Elegant Reprints of Robert Hugh Benson Novels of the English Reformation

Back in January, we mentioned the Cenacle Press website of Silverstream Priory. Since that time, much has transpired! In addition to its hundreds of items of various sorts and provenances, Cenacle Press has now turned into a full-fledged publishing operation, specializing in reprints of old classics as well as new works.

Robert Hugh Benson needs no introduction here. Two of his best historical novels, The King’s Achievement (about Henry VIII, Thomas More, John Fisher, et al.) and By What Authority? (about Elizabeth, Edmund Campion, et al.) have just been released in new editions, which are distinguished by five features that set them apart from other versions available online: (1) they are unabridged, unlike the American editions; (2) they are newly typeset, with a very readable font; (3) they have newly-commissioned illustrations by a Polish artist ; (4) they contain interesting forewords by Joseph Pearce; (5) they support the monastic community.

When I first read those books years ago, they pierced me to the quick, and I still consider them among the most vivid windows into the English Reformation period. My wife and I used them for homeschool history & literature. In September 2021, I shared at NLM a poignant scene from By What Authority? in which a secret recusant Mass is described.

Quick summaries of the novels (from the Cenacle Press site):

The King’s Achievement: One of the most coldly calculated acts of Henry VIII during the Reformations was the dissolution of the monasteries. Monks and nuns were driven from their cloisters; the abbeys were plundered and turned over to greedy courtiers. From these ignoble proceedings came Robert Hugh Benson’s inspiration for this great historical novel, the story of a house divided against itself. The Torridon brothers are sworn to serve different masters; one is a monk, in love with the Mass and the Faith of Ages, the other an agent of Thomas Cromwell, in love with a protege of Sir Thomas More. Among the giant figures who move through the tale are those of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, the ruthless King Henry VIII, and the grasping Cromwell. Their actual deeds are carefully woven into this harrowingly romantic tale of the attempted destruction and resilience of the Catholic Faith in England.

By What Authority?: The fates of two young people caught in a conflict of ideals is the theme of this stirring and tragic novel, set in the England of Elizabeth I. At a time when following the Old Religion resulted in penalties stretching from heavy fines to imprisonment to death, Puritan-bred Anthony and Isabel Norris find themselves drawn to the Church of their forefathers. Underlying their heroism in their struggles and conflicts with Protestant England is the strength and vitality of Catholic Church supporting and drawing the characters into Her embrace. In a story which delves into the deepest reaches of the Catholic and Anglican dilemma, Benson weaves together the lives of his characters and their encounters with central figures in English Reformation history in order to praise and defend the England that was, the England that is truly England, the Catholic England.

To read more, see Joseph Pearce’s recent article “The Genius of Robert Hugh Benson” at The Imaginative Conservative.

Links to purchase:
The King’s Achievement
By What Authority?

ICK to Save Another Historic Church in England

The following is a press release from the Diocese of Lancaster, England, announcing a new apostolate for the Institute of Christ the King. The pictures are reproduced from Bishop Campbell’s blog with permission of the Diocese of Lancaster. Our congratulations to the Institute, and we wish them every success in their mission.

The historic and landmark (Grade II Listed) Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury & the English Martyrs on Garstang Road, Preston (known simply as English Martyrs) has been given a promise of a sustainable future following an announcement made today by the Bishop of Lancaster, the Rt Rev Michael G Campbell OSA. (NLM note: the church was designed by E.W. Pugin, opened in 1867, and enlarged in 1888.)

Bishop Michael Campbell and Monsignor Gilles Wach, Prior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, together with Rector, Canon Adrian Towers, have agreed that, as from the autumn, the Institute will assume the administration of the church.

This move will enable the church to be open each day to become a vibrant shrine of devotion to and promotion of the English Martyrs under the care of the Institute who already have the administration of St Walburge’s Shrine Church, Weston Street, Preston. The new shrine will specifically provide for the celebration of Holy Mass and the other Sacraments in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.

English Martyrs’ Church is one of two church buildings belonging to St John XXIII Parish, Preston – the other being St Joseph’s on Skeffington Road. As part of the arrangement with the Institute, English Martyrs church remains part of St John XXIII Parish and a priest from there will celebrate an English-language ordinary form Mass in the church, at least for the next 12 months, each Saturday evening.

Recently, the Mass attendance at English Martyrs has averaged around 70 people and activities and voluntary parish involvement have become somewhat limited making it difficult for the parishioners to shoulder their responsibility for the care of the church building.

Bishop Campbell upon making this announcement commented: “We are very grateful for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the dedication they have to evangelizing through use of the extraordinary form. The Institute has shown tremendous energy in conveying a sense of the sacred through their proven ministry at St Walburge’s and around the world. We are especially encouraged that their care and ministry in large and historic churches may also be instrumental in preserving English Martyrs church now and going forward.”

Canon Amaury Montjean for the Institute added: “We are deeply grateful to Bishop Campbell for his gracious invitation. Our entire Institute family is very glad for this new apostolate at English Martyrs. Like St Walburge’s, it will be a unique spiritual home offering Masses with sacred music, daily confessions, days of recollection, classes in spirituality and doctrine etc”.

