The Vatican vs SSPX

Since rhe announcement by SSPX of their intention to consecrate new bishops for the Society at Écône on July 1st the verbal skirmishing between it and the Vatican has rapidly escalated into a war of words, albeit a Cold War at present.

 

The very well informed website The Pillar offers a detailed and informed  exposition of the canon law in the context of consecrations without Papal approval together with some reflections on the context of the current dispute at If the SSPX consecrations happen, who exactly is excommunicated?

LifeSite News yesterday shared the text of the Society’s  response to the threat of excommunication from Cardinal Fernández. This is in the form of a profession of faith, and responding to some current matters of debate. It can be read at SSPX responds to Vatican threats with profession of faith

This is a situation which looks very much like a “stand-off”, and surely requires the prayers not just of those directly involved but of all the concerned faithful. It should not be beyond the realms of possibility to find some form not of that loaded word ‘compromise’ but of agreement. 

Cardinal Allen

I have another article in the latest edition of Mass of Ages, the quarterly magazine published by the Latin Mass Society. It has even made the front cover with a portrait of the subject of the article, Cardinal William Allen. 

Cardinal William Allen

Image: Wordpress

   

He was the founder of the Douai seminary for missionary priests during the Elizabethan persecution and also of the English College in Rome. His last years were spent as a Cardinal in Rome, but he never forgot his birthplace on the Lancashire coast. He was a key figure in maintaining the Catholic faith during a time of increasing persecution, yet in many ways his actions made the Elizabethan government all the more hostile to Catholicism. That paradox remains at the core of his life.  

Doomed to exile by the circumstances of his times he never relinquished his love for the land and faith of his birth. 

My interest in him is not just that he was a leading Catholic figure, but we are both members of the same Oxford college of Oriel. His early twentieth century statue looks out from the High Street facade of the Rhodes Building.

The article and magazine can be accessed at https://share.google/9092pe33JYbBoFrnQ

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Abingdon

The Pilgrimage now goes back to the Thames Valley and to the shrine of Our Lady of Abingdon in the great Benedictine abbey there.

My post, with its links to previous ones which include links to pieces on the restored medieval statue of the Virgin and Child now in the nineteenth century Catholic Church, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Abingdon

David Nash Ford’s Royal Berkshire History has an account of the abbey, including its other great focus of devotion, accross which was believed to include one of the nails from the Passion. This relic, known as the Black Cross features in the arms of St Edmund of Abingdon, and may have had its own chapel in the abbey forecourt. The account can be seen at RBH: History of Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire

A Facebook post from the Medieval & Tudor Period Buildings Group  has a quite detailed account of the revival of the abbey at the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries under the Italian born abbot Faricius. This can be seen at Abingdon Abbey near Oxford was probably founded in the late seventh century, but its great days started when it was re-founded by Bishop Aethelwold

The Friends of Abingdon Abbey Buildings Trust has an illustrated website which outlines the history of the abbey and discusses the few surviving buildings. This can be seen at Precious Heritage Site: the History of the Buildings - Abingdon Abbey Buildings

  

A reconstruction of Abingdon Abbey

Image: Abingdon Museum

 

Abingdon Museum Blog has an account of the suppression of the abbey which can be seen at The Dissolution of Abingdon Abbey 

The seal of 

Abingdon Abbey depicting the Virgin and Child

Image: VCH Berkshire

May Our Lady of Abingdon intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Ascension Day

The Ascension of Our Lord

Giotto circa 1305

Capella Scrovegni - Arena Chapel

Image: buypopart.com

May I wish all my readers a joyful celebration of the Ascension of Our Lord

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

The next station on the Pilgrimage is at Our Lady of Clare and the Austin Friars.

My post from last year, again with links to previous comments about this house of Augustinian Friars at Clare, can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

The Victoria County History of Suffolk vol. ii has a detailed history of the friary, its construction and its relationship with its aristocratic benefactors which can be read  here.

I recently attended an online lecture that referred to the circle of fifteenth century aristocratic women, such as Cecily Duchess of York, who looked to the Clare friars as spiritual guides and counsellors. At this period the Austin friars were one of the leading groups interested in theological and literary studies. One such from Clare can be found in the Wikipedia biography of Osbern_Bokenam

 

The modern shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel at Clare Priory

Image: Flickr

May Our Lady of Clare intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

The Pilgrimage now returns to the southern edge of Suffolk and to the shrine of Our Lady of Sudbury. This was in a chapel dedicated to St Anne that still survives as an addition to the south porch of the church of St Gregory.

My post from last year with its links can be seen at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

To that I would add that there is now a good illustrated account of St Gregory’s church on Wikipedia at St_Gregory's_Church,_Sudbury, and from Taking Stock there is a good account of the. Catholic parish church at Sudbury - Our Lady and St John the Evangelist

The modern statue of Our Lady of Sudbury created in 1937 in the Catholic Church of  Our Lady and St John the Evangelist 

Image: Taking Stock

 

May Our Lady of Sudbury intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woodbridge

The next shrine on the Pilgrimage is one that appears to have left little in the historical record beyond the fact of its existence as a wayside devotion venerated as Our Lady of Woodbridge.

My post from last year with several links within it can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woodbridge

 I would add to that the link to the Wikipedia entry for the town which does show how the priory was involved in the life of the medieval community. On that basis the shrine may have been one that particularly attracted people from the Deben valley. It can be accessed at Woodbridge,

May Our Lady of Woodbridge intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woolpit

The rest of the Pilgrimage today is spent in Suffolk - and we shall return to the county again on our very eccentric itinerary, but no matter.

The first station is at the shrine of Our Lady of Woolpit. My post from last year about it can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Woolpit and by following the links my more detailed articles about the history of the devotion from 2020 and 2021 can be accessed.

I have not had the good fortune to visit Woolpit church but quite apart from the tradition of seeking the aid of the Virgin there it is clearly a very fine medieval church building and very well worth visiting for that reason, including the rare survival of the ceilure above the position of the long destroyed Rood. There is more about the building from website of the National Churches Trust at Woolpit Blessed Virgin Mary

The porch at Woolpit Church

Image: Facebook 

May Our Lady of Woolpit intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray