Celebrating Newman

Even in England, Blessed John Henry Newman's memorial must--and he is glad--yield to Sunday this year in most parish churches. The Ordinariate has a pilgrimage to Birmingham going on today, which began on Friday:

Ordinariate Year of Mercy Pilgrimage and Festival

Friday 7th October 2016
6.30pm Choral Evensong in S. Chad’s Cathedral Birmingham
S. Chad’s Queensway, B4 6EU
7.30pm Reception in the Grimshaw Room
8.15pm Talk by Dr Ian Ker: “Newman on Vatican II”

Saturday 8th October 2016
Birmingham Oratory, Hagley Road B16 8UE
(Free Parking at The Oratory, entry in Plough and Harrow Road)
9.45am Tea & Coffee on arrival in the Cloister Hall.
10.15am Confessions
11am Solemn Mass (Divine Worship) followed by Veneration of the relics of Blessed John Henry Newman
Lunch in the Upper Cloister Hall (bring your own packed lunch)
2.30pm Address on Newman by Rev Dr Stephen Morgan
Free time (opportunity to visit the Newman Shrine;
there is also regular Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 3-5pm)
4.45pm Benediction & depart

The Oratorians in England will celebrate his feast today and tomorrow. In Oxford, they walk from the Oratory to Littlemore tonight. and tomorrow, "Bishop Robert Byrne, Cong. Orat. will celebrate the eleven o'clock Mass, at which Fr Paul Chavasse, Cong. Orat. will preach."

The London Oratory has a special event planned for Sunday evening: "a recitation of Blessed John Henry Newman’s celebrated sermon “The Second Spring” by the noted actor Michael Wade, with an introduction by Fr George Bowen. The sermon was first preached on 13th July 1852, and it captured the rebirth of the Catholic Church in England after the end of penal times."

The Birmingham Oratory of course is one of the sites of the Ordinariate pilgrimage, but at this time at least, their website is not updated with any other events.

Martyrs and Contemplatives

The Provost at the London Oratory writes about the martyrs of the past and the contemplatives of the present at Tyburn:

Close to Marble Arch there is a traffic island at the beginning of the Edgware Road. At its centre lies a stone disc engraved with the words “The site of Tyburn Tree”. It was here that, between 1535 and 1681, 105 Catholic priests and laity suffered the horrible ordeal of being hanged, drawn and quartered, all for remaining loyal to the Faith of their fathers. Gentrification of the area in the eighteenth century would obliterate all reminders of the public executions, with the gallows removed, and Tyburn Road and Tyburn Lane becoming Oxford Street and Park Lane.

This intersection must be one of the noisiest and busiest corners of the city. Nearby, however, is a place of extraordinary tranquillity. In the early twentieth century a convent of Benedictine nuns was founded in the Bayswater Road. The crypt chapel of their convent is now filled with relics of the English Martyrs. There is even a replica of the gallows over the altar. Upstairs, in the public chapel, the sisters pray day and night before the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

The memory of Tyburn Tree, then, is kept alive at Tyburn Convent. As the nuns keep vigil before the Sacred Host, they offer up a constant stream of prayers for the well-being and the conversion of our city and our realm. They have chosen the “better part” or “good portion” which Our Lord attributes to St Mary Magdalene in the Gospel. This “good portion” is the life of contemplation, lived at the foot of the Cross. We can be sure that if we make it to Heaven, we shall see just what extraordinary graces and blessings were secured for us, for the Church and for the human race in general by these lives devoted to prayer.

Father Julian Large goes on to discuss the different roles of martyrs and contemplatives in the Church; of course, sometimes Catholics are both. Among the many martyrs of England and Wales, there are several contemplatives who suffered martyrdom: most notably the Carthusians. Even the most active missionaries set time aside for contemplation. The Jesuit martyrs all practiced the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. 

Blessed John Henry Newman's Feast at the English Oratories

Tomorrow is the memorial of Blessed John Henry Newman in the dioceses of England and Wales, but the Birmingham and Oxford Oratories begin their celebration of his feast today. The schedule for the Birmingham Oratory is detailed in the flyer pictured above: First Vespers, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction on the vigil and then several Masses on the feast of their founder.

According to the Oxford Oratory's bulletin/newsletter:

TRIDUUM BL. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN: From 6th to 8th October we mark a Triduum for Blessed John Henry Newman after the 6pm Mass. On 8th October at 7:45pm, there will be a Night Walk to Littlemore to mark his reception into the Church and on Friday 9th October at 6pm, we will celebrate a Solemn Mass for his feast, at which Fr John Saward (Priest-in-Charge at SS Gregory and Augustine, Oxford) will preach. 

John Whitehead provides some details about the Littlemore walk from last year on his blog, Once I Was a Clever Boy:

We began as usual at the Oxford Oratory and walked via sites associated with Newman - Trinity College, St Mary's Church, Oriel College, the site of the Angel Inn where Bl. Dominic arrived soaking wet from travelling on the roof of the stage coach in 1845, the site of old St Clement's Church where Newman was assistant curate in the 1820s, and reflected at Greyfriars on his lament for the loss of Catholicism in the University of his day by contrast with the era of Duns Scotus. We also paused at the two houses at Rose Hill on the way to Littlemore occupied by his mother and sisters in the 1830s.

At Littlemore we had a Holy Hour in the modern church of Bl.Dominic Barberi led by Fr Hancock, the parish priest, before processing to the College.

The London/Brompton Oratory does not indicate any celebration other than the daily Mass on the feast day. 

More tomorrow.