Beaconsfield

Whilst the present Anglican Church of St Mary and All Saints was built in 1869, there has been a Church on the same site since the 13th Century. A member visited recently to offer his SSIM prayers and pray for the unity of the Church.

St Mary's has an interesting link to recent strivings for Christian unity as Fr John Hunwicke, recently ordained Catholic priest, was once Vicar there.

Interestingly, GK Chesterton, himself a convert, who lived in the town and is buried there, habitually heard Mass at the Catholic Church of St Teresa. The original headstone from his grave, carved by Eric Gill, is preserved on the outside wall of the Church.

Farnborough Abbey

Tomorrow one of our members begins his noviciate as an Oblate of the Benedictine St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough in Hampshire, UK.

Farnborough is a remarkable community of monks of the Subiaco Congregation of the Order of St Benedict.

In their own words:

" Our monastery has a rich and multi-faceted history.

"In 1880, the Empress Eugénie [if France] bought a house in Farnborough. Crushed by the loss of her husband Napoleon III in 1873 and the death in 1879 of her 23 year old son in the Zulu War, she built St Michael’s Abbey as a monastery and the Imperial Mausoleum.

"Dom Cabrol, the prior of the French Abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesmes, had dreamed of a monastic foundation dedicated to liturgical studies, but no suitable property or funding had been found, though the vicissitudes of the anti-clerical France of the 1890s made the thought of a house abroad increasingly attractive. The Empress Eugénie invited these French Benedictines here in 1895 and thus the daily round of work, prayer and study began.

"Monsignor Ronald Knox, who was received into the Catholic Church here, described the Abbey as ‘a little corner of England which is forever France, irreclaimably French.’ In 1947 a little band of monks came from Prinknash Abbey, near Gloucester, to anglicise the house and ensure the continuity of the monastic life here. The last French monk, Dom Zerr, died in 1956.

"The community today draws on the richness of more than a hundred years of monastic prayer and witness in this place and more than 1500 years of Benedictine tradition."

Please pray for Father Abbot and the Community at Farnborough and visit their website: http://www.farnboroughabbey.org

Oxford & Reading

One of our newer members has made contact to say he has visited St Mary Magdalen, Oxford and Grey Friars Reading today.

Grey Friars is the oldest Franciscan church still in use in the UK. The Franciscans first arrived in Reading in 1233 and occupied the current site from 1311 up to the dissolution of the Friary in 1538. It is now firmly within the evangelical Anglican tradition.

By contrast St Mary Magdalen's Oxford is a well known Anglo-catholic church. (see pic). There was a wooden church of St Mary Magdalen on the site a thousand years ago. St Hugh of Lincoln rebuilt the church in 1194.

More recently (1841-42) Gilbert Scott worked on the church to complement his nearby Martyrs' memorial, dedicated to the Protestant martyrs Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer. Let us pray for the repose of their souls as we invoke the intercession of St Mary Magdalen, St Francis of Assisi and all the Franciscan saints and beati.

Support for SSIM from Mgr Keith Newton

In a letter, sent last year to our Chaplain of Associates, Fr Bob Penhallurick, the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, said the following:

"I will certainly recommend that our priests find out more about the Society and hope that some of them with their lay people may join. .....the Society is particularly appropriate for members of the Ordinariate...."

We are very grateful for this endorsement and assure the Ordinary of our prayers as he seeks to implement the Holy Father's vision for the conversion of our separated brethren.

Duxford Chapel

Just off the M11 close to the imperial war museum is the 13c Chapel of St John, Baptist. It is located on one of the crossings over the River Cam of the Icknield Way.

Originally part of a hospital for travellers using the Icknield Way, it was founded by Sir William de Colville.

From its foundation, until 1308, when the property of the Knights Templar in England were confiscated, the Chapel is believed to have belonged to Duxford Preceptory of the Templars. The Chapel fell into disrepair and was given, in 1324, by the Crown, to the Knights Hospitaler. They rebuilt the chapel in 1327 as a chantry for Sir William. The right of appointment of a chantry priest lay with the Bishops of Ely.

The Chantry came to an end in 1557 with the Act of Dissolution of Colleges and Chantries of King Edward VI

Some notable features include a single seat 'Sedilia', a scallop shaped piscina and in the north wall, an Easter Sepulchre - very much a part of English Catholic patrimony.

Rugby anyone?

My first visit to Rugby revealed in all it's glory, St Marie's Catholic Parish Church. This fine example of Pugin's Gothic Revival style stands proud on the Dunchurch Road in the midst of a large churchyard and looks every bit like an ancient CofE parish church until you get close. This must've been what it was like in England before the reformation.

The really good news is that latter day liturgical re-orderings have done very little to spoil Pugin's interior with its God-ward orientation. Only the temporary altar and the misplaced font stand out as being slightly at odds with overall style.

Pray for the soul of Cpt John Hubert Washington Hibbert, founding benefactor of the Church and the Rosminians who care for it and have done so since 1849.

Tewkesbury Abbey

Yesterday I had the great joy of fulfilling the SSIM duties in glorious Tewkesbury Abbey. Built by the Benedictines it was consecrated in 1121. Our Anglican brothers and sisters obviously care greatly for the buildings which exude an atmosphere of prayer. I was reminded of a line from an Anglican hymn: "These stones that have echoed their praises are holy..."