are remembered on the dates of the deaths (or perhaps the "translation" of their remains or some other important date--not usually their birthdate). The saint's day of earthly death is the beginning of their eternal life in Heaven. This site offers the reason for honoring St. John the Baptist on his birhday--because he was cleansed from Original Sin, baptised as it were, when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and he leapt in his mother's womb when the unborn Jesus in Mary's womb came near him. St. Augustine pointed to this understanding of St. John the Baptist's holy birth. (St. John the Baptist has another feast, that of his Beheading, on August 29, and a friend of mine pointed out that the Orthodox churches honor St. John the Baptist even more often: September 23 —Conception of St. John the Forerunner; January 7 — The Synaxis of St. John the Forerunner; February 24 — First and Second Finding of the Head of St. John the Forerunner; May 25 — Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Forerunner; June 24 — Nativity of St. John the Forerunner, and August 29 — The Beheading of St. John the Forerunner!)

Devotion to St. John the Baptist is ancient in the Church and his Nativity was celebrated with a vigil and with bonfires on the feast. This site points out a pilgrimage site in Norfolk before the English Reformation demonstrating devotion to the saint as a martyr, as it had a replica of the head of St. John the Baptist. The image was destroyed at some point during the Reformation, of course.

Another mark of devotion to St. John the Baptist in England was the presence of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John in England, suppressed by Henry VIII. He had Sir Thomas Dingley and Sir Adrian Fortescue executed under Attainder in July of 1539 and seized the order's property in England:

The Order in Britain

From the beginning the Order grew rapidly and was given land throughout Western Europe. Its estates were managed by small groups of brothers and sisters who lived in communities that provided resources to the headquarters of the Order. These communities were gradually gathered into provinces called Priories or Grand Priories.

In Britain these estates were first administered from one of the communities (called a Commandery) at Clerkenwell, London from about 1140 and the original Priory Church was built at the same time.

However, over time, the extensive amount of land the Order owned in Britain meant that it needed to be managed by several different Commanderies. In 1185 the Commandery at Clerkenwell became a Priory, and had responsibility for Commanderies that had been set up in Scotland and Wales as well as the ones in England. Ireland became a separate Priory.

Henry VIII

In 1540 the Order was suppressed by King Henry VIII, as part of the process known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was restored and incorporated by Queen Mary I in 1557, but when Queen Elizabeth I again confiscated all its estates in 1559 she did so without annulling its incorporation. These acts by English Sovereigns did not directly affect the Order in Scotland, but the influence of the Reformation ended the Order’s activities there in about 1564. The Order in Britain then fell into abeyance.

One may, today, however visit the Museum of the Order of St. John in London today.

The provisions of Elizabeth I's Act of Uniformity of 1559 all took effect on this feast:

Where at the death of our late sovereign lord King Edward VI there remained one uniform order of common service and prayer, and of the administration of sacraments, rites, and ceremonies in the Church of England, which was set forth in one book, intituled: The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies in the Church of England; authorized by Act of Parliament holden in the fifth and sixth years of our said late sovereign lord King Edward VI, intituled: An Act for the uniformity of common prayer, and administration of the sacraments; the which was repealed and taken away by Act of Parliament in the [Page 459] first year of the reign of our late sovereign lady Queen Mary, to the great decay of the due honour of God, and discomfort to the professors of the truth of Christ's religion:

Be it therefore enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, that the said statute of repeal, and everything therein contained, only concerning the said book, and the service, administration of sacraments, rites, and ceremonies contained or appointed in or by the said book, shall be void and of none effect, from and after the feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming; and that the said book, with the order of service, and of the administration of sacraments, rites, and ceremonies, with the alterations and additions therein added and appointed by this statute, shall stand and be, from and after the said feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, in full force and effect, according to the tenor and effect of this statute; anything in the aforesaid statute of repeal to the contrary notwithstanding.

Finally, the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Norwich, pictured above (source is Wikipedia commons) was built after Catholic Emancipation and Restoration the nineteenth century, and dedicated as the Cathedral in 1976:

The Cathedral of St John the Baptist is a fine example of the great Victorian Gothic Revival. Designed by George Gilbert Scott Junior, it was the generous gift to the Catholics of Norwich of Henry Fitzalan Howard as a thank-offering for his first marriage to Lady Flora Abney-Hastings. Duke Henry, following an approach by Canon Richard Duckett, commissioned the building and took a keen interest in every aspect of its design from its initial conception in the early 1870s to its completion and dedication in 1910. Until 1976 when it became the Cathedral of the new Diocese of East Anglia, this great church was believed to be the largest parish church in England.

Now a Grade 1 listed building, the Cathedral of St John the Baptist is one of Norwich’s iconic buildings, rising above the city skyline. Its external grandeur and magnificent interior, especially the fine stonework and beautiful stained glass make it well worth a visit for those interested in architectural history; they will also find an inspiring and tranquil place of prayer.

St. John the Baptist, the Forerunner, Prophet and Martyr, pray for us!

Sunday Shrine Post: Preparing for Feast of Martyrs of England and Wales

In preparation for the Feast of the Martyrs of England and Wales, which honors the 40 Martyrs canonized by Pope Paul VI, the 85 Martyrs Beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II, and the other martyrs beatified by previous popes (Leo XIII, Pius XII), here is a link to a shrine in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire for two of the Carthusian martyrs, St. John Houghton of the London Charterhouse and St. Robert Lawrence of the Beauvale Priory. The site is the source of the print featured above, depicting the five Protomartyrs of the English Reformation: the three Carthusian Priors (the third is St. Augustine Webster), Blessed John Haile, parish vicar from Isleworth, and St. Richard Reynolds, from the Brigittine House of Syon. The church has a Beauvale Society to organize pilgrimages in honor of the two saints featured in the shrine. One may also visit the ruins of Beauvale (beautiful valley) Priory through the English Heritage program. Here's another shrine, at St. Mark's in Mansfield, also honoring those two Carthusian martyrs. More about the Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales this Friday, May 4.

