Manchester is certainly the City of Football, and whichever colour you support, it is part of what makes up the life of the city.

Towards the back of our church, near St Philip’s statue, there is an image of the Patron Saint of Football - another Oratorian, St Luigi Scrosoppi.

He was a member of the Oratory in the city of Udine in the north east of Italy, and like St Philip he would involve the local lads in light-hearted recreation, music and sport.

When other priests of St Philip’s Oratorian community in Rome complained about the noise from them playing football down the corridors of the house, he would reply, “They can chop wood on my back, as long as they don’t sin! Rejoice in their laughter, that it brings them to God.”

We can imagine St Luigi saying the same sort of thing, because it is through joy, laughter and friendship that God’s life of love is shown to us most clearly. Through these sorts of things St Luigi was able to bring his friends to visit the sick in the hospitals, and spend time with those at the very bottom of society. So, football, friendship, recreation, sport, music, art… all these good things are from God, and can lead us to love Him and love our neighbour even if they are on another team!

As to the fact that the Patron Saint of Football is an Italian… well, we couldn’t possibly comment!

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In the Summer Programme of the Newman Circle we will be examining some important questions regarding human ethics; what it is to be human, how we are to understand ourselves, and how Christian revelation and the teaching of the Church offer a clear way of appreciating this.

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Thursday 21st June - Issues at the Beginning of Life

Thursday 5th July - Issues in Human Sexuality

Thursday 12th July - Issues at the End of Life

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At 7.30pm in the Sacristy - entrance between the church and chaplaincy

These talks and discussions last about 45 minutes, with prayers at Newman’s shrine in the church.

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Everyone is welcome

for further details please contact Fr Christopher

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New Titles:

Devotions and Prayers to St Philip Neri

This collection of prayers and devotions to St Philip were composed by the Bl John Henry Newman. They are brought together in this volume to provide an accessible prayer book to the Saint of gentleness and kindness from one of his saintly sons.

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The Nine Ways of Prayer of St Dominic

Sometimes prayer can seem solely the work of the intellect or solely the work of the heart or will, and the debate about the place of each has gone on through the history of Christianity. St Dominic was in his day an important figure in bringing these parts together with the body, so as to provide a way in which the whole person can be raised to God - the invisible expressed through the visible. This short work by one who knew him includes miniature illustrations to show what is meant by the text, and is of just as much benefit today as it was nearly 800 years ago when it was written.

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Forthcoming Titles:

The Apostolical Life of St Ambrose Barlow

This is an account of the everyday priestly life of St Ambrose Barlow, written by one of his friends, and housed in the John Rylands Library here in Manchester. He was born in Manchester and spent these missionary years in the area, and although a Benedictine monk he is the patron of vocations to the priesthood in the diocese of Salford. This new translation is accompanied by meditations on his life as a priest, which will be of benefit particularly for priests, seminarians, and those considering their call to the priesthood.

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Devotions and Prayers for the Dying

There are many good prayer books for the healing of the sick and for the repose of the dead, but this small volume is designed to be used by those approaching the hour of their death, and for those who have the privilege of assisting them at this time. It brings together meditations and prayers from many sources including St Philip Neri, Bl John Henry Newman and St Alphonsus.

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A Tour of Catholic Manchester

This guidebook provides for a two hour walk or pilgrimage through the centre of the city covering several historical sites related to the history of the Catholic faith. Beginning at Castlefield, it takes in Roman prayers to God and his Mother, Anglo-Saxon healing wells, mediaeval bridge chapels, the religious life of a bustling town, prisons for Reformation confessors and martyrs, Jacobite risings, secret chapels, and the re-emergence of the Catholic community in the ‘Second Spring’. There are notes on how to get from place to place, a map, as well as devotions for the journey.

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All of these volumes are available at the back of the church with the CTS publications.

They can also be obtained from Fr Christopher at the Holy Name.

