Does anyone know about Roman catholic Chaplains please?

[jbenjami]

You really are a fantastically knowledgeable lot. Thank you so much. I have lots more leads to follow now. I have the Snape book and his Clergy under Fire but will definitely have a look at the other recommendations after Christmas too. The tablet is archived online but nothing so far for 6th DLI. I will keep looking and following up on all the leads you have so generously shared with me. in the meantime, I wish you all a very happy Christmas and send sincere thanks to one and all once again.

Jane

[robertb]

Jane,

Another title you may be interested in is "A Seminary Goes to War.  St Mary's College Oscott and The First World War." by Judith Champ (2015) ISBN - 9780993399107. A potted history of the seminary in Birmingham with a number of biographies of the 'old boys' who fought in WW1..

Rob

[edwin astill]

Monks in the Military - Benedictine Chaplains in the British Armed Forces during the Twentieth Century.  James Hegerty & Steven Parsons,   Downside Abbey Press 2017.     This has found its way into my Christmas stocking.  Not yet read it, but covers a little known area of WW1 interest.

 

Edwin

[jbenjami]

Apologies for the delay in replying to thank you for these titles. I didn't realize replies were still coming through - what fascinating titles. I will definitely put in some interlibrary loan requests. Sincere thanks all.

Best regards

Jane 

[keithmroberts]

Jane, when starting a thread like this it can be a good idea to "follow" the thread, which ensures that you are notified of later posts.

 

Keith

[Sarah Reay]

Hello Jane,

 

I've just been reading this whole thread - all very interesting. Just thought I would add a further little note regarding two points. My grandfather, Rev. Herbert Butler COWL M.C. was a Wesleyan Army Chaplain who was attached to the 12th & 13th DLI (68th Brigade) in 1915. The Catholic Army Chaplain in the brigade wrote home to his parishioners in Oldham:

 

The spirit of self-sacrifice and a readiness to oblige seems to prevail in the army more than civilian life. A young Wesleyan Chaplain [Herbert] to save me a journey, undertook to see that the necessary arrangements for mass to be said to some Catholic troops, who were temporarily without a Chaplain, at a place which I could not reach myself in time to make the arrangements. Everything falls subservient to the spiritual and temporal welfare of our men.

 

To give you further detail about another aspect of one of your earlier queries, please find the following passage from one of my grandfather's letters to his parents in 1915. I hope you find it of interest. David Blake is the oracle in terms of all things relating to the chaplains of the Great War.

 

Best wishes, Sarah (author of 'The Half-Shilling Curate')

 

 

Amongst all the other duties, those were great days for preaching, if one felt there was a word relevant to these living, struggling, dying men. For my last few Sundays, services began at 9.00 am on Sunday, in the front line, and continued right through the support lines till they reached the Divisional Base, seven or eight miles behind. They were 10 in number. But the best of all was the last, in a school in the little town of Steenwerck. It held no more than 2 to 300: but the service built up till it was packed close and the big windows were few and men crowded in to them in the dark outside.  One night the Colonel of my unit and all the officers available, were sitting there. One night as he left, I thanked him for his interest and support. When all the men had left, I found him waiting in the shadows. “You were wrong to thank me. The fact is that I could not carry on without this service”.

[Guest]

Hello, I came across your ‘thread’ by accident but had to tell you that I knew Fr. Wilfred Pickering from childhood until I was 18 yrs old.  I lived in South Moor when Fr Wilfred  was PP at St Mary’s RC church Southmoor.  He was a lovely man, with a great love of music & liturgy.  He used to come into school on a regular basis, teach us the music (in Latin) for Holy Week& Easter.  He lived very frugally & simply & was good to parishioners in need.  He was killed during Lent, if I remember correctly, in 1946 when riding his motorbike back to Southmoor after visiting family in Tudhoe.  We were all heat broken & crowds attended his funeral.  Regards vEileen Malone