The current high altar is a dressed wooden table with an altar stone inserted into it, the original altar (pictured) having been removed after Vatican II. While we have to keep up with repairs and maintenance, it will also be a fundraising objective to create a new stone altar, very similar to the original, in preparation for the 150th anniversary of the opening of St Mary’s in 2027. With professional fees, this will likely cost between £47,000 and £50,000. Kind benefactors have already given or pledged £12,500 – about a quarter of the likely cost. Can you help? We have set up a ‘GoFundMe’ page for donations – please share the link with your family, friends and other contacts.
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.
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.
On Monday 8 September 2025, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, our Shrine community will be placed under her protection by means of a consecration after the 7 am and 12 noon Masses. You can find the consecration prayer here:
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Help of Christians, behold this day before thy feet, the priests and lay faithful of St Mary’s Shrine, Warrington, together with all those who, united with us via LiveMass, place their hope and trust in thee.
By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our Hope was given unto the world, and He has given thee to us that we may hope still more. Intercede, we implore thee, for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O Sorrowful Mother. Obtain for us by thy prayers the graces we need as members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, so that, instructed and enlightened by her Magisterium and zealous for the graces of her Sacraments, we may love and serve God ever more fervently.
Conscious of our own frailty, we offer this day to thy Immaculate Heart our Shrine Community and beg thee to take it under thy patronage. We chose thee, this day and evermore, as our advocate and Queen, and devote ourselves, together with all our needs, intentions, works and all we have and are, to thy loving protection.
Look kindly upon the building works we so much desire to undertake for God’s glory, so that our beautiful church will be a beacon of hope and witness to thy divine Son here in the heart of Warrington, and that Priory Court becomes a living centre of Catholic faith, teaching and charity.
O Virgin Most Pure, to thee and to thy Immaculate Heart, we entrust and consecrate ourselves. Intercede for us, together with Saint Joseph thy holy spouse, Saint Peter, and all the angels and saints. May thy loving protection be ever upon our Shrine Community, so that we may faithfully witness to thy Son and draw many souls to follow Him. By thy prayers, may we all persevere in grace until death, and be united, together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.
