Reading Bulletin – 31 January to 13 February 2021

Go here  to read the full bulletin.

by Fr SP

RIP Fr Calvin Goodwin, FSSP

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Calvin Peter Goodwin, FSSP, who passed away yesterday around 9:30 am EST in Lewiston, ME, USA.

Born in America of a British mother, Fr Goodwin had lived for a short time in Wimbledon near London, and always treasured his British heritage, including a dry sense of humour. At our American seminary, he would often pray the Prayer for the Queen after his Low Mass. He had come to England in August 2009 to assist as tutor with Fr de Malleray at the Priests’ training session organised by the Latin Mass Socitety in London Colney, the then-pastoral centre of the Westminster Archdiocese. A highly cultured man and an expert in opera music, he was a frequent guest on a national radio to comment on opera performances. Fr Goodwin was the first Jesuit to join our Fraternity.

He had been actively involved in the professional tutorial DVD made in partnership between the FSSP and EWTN. You can watch his 21min presentation of the Traditional Mass for clergy here (where he quotes Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple!): https://youtu.be/JVVXPhcV9_4 .

And further, his audio conference https://fssp.com/battle-for-the-ancient-mass-goodwin/ explains the history and struggles associated with the Traditional Latin Mass in this hour long talk.

Fr. Calvin Goodwin, born October 24, 1948, was originally from Norwalk, Connecticut.  He was a graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut and received advanced degrees in philosophy from the University of Toronto and Theology from Weston School of Theology in Boston, Massachusetts.  In 1974, Father Goodwin entered the Society of Jesus.  During his formation years, he spent four years at Cheverus High School in Portland, where he taught Latin and Greek.  Fr. Goodwin was ordained a priest on June 9, 1979 and returned to Cheverus to teach the classics for 20 years.  A gifted teacher, he was loved by his students and greatly admired by his colleagues.

In 1999, moved by his great love for the Traditional Latin Mass, Fr. Goodwin applied to the Fraternity of St. Peter. From August 1999 to June 2000 he was Assistant Chaplain at our apostolate in Pequannock NJ. Then from 2000 to 2013 he taught at the seminary of the Fraternity in Denton, NE. He was definitively incorporated into the FSSP on October 18, 2004. In addition to his teaching duties, Fr. Goodwin was the spiritual director to many of our seminarians at OLGS. He later became the  Director of Priest Training for those priests wishing to learn the Traditional Latin Mass.  Throughout his priesthood, Father Goodwin showed a special dedication to contemplative orders of sisters most notably, the Sisters of the Precious Blood in Portland and the Carmelites in Danvers, Massachusetts and later Valparaiso, Nebraska, serving as the Confessor for the community and offering spiritual direction.  In 2013, Fr Goodwin asked to retire in order to assist his mother to Lewiston, while continuing to collaborate with Latin Mass Magazine and to serve as a retreat preacher, among other things.

In October 2016 Fr Goodwin suffered a serious hemorrhagic stroke from which he came out quite diminished. Unable to celebrate Mass again, he spent his last years in a nursing home, surrounded by his mother and comforted by the visits of several confreres. He wanted to offer his sufferings for the Fraternity.

Requiescat in Pace !

by Fr AM

Fri 22 Jan Education Virtual Event by Regina Academy

Yes, we want better Catholic education for our little ones!
Now is the time to visit:
https://www.rcahybrid.org.uk/vod?fbclid=IwAR2f86e5osq9ygpt-o79JdEmPfvQqZdEqdgWKc7cWVbvk-gsq1uyeh4zqvk

✅Are you among the 99% of Catholic parents currently homeschooling during the lockdown?
🧐Would you be interested in a Classical Hybrid academy?
😍Have you seen our latest video?
💻Are you free for an hour on 22nd January?

Then register your interest in our Virtual Open Day!

As well as the centre in Bedfordshire, there’s been interest to open an RCA in:

– Warrington
– South East (Sevenoaks area)
– South East London

– near you…

www.rcahybrid.org.uk/vod

We look forward to seeing you there 🤩

by Fr AM

Our Lady Appears and Peace is Granted

Today, 150th anniversary of Our Lady’s Apparition at Pontmain. In our times of gloom and doom at home and abroad, let our hope be kindled again through the wondrous account of the Pontmain Apparition. It was winter like now, the national situation was desperate like now, adults and children prayed, led by their priests, and Our Lady gave the message: “But pray, my children. God will hear you in time. My Son allows Himself to be touched. “

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Lady of Pontmain, also known as Our Lady of Hope, is the title given to the Virgin Mary on her apparition at Pontmain, France on 17 January 1871.

The Apparition

The Franco-Prussian War (War of 1870) was the culmination of years of tension between the two nations, which finally came to a head on 19 July 1870, when Emperor Napoleon III of the second Empire declared war against Prussia. From the first days of the war, defeat followed defeat. By January 1871, Paris was under siege, two-thirds of the country was in the power of the Prussians, and they were advancing.

The apparition is said to have occurred at the height of the Franco-Prussian War. Pontmain, a hamlet of about 500 inhabitants, lay between the oncoming Prussian army and the city of Laval. The Barbedette family consisted of father César, his wife, Victoire, with their two sons Joseph and Eugène, aged ten and twelve, and another older boy who was away in the army. On the evening of 17 January 1871, the two boys were helping their father in the barn when the elder, Eugène, walked over towards the door to look out. As he gazed at the star studded sky he suddenly saw an apparition of a beautiful woman smiling at him; she was wearing a blue gown covered with golden stars, and a black veil under a golden crown.^[3]

Norte-Dame d’Esperance de Pontmain

His father, brother, and a neighbour came out to look and Joseph immediately said he too could see the apparition although the adults saw nothing. The mother, Victoire, came out but she too could see nothing.^[3] The boys’ parents could not see what their children were seeing that night and called for Sister Vitaline, the local school teacher. She, like the boys’ parents, could also not see the apparition, and called for two girls, Françoise Richer and Jeanne-Marie Lebosse, aged nine and eleven. Sister Vitaline suggested that perhaps Our Lady was visible only to the children. Without any knowledge of the apparition, these two girls looked into the night sky and began describing Our Lady in the same exact detail as the Barbedette boys had described.^[4]

A crowd gathered to pray as word quickly spread among the anxious villagers. Children saw the beautiful Lady, and gleefully pointed up to her. Adults, however, only saw three stars forming a triangle. As they prayed the Rosary, the children saw the garment’s stars multiply until it was almost entirely gold. Next, the children saw a banner unfurl beneath the Lady. Slowly, a message appeared: But pray, my children. God will hear you in time. My Son allows Himself to be touched. Upon hearing the message read aloud, the crowd spontaneously began the hymn “Mother of Hope”. As they sang, Our Lady laughed and joined in the singing.^[5]

The children squealed with delight as her hands kept time with the music. When the crowd began “My Sweet Jesus,” her expression changed to profound sadness and a red crucifix appeared in her hands, with the words “Jesus Christ” above it. Her eyes mournfully contemplated the cross during the hymn. As the people sang the “Ave Maris Stella,” the cross vanished and her smile returned, though with a touch of melancholy. Two small white crosses then appeared on her shoulders before Our Lady disappeared behind a cloud.^[5] As the night prayers came to a close, the apparition ended. It was about nine o’clock. The Apparition had lasted about three hours.

The Description of the Lady

Years later, Joseph Barbedette, who later afterwards became a priest of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, recounted:

She was young and tall of stature, clad in a garment of deep blue, … Her dress was covered with brilliant gold stars. The sleeves were ample and long. She wore slippers of the same blue as the dress, ornamented with gold bows. On the head was a black veil half covering the forehead, concealing the hair and ears, and falling over the shoulders. Above this was a crown resembling a diadem, higher in front than elsewhere, and widening out at the sides. A red line encircled the crown at the middle. Her hands were small and extended toward us as in the ‘miraculous medal.’ Her face had the most exquisite delicacy and a smile of ineffable sweetness. The eyes, of unutterable tenderness, were fixed on us. Like a true mother, she seemed happier in looking at us than we in contemplating.^[5]

After the Apparition

That same evening the Prussian forces inexplicably abandoned their advance.^[6] General von Schmidt of the Prussian Army who was about to move on the city of Laval towards Pontmain, received orders from his Commander not to take the city.

