Fr de Malleray shares good news about our vocations in the UK and Ireland, and encourages all to pray for more and advertise our next weekend of discernment.
FSSP Seminarians on Pilgrimage to Rome
Our Theology seminarians from our European and American seminaries met on pilgrimage to Rome and were greeted by Pope Leo XIV.
St Joan of Arc, A Prophetess For Our Times
Fr Jacques Olivier, FSSP, served in London in the mid-2000s and published a doctoral thesis in theology on The Political and Ecclesial Prophetism of Joan of Arc, explaining why this saint is of particular relevance to English Catholics.
Teenagers Love Norman Shrines and Castles
Forty-eight children and their parents, mostly connected with the Bedford-based FSSP Gregorian Chaplaincy, spent the first week of September on holiday in Normandy. Dowry asked some of the teenagers to share their impressions.
Power, Responsibility, and the Common Good
A Thomistic reflection for our times given by Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP at the annual Juventutem Summer Weekend in July 20205 at Ampleforth Abbey
Two Events for Priests and Future Priests
A clergy Retreat on the theme This Sacred Victim will take place at Stonyhurst on 5-9 Oct 2026. A Vocation weekend of Discernment for men will take place at Buckden Towers on 13-15 March 2026.
Black Robe: Zeal for Souls in New France
Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP reviews a film about the heroic endeavours of seventeenth-century missionary Jesuits in Canada.
Scripture and Stone: Life in Jerusalem
Fr Gwilym Evans, FSSP studied Hebrew and Arabic at Cambridge before converting and joining the FSSP, and has spent the last eighteen months studying scriptures in Jerusalem, coinciding with the Gaza War.
All Saints’ Day is Saturday 1st November. This year, because the feast falls on a Saturday, the holy day of obligation is removed, but you are still strongly encouraged to come to Mass (the feast itself is not transferred to the Sunday in the old rite).
Mass at St William of York will be at 10am. There will be a children’s All Saints’ party afterwards.
(Image: a throng of ‘saints’ at St John Fisher Parish)
All Souls’ Day is this year transferred, due to the Sunday, to Monday 3rd November. On this day, priests have the privilege of offering 3 Masses, of which one is for all the holy souls, one is for the Holy Father’s intentions, and the third may be for any particular soul.
There will two consecutive Low Masses at St William’s, starting at 10am (the second will begin without any gap at roughly 10.35am). There will be a Solemn Mass in the evening at 7pm, with absolutions at the catafalque.
(Image: the catafalque at the FSSP church in Rome, Sanctissima Trinità).
At Buckden Towers, High Street, Buckden, St. Neots, Cambs PE19 5TA
Starts Fri 13th March 5:00pm; ends Sun 15th March 2:00pm
Is God calling ME? Matrimony, celibacy, monastery, seminary, Fraternity?
COME & SEE If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 35 years of age, come and discern with us near Bedford. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP will lead the weekend. There will be talks, Eucharistic adoration, Compline, Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow-guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession. Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions. Holy Mass each of the three days.
COST: £99.00 per person in total (bed + full board). FREE for unwaged and students – give whatever amount you can.
BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only).
ACCESS: Direct train from London St Pancras to St Neots, every half hour, duration 56 minutes.
The nearest towns are Huntingdon (5 miles NNE of Buckden) and St Neots (5 miles South of Buckden). Both Huntingdon and St Neots are served by the West Anglian Great Northern Railway line from King’s Cross London to Peterborough. Let us know if you would need a lift from the railway station. There also are bus and coach links to both Huntingdon and St Neots from many parts of the country.
We have currently seven young men from the UK & Ireland in formation at our two international seminaries. Two of them, James from Hemel Hampstead and Piotr from London received First Tonsure and donned cassock and surplice on our 37th anniversary, last 18th October 2025. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington by Archbishop McMahon, OP of Liverpool. Those were the first EF priestly ordinations by a diocesan bishop in England in fifty years. Please pray for them (www.fssp.org/en/help-us/confraternity-of-saint-peter/) and for many more to enter the lists!
We give thanks for 15 priests ordained from or to the UK over the past 24 years: Fr Armand de Malleray in 2001; Fr Konrad Loewenstein in 2002; Fr Brendan Gerard in 2006; Frs Matthew Goddard and William Barker in 2009; Fr Simon Harkins in 2010; Fr Matthew McCarthy in 2011; Fr Ian Verrier in 2015; Fr James Mawdsley in 2016; Frs Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra in 2017; Fr Seth Phipps in 2018; Fr Gwilym Evans in 2022; Fr Miklos Homolya in 2024 – plus Fr Patrick O’Donohue (incardinated in 2023), Deacon Conan McGonagle (whose priestly ordination is scheduled for 26th May 2026), and Deacon Niall Ó hAimheirgin who joined us last year. [Not all of those currently serve with the FSSP, or in the UK.]
