Books
LEX ORANDI LEX CREDENDI - the Law of Prayer is the Law of Belief draws on the work of Michael Davies, 1936-2004, teacher, writer and valiant defender of the Tridentine Sacraments - the ancient liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church codified at the Council of Trent - bringing his many publications to a wider audience.
"I have been profoundly touched by the news of the death of Michael Davies. I had the good fortune to meet him several times and I found him to be a man of deep faith and ready to embrace suffering." Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger - the future Pope Benedict XVI- translated from the original German, November, 2004
A short easily readable book, LEX ORANDI LEX CREDENDI makes sense of the impact of the liturgical changes in 1969 and their effects, with chapter headings: The First Sunday of Advent 1969, Meal or Sacrifice?, The History of the Mass, What Went Wrong, Learning from the Past. A substantial bibliography essential for anyone truly interested in perpetuating Tradition.
Black and white illustrations, derived from French and Flemish illuminated manuscripts, by artist and writer Miss Madeleine Beard, M.Litt.(Cantab.) Front cover colour photograph: High Mass, Book of Hours, Flanders, 1423
About the Author
Born in Cape Town in 1942, John Wetherell was educated at Ampleforth. After a career in the City of London from which he retired in 1998, he read Theology at St Benet's Hall, Oxford where he obtained his BA. He was later awarded an MA in Theology at the University of Chichester. The father of six children, he and his wife live in Sussex.
Informative appendices including full texts of the Tridentine Mass and the New Mass.
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Reginald Cardinal Pole, 1500 - 1558
The Last Archbishop of Canterbury
Michael Hutchings
Reginald Cardinal Pole was the son of Sir Richard Pole, a cousin of Henry VIII, and Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury. He was a potential claimant to the throne. In 1549 Pole narrowly missed election as Pope.
Studying at Magdalen College, Oxford and the Carthusian monastery at Sheen, Pole was widely respected for his scholarship. He left England for Padua to study, angering Henry by his opposition to the 'divorce'. Pole's continued intransigent opposition to Henry led to the execution of his mother, Blessed Margaret Pole, at Tower Hill in 1541, having been held prisoner at Cowdray near Midhurst.
After twenty-three years in Italy, Pole returned to England as Papal Legate in order to absolve England from schism. This occurred on 30 November 1554, a day later decreed to be held in thanksgiving in perpetuo. Pole instituted a Synod for the restoration and reform of the Church in England. He prepared the ground for the establishment of seminaries, thereby anticipating Trent.
His hopes for England were cut short by the sudden death of Queen Mary. His own death occurred hours later, on 17 November 1558. He was the last Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury.
About the Author
Born in London in 1963, Father Michael Hutchings is a Parish Priest in Melo, Uruguay.
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Illustrated throughout by Madeleine Beard,
the talented Catholic painter and author
"A beautifully-produced, though perhaps controversially titled, new book... to mark this important anniversary in the life of the Catholic Church in England." Peter Jennings, Times Online
"A short but authoritative study of the last true Archbishop of Canterbury... The book ends with a selection of prayers for the conversion of England!" Father Rupert McHardy, Cong.Orat., The Oratory Magazine
"A concise and readable study of the 'Angelic Cardinal'. Includes an interesting survey of changing images of Pole throughout the centuries... Beautifully produced by the Saint Joan Press." Father Nicholas Schofield, The Catholic Times
"Michael Hutchings achieves the rare success of a book that is thoroughly scholarly and accurate, but at the same time reads like a thriller. This book is a beautiful one. It is a required purchase for any Catholic school library." Eric Hester, Mass of Ages
FAITH AND FORTUNE
"Madeleine Beard focuses on the significant number of conversions among the British aristocracy, sketching first the experience of Continental travel, especially to Rome, and setting the fascination of magnificent religious ceremonies against the common Protestant prejudice that Catholic worship was a superstitious mummery," Geoffrey Rowell, Times Literary Supplement, 18th September 1998
FAITH AND FORTUNE chronicles the nineteenth century revival of Catholicism in England from the perspective of the wealthiest families in the country. Against much opposition, many men and women courageously sought membership in the One True Church. Their generosity with their fortunes in re-building the Catholic Church in England is still seen in the remarkable number of churches, convents, monasteries and schools which they founded. Their stories are told in two sections of the book, "Off to Rome" and "Over to Rome". The Grand Tour to southern Europe introduced many English and Scottish travellers to Catholicism. Entering Catholic churches for the first time, the mystery of the magnificent liturgy prompted many to explore the riches of the Catholic Faith.
Others joined the Church without leaving England's shores at all, simply in response to the prayers and example of others.