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Friday 25th May at 5.15pm

Haydn, Jugendmesse (1749)

Novena in Preparation for the Feast

Thursday 17th May at 5.15pm Mass

Friday 18th May at 5.15pm Mass

Saturday 19th May at 8pm Benediction

Sunday 20th May at 11am Solemn Mass

Monday 21st May at 5.15pm Mass

Tuesday 22nd May at 5.15pm Mass

Wednesday 23rd at 5.15pm Mass

Thursday 24th at 5.15pm Mass

It is an old custom with the servants of God always to have some little prayers ready and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the filth of this world. He who adopts this plan will get great fruit with little pains. (St Philip)

Sunday 29th April - 11am Mass

Anerio, Missa della Battaglia

Phillips, Surgens Jesus

Rossi, Tantum Ergo

Credo III

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Sunday 6th May- 11am Mass

Palestrina, Missa aeterna Christi Munera

Victoria, Ave Maria

 Credo I

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Sunday 13th May - 11am Mass

Langlais, Messe Solennelle

Grieg, Ave Maris Stella

Credo III

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Sunday 20th May (Ascension) - 11am Mass

Victoria, Missa ‘O Quam Gloriosum’

Credo I

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Friday 25th May (St Philip’s Mass) - 5.15pm

Haydn, Jugendmesse

Sewell, Pangamus Nerio

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Sunday 27th May (Pentecost) - 11am Mass

Vierne, Messe Solennelle

Credo III

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Sunday 3rd June (Trinity Sunday and Queen’s Jubilee) - 11am Mass

Mozart, Krönungsmesse

Handel, Zadok the Priest

Elgar, Great is the Lord

Credo III

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Sunday 10th June (Corpus Christi) - 11am Mass

Visiting Choir

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Sunday 17th June - 11am Mass

Mass XI (Orbis Factor)

Elgar, Ave Verum

Credo I

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Sunday 24th June - 11am Mass

Terry, Mass in C

Turner, Benedictus

Credo III

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Friday 29th June (Ss Peter and Paul) - 5.15pm Mass

Mozart, Missa Brevis in C

Bossi, Tu Es Petrus

Credo I

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Sunday 1st July - 11am Mass

Lassus, Missa Venatorum

Viadana, Exultate, Justi

Credo III

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Sunday 8th July (Ladies Voices) - 11am Mass

Peeters, Missa in Honorem Reginae Pacis

Credo III

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Sunday 15th July (Gentlemen’s Voices) - 11am Mass

Bottazzo, Missa in Honorem S. Eliae

Credo III

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Sunday 22nd July - 11am Mass

Mozart, Missa Brevis in G

Mozart, Ave Verum

Credo III

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For further details please contact:

The Prefect of Music (Br Richard Bailey) or

The Choir Director (David Young)

1903-1964

…We are very fortunate to have received an image of Blessed Cyprian Tansi. He is the patron of Nigeria, and many people from his native country worship at the Holy Name. We have made a shrine to him in the west part of the church where his fellow countrymen, and anyone else, can ask Bl Cyprian’s prayers for themselves and all those whom they love back at home. Many of those families come from the same region as Bl Cyprian, which was the first to be evangelised. He was born in 1903 in Igboezunu, at the edge of the forest near the ancient city of Aguleri in southern Nigeria. His parents, Tabansi and Ejikwevi, were Igbo farmers who practised the “traditional religion” and gave him the name Iwene at birth.

In 1909 he was sent to the Christian village of Nduka, where he was baptized three years later by Irish missionaries and given the name Michael. His peers described him as studious and very demanding with himself, with a precocious personality and deep piety. At the age of 16 he received his first school leaving certificate, which qualified him for teaching. He taught at Holy Trinity Primary School in Onitsha for three years and served for a year as headmaster at St Joseph School in Aguleri. In 1925, against the wishes of his family, he entered St Paul’s Seminary in Igbariam.

After finishing his philosophical and theological studies, he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Onitsha on 19 December 1937 by the missionary Bishop Charles Heerey. The second indigenous priest of Onitsha and the first in the Aguleri region, he began his pastoral ministry in the parish of Nnewi. In 1939 he was appointed parish priest of Dunukofia (Umudioka region), where he courageously tackled immoral customs and destroyed the harmful myth of the “cursed forest”, which weighed heavily on the peace of consciences and families. To combat premarital cohabitation, he set up marriage preparation centres where girls and young women could be sheltered and receive Christian formation. For the moral education of young people he also established the League of Mary, with remarkable success.

