Pilgrimage Retreat

DAY TWO

Feast of SS Peter and Paul. Daily mass at the Parish Church of St Francis just across the road. Today my 39^th anniversary of priesting at Ripon by Bishop John Moorman. Children from local schoo join us at mass where the parish persists in ministry despite having to walk with a couple of sticks following hip operations that went wrong. He celebrates sitting on a stool behind the altar and administers communion sat on the communion rail.

Following coffee Jenny takes me on a tour of the convent heritage trail encapsulating the story of the order, the convent, and the foundress. Cardinal Newman was one time chaplain to the sisters and frequently celebrated mass for them.

Special lunch for the feast day but also for special visitors from other convents here for important Trustees meeting. Zion is one of the local exiles from Eritraea and she brings delicious special homemade bread and chocolate eggs.

During the afternoon I visit the two Birmingham Cathedrals. St Chad’s the RC Cathedral is also by Pugin and St Chad’s relics are in the Shrine Altar. Newman preached at the installation of the first bishop. The Anglican Cathedral, St Philip’s, has a life size statue in front of it of Charles Gore, first bishop and founder member of the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield.

Each evening after supper my time is my own for devotional reading, prayer, writing, etc.

Pilgrimage Retreat

BIRMINGHAM

28^th June - 2^nd July 2010

DIARY

DAY ONE

I travel on the daily National Express coach from Scarborough via Filey, Bridlington, Hull, Doncaster, Nottingham – 6 hours including half hour break at Woodhall Services.

Local Birmingham bus service 16 to Handsworth to St Mary’s Convent (Mercy Sisters).

I have my own private flat in the convent with direct access to garden. Breakfast alone, lunch and supper with the 4 Sisters – Helen, Mary, Kathleen and Joan, plus Zion the Secretary, and Jenny the Archivist.

The community was founded by Catherine McAuley who died at Baggott Street, Dublin on 11^th November 1841. On her death bed she was concerned about the long distances some sisters had travelled to be with her and said “Be sure you have a good cup of tea for them when I am gone”. Hence napkins at the convent are decorated with teapots and tea cups. Catherine is being promoted for sainthood and may already be regarded as ‘Venerable’.

The convent architect was Pugin.

Cup of tea at 4.00 p.m. Evening Prayers 5.30 p.m. Supper 6.00 p.m.

Sisters of Mercy

Quiet Day today with Sisters of Mercy at Filey. Ten houses in diocese and hope to introduce coptic monks to them. Possible visit to Birmingham house at Petertide for pilgrimage to Cardinal Newman locations there and ordination anniversary retreat.

The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy (RSM) is an order of Catholic women founded byCatherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland in 1831. As of 2003, the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations.

Sisters take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the evangelical counsels commonly vowed in religious life, and, in addition, vows of service. They continue to participate in the life of the surrounding community. In keeping with their mission of serving the poor and needy, many sisters engage in teaching, medical care, and community programs. The organization is active in lobbying and politics as well. Sisters of Mercy are an international community of Roman Catholic women religious vowed to serve people who suffer from poverty, sickness and lack of education with a special concern for women and children.

The order began when McAuley used an inherited fortune to build a "House of Mercy" in Dublin that provided educational, religious, and social services for poor women and children. The House aroused local opposition, however, it being traditional for nuns rather than lay women to engage in this sort of activity. Eventually the church hierarchy agreed to the formation of a non-cloistered order, and the sisters became known informally as the "walking nuns" for their ability to care for the poor outside a convent. The house still stands today, as the Mercy International Centre.

In the year of 1992, the leaders of the various congregations created the Mercy International Association to foster collaboration and cooperation. The purpose of the Association is to provide support and foster collaboration, organisation and inspiration for the ministries of Sisters of Mercy and their associates.

To be a pilgrim

John Bunyan (28 November 1628 – 31 August 1688) was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. In the Church of England, he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August.

The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan, is one of the best selling books of all time. He was a religious leader whose influence has been felt throughout the whole world, and who has given hope to thousands.

