The Religious Life of LondonRitchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
Religion
The Religious Life of London
Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
London (England) -- Religion; Religious thought -- England -- London
priests, and of these but two were regulars—Jesuits—who lived almost as
private individuals in the Marylebone Road. There are now a hundred and
thirty secular priests—fifteen Oratorians, sixteen Oblates of St.
Charles, sixteen Jesuits, ten Marist Fathers, seven Oblates of Mary, six
Carmelites, six Dominican Fathers (besides as many more not yet
ordained), six Passionists (in addition to ten or twelve not yet
ordained), five Servite Fathers, five Fathers of the Society of Missions
(Italians), five Augustinians, two Franciscans, and three Fathers of
Charity—in all, between regulars, seculars, and priests not attached to
any particular mission, there are two hundred and forty-one priests in
this diocese. Of convents for women there were in 1839 two within what
is now the diocese of Westminster; there are at present thirty-eight.
In calculating the amount of Roman Catholic influence and activity, we
must remember that in their churches and chapels service is always being
performed; and that thus one Romanist place of worship for all practical
purposes may often be considered as equivalent to a dozen Protestant
places, especially where the incumbents are of the class of old-fashioned
clergymen who have a relish for port and what used to be considered a
gentlemanly religion. For instance, let us see what is the round of
services at the cathedral, Blomfield Street, Moorfields. On Sundays and
holidays there is mass at seven, eight, nine, ten, and high mass at
eleven. At three there is catechism, at four baptism, and on Wednesdays
and Fridays at eleven A.M.; vespers, sermon, and benediction at seven.
On week-days mass is performed at half-past seven, eight, and ten. On
Thursday, rosary, sermon, and benediction at eight; on the other evenings
of the week rosary and night prayers at that hour. On the first Friday
of the month there is sermon and benediction in honour of the Sacred
Heart; on the second Friday of the month the Way of the Cross. There are
the confessions, sometimes twice a day; and the Confraternities of the
Blessed Sacrament, of the Sacred Heart, of Holy Angels for Children.
Then there are the Societies, such as the Holy Family Total Abstinence
Society, Holy Family Provident Society, Benevolent Society for the Relief
of the Aged and Infirm Poor, and the Night Refuge for Homeless Women of
Good Character. Nor is this the only way in which Roman Catholic
influence is felt in this district. On good works the Roman Church has
ever laid great stress, and thus we find from the centre in Blomfield
Street the priests have specially assigned to them Newgate Prison, Old
Bailey; Debtors’ Prison, Lower Whitecross Street; St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital, Metropolitan Free Hospital, Royal London Ophthalmic
Hospital,—an amount of exertion incompatible with spiritual ease and
worldly enjoyment. I mention this to show that you are not to judge by
what you see; attendance at any particular time is no criterion as to the
state of the Catholic community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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