Page 23 - The Portal magazine - February 2025

THE P RTAL February 2025 Page 23

well be the oldest Marian shrine in Spain, said to owe bustling centre and was founded in 1629. Many of
its foundation to Saint James, who had a vision of Our the nuns had links with the Catholic martyrs of the
Lady here in AD 40. Reformation, such as Margaret Pole and Thomas More
(the convent treasures a relic of More).
So many stories are associated with these places,
and Fr Schofield brings out numerous English What could have been a turning point was the French
connections. Come out of the tunnel – or off the ferry Revolution, for in 1794 most of the nuns had to take
– at Calais, and you are within easy reach of Douai. refuge in England, but three nuns stayed behind in
The College here was founded in 1568 by the cardinal- Bruges to keep a wary eye on the house - when it was
to-be William Allen, originally as an exiled version of put up for sale, one of then bought it back, so that the
Oxbridge, but rapidly transformed into a seminary. The English nuns could return in 1802, after the Peace of
‘seminary priests’ who returned to England embraced Amiens. The house remains a haven of contemplative
the hardships and dangers of their homeland, with prayer, and the present writer is one of many English
a stream of martyrs – 116 were executed during the visitors who have enjoyed a fruitful stay.
reign of Queen Elizabeth I, starting with St Cuthbert
Mayne in 1577. Further south, in Italy, Lucca is a city with a rich
heritage of saints. Nowadays many will associate it with
The seminary priests were prepared by a course Saint Gemma Galgani, who had an intense devotion to
designed to help their disputation with Protestants. Our Lord’s Passion and who bore the stigmata. In a
The scholarship of the College produced a translation Lucca chapel there rests the body of the little known
of the New Testament in 1582; the Old Testament English saint, Richard of Wessex, who died here in
translation followed in 1609-1610, so that a Catholic AD 722. To me, the most memorable Lucchese saint
Bible in English was available before the publication of is the 13th century Saint Zita, who as a servant in the
the King James version in 1611. house of the Fatinelli family, embraced insults, exuded
sanctity and rose to be the head housekeeper.
English connections stretch back much further.
Auxerre is today the home of a magnificent (and often It is said that when she was compelled to be elsewhere,
overlooked) early Gothic cathedral. Not far away is the angels came and did her baking for her. Zita enjoyed
burial place of its bishops, the former abbey dedicated a real cultus in England, alone of the nations outside
to St Germanus, the city’s fifth century bishop. Chosen Italy; you can find paintings of Saint Sitha (as she is
from the ranks of the laity to succeed St Amator as the usually known here) from Oxfordshire to Norfolk. We
bishop in AD 418 (cf. Ambrose of Milan), he became also learn of British saints associated with Switzerland
a model bishop – St Patrick is said to have been one for example Saint Lucius of Britain who came to
of his pupils – and was chosen in AD 429 to lead a Switzerland to evangelise the Swiss, associated with
mission to convert the British from their besetting sin Chur.
of Pelagianism.
So many amazing places feature here, like Greccio in
He came back to England in 447. For many English Italy, where Saint Francis created the first Christmas
people, the mention of a French connection triggers crib (with real animals); Cologne cathedral, associated
thoughts of the abbey of le Bec Hellouin, about half with the relics of the Magi but also Saint Ursula and
an hour southwest of Rouen. Founded by the knight her companions in the Frauenkirche in Dresden,
turned hermit Herluin, it moved to its present site where we read of its destruction and restoration; and
in 1039; two of his 11th century successors as abbot, that Rococo marvel of Germany, Die Wies.
Lanfranc and Anselm, were to become Archbishops
of Canterbury - it was Michael Ramsey who called Perhaps I should bring my thoughts to an end
Anselm the greatest of the occupants of his see. (prematurely) at a shrine which speaks to all of
Turned over to the Army after the French Revolution, Europe, the village of Ars, not far from Lyon. Jean-
monastic life was restored to this tranquil setting in Marie Vianney came to this, his only ‘living’, in
1948, and it has a long history of hospitality to English 1818 remaining here until his death in 1859. A man
visitors. And of course Bec is not far from Lisieux, scholastically challenged, he was transformed by the
another place of pilgrimage. love of God working through him. And there is the
lesson of Ars.
A less familiar place with an English connection is
the English Convent in Bruges. This city is associated This book is full of wonderful places and wonderful
with the basilica of the Precious Blood; the convent stories. I urge you to read it.
of Our Lady of Nazareth is a little further from the