First Saturday Mass Bedford
On Sat 4 Nov, after 10am Confessions, 11am Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with homily by Fr de Malleray, FSSP; at Christ the King Church, Harrowden Road, Bedford.
Chesham Bois
Bedford & Chesham Bois FSSP Chaplaincy
On Thursday 26 Oct. 2023
Dear friends,
Greetings in Christ the King, whose feast we will celebrate this Sunday.
By now you may have heard that Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP was appointed full-time chaplain of the FSSP Gregorian Chaplaincy established several years ago in the Northampton Diocese, serving Bedford and Chesham Bois, starting on Sunday 29 October 2023. We thank Bishop David Oakley of Northampton and Fr Richard Aladics, P.P. for their continued support to our ongoing ministry in the Northampton Diocese.
Fr de Malleray takes over from Fr Phipps, FSSP and the other FSSP priests based in Reading. He is currently moving into a property in Bedford. You may recall that he offered Mass regularly in these two locations, as early as 2008, in 2015, and in Bedford in 2021, then travelling from Warrington. He is eager to meet again with you from this Sunday onward.
A MailChimp list will soon be advertised to share information.
Mrs Rita Carroll accepted to be the Secretary of the FSSP Gregorian Chaplaincy. She can be contacted at bedford@fssp.org.
Fr de Malleray can be contacted at his usual address: malleray@fssp.org.
Please note that this webpage (fssp.org.uk/bedford) is the official page of this apostolate.
SUPPORT: Please shift your standing order from the Reading account to the new Bedford & Chesham Bois Lloyd bank account:
- Sort Code: 30-80-27
- Account number: 44025960
Forthcoming events:
On Friday 27 October at 7pm, at Christ the King Church in Bedford, Fr de Malleray will attend the induction ceremony of Fr Richard Aladics as the new Parish Priest. All are welcome to attend.
Saturday 28 Oct3pm-5pm: Confessions at Christ the King Church, Bedford
Sunday 29 Oct, 8:30am: Holy Mass at Christ the King Church, Bedford (patronal feast of the parish according to the 1962 calendar). Please note: the 12:30pm Sunday Mass no longer takes place, as Fr de Malleray must travel to Chesham Bois instead.
Sunday 29 Oct, 12noon: Holy Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church in Chesham Bois. Please note: the 8:00am Sunday Mass no longer takes place. It is from now on postponed to 12noon, so as to allow time for Fr de Malleray to travel from Bedford.
Wednesday 1 Nov, 11:00am in Chesham Bois: All Saints (a holy day of obligation)
Wednesday 1 Nov, 7:30pm in Bedford: All Saints (a holy day of obligation)
Thursday 2 Nov, 11:15am in Bedford: All Souls: three consecutive Low Masses of Requiem (ending by 12:30pm)
To be confirmed: First Saturday Confessions and Holy Mass in Bedford on Sat 4 Nov, morning.
Let us pray for the spiritual fruit of this apostolate.
Dowry Autumn No59 now online
Click here to open the 20-page magazine or on the picture below.
In this issue:
Editorial: The Youth of Roman Traditions
Fr de Malleray reports on World Youth Day in Portugal last August with the Juventutem youth movement. A low-key presence but loaded with many graces, not least the protection of Our Lady of Fatima.
Juventutem Summer Weekend at Ampleforth
Tom Clovis, FSSP describes the successful annual Summer Weekend organised by Juventutem for 70 young adults in Ampleforth Abbey last July, boding well of next summer’s edition for the 20th anniversary of Juventutem.
Good News: Truth Can Be Known
A typed version of the talk by Conan McGonagle, FSSP on objective truth and how we can grasp it. Relativism influences us all. With St Thomas Aquinas, common sense is the best guide to use God’s creation fruitfully.
Priest Novelists: Evangelising through Fiction
The example of Cardinals Newman and Wiseman, among others, illustrates why some priests write novels to reach out to souls. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP surveys the involvement of clerics in the literary apostolate.
First FSSP House in Ireland
Fr Patrick O’Donohue, FSSP rejoices as the Bishop of Waterford blesses the first permanent dwelling of the FSSP on the Emerald Isle in Waterford. A major encouragement in our Irish mission.
Novel The Island without Seasons
Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP reviews a recent novel by a Romanian author and Tolkien expert. Hero Alexander Wills is sent on a quest for lost Atlantis, a warning to our modern age to have to learn from the past.
Support our Apostolate
Our ministry depends on the charity of our benefactors: parishioners, visitors and readers. Every little (and big) help enables us to do more and better across these Isles. Thank you for your generosity!
St Petronilla Summer Camp for Girls – Photos
The St Petronilla Summer Camp is underway – follow along with new photos posted daily here.
St Peter Summer Camp – Live Photos!
Follow the boys’ camp with photos here
Summer reading: Vermeer’s Angel
A publisher, an editor, a novelist and an academic comment on a Catholic novel just released.
Summary:
He survived Hiroshima. He escaped East-Germany. Will he elude the Church?
