Page 124 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

MISSION IN ENGLAND IO3
over a shop in Clerke Street. From 1826 to 1832 it had
been Father William Turner, now the Vicar Apostolic.
In 1834, Father James Peacock had taken up permanent
residence. Having leased a piece of land in 1840, he
had erected St. Marie's Church, the presbytery, and two
small schools at a co$r of 3,500 pounds.*
During their first Mass in Bury the Brothers were
either so self-conscious or possibly so devout that they
apparently remembered very little of what they saw and
heard. For the vesper service they were much more alert.
Brother Ryken was deeply moved: "After the vesper
service," he told an interested Mother Superior, 'the
priest intoned the 'Te Deum' to thank God for our
arrival. As for us, witnesses of the piety and recollected-
ness of the priest, the choir boys, and the members of
the congregation, of the respectful discipline and lovely
singing of the liturgical hymns-we were so edified and
moved that each of us had tears in his eyes."
On Monday morning, May first, Brother fgnatius, the
one with the best command of English, took over as the
new schoolmaster at the parish school. Brother Alphonse
went along as the interested observer. Brother Alexius
stayed home to look after the household duties.
Brother Ignatius taughr the seventy boys. In his
"Notes" he has sketched a graphic picture of himself as
the valiant pioneer: "The Brother who had to give the
religious instruction in the school had for about six
weeks, the school mistress of the girls' school, Elizabeth
Woodcock, standing next to him. Every now and then
he had to ask her whether what he said was right. The
same lady had the kindness to give English lessons to
the Brothers during more than a year's time."
At the end of the month of May, when Brother Ryken
*
Retiring from Bury in 1849, Father Peacock died in 1853.