THE CARDIFF ORATORY PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN ON THE MOOR

A Parish of the Archdiocese of Cardiff (a Registered Charity 242380)

Website: www.cardifforatory.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/CardiffOratory

Contact: frsebastian@cardifforatory.co.uk Parish Priest: Fr. Sebastian M Jones

Sat 9 Mass of Our Lady

8am Mass: Holy Souls (Old Illtydians & De La Salle Brothers, RIP)

9:00am Exposition & Confessions 9:30am O'Shea & Finegan Families, RIP

6pm (Vigil) Maggie & Christine Keane Sun 10 REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

*Today at 11:00 o'clock we will observe the Nation's Act of Remembrance with the Last Post being sounded in the church and the laying of a wreath to acknowledge the brave soldiers of St Alban's Parish who gave their lives in the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts in defence of our freedoms.

10:00am: Holy Souls Novena

11:00am THE ACT OF REMEBRANCE 11:15am: Patsy, Agnes & Family 4pm Vespers & Benediction

Mon 11 St Martin of Tours

7:00pm Legion of Mary in the altar boys' sacristy

7:30am: Holy Souls (Pupils and Staff of St. Alban's School, RIP)

9:00am Exposition & Confessions 9:30am: Legion of Mary, RIP

Tues 12

St Josaphat 12:15pm Divine Mercy Group in the Parish Church

7:30am: Holy Souls 9:00am Exposition & Confessions 9:30am: Thanksgiving, St Gerard M

Wed 13

6:00-9:00pm Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament

7:30am: Holy Souls 7:00pm: Holy Souls Novena

Thurs 14 St Dyfrig 7:30am Mass: Holy Souls *11:00am Requiem Mass: William J.

Richards, RIP Fri 15 St Albert 7:30am Mass: Holy Souls

9:00am Exposition & Confessions 9:30am: Holy Souls Novena

*11:00am Funeral: Malcolm A. Greenwood, RIP

Sat 16 Mass of Our Lady

8am Mass: Holy Souls 9:00am Exposition & Confessions

9:30am Holy Souls (St Alban's Athletic Club, RIP) 6pm (Vigil) Sheila Downey, RIP

Sun 17 33rd Sunday of the Year

22nd Sunday after Pentecost

10:00am: Angelika Spiteri 11:15am: Novena Mass for Holy Souls

4pm Vespers & Benediction

CONFESSION TIMES The Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance Monday – Friday 9am -9:30am (Wed. 6pm -7pm) & Sundays during all Masses

The tradition of the Fathers of the Oratory since the time of St Philip is to make themselves available 15 minutes before daily Mass as well as during Sunday Masses. A door bell has now been positioned in between the two confessionals in the church so that anyone wishing to go to confession outside of these set times may do so. Please press the bell once. If one of the Fathers is in the Oratory he will come to the confessional box as soon as is possible.

Prayers Please Please remember them at Adoration, praying the rosary; in personal prayer; at Holy Mass. Fr Martin Delaney, Eileen, Phoebe Paul,

Ruth Pinder, Audrey Bodenham, Dennis Caine, Christian Babu, Paul Burns, David Burns, Julie Cale, Irene Casey, Ethan Chichester, Phyllis Clarke, John Cowhey, Alun Edwards, Elle Fine, Fr. Furlong, Mary Healy, Nell Horon, James Hogg, Barbara Hurley, Don & Dorothy James, Anthony Jeremy, Jennifer King, Colin, Shirley & Michael Kingston, Alexandra Micallef, Betty Millar, Michael McCauliffe, Edna Murray, Beatrice Rajanayagam, Maria Sherry, Fay Simpson, Beatrice O'Brien, Sylvie & Jack

O’Leary, Iris Murphy, Elizabeth Sitole, Shelagh O’Donaghue, Susanne Toft, Gareth & Ethan Woodberry, Pat Xuereb

+ + + Vigil Lamps this week: Blessed Sacrament: Pete & Chloe Jackson, Intentions

Sacred Heart: Daniel Young + Our Lady's altar: Thanksgiving, Donor + Our Lady of Pity: Rose Alter

Prayer for Deceased Parents

O God, Who hast commanded us to honour our father and our mother, in Thy mercy have pity on the souls of my father and mother, and forgive them their trespasses, and make me to see them again in the joy of everlasting brightness. Through

Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for all the Faithful Departed O Most compassionate Jesus, have mercy on the Souls detained in Purgatory, for whose redemption Thou didst take upon

Thyself our nature and endure a bitter death. Mercifully hear their sighs, look with pity upon the tears which they now shed before Thee, and by virtue of Thy Passion, release them from the pains due to their sins. O most merciful Jesus, let Thy

Precious Blood reach down into Purgatory and refresh and revive the captive souls who suffer there. Stretch out to them Thy strong right hand, and bring them forth into the place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS: The Fathers will always come to a sick call. Remember

the sick person doesn't have to be dying for them to receive the Sacrament of the Sick. Likewise, if you think someone is dying or is dead, do please call also for the person to receive the Apostolic Pardon whether you think they may be dying or has died. The Fathers are here to assist you in your pilgrimage to the Father's

House. HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN:

(Fr Peter Davies) 029 2074 3230 ST ALBAN'S PRESBYTERY: 029 2046 3219

ST ALBAN'S PARISH

NEXT BAKE SALE WILL BE ON THE WEEKEND OF 23/24TH NOVEMBER.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF MARRIAGE

It is announced that the Sacramental Marriage is to take place

of Elizabeth Doran and Andrew Berry at St Alban on the

Moors Church, Splott on 20th November, 2019. Please pray

for the couple and their families, that this marriage will be a

means of many graces and blessings for them.

CONGRATULATIONS Please also pray for

those who are preparing for the

Sacrament of Baptism: Sienna, Lily, Riley, Solomon, George,

Meiline, Joshua, Ethan, Kayti, Kody, Cara, Josef, Milan, Rico and Tracey.

God has bound salvation to the Sacrament of Baptism, but He Himself is not bound by His Sacraments.

(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1257)

FOR YOUR

DIARY:

THE SOLEMNITY

OF THE

IMMACULATE

CONCEPTION,

MONDAY 9TH

DECEMBER

The beautiful

Solemnity of the

Immaculate

Conception is transferred this year to Monday 9th

December on account of the 8th being a Sunday of

Advent. The Oratory has great devotion to Our Lady and

among the great feasts the Fathers and Brothers celebrate

is the Immaculate Conception. The custom of showing our

filial love for Our Lady in the life of the Church and our

own life is to present her an individual lily branch, the

symbol of purity. If you wish to join with us in this simple

but beautiful gesture a box will be placed by the Lady

Chapel later in the month. An offering of £1 per branch

should be sufficient.

November Candles at Our Lady of Pity (Pieta) Shrine: Maggie & Christy Keane, Carr & Evans Family, Ann Marie Bethelle, Margaret Bethelle, William Bethelle, Christopher Biggs, Burns Family, Egan Family, Evans Family, Thomas Ferrier, David Gallivan, George Family, Douglas Glossop, Pauline Hawkins, Frederick Hornblow, Charles F Jones, Fr. John Kennedy, C.S.S.P, Tony Maunder, Maunder Family, Cathline Mead, Lucy Mead, Meigan Family, Steven Murray, O’Dwyer Family, Symmons Family, Alber Wheeler, Wheeler Family, RIP

St Alban's "Post Office" A First Class Postal

Service! SCOUT STAMPS ON

SALE BEFORE AND AFTER MASS. ONLY

30p each. For every stamp we sell, 23p pence goes to the Church Restoration Fund. Please support the Parish, even if

you only send a few cards, or dozens in Cardiff Deliveries between 7th & 15th December.

NB: There is a list of all districts of Cardiff that Christmas cards will be delivered to by the Scouts on the bac of last

week's newsletter and in the church porch.

A

CHRISTMAS

CAROL

by Mr Charles Dickens

One Night Performance Only by

The St Alban's Players on

Friday 20th December, at 7:00pm

TICKETS: £5:00, Adult

£2:50, children NEXT REHEARSAL for the "St Alban's Players" Saturday

9th November at 4:30pm in St Alban's Parish Hall.

St ALBAN'S COACH TRIP TO BATH

ON SATURDAY 7TH DECEMBER Leaving Church at 10:00am

Leaving Bath at 4:00pm Price: £18 per person, return

Dates For Your Diary:

ST ALBAN'S CHRISTMAS TABLE

TOP SALE ON

SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 11AM - 1:00PM

Christmas cards, rosaries, Christmas candles, White Elephant,

Bric a Brac, Jumble, Oratory made mince pies & Fr Sebastian's mulled wine!

(Please bring all donations for the sale to the

church by Friday 29th November) ~

ST ALBAN'S CHRISTMAS PARISH SOCIAL

ON SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER AT 7PM

IN ST ALBAN'S HALL ~ ~ ~

Buffet, Carols, Christmas Draw, Dance Music, Licensed Bar, Tickets £3:50 (Children free)

BISHOP DANIEL J. MULLINS, RIP

6:00PM RECEPTION & EVENING PRAYERS at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Convent Street, Swansea. SA1 2BX.

11:30am Requiem Mass Friday 15th November at St Joseph’s Cathedral, Convent Street, Swansea. SA1 2BX

The Welsh Assembly Government intends taking away the rights of parents to withdraw their own children from Relationships and Sex

Education. They also want to neutralise the teaching of RE and impose "Worldviews" upon

our children. Please contact your Assembly Members and ask that they uphold the rights of parents to decide how best to

teach their own children. The State in furthering this aggressive and permissive agenda intrudes into the God given

right of parents to raise their own offspring without interference of ideologies.