Deceased art expert Ken Kokura seemingly reappears in Japan, upsetting the plans of priestly diplomats. They fear, lest a ruthless schemer may have stolen his identity. How far will that possible super spy dare to go to subvert Church policy? The answer may be hidden in Vermeer’s celebrated paintings.
Against a Cold War backdrop, friendship, religion, the fine arts, and ideology intertwine. Loyalties are tested, leaving the only alternatives of betrayal or sacrifice. In the Church under attack, the worst infiltration is sin. Safety then will start with repentance.
Vermeer’s Angel is Fr de Malleray’s brilliant debut novel in an intriguing genre that could accurately be called ‘Vatican Noir’. The author’s detailed knowledge of the ecclesiastical backdrop and the artistic foreground make for a convincing ‘high resolution’ world in which ambition, morality, psychology, espionage and high drama intersect.
Pierpaolo Finaldi, Master of the Keys – The Catholic Writers Guild (UK). Pierpaolo Finaldi is also the CEO of The Catholic Truth Society.
A remarkable novel, a tale of Ostpolitik set in expertly orchestrated scenes alternating between the aftermath of Hiroshima and the collapse of Eastern European communism. Ingeniously interweaving the various strands of his fiction with real history, Japanese culture, Vatican diplomacy, Kim Philby’s Soviet spy ring, and a penetrating analysis of art that makes painting come alive, this is not only a culturally sophisticated narrative, but a gripping read, full of human interest.
Robert Asch, St Austin Review.
Writer, literary critic, and scholar, Robert Asch is co-editor of the St Austin Review and of the St Austin Press.
Armand de Malleray’s stunning prose draws the reader into a world of intrigue and uncertainty where nothing is quite as it seems. This is more than just a novel, it is a haunting meditation on the significance of memory, identity, betrayal, guilt and the insatiable human yearning for the Truth.
Fiorella De Maria, author of The Father Gabriel Mysteries
Award-winning novelist De Maria studied Literature in Cambridge and has published nine books with Ignatius Press.
Vermeer’s Angel is a triumph of a novel. It is a startlingly broad canvas that crosses several continents, cultures and decades, unfolding for the reader subtle readings of both artistic masterpieces and men’s souls. It is a novel about the loss of the self, caused by the atomic blast of modernity and the lingering radiation of older ills. It is a novel about memory and about self-betrayal, suffused with a gentle but persistent sense of the need to recover spiritual responsibility in a world of pragmatic compromise.
Brian Sudlow, author of Catholic Literature and Secularisation in France and England (Manchester University Press)
Dr Brian Sudlow teaches at Aston University (Birmingham, UK) and has written extensively about Catholic literature and Catholic thought in France and England.
Published by Arouca Press, 2023.
Vermeer’s Angel is available on the publisher’s website and on Amazon, including for UK customers, whose copy will be printed in the UK and shipped nationwide without custom taxes.
It is also for sale on the Latin Mass Society‘s bookshop.
Size: 23 × 15 × 2.5 cm
390 pages
Paperback £17.50 GBP ; $22.95 USD
See more of Fr de Malleray’s books here.
Happy 35th anniversary FSSP
Today, 18 July 2023, is the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter by a dozen priests at the Abbey of Hauterive in Switzerland on 18 July 1988.
Schedule at St Mary’s Shrine on Tuesday 18 July 2023:
35th anniversary of Foundation of FSSP in Switzerland; St. Camillus de Lellis, Confessor:
- 12:10pm Holy Mass
- 5:00pm Vespers
- 6:00pm Holy Mass
Act of Foundation
[Original: French]
By this act the undersigned clerics found the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter as a clerical Society of Apostolic Life, in conformity with the dispositions of CIC (can. 731-46), taking into consideration the exemption foreseen in the Protocol of 5 May 1988 and the Motu proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta of 2 July 1988. This society can associate lay brothers to its work.
The Constitutions, which will specify the goals and the spirituality of this society, are inspired by the approved statutes of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, the society reserving to itself the right to make any changes which it judges necessary by reason of present circumstances.
The undersigned respectfully request the Holy See to approve the said society in the shortest delay possible in order that they may act effectively for the unity and the good of the Church.
Made at Hauterive on 18 July 1988.
[Signatures]
- P. Josef Bisig
- Abbé Ph. Tournyol du Clos
- P. Gabriel Baumann
- Abbé Christian Lafargue
- Abbé Patrick du Faÿ de Choisinet
- Abbé Albert Jacquemin
- P. J-M. Gervais1
- P. Klaus Gorges
- P. Engelbert Recktenwald
- Abbé Christian Gouyaud
- P. Franz Prosinger
- Walthard Zimmer (deacon)
- [Abbé Denis Coiffet]2
See more documents here https://www.fssp.org/en/presentation-2/documents/.
See FSSP figures here: https://www.fssp.org/en/presentation-2/figures/.
Ladies’ Vocation Discernment Day
Facebook page for this event here.