On the evening of 17 January 1871, the Commander of the Prussian forces, having taken up his quarters at the archiepiscopal palace of Le Mans, told Msgr. Fillion, Bishop of that diocese: “By this time my troops are at Laval”. On the same evening, the Prussian troops in sight of Laval stopped at half-past five o’clock, about the time when the Apparition first appeared above Pontmain, a few miles off. General Schmidt is reported to have said on the morning of the 18th: “We cannot go farther. Yonder, in the direction of Brittany, there is an invisible ‘Madonna‘ barring the way.”

The sudden stopping of the Prussian forces in sight of Laval, and their retirement the following morning, meant, together with the saving of Brittany, the turning back of the tide of conquering soldiery from that part of France. The war was practically at an end. On 23 January 1871, the long-hoped for Armistice was signed. Soon all the thirty-eight conscripted men and boys returned home unscathed.

Authorization of Our Lady of Hope

After that the devotion to the Blessed Virgin under the title of that of Notre Dame d’Esperance de Pontmain, Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain, was authorized by the ecclesiastical authorities, and the confraternity of that name has been extended all over the world.

After the apparition of Our Lady of Hope on 17 January 1871, pilgrims made up of both the clergy and the laity came to Pontmain. At the same time, inquiries and investigations were made about the apparition; the visionary children were submitted to various intense interrogations. Finally, on the Feast of the Purification, 2 February 1872, Msgr. Wicart, Bishop of Laval, issued a pastoral letter giving a canonical judgment on the apparition. Thus, the veneration of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain was given official Church recognition and approval.

Joseph Barbadette became a priest of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; his brother Eùgene became a secular priest. He was assisted by one of the girls who had seen Mary as his housekeeper, and the other, Jeanne-Marie Lebossé, became a nun.^[3]

Veneration

In May 1872, Bishop Wicart authorized the construction of a sanctuary, which was consecrated in October 1900. In 1905 Pope Pius X elevated the Sanctuary to the status of a basilica.^[7]

Pope Pius XI gave a final decision regarding the mass and office in honor of Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain. A final papal honor was given to Our Lady of Hope on 16 July 1932 by Cardinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, by passing a decree from the Chapter of St. Peter’s Basilica that the statue of the Blessed Lady, Mother of Hope, be solemnly honored with the crown of gold. The Lady then was crowned in the presence of archbishop, bishops, priests and the laity by Cardinal Verdier, Archbishop of Paris. The coronation took place on 24 July 1934.^[7]

At Pontmain, it was a matter of a message of prayer, very simple in the dramatic circumstances of war and invasion. At Pontmain, Mary is a sign of hope in the midst of war. A place of pilgrimage, it attracts annually around 200,000 drawn from among the people of the region, with some international pilgrimages, especially from Germany.^[8]

by Fr AM

Better Catholic education

Yes, we want better Catholic education for our little ones!
Now is the time to visit:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1117207908778052&id=546996135799235&ref=notif_textonly

✅Are you among the 99% of Catholic parents currently homeschooling during the lockdown?
🧐Would you be interested in a Classical Hybrid academy?
😍Have you seen our latest video?
💻Are you free for an hour on 22nd January?

Then register your interest in our Virtual Open Day!

As well as the centre in Bedfordshire, there’s been interest to open an RCA in:

– Warrington
– South East (Sevenoaks area)
– South East London

www.rcahybrid.org.uk/vod

We look forward to seeing you there 🤩

by Fr AM

Reading Mass times and announcements, 3-16 Jan 2021

Thanks be to God, the latest restrictions announced by the government do not affect public worship in England. Therefore, our Mass schedule continues as advertised.

