DOCSLIB.ORG

Father Faber F Rantifpit A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Father Faber F Rantifpit A The F o u nder of The L ondo n O rat ory R FAB ER H A LL—%ATCH CA R DI N A L BO U R N E ’ BU R N S TE D 69 DA S , L T . 1 1 A 9 4 FATH ER FAB ER B W H L - y . AL %ATCH Verger at the London Oratory Wit h a F o re wo rd by H i%Eminence CA R D IN A L B O U R N E ° B U R N S 69 O TES L T D . A , 28 OR CHARD STREET L OND ON W , 1 91 4 F O R EWO R D H E na m e of F ath e r F ab e r is a ho u se hold wo r d am ong c E Catholi s in ngland , and his hym ns an d othe r writings are in gr ate fu l re m e m b ran c e wh e re ve r n u e Catholi c s u se t he English to g . B u t those still l e ft wh o kn e w him p e rsonally are now v e ry f e w ; the L ife w ritt e n soon afte r his de ath is e u the e not asily fo nd , and d tails of his int e re sting c a re e r and e difying e are r r e lif in dange of b e ing fo gott n . F or this re ason w e h e artily we l c om e this a c c o u nt of t he fi rst S upe rio r the L O r r c e of ondon ato y , whi h ow s so m u c h of its e v e r fru itful work to his inspi r ation and the t r aditions ’ a h e e e We b e G th t stablish d . g od s e re r f o he m e r bl ssing and wa d r t c o pil . F N I S N B O R E R A C CA R D I A L U N , e Archbishop of We stminst r . ebruar tb 1 1 . F y 4 , 9 4 AL L that t he author desire s in this little Life of F ather Faber is to supply a demand to which he , in his position , has e his r peatedly had attention drawn , e e viz . , a small cheap book t lling som thing e about Fath r F aber . Most grateful thanks are offered to F ather Sebastian Bowden and to F athe r B e a e K . D . est for th ir kindly dvic , and the permission of the latter to use his ’ ” d poe m on Faber s Grave . An also to Fathe r R alph Kerr for permission to reproduce the pictures for the illustrations . September 191 3 . LIST OF I LL U STRATIONS Father Faber F rantifpit a e - Facsimile of the MS . of Fath r F a n ”H m ’ Faber s most popular Hymn 29 The First London Oratory, 8 - St . 1 1 8 King William , 49 5 3 A R agged Congregation The Old Oratory at Brompton Th e New London Oratory ’ Father Fab er s Grave 5 5 REDER ICK WI LLIAMFABER on 2 8 1 8 1 F was born June , 4, the man who, under God , was des tined to do more for the revival of the Catholic Faith in England than any other during the short period of hi s life H is in the Church . grandfather was of incumbent Calverley, and at the Vicarage there Fre derick William Faber H e first saw the light . was not baptized at the church at Calverley, as might have been expected but w as taken to the f a o . church St Wilfrid , whose n me he aft erwards took and to whom he app ealed Make us the missioners of Mary and of R ” ome . ’ As a child , the child of his mother s ” w as prayers , he a great favourite , and e of is d scribed as an open disposition , e e ard nt and impulsiv , eager and deter on mined , generally looking any under taking which he had in hand as b eing of e the grea t st importance . F A T H E R F A B E R ’ H is parents Calvinistic views of n e c essit e t he t he h y influenc d mind of c ild , and we find them expresse d from time to time in his earlier years at Oxford . At the age of 1 I years he had been s ent to Shrewsbury School , afterwards going H to arrow , where he remained till his n B 1 8 2 matriculatio at Oxford ( alliol) in 3 , going into residence in 1 83 3 The description given of him at this time reads like a page from the life of his “ beloved father St . Philip Of pre e possessing appearance , with gr at con ver sat ion al te gifts , a general favouri , l of and leading a life ful joy, innocence and purity, which description may well e be used for t h whole of his life . H is father died the year of his going to e e Oxford , his moth r died four y ars before . Indeed , the life of Faber can almost be n learned from his poems and hym s , which “ often read like a diary . I worship T e e of G od h e , Sw et Will was the refr ain which ran through the whole of H is his Short but busy life . poetical 2 F A T H E R F 4 B E R e es e instincts early Showe d thems lv . Th impressions of his childhood and the beauty of the scenes in which his e arly years were passed neve r faded from his mind H ow wonderful Cre ation is The work that Thou didst bless An d T , O what then must hou be like , ” Eternal loveliness . t oo Oxford , , made its deep impression e H o The R v . n him . John enry Newman ’ was then