Lenten Posting and A New Series on the Son Rise Morning Show

Today is Quinquagesima Sunday and I've made some of my plans for Lent.

I'm going to cut back on posting here and on my Facebook pages (personal and book) to exclusively Lenten and English Reformation martyr posts. There are at least 30 (thirty) English Reformation martyrs to remember this Lent (from February 26 to April 8, the Wednesday of Holy Week).

On Monday, March 2, I'll start a new series on the Son Rise Morning Show, offering reflections on sermons and meditations for Lent by St. John Henry Newman in The Tears of Christ: Meditations for Lent.

The book is available from the Augustine Institute and was edited by Christopher O. Blum.

The Tears of Christ is a companion volume to Waiting for Christ: Meditations for Advent and Christmas from the same publisher and editor, which I reviewed for the National Catholic Register in 2018.

To introduce the series, I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show this week on the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, February 27, at my usual time: about 6:50 a.m. Central/7:50 a.m. Eastern.

Please listen live here; the podcast will be archived here!

Anna Mitchell and I will select a sermon for each Monday's broadcast, and I'll preview it the Friday before. The sermons are all available on-line at the Newman Reader and I'll link the complete sermon from which Blum has excerpted paragraphs in the preview.

I'll be using this volume as part of my Lenten devotions along with listening to a CD I purchased from Aid to the Church in Need (UK): Catholic Meditations with Music for the Season of Lent from the Oxford Oratory:

In this thought-provoking CD, recorded at the Oxford Oratory, Father Jerome Bertram offers reflections for the season of Lent highlighting the importance of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and the spiritual rewards of the Lenten journey. The meditations are accompanied by responsories taken from the Matins of Lent.

Track listing:

1. Hymn: Ex more docti
2. The Season of Lent: Spring-Cleaning for the Soul, Part One
3. Responsory: Emendemus in melius, quae ignoranter peccavimus
4. The Season of Lent: Spring-Cleaning for the Soul, Part Two
5. Responsory: Pater, peccavi in cælum, et coram te
6. Prayer: Opening our Hearts to God. Part One
7. Responsory: Tribularer, si nescirem misericordias tuas, Domine
8. Prayer: Opening our Hearts to God, Part Two
9. Responsory: Derelinquat impius viam suam
10. Fasting, making space in our life, Part One
11 Responsory: Moyses, famulus Dei, jejunauit quadraginta diebus
12. Fasting, making space in our life, Part Two
13. Responsory: Frange esurienti panem tuum
14. Almsgiving: Showing Christ¹s love to the World, Part One
15. Responsory: Abscondite eleemosynam in sinu pauperum
16. Almsgiving: Showing Christ¹s love to the World, Part Two
17. Responsory: Angelis suis mandavit de te
18. The Rewards of Lent
19. Antiphon: Ave, Regina Caelorum

Father Jerome Bertram of the Oxford Oratory died on October 19, 2019. 

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.

A Catholic View of Catholic Oxford

I have to admit that jealousy, that green-eyed monster, preyed upon me when I read this article on the Catholic World Report website. Aurora C. Griffin, who wrote How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard: 40 Tips for Faithful College Students, is a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, studying Catholic theology:

From what I was able to see in my two years as a Rhodes Scholar pursuing my Master’s degree in theology, Catholic life and faith is alive and well in Oxford. Not in the Theology Department, mind you, which is still largely enamored with nineteenth-century German heretics. There they love to talk about the Enlightenment and how “problematic” traditional theology is. When my advisor discovered that I had worked on Thomas Aquinas for all of my exam and essay requirements, he smiled disapprovingly and looked at me over his glasses: “Well, somehow you’ve managed to come to Oxford and do Catholic Studies!”

There are still faithful Catholics and students of Aquinas at Blackfriars, the Dominican permanent private hall. It is not, technically, one of the thirty-eight colleges at Oxford. If you ask someone at Blackfriars, he will tell you that it is only because they do not have a large enough endowment to be a college. Depending on the year, they may have a sufficiently impressive pool of athletic talent to man a boat for the major crew races (Summer Eights and Torpids), so few visitors would know the difference. The Middle Common Room, which is the hub of student social life, feels just like the one at my own college (Trinity), except there is a note that essentially states: “Wash your own dishes. Unlike the Jesuits, we don’t have the money to pay a maid to clean them for you.”