On foot or bicycle, Fr Tansi went from village to village preaching, catechizing and setting up prayer centres that eventually became parishes. He spent hours and hours hearing confessions, even until late at night. His zeal, shining example and life of prayer and penance transformed the people into a true Christian community resulting in so many vocations to the priesthood and religious life that his parish held the diocesan record. The same energy characterized his years as parish priest of Akpu, where he served from 1945 until his transfer to Aguleri in 1949.

On an unspecified date between 1949 and 1950, during a priests’ day of recollection, Bishop Heerey expressed the desire that one of his priests would embrace the monastic life so that he could later establish a contemplative monastery in his Diocese. Fr Tansi immediately said he was willing. Bishop Heerey contacted the Trappist Abbey of Mount St Bernard in Leicestershire, England, which was willing to receive him for a trial period as an oblate. In the summer of 1950 he led his parishioners on a pilgrimage to Rome for the Holy Year and left from there for Mount St Bernard. After two and a half years as an oblate, he was admitted to the novitiate on the vigil of the Immaculate Conception, taking the name Cyprian. One year later he took his simple vows and was solemnly professed on 8 December 1956. For the next seven years he lived a hidden life of prayer and work, humility and obedience, in faithful and generous observance of the Cistercian rule.

In 1963, after 13 years of valuable experience as a Trappist, the time now seemed ripe for establishing a monastery in Nigeria. However, political tensions led his superiors to choose neighbouring Cameroon for the foundation instead. This was a hard blow for Fr Cyprian, who had been appointed novice master for the African monastery. It was the only time in 13 years of monastic life that he ever lost his temper, but he quickly regained control and accepted God’s will with supernatural heroism. In January 1964 he began experiencing intense pain in one of his legs. Diagnosed as having thrombosis, the following morning he was found unconscious and was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Leicester, where examination revealed an aortic aneurysm. He died the following morning, 20 January 1964.

He was buried at Mount St Bernard on 22 January. Present for the funeral liturgy were several Nigerian priests living in London, including his spiritual son, Fr Francis Arinze, the future Archbishop of Onitsha, Cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. His body was exhumed in 1988 and reburied in the priests’ cemetery near the cathedral of Onitsha, where he had been ordained a priest 51 years earlier. After the beatification ceremonies, his remains were taken to the parish church of his native village, Aguieri.

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Here is an extract from a retreat conference he gave in 1962:

“We do very little good when we embark on our own. We do much good when we allow God to direct us and direct our enterprises. The apostles, you remember, went out fishing, laboured the whole night and got nothing. They were on their own, the Lord came and told them to cast the net and they would find. They did so and were not able to draw up the net, so great was the number of fish caught.

When they worked by themselves, they took nothing. When they worked in the company of our Lord, they were full. So with us. We must learn to avoid worrying ourselves about things, learn to do away with anxieties of all sorts.

When you have something to do, an assignment to perform, remembering that we are not doing our work, but God’s work, we must first go to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, place our plans before Him and ask for his advice and assistance. We must examine before him how he would like us to produce, whether he would like us to do one thing or the other. If any doubt, consult your spiritual director for advice. You should never undertake to do anything unless you are sure that God wants it done in the way you are planning. Above all things you should never do your own will: you should do only what the superiors want to be done. You should never force the superiors to yield to your will by any stratagem.

And while doing whatever you have to do, you should do it at a pace and speed that will allow you time continually to turn to God for guidance. Your conversation with God should be continual. Remember that you cannot achieve this spiritual disposition in a day. You need time, practice and patience. All that I request you now is to examine and to see whether what you are told is the truth. If it is, then make a resolution to continue to make effort in this direction without minding whether you succeed or fail.”

ordination to the priesthood

this weekend.

Here are some pictures from the ordination at Clifton Cathedral on the Wednesday of the Easter Octave (14th April 1982). The ordaining bishop is Dr Mervyn Alexander, Bishop of Clifton.

The Litany of the Saints

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The Imposition of Hands

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Vesting with the Chasuble by Mgr Crispian Hollis (now Bishop of Portsmouth)

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The new Fr Ray at the party

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Let us Pray:

O Jesus, our great High Priest, hear our humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Fr Ray Matus. Give him a deep faith, a bright and firm hope, and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of his priestly life.

In his loneliness, comfort him. In his sorrows, strengthen him. In his frustrations, point out to him that it is through suffering that the soul is purified, and show him that he is needed by the Church, needed by souls, needs for the work of redemption.

O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests, take to your heart this your son who is close to you because of his priestly ordination, and because of the power which he has received to carry on the work of Christ, in a world which needs him so much.

Be his comfort, be his joy, be his strength, and especially help him to live a holy and chaste life for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls. Amen.

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St Philip, Choicests of Priests: Pray for him

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This week Br Richard is leading a pilgrimage to the seven great basilicas of Rome, following in the footsteps of St Philip.

At each stage there will be beautiful music, a short uplifting sermon, time for devotions, and then on the road again.

Please pray for our pilgrims as they make their way on this holy route; for an enriching time and a safe return, as they will be praying for us.

As they come to light, old pictures of the church and area will be put up here. If you have any old pictures of Holy Name buildings, worshippers and parishioners, priests and religious, the liturgy and services, guilds, clubs, societies and schools (or anything else!), then please let Fr Christopher know so we can put them up here and make copies for our archive.

The New Tower

For nearly 60 years the Holy Name had no tower, although one had been incorporated into the original design by Hansom (although if it had been built it would have been 73 feet, a third higher than the present tower, so we should be a little cautious of the seriousness of his intentions here).

This tower was opened and blessed by the bishop of Salford in 1928; the brave party standing on the little balcony for the ritual blessings just below the crucifix facing Oxford Road.

This new tower was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and the red telephone box (the tower design can be seen in both of these). On the top of the tower were two great flag poles, but these were removed sometime later as the high winds in the north west caused massive pressure on the fixings of the flagpoles.

Here you can see the newly fininshed tower, with flag poles, standing proudly above Oxford Road. The church would have dominated all the surrounding area, as it continues to do to some degree. Its bells were heard for miles, and at night the tower was illuminated by floodlights in the balconies on the west front.

The Interior

Each generation has added to the interior decoration of the church. Hhere we have a rare picture of how it looked in 1889, within 20 years of its opening, and just 3 years of the consecration of the high altar.

Notice in particular the stained (or perhaps painted) glass window above the high altar showing scenes around the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immacualte Heart of Mary, and the great expanse of clear glass. This original stained glass was removed when the present windows were put in, and placed on the south side of the sanctuary, over the present sedilia. There is a scheme in our archives for all the windows in the church to be coloured, showing representation of the Jesuit saints, which would have made the church very dark and were thankfully never executed.

Also notice the old wooden pulpit that was replaced by the present alabaster pulpit, which was later decorated with representations of five of the English martyrs.

Again notice the light fittings - gas flares coming from the nave pillars. The places where they were fixed can still be seen, and one or two of the original survive out of sight in the ambulatory behind the high altar.

You can just make out the open arches between the ambulatory and the side chapels, where the servers’ benches are. These were blocked in about 30 years ago to give extra support to the weight bearing columns. This wide open sanctuary and chapels would have had quite a different feel what what we have today, although the drafts must have been terrible causing and uncapped wax candles to gutter tremendously.

You will notice that each pew has a small white badge on the nave side, which displayed the pew’s number. The seating in the pews was rented anually, and small ivory name plates were used to allocate each seat, one of which is visible in this picture. Some are still there displaying the names of the last person to pay pew-rent. These were common in the days before a collection was taken up during the Mass, and the most regular source of income for such a large church with a large clerical staff.

This next picture is from 1918, and shows the new windows depicting the coronation of our Lady surrounded by the orders of angels holding various emblems from the ‘Litany of Loreto’ (the next set of friends and family came later). In this view we can also make out the arrangement of the sanctaury lighting - the brass hoops with candles suspended between the arches. Either side of the sanctuary in the opening to the ambulatory are two statues on plinths. These are the twin statues of Ss Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, which now stand in the north west corner and north transept respectively. The ‘Holy Name Magazine’ tells the tale of the arrival of the marble blocks from Italy, much delayed by bad whether, and their transporation to Manchester by barge. They were carved here by Mr Alberti, who carved most of the statues in the church, in 1908 (I’ll check the date). Above these two statues are more stained glass windows; two smaller images of the same two saints in similar poses.