Church of the English Martyrs, York

Since we are remembering St. Margaret Clitherow today, and have featured some other Catholic Martyrs of York recently, it only seems right to highlight the parish church in York dedicated to the English Martyrs.

The Parish of the English Martyrs is part of the Middlesbrough Diocese and yesterday, March 24, was the last stop on a pilgrimage in honor of St. Margaret Clitherow:

[The pilgrimage] will commence at 1.30pm with a Solemn Mass in the Church of St Wilfrid, which is close to York Minster. Following Mass, the procession will set off from outside St Wilfrid's at around 3pm, and will pass through The Shambles and over Ouse Bridge to the Church of the English Martyrs where, at about 4pm, there will be veneration of the relic of St Margaret followed by Benediction. Bishop Terence Drainey will be presiding at the Mass, which will be celebrated by Fr Michael Brown. The Rudgate Singers will provide the musical setting, which will be a modern one: Missa Summi et Aeterni Sacerdotis by Jeffrey Ostrowski. This may be unfamiliar to many people, but I don't think anyone will be disappointed. There will also be music by Victoria, Bruckner, Scarlatti, De Wael (another modern composer) and Gombert. During the veneration of the relic, the congregation will be invited to sing Faith of Our Fathers, Firmly I Believe and Truely (sic), and God of Mercy and Compassion. For Benediction the Rudgate Singers will sing the Perosi version of the O Salutaris, Bruckner's Tantum Ergo and Allegri's Adoremus. The Recessional will be the Worcester version of Laudes Regiae.

Here is a flickr series of pictures of the church, with this excellent detail about its history: "The mission began in 1881, with worship in a room in St. Mary's Court, off Blossom Street. In 1889 the congregation moved to 17 Blossom Street, where it occupied theupper story of a school building. This served until the present church and presbytery were built in Dalton Terrace (church opened on 4 May 1932). The architects were Williams & Jopling of Hull, who at the same time built St Vincent de Paul, Hull, to a very similar design, but smaller. The church and presbytery were built at a cost of about £12,000; the church seated 520 people.There are two parish halls; the small hall was built first, and the large hall later (inthe 1950s).The sanctuary was reordered by Weightman and Bullen in 1967, when the high altar, altar rails and pulpit were removed. A new forward altar was introduced, with parquet flooring to the chancel and seating around the apse, and a new terrazzo floor in the nave alleys."

Catholic Martyr's Shrine in Leicester

Holy Cross Priory in Leicester cites an interesting history on its website:

The Dominican friars reached Leicester around 1247. At that time the Augustinian canons at Leicester Abbey (of Our Lady of the Meadows) cared for all the parishes within the walls of medieval Leicester. Through a highly unusual arrangement, the canons gave the friars the church of St Clement, a poor parish between two arms of the river Soar. Through the benefaction of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (the son of St Dominic's friend, the homonymous 5th earl) and King Henry III, the friars built their priory around this parish church of St Clement's. It became known as “The Blak Frears in the Ashes”, presumably because of the many ash trees in its grounds. In its medieval heyday the priory numbered thirty-three friars, and hosted three provincial chapters. On 10th November 1538 the priory was surrendered to the king's agents. Those friars of our province who did not apostasize fled to Flanders.

The first Dominicans to return to Leicester after the Reformation came from Holy Cross Priory, Bornhem, founded in 1657 in what was then the Spanish Netherlands. The founder was Philip Thomas Howard, born in 1629, a member of the family of the Dukes of Norfolk, whose title had been in abeyance since the reign of Elizabeth. He was brought up in the household of his grandfather the Earl of Arundel, known as the 'Collector Earl' because of his patronage of the fine arts (the 'Arundel Marbles' are to be seen in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford). The Earl, being a Royalist, settled on the Continent during the Civil Wars. In 1645, at Cremona, the young Philip took the habit of the Order, much to the displeasure of the Earl. His purpose was to restore the English Province, and it was for this reason that he eventually persuaded the Master of the Order and the General Chapter to allow him to seek a patron, the Count of Bornhem near Ghent, to make the first foundation of the English Dominicans since the Reformation. Howard returned to England as Almoner to Charles II's Queen in 1660, but eventually had to leave England due to anti-Catholic sentiment. He was created Cardinal in 1675 and died in Rome in 1694. He was Cardinal Protector of England and Scotland, did much to restore the English College in Rome, and gave his unheeded advice to the headstrong James II. His tomb is in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.

At Bornhem, a school for English Catholic boys and a novitiate and study house of the Order (a foundation was also made at Louvain) thrived until the arrival of the French Revolutionary army in 1794.The brethren and the Dominican nuns of Brussels, also founded by Howard, escaped to England. With them was Benedict Caestryck, born in 1762 at Poperinghe, a Fleming who had joined the Order at Ypres in 1784. It was he who founded the permanent mission of Holy Cross, Leicester, buying land there on which in 1817 he began to build the church, opened in 1819, and a presbytery, 1824. The parish and later the Priory took the name of Holy Cross, the dedication of the Priory and church at Bornhem. The relic of the true Cross which came from Bornhem is venerated at Holy Cross, Leicester, to this day. Benedict Caestryck died in 1844. His portrait hangs in the cloister at Leicester.

Holy Cross was established as a priory in 1882. During this period the brethren opened Mass centres around the city; thus all the parishes in Leicester arose from Dominican foundations. By 1929 the first Holy Cross church proved to be too small for the congregation. So the famous preacher and author, fr Vincent McNabb OP, started to raise money for a larger church. Its foundation stone was laid in 1929 and the choir and transepts opened and the high altar consecrated in 1931. The church was finally completed and consecrated on 14 May 1958.

The church's shrine to the English Catholic Martyrs was consecrated in December 2010, so it is still pretty new. Find a nice picture of it here and a good description of it here.

A Guide to Catholic London

In preparation for visits to London during the Olympics this summer, the Catholic News Service offers this guide by Simon Caldwell to important churches and sites in connection with Catholic history:

LONDON (CNS) -- Visitors to the 2012 Olympic Games might be surprised to discover the extent to which London has been marked by the Catholic faith over the centuries. Riding the trains of the London Underground they notice stations with names such as Temple, Blackfriars, Charing Cross and Covent Garden. Above ground, the traces of Catholicism are yet more noticeable: Whitefriars, Greyfriars, Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Square all denote a rich Catholic heritage that precedes the Reformation.

Catholics never left London, and during the 16th and 17th centuries they soaked the city with their blood, with 105 beatified and canonized martyrs dying on the Tyburn gallows, while many others were executed in other parts of the capital. However, the hope and new confidence that was ushered in with the "second spring" of the 19th century means that, today, stunning Catholic cathedrals and churches again adorn the city landscape. Here are a number of sites well worth a visit, not listed in order of importance or prominence:

1. Tyburn Convent. This is the motherhouse of the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre, an order of cloistered Benedictine nuns, and it stands just yards from the site of the infamous "Tyburn Tree" on which more than a hundred Catholics died for their faith during the Reformation. It houses the Martyrs' Crypt, which contains bones, hair, scraps of bloodied shirts, fragments of rope and other such relics salvaged secretly by Catholics and preserved for generations. The convent is increasingly popular with visitors from the U.S., and Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley often asks to celebrate Mass there when is passing through London. The nuns will show visitors around the ground. http://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/

2. The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street. Because of its proximity to the U.S. Embassy, the mother church of the English Jesuit province is sometimes considered the "American church." It is worth a visit because it is the finest Catholic example of the Victorian Gothic Revival in London and one of the most beautiful churches in the city, the grandeur of its architecture exuding the joyful hope of English Catholics as they emerged from a long period of suffering. http://www.farmstreet.org.uk/

3. Westminster Cathedral. A Byzantine-style structure designed by John Francis Bentley and opened in 1903, this is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is not yet completed, and mosaics are being added all the time. It is the burial place of Cardinal George Basil Hume and the other archbishops of Westminster and also of St. John Southworth, a 17th-century martyr. Take the elevator up the bell tower (the bell is named Edward after St. Edward the Confessor, patron of the archdiocese) for a spectacular view across to Buckingham Palace. http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/

He also mentions the London (Brompton) Oratory--the picture above is the statue of Blessed John Henry Newman there--and a few other sites I appreciated:

At London Charterhouse there are still the remains of the Carthusian priory where St. John Houghton celebrated a Mass of the Holy Spirit before refusing to take the oath attached to the Act of Succession, resulting in him becoming the first martyr of the Reformation, May 4, 1535.

In London's West End is the church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory, Warwick Street. This was formerly the chapel of the Bavarian and Portuguese embassies and was, for a period, one of the few places in London where Catholics were free to attend Mass. It was destroyed in the Gordon Riots and rebuilt but still offers good examples of English Baroque architecture. . . .

Not far away is the Anglican church of St. Giles in the Fields. Eleven Catholic martyrs are buried against its northern wall, including four Jesuits and their provincial who were executed June 20, 1679, amid the hysteria of the fabricated "Popish Plot" of Titus Oates.

Read the rest here: sounds like a great itinerary! I would never even see an Olympic event.

Blessed John Henry Newman on Lent

From the Parochial and Plain Sermons, "The Duty of Self Denial":

Self-denial, then, is a subject never out of place in Christian teaching; still more appropriate is it at a time like this, when we have entered upon the forty days of Lent, the season of the year set apart for fasting and humiliation. {87}

This indeed is not all that is meant by self-denial; but before proceeding with the subject, I would ask whether the generality of mankind go as far as this: it is plain that they do not. They do not go so far as to realize to themselves that religious obedience involves a thwarting of those wishes and inclinations which are natural to them. They do not like to be convinced, much less will they act upon the notion, that religion is difficult. You may hear men of the world say plainly, and as if in the way of argument, "that God will not punish us for indulging the passions with which we are born; that it is no praise to be unnatural; and no crime to be a man." This, however, may seem an extreme case; yet are there not a great many decent and respectable men, as far as outward character goes, who at least fix their thoughts on worldly comfort, as the greatest of goods, and who labour to place themselves in easy circumstances, under the notion that, when they can retire from the business of their temporal calling, then they may (in a quiet, unexceptionable way of course) consult their own tastes and likings, take their pleasure, and indulge themselves in self-importance and self-satisfaction, in the enjoyment of wealth, power, distinction, popularity, and credit? I am not at this moment asking whether such indulgences are in themselves allowable or not, but whether the life which centres in them does not imply the absence of any very deep views of sanctification as a process, a change, a painful toil, of {88} working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, of preparing to meet our God, and waiting for the judgment? You may go into mixed society; you will hear men conversing on their friend's prospects, openings in trade, or realized wealth, on his advantageous situation, the pleasant connexions he has formed, the land he has purchased, the house he has built; then they amuse themselves with conjecturing what this or that man's property may be, where he lost, where he gained, his shrewdness, or his rashness, or his good fortune in this or that speculation. Observe, I do not say that such conversation is wrong; I do not say that we must always have on our lips the very thoughts which are deepest in our hearts, or that it is safe to judge of individuals by such speeches; but when this sort of conversation is the customary standard conversation of the world, and when a line of conduct answering to it is the prevalent conduct of the world (and this is the case), is it not a grave question for each of us, as living in the world, to ask himself what abiding notion we have of the necessity of self-denial, and how far we are clear of the danger of resembling that evil generation which "ate and drank, which married wives, and were given in marriage, which bought and sold, planted, and builded, till it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all?" [Luke xvii. 27-29.]

