Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Wednesday 21 September 2011

Brothers of the Oxford Oratory


Last night we had the first meeting of the autumn season of the Brothers of the Oxford Oratory - roughly the equivalent of Benedictine oblates or mendicant tertiaries.

This was a good first meeting, well attended and with two possible new recruits joining us for a talk - this week on the Anglo-Saxon era of local church history - followed by silent prayer in church, the litany of St Philip, the Brother's Office and intercessions, a reading from the first Life of St Philip, by Antonio Gallonio, and then recreation in the Oratory house.

This is always an enjoyable way to develop one's spirituality, and I would recommend the meetings, and fellowship, of the Brothers of any of the Oratories to Catholic men who would be interested and able to attend.

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