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Encouragement for Catholics
Catholics in Lancashire have been encouraged by Bishop Michael Campbell of the Diocese of Lancaster, who offered a Pontifical Low Mass with music at the ICKSP Shrine of St. Walburge in Preston last Sunday. His Lordship was assisted at the High Altar by Canon Altiere and Canon Poucin.Â
In addition to Gregorian chant, the regular choir's music for the Holy Mass included the O Sanctissima in traditional Sicilian melody; Kastorsky's O Salutaris Hostia; Casciolini's Panis Angelicus; and Bach's Tantum Ergo. The hymn Praise to the Holiest was sung for the recessional.
An Important Church
St. Walburge's is a remarkable and historically important Catholic church, built in the Gothic revival style with a gigantic limestone spire.
As this picture suggests, St. Walburge's 309-foot tall spire dominates the skyline of the city of Preston. In fact, it is the third tallest church spire in the country; only the medieval spires at Norwich and Salisbury cathedrals stand taller.
There is no doubt that the Jesuit priests who oversaw its construction between 1850-1854 were making a bold statement about the resurgence of Catholicism, which was at that time shining brightly in this country.
The level of their confidence, we might almost say audacity, can be glimpsed when we remember that Catholic Emancipation had only been achieved in 1829; and that the restoration of the Hierarchy in England was only approved by Pope Pius IX in 1850.
Whilst the first Catholic churches to be built in Britain in the post-Reformation era had been understandably low key, St. Walburge's practically shouted out, ''We're Back and We're Here to Stay!'' The Catholic recusants who had always kept the light of the True Faith burning in Lancashire must have felt some vindication. Â
Amid the tensions of the time, the extreme grandeur of the immense edifice did not win universal approval. The Ecclesiologist criticised it as, ''the flaunting off-spring of the unhappy nuptials of Oratorianism and true Christian ecclesiology''.
None of that prevented some 8,000 locals from subscribing £1 per year - a healthy sum for the mostly working-class parishioners to commit to in those times - to help with the costs of construction. Indeed, many Irish immigrant workers helped with the actual work of building in order to keep the costs down. St. Walburge's was big, but it had sufficient parishioners to fill it.
We've visited St. Walburge's several times over the years and agree with Pevsner's exclamation that, ''nothing prepares you for the shock of the interior''. It is indeed a spectacularly vast space.
The architectural boldness of J.A. Hansom, who was also famous for the invention of the Hansom cab so often seen in Sherlock Holmes movies, continues inside with the enormous hammerbeam roof, raised side-pulpit and the brightly coloured statuary gazing down on the congregation from crocketed niches up in the heights. In 1873, the church's enormous polygonal apse was added by S.J. Nicholls; pushing the tall east windows outwards into an almost semi-circle.Â
New Life
As you can imagine, in these modern times of widespread lapsation, liturgical deconstructionism, demographic movement and spiralling costs, St. Walburge's was, for a while, in a somewhat precarious position.
In 2011, we gave some catechetical presentations on chastity and marriage in the Victorian presbytery at St. Walburge's. At that time, the Capuchin Franciscan Friars were running the presbytery as a centre for Catholic students at the university, and the diocese was opening the giant church up each Sunday for a small congregation.
Torch of The Faith in November 2011Â with Fr. John Delaney OFM Cap. during one of our catechetical presentations on chastity and holy matrimony at the university chaplaincy in Preston.
By God's grace, and some inspired leadership by Bishop Campbell, St. Walburge's was re-established as a Shrine of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) early in 2014.
The key mission of the shrine is to establish a centre for the provision of Eucharistic Adoration and the celebration of Holy Mass and the other sacraments in the Traditional Rites.
Already the shrine has gone from strength to strength with daily celebration of the Traditional Low Mass, weekly Traditional High Mass, the reception of a few new converts into the Church, the Confirmation of some other locals, prolonged periods of Eucharistic Adoration with priests available to hear Confessions and some splendid retreats. We attended one of these in Advent 2014 and were heartened to meet a lady who was joyfully discovering the richness of the Sacred Tradition of the Church through the presence of the ICKSP.
Also, the newly ordained Canon Cosme Montjean, younger brother of Canon Amaury Montjean, will be visiting the shrine to offer a First Mass with First Blessings of a New Priest on Saturday, 30th July, 2016 at 10:30 am. There will also be a social with refreshments in the presbytery afterwards.
Conclusion
It was encouraging for many Catholics in Lancashire, and far beyond, when Bishop Campbell opened the new shrine in 2014. And again, when he offered the Traditional Latin Mass there on Sunday.
Bishop Michael Campbell assisted at the Altar by Canons Poucin and Altiere.
It's a nice image of Christ Crucified on His Lordship's chasuble too!
Please pray for the ongoing success of the Shrine of St. Walburge's; and for the souls being ministered to by the good canons there. By God's grace, the young ICKSP priests are helping Catholicism to keep on standing tall in Lancashire well into the 21st-Century.
St. Walburge - Pray for us!