Comparing the two pictures, just 20 years apart, you can see what the air pollution of Manchester had already done to the stonework.

Arts and Crafts Movement

The Holy Name is of a typical counter-Reformation style, with short sanctuary, large pulpit in the congregation, confessionals, etc, although it is dressed as a 14th century gothic building. Other styles have been introduced throughout the years, one being that of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the first half of the 20th century. The great window in the south transept, the Memorial Window for parishioners who died in the First World War, is by Paul Woodroffe. He worked on 15 stained galss windows for the Lady Cahpel of of St Patrick’s cathedral, New York, and several other churches (including St Catherine’s, Chipping Camden where Fr Ray was Parish Priest), and was commissioned to design our beautiful window after the Great War. Here is an example of the design from the bottom left hand quarter:

Although never executed, there is a design for a crucifix by Eric Gill. It was to have the names of all those men who died in the Great War inscribed on the sides of the shaft of the cross below the words, “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, Esto Mihi Jesus” (Jesus, Jesus , Jesus, be Unto Me a Saviour), the Holy Name being refrain of the Jesus Psalter, and this phrase uttered by many of the martyrs on their way to death.

There is no reference in the church archive for the proposed location of the image (at least none has come to light at the moment), but there is this sketch which exists in Gill’s papers.

Obedience

Obedience is the only law imposed by God for the universal ordering of all things and for their conservation (Istruzione per Esercizi, p.85). The cosmos obeys the divine order. Man, to give greater glory to God, is called to obey in total freedom.

There is no greater expression of freedom than following God’s plan, since humans are given the freedom to personally chose their own greater good (”The truth will make you free”). And obedience frees us from the slavery of human weakness, which is subject to error.

The Congregation of St Philip can also be considered to be part of the whole Creation, where all the various components work in harmony together; working well when everything is in its place, in ‘obedience’ to the whole.

Blessed Sebastian Valfrè said, “Obedience is the map for navigating towards the shores of perfection and towards the safe port of blessed eternity” (Istruzione per Esercizi Spirituali, p.97).

Fr Consolini said, “One who is not obedient will never be holy” (Pregi della Congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri, p.249).

Obedience is born from the virtue of humility, which recognises one’s own limits, of poverty and of the need for help. At times obedience is difficult, because it requires the renunciation of one’s own desires and egoism.

St Philip said that obedience is, “the true holocaust which is sacrificed to God on the altar of our hearts; it is a shortened route to arrive quickly at perfection; whoever lives an ordinary life in obedience is more praiseworthy than another who does penance at his own choosing; whoever flees one tribulation will only find another; whoever flees frost will have snow fall on him, and whoever flees from the bear will meet the lion.”

Obedience conforms us to Christ who was obedient even unto death. “He desires in his spiritual sons a willing obedience, and often said that it was not enough just to do what obedience commanded, but also that it was necessary to be obedient without complaint, and to believe with certitude that what obedience required would be the best thing, the most perfect that can be found, even when it seems that the opposite should be true. He often said to his spiritual sons, and in particular to those of the house who were eager to be obedient that they should leave aside every other thing to attend to community matters, even if it were prayer itself or something else that seemed important.”

Every state of life, every social arrangement requires obedience; obedience to laws, to regulations, etc.

Even the proverbial ‘Philippine freedom’  requires obedience. Fr Tarugi (d.1611) said time and again, “In the Congregation, even though the members are not bound with a vow of obedience, they are obligated to live freely in obedience” Breve notizia d’alcuni compagni di San Filippo Neri, p.25ff).

The Constitutions of the Oratoryexhorts members not to bind themselves to external works that would cause them to be absent from communal life; and in accepting external works one is invited to obedience (nn.100-101).

Obedience is the best preparation for the assumption of positions of responsibility. There is a saying that in order to know how to command, one must first have learned how to obey.