~ The Guild Shop promotes and supports the Catholic faithful and their families in the pursuit of personal holiness

through access to classical prayer books, Roman missals, spiritual reading, Church

History, lives of the saints, manuals of popular Catholic piety, handmade rosaries

and Catholic publications Visit us at: theguildbookshop.co.uk

FINANCE MATTERS:

YOUR GIVING IN LAST SUNDAY'S COLLECTION Gift Aid £191.00 Loose £247.92 Direct Debit £65.00

~ 1st Collection £ 503.92 2nd Collection (Restoration Fund) £ 392.74 Total £ 896.66 also: Last Saturday's Quiz Night raised £ 302.00 Friends of St Alban's Rugby/Social Club £ 145.00

I wish to acknowledge the generosity of the Friends of St Alban's Rugby/Social Club who organised a social evening in aid of the Church Restoration Fund, God bless you and your families.

Fr Sebastian M. The work on the church will require considerable financial

resources, so I would ask you not to see the "£'s" and think St Alban's is flush. WE can all suffer from what the American's call 'Giving Fatigue'. Believe me, I too wish we had a money

tree in the courtyard or had struck oil in the cellar to relieve me of obligation to weekly share the burden of stewardship.

WE are not just maintaining a building as a monument recalling some quaint past... (St Fagan's National Museum doesn't need

another 'themed church' exhibition). WE, are committing ourselves as the Catholic People of St Alban's Parish to

maintain the Parish. It was your grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, all the old St Alban's people, now with Almighty

God, and you, yourselves who for years have worked for, sacrificed for, and are devoted to St Alban's. Since the Oratory's

arrival in August it has been plain to see that we all wish St Alban's to thrive and flourish.

There is no Plan "B" in Christ's Founding of His Holy Catholic Church. She is guided by the Holy Spirit. There is no 'Best

Before' date in Mission. St Alban's will not limp on, from one emergency repair to another. The Parish has a mission, given it by Christ Jesus. Even, if everything were to be taken from us, the Parish of St Alban's, that is, the People of God who gather

for Mass, would, like the very first St Alban's Parishioner (who began in a public house, graduated to a school chapel, then to a

tin church, until the present magnificent church), gather for Mass and begin again to celebrate our Catholic life in new

circumstances.. With the recent pattern of regular weekend giving of £1000.00 and the various fundraising events, we shall

very soon be able to tackle our obligations and so give testimony to the faith of the People of God. Much is spoken of

'empowering the laity'. Let us be very clear. YOU are the Parish of St Alban's and whilst it is my great privilege to be your

Parish Priest, my duty is to you, to preach, to offer the Holy Sacrifice of Mass; to see that our children are taught the

Catholic faith; that the Sacraments are worthily celebrated; that the sick and infirm are visited, absolved, anointed,

communicated sacramentally and receive every assistance on their spiritual journey and that families are supported and aided against the prevalent winds that seek to deform the

nature and mission of the Family. As your Parish Priest it is my duty to pray for and encourage the sons of this parish to discern

whether they have a vocation to the Sacred Priesthood. This great commission of being a Catholic people is shared by us. In

light of this, the object and aims of the fundraising becomes clearer and manageable. Let us never loose heart!

Fr. Sebastian M.

A PARISH CHRISTMAS "GET

TOGETHER", THURSDAY 5TH

DECEMBER 12:30 - 3:00pm

~ Hot Buffet Luncheon

Cash Bingo A Raffle

Christmas "Sing Song" Fully licensed Bar Organised by our SVP

Why not come along and enjoy this social time together. Contact V.E.S.T (Dial a Bus & Ring a Ride) on 02920 490325

to organise your life. Sign Up List in the church porch or contact a member of

the SVP directly. Why wouldn't you come along?

Job Vacancies

The Governors of St. Peter’s Primary, Cardiff, are

seeking a new Headteacher from Summer 2020 and those at St. Gabriel’s Primary, Newport, are

seeking an active Headteacher to cover a maternity leave from February Half-Term 2020 or as soon as

possible thereafter. Advertisements and further details of both vacancies can be found on E-Teach.

~ Year of the God Who Speaks’

On November 18th, Fleur Dorrell from the Bishops’ Conference will be in Cardiff to speak about the

‘Year of the God Who Speaks’, to the Laity on Monday, November 18th at 6.30pm in the

Cornerstone, Charles Street, Cardiff. Cathedral Launches Diocesan "Year of the Word"

~

On 1 December, 2019, First Sunday of Advent. Evening Prayer and Benediction at St. David’s

Cathedral, Cardiff at 3.30pm. Also planned for the Archdiocese: a Scripture Tour in Cardiff together with an Artist’s Exhibition on July 15th and 16th

2020. Details for these will be published as they are confirmed.

NAMES OF THOSE TO BE INCLUDED IN THE NOVENA OF MASSES: Fr John Abberton, Fred Adams, Adolf, Agata, Amanda, Sarah Andrews,Andrzej, Anieca,