vicar of St . Mary s . Faber soon became what he called an acolyth” to the man who was d e stined to be his S u i of per or in the Congregation St . %hilip . In the year 1 83 3 began the great Move “T i ” ment known as the ractar an , for the revival of H igh Church principles ; and Faber ’s correspondence Shows the f on da of ef ect it had him . On the first y 1 834 we find him writing Tran sub st an t iat ion e n has b e bothering me , not that I le an to it ; but I have seen no ” of B u t refutation it . still the early e i H e influenc s preva led . feared that the 3 F A TH E R F A B E R Tractarian Party would be led on to e e r extr mes , and almost resolved to r tu n to t he Evangelical tenets he formerly B . held . In a letter to J . Morris , he says I am now never happy unless I am thinking , talking and writing respecting things ete rnal y et I have had none of those miraculous heart awakenings , none of those visible interfe re nces of the Spirit to pluck me as a brand from the H burning . owever , I suppose the power of religion acts in t en thousand diff erent in st ru ways , and by ten thousand various t he ments , according to constitutions and t e mperaments of those over whom its agency is to be exercised . Nevertheless , I must likewise confess that when I look f or of the fruits my faith , I cannot ” find any . From now he is continually quoting m New an , at first to criticise him In arranging my thoughts f or my Church A e e e e rticl , I hav be n thinking a gr at deal on t he merits and t endency of Newman i sm and I have b e com e more than eve r 4 F A T H E R F A B E R Am I convince d of its falsehood . chime rical in anticipating quite as much danger from t he mysticisms of Newman as from the rationalities of What eley I sa e can most sincerely y , that aft r having been an unprejudic e d acolyth of New ’ of man s , an attentive reader his works , and a diligent attender at his Church , I found the impressive simplicities of the Bible irksome to me all its great con sol at ion s were knocked away from under me , and vague bodiless Platonic reveries were the food my soul craved for . Observe I kn ow that this is not the case with im Newman himself . I believe h to be an - eminently pious , humble minded Chris tian , but I think that he has sat at the feet of the early contemplative philosophers with an unscriptural humility and that he has imbibed their notions . Of course it would be preposterous in me to charge upon Newman what was probably in a great me asure my own fault ; but still I think I may argue that t he t endency of ” e his syst m is bad .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Oxford Movement
    Oxford Movement This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on theLearn talk more The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of some older Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy and theology. They thought of Anglicanism as one of three branches of the "one holy, catholic, and apostolic" Christian church. By the 1840s many participants decided that the Anglican Church lacked grace, and converted to Roman Catholicism. Edward John Henry Bouverie Newman Pusey The movement's philosophy was known as Tractarianism after its series of publications, the Tracts for the Times, published from 1833 to 1841. Tractarians were also disparagingly referred to as "Newmanites" (before 1845) and "Puseyites" (after 1845) after two prominent Tractarians, John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey. Other well-known Tractarians included John Keble, Charles Marriott, Richard Froude, Robert Wilberforce, Isaac Williams and William Palmer. Origins and early period In the early nineteenth century, different groups were present in the Church of England. Many, particularly in high office, saw themselves as latitudinarian (liberal) in an attempt to broaden the Church's appeal. Conversely, many clergy in the parishes were Evangelicals, as a result of the revival led by John Wesley. Alongside this, the universities became the breeding ground for a movement to restore liturgical and devotional customs which borrowed heavily from traditions before the English Reformation as well as contemporary Roman Catholic traditions.[1] The immediate impetus for the Tractarian movement was a perceived attack by the reforming Whig administration on the structure and revenues of the Church of Ireland (the established church in Ireland), with the Irish Church Temporalities Bill (1833).
