Last Monday, the Holy Father venerated a relic of St Ralph Sherwin, the first of the 44 martyrs of the Venerable English College in Rome. The occasion was the 650th anniversary of the founding of the hospice for English pilgrims in Rome (the oldest English institution outside of England) which became in 1579 a College for training students to return as priests to the English mission at the risk of their lives. Here are two quotations from the the address of the Holy Father:
Potius hodie quam cras, as Saint Ralph Sherwin said when asked to take the missionary oath, “rather today than tomorrow”. These words aptly convey his burning desire to keep the flame of faith alive in England, at whatever personal cost. Those who have truly encountered Christ are unable to keep silent about him. As Saint Peter himself said to the elders and scribes of Jerusalem, “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). [...]The whole occasion looks to have been a very joyful encounter between the future priests and the Bishop of Rome. I was delighted to see that the students all dressed properly in their cassocks for the occasion. Here they are singing for the Pope:
Your forebears faced a real possibility of martyrdom, and it is right and just that you venerate the glorious memory of those forty-four alumni of your College who shed their blood for Christ. You are called to imitate their love for the Lord and their zeal to make him known, potius hodie quam cras. The consequences, the fruits, you may confidently entrust into God’s hands.
The photos are from Osservatore's Servizio Fotografico. The photo pages are served by Flash so don't have separate URLS. To find the pages of photos from the audience, click as follows:
- Galleria Fotografica
- Benedetto XVI
- Eventi 2012
- Dicembre 2012
- Venerabile Collegio Inglese
9 comments:
Is this genuine or another PR exercise, as when the Pope visited Oscott College. The students were 'allowed' to wear cassocks for the Pope's visit but normally they are strictly forbidden.
That looks like a certain English Monsignor conducting. It's about time we had him back.
Kevin - I couldn't possibly comment.
The Bishop of Lancaster's blog has some good pictures of the College that are not on the flikr set and a short video of the Pope speaking.
Sadly nothing of the certain Monsignor who ensures, I am confident, a very high standard of music. The students will take some of that home with them.
Thank you Father for the posting and directions to the pictures.
Hello father, sorry to be spamming this post but please notice that the Tablet survey has been restarted and the questions have to be answered again.
God bless
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/page/survey
Judging by the ill-fitting garb worn by some of these gentlemen, I don't think the cassocks were on the college account at an ecclesiastical tailor!
His Holiness is no fool.
I look forward to the day when wearing the cassock ceases to be a 'formation issue' at our seminaries, as it seems to have been for the last 35 years or so.
As the Prime Minister appears to be fond of saying, it is time to get with the programme.
I met 3 or 4 of the Ven. students at Palazzola in the spring and I thought they were an impressive and level headed lot.
In the top picture the priest on the left hand side behind the Holy Father must be the twin brother of Colin Mason from Family Publications. He looks just like him.
Kevin
it's a PR exercise. The Beda bans the cassock because the students are too mature and sophisticated for that. Beda students weren't allowed to wear one at Oscott either.
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