Novena for the canonization of Bl.Dominic Barberi

Today I have started the Novena requested by Archbishop Longley of Birmingham for the canonization of Bl. Dominic Barberi. Bl Dominic is most famous for his reception into the Church of Bl. John Henry Newman in 1845, but that was but one part of a remarkable ministry.

The Archbishop has designated Bl.Dominic as one of the patrons of the Year of Mercy in the Archdiocese and will celebrate Mass for the intention of the canonization at SS John and Paul, the Passionist church in Rome, on Saturday March 5th. 

There is more about it, and also about a relic of Bl Dominic in the form of a letter, on the website of the Oxford Ortaory and which can be seen at Novena for the Canonization of Blessed Dominic Barberi

Night walk to Littlemore

Last night I joined in the annual night walk to Littlemore to commemorate the reception into the Catholic Church of Bl. John Henry Newman by Bl. Dominic Barberi. The walk takes in places associated with Newman's life in Oxford and the events of October 8th 1845 when Bl. Dominic arrived here and travelled out to Littlemore. The following day - now Newman's feast day - Bl Dominic received him and others into the Church, the One Fold of the Redeemer. This was the 170th anniversary of those events.

Not only does the walk commemorate an historical anniversary but it also is designed as an act of prayerful witness, with stations for readings and collects along the way and ends with a Holy Hour in the Catholic church in Littlemore and then moves to the College where Newman and his friends were received in the oratory.

I have done the walk each year since my reception into the Church in 2005, and despite something of a gammy leg, - and after giving two walking tours of Oxford in the afternoon - I managed one again to do the walk. It is an occasion upon which one can have a series of intentions to offer as well as offering up any minor hardships.

I was asked to be the voice of Bl. John Henry in the readings at the various stops we made en route from the Oxford Oratory to Littlemore. This was a gesture I appreciated as not only a convert from Anglicanism but also a member of Oriel.

Following the reflections and benediction in the church of Bl. Dominic Barberi we processed into the College for the final readings in the library, and prayers and veneration of a relic of Bl. John Henry in the restored chapel.

The Library in the College at Littlemore

It was here that Newman knelt at Barberi's feet to seek admission to the Church

Image: Supremacy and Survival

As is customary on this occasion - and seemingly all other visits to the College - the pilgrims were provided with tea and cake by the Sisters of the Work who care for the building and provide an always warm and kindly welcome to this very special place. The College has a quiet holiness that derives from what Newman created there in the years leading up to his reception for himself and his companions - or perhaps I should say was provided for them by Higher Powers - and which so impressed Bl. Dominic - he remarked that the life of Newman and his friends there was much stricter than that of most contemporary orders.

The meeting of the two future beati - a bronze relief in Littlemore Catholic church

Image: newmanfriendsinternational.org

FSSP Newman Pilgrimage

Earlier today I had the pleasure and privilege of guiding some 40 US and Canadian pilgrims around sites in Oxford and Littlemore associated with Bl.John Henry Newman, as well as other places of Catholic and historic interest. This was part of a week long pilgrimage to England organised by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, whose website can be seen here.

I admire the energy of the party - so far this week they have visited Walsingham, York, the Birmingham Oratory and Stratford, and have certainly London and Ramsgate to follow.

We began from the Oxford Oratory, going to Trinity where Newman was an undergraduate from 1817 to 1821, to St Mary's, where he was vicar from 1828 until 1843 and to Oriel where he was a Fellow from 1822 until 1845 and his reception into the Catholic Church.

Bl. John Henry Newman about the time of his reception - a portrait at Keble College

Image: Oriel College website

After a pause for tourist shopping we returned to the Oratory for Mass celebrated by their chaplain, Fr Michael Stinson FSSP. With him, and acting as the server, was one of the Fraternity's seminarians, James Mawdsley, whom readers may recall from his activities as a campaigner for human rights in Burma - there is something about that here. He hopes to be ordained as a deacon next year.

For the Mass and for lunch at a nearby restaurant we were joined by theChairman of the Latin Mass Society, Dr Joe Shaw, who had helped arrange the programme for the group, and indeed suggested me as a tour guide to them.

In the afternoon we travelled down to Littlemore, where Newman built the parish church and school for this outlying part of the parish of St Mary's, and where he largely based himself in the College, which he acquired in April 1842 until he left Oxford early in 1846, and where he was received on October 9th 1845.