On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February 2022, Pope Francis signed a decree confirming the liturgical charism of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter.
Fr de Malleray reflects on several popes’ invoking Saint Michael the Archangel, whose feast coincided with the election of Pope Leo XIV.
Catholic Faith & Fellowship with Juventutem
Young adult and free-lance journalist Angeline Tan reports on the successful Juventutem Summer Weekend at Ampleforth Abbey last July, gathering over fifty young men and women.
Clarion Call for Gregorian Chant
Professional singerChristian Jenkins alerts the wider public on the urgent need for lay people to step forward if the Gregorian chant is to survive as part of the liturgy.
Cardinal Mercier’s Thomistic Psychology
Belgian FSSP priest Father Gerald Duroisin, FSSP(with a doctorate on the Philosophy of Saint John-Henry Newman), explains the relevance for today of Cardinal Mercier’s work in psychology.
The Privilege of Being a Woman
A talk given as part of a workshop on femininity at the Juventutem Summer Weekend in July 2025 at Ampleforth Abbey, by Sarah Haire, a young woman co-leader of Juventutem London.
Painting Salvation or Art For Souls
Introducing a new book of commentaries on a dozen classical paintings, by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP, including works by Michelangelo, Titian, Caravaggio, La Tour, Claude, and Raphael.
Support our Apostolate
We rely entirely on the generosity of benefactors for our apostolates. Find out what we do and how to connect with us.
Click on the picture below to open Dowry (a 16-page PDF).
Our summer camps in August are now fully booked. If you wish to go on a waiting list (places very do often open up), please send an email stating: a)which camp you are interested in; and b) the name and DOB of the child.
[Click on the picture above or here to open the magazine]
In this issue:
FSSP Wall Calendars 2024-2025
We include a complimentary copy in every printed copy of this issue of Dowry. Discover beautiful pictures of our apostolates across England, Scotland and Ireland, with the liturgical year and traditional feasts. Needless to say, all this comes at a cost and we are grateful for donations in excess of £5.00 to FSSP England.
Editorial: Three Saintly Anniversaries
Three forthcoming anniversaries of great significance for Catholics are spiritual opportunities to seize. They commemorate God’s Incarnation, the Lord’s revelation of his Sacred Heart, and Our Lady’s mediation, Fr de Malleray observes.
Hope Does Not Disappoint
Extracts from Pope Francis’ bull of indiction for the 2025 Jubilee of the Incarnation of the Lord. Further to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on the virtue of Hope, Pope Francis reminds all the importance of that virtue, especially in times of trial or gloom.
He Smuggled The Sacred Heart Into England
Dominica Roberts tells how French priest Father Claude la Colombière S.J. providentially brought the devotion from Paray-le-Monial into the heart of London at the cost of his life, thus securing a direct connection between the Sacred Heart and England.
Statistics, Intercession, And Sanctification
The annual statistics of the FSSP were updated to close to 600 members and over 10,000 sodality members: an occasion to give thanks to God, but also to request more prayers for us to grow and bear lasting fruit by God’s grace.
Garments of Sanctity: Opus Anglicanum
The glorious English tradition of sowing and embroidering liturgical vestments is valued anew, Ola Smalley finds, with immediate use within the traditional movement as generously provided by the busy sewing needles of the Guild of St Clare.
Interior of the Carpenter’s Shop at Forty Hill
Using a non-religious painting by John Hill (c.1780–1841) from the Tate Britain Gallery in London, Fr Armand de Malleray walks a few easy steps with beginners in the art of interpretation that can further apply to religious art.
Craft Resources For Catholic Homes
Catherine Witkowski and John Grimer introduce the online shop run by them and their siblings to equip families with home-made visual illustrations of the Catholic faith through the depictions of saints, calendars, and books.
Support our Apostolate
More than ever we need your help to keep our ministry going in Bedford, Chesham Bois, Reading, Warrington, Edinburgh, Waterford and Wexford. Please tell your friendsabout us, sharing links from our articles, pictures, publications, and activities, praying God that bequests be made to help us secure or acquire the buildings we need.
