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
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