Anna, Anna, Anwen, Jacob Abraham, Sr. Michael Aloysius, Catherine Anderson, Rosina Aromolo, Sr. M

Arsenius, Mareen Attowod, Sr. Michael Augustine, Dudley Austin, Sr. Austin, Mrs Bacon, Filomena Baffa,

Rachel Ballard, The Barret Family, John Bartley, Ben Bates, David Bates, Stuart Bates, Frazer Bates, Margaret Beechy,

Richard Beer, Esme Bell, Alberto Benincasa, Harry Bennett, Rodney James Bennett, Ronald Henry Bennett,

Ann Marie Bethelle, Margarete Bethelle, William Bethelle, Christopher Biggs, Walter & Martha Bird, Dickie Blair, Dr Jack Blair, Jessie Blair, Joan Blair, Juliet Blair, Molly Blair,

Mark Bloomfield, Tony Blunt, Fran Board, Victoria Boateng, Wilfred Bodman, The Bodman Family, Mr & Mrs

Bolt, Marc Anthony Bond, Sr. M. Boniface, Marisa Bonnili, The Botto Family, Fred Stanlake Bowden, Gerard Bowden, Teresa Boyd, Raymond Brace, Jayne Brannigan, Anthony Bratcher, David Bratcher Elizabeth Brekenridge,

Ian Brekenridge, Dinah Briggs, Dorothy Briggs, Carole Britten, Catherine Britten, George Britton, Michael

Brookes, Marie Brown, Fr. Browne, Vera Burnskill, Alan Bryant, Edward Bryant, Eunice Bryant, Khloe Bryant,

Olive Bryant, Olive Bryant, Tony Bryant, Anthony Bullock, Nora Burch, David Burns, David Burns, Helen

Burns, Henry Burns, John Burns, Julia Burns, Mary Burns, Maureen Burns, Mollie Burns, Peter Burns, Peter Burns, The Burns Family, Peter Burton, Dennis Butler, Jeremy

Butler, Tana Butler, Alexander Cabnal, Cipriano Cabnal, Michael Calvin, Maria Camacho, Assunta Camilleri,

Emanuel Camilleri, George Camilleri, Kathleen Camilleri, Mike Camilleri, Maria Camelo, Rosario Camelo, Mary Carey, William Carey, Lorendana Caramela, Anthony

Carey, Mary Carr, Sidney Carr, Rev. Richard Fox Cartwright, Carole & Colin, Jack Cassidy, Jimmy Cassidy,

Kathleen Cassidy, Mickey Cassidy, Margaret & Ray Castree, Patrick Cawley, The Celeste Family, Celia’s

Sister, Sr. Agnes Celine, Alan Chapman, Bobby Chapman, Muriel Evelyn Chapman, The Chapman Family, Harry

(Snr) & Mary Chichester, Harry (Jnr) & Bernard Chichester, Mary Chichester, Ray Chichester, The

Chichester Family, Cecily Childs, Elizabeth Cicely Childs, Greg Chivers, Fr. Harold George Clarke, Fr Cody, Breada

Coffey, Helen Coffey, Jim Coffey, John Coffey, Tony Coffey, Sr. M. Columba, Jonny Conners, Nelley Conners, Arthur Corbett, Beatrice Corbett, Michael Corbett, Sidney

Corbett, Christine Cowling, Fr. Michael Cronin, The Crotty Family, Tom Crowler, May Crowley, Trienn

Cuddy, Michael Cunningham, Kathryn Cusack, Pauline Cusherie, Suzanne Curtis, Biddy Curty, Czeslawa, John

Daly, Thomas & Hetty Daley, Sr. Peter Damien, Mo Daunt, Marjorie Davidson, Ted Davidson, Adrian Davies,

Rev. Roy Thomas Davies, Adrian Davis, Fr. Davis, Graeme Davis, Janey Delany, William De Lloyd, Desirée, Masie Dickie, David Diggins, Shelia Diggins, Mary Dight, Michael Disney, Rose & Walter Dixon, The Dixon Family, Mary Dobbins, Robert Dodge, The Doolan Family, Nelley

Doran, Tom Doran, Sr. M. Dorothy, Michael Dougan, Dom. Aidan Doyle O.S.B, Carmelina D’Sousa, Raymond D’Sousa, Michael Dunleavy, Alice Matilda Dury, Elevyn

Dury, Ada Dutt, Albert Dutt, Betty Dutt, Dennis Dutt, Valerie Dutt, Mary Elizabeth Dymond, Reginald James

Dymond, Rosa & Walter Dziubajlo, Evelyn Eccles, Patrick Eccles, Edward & Parents, Beatrice May Edwards &

Parents, Fr. Cyril Arthur Edwards, Lilian Edwards, The Egan Family, Betty Elesbury, Esmerelda England,

Pamela England, William England, Carmel English, Sr. Eugene, Enid Evans, Francis Evans, Jeffrey J. Evans, May

Evans, The Evans Family, Trixie Evans, Vera & Tom Evans, Colin George Exton, Luise Falzon, Mario Farrugia,

Frank Fenlon, Shelia Fenwick, Thomas Ferrier, Libenya Fernandes, Sebastian Fernandes, Megan Filey, Giuseppe

Filosa, Delia Finn, George Fleet, Lily Fleet, Aggie Flemming, Bill Fletcher, Elizabeth Fletcher, Arthur Flynn, Lucy Flynn, Kitty Fogg, Sr. Francis of Chantal, Maureen Franks, Ron Franks, Kathleen Franksou, Fr. Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton, Mark & Maria Gallagher, Mary & John

Gallagher, Patrick Gallagher, William Gasso, Samantha Gauci, Sheila Gawalko, Bridgit George, Cyril George, John

George, The George family, Sr. M Germaine, Saul Gheoghiu, Phillip Gibson, Peter Gifford, Douglas Glossop, Esmeinde Goes, Jose Piedade Goes, Manuel Goes, Rosario Goes, Rev. George Vincent Gerard, Sr. Aloysius Gonzaga,

John Goodall, Susan Goodall, Jean Goodwin, Franco Gorno, Joan Gorno, Barbara Green, Doris Green, Malcolm Greenwood, Joan Gregory, Derek Griffiths, Mary Griffiths, Michael Griffiths, Wendy Griffiths, Brenda Groutage, Tom

& Myrtle Haines, Carol Ann Hamilton, Julia Hamilton, Jack Hampshire, Dennis Hancock, Dorothy Hancock,

Hannah, Fr Hare, John Harrington, Julia Harrington, John Harris, John & Molly Harris, The Harris Family, Mary

Harry, Pauline Hawkins, Janice Hayes, Phillis Healy, Ted Healy, Sr. Mary Helena I.C, James Helligaer, Suzanne

Henderson, James Hennessey, Margarete Hensley, Henryk, Paul Hilditch, Rosaria Hicks, Mary & Reg Higgs, Pat Higgs, Edward Hill, Laurie Hill, Max Hill, Raymond Hine, Fr. Augustine Hoey, Clive Hole, Phyllis Holliday,

Reg Holliday, Kathleen Hollow, James Hollow, Jim Hollow, Thelma Holly, Holy Souls in Purgatory , Heather Hooper, Joyce Hooper, David Hopkins, Michael Horan,

Nell & James Horan, William Horan, Frederick Hornblow, Horon Hourth, Roland Howard, Geoffrey Howells, Mrs.

Howells, Christopher Howes, Robin Wynne Hughes, David Hussain, Yvonne Hurley, Cataldo Ianni, Cataldo Ianni, Cataldo Ianni, Elena Ianni, Leonardo Ianni, Mario Ianni, Nicodemo Ianni, Teresina Ianni, Irena & Husband, Sr. Mary Ita, Brenda Jackson, Jane Jackson, Henry Jacobs, Henry Jacobson, Adan James, The James Family, Connie James, Robert James, Jan, Janina, Janina, Janina, Nannette

Jenks-Handford. Shelia Jay, The Jenkins Family, Bill Jeremy, Doris Jeremy, Richard Jeremy, Sr. Francis Jerome, Jgnacy, Fr. Joe, Dorothy John, William John, Sr. Mary John

of the Cross, Mary Johns, Fr. William Price Johns, Eddie Johnson, Allan Johnstone, Agnes Jones, April Jones, Carrie

Jones, Charles F Jones, David Mansell Jones, Fred Jones, George Jones, Hello Bowen Jones, Huw Bartle Jones, Joan Jones, Lily Jones, Ken Jones, Peter Bowen Jones, Stephanie

Jones, Tom Jones, Tom (Snr) Jones, The Jones & Quinn Family, David Joyce, John Joyce, Jozef, Julia, Edwina

Jukes, Ahmat Kassimi, Dora Kassimi, Margaret Kassimi, Norman Kassimi, Katarzyna, The Kelleher Family, Christy

Keane, Maggie Keane, Catherine Kemp, Val Kenealy Fr. John Kennedy C.S.S.P, The Kent Family, Adam King,

Bridger King, Henry King, Fr. Neville John Kirby, Desmond Kitto, Brenda Klingenberg, Christian & Heike Klische, Christine Klôcker, Denise Kolvin, Kornel, Judith

Kwakye, Lina Lagana, Amanda Lane, Anne Christine Lane, Joe & Mo Lashford, Theresa Lawler, Tom Lee, Ernest Lefebvre, Fernande Lefebvre, Sr. Mary Leo,

Margaret Lewis, Pat Lewis, Leon Ernest Liddament, Ana Eva Likozar, Josip Likozar, Maksimiljana Likozar, Giuseppe Liuzzo, Winnie Livermore, Eirlys Lodo,

Sr. M. Louise, Juilett Lovell, Sr. M. Lucy, Hugh Lynch, John MacGillivray, Marie MacNally, Anthony Macwhirter, Geler Mallett, Natalie Mallett, John Manley, Fr. Malachi Manley,

Theresa Manley, Maria, Sr. Bridie Mary, Sr. Mary of the Presentation, Mariuzs, Matt, Frank Maunder, John

Maunder, Joseph Maunder, Julia Maunder, Tony Maunder, Robert Maunder, Patrick May, Rev. David Thomas, Fr.

David Thomas, Fr. Jimmy Thomas, Michael Thomas, Thomas George Thomas, Sue Thomas, Arthur Donald

Thompson, Peter Wentworth Thompson, Audrey Thornton, Sophia Elizabeth Thornton, Anne Timmons, Peggy

Timmons, Edward Tomlinson, Dorothy Trevor-Roper, Robert ffarington Trevor-Roper, Dom. Anthony Tumelty

O.S.B, Bernard Tumelty, Hugh Tumelty, Isabella Tumelty, John Tumelty MM, John Tumelty, Mary Tumelty, Margaret Tumelty, Mavis Tumelty, Richard Tumelty, Ross Tumelty,

Fr. Maurice Turner, Ivy Turner, Vivan Turner, Francis Upcott, Teresa Upcott, The Upcott Family, Leonard Ursell,

Robert Ursell, The Ursell Family, Ursula, Sr. Veronica of the Cross, Gwen Vidler, John Vidler, Consiglia Visciano &

Family, Lawrence Ward, Brian Wardrobe, Edna Walters, Kenneth Wallace, Maryel & Winston Walker, Jean & Peter Webb, Fr. John Wedmore, Albert Wheeler, Pattie Wheeler, Mrs Wheeler, The Wheeler Family, Linda Whelan, Terry

Whelan, Lynette White, Sr. Mary Wilfred I.C, Shirley Willets, Alan Willey, Gertrude Willey, Norman Willey, Bernise Williams, Evan John Bryan Williams, Geraint

Williams, George Williams, Lindsey Williams, Michael Williams, Rhys Philip Williams, Margaret Williams-Jones,

Betty & Jack Wills, Frank Wilkins, Nel Wilkins, Trevor Owen Wilkins, Sr. Mary Winfred, Wojciech, Fr Samuel

Mostyn Forbes Woodhouse, Eric Woolf, Freda Woolf, John Woolf, Leslie Woolf, Margaret Woolf, Lilian Daisy Woolf,

Ronald William Woolf, Jim Wrenn, Edley Jay Wright, Władyslaw, Władyslaw, Eilleen & Carmel Xiberras, Joseph & Concetta Xiberras, Charles Xuereb, Daniel Young, Saad

Abou Zeid, Marija Zupan, Angelena Zurlo, Mariangela Zurlo, Raffaele Zurlo, 39 Vietnamese Citizens, ~ RIP ~

CATHOLIC CARDIFF (Continued): The Development of Cardiff The architectural development of Cardiff was of genuine interest to Bute. Even as a boy he had had a keen eye for architecture and design. In 1855, while on a holiday in Belgium and Germany he wrote long entries to his mother on the architecture of civic and ecclesiastical buildings and his appreciation of Munich. As a young man in 1861 when visiting the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, he notes in his diary: ‘I do not think I ever saw anything so beautiful, with possibly the exception of Cologne Cathedral.’ His diary entry of 1866 when travelling in Turkey reveals a remarkable eye for detail and the ability to sketch a picture in words: The centre of the floor was a tank about 7 inches deep, of a vescia piscis shape with a small jet in the middle. The room was built in the purest and chastest oriental taste of white stone, relieved with dark red in the arches, and the shafts of the windows, and the floor of simply tessellated marbles. The roof was of plain, open timber. In 1869 Bute began his own great project of work on his home, Cardiff Castle. William Burges whom he met in 1865, would collaborate and build the most original architecture of the Victorian period. Cardiff Castle was transformed from an uncomfortable dilapidated country house into a Gothic castle, a style so beloved of Lord Bute since before his ninth Birthday. Bute's love and knowledge of history and archaeology would find an enthusiastic collaborator in

