EF Holy Week at Birmingham Oratory

We are pleased to share with our readers the news that this year, the Birmingham Oratory will for the first time celebrate the whole of Holy Week, including the Triduum, in the Extraordinary Form. (English Masses will also be celebrated outside the days of the Triduum, on which only one Mass is permitted.) The schedule of services and music to be sung at them are listed on the two posters below; the Oratory is located at 141 Hagley Road. See their website and Facebook page for more information and regular updates.

Vespers of the Dead at the Birmingham Oratory

During the month of November, when the Church invites us especially to pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, the Fathers and Brothers of the Birmingham Oratory sing Vespers of the Dead every Monday evening in the oratory church.

Lead Kindly Light

Today, the Feast Day of Blessed John Henry Newman, is a fitting day to announce Lead Kindly Light, a beautiful new DVD produced by St Anthony Communications. Presented by Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Nicholas Schofield, the film traces the passage of Newman’s life right from his original roots in Ealing, to his time as a student at Trinity College, Oxford, his near-death experience in Sicily which inspired him to write the hymn Lead kindly light, and his time as a vicar in the Church of England, as he made his gradual journey towards Catholicism. Fathers Holden and Schofield take us to key places in Newman’s story, including Oxford, Littlemore, Maryvale and of course the Birmingham Oratory, where we are shown the library with its treasures of Newman memorabilia, such as the desk at which he wrote his Apologia Pro Vita Sua, his viola, and a facsimile of The Dream of Gerontius which Sir Edward Elgar presented to the Oratory. We are also shown his study which Pope Benedict visited in 2010, now lined with volumes of some of the 17000 letters Newman is estimated to have written in his lifetime, and the private chapel where he said his last Mass on Christmas Day 1889. It is especially touching to see Fr Nicholas Schofield talk of his sense of inspiration drawn from Newman, and Fr Marcus Holden speaks of Newman’s importance to us today: “He foresaw a time when culture would not support Christianity and each Christian would have to be strong and faithful.”

The film features interviews with Fr Jerome Bertram Cong. Orat. and Fr Daniel Seward Cong. Orat. of the Oxford Oratory, Sister Bianca Feuerstein FSO, Mother Winsome SBVM of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Fr Richard Duncan Cong. Orat. of the Birmingham Oratory and the Newman Scholar Dr Andrew Nash. This beautifully presented all-region DVD will be available shortly from Saint Anthony Communications. Readers may also recall other beautiful productions from this stable including Faith of Our Fathers, a film about the English Martyrs and A Surge of the Heart, a film about prayer. A trailer for Lead kindly light follows below. A Happy Feast to Oratorians everywhere!

The Episcopal Ordination of Oratorian Fr Robert Byrne

Fr Robert Byrne, Cong. Orat. was ordained as an Auxiliary Bishop yesterday at St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. He is the first Oratorian Bishop in England in 140 years, the last being Fr Edward Bagshawe who became Bishop of Nottingham in 1874. Fr Robert Byrne was one of the founders of the Oxford Oratory and he will serve as an auxiliary bishop in Birmingham. He will be the titular Bishop of Cuncacestre (Chester-le-Street). The Ordination was attended by the Oratory Fathers from Birmingham, Oxford, Manchester, London and York, as well as from the Oratory in formation in Washington DC.

The evening before there was a Vigil Liturgy at the Birmingham Oratory at which His Grace Archbishop Longley of Birmingham presided. The Bishop-Elect made his Profession of Faith and Pontifical Benediction followed. During the sermon at the Vigil, Archbishop Longley said:

Blessed John Henry Newman's beatification by Pope Benedict in 2010 has brought so many blessings to our local Church... we must now count (Fr Robert Byrne's) episcopal ministry among us as one of the gifts we have received through the intercession of Blessed John Henry, Cardinal Newman. We see in tomorrow's ordination a deepening appreciation for the charism of the Oratory as members of its various English houses increasingly play their part in the life of the Church at diocesan and national levels.

During the sermon at the Ordination His Eminence Cardinal Nichols said:

After Bishop-elect Robert makes his promises, we turn in prayer to the saints of the Church. Uppermost in my mind will be St Philip Neri, so well known as the saint and prophet of joy, renowned for his relaxed and attractive method of education, living across the road from the Venerable English College in Rome, giving his blessing to the young students, especially as they set out for their mission here in England. We certainly ask for his blessing today on this man.

And Blessed John Henry Newman, of whom Father Robert is a true son. He too will bless us today and enkindle in us that same passion for the truth of faith which he followed at such cost and with such rigour. His journey was described, on his tombstone, as one of moving ‘Out of shadows and images into the truth.’ May that be our daily journey, too, coming each day more fully into the light of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus.

The photographs below show the Vigil as well as the Episcopal Ordination and are taken from the Catholic Church of England & Wales Photostream.
© Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

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The Forty Hours at the Birmingham Oratory

Here are photographs of the Forty Hours Devotion which took place at the Birmingham Oratory last week. More pictures are available at the Birmingham Oratory Website.