Venerabile Voices Issue 4 - Venerable English College

Venerabile
Voices
ISSUE 4
Nov
ember 2012
Welcome to the 4th issue of Venerabile Voices
We invite stories for inclusion, news items or indeed any kind of feedback from our readers.
Text: Fergus Mulligan, fmcomms@indigo.ie | Design: Ray O’Sullivan | Distribution: Fr Bruce Burbidge, bruce.burbidge@gmail.com
The refectory ceiling
Fr Dick Ashton who died on 17 November
2011 drew this wonderful 1962 cartoon based
on the ceiling fresco of St George in the
College refectory. It appeared in Chi Lo Sa?,
the satirical and occasionally controversial
magazine produced by the students.
It may require a word of explanation for
younger-Old Romans. In the 1960s horse-meat
featured rather too often at meals for many
tastes; even then it had connotations of dog
food. The cartoon features the Madre of the
time astride a dragon slaughtering a horse while
in the background a student flees in terror.
Dr Rowan Williams making his final visit to the
College as Archbishop of Canterbury. Photo: Anthony Milner
St Edward’s Conference Room
Meanwhile, up at Palazzola… there is a brand new conference room just
opened in the former nuns’ chapel. St Edward’s Conference Room has the
latest audiovisual facilities for conferences, seminars, symposia or any kind
of meeting. The adjacent terrace has the most wonderful views of the lake
and is ideal for open air sessions and coffee breaks. Further details from
Filomena, events@palazzola.it.
The last word?
COLLEGE COCKTAIL
Items such as the origins of the
Wiggery and College Cocktail can
provoke a storm among our readers,
relatively speaking. Tony Grimshaw
admonishes us with the correct
ingredients for College Cocktail,
confirmed also by Liam Kelly who
cites a 1977 letter from Jock Tickle
reprinted in The Venerabile of 1995, viz: 1
part Gordon’s gin, 2 parts Punt e Mes and 4
parts Cinzano bianco, ice and lemon.
Venerabile Voices Issue 4 | November 2012
THE WIGGERY: not the
last word
Billy Steele points out
that he and James
Wigmore arrived at the
College in the same year,
1953, at which time the
Wiggery was already thus
christened. So the name
must predate the
deceased judge.
1
Palazzola Quiz
?
?
?
The response to the quiz in
Issue 3 didn’t exactly crash
computer systems –
surprising given the prize
was 2 nights full board for
2 people at Palazzola.
Comunque, the lucky
winner is Fr Mark Vickers in
Hatfield while Fr Anthony
Pateman in Leicester ran
him a close second.
Congratulations, Mark and
hope you enjoy your break
in that halcyon spot.
Canon Brian Murphy-O’Connor of Portsmouth diocese,
died on 11 June 2012. He was Cardinal Cormac’s brother
and his funeral was on 20 June.
As Mgr Michael McLoughlin of Leeds cathedral writes in
death notices: “May he rest in peace and rise in glory”.
September 2012 Council
meeting
The Roman Association Council met in St Francis of
Assisi presbytery, Notting Hill, courtesy of Gerard
Skinner. Before it we enjoyed a delightful lunch in a
restaurant on Kensington Church St while the meeting
proper discussed the merging of the two RA Trusts,
the highly successful Stonyhurst gathering last May,
next year’s gathering at DOP from 27-31 May 2013
and Martyrs’ Day events.
The social aspect of being on the Council is enjoyable
and for our next meeting in February we plan to stay
overnight in London.
Venerabile
magazine on CD
“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!”
The new College Archive has a small but growing
collection of historic photos, an important source for
future historians and researchers. If you have any pictures
of your time in the College, b&w, colour, slides or on CD
please don’t dump them, instead donate them to the
Archive. Simply caption them using a sticker on the back
with the appx date and the names and send them to the
College Archive c/o the Rector.
The two photos below date from the early 1970s with faces
that many will recognise. These and several other photos will
be presented to the College Archives.
The
Venerabile
1922-2012
Plans are moving ahead to place
every back issue of The Venerabile
on CD. A reader can then browse each edition from
the first one in 1922 to the present, searching by
author, topic, date or keyword. This is a great way to
preserve the extraordinary riches of The Venerabile
and make them widely available.
A specialist firm in Suffolk has quoted for scanning
each page onto a computer and we’re working out
the costs of burning CDs, producing cases, sourcing
and processing orders and despatch. We will ask
anyone interested to subscribe in advance and only
proceed when we have sufficient orders to cover all
costs. All profits made on the sale of CDs will go to
the RA Trust.
We have located a full set of back issues and after
scanning is complete the idea is to deposit all the
hard copies in an archive or repository where they’ll
be available to researchers in perpetuity.
2
Receive his soul and
present him toGod
the most high
Palazzola c.1973, standing l. to r, The Rector, Mgr Cormac, Peter
Humfrey RIP, Madre Marcella, Peter Carr, Suor’ Gemma, Bill Mellor RIP,
Mike Griffin, Suora, Jim Overton, Suor’ Cipriana, Ernie Sands, Michael
Taylor; kneeling, le ragazze: Nina, unknown, Annunziata, Maria
The Wizard of Oz, the Christmas pantomine c.1972,
l. to r. Gerry Murray as Dorothy, Robert Plant as the Tin Man
and Fergus Mulligan as the Straw Man.
Venerabile Voices Issue 4 | November 2012
“Be calm, my good people”
– Fr Thomas Byles 1870-1912
Fr. Thomas Byles
In this 100th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic, there is an interesting
English College connection in the person of Fr Thomas Byles from Shelton,
Staffs. From 1899-1902 Byles was a student at the Beda when it was located in via
di Monserrato 45 and the two Colleges shared a chapel, library and refectory, an
arrangement that was less than ideal. A rule at the time required VEC students
who reached the age of 24 to transfer to the Beda.