It is strange, indeed, how far this same forgetfulness {89} and transgression of the duty of self-denial at present spreads. Take another class of persons, very different from those just mentioned, men who profess much love for religion—I mean such as maintain, that if a man has faith he will have works without his trouble, so that he need be at no pains about performing them. Such persons at best seem to say, that religious obedience is to follow as a matter of course, an easy work, or rather a necessary consequence, from having some strong urgent motive, or from some bright vision of the Truth acting on the mind; and thus they dismiss from their religion the notion of self-denial, or the effort and warfare of faith against our corrupt natural will, whether they actually own that they dismiss it or not. I say that they do this at best; for it often happens, as I just now intimated, that they actually avow their belief that faith is all-sufficient, and do not let their minds dwell at all on the necessity of works of righteousness. All this being considered, surely I am not wrong in saying that the notion of self-denial as a distinct religious duty, and, much more (as it may well be called), the essence of religious obedience, is not admitted into the minds of the generality of men.

Read the rest here.

Yet Another Historical Novel: "The Spanish Match"

Sophia Institute Press announces a new historical novel, The Spanish Match, telling the story of the proposed marriage between Charles, James I's son and heir, and the Infanta of Spain:

Murder, mayhem, and religion fustrate the royal courtship that, through love, seeks to make peace between warring enemies England and Spain:
A novel based on actual events.

In 1623 Charles, heir to the throne of England, dons a disguise, crosses the Channel, rides horseback across France, and sneaks into Madrid, capital of England’s proud Catholic enemy, Spain.

His mission? To woo the lovely María, sister of the King of Spain, and accomplish by marriage what decades of war have failed to do: reconcile the two embittered nations.

Once Charles and María meet, neither palace intrigues nor bloody murders cool their growing attraction. One thing alone prevents their union: María’s Catholic Faith . . . which she will not abandon and England cannot abide.

Yes, Charles’s marriage to Catholic María would briefy unite the kingdoms, but could soon destroy the monarchy. Outraged at the prospect of a Catholic queen, Charles’s Puritan subjects are sure to rise up and take from him not only his throne, but even his life . . . and María’s . . . plunging Europe into warfare greater than any seen before.

From detailed records of this actual love’s gambit author Brennan Pursell has crafted a moving novel of faith, courage, danger, and hope, a tale in which the fate of nations hangs on the love of two young people: Prince Charles of England and Princess María of Spain.

Here is an interview with the author and here is an excerpt from novel.

There is a connection for the Sunday Shrine series--the Queen's Chapel at the Palace/Court of St. James, originally built for the use of the Infanta, but then used by Henrietta Maria, Charles I's French Queen. It was designed by Inigo Jones, but Henrietta Maria supervised some Baroque decoration. Diane Purkiss discusses the Catholic Reformation motives behind these improvements in her book, The English Civil War: Papists, Gentlewomen, Soldiers, and Witchfinders in the Birth of Modern Britain starting on page 30 in this preview from Google Books.

Sunday Shrine Series: Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, and St. Ignatius

This church is the shrine of the Dorset martyrs, whom I have mentioned before.

As the website states, the Dorset martyrs are among the "clouds of witnesses" of the English Martyrs:

Of these, eight are associated with Chideock. Seven were put to death and are known as the Chideock Martyrs. The eighth, John Jessop, was put in prison for his Faith and died there. Their portraits are displayed above the nave in the Church.

Fr.Thomas Pilchard was a Jesuit and despite being banished, in 1586 he returned to England and became Chaplain at Chideock Castle where he was concealed. While he was here, he made many converts including William Pike, a carpenter in Chideock. Both were put to death in Dorchester and were beatified, together with Jessop, in 1987.

Blessed John Cornelius was a friend and Chaplain to the Arundells at Chideock Castle. Around Easter 1594, a servant betrayed his presence and he was arrested along with

Thomas Bosgrave, a nephew of Lady Arundell, and two servants, John Carey and Patrick Salmon, all of whom had tried to save Fr. Cornelius. All four were executed at Dorchester on 4th July 1594 and beatified in 1929.

Blessed Hugh Green also became Chaplain to the Arundell family and was martyred in 1642 after being arrested at Lyme Regis as he tried to escape to France. He was beatified in 1929.

More about the history of the shrine and pilgrimages here.