What is distinctive about Blackfriars, then, is not its status but its deeply Catholic nature and roots. It is said that Thomas Aquinas himself visited Blackfriars in the thirteenth century. To this day, it is a bustling house of study and prayer with daily Mass, Vespers, and its own in-house lectures on everything from beginning Hebrew to the most obscure liturgical theology. Its biggest asset, however, is the set of Dominican priests and brothers who study and teach there. On Monday nights, they lead an Aquinas group: Mass, Vespers, soup dinner, and theology. The discussions often spill over late into the night at the Lamb & Flag pub across the street, a frequent haunt of Lewis, Tolkein, and the Inklings.

She goes on to describe Mass at the Oxford Oratory, events at the Newman Center, Campion Hall, and other Catholic venues. Read the rest there.

Blessed John Henry Newman and St. Anne's in Birmingham

In this sermon from last year's celebration of Newman's feast at the Oxford Oratory, I found this teasing comment from Fr Paul Keane, Vice-Rector of St Mary's College, Oscott: "Once a month, I go with a group of seminarians to work in a parish in central Birmingham: St Anne’s, Digbeth. If you haven’t heard of it, well, it was founded by Newman after his ordination. The first thing he did. The parish continues strong today."

Remembering that Newman's feast was chosen for this date because he became a Catholic on October 9, 1845 (August 11, the date of his death in 1890, is already "taken" by the great Saint Clare of Assisi), it seems appropriate to note how Oratorian Father John Henry Newman returned to England after his study and ordination to the priesthood in Rome to serve the people of Birmingham. From the history page of the Church of St. Anne's:

Saint Anne's is one of the oldest Missions in Birmingham. Founded in 1849 it was given into the charge of the Oratorian Fathers, with John Henry Newman (later Cardinal) as the first parish priest. . . .

On 24th September 1842 John Henry Newman preached his last sermon as vicar of St. Mary's Oxford. He spoke on the 'Parting of Friends' and went into retirement. His companions spent their time in prayer and study. From 1843 to 1845, Newman lived in Littlemore near Oxford. The picture of Newman above is dated 1845, four years before he arrived in Alcester Street [at St. Anne's].

Nicolas Patrick Wiseman had become a Bishop and was now rector at Oscott in Birmingham. On 9th October 1845, quietly and without any fuss, John Henry Newman was received into the Catholic Church by Father Dominic Barberi who was visiting Littlemore.. He was confirmed in the Oscott Chapel on 1st November 1845 by Bishop Wiseman. He was ordained a priest in Rome in May 1847 by Cardinal Franzoni and celebrated his Christmas Mass in London. Soon after Christmas Day he left London for Kingstanding, Birmingham. There, he established his Oratory at Old Oscott, which he renamed Maryvale. Since it should be near crowded centres of population and Maryvale was not even a hamlet, just a cluster of buildings amid some farms, it was closed at the end of 1848.

The community and John Henry Newman took up temporary residence at St. Wilfrid's. This later became Cotton College, in North Staffordshire. On leaving St. Wilfrid's, Newman arrived in Alcester Street on Friday 26th January 1849. On 2nd February 1849 John Henry Newman preached at the opening of the new Oratory in Alcester Street which was to be his home for the next three years. Fr. Newman spent some of his time in parish work, but most of his time was spent giving sermons and lectures in Birmingham and elsewhere. This Oratory was a large building in Alcester Street. Formerly a gin distillery, it was bought and fitted up as a Chapel to accommodate five hundred people. It was in this building that John Henry Newman delivered some of his famous sermons on Anglican questions.

The failure of the Potato Crop in Ireland, caused the great famine of 1847. Thousands of Irish men and women were forced to leave their native land, in search of work and food in England. Many of them settled in Birmingham and particularly in Deritend. They became the Congregation of John Henry Newman, when he set up his church in the disused Gin Distillery. To this day even though very few dwellings exist around the Church - the majority of the hundreds of Worshippers, are Irish or of Irish descent. St. Anne's Church is totally surrounded by factories, warehouses and office blocks. It still continues (as it has since the famine times) to be a spiritual haven for the Irish.

Remember what Pope Benedict said in 2010 at Newman's beatification Mass:

While it is John Henry Newman’s intellectual legacy that has understandably received most attention in the vast literature devoted to his life and work, I prefer on this occasion to conclude with a brief reflection on his life as a priest, a pastor of souls. The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: “Had Angels been your priests, my brethren, they could not have condoled with you, sympathized with you, have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you” (“Men, not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel”, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 3). He lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison. No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here. One hundred and twenty years later, great crowds have assembled once again to rejoice in the Church’s solemn recognition of the outstanding holiness of this much-loved father of souls.

Note that the city of Birmingham has posted a map of locations connected with Newman's life and service there.

