... son of a Congregationalist minister; he found the Catholic Faith and was ordained as an Anglican papalist priest. In 1955 he wrote a fine book on the Canon of the Mass, arguing that, since it was so primitive, and preceded the Reformation controversies by so many centuries, it was something all Christians could agree upon as the expression of their common faith. In The Great Prayer: concerning the Canon of the Mass he makes this case, and in doing so also manages to write a very lovely devotional book. It convinced a number of clergy - notably, Fr Hope Patten, Restorer of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham - that this was the right Eucharistic Prayer to put one's money on.
If you are fortunate enough to find it in a second hand bookshop ...
Well I have found it second hand, and I read it sometimes before Mass. It's got the correct measure of scholarliness and piety to make a suitable devotional guide to the Canon of the Mass. Also, a much more comforting read than his autobiography, The Walled Garden, in which he heaps vitriol on many of London's Anglican clergy.
ReplyDeleteThere are several copies available at abebooks.com
ReplyDelete...and became a Catholic (Roman) and one of the founder members of the Latin Mass Society. You stopped the story part-way.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue. I hadn't liked to boast too much about the immense amount of good we Anglican Catholics do!
ReplyDeleteI first came across him in the context of the St Pius X society—they were very proud of their convert.
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