To read our latest bulletin, go here.

by Fr SP

Annual Vocation Weekend

Fri 29 Jan 2021 at 17:00 – Sun 31 Jan 2021 at 14:00

St Mary’s Priory, Smith Street, Warrington WA1 2NS, England

[Obviously subject to Covid regulations in January: check our website for updates.]

Is God calling ME?
Matrimony, celibacy, monastery, seminary, Fraternity?

If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 29 years of age, come and discern with us at St Mary’s Priory & Church.
Shrine Rector Fr de Malleray, FSSP will lead the Weekend, assisted by Fr Ian Verrier, FSSP and Fr Alex Stewart, FSSP.
There will be talks, prayers (Divine Office in our beautiful church), Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession.

[No sign up sheet for the FSSP at the end of the Weekend!]
Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions.
Residential, at St Mary’s Priory: 2 nights and 2 days.
FREE for unwaged and students. Others: £60 per person in total.

COME & SEE.
Please share the information with your friends!

BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only); 01925 635664 (Priory’s Landline).

—————————-
VOCATION RESOURCES:

General page: https://fssp.co.uk/vocations-to-the-priesthood/

Audio conferences on the priest 1) and Our Lady; 2) and Martyrdom : http://www.radioimmaculata.org/audio-on-demands/various-audio-on-demand/various-homilies/father-armand-de-malleray

Latest book on the Sacred Priesthood by Fr de Malleray: https://www.amazon.co.uk/X-Ray-Priest-Field-Hospital-Reflections/dp/1989905013

Book on the holy Eucharist here: https://www.lumenfidei.ie/product/ego-eimi-it-is-i/

Seminary blog: http://fsspwigratzbad.blogspot.com/

Know us better through browsing online our quarterly magazine Dowry here: https://fssp.co.uk/category/dowry/

International Vocation Prayer Network: www.fssp.org/en/help-us/confraternity-of-saint-peter/

—————————-
VOCATION NEWS: 12 FSSP UK (& Ireland) PRIESTS IN 18 YEARS

We have currently six young men from England & Wales in formation at our two international seminaries. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington in the past few years 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!

In total, 43 young men were admitted into our two seminaries this past autumn including 1 from England.

We give thanks for 12 priests from the UK & Ireland over the past 18 years: 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 and Fr Patrick O’Donohue (incorporated) in 2018.

Please pray for us. We assure you of our prayer.

O Lord, grant us many holy priests!

by Fr AM

Reading Bulletin – 3 week edition, 13 December – 2 January

Our latest newsletter, with Mass times and activities is here

Please note especially the times for Masses at Christmas:

Bedford: Midnight Mass, and 8.30am (Dawn Mass of Christmas)

Reading: Midnight Mass (Sung), and 11am (Day Mass of Christmas)

Chesham Bois: 8am (Dawn Mass of Christmas – Sung)

There will also be a Holy Hour followed by a Sung Mass at Midnight on New Year’s Day in Reading.

by Fr SP

Dowry Mag Autumn 2020 now ONLINE!

Click here to open the 20-page pdf.

In this issue:        

Editorial: Gloom versus Glow

I Go To The King!

The Philosophy of Christendom

Sharing our Roman Traditions

A Very Priestly Fraternity

Schools of Prayer

The Privilege of Motherhood

Good Books For All As Christmas Presents

Three Books On Priestly Spirituality

Catholic Novels: When Fiction Illustrates Faith

History And Spirituality Books For All

Support Our Apostolate

by Fr AM

Free the Holy Souls: another fortnight!

Reminder: the restrictions imposed by the Government prevent many faithful from meeting the usual conditions to gain the plenary indulgences on behalf of the Holy Souls in Purgatory during this month of November. Thankfully the Holy See has granted more flexible conditions, allowing nearly every one to help one or several holy souls enter heaven this month.

In particular, entering a church or a cemetery is now dispensed with. One can gain the indulgence from home if unable to travel to a church or cemetery. Anyone able to travel is of course expected to make use of the provision for private visit and private prayer to one’s local church, which can include on individual request Confession and private Holy Communion.

Please read here the Vatican decree.

Fidelium animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace!

by Fr AM