The College Littlemore

Image: newmanfriendsinternational.org 

At the College we were welcomed by the Sisters of the Work who administer it on behalf of the Birmingham Oratory.

The garden inside the College

Image: newmanfriendsinternational.org

We had a tour of the library where Newman worked and where he met Bl.Dominic Barberi on the night of October 8th 1845, and the pilgrims were able to receive Benediction in the restored chapel.

This was a particularly appropriate day on which to visit Littlemore as it was the 165th anniversary of the death of Bl.Dominic at Reading in 1849 - his feast day is assigned to yesterday.

Bl. Dominic Barberi

Image:southwarkvocations.blogspot.co.uk

I bade the pilgrims God speed at littlemore and wish them well for the remainder of their stay here in England, and their continuing Christian pilgrimage.

Forthcoming events

For any readers who are able to attend here are some events in Oxford, and in one case London. in October and early November which may be of interest:

Tuesday October 8th Night Walk to Littlemore to commemorate the reception of Bl.John Henry Newman into the Church ( "the one true fold of the Redeemer" ) in 1845. The walk begins at 7.45pm in the Oxford Oratory. 9.30pm Candlelit procession from  Rosehill,  10pm Holy Hour in Bl.Dominic Barberi church, conclusion at The College for devotions in the chapel and refeshments. Lifts are normally available afterwards for the return to Oxford. Always a good occasion to participate in.

Wednesday October 9th  6 pm Solemn Mass in honour of Bl. John Henry Newman at the Oxford Oratory.
  
Saturday October 12th  The Rosary Crusade of Reparation, London. Starting at 2.15pm from Westminster Cathedral, the procession will end at Brompton Oratory with Benediction. More details from: http://rosarycrusadeofreparation.blogspot.co.uk

Friday October 18th- Sunday October 20th Forty Hours Devotion at the Oxford Oratory. A highlight of the year - more details to follow. It is also a busy weekend for those keen on liturgical traditional or devotion:
  
Saturday October 19th Latin Mass Society Pilgrimage to Oxford.The annual pilgrimage in honour of the Oxford Martyrs. High Mass in the Dominican Rite at Blackfriars at 11.00am. This is followed by lunch, then procession, beginning at the end of Cornmarket by the church of St Michael at the North Gate, at 2.00pm. The Pilgrimage will then process through the streets to the site of the martyrdomsof 1589 at the end of Holywell Street, the site of the town gallows, and then returns to Blackfriars for Benediction at 3.00pm. Bring packed lunch or have a pub lunch locally.

Meanwhile there is also on the same day

Saturday October 19th "A Seminar on True Devotion to Jesus through Mary" at Greyfriars in Iffley Road, beginning with Mass at 9.30am and talks from 10 until 1. Refreshments will be provided.

Sunday October 20th 12 noon EF Sung High Mass at SS Gregory and Augustine Oxford.

Sunday October  27th  3pm Church of Bl. Dominic Barberi Littlemore will have the celebration of Vespers with Bishop William Kenney, himself a Passionist, presiding to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bl. Dominic's Beatification. 

Saturday November 9th  Stabat Mater  - a recital by Camerata of Curiosities at the Oxford Oratory in aid of the Oratory Appeal at 8pm. Music by Bach, Monteverrdi, Grandi and Sances. Tickets for donations fron £10 to £10,000...

Pilgrimage to Littlemore

Last night I went, as has been my wont each year since my reception as a Catholic, on the annual walking Pilgrimage to Littlemore to commemorate Bl. Dominic Barberi's reception of Bl. John Henry Newman into the Church on October 8th-9th 1845.

The rather damp weather may have deterred some, but it was still a good sized group who set off from the Oxford Oratory led by Fr Richard Duffield Cong.Orat. to walk in silence or saying the rosary to various of the places associated with Newman and with his reception. At the various stops we paused for readings - this year the voice of Newman was Fr Guy Nicholls from the Birmingham Oratory - and for an appropriate Collect.

Bl. Dominic Barberi

Image:southwarkvocations.blogspot.co.uk

Bl. John Henry Newman about the time of his reception - a portrait at Keble College

Image: Oriel College website

The meeting of Bl. John Henry and Bl. Dominic

A bronze relief in Bl.Dominic Barberi church Littlemore

Image: tunbridgewells-ordinariate.com

At Littlemore we observed a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament in the parish church dedicated to Bl.Dominic and the devotions included two readings drawn from one of Bl. John Henry's meditations, and chosen for their suitability for the Year of Faith :

Noli incredulus esse, sed fidelis.
Be not faithless, but believing.