Sat 29 July 2023: 10:00am-5:00pm. For single Catholic Ladies 18+ (under 18 welcome if accompanied by responsible adult family member), at St Mary’s Shrine Church, WA1 2NS, Warrington.
Conferences on discernment, celibacy and prayer, with Sr Mari Caritas (then visiting from Minneapolis, erstwhile from St Mary’s Shrine) and Fr de Malleray, FSSP. Free. Bring your picnic.
Bookings: stmaryssecretary@fssp.org.
SCHEDULE:
10am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
10:15am First Conference
11:30am Eucharistic Adoration, Holy Rosary and Confessions
12:10pm Holy Mass
1pm Shared picnic lunch
2pm Conference
3pm Quiet time or individual meeting with Father or Sister
4pm Last conference and refreshments
6pm Sung Vespers (on option)
Watch conference by Fr de Malleray on religious life in general https://www.facebook.com/londonjuventutem/videos/449301119087599
on Poverty, Chastity, Obedience: https://www.facebook.com/londonjuventutem/videos/569868520474876/
Dowry No58 Summer Issue Online
In this issue:
Editorial: Why June is Humility Month
Fr de Malleray considers that the month of the Sacred Heart is also that of the Holy Eucharist with Corpus Christi. The example of St Francis of Assisi whose humility is universally acknowledged shows a little spoken-off connection between the saint and the Holy Eucharist.
Prayerful Pro-Life Witness
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the courageous young woman who was arrested for praying silently outside an abortuary, explains why bearing witness to life is part of the Gospel. She invites all to the March for Life in London on 2 September.
English Architect and Irish Pews in Bavaria
English seminarian David rejoices at the beautiful improvements to the community chapel at the International Seminary of St Peter in Bavaria, enhanced by unexpected contributions from the British Isles.
On the Coronation of King Charles III
Homily from Warrington on the day of Coronation, giving thanks for the Christian rite of coronation, a powerful reminder of the Christian identity of the the United Kingdom. The ritual calls for conforming the life of sovereign and people to the sweet law of Christ, King of kings.
Pugin at the Far End of the World
Brian Andrews, Heritage Officer for the Diocese of Hobart, explains A.W.N. Pugin’s influence as far as Tasmania, illustrated by stunning pictures that bear witness to the global influence of the great Catholic convert architect.
Traditional Ministry in Australia
Fr Roger Gilbride, FSSP, formerly in England, recalls the humble beginning of the FSSP in Australia until its upgrade to a fully-fledged district.
Vermeer’s Angel, a New Catholic Novel
Four representatives of the world of letters comment on a Catholic novel just released: a Catholic publisher, a literary review editor, a novelist and a university lecturer took pleasure in reading a story where friendship, religion, the fine arts, and ideology intertwine against a Cold War backdrop. In the Church under attack, the worst infiltration is sin. Safety then will start with repentance.
Our Lady Helps Build the Village
Building up a vibrant Catholic sanctuary is more needed than ever in our uncertain times. Not for the first time over the past 5 years, divine Providence has helped the Priory Campaign in Warrington. The versatile Shrine hall was recently blessed by the Archbishop of Liverpool, but help is still needed for completion of work.
Support our Apostolate
As the FSSP expands across the British Isles, assistance in many ways is requested, while a broad range of media is offered to all to strengthen their faith and evangelise.
BOOK now HOLIDAYS for BOYS and GIRLS
Great Catholic holiday for Boys, and Girls, in the Peak District. Organised and staffed by our Fraternity, with the help of lay staff.
Please tell your friends urgently as the deadline is looming ahead! Spread the word now!
- The St Peter’s Summer Camp for Boys runs 7-12 August (see pics here and Facebook Event here)
- The St Petronilla Summer Camp for Girls runs 14-19 August (see pics here and Facebook Event here)
The cost is £200 for the first child of a family attending each camp, and then £100 for subsequent children from that family.
No children to send? But can you sponsor a child? Your generosity will help us provide unforgettable holidays for more children.
There is an online booking form here. (NB this form does not include a facility for online payment. Please either send a cheque in the post to Fr Phipps, or use bank transfer as below).
Alternatively, please print off a booking form here and send to Fr Phipps, either by post or by email to fsspcamps.uk@gmail.com. A place will be reserved on receipt on the £30 deposit. NOTE there is a deadline of 1st July to receive the booking form and deposit.
Postal address:
Fr Seth Phipps FSSP
St John Fisher House
17 Eastern Avenue
Reading
RG1 5RU
Cheques should be made payable to FSSP England
Bank Transfer: please use reference S/CAMP23
Bank Name: Lloyds Bank
Sort Code: 30-93-04
Account number: 02027225
Account name: FSSP England
For international transfers, you may also need:
Bank Branch: Palmerston Rd Southsea
Bank Address: Ariel House, 2138 Coventry Road, Sheldon, B26 3JW
IBAN: GB09LOYD30930402027225
SWIFT code: LOYDGB21361