Bunyan Meeting was founded in 1650 during the time of the commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. The Bunyan Meeting house today includes a unique museum presenting the life, times and works of John Bunyan in an accessible and relevant manner.

CHILDHOOD

In 1628 John Bunyan was born in the parish of Elstow, approximately two kilometres to the south of Bedford, where he was baptised on 30 November 1628. He was the son of a tinker. Although the family was poor, they owned a cottage nearby, in the hamlet of Harrowden. Bunyan described his childhood as normal and happy, and he learned to read and write a little. As a child he travelled the district helping his father and learning the trade.

CIVIL WAR 1642-45

In 1644, when Bunyan was 16, his mother died and his father remarried within a year. In November 1644 Bunyan was mustered (conscripted) in a county levy of the Parliamentary army. He seems to have spent most of his military service in garrison duty at Newport Pagnell. He later spoke of a narrow escape: "When I was a soldier, I, with others, was drawn out to go to such a place to besiege it; but when I was just ready to go, one of the company desired to go in my place; and coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel, he was shot in the head with a musket bullet, and died."

FIRST MARRIAGE AND SPIRITUAL CRISIS

Returning to Elstow in 1647 Bunyan resumed his work as a tinker, and the Museum has his anvil and metal violin from this period. Two years later he married a local girl who bore him four children, the first of whom, called Mary, was born blind. The arrival of Mary in 1650 made Bunyan reflect seriously on his life for the first time. He questioned the value of his favourite pastimes such as bell-ringing in Elstow Church, dancing and playing tip-cat, an early form of rounders. In Grace Abounding published in 1666, Bunyan describes this period of spiritual crisis admitting that, "Even as a child I had few equals in cursing, swearing, lying and blaspheming the Holy name of God".

JOINS INDEPENDENT CHURCH IN BEDFORD

The Civil War was over but it had made its mark throughout the country. Some people wanted a simpler form of worship and Independent congregations (from the Church of England) began to emerge. John Bunyan found one such congregation in 1653 at St John's Church, south of the river, where he became friends with their pastor John Gifford.

STARTS PREACHING

By 1655 Bunyan and his family were living in St Cuthbert's Street in Bedford and it was at this time that Bunyan discovered he was a gifted preacher, and by 1659 he was recognised beyond the county border as a preacher. In 1656 he became involved in disputes with local Quakers under Edward Burrough and these led to his first book, Some Gospel Truths Opened.

SECOND MARRIAGE

In 1658 his first wife died and the following year he married his second wife, Elizabeth, with whom he had two children. In this year he also published his most ambitious theological work, The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded.

ARRESTED FOR PREACHING

In 1660 Cromwell's Protectorate came to an end and the monarchy was restored. In the belief that national unity could only be achieved by religious uniformity, the state attempted to restrain the developing Independent congregations by forbidding preaching. Bunyan was arrested in the hamlet of Samsell just after he had begun a meeting. He was held at nearby Harlington Manor overnight and appeared before the local justices there when he was sentenced to three months in prison.

PRISON

Since Bunyan refused to give an assurance not to preach he remained in the County Gaol for 12 years from 1661 to 1672. The County Gaol was demolished in 1801, but one of its prison doors was saved and is on display within the Museum. In vain, his wife Elizabeth tried to get his case reopened by pleading with Sir Matthew Hale, the Lord Chief Justice of England, when he stayed in Bedford. Bunyan was allowed several privileges as a prisoner, since he was not a common criminal. The prison was only five minutes from his home so food was brought into his cell, often by his blind daughter Mary, and a stoneware jug believed to have been used for this purpose can be seen in the Museum. He also received daily visits from friends and had occasional excursions from prison, keeping him in close contact with members of the congregation. He is reputed to have made a wooden flute out of a stool leg in his prison cell: this is on display at the Museum. During imprisonment he supported his family by making "long tagged bootlaces" which they could sell.

