CHAPTER 1 - THE FRANCISCANS

 

St. Francis of Assisi regarded his choice of a life of penance as the inspiration of God. The ever-growing stream of Franciscan life and thought through the centuries, gives eloquent testimony to the truth of his conviction. Francis was an inspiration for all classes and conditions of people. Closest to his ideal of the literal and direct following of Christ are the members of his First Order, the men who take the same vows that he took, and try to follow in his steps by their lives dedicated to Christ. Called Franciscans, it is to Francis that they turn, trying to acquire the same love of Christ that he had, and to express this love in their service of those in need, according as Mother Church wishes to use their labours.

 

Today the Franciscans, or First Order of St. Francis, consist of three distinct families, whose origins are to be found in the original Franciscan ideal, as it has developed in slightly differing forms through the centuries. Numerically, the largest of the three families is that of the Friars Minor, whose full title is the Order of Friars Minor of the Leonine Union. The next in membership is the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. The third is the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, which is the particular interest of this work. It must be clearly understood that no matter what the historical circumstances of each Franciscan Family's origin, they are not competing organisations claiming exclusive possession of the Franciscan ideal.

 

They are the result of men's enthusiasm to develop in a certain way the inspiration of St. Francis. Each family traces its origins to St. Francis and the early Friars; it is in the line of development that the separate organisations have acquired their distinctive spirit and pattern. The Friars Minor and the Capuchins are Franciscan families who have found particular inspiration by reference to the primitive simplicity of St. Francis and many of his immediate followers. The Conventual Franciscan regard their development as an organic growth from the Franciscan Community, which from the earliest days of the Order, gathered under St. Francis's leadership.

 

The division of the Order into distinct Families was a steadily developing process over a period of three centuries. By 1517, the Order was constituted by the Pope of the time as being of two families: The Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, and the Friars Minor Conventual. Both families had their own distinct organisation and superiors. At this time, the situation in England was that the fifty or so houses pertaining to the ancient English Province of Greyfriars owed their allegiance to the Friars Minor Conventual, while there were some six houses of Franciscans affiliated to the Friars Minor of the Observance.

 

The six Observant Houses were suppressed by Henry VIII in 1534, because of the heroic resistance of a number of the Friars to his attack on the ancient Faith - a resistance that was crowned by the martyrdom of Blessed John Forest. The Conventual houses received some of the Observant Friars, but in their turn suffered the destruction of the ancient province in 1538/39 in the general ruin of the religious Orders In England. It was not until the nineteenth century that the Friars Minor and the Capuchins succeeded in establishing themselves in this country, thus forming the base for the present flourishing Provinces of their respective Franciscan Families. In the case of the Friars Minor Conventual, the re-establishment of this Franciscan Family was not to take place until the twentieth century, although, as in the case of the other Families, various previous attempts had been made to restore the Franciscan way of life to England.

 

In 1905, Fr. Bonaventure Scerberras of the Maltese Province of the Order, came to England on a preaching engagement. He was resolved to return on a permanent footing to restore the antique Province. The following year, 1906, he landed at Dover like the ancient Friars: penniless, dependent upon the charity of friends. In 1907, he received from the Bishop of Clifton on behalf of the Order, the care of the minute parish of Portishead, near Bristol. So it is from that year that the restoration of Greyfriars Province is dated.

 

CHAPTER 2 - THE ENGLISH FRANCISCANS: THE GREYFRIARS

 

The English Province of the Franciscan Order was established by command of St. Francis himself. In the General Chapter of the Order in 1224, Agnellus of Pisa, who had been the custos of Paris, was nominated by Francis to go to England with suitable companions. Thus on Tuesday, 10th of September, 1224, Agnellus and eight of the brethren landed at Dover. They made their way to Canterbury, where they were well received by the monks in the service of the Cathedral. After two days' stay, four of them journeyed on to London.

 

The original nine Friars formed a group in which there were four clerics and five lay-brothers. Among the clerics was the leader of the whole band, Agnellus, who at this time was but a deacon. The other three were English; Richard of Devon an accolyte, Richard of Ingworth-a priest, and William of Esseby - still a novice. The five brothers were not native Englishmen. Obvious care had been taken in selecting the party, so that some natives were available to set the new venture on a firm foundation. London provided the centre for their early activities, and it was from the principal city of the realm that this small band set out to bring the inspiration of Francis to the cities of the land.

 

In London, the Friars went at first to the Dominican Friars, and were received by them with the customary friendship established by St. Dominic and St. Francis. After a fortnight's stay, the Franciscans found a humble dwelling for rent in Cornhill. Here they stayed for some months, later shifting their abode to Stinking Lane in Newgate, when a benefactor bought some land on which they could settle. On this land and later acquisitions of land, rose the Grey-friary and Church, which was to be one of the great churches of the City.

 

However, the Friars did not confine their activity to the London foundation, since before 1st November, 1224, Richard of Ingworth and Richard of Devon had travelled on to Oxford to make a foundation there. Thus, in the first year of their coming to England, three foundations were made, one in the ecclesiastical capital of England, another in the seat of government, and the last at the centre of learning. From these foundations followed an astounding expansion of religious activity and foundation of religious houses. The source of this expansion is to be found in the impression made on the people by the Friars, and their way of life. Wholly imbued with the spirit of St. Francis, the early friars dedicated themselves to the service of the people in the crowded sections of the cities. Their own lives were austere, they clearly practised what they preached-the poverty of Christ. They were a new phenomena in the Church in England, religious who chose not to separate themselves from the people, but rather to live in their midst, not for profit or advantage, but to bring all to the love of Christ.

 

Their sermons, modelled on the advice of St. Francis, were in popular language; easy to understand, yet speaking directly from the heart, calling all to penance and love of Christ. At first, they were comparatively unlettered, yet they grew in learning, so as to become one of the great intellectual forces of the nation.

 

The Friars arrived in England at the end of the first quarter of the 13th century. In the remaining three-quarters of that century, they had made some fifty-four foundations, that were to last for three centuries, until the suppression under Henry VIII. Forty-one of the foundations were made between 1224 and 1245. After the initial three noted above, the favourable reaction of the people and the application of many men to join the Order, gave rise to the first action of expansion.

The towns chosen were all centres of considerable importance either in studies or commerce. In 1225, a foundation was made at Northampton, in 1226 at Cambridge and Norwich, in 1227 at Worcester and the following year at Hereford.

 

One of the most significant foundations for the future development and life of the English Franciscans, was that made at Oxford. St.Francis had certainly not encouraged learning in his Order. However, he appreciated the need of some theological studies for his Friars if they were to be adequate preachers of the word of God, and had himself given licence to St. Anthony of Padua to teach theology. In England, the first Friars at Oxford, had by their way of life, attracted many of the University students and some of the professors to join the Order. The very presence of such talented persons gave to the Province of Greyfriars an impetus to study. In the year 1229, there is no record of any further foundations, but it is in that year that the first Minister Provincial, Agnellus of Pisa, was persuaded to allow the substantial expansion of the Oxford Friary, thus allowing the setting on a proper footing of the house studies in Oxford that were to become famous throughout Europe.

 

In 1230, the expansion of the Province by new foundations continued apace. Bristol, Gloucester, King's Lynn, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Salisbury, Stamford and York were all established by that year. The next decade showed a steady pattern of foundations the length and breadth of England. In 1232 at Colchester, in 1233 at Carlisle and Reading. Coventry was established in 1234, Southampton the following year, and Ipswich in 1236. It has not yet been possible to establish that a deliberate plan of expansion was promoted by the central organisation of the Friars in England, or whether the spread of the Friars was the result of a spontaneous demand arising from the people for the presence in their town of a Grey-friary. The title Greyfriar was a popular denomination used to distinguish the Franciscans from the Friars in Black, the Dominicans and the White Friars, the Carmelites, (all names taken from the colour of the external dress of the respective Orders of Friars).