New Sunday Series: "Our Lady and the English Martyrs"

Last year I dedicated quite a few posts to English churches from before the Reformation and the saints and shrines they featured. Now I am changing the Sunday Shrine series to focus on English "RC" churches built after Emancipation and Restoration that are dedicated to or feature shrines to the Catholic Martyrs. I'll start today with a series of posts on churches named for "Our Lady and the English Martyrs" beginning with the parish church of that name in Cambridge, aka OLEM:

The Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, or OLEM, is situated in the heart of the city of Cambridge. An imposing example of the 19th Century Gothic Revival, it was built to the designs of Dunn & Hansom of Newcastle between 1885 and 1890, and founded solely by Mrs Yolande Marie Louise Lyne-Stephens, a former ballet dancer at the Paris Opera and Drury Lane, London, and widow of a wealthy banker. She promised to build the church on the feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, and Monsignor Christopher Scott - the first Rector - also wished to commemorate the Catholic Martyrs who died between 1535 and 1681, over thirty of whom had been in residence at the University.

Designed by architects Dunn and Hansom of Newcastle and built by the Cambridge firm of Rattee and Kett , OLEM is constructed in Casterton, Ancaster and Combe Down Stone. The church is a traditional cruciform structure in the early-decorated style with a large tower at the crossing, a polygonal apse and a west bell tower with a 65-metre spire, visible for miles around Cambridge. Quite often, it is quoted by visitors and local residents as a location point. The approximate internal dimensions of the church are: length 48 meters [156 ft] width across the aisles 16 meters [51 ft] width at the transepts 22 meters [71 ft], the height of the nave 15 meters [71ft].

Inside and over the west door stands the figure of Our Lady of the Assumption crowned with lilies and standing on the crescent moon with the vanquished serpent beneath. The west window shows the English Martyrs arranged in two principal groups, the clergy on the south side with St John Fisher in their midst and the laity on the north grouped round St Thomas More. . . .

The aisle windows were almost completely destroyed when the church was struck by a bomb on 1941, but were subsequently replaced in their original form. They epitomise the various sufferings of the English Martyrs, their being brought before the Council, racked, hung, drawn and quartered in the sight and sympathy of the faithful. The windows of the north aisle portray Carthusians, St Thomas Moore (sic), B. Margaret Pole and others, while the south aisle is made a “Fisher Aisle”, devoted to scenes from the life of St John, Cardinal Bishop of Rochester, who in so many important ways is identified with Cambridge.

Here are some photos from a Flickr photographer, focused on the stained glass windows.

St. Vincent Pallotti's London Connection

Today would be the memorial of St. Vincent Pallotti if t'were not Sunday (I once applied for a position with the Pallotines here in Wichita; the order was setting up an office of their Society of the Catholic Apostolate--I had to write a long essay in which I waxed eloquent, to no avail, on the correspondences between Newman's Oratory and Pallotti's Society), the nineteenth century founder of the Pallotines. He died on January 22, 1850 and was canonized in 1963 by Blessed Pope John XXIII. His London connection?--St. Peter's Italian Church on Clerkenwell Road. According to the parish website:

In the early 19th century the Saffron Hill area of London was a poor neighbourhood of densely populated slum-ridden alleys. By 1850, nearly 2000 Italian immigrants had settled there, chiefly employed as itinerant workers - street musicians, organ-grinders, street vendors or as artisans producing plaster figures, picture-frames, looking-glasses, barometers and other scientific instruments. They worshipped at the Royal Sardinian Chapel, Lincoln's Inn Fields, because they had no church of their own.

In 1845 St. Vincent Pallotti, a RC priest and founder of the S.A.C. (Pallottine Fathers), thought of constructing a church in London for Italian immigrants.
The Irish architect, Sir John Miller-Bryson, modelled the church on the Basilica of San Crisogono in Rome.

Originally it was meant to hold 3,400 people, but the plans were scaled down. It was consecrated as "The Church of St. Peter of all Nations" on 16 April 1863 and, at that time, it was the only church in Britain in the Roman Basilica style.

and

St Vincent Pallotti, the priest asked by Cardinal Wiseman to establish St Peter's, was born in Rome in 1795. His parents Pietro Paolo and Magdalena were the decisive religious influence during his youth. He was ordained priest on the 16th of May 1818. After his ordination, he committed himself to keep alive the Christian faith of the people of Rome. His pastoral presence on all fronts urged him on to become an animator of collaboration among clergy, religious and laity. He held very strongly a belief in the then new concept that every Christian, not just those in the holy orders, has from Jesus a mission for the Church and for the world.

To put this concept into action he founded in 1835 the Union of Catholic Apostolate. This movement brought together priests, monks, nuns and lay people as a community for the common purpose of living and spreading awareness of the Good News to all of the world.

St. Vincent died on the 22nd of January 1850 at the centre of his new community, the church of San Salvatore in Onda, Rome. He was beatified by Pope Pius XII on 22 January 1950, and proclaimed a Saint by Pope John XXIII in January 1963.

January 15, 1559 and Today

On January 15, 1559 Elizabeth Tudor was crowned and anointed Queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey with a ceremony based on that developed for her half-sister Mary Tudor five years or so earlier. There are reports that she left the sanctuary area when the Bishop of Carlisle elevated the Sacred Host and that she did not receive Holy Communion. She was only 25 years old--after the succession of a boy king, too young (legally) to reign, and of a middle aged woman, perhaps too old to reign, her youth must have been very refreshing. Her subjects anticipated her marriage.

Her first Parliament would establish the Via Media of the Church of England while the Convocation of Bishops as constituted by the late Reginald Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury, almost to the man, refused to swear the Oaths of Supremacy and Uniformity demanded by it. Elizabeth appointed Matthew Parker, who had been one of her mother's chaplains, as her Archbishop of Canterbury--she was, after all, Supreme Governor of the Church, as determined by Parliament. The bishops, priests and officials at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge who refused to take her oaths and follow his leadership would be deposed from their positions, exiled or imprisoned.