    [Show full text]
  • Finding Antichrist: Apocalypticism in Nineteenthcentury Catholic
    bs_bs_banner Journal of Religious History Vol. 37, No. 1, March 2013 doi: 10.1111/1467-9809.12005 CADOC LEIGHTON Finding Antichrist: Apocalypticism in Nineteenth-Century Catholic England and the Writings of Frederick Faber The article discusses the apocalyptic beliefs of the nineteenth-century English Oratorian and devotional writer, Frederick Faber, though initially providing a context among earlier and contemporary English Catholic apocalyptic writers. It proceeds, by means of a consideration of Faber’s conscious de-secularisation of language, to give an account of his identification of the elements of a transvalued contemporary popular concept of modernity as the signs of apocalyptic crisis. The article as a whole is intended to provide an aid to the perception and understanding of a pervasive apocalypticism in nineteenth-century English-speaking Catholicism. Introduction The present study is chiefly concerned with the apocalypticism expressed by one of the most noted of English spiritual writers, the Oxford convert and founder of the London Oratory, who remains most commonly referred to simply as Father Faber. In probing this unexplored and, indeed, little remarked on dimension of a well-known writer, it seems at least desirable firstly to indicate to the reader that Faber’s apocalyptic beliefs are an unsurprising phenomenon in the English Catholicism of the nineteenth century, fitting into a substantial body of literature. This extended preliminary observation is intended also to provide a means of relating the positions taken on apocalyptic topics by Faber to those of his contemporaries. Catholics Interpreting the Prophecies Regrettably, the veritable “explosion of scholarly writing on apocalyptic themes” in recent decades, with its concomitant eclipse of an older habit of disdainful categorisation of those who have embraced apocalyptic beliefs,1 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Growth in Holiness: Or, the Progress of the Spiritual Life Online
    A9XVt [Free download] Growth in Holiness: or, The Progress of the Spiritual Life Online [A9XVt.ebook] Growth in Holiness: or, The Progress of the Spiritual Life Pdf Free Frederick William Faber ebooks | Download PDF | *ePub | DOC | audiobook Download Now Free Download Here Download eBook #4921183 in Books Faber Frederick William 2015-08-12Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.21 x 1.06 x 6.14l, 1.91 #File Name: 1298810620496 pagesGrowth in Holiness Or the Progress of the Spiritual Life | File size: 17.Mb Frederick William Faber : Growth in Holiness: or, The Progress of the Spiritual Life before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Growth in Holiness: or, The Progress of the Spiritual Life: 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Must ReadBy Teresa RobertsWhat a wonderful classic work! VERY helpful to reflect and develop self-knowledge that is critical to growth in the spiritual life. Must read!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Bad ocrBy flying fischThe ocr for the ebook is really really bad, tons of misspellings. Would not recommend, though the actual book is very good.14 of 14 people found the following review helpful. ExcellentBy praytherosaryThis is an incredible book. It is worth every minute. You will grow in holiness. I would suggest taking your time and taking notes. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Catholic Carte-De Visite Album, Circa 1800S
    Roman Catholic Carte-de Visite album, circa 1800s Emory University Pitts Theology Library 1531 Dickey Drive, Suite 560 Atlanta, GA 30322 404-727-4166 Descriptive Summary Title: Roman Catholic Carte-de Visite album, circa 1800s Call Number: Manuscript Collection No. 147 Extent: 0.35 cubic ft. (1 box) Abstract: Contains approximately 150 photographs of various nineteenth century English Roman Catholic clergy members and laity. Language: Materials entirely in English. Administrative Information Restrictions on Access Unrestricted access. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction. Citation [after identification of item(s)], Roman Catholic Carte-de Visite Album, Archives and Manuscript Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. Processing Processed by Jennifer Gerth, 1998. Collection Description Scope and Content Note This photograph album contains approximately 150 photographs of various nineteenth century English Roman Catholic clergy members and laity. Among the clergy are photographs of Pope Pius IX, James Chadwick, Frederick William Faber, Henry Edward Manning, John Henry Newman, William Bernard Ullathorne, and Nicholas Patrick Wiseman. Many of the men were bishops in the Catholic Church and had ties to the Oxford Movement. The album also contains photographs of other clergy and religious, including several nuns; English churches; and lay individuals. Although many of the individuals were identified, no additional information was found about them. Emory Libraries provides copies of its finding aids for use only in research and private study. Copies supplied may not be copied for others or otherwise distributed without prior consent of the holding repository. Roman Catholic Carte-de Visite Album, circa 1800s Manuscript Collection No.