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us!

Image source (under a Creative Commons license).

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.

Newman Oratories and the Liturgical Life in England

I have experienced Mass at the London (Brompton) and the Oxford Oratories--I must get to Mass at the Birmingham Oratory: it's on my bucket list! This article, which I found while searching for something else, has some great details about "The Contribution of the Oratories to the Liturgical Life of England" and I commend it to your reading.

Among the interesting notes: Newman did not agree with A.W.N. Pugin that the Gothic was THE only style of architecture appropriate for Catholic churches. Indeed, Newman thought that the Classical style was more appropriate because of its "simplicity, purity, elegance, beauty, [and] brightness". Father Nicholls states that, "He believed that the most suitable model for a Catholic Church in England after the emancipation was not to be found in the Gothic revival, but in the great Churches of the Roman Baroque, where the Altar was close to the congregation, and easily visible; where the tabernacle was prominent and the Blessed Sacrament was the focus of attention throughout the building."

Father Nicholls also addresses the contributions two Oratorians made to liturgical music by Edward Caswall and Frederick Faber; classical music at the Birmingham Oratory (Newman favored the Viennese masters like Mozart, Haydn, Cherubini, Hummel, and Beethoven over plainchant and polyphony!); the subsequent development of plainchant and polyphony after Pope St. Pius X issued his Motu Proprio on liturgical music in 1903; the use of Latin in Oratory Masses; the traditions of celebrating High Mass and Sunday Vespers, and the practice of the celebrant facing the Altar during Mass.

Very enlightening. Read the rest here.

Oxford and Cambridge Events

Once I Was Clever Boy has some great details about Newmanian and Year of Faith activities in Oxford and Cambridge this week:

Blessed John Henry Newman's Feast: 

The Oxford Oratory will begin its celebrations of the feast of Bl. John Henry Newman with a Triduum of prayers on Saturday October 6th and Sunday October 7th at 6, and on Monday October 8th at 6.30.

Following that on the evening of Monday October 8th there will be the annual Night Walk to Littlemore to commemorate the journey of Bl.Dominic Barberi to receive Bl. John Henry Newman into the Church.

The pilgrimage begins at the Oxford Oratory at 7.45, pausing for readings and prayers at places associated with Newman. At 9.30 there will be a candlelit procession from 89 Rose Hill to the church of Bl. Dominic Barberi in Littlemore for a Holy Hour with Exposition beginning at 10, during which Confessions will be available. Following Benediction, at 10.45 the pilgrims will process to the College at Littlemore to conclude in Newman's Chapel there. Refreshments are available afterwards at the College. . . .

On the evening of Tuesday October 9th there will be a Solemn Mass at the Oxford Oratory to mark the feast day of Bl. John Henry at 6.

The beginning of the Year of Faith in Oxford:

There will be a High Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine in Woodstock Road in Oxford on the feast of the Motherhood of Our Lady, Thursday 11th October at 6 p.m., to celebrate the opening of the Year of Faith. The preacher will be Fr Aidan Nichols OP. Palestrina's Missa brevis in F will be sung by the Newman Consort. There will be drinks and light refreshments afterwards in the parish hall. The intention of the Mass will be for the Holy Father.

The beginning of the Year of Faith in Cambridge:

On Wednesday October 10th at 7 pm Mgr Andrew Burnham from the Ordinariate will preach at Solemn Evensong and Benediction for the beginning of the Year of Faith in the marvellous Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge. Not only will this be a service worth attending in itself but it is an opportunity or excuse to go to the church, which was built in 1885-90. If you have visited OLEM before you will know what to expect. If you have not, then visiting this spectacular church is a treat in store.

How I wish I could be there for these events!

Newman and Hardy

Blessed John Henry Newman's The Dream of Gerontius will be presented at the Oxford Oratory in the Julien Chilcott-Monk musical setting for "two actors and an a capella chorus with percussion". The Oratory is raising money for a building project. One of the two actors is Robert Hardy, who played Siegfried Farnon in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, based on the James Herriott novels. Robert Hardy studied with both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he obtained a  BA (Hons) in English! Mr. Hardy is 85 years old, and he has appeared in the role of Gerontius with this new musical version before, when it was performed at Christ Church in Oxford. He appeared on the BBC's long-running Desert Island Discs and discussed his studies under Lewis and Tolkien during that interview! Newman, and Tolkien, and Lewis, all in one post!