The two outstanding Cardinals of the nineteenth century, Manning and Newman, were both well-known converts who drew many in their wake. Manning, with his Oblates founded by Saint Charles Borromeo and Newman with his Oratorians founded by Saint Philip Neri, introduced into Protestant England the spirituality of the counter-Reformation of the sixteenth century. So too Italian Orders such as the Passionists and Rosminians had a profound role to play in their missionary work. This paperback describes the fruits of the journeys between Catholic Europe and once-Catholic England, with fascinating stories of individual souls who gave up everything for the Church..
Review extracts by Michael Davies (1936-2004), "The Latin Mass: A Journal of Catholic Culture", Vol. 12. No.2 Spring 2003
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"Miss Madeleine Beard is one of the most remarkable Catholics I have ever met. Miss Beard, a truly devout and and convinced traditional Catholic, is a water color artist of exceptional talent, dedicating herself almost exclusively to spiritual subjects in what she terms her water color icons. Their delicacy and profound spirituality are reflected in her writing, and are perfectly adapted to the subject of her book, an account of the conversion to Catholicism of nineteenth-century members of the British aristocracy.
It might be well asked why a book should be devoted to aristocratic conversions. The answer is that members of this class who converted had the most to lose, ranging from social ostracism to disinheritance. In some cases they also had the most to give; and where they had control of their fortunes were able to found monasteries or convents and do a great deal for the Catholic poor - the class into which so many Catholics, Irish immigrants in particular, found themselves through no fault of their own."
"Not least among the merits of Miss Beard's book is its uncompromising insistence that truth is more important than unity, a fact that she makes clear simply by recounting the lives of these courageous and saintly men who were prepared to sacrifice all that they had to grasp the pearl of great price that is the Catholic faith."
"I began this review by remarking that "Faith and Fortune" is a remarkable book by one of the most remarkable Catholics I have ever met. It immerses us in an epoch in which truth did indeed matter, and all who read it will be strengthened in their devotion to the one, true Church founded by the Son of God who came to bring truth into the world. It is a book that should be in the home of every Catholic who truly loves his faith."
"If I may conclude on a personal note, one of my most treasured possessions is a portrait of Lady Margaret Beaufort, patron of Saint John Fisher, painted by Madeleine Beard."
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English Landed Society in the Twentieth Century
by Madeleine Beard
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1989
"For historical perspective and accuracy the reader must turn to Madeleine Beard's book which gives a comprehensive account of the great English country houses over the past century. Beard thanks 14 academic advisers, and her bibliography lists well over 200 sources."
Angela Lambert, The Sunday Times, 20 August 1989
"In the US this book is sold as "Acres and Heirlooms: The Survival of Britain's Historical Estates", a title which serves far better to introduce the scope and intention of Madeleine Beard's book. Its strengths lie in summarising and assessing the effect of the changes in fiscal and agricultural policy on the aristocracy. As Madeleine Beard makes clear, it was government policy towards agriculture and land that determined the post-war future for landowners. The enduring impression that this book gives, however, is the aristocratic ability to endure. Without passing judgment or revealing where her prejudices lie, Madeleine Beard describes the periods of political impotence followed by periods of political ascendancy (as recently as the Macmillan years), the crippling taxes and death duties deftly side-stepped, while the encroachment of divorce and remarriage merely means that the intricate web of relationships and networks becomes denser still. In most respects the author finds the 1980s have been good years for her subjects. Not for them the classless society. Socially self-sufficient, intellectually unstretched, the clouds may frequently gather on the horizon but they never seem to get wet."
Gillian Darley, Financial Times, 23rd December 1989
"Eton, Harrow, Oxford and Cambridge or the Guards, Cavalry or Rifle Brigade were the uniting institutions of the landed classes before the First World War. Even before the war, however, Harcourt's introduction of death duties in 1894 was a portent of the gradual erosion of landed society in the twentIeth century, and Beard's book is a catalogue of that erosion. Beard, however, ends on an upbeat note with the boom in land prices in the early 1970s and the revival of the counties' seasonal round of pleasures, and with the return of the Tories in 1979 when one-third of the new government's members and half the cabinet were famers; Heseltine, Prior and Walker all invested in land. On the social side, the Royal Wedding restored the ceremonial. Here the book d oes tend to drift into rather Tatler-like gossip and a sort of heritage-type nostalgia, but the book overall is a valuable addition to the Mingay and Thompson volumes."
J. H. Porter, Business History, January 1991
Madeleine Beard's book bears a title and imprimatur which invite comparison with the influential monographs of Mingay and Thompson a generation ago...Much of it is a good read with a strong narrative line and excellent anecdotal flourishes. Most of the work is soundly constructed and intelligently argued.
B. A. Holderness, The English Historical Review, April 1991