Byles studied at the Greg as was the norm for Beda students and after ordination
in the church of Sant’ Apollinare near Piazza Navona, became PP of St Helen’s,
Ongar. He travelled on board Titanic to perform his brother’s wedding in New
York but did not survive the sinking. Fr Byles features in James Cameron’s epic
film. For the full story see “Titanic and the Beda: Fr Thomas Byles”, The Beda
Review 2011-12, pp.22-31
Ad Multos
Annos
Tanti auguri a te: Cardinal
Cormac celebrated a
significant birthday on 24
August 2012. No need to
state how many years, let’s
just say it’s 9 squared
minus 1.
Charles Scicluna
Mgr Charles Scicluna who has had a
long connection with the College
while working at the Curia has been appointed
Auxiliary Bishop of Malta. His episcopal ordination is
on 24 November.
Roman Association subs
If you are one of those benighted creatures who
hasn’t yet joined the Association or you know others
floundering in existential angst who miss out on the
Venerabile and other missives from the RA,
procrastinate no longer. Contact the Secretary, Paul
Keane at frpkeane@yahoo.co.uk, who will welcome
you into the fold (Luke 15.7).
Shortly the Association will be in touch with
everyone on our database to thank those who have
been constant in their support over the years,
including life members who generously top up with
an additional donation. We will also be inviting
anyone who has missed paying their sub to
regularise their status.
Venerabile Voices Issue 4 | November 2012
The College: a training camp
for terrorists
A startling book review appeared in
The Guardian of 18 August 2012.
Keith Thomas was reviewing The
Watchers: A Secret History of the
Reign of Elizabeth I by Stephen
Alford.
The writer discusses the role of
priests trained abroad and the
brutal fate that awaited so many,
stating: “Most English Catholics
refused to allow their religion to
shake their political allegiance to
the Queen and many of the
seminary priests [Douai and Rome]
regarded their mission as purely
pastoral.”
Cardinal William Allen, an
Osama Bin Laden figure?
He moves on to spymaster general, Thomas Walsingham and
the “watchers” of the book’s title who were paid by the number
of people they accused and needed little evidence to have
someone tortured and killed. Thomas also mentions Anthony
Munday who studied in the College and whom Michael Williams
says was an informer for Walsingham.
He then discusses Cardinal Allen’s support for a military invasion
of England. “It is tempting to regard William Allen as a 16th
century Osama Bin Laden, and the English College at Rome as
the equivalent of a terrorist training-camp in Pakistan. Young
Catholic priests blessed by the Pope, and knowingly heading for
a terrible death, were the suicide bombers of their time, even
though their weapons were spiritual ones.” This is sloppy writing
and contradicts his early statement about a purely pastoral
mission. The College martyrs didn’t go to England to kill people,
they went to save England from heresy, as they saw it. The only
violence was that inflicted on them and they gave their lives for
their beliefs. The tone suggests the reviewer believes the
College closed centuries ago.
3
Some recent news from
the College
n Students have been enjoying the benefits of
extended WiFi throughout the building.
n In anticipation of a papal visit to the College as part
of the 650th Hospice anniversary, students will offer
650 hours of private prayer and study for the Pope’s
intentions.
n On 26 October a group of seminarians joined the
Rector at Cardinal Burke’s titular church of Sant’
Agata dei Goti near Trajan’s Forum for the blessing
of a statue of Blessed Columba Marmion. Also
present were students from the Irish College and
the NAC.
The Venerabile 2012
n Staying recently in the College while attending the
Synod were Archbishop Bernard Longley of
Birmingham, Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster
and Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton.
Thanks to David Howell for supplying this information.
is now published and all RA members
will receive their copies shortly.
If you don’t receive yours by
mid-November please e-mail
fmcomms@indigo.ie
with your full address.
6-6-60
Five dozen years
Taking a leaf out of Anthony Wilcox’s book, Fergus Mulligan celebrated his 6 June 60th birthday at
Palazzola with family members and friends from Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada and China. First-timers
seeing the view from the terrace elicited a collective: “Wow!” By happy coincidence Bruce Burbidge was
resident chaplain and other very welcome ORs present were the Rector Nicholas Hudson, Rod Strange,
Peter Fleetwood and John Magill. There was much music played and sung over the 4 days accompanied
by piano, guitars, a mandolin and the organ.
The birthday itself involved a prosecco reception and a 5 course lunch on the terrace. It was a wonderful
occasion with gite to Albano, Nemi and Rocca di Papa. Very highly recommended for anyone in age denial
or wondering how to come to terms with a distressing sequential event.
Photo: Anthony Milner
Come rack, come rope
Our Secretary, Paul Keane, has sent Roman Association members
details of Martyrs’ Day events taking place in five UK venues this year.
All old Romans are welcome but please inform the contact person if
you plan to attend.
Midlands: Wednesday 28 November,
Sacred Heart Aston le Walls and the Red
Lion, Culworth. Contact: Mgr Sean Healy
East Midlands: Thursday 29 November,
English Martyrs, Derby. Contact: Fr Mark
Brentnall
South-West: Friday 30 November, St
Mary’s, Bath. Contact: Mgr Jeremy Rigden
4
South-East: Friday 30
November, Tyburn and St
Patrick’s, Soho. Contact: Fr
Alexander Sherbrooke
North-West: Monday 3
December, Our Lady of
Grace, Prestwich.
Contact: Mgr John Allen
Venerabile Voices Issue 4 | November 2012