A jolly good thread on my earlier piece! Apparently it was the Worlock who flogged off the Library, so as to get the cash for the very expensive removal of the 'ornate' baldacchino in his Cathedral.
'Theodericus' Worlock was bishop of Portsmouth from 1965 until 1976.
CAPD
Several decades ago I acquired a copy of Wharton's Anglia Sacra cast of from an Archbishop Corrigan Memorial Library in the United States during the 1960s cultural revolution. They had rebound it at some stage in ugly utilitarian modern binding, so I got it cheap. I must do something about taking it to a bookbinder: thank you for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteThere are no doubt many other discards from diocesan, seminary and other libraries sitting in second-hand bookshops around the world.
Worlock was the embodiment of the culture summed up in the Oxford Declaration on the Liturgy as bureaucratic, philistine and secularist.
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ReplyDeleteIn Liverpool +Derek used to say that he disposed of books which he hadn't referred to for two years. Maybe he applied the same criterion to the Portsmouth library. The bookcase in his office/interview room at 87 Green lane, Mossley Hill contained mostly books on politics and social affairs, if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteI'm almost disappointed to find that it's Worlock, not Warlock. Theodericus Warlock sounds like someone from a Gothic novel.
ReplyDelete+Derek Warlock was appointed Bishop of Portsmouth and later Archbishop of Liverpool by Pope Paul VI, not Pope John Paul II. The latter appointment was 1976.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Suname DataBase :
ReplyDeleteRecorded in the spellings of Warlock, Werlock, Werlick, and Worlock, this very unusual surname is English and with pre medieval origins. It derives from the the 7th Century word "waerlogga", translating as traitor or devil, from the elements "waer" meaning "a covenant" plus "loga" - a lie or falsehood. It is claimed that the name was originally given as a nickname personal name to a traitor or agreement-breaker! However the later medieval surname has a less ominous meaning being a "pageant name". This was given to an actor who played the part of a sorcerer or "The Devil" in the travelling theatre of the period, or who was a magician or conjuror.
That's one of the most Sixties things I've ever heard. "Let's see, where can we get the money to destroy stuff donated largely by poor Catholics and built by our hardworking predecessors who were fighting bigotry?
ReplyDelete"I know! We'll sell off the library that was donated largely by super-devout Catholics and built to help our hardworking predecessors use apologetics against bigotry and to nourish their own faith!
"No, of course nobody will need the library later. And of course tearing stuff down won't discourage donations or the faithful. All the bishops who come after me will have exactly the same priorities as me!"