    [Show full text]
  • Revue Française De Civilisation Britannique, XXII-1 | 2017 in Search of a Liturgical Patrimony: Anglicanism, Gallicanism & Tridentinism 2
    Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique French Journal of British Studies XXII-1 | 2017 The Book of Common Prayer : Studies in Religious Transfer In Search of a Liturgical Patrimony: Anglicanism, Gallicanism & Tridentinism A la recherche d’un patrimoine liturgique : anglicanisme, gallicanisme et tridentinisme Peter M. Doll Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1236 DOI: 10.4000/rfcb.1236 ISSN: 2429-4373 Publisher CRECIB - Centre de recherche et d'études en civilisation britannique Electronic reference Peter M. Doll, « In Search of a Liturgical Patrimony: Anglicanism, Gallicanism & Tridentinism », Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique [Online], XXII-1 | 2017, Online since 02 May 2017, connection on 01 May 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1236 ; DOI : 10.4000/rfcb.1236 This text was automatically generated on 1 May 2019. Revue française de civilisation britannique est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International. In Search of a Liturgical Patrimony: Anglicanism, Gallicanism & Tridentinism 1 In Search of a Liturgical Patrimony: Anglicanism, Gallicanism & Tridentinism A la recherche d’un patrimoine liturgique : anglicanisme, gallicanisme et tridentinisme Peter M. Doll 1 The non-Roman catholicity of the Anglican liturgical tradition, which appeals so much to the Old Catholics, also provides a door for Roman Catholics to a half-forgotten Catholic patrimony. One of the most remarkable features of the pontificate of Benedict XVI was his determination to recover some of richness of liturgical tradition that he believed had been lost in the reforms since Vatican II.1 In 2007 he declared in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum that both the Novus Ordo post-Vatican II rite of the Mass and the 1962 revision of the Tridentine rite were legitimate forms of the one Roman Rite, thereby breaking at a stroke the tradition that there should be only one version of the Roman Rite for the universal Church.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracking Reading in Nineteenth-Century Melbourne Diaries
    Tracking Reading in Nineteenth-Century Melbourne Diaries Susan K. Martin HIS ARTICLE CONSIDERS SOME COLONIAL RESPONSES TO THE WIDER FIELD OF ‘BRITISH ’ Victorian literary reading by following the reading traces left in the Tdiaries of three middle-class women in Melbourne in the 1860s, 70s and 80s: Henrietta Jennings (1887–89), Thomas Anne Cole (1867–82) and Joyce Sincock (1862). Cole’s and Jennings’ diaries offer the most detail but, for both, the record of reading tends to be random, partial and sometimes illegible. Sincock’s diary is brief, and more youthful. It offers a slice of one moment in her life, with considerable detail about some of her reading at that moment. Jennings’ and Cole’s’ diaries map regular visits to town. Jennings visits circulating libraries in Melbourne, such as ‘Mullen’s Select Library’ in Bourke Street, to acquire the latest novels and, as Cole’s early diaries show similar fashionable reading, it is likely she borrowed, or possibly bought, from the same sources. All three diaries reveal wider patterns of reading across a range of genres (and sources), particularly Cole and Jennings; newspaper reading, which may have included the reading of local, as well as British, serial fiction alongside attention to ‘serious’ news items. The reading which Jennings records is eclectic, in terms of genre, and international-Anglophone, including a substantial amount of American writing as well as British and Australian. The reading of Cole, in her early records, tends more to British writing, and travel writing while Sincock reads whatever she can get. All three women also engage in religious reading; the Bible and sermons, but also a variety of other works that might be designated spiritual.