Today, on January 15, 2012, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will celebrate its first year: "Monsignor Newton will preside at this commemoration celebration, which has been organised by Fr Christopher Pearson and the Marylebone Ordinariate Group, and to which all are invited.The music for the event has been chosen to reflect some of the familiar repertoire of the Anglican Choral Tradition and will include works by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Henry Balfour Gardiner and Sir Edward Elgar." Last year on this date, the Vatican announced the formation of this Ordinariate for groups of Anglicans in England, including entire congregations.

The very church hosting this Evensong & Benediction has a fascinating history: St. James, Spanish Place. The parish website explains the descriptive addition "Spanish Place" to the saint's name:

The visitor to St James's Church is often puzzled to know why a church which stands in George Street, W1, should have derived a kind of secondary title from a street called Spanish Place which can be found opposite the Presbytery door. The explanation is that St James's, Spanish Place, like so many of the older parishes in the Westminster diocese, can trace its origin to the penal times and to the benefactions of a friendly Catholic embassy. And this is perhaps the reason why, despite the magnificence of the church, there is within an atmosphere that breathes our Catholic past.

In the reign of Elizabeth I the Bishops of Ely let their palace and chapel in Ely Place to the Spanish Ambassador, and until the reign of Charles I it was occupied by the representative of the Court of Spain. During this period the chapel was freely used by English Catholics and became a place of sanctuary for them.

A rather fascinating juxtaposition of events--and even location, eh?

Sunday Shrine Series: The Holy Name of Jesus

The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated on the Tuesday before Epiphany this week, on January 3rd. In honor of the feast, today's Sunday Shrine series post links to the "RC" Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Manchester, England. According to the Wikipedia article on this church, it was founded by Jesuits in the late 19th century, fell into disuse, and has been revived by an Oratory of St. Philip Neri in formation. Mass is celebrated ad orientem (with the priest facing the high altar, toward the east and in the same direction as the congregation) with regular celebrations of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite (aka the Traditional Latin Mass).

According to the church website:

In the sixteenth century the Spanish saint, Ignatius of Loyola founded an order called the Society of Jesus or Jesuits, who were a powerful force for the reform of the Catholic Church. They often built large churches in cities where their influence could be effective through preaching, the confessional and parochial work. They were invited to come to Manchester by the Bishop of Salford, Rt. Rev. William Turner in the late 1860’s. The foundation stone of the Holy Name was laid in 1869 and the church opened on 15th October, 1871.
The architect was a favourite of the Jesuits, Joseph Aloysius Hansom, the inventor of the cab that bears his name. The church he designed is 14th century French Gothic in style, but the plan is typical of a Jesuit city church – a broad nave, prominent pulpit and a short sanctuary with the altar near and in full view of the congregation. It is 186ft. from east to west, 112ft. from north to south and 100ft. from the floor to the inside of the vault.

The structure is brick faced inside with moulded terracotta and outside with Warwick Bridge stone. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in his introduction to the ‘South Lancashire’ volume of his ‘Buildings of England’ series wrote that the Holy Name ‘is a design of the very highest quality and of an originality nowhere demonstrative…….Hansom never again did so marvellous a church.’

The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus celebrates His naming at His circumcision--and was celebrated on various dates after Christmas by different religious orders or dioceses until extended to the universal Church in 1721. St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John of Capistrano had been the great promoters of the devotion, symbolised by the monogram IHS. In 1970 the feast was removed from the universal Roman calendar and then restored by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

"At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:10-11). Note that when that reading is proclaimed in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, we DO bend the knee during that verse!

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

The choirs at King's College Chapel are preparing for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols this Saturday, Christmas Eve:

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the Christmas Eve service held in King's College Chapel. The Festival was introduced in 1918 to bring a more imaginative approach to worship. It was first broadcast in 1928 and is now broadcast to millions of people around the world.

The service includes carols and readings from the Bible. The opening carol is always 'Once in Royal David's City', and there is always a new, specially commissioned carol.

This year's commissioned carol is a setting of Christina Rossetti's 'Christmas Eve' by Tansy Davies - see the news story about it.

King's College and the Chapel were founded by King Henry VI. Work on the chapel continued during the Yorkist reigns of Edward IV and Richard III, but much of the work, especially the stained glass, was completed by Henry VIII.

Here is the text of the Rossetti Poem:

Christmas Eve
Christmas hath a darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Remember that the BBC broadcasts the Festival.

The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In the octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and since St. Osmund of Salisbury's feast day was last Sunday (replaced by the Second Sunday of Advent, of course), it's a good idea to look at Salisbury Cathedral in the Sunday Shrine Series. Built from 1220 to 1258, it is one of those unusual cathedrals that has a unified style: Early English Gothic. Many cathedrals display a series of styles from Norman to Early Gothic to Pointed and Flamboyant, but Salisbury has only one style, which of course has been repaired and restored through the years.

It is from Salisbury that we have received the Sarum Rite, attributed in this Catholic Herald article to St. Osmund of Salisbury, William the Conqueror's Chancellor:

St Osmund (d 1099) was chaplain and then chancellor to William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest.

If, however, his early career was dedicated principally to secular affairs, there is no question of his devotion to religion in the latter part of his life as Bishop of Salisbury.

A monk at Malmesbury called him “an orthodox bishop, a man of humility, worthy to be honoured and praised for his wisdom and holiness”.

Osmund has been held responsible for the introduction of the Sarum Rite, based on Norman models. With its elaborate attention to ceremony and its particular prayers, this Rite was widely used in southern England, Wales, Scotland and even in parts of Ireland until formally abolished by Elizabeth in 1559. Its influence, however, may still be detected in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

This program from a concert held earlier this year at New York City's Episcopalian Trinity Church, however, mentions Richard Poore, the Bishop of Salisbury who began the construction of The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1220, as an important person in the development of the Sarum Rite:

In 1220, Richard Poore, the bishop of Salisbury, began the construction of a spectacular new cathedral for his diocese. He called it “The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” known and loved today as Salisbury Cathedral.

Aside from overseeing the early years of the construction of the cathedral, Bishop Poore also devoted himself to enriching and documenting the liturgy to be carried out within it, weaving architecture and liturgy into a single fabric. Poore wrote two new volumes detailing the liturgical practice at Salisbury, the Ordinale and Consuetudinarium (which spelled out the ceremonial he planned) that carried over and elaborated on liturgical customs of the past.

Within decades, this “Sarum Use” (“Sarum” is derived from “Sarisburia,” the name the Domesday Book (1086) gives to Salisbury) had become renowned for its splendor, complexity, and —dare one say?— The polyphonic embellishments to this gorgeous ceremonial—seldom performed in church today— are some of the most exquisite beauties of any age.

More about Salisbury Cathedral from the official website, including detail about Ken Follett's novel Pillars of the Earth.

Image source.

University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford

The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford is an informal shrine to many historical events and persons. When I have visited it, I have had these things in mind:

• Blessed Duns Scotus preached there in the early 1300's (more about him later this week)


• Anglicans Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer were tried on heresy charges at St. Mary's during the reign of Mary I and found guilty


• Blessed William Hartley smuggled in 400 copies of St. Edmund Campion's "Decem Rationes" for the students to read, creating quite a furor


• Charles I used St. Mary's for worship during the English Civil War (while a Catholic chapel was set up for Henrietta Maria at Merton College)


• John Wesley attended services while a student and preached a few sermons while Fellow at Lincoln College in the 1740's--including his last in 1742 when he really went after the lukewarmness of the administration and the other Fellows (never invited back)


• John Keble preached the "National Apostasy" sermon, beginning the Oxford Movement (at least in John Henry Newman's view) on July 14, 1833


• Blessed John Henry Newman was Vicar of the University Church, preaching such popular sermons that even the colleges' changing the time of tea didn't dissuade the students from attending


• C.S. Lewis gave his "Weight of Glory" talk there in 1942

So anyone with interest in any of those people and events will find something at St. Mary the Virgin, including bullet holes in the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the entrance, courtesy of the Roundheads! (Or be someone like me, thinking of all them jumbled up without "bullets"!) In addition, there's a nice gift shop, cafe, and view of the Radcliffe Camera.

St. Werburgh and Chester Cathedral

Following up on the surrender of Fountains Abbey, let's look at the Chester Abbey church that became Chester Cathedral in 1541. It was surrendered in January of 1540. The church at Chester had been famed as the site of St. Werburgh's tomb. St. Werburgh was a seventh century royal Benedictine abbess. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912, she was

born in Staffordshire early in the seventh century; died at Trentham, 3 February, 699or 700. Her mother was St. Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of Kent, and St. Sexburga, and her father, Wulfhere, son of Penda the fiercest of the Mercian kings. St. Werburgh thus united in her veins the blood of two very different races: one fiercely cruel and pagan; the other a type of gentle valour and Christian sanctity. In her, likewise, centred the royal blood of all the chief Saxon kings, while her father on the assassination of his elder brother Peada, who had been converted to Christianity, succeeded to the largest kingdom of the heptarchy. . . . On account of her beauty and grace the princess was eagerly sought in marriage, chief among her suitors being Werebode, a headstrong warrior, to whom Wulfhere was much indebted; but the constancy of Werbrugh overcame all obstacles so that at length she obtained her father's consent to enter the Abbey of Ely, which had been founded by her great- aunt, St. Etheldra, and the fame of which was widespread.

When her uncle Ethelred succeeded to the throne, he asked St. Werburgh to take on a great challenge:

This king invited St. Werburgh to assume the direction of all the monasteries of nuns in his dominion, in order that she might bring them to that high level of discipline and perfection which had so often edified him at Ely. The saint with some difficulty consented to sacrifice the seclusion she prized, and undertook the work of reforming the existing Mercian monasteries, and of founding new ones which King Ethelred generously endowed, namely, Trentham and Hanbury, in Staffordshire, and Weedon, in Northamptonshire. It had been the privilege of St. Werburgh to be trained by saints; at home by St. Chad (afterwards Bishop of Lichfield), and by her mother, and in the cloister by her aunt and grandmother. Her position worked no change in the humility which had always characterized her, so that in devotedness to all committed to her care she seemed rather the servant than the mistress. Her sole thought was to excel her sisters in the practice of religious perfection. God rewarded her childlike trust by many miracles, which have made St. Werburgh one of the best known and loved of the Saxon saints.

After her death:

So numerous and marvellous were the cures worked at the saint's tomb that in 708 her body was solemnly translated to a more conspicuous place in the church, in the presence of her brother, Kenred, who had now succeeded King Ethelred. In spite of having been nine years in the tomb, the body was intact. So great was the impression made on Kenred that he resolved to resign his crown and followed in his sister's footsteps. In 875, through fear of the Danes and in order to show greater honour to the saint, the body was removed to Chester. The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, on the site of the present cathedral of Chester, was rededicated to St. Werburgh and St. Oswald, most probably in the reign of Athelstan. The great Leofric, Earl of Mercia (who was likewise styled Earl of Chester), and his wife, Lady Godiva, repaired and enlarged the church, and in 1093, Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, richly endowed the abbey and its church. By the instrumentality of this noble, Chester, which had been in the hands of secular canons, became a great Benedictine abbey, the name of St. Anselm, then a monk at Bee, being associated with this transformation.

Her shrine, of course, was demolished and her remains scattered with the dissolution of the abbey. According to the wikipedia article (source of the image above), Chester Cathedral is a magnificent Norman/Gothic structure. It was, however, one of those cathedrals that suffered much damage, especially to its stained glass, from Parliamentary troops in the English Civil War. St. Werburgh is still the patron saint of Chester, and this site provides some detail of her reconstructed shrine.

St. Hugh of Lincoln and Lincoln Cathedral

November 17th was the feast of St. Hugh of Lincoln, so a Sunday Shrine post in his honor is appropriate. He was a Carthusian and bishop of Lincoln. John Whitehead's Once I Was a Clever Boy blog provides some details on his shrine and devotion to him and some information on the saint.

According to this website:

William the Conqueror ordered the first cathedral to be built in Lincoln in 1072. The church that existed before that, St. Mary's Church, was a mother church but not a cathedral. Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092. He died two days before it was to be consecrated on May 9 of that year. About 50 years later, most of that building was destroyed in a fire.

Bishop Alexander rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1185. Only the central portion of the west front and lower halves of the west towers survive from this period.

King Henry II of England approved the election of St. Hugh of Avalon, a Carthusian monk, as Bishop of Lincoln in 1186. St. Hugh began a major rebuilding project in the emerging Early English Gothic style, but died in 1200 before his plan was completed.

The east end of the cathedral was moved each time the building was enlarged. The eastern wall of the Norman cathedral (1073) was in the middle of what is now St. Hugh's Choir. The east end of the Early English building (1186) was in what is now the Angel Choir behind the High Altar.

The existing structure was finished by about 1280, but repairs and remodeling have continued. There have been repeated problems with the spires (removed in 1807) and towers, which were sometimes thought to be in danger of collapsing. This was despite attempts to shore up the towers by digging underneath them to increase support, an early attempt of what is a common engineering project today on such building as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Lincoln Cathedral and its bishops have had a leading role in the history of England. The Magna Carta was signed by the Bishop of Lincoln amongst others, and one of only two remaining copies resides in the cathedral's library.

St. Thomas More and Chelsea

The Anglican Chelsea Old Church honors Sir Thomas More--the statue of him seated with his chain of office resting on his knees stands outside it. According to the church website:

Sir Thomas More settled in Chelsea in about 1520 and built himself a house there. It stood on the site of the present Beaufort Street, in spacious, formal grounds which stretched from the river, where his barge was moored to take him to Westminster or Hampton Court on state business, to the present King's Road. No traces of the house remain, other than parts of the original orchard wall, which now border the gardens of the houses on the west side of Paultons Square.
Sir Thomas rebuilt one of the chapels in the Old Church when he moved to Chelsea and his association with the church was close and devout. He and his family worshipped there regularly.
The Old Church was largely destroyed an an air-raid in 1941 and subsquently restored in 1949/1950; however, the More Chapel and Monument were happily rescued almost intact. . . .
Thomas More's links with Chelsea Old Church are commemorated each year in the Thomas More Commemoration Service, at which a distinguished guest preacher is invited to give a sermon on a topic linked to Thomas More or any aspect of his life.

The most current sermon on the website dates from 2000.

The Catholic Church honoring Our Holy Redeemer and St. Thomas More in Chelsea was consecrated in 1905 and St. Thomas More was added to its title after he was canonized in 1935.

Christchurch Priory

As the Dissolution of the Monasteries is still on my mind (because of the article I wrote for the November/December issue of OSV's The Catholic Answer Magazine, an interview on the Son Rise Morning Show on November 10, the interview I have scheduled on November 15 with Al Kresta, and a Serra Club presentation that evening), today's Sunday Shrine post is about Christchurch Priory in Dorset. The priory church was part of the Augustinian monastery dissolved in 1539. The priory church was set for destruction, but the former prior, John Draper (who had surrendered the monastery and received a generous pension) supported the townspeoples' request that the church become the parish church. Henry VIII granted that request in 1540.

The official website lists this timeline.

There is a miracle associated with the building of the priory church: the Miraculous Beam--

In the first half of the 12th century lies the origin of the legend of the Miraculous Beam.

It is said that in the early building operations, a mysterious carpenter assisted the work. One evening a wooden beam was found to be too short, but the next morning the workmen found to their amazement that it had grown to the proper length overnight and had already been placed in the correct position. The mysterious carpenter did not appear after this and it was assumed by all that he must have been Jesus Christ who helped to build his own church, which thus became known as Christ's Church of Twynham, as the town was then called. Later the town became Twynham-Christchurch, later Christchurch.

That story reminds me of the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with its mysterious carpenter and extraordinary staircase. Sadly, the Loretto Chapel has been deconsecrated and is a privately owned museum and event location (for weddings). Franciscans were still there and it was an active chapel when I visited with my parents many years ago (today was my father's birthday--he would be 90 years old--may he rest eternally young in the peace and glory of Christ!) and I still have a postcard depicting one of the friars. Christchurch Priory is an active Anglican parish church; the wikipedia entry says it is Broadchurch in churchmanship.