Catholic Maryland and Oxford

Thanks to Once I Was a Clever Boy, here is a link to John Whitehead's post on Catholic Maryland. At Mass at the Oxford Oratory, he met

a visiting American academic. Talking afterwards I found that he was Dr Henry M. Miller, Director of Research at the Historic St Mary's City project in Maryland, of which I had read something a while back on the internet, and that he was spending a sabbatical research year in Oxford attached, through the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, to Keble college.

The importance of St Mary's City, of which none of the original buildings survive above foundation level, is that it was the first capital of Maryland, established as a private Catholic colony in 1634 by George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, and with freedom of religion. After it was taken over as a Crown colony in 1694 that position changed, and in 1704 there was an Act to deter the growth of Popery. Nonetheless this was the first such experiment in religious pluralism, and the chapel, of which the one built in 1667, replacing one destroyed in the Civil War, and recently reconstructed on its foundations under Dr Miller's leadership, can claim to be the mother church of English Roman Catholic North America.

Here is the website for Historic St Mary's City and a link to Dr. Miller's blog while working in Oxford:

This blog reports the experiences and findings of Dr. Henry Miller while he is on assignment at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Oxford, England. From September 2011 to May of 2012, he will be conducting research about early Maryland and its English connections, writing, and teaching. Watch this space for Dr. Miller's research findings, insights on the remarkable history and nature of Oxford and other places he visits, and curious aspects of living in another country.

If you have read Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation (and if you haven't, why haven't you?), you will know that I trace the thread of the Lords Baltimore and the Maryland colony throughout the chapters on the Stuart monarchs. From the first Lord Baltimore, Geroge Calvert to the third Lord Baltimore, Charles Calvert, the fortunes of their vision of religious freedom in the colony in Maryland ebbed and flowed with the changes in the Stuart dynasty through the Civil War, Interregnum, and finally the so-called "Glorious" Revolution of 1688. John D. Krugler wrote what I think is still the standard work on the their efforts: English and Catholic: The Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century.

Blessed John Henry Newman

Once I Was a Clever Boy gives us some details about the celebration of Blessed John Henry Newman's feast in Oxford:

On Thursday and Friday following the 6pm Mass at the Oxford Oratory, and at 6 pm on Saturday before Mass, there will be a Triduum of prayers and Benediction to prepare for the Feast.

Saturday October 8th: Pilgrimage to Littlemore

The annual pilgrimage is centred on the church of Bl.Dominic Barberi with confessions available 11.15-11.45, Mass at 12 noon, the principal celebrant and preacher being the Rt.Rev.Mgr Andrew Burnham.

This will be followed by refreshments in the adjacent parish hall - bring a packed lunch. After lunch there will be a lecture by Fr Ian Ker on Newman and the Vocation of the Christian in the World. During the afternoon there will be tours of the College and of the Anglican parish church of St Mary and St Nicholas which was built by Newman in the 1830s.

The Night Walk to Littlemore:
7.45 pm, starting at The Oxford Oratory, the annual Night Walk to Littlemore, stopping at places associated with Newman and following Bl. Dominic Barberi's route to Littlemore on October 8th 1845.
9.30 pm Candlelit procession from 89 Rose Hill to Littlemore Church.
10 pm Holy Hour and Benediction in the church of Bl. Dominic Barberi.
10.45 pm Procession to the College for thanksgiving prayers.

Sunday October 9th: 11 Solemn Mass for the feast at the Oxford Oratory.

The Birmingham Oratory has transferred the feast from Sunday to Saturday:

Saturday 8th October: FEAST OF BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
(transferred from 9th) (White)
 Low Mass at 8 a.m.
 Latin (EF) Mass at 9.30 a.m. in Bl John Henry’s shrine
 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from 8.30 to 10.45 a.m.
 Benediction at 10.45 a.m.
 HIGH MASS at 11 a.m. (see below)*.
 Confessions: 11 a.m. to 12 noon and from 5.30 p.m. till the end of Mass
 Vigil Mass of Sunday (28th Sunday of Ordinary Time) at 5.30 p.m.

*As October 9th, the actual Feast Day, falls on Sunday the Feast this year is transferred to Saturday 8th: There will be a Triduo of Prayer after Masses on Thursday and Friday, and First Vespers will be sung in the Shrine on Friday at 6.30 p.m. The principal celebrant at the High Mass
at 11 a.m. on Saturday will be Bishop Mark Davies. A new Reliquary will be installed in the Shrine. If you are given a ticket for the reception afterwards, please ensure to bring it with you as we regret that only those with a ticket can be admitted.

In London at the Brompton Oratory: I did not see any notes on their website about a celebration of Blessed John Henry Newman's feast day at all!