William Burges. Bute did not need to be convinced by Burges of the plans they conceived of for Cardiff Castle unlike the Trustees of the Bute Estates who did. Hannah, describes how ‘Burges argued passionately... [to] allow him to create space for a superb example of Victorian Gothic. He had to convince the staid trustees... To win them over, the argument was on traditional lines, with an appeal to the rank of his patron.’ Burges protested, ‘we must never lose sight of the fact that Cardiff Castle is not an antiquarian ruin but the seat of the Marquess of Bute.’ He would reassure Bute that their architectural plans for the castle were good ones: Were the remains of high interest in the history of architecture or precious on account of their art, I should most unhesitatingly advise the strict conservative treatment but this is by no means the case. Every part of the castle has been restored over and over. The Trustees opposed the complete renovation of the castle on this occasion except for Bute's own private sitting room which would receive the attention of Burges, transforming it from a ‘dull Georgian bedroom into a splendid Gothic fantasy, a private retreat for his patron.’ Davies relates in Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute that the accounts for 1872-73 list '£4,417 [were] spent upon the castle.' Burges as architect of buildings and designer of interiors and their furnishing and fittings would delight the Marquess and Marchioness. Burges gathered artisans of the very best. His plans were set forth in architectural models and cartoons. Among those who worked with Burges to bring about this work at Cardiff were William Frame, assistant architect; John Starling Chapple, clerk of works; Fred Weekes, artist; Thomas Nicholls, sculptor; Charlie Campbell, painter and Horatio Walter Lonsdale, principle painter. The principle silversmiths and jewellers were Barkentin and Krall, stained glass was executed by Saunders and Co. Burges' conception of what he wanted Cardiff Castle to be transformed into was well received by Cardiff's excellent workmen in Tyndall Street as none of the Burges furniture was painted but rather to be made with high quality carving and marquetry, decorated with inlays and fabrics.

Cardiff Castle’s Main Gate and walls visible behind demolished

buildings (photograph: un-attributed).

Bute's gentrification of the area around Cardiff Castle was no small matter and afforded the architects, designers and builders much gainful employment. The development ensured that the Marquess' country house set in its own parklands had a facade asserting the Bute family's place in the town's fortunes and at the centre of civic life.

Davies in Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute quotes the third

Marquess of Bute as reflecting upon his good fortune, 'I

have a considerable taste for art and archaeology and

happily the means to indulge them.' Cardiff as a ‘canvas’

also gave impetus to other parties to engage architects so as

to make their own statement of their part in the

transformation of Cardiff from a provincial dock town, to a

place worthy of its new found status as a world capital of

commerce. Much of Bute's own extensive charitable giving

contributed to this transformation. Stewart Williams in

Glamorgan History notes how the architects Seward and

Thomas who designed Cardiff's Royal Infirmary (and

much else) and which was built, at a cost of £28,000 in 1883,

was constructed on a new site obtained through the

generosity of Lord Bute, at the junction of Glossop and

Newport Road.’

Figure 8. Cardiff Castle's Main Gate after re-building work

(photograph un-attributed).

The convert to Catholicism

The maxim attributed to Queen Elizabeth I, ‘I have no

desire to make windows into men’s souls’ is wise counsel

indeed. It is never prudent to attach too much importance

to those people watchers who assert definitions on the

interior life of another person especially when scant or even

conflicting patterns of behaviour are presented as being

somehow evidence of heterodoxy or insincerity. This

chapter now briefly considers the interior life of the third

Marquess of Bute. It employs the caveat of accepting Bute’s

self-identification and profession of Catholicism as true and

without dissimulation. One must acknowledge Bute's

diverse proficiencies and enthusiasms which included a

common Victorian hobby, and in Bute’s case a penetrating

enquiry into the claims of supernaturalism. Bute's interest

in the supernatural and the cult of death in general is very

well recorded elsewhere and was common among people

of his class. Bute’s interest in the esoteric should not be

vaunted as evidence of insincerity in his conversion to

Catholicism nor that his profession of Catholicism was

redolent of his attraction to the Victorian-gothic fantasy. He

was a Victorian gentleman of enormous breadth. Bute’s

conversion to Catholicism is evinced not merely by his

fidelity and regularity in participating in the Church’s

Sacramental life and his serious study of the ancient

languages and observance of the Church’s traditions

concerning fasting and abstinence, pilgrimages, shrines,

holy wells and good works; nor even to the good

impression he made by his access to the highest echelons of

the Roman Court; rather it is in the reciprocity of all these

uniquely Catholic habits, manifold competencies and

diverse interests of the third Marquess of Bute, which are

identifiable and reveal his conviction in his conversion to

Catholicism.

His Catholicism can be identified in his extant personal

correspondences, his research writings in the journals of

archaeological and historical studies; in the architectural

drawing for new churches and convents upon his estates.

Bute’s eagerness to learn languages and subsequently

translate the Roman breviary into English; in recollections

by friends of conversations exchanged with cardinals,

bishops, aristocrats and the superiors of the religious

houses he founded, the man's Catholicism runs like a

golden thread, a seamless garment. He could speak and

write so touchingly about his own spiritual journey without

being in any way mawkish. He was no amateur. His was

the voice of personal experience.

