As the publisher (Gangemi Editore) describes the book:
The murder on 29 December 1170 of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, sent shockwaves across the Christian world. The combination of his martyrdom, his canonization in 1173, and the creation of a shrine to him at Canterbury in 1220 increased the importance of the Via Francigena – the ancient pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome: indeed the English Hospice, founded in Rome in 1362 for pilgrims from England and Wales, was dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity and St Thomas of Canterbury. The transformation in 1579 of the English Hospice into a new English College in Rome, preparing future priests to serve on the dangerous post-Reformation mission to England and Wales, engendered further martyrdoms: between 1581 and 1679, forty-four members of the Venerable English College, Rome, were executed for serving as priests on the mission to England and Wales. Exploring three major themes – Memory, Martyrs, and Mission – this volume analyses, on the 850th anniversary of his death, the enduring legacy of St Thomas of Canterbury, expressed in English seminaries in continental Europe through their distinctive spiritual, artistic and literary activities; the resilience of those institutions to radical change over the centuries, in the face of revolution, war and social upheaval; and the challenges and opportunities for the effective formation of priests ready to meet the changing demands of mission in the twenty-first century. The volume concludes by demonstrating how music associated with St Thomas of Canterbury has resonated across the centuries, from soon after his martyrdom down to the present day.
My first comment is that I do not like ebooks and this one compounds my dislike by not having a table of contents with links to the chapters; I also don't like the illustrations being at the back of the book, making it hard to move between them and the chapters they pertain to. Each chapter is well documented with end notes; in those with sections, the end notes appear at the end of each section. Well-illustrated.
I definitely prefer printed, tangible books.
Contents:
Foreword by Mgr Philip Whitmore, Rector of the Venerable English College, Rome
List of contributors (bios)
List of illustrations
Chapter 1. St. Thomas a Becket (c. 1118-1170): Patron of the Venerable English College Church, Rome and of the English Clergy. --Nicholas Schofield
(each chapter begins with an abstract)
- 'The Holy, Blissful Martyr'
- St. Thomas and the English Catholic diaspora
- 'Thomas Points the Way': The Cult at the Venerable English College
- 'Martyr for the Liberty of the Church': Becket and the Victorians
- A Patron for Modern Times
Chapter 2. The English Colleges of Douai and Rheims, the Venerable English College, Rome, and the Tridentine Seminary. --Eamon Duffy
Chapter 3. The Cultural Life of the English Colleges in Continental Europe: An Overview. --Peter Davidson
Chapter 4. 'No other of Christianity except that which we preach to them': the Venerable Bede and the 1580s Martyrs' Frescoes of the Venerable English College, Rome. --Carol M. Richardson
- The fresco context
- Three conversions
- Peter
- Eleutherius
- Alban and Amphibalus
- Constantine and Helena
- Ursula
- Gregory and Augustine
- Brightness and Englishness
Chapter 5. The Restoration of the English and Welsh Seminaries in the Aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. --Peter Phillips
- The final days of the English College, Douai
- The Venerable English College, Rome
Chapter 6. New Wine in Old Wineskins? Harnessing the Power of History to Renew Priestly Formation. -- Judith Champ
- 'Not drowning, but waving' (sic)
- Understanding the past
- Changes of culture: priestly or clerical?
- What kind of Church: what kind of priest?
- The changing nature of vocations to the priesthood
- What kind of formation?
- The role of the parish in formation
- The art of accompaniment
- Seminary and beyond
Chapter 7. Gaudeamus omnes: Catholic Liturgical Music for St. Thomas Becket in the British Isles, Continental Europe, and the Venerable English College, Rome, c. 1170-2020. --Peter Leech
- Liturgical Music for St. Thomas of Canterbury in the British Isles, 1170-c. 1538
- Liturgical Music for St. Thomas of Canterbury outside the British Isles to c. 1570
- Becket Music in Britain, 1533-c. 1800
- Liturgical Music for Becket in Continental Europe, c. 1550-. 1850
The only chapter I found lacking was Chapter 6; the author did not seem to live up to the title of the paper and only tangentially referred to the past or specifically the past formation and mission of priests from the Venerable College and their mission in England during the recusant period. It also raised more issues that it really addressed--although it certainly pertains to the VEC's current mission of training priests from various dioceses of England. Eamon Duffy's paper contained material from Chapter 5 "Founding Father, William, Cardinal Allen" from his 2017 Reformation Divided: Catholics, Protestants, and the Conversion of England.
Father Nicholas Schofield provides an excellent overview of St. Thomas of Canterbury's reputation through the centuries, while Chapters 3 through 5 explore aspects of the art and architecture of the VEC and the internal and external struggles of the English Colleges before, during, and after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The last chapter, which includes musical examples in an appendix, provides an excellent survey of the celebration of the feast of St. Thomas a Becket in liturgical music.
By the way, Father Schofield posts on the blog for the Archives of the Venerable English College, Rome, and I've included a link to Tales from the Archives on my blog roll on the right side of this blog.
If you haven't downloaded this free ebook yet, I recommend you do so soon--before January 29!!
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