 

The year 1237 saw a further burst of foundations; Colchester, Lichfield, Newcastle and Winchester had by this year welcomed the followers of Francis. Bedford and Chester were established in 1238; In 1239, Durham, Hartlepool and Scarborough; while in 1240, in addition to the foundations at Exeter and Grimsby in that year, the first foundation was made in Wales at Llanfaes in Anglesey, where the Friars were established at the request of Llewelyn the Great, to provide a shrine for Princess Joan, his beloved wife, who died in 1237. Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, was the site of the next foundation in 1241, and Winchelsea, also in Sussex, in 1243. Further foundations were made at Bridgnorth In 1244; in 1245, Bridgwater and Shrewsbury were established, and this marked the end of the almost continuous activity of founding Friaries, initiated in 1224.

 

The second half of the thirteenth century saw the founding of a further thirteen Friaries only: Richmond (1257); Bodmin and Preston (1260); Beverley and Dorchester (1267); Boston (1268); Yarmouth (1271); Stafford and Dunwich (1277); Cardiff, Carmarthen and Doncaster (1284), and Grantham (1290). The fourteenth century saw only four new foundations: Walsingham (1347); Ware (1351); Plymouth (1383), and Aylesbury (1387). From this last year of 1387 until the suppression in 1538, no more Friar Minor Conventual houses were established.

 

England in the thirteenth and fourteenth century experienced a great new religious phenomena in the coming and growth of the Orders of Friars. In these centuries, nearly two hundred religious foundations were made by the four large Orders of Friars: the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians and Carmelites; and about another thirty houses were founded by various smaller Orders. The Dominicans arrived in England first, in 1221, but the Greyfriars spread quickest and probably always had a preponderance numerically over the Dominicans. The Friars' influence spread into all sections of the community, and became one of the main religious elements in the life of the nation.

 

CHAPTER 3 - THE FRIARS' WORK

 

St. Francis in his Rule did not lay down any very definite lines of work for his Friars In the service of the Church. That they were to persevere in the service of the Church and at the disposition of the Pope, is clear. They were to follow the Gospel of Christ, living in poverty, in chastity and under obedience. They were to preach to the people announcing Christ, above all speaking briefly in simple terms on virtues and vices, punishment and glory. The simple plan of living extremely frugal lives, working for their living at manual crafts, having no settled abode, never seems to have taken root in England. Rather from the start of their mission in England, the Friars were in immediate demand as preachers of the Gospel.

 

The England to which the Friars came, had for many years been more or less efficiently divided into diocese and parishes, with the main work of the care of souls being borne by the secular clergy, or by the monks, In the service of a great monastery, or even a cathedral. The Friars came as a new impetus to the existing organisation, not to replace or reform it. They did not become parochial clergy, but in order to continue their preaching mission, they soon began to build substantial churches in which their sermons could be heard. Another development of their work was that of hearing confessions. They became very popular in this capacity. Their emphasis on learning made them competent advisers In spiritual matters, and their lack of connection with a settled parochial existence would encourage the confidences of those who did not wish their problems to be known by the local clergy. Each Greyfriar church in each city became a church to which one had resort for confession, to hear interesting sermons, to listen to the singing of parts of the Divine Office or Mass.

The churches of the Friars became popular places for burial and for the establishment of perpetual Masses for the souls of the departed.

 

Many of the Friars, as individuals, played important roles, especially in early centuries, in the public life of the nation. They officiated on behalf of the King in many important missions. They were used as trustworthy messengers and advisers by noble families. They appear to have done some teaching of young boys. However, we are not yet clear of the full part played by the Friars in the life of the community. It seems that they did little work directly for the sick. Their own resources always seem to have been limited and we have no record of any work at length for the poor.

 

It seems that the Friars became 50 much a part of the nation's life that they were taken for granted, and much study yet waits to be done to distinguish their individual work and meaning for the people.

 

From the earliest days in England, great stress was laid on the need for study, in order to prepare the Friars properly to preach the word of God. In the thirteenth century, all study had a theological purpose. The natural sciences were In their Infancy and the humanist culture of the ancients was just beginning to revive. Every Friary took care to develop some form of theological study. However In the principal Friaries, particularly those of Oxford and Cambridge, the Friars were one of the main promoters of thought and study. Here the Universities were In formation. The coming first to Oxford and then to Cambridge of the Friars, with so many foreign contacts, and with so many agile minds dedicated to the scientific study of revelation, gave great impetus to the Infant Universities.

 

The English Province was particularly gifted with men who had minds capable of the profoundest speculation. From the schools of Oxford and Cambridge came great syntheses of learning that influenced thinkers all over Europe.

Among the most famous of these we recall John Duns Scotus, Alexander of Hales, Haymo of Faversham, Roger Bacon and William of Ockham, who were all members of the English Province of Greyfriars. These men and many others played a vital part In the revival of learning and theological speculation, which Is one of the great advances of the thirteenth century.

 

In the centuries after the thirteenth and early fourteenth, the Friars did not produce men of the same International calibre. However, the work of the houses of study continued, preparing Friars of many nations for their work In the service of the church.

 

Apart from this stress on intellectual activity, it seems that to have a Greyfriars in the town was a distinct advantage to the public good, quite apart from their religious activities. It has been noted that a number of Friaries were careful to provide a proper water supply to the Friary, usually by a conduit from an uncontaminated source: an example In hygiene that some towns did not follow until modern times. The Friars' churches were often used for public functions and meetings. Above all, their presence In the town, owning no property, other than the Friary garden and church they occupied, (and this was usually In the name of the town corporation), with no allegiance to local magnates, provided for all In trouble an unfailing resource of guidance and refuge. Of Its nature, this Influence would be unrecorded and largely secret, yet without doubt it was this which gave the Greyfrlars so prominent a position in the hearts of the people.

 

CHAPTER 4 - THE SUPPRESSION

 

The fifteenth century is a time of great obscurity in the history of the Friars. The first three quarters of the hundred years was a time of great national conflict and uncertainty. This seems to have been reflected in the Friars' life, In that no outstanding achievements or personalities are to be noted. However, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, we note signs of reviving activity. The Friars became involved in the new movements in theology coming from the Continent. In the main, they were staunch defendants of the traditional doctrine of the Church. Their most prominent leader, Henry Standish, who had been Minister Provincial and a noted court preacher, was a sturdy adversary of the new thinking of the reformers. However, he was also a supporter of the young King Henry VIII, and for his loyalty was made Bishop of St. Asaph in 1517, thus becoming one of the band of bishops who, in the main, were to give way before the demands of the King that he be recognised as supreme Church ruler in England.

 

The history of the Reformation in England is well-documented, and the sorry part played by the religious Orders, (with the notable exception of the Carthusians and Observant Friars), is well known. It is difficult after the passage of centuries to appreciate the uncertainties and pressures brought to bear by the King and his unprincipled ministers on the religious men and women of the time. No doubt many hoped against hope that compliance to the storm would allow the Orders to survive, to re-establish their position after Henry's death.

 

In 1534, the leaders of the English Church were called upon by oath to renounce their allegiance to the Pope, and turn to King Henry as Supreme Head of the Church in England. The great majority took this oath. The Friars In the main seem to have done this, with the exception of the little group of Friars Minor of the Observance, who at this time had six houses only in England. The Observants were suppressed; some imprisoned, later to die; others fled overseas, and others were placed in other Friaries. These Friaries were to survive a brief four years. The suppression of the Friaries in England and Wales was achieved by private order of the King, now Supreme Head of the Church in England.

 

The method used was to send a visitator, often a renegade ex-religious, to visit the individual Friaries and there persuade the Friars to surrender their house and possessions.

 

It seems that the method of persuasion used varied from direct threats to promises of position and support after the suppression. The process started in May 1538, and by February of 1539, it was completed. As far as possible, the Friars were persuaded to sign a document of surrender in which they rejected their way of life, and asked for the King's help in their changed circumstances. The whole operation was activated by a desire to gain control of the Friars' possessions. and to stamp out a possible source of opposition to the King and the planned Protestant reformation eventually to be introduced into England. In their first aim, the agents of the King had little success. The Inventories of the Friary possessions show a great poverty in the actual Friary goods, with very little precious materials present In the church furnishings. The Friaries were very poorly equipped, even by the standards of the times, and even allowing for the knavery and theft taking place before the details were sent to the King, there is every indication of the Friars' love and observance of poverty.

 

Some of the Friars received posts as secular priests, others we presume returned to secular occupations, while yet others fled overseas. Thus the Greyfriars English Province came to an end, its rights being preserved only in the nomination in the General Chapters of the Order which met every six years, of a titular Provincial of England. The memory of the Greyfriars lingered on in England, particularly In the names of streets and districts of the towns where the Friars had been established. About a dozen of the Friaries still have some discernable remains which can be seen, but no church remains in full original use. Something of the memory of the Friars lingers on among the mass of the people. The Friars are still thought of as helpers of the poor and weak, as men of God who moved freely among the people at their service.

 

The history and fate of the Greyfriars was shared by all the ancient religious Orders who had flourishing Provinces or Monasteries in England. In the long years of persecution that followed Henry VIII's reign, some tried to return In secret to keep alight the flame of the true faith in the land. All these efforts remained that of individuals, so that not until the nineteenth century and Catholic Emancipation were the Orders, to. get her with many companions of more recently founded Orders and Congregations, able to enjoy full freedom to re-establish religious life in England and Wales. In the case of the Friars Minor Conventual, they had suffered grievously as an Order In the confusion of the anti-religious laws of nineteenth-century Europe. Because of their long tradition, they were the guardians of many of the principal Franciscan shrines on the Continent. These, because of their size and standing, were often the target for the opponents of the Church, so the Friars again and again found themselves expelled from what had been their home for centuries. and forced to wander looking for refuge wherever it could be found. Thus by the end of the nineteenth century, the Order was at a low ebb for personnel and so in no state to think of expansion in what was still a protestant country: England. In the event at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Conventual Franciscans returned to England by the work of the Friars from Malta and the U.S.A.

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CHAPTER 5. THE RESTORATION OF THE PROVINCE

 

It seems that the return of the Conventual Franciscans to England was the result of the private inspiration and enthusiasm of Fr. Bonaventure Scerberras of the Maltese province of the Order. Fired with the traditional regard of the Maltese for England, he succeeded. as we have noted in Chapter I, In obtaining a foundation at Portishead near Bristol. in the west country. Bishop lee of Clifton gave Fr. Bonaventure, on behalf of the Order, a truly mission station. The Church was that of 81. Joseph's, and the property was towards the summit of West Hill. Portishead. The parish was very poor, with a minute population of Catholics scattered over a large area, Portishead being nothing more than a village. Clearly in so very non-Catholic an area, with such a sparse population, Fr. Bonaventure could expect only very slow progress If he was left unsupported. He began to Insist that further help be sent to him from other Provinces of the Order. English-speaking Priests were clearly essential. Fr. Bonaventure's call for help was answered. Fr. Vincent Meyer of the Immaculate Conception Province, which Is on the eastern seaboard of the U.S.A.. came to start his long ministry In England In 1908. Fr. Vincent was later Joined by Fr. Gerard Tidieken, of the same province. Fr. Roger Azzopardi came from Malta-he was to spend the whole of his priestly life In England; and Brother Godfrey May from Germany, to start a tradition of never-flagging hard work. With the prospect of yet further reinforcements, It was time to look for more foundations.

 

A Catholic layman called early in 1910 on the Minister General of the Order In Rome, Fr. Dominic Reuter. He asked that the Order come to Rye In Sussex. so Fr. Dominic wrote to Fr. Bonaventure, who was now the Commissary General of the Order In England, (a preparatory rank before the establishment of a full Provincialate). directing him to call on Bishop Amigo of Southwark. The call was successful, and the Bishop Invited the Friars to come to Sussex. The new foundation was made In 1910.

 

As at Portishead, Rye was a poor country parish with very few parishioners, a church and presbytery needing much attention. The Catholic life itself of the district was practically non-existent. The work was very missionary In character. but established the pattern of the years to come. Unlike the early Friars, who had come to a land steeped In the Catholic Faith for over seven hundred years, the Friars of our century looked for work in those areas where the Faith had to be established.

Thus the foundations made before the 1914-18 War were parishes, so giving to the Friars the duty of evangelising the area put in their charge by the Bishop on behalf of the Church. An extra charge was given to the Friars: to start the parish of Shirehampton, near Bristol. This they did, but on its establishment, relinquished It to the priests of the diocese to continue.

 

Clearly if the Friars' work in England was to flourish, there was need of native vocations. Efforts were made to find young men who would res. pond to the call of Francis to follow Christ. The call was generally not heard-different, Indeed, from the response of the first founding of the Province. Before the 1914-18 War, only one native vocation was received. The first major Superior In England was Fr. Bonaventure. His duty lasted from 1910 to 1919. Much of this time, he served overseas as a distinguished chaplain to the Forces. In his absence, Fr. Vincent Meyer was his deputy in England. In 1919, Fr. Vincent was made Commissary General, an office he was to fill for the next thirteen years. More help was provided from the U.S.A. and from Malta. Work was unceasing in Portishead and Rye, but still no vocations came. Further foundations were offered to the Friars, but had to be refused because of manpower problems.

 

To Fr. Vincent it seemed clear that If vocations to the Order were to be found, then the Order must move into the more Catholic parts of England, that is into Lancashire. The proposal to move to the north was easily made, but in the event much harder to execute. Through personal friends, Father Vincent decided that there was a prospect of a foundation at Mossley Hill in Liverpool. He started the negotiations for a foundation here in 1924 but was not successful until the early part of January 1927 in obtaining official agreement that a new parish and friary could be established in this pleasant section of Liverpool. However this was not the only outlet sought for the expansion of the Order. In addition to the Liverpool foundation again through some personal contacts, an invitation was received from the Bishop of Salford to make a foundation in Manchester. Negotiations were opened and in the year 1929 a new parish and friary were opened at Higher Blackley a district at the very north of the City of Manchester. Both the new foundations were in newly developing areas, on the outskirts of these two great north-western cities. Both had to be started from the roots. At Liverpool Fr. Vincent was fortunate, after much difficulty in purchasing a large house with a large garden. More land close by was acquired which gave ample space for the erection of a church.

 

In Manchester a very suitable site was found in the centre of the future parish and an early start made in erecting a small church and then a school. The Friars were able to rent a Corporation house in which they were to live for nearly twenty-five years, before moving into more suitable premises. Further developments took place in Liverpool, in 1934, when for the first time since the Reformation, a Novitiate was established in England. The establishment took the form of separate quarters, adjacent to the Friary at Mossley Hill. From these two houses, the Order started on its first real expansion in twentieth century England. A small group of native vocations had been received in 1933. But since there was then no Novitiate in England, they had to go overseas to do their novitiate year. However, from August of 1934 until the war years, in Liverpool, a steady flow of native vocations was received into the Novitiate. Those who completed their novitiate and took their vows, were sent at first to the U.S.A. for studies. In the later 1930's, the policy was changed and the students of the Province were sent to either to Germany or to Rome.

 

The Intake of vocations promised possibilities of further expansion in England, and the full re-establishment of the ancient Greyfrlars Province. However, the Second World War delayed these prospects. The main body of students for the priesthood were studying in Rome in 1940. These barely managed to leave Italy before hostilities were declared. To reach England again, they had to join the bands of refugees in Northern France, finding their way on foot to a Channel port, and so on the last boat eventually reaching England. and thus safeguarding the future expansion of the Province.

 

CHAPTER 6. THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

 

The six years of war put an end to the small but steady supply of vocations to the Greyfriars. However, in 1945 the vocations began to come again. In 1945, the Novitiate started again in Liverpool, and new vocations, and these In increasing numbers were received. In 1949, the English Commissariate, which had been dependent upon the Immaculate Conception Province, U.S.A.. since 1919, became an independent unit accounting directly to the Minister General as Indeed it had been before 1919. The new Commissary General, Father Daniel Lyons, decided that conditions In liverpool were too crowded. So a new foundation, was made in July 1950 at Beaumaris, Anglesey, In the diocese of Menevia. This foundation was made solely to establish a training and student house, no parish being attached to it. This house Is still the training and novitiate house of the Province. It is worthy of note that quite unknown to Father Daniel, at the time of making the new foundation, the house purchased by the Friars (Heleys Hall) lay less than a thousand yards from the site of the ancient Friary at Llanfaes. The circle had turned, and the Friars returned to a place from which they had been rejected 412 years previously.

 

In 1951, Father Aidan Duffy was appointed Commissary General. He was the first native Friar to be the Major Superior In England since the Reformation. In his six year period of office, the vocations continued to come In small steady numbers. In 1952. the first post-war ordinations started thus giving to the Order in England, a steady supply of young priests to play their part In the growth of the Church In the land. A new foundation became necessary, because of the increasing numbers, and so in 1955. a new Friary and parish were established at Duston on the western side of Northampton, in the Diocese of the same name. The Commlssariate now numbered six houses and about 40 professed members.

 

It was decided by the Minister General of the Order that the time was ready for the granting of full status to the Order's foundations in England and Wales. So in the late autumn of 1957, the ancient Province of England was fully revived, and the first Provincial Chapter in England since the Reformation, held at Mossley Hill, Liverpool. In this chapter, Fr. Maurice Gough was elected as the first Minister Provincial.

 

Father Maurice's term of office lasted for six years. The steady flow of vocations gave to the Province yet further need of expansion. So In 1959 a new parish and Friary were founded at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire, in the diocese of Nottingham. In 1963, the Church and house at Barton-on-Irwell were accepted by the Order. This foundation, however, had no parish attached.

 

In 1963, Father Maurice was succeed by Father Camillus Flanagan 85 Minister Provincial. Father Camillus was Provincial for three years. During his term of office, yet more foundations were made at Waterloo, in the centre of London, in the Archdiocese of Southwark, in 1964. Another was made at Frodsham, Cheshire, in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, in 1965. Both of these foundations were established parishes which the Diocesan Bishop had asked the Order to take into its care. In 1964, the foundation at Woodhall Spa was enlarged by the acceptance of more extensive parish responsibilities, and the Friary re-located at Sleaford.

 

The rate of expansion in recent years, it will be seen, has very much increased. With the exception of Barton, which is a house used for certain specialised types of the Order's apostolate namely the Crusade of Mary Immaculate, and as a centre for the recruitment of vocations, all the other foundations were made on the basis of assuming responsibility for parish work in small or remote parishes. where the Church had great need for a community completely dedicated to the task of establishing the People of God in a specific area.

 

CHAPTER 7 - THE FRIARS IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH

 

In this year, 1967, the Greyfriars celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the re-establishment of their ancient Province. It is interesting to contrast the sixty years of twentieth century development with the first sixty years' life of the ancient Province, founded in 1224. A comparison naturally very hard to make, since the passage of centuries has wrought such changes in the economic, social and religious habits of the people living in these islands. Perhaps the most different factor to be borne in mind between the thirteenth and twentieth century, when making such a comparison, is the essentially diverse religious atmospheres of the two periods. The thirteenth century was the century of faith, the church was undisputed mistress of men's hearts; the sole acknowledged way to eternal happiness with God. In modern times, the Catholic Church in England has been battling to re-establish herself after the wreck wrought by the Reformation.

 

Such a re-establishment has been achieved, no longer In the face of opposition from opposing religious sects, but against the tide of materialism and indifference to God, so characteristic of our modern, industrial civilisation. In the thirteenth century, the Order burst upon the religious scene as a new phenomena. It was an injection of force and enthusiasm Into the veins and arteries of an existing religious creature, giving Impetus to the passage of the spirit throughout its body. In the twentieth century, at first sight, the Friars had little new, little dramatic to offer. In this latter century, they were content to insert themselves humbly and quietly into the existing Church organisation in the country. They assumed the ordinary and general responsibilities for the care of souls in parishes. Their parish activities made them very close in external appearance to the secular clergy.

 

However, there is another side to the Friars' activity in the twentieth century, which must be noted. Although deeply engaged in the Parish Apostolate, throughout sixty years, the Friars have maintained and increased a tradition of preaching, particularly to other religious communities and lay associations. The fraternity existing in the Province, the readiness to assist each other in the emergency calls of the Apostolate, has given to each House and Friar a certain freedom of action not enjoyed by the secular clergy, or by some more stable religious communities. From this freedom has followed a diversity of activities, still very humble In execution but perhaps well in accord with the ideal of St. Francis. Among these, we number particularly the work for vocations, both to the secular clergy and all forms of religious life, the work of promoting devotion to Mary in the Crusade of Mary Immaculate, the work for the poor and alcoholics, which has been developed in London. and similar activities throughout the land.

 

In the post-war years, the English Province has made notable contributions to the Order's activities at large. In the first place, the English Province has contributed for many years, to the assistance of the Order in Italy, either in Rome or in Assisi, by providing personnel to assist In the staffing of the Shrine of St. Francis, where the Saint's body is pre. served in the care of the Order, or in Rome, either assisting at the Sacred Penitentiary, the Confessors In the Basilica of St. Peter, or in the General Curia of the Order. Of wider importance, however, has been the effort of the Province with regard to the foreign missions. in 1949, when there were but twelve native Priests in this country: one was spared, (Father Agnellus). to go to the Order's missions in Zambia, Africa. Despite the urgent demands for Priests and Brothers at home, there are now eight members of the Province engaged in the Order's mission fields in Africa and In Australia. The Province provides facilities for the training of more missionaries from other Provinces of the Order, to help them prepare for going to those Order's missions in countries which have strong cultural ties with Britain.

 

The comparison between old and new, in as far as it can be made, shows a great disparity when one considers numbers of houses and personnel, and the kind of activities and public renown, enjoyed by the Friars of the thirteenth century, and those of modern times. As we have seen by the first sixty years of the first Province's life, more than fifty Friaries had been founded, and the Province undoubtedly consisted of well over a thousand Friars. Many of these had become renowned in the service of the Church and of the country. One has only to think, for example, of John Pecham, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury, one of the most renowned ecclesiastics of the thirteenth century, who was a Friar, and had been a Minister Provincial of the Province, to appreciate the impact made by the Friars on the life of this country at that time. When we think of modern times, how humble and how small may seem the efforts and successes attending the lives of the twentieth century Greyfriars. However, in this context It must be remembered that in the twentieth century, the Franciscan way of life had diversified itself into several families and organisations. Taking account of the needs of the Church in the twentieth century, it can be claimed that the modern Friars have been equally ready in their times to undertake those activities which seemed to be for the best advantage of the Church in England. Of their nature, such activities are humble and hidden from human eyes. We may rest assured that nonetheless, they are blessed by their founder, St. Francis of Assisi.