Bute’s confiteor was intelligent, studied and reasoned and

never more so, as we shall read later in the chapter, in his

letter 15 September, 1870 relating to his erecting a rood

screen and Calvary in St. Peter’s church, Cardiff. The letter

reads like a spiritual journal, alluding to the journey in his

own interior life. Bute was not callow. His years of struggle

and social alienation prior to and after his conversion to

Catholicism had matured, not infantilized him. The ease

with which Bute engages with architecture, Christian

doctrine, history and personal piety in his correspondences

exposes the intensity and rationale at work in his interior

life at that time. We can be certain that his purpose in

writing in passing on the matter of the rood screen to the

Superior of the Good Shepherd Sisters was not to impress

or convince and even less so to trumpet the triumph of

grace in his life, but rather merely to relate an event in the

town touching the nascent Catholic community of which he

had a particular fondness and interest. Such an account in

Bute’s life reaffirms the Earl of Dunraven’s own recollection

of his late friend when he said that he “passed

through life as if always meditating on a Spiritual city or on

a house not built with hands.” Bute relates that he was most

content with the rood screen as it had brought beauty to St

Peter’s church and its construction recalled the Catholicism

of pre-Reformation times as the poor people of Cardiff

could now once again call into a church during the day,

outside of Mass times, to pray and find solitude as he

himself when able was accustomed to do when calling into

St. Peter’s church. This letter to the Superior of the Good

Shepherd Sisters, written to enquire of the progress for the

establishment of a convent for the care young women in

Cardiff, corresponds entirely with the maxim: lex orandi, lex

credendi, lex vivendi. Bute's life corresponded to this: he

prayed what he believed, he lived what he believed. In

order to adequately understand the actions of Bute it is

necessary to acknowledge the Catholic foundations upon

which he elected to set his own life. This sitz im leben is the

context for his own informed choices; his cultural and

artistic appropriations. In reflecting upon Bute’s life these

recurrent elements in his life, and those of his own children

and his intended legacy by which he is recalled even today

within the Catholic Church in Cardiff all reveal the extent

of Bute’s interior life.

In setting the historical context for Nazareth House,

Cardiff, it is necessary to recall Bute’s conversion to

Catholicism and to note the numerous accounts written by

others referencing Bute’s Catholic faith. Even if some

authors understanding of Catholicism is jejune or they are

polemical about the man himself, there is no equivocation

that Bute practiced what he believed. The biographies and

monographs on the third Marquess of Bute more than

adequately narrate his genesis, the contributors to his adult

personality, his developing inspirations and aspirations;

the family and deeply personal tragedies; the alienations

and ambitions and his very personal quests for a family life

as well as the very public triumphs in architecture and

philanthropy. Bute’s attachment and profound love for his

wife and children were constitutive of who he was and how

he understood his life. His convictions to family, birth right

and its incumbencies and his conversion from the moment

it became public to the moment of his premature death as

reported in newspapers and diverse sources corroborate

his abiding and searching Catholicism. Bute’s lived

Catholicism is the surest apologia pro vita sua. He was no

stranger to the requirement enjoined upon the Christian to

give tangible expression to his faith by good works.

While Bute's very public life was also marked by this

conversion to Catholicism and as already noted was the

profound and the defining characteristic of his complex

personality, he was not sectarian. The Western Mail

acknowledged in their obituary, 'it would have been

difficult to imagine the Marquess of Bute as a Protestant.'

McClelland and Hodgetts note that Bute’s ‘was another

high-profile aristocratic conversion’. Bute would be

absorbed into the circle of aristocratic recusants through

marriage into the Norfolks: Some seventy-six Catholic

aristocrats, male and female, converted to Rome between 1850

and 1900. In 1895, there were forty-three British Catholic peers

with seats in the Lords and fifty-three Catholic baronets, as well

as scores of landed Catholic county families, some of them more

distinguished for being untitled.’ This cultural immersion into

Catholicism came with a deep sense of social obligation to

those on his estates whatever their denomination. While

Bute, through his trustees, contributed to the restoration

and construction of non-Catholic churches and schools he

was very aware of the need to manage the expectations of

the increasingly confident Catholic Hierarchy of England

and Wales who ministered to a recently emancipated

Catholic Church in pressing need of an infrastructure for

her rapidly growing but impoverished population.

Bute the industrialist was aware of the urgent need on his

estates for Catholic schools, churches and religious houses.

Robert Pope in Religion and Identity: Wales and Scotland c.

1700-2000 notes Bute's willingness to build: ‘Norfolk was

almost matched as a crusading Catholic builder by his exact

contemporary, and cousin by marriage, the third Marquess

of Bute.’ Pope explains how ‘His (Bute's) income from the

Glamorgan coalfields meant he was fabulously rich’ and

that ‘His Catholic zeal - unlike the Norfolk's - was that of

the convert: for he had been brought up a Scots

Presbyterian, and had gone over to Rome in 1868.’ David

Matthew, Old Catholics and Converts: The English Catholics

1850-1950 likewise records the architectural legacy of Bute

in Scotland, though the same may be said of Cardiff. ‘The

Third Marquess of Bute gave the work of his mature years

to Scotland and his labours as a munificent ecclesiastical

antiquary really belong to the history of Catholicism in that

country.’ Bute may also have harboured a private desire to

make reparation for the anti-Catholicism of the second

Marquess of Bute who would not allow the building of a

Catholic chapel in Cardiff, ‘a decision which found favour

with The Times.’