1. I ADORE Thee, O my God, who art so awful, because Thou art hidden and unseen! I adore Thee, and I desire to live by faith in what I do not see; and considering what I am, a disinherited outcast, I think it has indeed gone well with me that I am allowed, O my unseen Lord and Saviour, to worship Thee anyhow. O my God, I know that it is sin that has separated between Thee and me. I know it is sin that has brought on me the penalty of ignorance. Adam, before he fell, was visited by Angels. Thy Saints, too, who keep close to Thee, see visions, and in many ways are brought into sensible perception of Thy presence. But to a sinner such as I am, what is left but to possess Thee without seeing Thee? Ah, should I not rejoice at having that most extreme mercy and favour of possessing Thee at all? It is sin that has reduced me to live by faith, as I must at best, and should I not rejoice in such a life, O {362} Lord my God? I see and know, O my good Jesus, that the only way in which I can possibly approach Thee in this world is the way of faith, faith in what Thou hast told me, and I thankfully follow this only way which Thou hast given me.

2. O my God, Thou dost over-abound in mercy! To live by faith is my necessity, from my present state of being and from my sin; but Thou hast pronounced a blessing on it. Thou hast said that I am more blessed if I believe on Thee, than if I saw Thee. Give me to share that blessedness, give it to me in its fulness. Enable me to believe as if I saw; let me have Thee always before me as if Thou wert always bodily and sensibly present. Let me ever hold communion with Thee, my hidden, but my living God. Thou art in my innermost heart. Thou art the life of my life. Every breath I breathe, every thought of my mind, every good desire of my heart, is from the presence within me of the unseen God. By nature and by grace Thou art in me. I see Thee not in the material world except dimly, but I recognise Thy voice in my own intimate consciousness. I turn round and say Rabboni. O be ever thus with me; and if I am tempted to leave Thee, do not Thou, O my God, leave me!

3. O my dear Saviour, would that I had any right to ask to be allowed to make reparation to Thee for all the unbelief of the world, and all the insults offered to Thy Name, Thy Word, Thy Church, and the Sacrament of Thy Love! But, alas, I have a long score of unbelief and ingratitude of my {363} own to atone for. Thou art in the Sacrifice of the Mass, Thou art in the Tabernacle, verily and indeed, in flesh and blood; and the world not only disbelieves, but mocks at this gracious truth. Thou didst warn us long ago by Thyself and by Thy Apostles that Thou wouldest hide Thyself from the world. The prophecy is fulfilled more than ever now; but I know what the world knows not. O accept my homage, my praise, my adoration!—let me at least not be found wanting. I cannot help the sins of others—but one at least of those whom Thou hast redeemed shall turn round and with a loud voice glorify God. The more men scoff, the more will I believe in Thee, the good God, the good Jesus, the hidden Lord of life, who hast done me nothing else but good from the very first moment that I began to live.

Meditations and Devotions, 361-2

With acknowlegements to Newman reader - a very useful resource in itself.

The College Littlemore

Bl Dominic wrote of it as "the monastery established about three years back by Rev.John Henry Newman. There these Oxford men lead a penitential life much more severe than that usually led by Religious"

Image: Wikipedia

We concluded with prayers and veneration of a relic of Bl.John Henry Newman in the restored Chapel in the College where he and his spiritual companions were received into the One Fold of the Redeemer.

After that there was the usual generous hospitality of the Sisters of the Work, who administer the College as a place of prayer and welcome to Newman pilgrims, before our return to the cenre of Oxford. As always amoving and worthwhile evening.

Bl.Dominic Barberi plaque in Reading

Thanks to my friend the Catholic Schoolmaster who attended the ceremony of dedication and took the photograph I can post a picture of the plaque commemorating Blessed Dominic Barberi which was unveiled in Reading yesterday.

The site is cloae to Reading station on Caversham Road

May Bl. Dominic Barberi continue to pray for the conversion of England.

This is a photograph he took of a window from the Church of St James in Reading (next to the site of Reading abbey and, indeed of Reading Gaol), which commemorates Cardinal Newman, Blessed Dominic Barberi, and the anniversary of the Church.