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.


Tuesday, 24 February 2026

The fate of Queen Mary I’s episcopate


I have no wish to be vainglorious, but readers may be interested to see an article that I have written, which has been published in the latest edition of the Latin Mass Society magazine Mass of Ages. Entitled ‘Deprived and Imprisoned’ it looks the fate of the surviving Marian bishops after 1559, And seeks to correct the impression that one often sees in history books that the deprived bishops simply faded away in discreet retirement on their family estates. This was not the case, as they were imprisoned and indeed some faced the possibility of execution. Two managed to escape abroad, but one of them died soon afterwards. The long and tedious years of imprisonment gradually took its toll. They are not men who are particularly held in remembrance, and I hope that the article might help rectify that omission.

Mass of Ages can be found in all good Catholic churches, and is free. The magazine can be accessed directly online and can be downloaded as a PDF.

The article is on page 31, following a reprint of the Daily Telegraph obituary of Fr Ray Blake, whom I had the privilege of meeting on several occasions.

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