I look forward to a time (after the euphoria dies down) when Bl John Henry Newman is less popular than he is now. Whatever his personal piety and learning I prefer such English saints who herald from a time of less decadance and decay in the Roman Church as Sts Bede and Ethelwold of Winchester. By ''decadance and decay'' I mean, of course, in terms of Liturgy. How many Low Masses did Bl John Henry Newman celebrate I wonder, to the greater detriment of Liturgy?
Alas for the neglect of so many English saints.
I am sure we can have a both-and here. With the prospect of Anglicans joining the Ordinariate, a re-emphasis on pre-Reformation British saints may be about to happen.
ReplyDeleteOne would hope so. Anglicans of the High Church variety have more to offer the Roman Church than the Lefebvrists. Also there was a ''euphoria'' among the English people when St Thomas of Canterbury was martyred - lots of people flocking to his shrine etc, and then came Henry II himself to be flogged by the monks.
ReplyDeleteHenry II being flogged by monks? No-one could accuse pre-Reformation Catholicism of being dull and colourless.
ReplyDeleteHow did I end up being born in the age of tie-dye pebble worship? :-)
By ''decadance and decay'' I mean, of course, in terms of Liturgy.
ReplyDeleteBut this is the only thing you seem to talk about? Rather sad...
It is a myth that Catholicism upon the eve of the Reformation was unpopular and dying out. Alas for the churches though...
ReplyDelete