WRITING THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

This period in prison was used for writing. In 1663 came Christian Behaviour followed in 1665 by The Holy City and in 1666 by Grace Abounding, his spiritual autobiography. It is thought that the impetus for the latter might have been the knowledge of the 40 people who died of the plague on the north side of the river where John Bunyan was imprisoned. This is mentioned in St Paul's Parish Register. It was during the years 1667-72 that Bunyan probably wrote much of the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress.

PASTOR OF BEDFORD CHURCH

In 1672 King Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence and Bunyan, like other church offenders, was released from prison. He was immediately appointed pastor of the Independent congregation in Bedford, which later bought a barn and orchard in Mill Street as their place of meeting. In 1673 the King was forced to withdraw his Declaration, and early in 1677 Bunyan returned to prison.

"BISHOP BUNYAN"

Apart from this second (and some people think there was a third) brief spell in prison Bunyan spent his time from 1672 onwards preaching, directing the affairs of the Church and visiting outlying congregations and sister churches in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Surrey and in London. It is now that he earned the nickname "Bishop Bunyan".

MORE BOOKS

On 18 February 1678 Bunyan published the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress. During the last ten years of his life he wrote a further 40 books including The Life and Death of Mr Badman (1680), The Holy War (1682) and The Pilgrim's Progress - Second Part (1685).

BUNYAN'S WILL

In 1685 Bunyan made a deed of gift of his property to his wife, probably to avoid confiscation during the period of renewed persecution. This will was found during the later demolition of the Bunyan's Bedford home and is displayed in the Museum.

DEATH

On 31 August 1688 John Bunyan died in London. He had been on a mission of mercy to Reading, to effect reconciliation between a young neighbour of his and the father with whom he had quarrelled. The mission successfully accomplished, Bunyan continued his journey on horseback to London. On the way he was overtaken by a great storm of wind and rain, and he arrived at the house of his friend, John Strudwick on Snow Hill, drenched to the skin and feeling unwell. In spite of his evident weakness and sickness, he insisted on fulfilling an engagement to preach on the following Sunday, at the Meeting House of one John Gammons in Petticoat Lane. He then returned to John Strudwick's house, where he grew weaker, and a few days later died. Bunyan was buried in the Strudwick family vault in the burial ground of Bunhill Fields, City Road, London. Bunhill Fields is noted as the resting place of many prominent Dissenters.

Pilgrim Badge of St Andrew

In a dream the monk Regulus was told by an angel to take the remains of St Andrew to "the ends of the earth" for their safe keeping. He and his precious cargo were shipwrecked off the east coast of Scotland, and Regulus is said to have come ashore at the place which later became St Andrews.

Our granddaughter is a second year student at the university there and we went up to explore the place in the summer. We were very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed our visit - lovely location, historic town, good shops and walks and culture, interesting churches.

We came away with a couple of small mementos - a photo in front of a stone sculpture of St Andrew on his cross copied from the Vatican which stands at the entrance to the Botanical gardens and a picture of a pilgrim badge of St Andrew now positioned in the living room where we see it every day.

Thousands of pilgrims from all over Europe flocked to St Andrews in medieval times. They sought merit, absolution of crimes, cures and even miracles by making a pilgrimage to the holy shrine where the bones of St Andrew were preserved in a reliquary. The pilgrims wore special badges showing the crucifixion of St Andrew on a X shaped cross, both on their way to St Andrews and on their return journey. This was to gain the protection of the saint as they travelled and as a proof of their pilgrimage. The badges had four stitching holes so that they could be sewn to hats or clothing. They were cheap to make and buy, being cast in an alloy of tin and lead. One found at North Berwick is on display in the Museum of Scotland. Others have been found in digs, and by metal detectors at important river crossings and landing places where they may have been thrown over board as a thank offering for a safe journey home. One in the British Museum predates the Reformation. Recently seven came together for an exhibition at St Andrews itself. There are similar badges associated with other places of pilgrimage.