    [Show full text]
  • Unenglish and Unmanly: Anglo-Catholicism and Homosexuality
    UnEnglish and Unmanly: Anglo-Catholicism and Homosexuality By David Hilliard ESPITE THE TRADITIONAL teaching of the Christian Church that homosexual behaviour is always sinful, there are grounds for believing Dthat Anglo-Catholic religion within the Church of England has offered emotional and aesthetic satisfactions that have been particularly attractive to members of a stigmatised sexual minority. This apparent connection between Anglo-Catholicism and the male homosexual subculture in the English-speaking world has often been remarked upon, but it has never been fully explored. In 1960, for example, in a pioneering study of male homosexuality in Britain, Gordon Westwood stated: Some of the contacts maintained that the highest proportion of homosexuals who are regular churchgoers favoured the Anglo-Catholic churches. ... It was not possible to confirm that suggestion in this survey, but it is not difficult to understand that the services with impressive ceremony and large choirs are more likely to appeal to homosexuals.1 More recently, in the United States, several former priests of the Episcopal church have described some of the links between homosexual men and Catholic forms of religion, on the basis of their own knowledge of Anglo-Catholic parishes.2 This essay brings together some of the historical evidence of the ways in which a homosexual sensibility has expressed itself within Anglo-Catholicism. Because of the fragmentary and ambiguous nature of much of this evidence only a tentative outline can be suggested. I Until the late nineteenth century homosexuality was socially defined in terms of certain forbidden sexual acts, such as “buggery” or “sodomy.”3 1 Gordon Westwood, A Minority: A Report on the Life of the Male Homosexual in Great Britain (London; Longmans, 1960), pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses A study of Frederick William Faber's hymns on the four last things in the context of his hymnody as presented in the collection of 1861 Pratt, Andrew Edward How to cite: Pratt, Andrew Edward (1997) A study of Frederick William Faber's hymns on the four last things in the context of his hymnody as presented in the collection of 1861, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5070/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT A study of Frederick William Faber's hymns on the four last things in the context of his hymnody as presented in the collection of 1861 ANDREW E PRATT - Submitted for the Degree of M A. - 1997 This thesis is a study of Frederick William Faber's hymns on the four last things as they are presented in the collection of 1861.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman and Our Lady I
    Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman and Our Lady I Arthur Burton Calkins Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was one of the greatest, most towering Catholic intellects of the nineteenth century. His life spanned almost ninety percent of that century and was divided neatly between his Anglican period and then his Roman Catholic period. He was received into the Catholic Church by Blessed Dominic Barberi (1792-1849), an Italian Passionist and a Mariologist of some note,1 on the 9th of October 1845 after a fairly long period of prayer and discernment. He described his religious development and what led to his entrance into the Catholic Church in fascinating detail in his famous Apologia Pro Vita Sua, which began as a series of pamphlets written to counter charges of dishonesty levelled against him by an Anglican clergyman. It has long since been judged a literary masterpiece. It was also instrumental in helping to overcome the profound prejudice against Catholics in nineteenth-century England. In 1879 he was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. One of the great strengths of Newman was that as a fairly young man in his Anglican period he and a number of his friends in what became known as the Oxford Movement spent a great deal of their time delving systematically into the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, previously largely ignored in the Church of England.2 This brought to his attention the theme of Mary as the “new Eve” in the writings of St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus of Lyon and Tertullian.
    [Show full text]
  • Authors of Articles in the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review
    Authors of Articles in The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review [Volume I (1829) through Volume XL (1868)] Compiled by Earl William Kennedy 1963 Edited by Wayne Sparkman, Director of the PCA Historical Center, St. Louis, MO. with corrections, the addition of pagination, and information for Volumes XLI (1869) through XLIII (1871). 2007 INTRODUCTION This compilation is designed to make possible the immediate identification of the author(s) of any given article (or articles) in the Princeton Review. Unless otherwise stated, it is based on the alphabetical list of authors in the Index Volume from 1825 to 1868 (published in 1871), where each author‘s articles are arranged chronologically under his name. This Index Volume list in turn is based upon the recollections of several men closely associated with the Review. The following account is given of its genesis: ―Like the other great Reviews of the periods the writers contributed to its pages anonymously, and for many years no one kept any account of their labours. Dr. [Matthew B.] Hope [died 1859] was the first who attempted to ascertain the names of the writers in the early volumes, and he was only partially successful. With the aid of his notes, and the assistance of Dr. John Hall of Trenton, Dr. John C. Backus of Baltimore, and Dr. Samuel D. Alexander of New York, the companions and friends of the Editor and his early coadjutors, the information on this head here collected is as complete as it is possible now to be given.‖ (Index Volume, iii; of LSM, II, 271n; for meaning of symbols, see below) The Index Volume is usually but not always reliable.
    [Show full text]
  • FATHER FABER by WILFRID WOOLLEN, M.A
    FATHER FABER By WILFRID WOOLLEN, M.A. FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER was descended from a Huguenot family that took refuge in England in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. His grandfather was incumbent of Calverley, Yorkshire, and in the vicarage there he was born on June 28th, 1814. FAMILY AND EDUCATION Frederick was the seventh child in a family of eight, but the early deaths of his three immediate seniors caused a considerable difference in age between his elder brothers and himself, and gave him something of the position of an only son. 'Frederick must surely prosper,' said a relative of the family, 'for he is the child of his mother's prayers.' Looking back upon his boyhood, he himself said that he was a most spoiled child. His mother, it is true, clung to the youngest of her sons with an especial affection, but both of his parents took prudent care to cherish the promise which early revealed itself. Many of the characteristics which stamped his personality in later years were apparent in childhood — the joyousness of his nature, his candour and openness, the gaiety of his conversation, his reliance upon himself. A schoolboy adventure told by his brother is worth relating to illustrate his eloquence as a boy. He was once caught by a farmer and his wife when trespassing on their premises with some of his youthful comrades. The farmer seemed disposed to proceed to extremities, when Frederick undertook the defence of the party; and the good wife soon interposed in their behalf, saying to her husband in the dialect of the country: "Ye mun let them gan, maister, the young gentleman has sic a pratty tongue." "This faculty,' he adds, 'certainly never diminished in after times.' Soon after Frederick's birth his father was appointed secretary to the Bishop of Durham, and the family removed in consequence to Bishop Auckland.
    [Show full text]
  • Newman and the Oratory
    1 NEWMAN AND THE ORATORY Keith Beaumont Newman’s choice of the Oratory of St Philip Neri Having become a Catholic, and desirous of serving his new Church as a priest, Newman was confronted with the question of which form of priestly life would best suit his particular talents and those of the disciples who had grouped themselves around him during his years at Littlemore; for he wished at all costs to maintain intact this band of disciples. The issue was complicated by the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was an international institution of which the English-speaking world was then but a tiny part. Hardly anyone in Rome spoke English, and England was, and was to remain until the early years of the 20th century, a ‘missionary country’ under the direct authority of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (‘Propaganda’). Newman was particularly sensitive to this ‘missionary’ situation: if he rejected the idea of becoming a simple diocesan priest, it was in part because he considered (quoting the views of Dominic Barberi who had received him into the Catholic Church) that such ‘priests were for keeping up a system’ but that ‘an order was the only thing for converting a country’ (LD xi. 30). From the start, Newman’s interest in the Oratory went hand in hand with his deep attraction to the figure of St Philip Neri, founder of the first Oratory in Rome in 1575. Indeed, after his two ‘conversions’ of 1816 and 1845, his discovery of St Philip, whom he would adopt as his patron saint and model, was the third most important event in his spiritual life.
    [Show full text]