Bishop Campbell concluded: “Finally and importantly, the announcement of this initiative will ensure the future sustainability and patrimony of English Martyrs’ church; a building so dear to local Catholics and many others in Preston. Thankfully, this announcement means English Martyrs is saved from the prospect of closure and is thus secured for the future. The fact that the church will be used each day for prayer and cared for by the Institute means it will continue to witness to the faith and mission of the Catholic Church in Preston for many years to come.” (press release ends)

The English Martyrs’ Church is located near to Preston city centre and stands on the corner of the A6 (Garstang Road), between Aqueduct Street and St George’s Road. It is built on the site of an area that used to be called Gallows Hill, a name which it received after the Battle of Preston of the Jacobite rising of 1715. After the government overcame the rebel army, it was on Gallows Hill that the rebel prisoners were executed; on January 5, 1715, it was recorded that sixteen of them were rebels “were hanged upon Gallows Hill, for high treason and conspiracy.”

In September 2014, at Bishop Campbell’s invitation, the Institute assumed the care of St Walburge’s Church in Preston, which he then designating as a shrine church. The Institute also has charge of the church of Ss Peter, Paul and Philomena, generally known as “the Dome of Home,” in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

Faith of our Fathers, a film about the English Martyrs, now available in the USA

The beautiful film 'Faith of our Fathers' which featured in this post is now available to readers in North America and Canada in a 95 minute DVD (Region 1 NTSC) which you can order from Ignatius Press here.

Presented by Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Nicholas Schofield, priests of the Dioceses of Southwark and Westminster, the film, about the English Martyrs, features interviews with Lord Camoys, Archbishop Nichols of Westminster (now Cardinal) and Martin Baker, Master of music at Westminster Cathedral. A trailer is available at the original post. Highly recommended.

A Beautiful Film about the English Martyrs

Faith of our Fathers – In search of the English Martyrs is a new film presented by Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Nicholas Schofield, priests of the Dioceses of Southwark and Westminster respectively. In the course of the two-part film they travel throughout England visiting a number of historic sites of great significance in the story of the English Martyrs. This is a beautiful and highly-recommended film which contains fascinating insights into this turbulent period of Catholic history. One feels very drawn into the sense of exploration as the two priests set off on their journey, a pilgrimage in which they speak with evident devotion to the Martyrs. Starting off at the Westminster Diocesan Archives, where Fr Schofield is the Archivist, they go to the seminary at Allen Hall where Fr Stephen Wang speaks about St Thomas More who lived in a house on the site.

At Westminster Cathedral, the Master of Music, Martin Baker talks about the music of the reformation, pointing out that Byrd’s Mass for five voices, which was heard so publicly at the Cathedral on the occasion of Pope Benedict’s visit, would originally have been sung in secret by necessity. Archbishop Vincent Nichols talks of the inspiration of the English martyrs and his personal favourite, St John Fisher. He talks of the different type of courage required today to proclaim the Gospel in the face of public scorn.

Fr Schofield’s own parish in Uxbridge is the next stop, before the pair go to Stonor Park to see the priest holes and the hiding place of the secret printing press which St Edmund Campion used to produce Catholic literature such as the ‘Ten Reasons’ (a set of arguments against the validity of the Anglican Church which caused a huge controversy). Also shown is the 13th century chapel in which Mass has been celebrated continuously since the thirteenth century. The Stonors have lived at the house since this time and the current head of the family, Lord Camoys, speaks about the exclusion from society of young Catholics who were denied positions in government, law and industry: ‘The programme to annihilate Catholicism could hardly have been more thorough, but it didn’t work.’

At the ‘Priest’s House’ in West Grinstead they show the priest holes built by the ingenious craftsman St Nicholas Owen and the hidden altar at which Blessed Francis Bell, among others, celebrated Mass. Travelling north, they visit Wardley Hall in Lancashire and are given a tour of the house by Bishop Terence Brain who shows them the skull of St Ambrose Barlow. Bishop Brain recalls the energy surrounding the process which led to the canonization of the Forty Martyrs in 1970 and talks of the importance of retrieving that sense of focus.

At Arrowsmith House they recount the story of St Edmund Arrowsmith’s capture and show the tiny statue of Our Lady which fell from his pocket during pursuit, giving him away. At Chorley the amazing story of Blessed Robert Wrennall is told: the first attempt to hang him failed when the rope broke. When he came to from a dazed state lying on the ground, he ran up the ladder, eager to be hung properly without any further delay. Asked by the Sheriff ‘Why are you in such a hurry to die?’, he replied ‘If you had seen that which I have just now seen, you too would be eager to die.’

The film also takes in the Shrine of Our Lady at Ladyewell with its amazing collection of relics, Rievaulx and Ampleforth where the Abbot speaks about the role of monasteries and the fate of the monks post-dissolution, the Shrine of St Margaret Clitherow 'The Pearl of York', the most prominent female martyr, and finishes at Tyburn Convent in London, just yards from the site of the infamous ‘Tyburn Tree’ where so many of the martyrs gave up their lives.

The DVD, produced by St Anthony Communications, is multi-region and can be bought from SaintAnt.com.

Here is a trailer: