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.


Thursday 27 April 2023

The Patronage of St Philip at the Oxford Oratory


Today the Oxford Oratory has been celebrating the Patronage of St Philip, that is, the feast specific to each Oratory commemorating its formal canonical erection as an independent house of Oratorians.

It was in 1990 that the founding members of the Oxford community moved into the church and presbytery of St Aloysius as an Oratory in Formation, and it was two and a half years later that on April 27th 1993 they were formally established as the third Oratory in England by PopeJohn Paul II. 

This year then sees the thirtieth anniversary of its independent existence. Much has been achieved in those thirty years and there is much to be thankful for. There is, I am sure, much to look forward to in the life and potential  of the Oratory in Oxford.

This evening following the appointed Mass for the feast there was a Musical Oratory which concentrated on the spirituality of the ‘Saint of Joy’ concluding with the Litany of St Philip and the singing of the Te Deum. Both the Mass and the Musical Oratory can be seen in a recording of the livestream on YouTube at Thursday

May St Philip continue to pray for the Oxford Oratory and its ministry.


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